[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word.
[0:14] I got put in my place. Thank you, Ms. Rhonda. I hope you guys have a good one, all right? If you guys would, I'd like to invite you to take your Bibles with me and turn to 1 Kings 3. 1 Kings 3. I really am excited to be here.
[0:26] I've counted a great honor and privilege to be here. I was just thinking as Josh was talking about Bo, and right before that, Timmy was up there and preached. Man, we are a blessed church to have some young men come in here and do some service and be a part of our church.
[0:43] I remember when Bo first came here and how timid he was and how God has grown him. And I can remember when Timmy first preached and how he drenched the pulpit. I don't know if you guys remember that.
[0:54] It was just pouring out like it was raining, and I got how God's worked in his life. We're just so blessed to have these guys here. I just don't know about you. I feel just like myself. But I just wanted to say good job, Tim.
[1:06] I just want to say this is incredible to be part of this church. Thank you guys for your kindness and all this stuff, and thank you for what you guys invest in those training center students. Like I said tonight, I'd like to invite you to take your Bibles and turn with me to 1 Kings 3.
[1:18] And tonight I want to talk to you about Solomon. Pastor asked me to preach a couple weeks ago, and he was getting ready.
[1:29] He was preparing and stuff like that. And he's like, do I have Q&A tonight? Do I have Q&A this week? And I said, yeah, you got Q&A. He's like, are we going to have questions ready? I was like, yes, I promise, Hefe, we'll have questions ready.
[1:40] And he says, okay, here's this. And he sent out the verses that I was supposed to preach. And I was thinking as I was reading through those verses, I was like, if I tell him he has to preach tonight or preach on Sunday, then he has to get ready with the sermon.
[1:52] I can just preach his sermon. I mean, that's the best way of doing it. And so I typed back, I said, actually, this isn't Q&A. We don't have questions ready, but it didn't work. And so you have to hear from me tonight. It's not Brother Gardner, so just bear with me.
[2:04] But tonight I would like to talk about Solomon. And I want to ask you as I come to the sermon that you don't make your mind up already when I say the word Solomon, okay? Anytime we say the word Solomon, especially if you've been in the church for a long period of time, you've already had these preconceived ideas and these thoughts and what Solomon's already done in his life, I would like to ask you tonight, just for a moment, that you would suppress them just for tonight, okay?
[2:27] Just in this like 30 minutes or 40 minutes. I'd just like to ask you to suppress those thoughts for tonight. Don't think about the failures that Solomon had. Don't think about the failures.
[2:37] Don't think about the 700 wives, 300 concubines, how they turned his heart from God. I don't want you to think about that. I don't want you to think about Ecclesiastes, where he just sounds like Debbie Downer and like, whoa, whoa, whoa, life.
[2:49] I had all the fun and I had all this and I had all that and I found it was empty. You know what I mean? The Eeyore effect. I don't want you to think about that. I don't want you to think about anything. I just want you just to let this text, this portion of Scripture, just let this text speak to us.
[3:04] You know, it's very easy for us to think negative, isn't it? When someone messes up, that's usually what they're tagged with or identified about for the rest of their lives.
[3:16] And whenever we hear the word Solomon, I think, I know in my life, it's, oh, the guy with a lot of wives. He messed up royally, didn't he? Don't think that tonight. Don't think that.
[3:27] Let this passage, let this just think on this passage tonight. I'm reminded when Jesus speaks of Solomon in the New Testament, he calls him great. He calls him great.
[3:38] Jesus only had good things to say about Solomon. And so tonight, as you sit in the jury seat and you sway the facts that I give you from 1 Kings 3 and verse 4, tonight, I want you to see a king like never before in Israel's history.
[3:52] I want you to see a king that saw God do some miraculous things in his life. I want you to see a king tonight that's going to be a great king, King Solomon.
[4:05] I want you, if you could just follow with me and just trust me on this one, just for a moment, I want you to stand in awe of King Solomon. I want your mind to be like that of the Queen Sheba, the Queen of Sheba, in 1 Kings 10, verse 7.
[4:19] I want you to say these words. Howbeit, I believed not the words until I came, and mine eyes had seen it, and behold, the half was not told me. Thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard.
[4:33] But tonight, if you let me, I would just like to introduce to you the great king Solomon. The great king Solomon.
[4:44] We'll start in the passage. The start of this passage, we see that Solomon was a man that loved God, that loved the Lord. If you've got your Bibles with me, if you would just jump down to 1 Kings 3 and verse 3.
[4:56] The Bible says these words, and Solomon loved the Lord. Could you underline those three words? He loved the Lord. Solomon loved the Lord.
[5:08] That might sound strange to you because we just talked about like he had a whole bunch of wives, and later on in the Bible says that, you know, those wives caused him to drift, caused his heart to drift away from God, and his heart wasn't perfect like his dad.
[5:21] And the scriptures here, in 1 Kings 3, verses 3, the Bible explicitly says that Solomon loved the Lord. Solomon loved the Lord, and the last part of that verse says he was walking in the statutes of David his father, and only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places.
[5:42] Solomon's relationship at the start with God was right. He loved the Lord. And it was because of Solomon's love for the Lord that he made sacrifices in high places.
[5:55] These high places aren't what I thought. Whenever you hear the high places in the Old Testament, you're like, hey, that's idol worship, right? No, these high places is where God was, where it's actually where the tabernacle was.
[6:06] In 1 Chronicles 21, verses 28, we know about the story. It says that at that time when David saw the Lord, and he answered him in the threshing floor of Ornon, the Jebusite, there he sacrificed.
[6:18] Then he sacrificed there. Verse 29, he says, For the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering, were at that season in the high place of Gibeon.
[6:29] And so in this passage of Scripture, in verse 4, the king went to Gibeon, the king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices. And Solomon, while he was there, he made a whole bunch of sacrifices.
[6:40] Solomon made like a thousand sacrifices. He was a great king. He was a great king. One night, actually one night, while Solomon was there making those sacrifices, he fell asleep.
[6:51] And the Lord actually came to Solomon and he asked Solomon what he wanted the Lord to give him. Look in verse 5. Look in verse 5, 1 Kings chapter 3. The Bible says this, In Gibeon the Lord appeared unto Solomon in a dream by night, and God said these words, Ask, What I shall give thee?
[7:12] Man. I love what one man's response says about this. What a man or what people ask for usually reveals what they really desire. And what they really desire depends on how they envision their life's calling.
[7:27] And in this moment, in Solomon's life, he was there, the Bible says he loved the Lord, he was up there at Gibeon, he was making sacrifices to the Lord, and the Lord came to him in a dream and he says, Solomon, what do you want from me?
[7:39] What can I give you? Notice what Solomon said. What Solomon said pleased the Lord. The words that Solomon said and the way he said it, the Bible says that it pleased the Lord.
[7:53] God really, really, really, really, really enjoyed this response from Solomon. Look in verse 10, in 1 Kings chapter 3 verses 10, and this is what the Bible says, And the speech pleased the Lord.
[8:04] All the stuff that Solomon said from verses 6 down to verses 9, it pleased the Lord. You see, Solomon was a great king.
[8:15] And in the beginning, he was a great man. He was actually loving the Lord, and he was actually seeking for the Lord, and he actually wanted to serve the Lord. He was a great king. I want you to know, as you come through the Scriptures, and as you see him in this passage, he was a great king.
[8:29] What response, what Solomon said, and the way he said it, was really pleasing to the Lord. It was a humble response. A response that showed Solomon's life's calling. Solomon asked God for understanding.
[8:43] Solomon asked God for an understanding heart to best judge and care for God's people. That's what Solomon wanted. Look in verse 9. 1 Kings chapter 3 verses 9. This is what the Scripture says.
[8:54] This is what Solomon said to God, to the Lord. He said, Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart. an understanding heart to judge thy people.
[9:08] That I may discern between good and bad. For who is able to judge this, thy so great a people? Solomon. Solomon, in this passage of Scripture, Solomon realized that the job that he had was bigger than who he was.
[9:24] Look what it said in that last part of that verse. He says, He says, Who is able to judge this, thy so great a people? Who's able to judge this, God? Who's able to judge?
[9:36] Who's able to take care of your people? Solomon's response was a humble response. It was a response that was pleasing to the Lord. It was a response that knowing that his job that he had to undertake was greater than who he was.
[9:50] Solomon realized that not only was it greater than who he was, the job was bigger, but he realized that he was just a child. He didn't have this arrogant view. He didn't have this boasted, bloated view of himself.
[10:00] He had this humble, humble view. Look what he says in verse 7. Look what he says in verse 7. And now, my Lord, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father.
[10:14] And listen to the words that Solomon says about himself. Listen to the words that Solomon says about himself. And I am but a little child.
[10:25] I know not how to go out or come in. What a humble response. God comes to Solomon at night, and he says, Solomon, what am I going to give you?
[10:36] And Solomon requests for wisdom. He said, God, give me an understanding heart. God, the job you gave me is just too great. God, I'm just a little, little child.
[10:47] I'm not that great. I don't know how to come in. I don't know how to go out. I'm not that wise. God, I need your help. And that response pleased the Lord. It pleased the Lord. I don't know how to go in. I don't know how to come out.
[10:58] Solomon was a man of humility. I want to remind you that God always grants grace to the humble. You understand that?
[11:10] God always grants grace to the humble. He resisteth the proud, and He gives grace to the humble. In James 4, verse 6, He says this, But He giveth more grace.
[11:23] Wherefore He saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. And in this passage of Scripture, we see a great king that stands before a great God.
[11:38] He was being given an awesome request. What do you want? What do you want me to give you? And he becomes a humble man. And God's going to grant him wisdom and grace that Solomon's going to need. Solomon not only knew that he needed to rely on God to do this work, but he also realized that there was someone greater than him.
[11:56] How refreshing is that? How refreshing is that? He didn't think that he had all the answers. He didn't think that he knew he was the great guy, the Messiah, the one that was going to make Israel great again.
[12:08] He didn't think all that stuff. He was a humble man. And when he came to the Lord, he said, God, I just want to let you know who I am. Look what Solomon says. Solomon just realizes he's just a steward.
[12:18] He just realizes that he's just a servant. He's in a role of a servant. He was just a servant. His father was a servant and he was a servant. Look what these verses say. In verse 7, it says, And now, Lord, Lord my God, thou hast made, underline these two words, thy servant, thy servant.
[12:35] Look in verse 8. Look in verse 8 in the start of the verse 3, three words in verse 8. And thy servant, thy servant. In verse 9, he says this, Give therefore thy servant, thy servant.
[12:50] And him realizing his dad was just a servant. In verse 6, Solomon said, Thou hast showed unto thy servant David. Solomon just realized something. Solomon had the right mindset.
[13:02] Solomon realized that he was just a servant. In the beginning, Solomon just realized, I'm just a servant. I'm your servant. I'm your servant. You are in charge.
[13:13] I'm just the gopher. You tell me what to do. I'm the servant. You're the God. You tell me what to do. What a great mindset to start off. What a great king. What a great guy. And it's because of this mindset that Solomon had of being a servant is that he realized that the children of Israel weren't his people, but rather they were God's people.
[13:34] Verse 8. Going back to verse 8. There's some things that I underlined that I understood when I was reading through this and that just really stuck out. Verse 8. Solomon says this, And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen.
[13:50] A great people that cannot be numbered nor counted for the multitude. The task that Solomon had before him was a monumental task. He was to oversee, get this, the people of God.
[14:04] He was entrusted with the care of God's people. And Solomon realized this. And so in realizing that he was just the servant, that there was a God out there and that he had been given a job that was greater than he was, he asked the only sensible request, Lord God, please give me wisdom.
[14:26] Give me some understanding. I don't know how to do this. I don't know how to do this. I need your help. So his request was, God, please give me wisdom into doing a job that I don't really know how to do because I'm just a little, I'm just a little, I'm Solomon.
[14:38] I'm a servant. I'm a child. I'm just a child. Verse 9. He says this, Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people. He didn't request money. He didn't request his enemies to be eliminated.
[14:49] He didn't request anything, fame or anything. He just said this, God, give me wisdom. I need wisdom to judge your people, to take care of your people. What a refreshing response from a leader of a country.
[15:01] God, give your servant an understanding heart to judge your people. God, give me wisdom to serve your people. What a great king.
[15:13] What a great king. Solomon was a great king. I want you to notice what God responded to Solomon's response. God responded to Solomon's response. Somehow that works, okay? Just follow along with me in verse 12, okay?
[15:25] And behold, I have done according to the works. This is what God's speaking to Solomon. Lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart. Why did God do that?
[15:37] So that, so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise unto, arise like unto thee.
[15:50] There was never a king like Solomon. No one before him and no one after him. Solomon was a great king. He was a great king.
[16:02] He was phenomenal. A lesson that we can learn tonight, if you're a mother, you're a father, you're a grandfather, you're a grandmother, can I let you know you've been given a monumental task?
[16:14] You've been given children, grandchildren, and God has entrusted you with his people. The question is, are you asking for wisdom? Are you asking for wisdom?
[16:26] If you're here today and you're a preacher, maybe you're a young preacher. Maybe you're a Sunday school teacher. Maybe you're a WANA worker. Maybe you're a training center student. Maybe you're a pastor. Can I let you in on something?
[16:39] Maybe you're an assistant to a Sunday school worker. Do you realize that those you minister to are not your flock? They are God's heritage.
[16:51] They are the flock of God. Those aren't your people, but rather they're God's people. And that's what the Bible says in 1 Peter 5. So why don't you take a play out of Solomon's playbook and start asking for some wisdom?
[17:09] Why don't you start asking for an understanding heart to care for God's people? He says if you ask for wisdom, he'll give it to you. And James, can I tell you tonight, Solomon was a great king.
[17:22] He knew the task before him and he made a request for wisdom. But not only did Solomon make a request for wisdom, for an understanding heart, but after he was given this wisdom in 1 Kings 3, verse 16, he takes the wisdom that he gets from God and he puts it into action.
[17:42] Because 1 Kings 3, verse 16, we see Solomon displaying some wisdom that was given to him by God. We see in Solomon 16, or 3, 16, going down to Solomon 3, 27, we see a discerning judge.
[17:57] After God gave Solomon an understanding heart, he had an opportunity arose for Solomon to use this gift. The Bible says, and you guys know the story that a lot of you, I assume, know the story, that there was two women that came to the king.
[18:13] I want you to think about this. What access would a king give any common folk? But these ladies weren't just any common folk type people, but the Bible was actually rather explicit in the employment choice that these women had.
[18:27] These were harlots. Verse 16, look what the Bible says. Then came there two women. They were harlots. These aren't just normal people.
[18:41] This is a pretty putrid vocation that these ladies were a part of. But guess what? The king was willing to settle dispute between the two. What a great king. What a great king that welcomes sinners and was willing to solve their problems.
[18:58] But not only does this king, not only does it show us a king that was willing to care for the lowest of the low, but it also shows us the helplessness of the case. At this time, who takes the case to the king?
[19:10] It's only a person that can't get any help at the lower courts. There was no judge. There was no elder. There was no ruler that was able to settle the dispute beforehand. So they had to go to the wisest.
[19:20] They had to go to the guy that could administer the right judgment. And so they went to Solomon. So their case went like this. There were two women that sold themselves. And they both got pregnant right around the same time.
[19:31] And they delivered their two sons only days apart. And while the women were in the house together, only the two of them and their children. There was only two women and two children. There was no witnesses, just these women and their sons.
[19:44] And look at verse 18. And it came to pass on the third day. It came to pass to the third day and after that I was delivered that this woman was delivered also. And we were together and there was no stranger with us in the house save we two in the house.
[19:58] Only two women that was during one of those nights that one of those child died. What a horrific time. But the story didn't end there. After the child died, the mother took the dead child and then she proceeded to swap out the dead child for the baby that was alive.
[20:16] So that there was no witnesses to the birth of the two babies. There was no witnesses to the death. There was no witnesses of whose kids whose. They couldn't be tried in court in a normal way. It was one woman's word against another.
[20:29] And so what is Solomon going to do? What's Solomon going to do? He's going to use the wisdom that was given to him by God. Solomon asked for a sword. In verse 24, the Bible says that the king said, bring me a sword.
[20:41] And they brought him a sword. In verse 25, the king said, divide the living child in two and give one half to one and the other half to the other. Divide the child in half.
[20:52] This displayed, this wise display of wisdom showed who the true mother was. Because in verse 26, the Bible said, the mom, her bowels yearned upon her son.
[21:04] He got down to the heart of the matter. And the lady that really yearned for her son, she cried out, don't kill him, don't kill him. Just let that other kid have it. And Solomon, in a display of wisdom, what a great display of wisdom, what a great display of judgment, what a great display of being a great king.
[21:20] Someone could take their problems to and solve them rather than causing more problems. A great leader that displayed the care for even the least. Man, what a great king. Truly, a great display of divine wisdom.
[21:34] In a situation where most wouldn't have a clue what to do. What would you do in that situation? Solomon was the man. He was a wise king. He was a great king through his judgment.
[21:46] What a lesson we can learn from this. Man, caring for the least of people, man, we should be searching for people out there that need help. It shouldn't matter what vocation they have, what color they have, what race they are.
[21:58] We gotta care for all people. We gotta search the scriptures and find wisdom that we can help other people. What a great lesson from a great king. But that's not the only way that Solomon displayed wisdom because Solomon proved his greatness not only through displaying his wisdom and discerning judgment, but he also displayed his wisdom through his ability to govern.
[22:21] Solomon was like, wasn't like people before him like Moses. You guys remember the story of Moses when Moses was out in the wilderness and he had all the people's problems, they all came to him and he couldn't finish them in one day and his father-in-law Jethro came to him and he said, well you gotta break this up, you gotta do some delegation.
[22:36] I love that word. Delegation, you gotta give some stuff out to other people and you gotta have some people over 50 and some people over 100 and some people over 1,000. You just gotta break this up. Solomon was like that from the get-go. In 1 Kings chapter 4, 1 through 6, Solomon chose out 11 princes to serve the Lord and the people.
[22:52] He chose a high priest. Solomon had scribes and recorders. Solomon had a huge kingdom. It was gonna be very complex to keeping records and so he had to get a whole bunch of people on board. He had a secretary of defense in verse 4.
[23:04] I guess you could say a man that would run the military. He had a head officer. He had a priest who would serve the king as a special advisor. Solomon had a very, very big complex business going on. He was running a country, a great people and he was able to judge and administer things correctly.
[23:19] He was able to see who good leaders were and he chose out capable associates and he would allow them to use their own gifts and to serve the Lord and the people. What a great lesson we can learn from the king.
[23:31] Get others involved. Set capable and faithful men overseeing great things or overseeing things in the ministry, in the house, in your business, wherever. Get other people involved. You see, Solomon was a great king.
[23:42] Not only was he a great king because he requested for wisdom, not only was he a great king because he displayed wisdom, but I just want you to see what all Solomon was allowed to accomplish. Look what he was allowed to accomplish.
[23:53] In verse 20 of 1 Kings 4, verse 20, look at this. Judah and Israel were many as the sand which is by the sea and the multitude eating and drinking and making merry.
[24:09] I want you to notice the time which Solomon was king, it was some of the greatest time in all of Israel's history. In verse 25, it says, the Bible says this, and Judah and Israel dwelt safely.
[24:22] Every man under his vine and under his fig tree from Dan to Beersheba. And get this, all the days of Solomon. There was peace and Israel could not worry about going to wars.
[24:34] It was a great time. It was a great time to reign as king because he was a great king. I want you to think about this. When you think about David, who was David? He was always in war, right? He was always in battle.
[24:44] When you think about Solomon, he always had peace. And people were coming to him. It was like David was King Rambo. Oh. And Solomon was like King Hippie. He was like sitting out in the fields looking at flowers and looking at bugs.
[24:56] I mean, he just had the time of his life. There was peace. The Bible said, all the days of Solomon. He was just a great king. Israel was living in a great time. There was great things. Peace and happiness was in Israel. Israel's kingdom reached from the Euphrates River to Egypt.
[25:10] And there was peace with all kingdoms. Look in verse 21, the Bible says, And Solomon reigned over all the kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines and unto the border of Egypt.
[25:21] And they brought presents and they served Solomon all the days of his life. Jump down to verse 24. He says this, For he had dominion over all the region, this side of the river, over all the kings on the side of the river.
[25:32] And he had peace on all sides around about him. Solomon had peace on all the sides around about him. What a great king. What a great king. What a king. What king could make that claim before?
[25:44] What king could make that claim after Solomon? He was truly one of Israel's greatest kings. Not only that, did he have peace. But look at the guy's table. In 1 Kings chapter 4, it gives out, it lays out what this guy eats every day.
[26:00] A daily provision was this, 30 measures of flour, 60 measures of meal. They would kill 10 fat oxen. They would kill 20 oxens out of the pastures.
[26:10] A hundred sheeps and hearts, and hearts, roebucks, fallow deer, and fatted fowl. It was a party every day for Solomon. He had 40,000 stalls for his horses and chariots.
[26:23] He had 12,000 horsemen. Man, he was a great king. Was he not? Not only did he have all this stuff, but notice what the scripture says at the end. Excuse me, at the end, the Bible says in verse 29, or verse 30, And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, of all the wisdom of Egypt, for he was wiser than all men.
[26:48] No one matched Solomon's wisdom. Men from the east who studied the stars that had many inventions didn't match Solomon's wisdom. Those philosophers were no match for Solomon.
[26:58] Those wise scholars that lived in Egypt where the pyramids were made and those great cities were built stood no match. They couldn't stand up against Solomon. He was the wisest man over all the world.
[27:10] No one on the face of the earth was ever wiser and greater than Solomon. He was a great king. He was a great king. The Bible says that he wrote over 3,000 proverbs.
[27:23] His songs were 1,005. He knew botany. He knew biology. There was none like him, Dan. He was a great king. He was so wise. He was so accomplished.
[27:34] He was so rich. He was able to bring peace in a place right now that's only known war. What an accomplished man. What a great king.
[27:45] What are some amazing accolades. He was a great king. And can I tell you Solomon just didn't know that. Everybody recognized that.
[27:56] Look, if you would, if you got your Bibles, turn back to 1 Kings 3, verse 28. And because of all that Solomon did, everything that Solomon was able to accomplish, the wisdom, his ability to use that wisdom, and all the stuff he was able to achieve and gain, that people everywhere knew of his greatness.
[28:15] In 1 Kings 3, verse 28, it says this, And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged, and they feared the king, for they saw the wisdom of God was in them to do judgment.
[28:27] It was after that baby ordeal that all Israel saw what a great king they had. And they knew how special he was. In 1 Kings 4, verse 31, if you want to jump over there, it says that he was wiser than all the men.
[28:40] And they give us a list of these guys. And at the end of that verse, verse 31, it says this, And his fame was in all nations round about. Solomon's fame spread to all nations that were around Israel.
[28:54] All the nations that were around Israel, they began to hear what Solomon did. They began to see, Man, that guy's got a lot of money. That guy's got it going on. Man, look how peaceful Israel is. Man, this guy's awesome. His fame went all around those countries that were next to Israel.
[29:09] But I want you to notice something. If you could just jump over with me real quick to 1 Kings 10. In verse 34, 1 Kings 10, chapter 10, in verse 34, I want to, or 24, 1 Kings 10, 24.
[29:29] And all the earth sought to Solomon. It wasn't just an Israel thing.
[29:41] It wasn't just the countries around them. But it finally spread further out. And the Bible says, And all the earth sought to Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God hath put in his heart.
[29:57] What a great king. You guys know the story in Solomon's chapter 10, verses 1? There was a queen that came from Sheba, the queen of Sheba. And scholars say that, you know, that's Ethiopia.
[30:10] And she came to see Solomon and his wisdom. And she traveled from Africa, from south of Egypt. And she traveled for about 1,500 miles just to sit and listen to the king.
[30:23] She wanted to find out what Solomon was all about. And her report was, everything I've heard, the haft has yet been told.
[30:34] You are truly great. Solomon, you are something special. You are a great king. Solomon, you're a great king. Solomon was truly a great king.
[30:47] So great that during his time, people from everywhere wanted to see him. They wanted to sit down and hear him. They wanted to hear his wisdom. They wanted to know a little bit more.
[30:58] They were willing to spend big bucks. You know what I'm saying? They were willing to travel far places just to hear from Solomon. They were willing to go and take whatever travel it took. They were willing to go and listen to Solomon, right? Because he was such a great king.
[31:12] Tonight, I hope you've seen Solomon was pretty incredible, was he not? He was pretty incredible. No king like him before, no king like him after.
[31:25] And he was a great king. I hope you saw how great a man Solomon was. I hope you saw how great a king he was. I hope you realize that other great men and other great women during Solomon's time realized how great he was and they sought after him.
[31:41] But if I stop there, I don't think I would give you the full account of Solomon. Tonight, I want to close with this. If you could, would you just jump over with me to the New Testament in Luke chapter 11, verse 31.
[31:56] Luke 11, 31. This is what the Scripture says. The queen of the south shall rise up in judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them.
[32:09] For she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Notice what Jesus says.
[32:22] And behold, a greater than Solomon is here. Tonight, I want to tell you that a greater than Solomon is here.
[32:37] And his name is Jesus Christ. And tonight, if you've never met him, I would love to introduce you to Jesus. Tonight, if you don't know about him, would you be willing to step out in that aisle and come to the front?
[32:55] And tonight, I would love to show you how great Jesus is. Tonight, would you realize that kings humbled themselves and traveled thousands of miles just to see how great Solomon was?
[33:08] Tonight, would you be willing to step down this aisle and come to Jesus and see how great he is? Because the Scripture says a greater than Solomon is here.
[33:20] The Bible says in Matthew chapter 6, verse 29, and I say unto you that Solomon, all his glory was not erased like one of these. That means when Jesus came to take care of Jesus, that means that Jesus can take care of you better than the richest and the wisest king that was ever born.
[33:38] Tonight, you may be here and you have been saved, but maybe you haven't realized what you have in Christ Jesus. Kings from the past showed their dedication by traveling many miles just to hear and just to see a great King Solomon.
[33:52] Today, can I tell you, the greater is here. The greater is here is Jesus Christ. The greater is here. He has shown you His dedication by leaving heaven and coming to this earth and dying on a cross for you and then offering a gift to you to be with Him, to be able to have the mind of Christ.
[34:19] what a privilege we have. The question I'm going to ask you tonight is this, are you taking that for granted? Are you taking your Bible reading for granted?
[34:35] Because every time you open the Scripture, you find out a little bit more about Jesus. You find out a little bit more of the guy who's greater than Solomon. Tonight, if you had a chance to sit down with the richest man in the world, the wealthiest man in the world, the wisest man in the world and he was all wrapped up in one guy, would you sit down and would you talk with him?
[34:56] Can I tell you, he's here, he's greater, he's greater than that man. There are people, there are people that traveled sea and land just to spend some time with Solomon and you have the opportunity to your Christian to talk to the greater than Solomon.
[35:15] Are you taking that relationship with Jesus for granted? Tonight, we are so blessed to have so great a king.
[35:27] We have the greater than Solomon. How's your relationship with him? Your heads bowed and your eyes closed. My goal in tonight's message was not to make Solomon out to be some great guy, although he was a great guy because that's what the text said.
[35:51] My goal was tonight was to show you that the greater than Solomon's here, it's Jesus Christ and I think I would do everyone a disservice here if I wouldn't give you an opportunity to respond to this call tonight.
[36:05] Have you ever met Jesus? Have you accepted his gift of eternal life? If you're here today and you've never accepted Jesus, you've never put your faith and trust in Jesus, if you would, would you just please be willing to humble yourself and just raise your hand, maybe come forward and we have some men that would love to show you from the scriptures how you can know who Jesus is.
[36:28] Is there anybody out there like that? Is there anyone? Maybe you're here today and maybe you're a Christian and maybe you've taken it for granted in realizing who you have.
[36:42] Maybe you need to recommit. Would you be willing to recommit whether it's up here at the altar or in your seat, would you be willing to commit to work on that relationship with the greater than Solomon, Jesus Christ?
[36:54] Would you realize what you have in Jesus? We would love to show you. We'd love to show you through the scripture if you're here today and say, I don't know what you're talking about. We'd love to show you in foundations. Would you just be willing to talk to myself, talk to Trent, talk to one of these men around here.
[37:08] They would love to show you through the scripture. Tonight, I hope you see Jesus and I hope you see how great he is. He is greater than the greatest man ever born.
[37:22] He is the greater than Solomon. This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia.
[37:33] For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.
[37:44] Thanks.