A Generous God and His Wise King

[0:00] Good, well, Phil is preaching to us this evening, so please turn in your Bible to 1 Kings. If you're visiting here tonight, you didn't bring a Bible, we have some at the back, so please don't hesitate to go and grab a Bible, you're very welcome to do that.

[0:16] 1 Kings, and we're in 1 Kings chapter 3, so do turn that up, I'll give you a second to find that. 1 Kings 3, and we're reading this chapter this evening, let's start. 1 Kings 3.

[0:39] Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her into the city of David until he had finished building his own house and the house of the Lord and the wall around Jerusalem.

[0:55] The people were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the Lord. Solomon loved the Lord. Walking in the statutes of David his father, only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places.

[1:16] And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.

[1:27] At Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, Ask what I shall give you. And Solomon said, You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and an uprightness of heart toward you.

[1:48] And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day. And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child.

[2:06] I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of your people, whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude.

[2:20] Give your servant, therefore, an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to govern this, your great people?

[2:31] It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. And God said to him, Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself life, long, or riches, or the life of your enemies, but have asked for your self-understanding to discern what is right, behold, I now do according to your word.

[2:52] Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you, and none like you shall rise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you all your days.

[3:11] And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days. And Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream.

[3:26] Then he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants. Then two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.

[3:43] The one woman said, Oh my Lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house.

[3:54] Then, on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth, and we were alone. There was no one else with us in the house, only we two were in the house.

[4:07] And this woman's son died in the night, because she lay on him. And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me while your servant slept, and laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast.

[4:24] When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, he was dead. But when I looked at him closely in the morning, behold, he was not the child that I had born.

[4:36] But the other woman said, No, the living child is mine, and the dead child is yours. The first said, No, the dead child is yours, and the living child is mine.

[4:47] Thus they spoke before the king. Then the king said, The one says, This is my son that is alive, and your son is dead. And the other says, No, but your son is dead, and my son is the living one.

[5:00] And the king said, Bring me a sword. So a sword was brought before the king. And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.

[5:15] Then the woman whose son was alive, said to the king, because her heart yearned for her son, Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death. But the other said, He shall be neither mine nor yours.

[5:30] Divide him. Then the king answered and said, Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death. She is his mother. And all Israel heard of the judgment the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.

[5:54] Amen. Well, may God bless his word to us this evening. Well, please do have your Bibles open to 1 Kings chapter 3.

[6:08] That'll be most helpful. As people who, by grace, belong to the kingdom of God today, what should we be praying for?

[6:32] And what does a pleasing prayer look like? Well, this chapter will help us immensely with these questions and more. Last week, we saw King David on his deathbed, giving crucial advice to Solomon, his son and successor.

[6:51] Let me just remind you of two of the main things that David said to his son with his dying breath. Firstly, he said this, Son, make sure you walk by the obedience of faith.

[7:03] That is all the Lord's commandments, statutes, rules, and testimonies, all of his words of life, all of his instruction and his teaching. Let them shape and master you as a man and as the king.

[7:16] And my son, if you do that, then the Lord will be faithful to his covenant promises that he made to me, and he will establish your throne, and you will enjoy great covenant blessings from the Lord.

[7:31] And David also called on Solomon to do something else, didn't he? Solomon was to deal with all of the enemies who had opposed the house of David during the time of his father.

[7:42] Solomon is to take these certain men and to bring punishment upon them to establish justice in the land. And as we saw last week, in the second half of chapter 2, after David died, King Solomon acted very, very well upon the second part of his father's advice.

[8:04] He dealt with threat after threat, enemy after enemy was dealt with. And just look at the result in chapter 2, verse 46. The kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.

[8:19] But the question we're left asking at the end of chapter 2 is, will Solomon adhere to his father's other piece of advice? That is, will he obey the covenant law of the Lord?

[8:33] Will he be a faithful king? Or will he be a fickle king? And in 1 Kings 3, verses 1 to 3, we are given the answer.

[8:43] Will Solomon be a faithful king? Or a fickle king? Answer? Yes. He will be both. Now we're going to just dip into that in a bit more depth, but let me just say, by introduction, we're going to look at this chapter under four points.

[8:58] Here's the first thing, verses 1 to 3. A dodgy decision. That's what we see. A dodgy decision. Please look at verse 1. So Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

[9:11] He took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her into the city of David until he had finished building his own house and the house of the Lord and the wall around Jerusalem. Now politically speaking, marrying Pharaoh's daughter, that was a good move.

[9:25] That was an awesome move. It would have brought Solomon great diplomatic advantages with that powerful nation. And Solomon and Israel would also receive a lot of respect from the surrounding nations because of this marriage.

[9:40] Politically, it was a top move. However, spiritually speaking, this was a dodgy decision. A dodgy decision. Deuteronomy 17 warns clearly that the king of Israel must never ever make any decision at all that will lead the people of God back to Egypt in any way, shape, or form.

[10:04] And yet here we are in verse 1. Solomon is bringing Egypt, as it were, right into the heart of Israel. It's a dodgy decision. It was also dodgy because God's law contains warning after warning about marrying those outside of the covenant people of faith.

[10:22] You can read about it in Deuteronomy 7 and also in Exodus 3. I think it meant, sorry, Exodus 34. And the warning was basically this. Don't marry unbelieving Gentiles because they will inevitably lead your hearts away from the Lord your God to instead worship the false gods of the nations from where your Gentile spouses have come from.

[10:49] Of course, the equivalent today is to date and marry someone who's not a Christian, someone who doesn't love the Lord Jesus. Well, Solomon seems to set all of that aside, just ignore that part of God's law and he goes for it with Pharaoh's daughter.

[11:06] And in verse 2, you know, it is just possible that the author in verse 2 is telling us about another dodgy decision. I've not quite made up my mind about this yet. I'm still thinking about it.

[11:18] But let me tell you a bit about it. Verse 2, have a look at that. The people were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the Lord. Now, the high places were certain areas in the land that had been used by the Canaanites for their pagan religious worship ceremonies.

[11:38] And again, in Deuteronomy, Moses specifically had said, do not use such places of worship when you're worshipping the Lord. And yet, here the people are ignoring the law of the Lord and using high places freely to worship them.

[11:55] And at the end of verse 3, we're even told that King Solomon was doing the same. He was using these high places too. Now friends, I'm not willing to die on the stake for this point, but I think that on the whole, verse 2 and the end of verse 3, I do think they are another dig at Solomon here.

[12:14] Just listen to Bob Fyle on this point. He says this, the key question here is what do you make of the phrase in verse 2? No house had yet been built for the name of the Lord.

[12:26] That's a simple enough phrase and clearly a building project like the temple could not be completed overnight. But is there, however, a hint of delay on the part of Solomon? Well, Bob says so and you know, many other trusted and good commentators agree.

[12:43] they read verse 2 in the same way. So they seem to say that Solomon makes two dodgy decisions here. Marrying Pharaoh's daughter and also not getting rid of the high places.

[12:54] And later on in the book we'll see again and again the high places continue to be a real problem for the people of God because they're not dealt with. But, however, have a look at verse 3.

[13:08] Let's start at verse 3. What does it say? Solomon loved the Lord. Walking in the statutes of David his father. Friends, there is a great tension in these verses.

[13:21] A great tension. On the one hand you get this beaming statement and there's a genuine beaming statement about the law, sorry, the love that Solomon had for the Lord. But on the other hand you also get these dodgy decisions mixed in there.

[13:35] What are we to make of this tension? We need to take it seriously because it's there in the text. Well, I take it that the author is actually giving us a heads up here on how to read Solomon.

[13:50] See, throughout the coming chapters he's going to be a decent king. He's going to do a lot of good. He will have genuine love for the Lord. He will walk in faith in us but he will also be fickle.

[14:02] He will also be fickle. And as we read through chapters 4 to 10 we are to assume that quietly in the background Solomon is going to carry on making more and more compromises in his walk with the Lord just like he does here at the beginning with Pharaoh's daughter.

[14:19] And of course when we get to chapter 11 read it when you go home tonight. The start of chapter 11 we find out that that is exactly what has been happening in the background over all these chapters. Behind the scenes in chapters 4 to 10 Solomon has been amassing more and more and more women.

[14:35] Gentile women concubines and wives and those compromises that he made again and again and again they lead to his downfall and his ruin.

[14:49] We are not to read chapters 4 to 10 to think that Solomon is completely faithful but then all of a sudden boom he crashes down in chapter 11 out of the blue one day. No Solomon is best read as an ambiguous character.

[15:04] He will be faithful he will love the Lord but these compromises they will bring him down in the end. He is fickle whilst as well being faithful.

[15:16] Well so what? So what does that mean for your life and my life today? Well I think there's two implications that rise out of the text for us. Firstly I think this teaches us that falling away from the Lord friends it is not a sudden thing that comes upon someone instantaneously.

[15:36] The view that Solomon was wonderful and then with startling suddenness falls away in chapter 11 it's a counsel of despair because all of us would go to bed at night worrying that we were going to wake up in the morning falling away from the Lord completely.

[15:51] That just doesn't happen that is untrue to the life that we live. That's not what happened with Solomon. The second implication the second lesson that rises out of the text for us today is surely obvious.

[16:04] It's this. As kingdom people today we must see the danger of making compromises when it comes to obeying the Lord. Yes?

[16:16] In the end the compromises we make in our walk with Christ can erode our love for Christ and they can lead to spiritual ruin. In the end they may make us fall away from the Lord completely.

[16:30] Tragically today it really does seem like in the church in the west there are so many who want to compromise in obedience to God in the area of relationships. And I was thinking about this the other day forgive me I've said this recently I released the words when I did a talk there but let me say it again over the past 15 years I can think of about nine friends nine people whom I once called friends they were close contacts of mine all of them in the past were professing Christians and I was close to them at that time but they all made the same compromise and that was they all started to date someone who was not a Christian and pretty soon all of them started to do all sorts of things that they shouldn't be doing outside of marriage and it wasn't long before all of them fell away from church and I tell you today the nine people that I can think of I mean this could probably think of more but the nine people that I can think of

[17:31] I think about them often they are currently far far away from Jesus they don't want anything to do with him friends if you're a Christian here this evening and if you're currently dating someone who's not a Christian the Bible pleads with you to break up with them immediately and if you're tempted to go out with someone who's not a Christian don't please don't says God's word lovingly let's take warning from these early verses in Solomon's reign and remember that compromises even smaller ones doesn't have to be something as big as the ones I've just mentioned but even smaller ones they can gradually erode our first love and lead to disaster so friends let's repent where we need to repent this evening that's the first thing we see in this passage a dodgy decision here's the second thing verses 4 to 10 we see a pleasing prayer a pleasing prayer so in verse 4

[18:32] Solomon goes to Gibeon and he offers a thousand burnt offerings to the Lord that's a lot of burnt offerings and the Lord graciously responds to Solomon's worship by appearing to him in a dream just look at verse 5 what an offer in verse 5 the Lord graciously condescends he comes down to Solomon and he says this ask what I shall give you this is immensely generous of the Lord he offers to Solomon what one writer calls a blank check an open ended offer my friends we will think more about the Lord's generosity in our next main point in the sermon but now I just want us to focus on Solomon's prayer that he makes in response to the Lord's generosity generosity because as verse 10 says have a look at verse 10 this is a prayer that pleased the Lord isn't that marvellous you don't have to play guessing games about what a pleasing prayer looks like and sounds like that's exciting isn't it because as the people of God today our main goal in life and our main business should definitely be pleasing God so then what does Solomon pray well really he prays two things

[19:44] I've summed up two points two sub points number one he praises the Lord for his faithfulness and number two he asks the Lord to give something that will bless the Lord's people let me just unpack those two things as we go through I'll pull out some implications for our lives today specifically about prayer so sub point one he praises the Lord for his faithfulness faithfulness and that is where Solomon begins his prayer it's not with a request he doesn't immediately answer the Lord with his request what he does is he looks back into the past and he praises God for his faithfulness so let's read let's look at verse 6 let me read that again and Solomon said you have shown great steadfast love to your servant David my father because he walked before you in faithfulness and righteousness and uprightness of heart toward you and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day and now

[20:46] Lord my God you have made your servant king in place of David my father although I am but a little child I do not know how to go out or come in so here Solomon praises the Lord for his faithfulness to the covenant that he made with his father David in 2 Samuel 7 remember with the Lord promised that they would always be a son of David sitting on the throne over the Lord's people and the Lord even seems to say that one day there will be a king who will sit there forever and Solomon goes on to say that the Lord has kept that promise by establishing his own throne in other words Solomon here acknowledges that he is not a self-made man he's very humble here genuinely so he's only on the throne because the Lord by his grace has been faithful to his covenant promises he's done nothing to deserve such status and in verse 8 Solomon goes way back further in time to talk about the Lord's faithfulness look at verse 8 he says and your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen a great people too many to be numbered or counted have I got that right sorry

[22:04] I think I've messed up my scripture let me go back to the Bible here I read my Bible passages on my script so that's just in case you're wondering yes too many to be numbered accounted for multitude so here Solomon is actually alluding to God's covenant promises with Abraham remember back in Genesis the Lord said to Abraham again he came to him by grace just like he comes to Solomon here undeservedly so and he says I'm going to make you into a great nation you're going to have so many descendants there are going to be so many you can't even count them they'll be like the sand on the seashore and that is what Solomon is referring to here he's saying promises old promises new promises to Abraham and promises to David Lord you have kept them all you are the dependable God the God who is faithful so that's how Solomon starts his prayer full of praise for God's dependability and you know that is proper in and of itself you and I should regularly praise the Lord this way he loves to hear us praise him for his faithfulness but there is another great lesson for us here to learn as we pray listen to D. Ralph Davis he says this beginning your prayers in this way it is also useful for you the prayer the person doing the praying for as we praise the Lord in prayer we are encouraged in petition for we realise as we recount

[23:37] God's wonderful faithful record that we are coming to a faithful God and our prayer becomes that's what our praise becomes the basis of our confidence to make our requests known for we will be reminded of all the ways that our God has shown himself to be utterly dependable to his people and it will assure us that we are so right in coming to him for help so that's the first thing that Solomon prays here's the second thing he asks for something that will bless the Lord's people so back in verse 5 when the Lord said ask what I shall give you I take it friends that is both a generous invitation but it's also a test see your response to such an invitation it really reveals you it reveals what's in your heart I wonder what we would say if the Lord made such a generous invitation to each of us it's a challenging thought isn't it well Solomon's answer to the Lord's invitation reveals what was going on in his heart at that time please look at verse 9 he says this give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people that I may discern between good and evil for who is able to govern this your great people so Solomon didn't ask for riches he didn't ask for military success he didn't ask for his name to be renowned throughout all the earth he didn't ask for a long life no Solomon asked the Lord to give him an understanding mind that will know how to discern right and wrong in other words

[25:18] Solomon asks the Lord for wisdom and notice please that Solomon asks for this because he's really concerned about bringing blessing upon the people of God the precious flock of God here is a king who wants to receive wisdom from the Lord not so that he can advance his own life rather he wants wisdom so that he can govern and rule his people well he wants to bring them justice and blessing to put it another way this pleasing prayer is marked by a holy anxiety for the welfare of the Lord's people Solomon if you like to put it in even other terms is seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness here he asks for something that will bless the Lord's people and again just look at verse 10 it's wonderful verse 10 this request of Solomon this prayer what he asked for it really pleased the Lord really pleased the Lord do you know

[26:21] I really think that here we might well be seeing the very best of Solomon I think we're seeing maybe arguably the very best of Solomon here he shows that he wants to be a servant king who is good for the kingdom he doesn't count his status as king something to be used for his own means rather he wants the Lord to help him be a blessing to all of those under his rule in other words in this pleasing prayer we see glimpses of a greater glory to come the Lord Jesus the servant king who never used his own status as king for his own greedy gain but instead always and still does use his reign to bring blessing and blessing upon his people this is Solomon I think at one of his best moments but friends Solomon's pleasing prayer not only points us to Christ but it also teaches us about prayer and our prayers today should be marked by the same healthy anxiety for the well-being of the people of God again listen to one writer how he says this this is from one commentary he says doesn't this royal text press upon us all

[27:39] I am not a king but shouldn't I pray like one some anxiety is sinful but there is a holy anxiety a watchful worry that trembles for the welfare of the people of God and always prays with one eye open for their good this may involve something as basic as intercessory prayer for the endurance and for the relief of our suffering brothers and sisters in countries where right now they're being blasted belittled and bullied simply because they own the name of the Lord Jesus Christ so in summary a pleasing prayer to the Lord is marked by praise proclaiming the Lord's faithfulness and his goodness but it's also full of concern for the people of God now friends do you know what thinking about this this week thinking about these marks of prayer I've actually been really really encouraged because whenever we gather for prayer as a congregation together

[28:39] I think this is exactly what we do as a church family I think this is exactly what we do at our church prayer meetings it is super encouraging and if you haven't joined with the rest of the church family for prayer then come along when you get the chance next and you will hear many pleasing prayers just like this following this pattern to the Lord our God so friends as a church and as individuals let's keep going let's keep going let's keep praying these prayers more and more well so far in chapter 3 we've seen a dodgy decision a pleasing prayer and now thirdly we see a generous God a generous God that's what we see in verse 10 to 11 so in response to Solomon's pleasing prayer the Lord showers these blessings upon Solomon in verse 11 the Lord says because you didn't ask for a long life because you didn't ask for riches or victory over your enemies behold

[29:40] I now give you what you ask for verse 12 I give you wisdom and also I will make you so wise you're going to be the wisest man on earth imagine being the wisest man on earth but the Lord doesn't stop there in verse 13 he says I will also give you the blessings that you didn't even ask me for riches and honour and in context here we must see that these are blessings riches and honour they are yours I give them to you no other king will compare with you and your kingdom as long as you live and verse 14 there's that reminder again echoing David's words keep on walking by the obedience of faith Solomon that's what the Lord says if you walk by the obedience of faith as your father did then I will lengthen the days of your reign and your life see friends this is an amazing point that we can be so quick to forget again and again through life and it's this the Lord our God is so amazingly generous he is so gracious he showers blessings upon his king and remember we are not

[30:54] Solomon but we have Solomon's God and he's still the same today he is the God who is so immensely generous to people who just don't deserve it to people like you and me the Lord loves to hear our prayers and he loves it when we seek first his kingdom just like Solomon did all those centuries ago and our God loves to be generous to us his children and friends knowing that that is so I think that that should thrill us it should make us want to turn to the Lord more and more surely it should but again I don't know about you but I'm just for some reason probably because I'm still a sinner I am so quick to forget that this is the case about my father in heaven and I need to be reminded about it he loves to provide for us and to bless us James knew that this was true which is why in the first chapter of his epistle he wrote these words if any of you lacks wisdom let him ask

[31:54] God who gives generously to all without reproach and it will be given him or think of the words of the Lord Jesus when speaking to his disciples he said seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you and in context that these things he's talking about there are the things that the disciples need to function in daily life it's a daily provision God loves to give his children the things that they need so turn to him come to him Solomon's God and our God is amazingly generous so let's be all the more eager to come to him and bring big petitions to him as John Newton once wrote for he is a great generous king well friend that brings us on to our final point this evening we've seen a dodgy decision a pleasing prayer a generous

[32:55] God and now in verse 16 to 28 we see a just judge now this is a very well known scene and it stands in very close relation to verse 4 to 15 remember Solomon has asked the Lord to equip him for ruling over the people so that he will be a blessing to the people and in verses 16 to 28 we see that the Lord really has answered King Solomon's prayer the Lord really has blessed him with a mind of great understanding and that means that this king is going to bring justice to even the most lowliest vulnerable and powerless people in his kingdom so let's look at the scene it begins in verse 16 with these two prostitutes again two powerless vulnerable lowly women in the kingdom they come and they stand before the king and one of them makes a case before Solomon she says

[33:57] I recently gave birth to a beautiful baby boy and some three days later my housemate here this other prostitute also gave birth to a son but one night whilst we were both asleep she must have rolled over and accidentally smothered her baby boy to death and when she discovered that she'd done this what she did is she crept over to where my son was sleeping and she swapped the two boys round and when I rose in the morning I got the fright of my life because when I looked towards my son it seemed as though my son was dead but when I looked closer when I looked at his face I could see that this was not my son at all and in fact I knew instantly that a swap had taken place this other prostitute had swapped these boys over as I slept and she rests her case and in verse 22 the accuser is having none of it she snaps back no the dead child is yours I did not do what you accused me of doing my friends because we've already read the end of the story it's quite easy just to skip over all these details and just and because it's so well known just forget actually how unbelievable difficult this would have been for anyone to have sorted out just think about this there was no DNA tests back then there were zero absolutely zero witnesses in the house to testify whether or not the accuser's claim was the truth or not there is zero witnesses back in those days you were supposed to have two witnesses well Solomon had zero really all that

[35:42] Solomon has to go on here is the word of one prostitute against the words of the other prostitute how is he going to decide this it was very very difficult probably impossible for most people to bring justice into this situation but it's not impossible for God's anointed king who's received the gift of wisdom and in verses 24 to 25 Solomon launches a plan that will expose and draw out the identity of the real mother I think it's absolutely genius it is absolutely genius when you think about it what he does here in verse 24 without even a hint of pretense Solomon orders his servants he says bring me a sword and they bring in the sword and then he says to his servant again without a hint of pretense divide the child in two cut him right in half take one half give it to one woman take the other half and give it to the other woman and that draws out the genuine love of the real mother in verse 26 the true mother is revealed from the way that she responds she says oh my lord give her the living child and by no means put him to death she genuinely cares about the boy so much that she's willing to give up her own happiness in order to save his life contrast that with the other women what does she say cold and heartless he shall be neither mine or yours divide him she reveals that she doesn't actually care about the boy at all and so

[37:20] Solomon by doing this crazy plan has revealed who the real mother is and in verse 27 he gives the game away and says no I was never going to divide her in half and he commands the baby boy to be given safely to his rightful birth mother and justice is done justice has been brought to even these two lowly vulnerable people that is the mother and the son I don't know what happens to the guilty prostitute we're not told so it doesn't matter but just look at the end result in verse 28 and all Israel all Israel not just in the local vicinities but all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered and they stood in awe of the king because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice everyone in the nation came to know that they had been blessed with a king who'd been given great wisdom to judge wisely he is a just judge and he brings as I say justice to this almost impossible situation it's a wonderful blessing from a generous God and friends again as we close let me just say this

[38:37] King Solomon here points forward again beyond himself to a greater king who would be born after him one who would be spoken of by the prophet Isaiah later on in the Bible in chapter 11 of Isaiah which if you're in a growth group you'll have studied in depth back at Christmas time and in that chapter Isaiah what he does is he uses all of the different words used to describe Solomon here and apply them to this king who's to come this new David not just a new king in the line of David but a new David Isaiah says that when he is born the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him the spirit of wisdom and discernment he will not judge by what appears to his eyes nor will he decide cases by what he hears with his ears but he shall judge the weak in righteousness that is his judgments are going to go deeper than even Solomon's judgments and he shall decide in uprightness for the downtrodden of the earth in other words

[39:39] Isaiah says that Solomon's wisdom and justice they are going to be utterly eclipsed by this new David and indeed they were for in Jesus Christ as we've just been singing we see God's greater king who rules not just in Israel but over all things he is the one in whom as Paul says has hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge my friends when he comes again he will ensure that all his people will receive justice every last one every wrong that they've experienced well he will put it right he will give even the most vulnerable lowly and powerless people in the kingdom sweet justice in the end let me just close with this wonderful thought since he is our king and since we are his subjects that means that we really can have amazing confidence that he will never ordain or order anything in our circumstances except what is in line with wisdom at its highest and its best whatever comes into your life as a subject of this king king jesus you know that he's brought it into your life and it's absolutely right for you because it's come from his wisdom being exercised so praise the lord for our greater king well amen let's be quiet for a moment bow our heads maybe respond to the word of god in the silence in your own heart and then i'll pray for us our gracious god and our generous loving heavenly father we praise you for raising up your messiah and that the spirit of wisdom and discernment rests upon him for all time and that whatever he does he does by wisdom at its highest and best we praise you that we live under his glorious loving and wise rule we thank you so much for the way in which you haven't left us as well to play desperate guessing games about how to please you in prayer we thank you that you have made it clear in your word so help us to follow the pattern seen here by your servant solomon to praise you for your faithfulness and also to intercede for your people and we pray that you will also give us the gift of wisdom both as individuals and as a corporate family as a church oh how we need your wisdom our great gift to discern what is right and wrong so that we may walk in your ways all the days of our lives for your glory and a wholehearted obedience so father please help us again thank you that you are so amazingly generous we pray that you will bless us with the gift of wisdom so that we will shine like stars reflecting your beauty to this city and beyond and we pray this in

[43:13] Jesus precious name amen