1 Kings 3 (Part 2) Bible Study (Solomon's Wisdom) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Those who honor me I will honor. Those who despise me, I will

lightly esteem. One of the primary ways that you

honor God is you honor His Word. You love His Word, You tremble

at His word. You consider the word of God the

voice of God. And we are going to hear from

the voice of God today in a exciting chapter in First Kings.

So meet me in First Kings Chapter 3 as we posture our

1 Kings 3 · chapter mention

hearts to hear from the living God in First Kings Chapter 3.

1 Kings 3 · chapter mention

And we are going to begin and study starting from verse 16,

First Kings 3 verse 16. Father, we bow before you in our

1 Kings 3:16

hearts, and we pray for a special help from the Holy

Spirit. Lord, we are privileged to be

students of your word. But, Lord, you call us more than

just students or servants. You call us friends.

Thank you for making us friends. Thank you that you've adopted us

to be your children. We are not orphans.

We belong to you. And we pray that we would hear

the voice of our father speaking exactly how we need to be taught

and encouraged and built up, maybe even convicted, so that we

can reflect the image of the one that we belong to.

Lord, We ask for a special unction, even in a Bible study,

that our hearts would be gripped by the truths in this time

together, and we pray that you would be exalted and blessed and

honored in it all. In Christ's name we pray.

Amen. Prayer is a privilege.

Prayer is a treasure. For the Christian, prayer is

often the object of much scorn and mockery by those who deny

God altogether. But what is the object of scorn

is the delight of the Christian, the St.

And one of the things that makes prayer such a privilege is that

it is God's invitation to us to come to Him and to open our

hearts, and to pour out what's in our hearts at His caring

feet, and to be. Assured every single time that

we don't not have to go to a brazen altar.

We don't have to bring specific types of animals that at any

place, anytime we can commune with God and we are promised His

listening ear. But the exciting thing about

prayer beyond that, beyond the access we have with God, as

amazing as that is, is that prayer will be answered.

God responds to prayer. He delivers.

He will move, He will act, He will respond to.

Consider this the creator and the sustainer of the heavens and

the earth will actually bend down and act upon the desperate

request of a creature. And you and I, beginning in

chapter three of this witness a man who prayed, we studied, a

man who realized the the great responsibility he had as a king

and could not fathom pursuing and advancing in that calling

apart from God's help God's hand on his life.

And so he prays. He asked God for his help.

He asked God to be endowed with certain discernment and skills.

And what you and I are going to see now for the rest of this

chapter is God answer that prayer.

Oh yes, God told him that he was going to do it.

But now we're going to see that answer materialize.

We're going to see it now manifest.

And that makes it a thrilling study.

Because apart from salvation, I can't think of a more thrilling

experience than knowing that God in heaven can actually answer

and intervene in my life when you and I pray.

God is going to answer Solomon's prayer.

Solomon prayed. God answered and promised to

provide and do more. And now we are going to behold

how God is going to allow Solomon experience that answer.

In a very dramatic scenario, Solomon now is going to know the

endowment, the enablement that has been assured by God in and

through him. And what we're going to do is

really just read the case that's going to pull on the wisdom that

Solomon received from God. But let's make this interactive,

shall we? I'm going to read these verses

before we see how Solomon's wisdom interacts with it.

And let's try to investigate and and draw insights and details,

Not just mere observations, but perhaps even some kind of

instruction in the scene before us today.

Let's read beginning of verse 16 and give your attention to this

as we complete a few verses at a time.

First kings 316. Then two prostitutes came to the

king and stood before him. 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.

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. 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. 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. 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. Thus they spoke before the king.

Any details, Anything that stands out to you that think

that you think will contribute to the understanding of this

passage, or at least color it in a way where we can draw some

principles? What things stand out to you?

What characteristics? Nobody else was in the house.

That's repeated over and over. We were the only ones in the

house. We were alone in the house.

That's going to be huge. That's going to really determine

how Solomon's going to really need to draw from God's wisdom.

Good, if we can answer like that.

Just rapid fire. Anything else standing out to

you Doesn't have to be this incredible revelation, just

observations. Yes, very good.

Two prostitutes were able to enter and stand before the

presence of the king. I believe that said something

about Solomon as well. Sorry, go ahead.

Not only that, they were arguing before the king, and I'll add to

that. The king lets them argue, and he

is silent. Good.

Anything else? These are great observations.

Observations that will be noted in this study.

Anything else? Once telling the truth, one

isn't, that's that's obvious, right?

We're going to see how Solomon's going to discover who's telling

the truth. Anything else?

Well, let me remind you again, this is how you and I get

something from the Bible. We talk to the Bible in a way.

We engage with the scriptures, we ask questions, and that will

make all the difference between you just scratching up a

devotional. Time and actually getting gold

from the Bible. Well, let's do this together.

Let's revisit verse 16. Then two prostitutes came to the

king and stood before him. Were these women moral or moral?

Immoral. Immoral.

They were prostitutes. They were harlots.

And they made a decision in their lives what to do with

their bodies. And the decisions that they

would make with their bodies brought turmoil upon themselves.

Is it not true? But not only did they experience

distress in their own lives, it's spilled over into the lives

of others, namely, these precious babies.

These precious babies, in fact, one of these woman.

Was so careless with her body and it reflected even in how she

treated the body of another innocent, precious child.

Because we we just read that one of these woman turned over

without caution and laid on top of a child and smothered that

baby to death. And so we see here that there is

this attitude of selfishness at play here.

And one of the one of the unfortunate things about

selfishness is that selfishness doesn't just affect self.

Other people have to. Endure the suffering that comes

from a person who is absorbed into themselves.

And so we see that these people who made the decision to live as

prostitutes, not only did that affect their lives, that affect

the lives of those in their close context, but not only did

it affect the lives of those in their close context, they became

a stain to society. This is, this is a public affair

now. This is a scandal and how true

it is of sin. Sin is not just in the air,

right? It starts in the heart.

This is where it overflows from. Jesus made that emphatically

clear. And sin is slippery.

Contrary to the false hope that many sinners have, the

repercussions of sin cannot be contained.

They can't be contained. You can't determine where your

decisions will take you. You can't determine the

collateral damage that your decisions and disobedience can

bring. And so we see this here. 2

prostitutes who lived in one home together are now on the

public stage nationally, so to speak, the Supreme Court of

Israel. And this is a reminder to us

that the stench and the sting of sin has a tendency to spread and

permeate beyond what you had hoped or imagined.

May we shun it from the beginning at the same time you

brought it up, sister. It's interesting to see Solomon

willing to engage with this dilemma as a king.

You know Solomon with his stature, with his with his

responsibility. He had every right to ignore

these citizens who are staying to this God centered culture.

He could have just shooed them away and let them endure their

pain, but instead he brings them and gives them a chance to

receive justice. And already you and I have a

glimpse of a king to come. Do you not?

One who is infinitely more holy and just than King Solomon, who

will also receive sinners, and he will eat with them, and he

will give him a chance to experience new life through

repentance and faith. Here are two prostitutes who

came before King Solomon. But the King of Glory, when you

read through the pages of the New Testament, comes to the

prostitutes. She is coming, one of these

women's coming to receive justice.

And our King leaves the throne and comes to those who are not

searching for him to begin with and sits with them in the homes

of tax collectors, in the homes where the religious leaders

would stick their nose in the air and look down upon.

Already we see just just a little stitch of what makes

Jesus greater than Solomon here. And now we read and we continue.

What do we notice? One of these woman's speak up.

The one woman said, Oh my Lord, this woman, verse 17, I live in

the same house. They live in the same house.

OK, clearly they don't have husbands.

And it makes you wonder what kind of house this was.

Probably a brothel, probably some kind of an inn where

inappropriate behavior regularly took place.

And so we know that this House is not a respectable abode.

It's questionable and we we're told that they live together.

And what's more important than determining what kind of home

this was was the fact that this child she says that she born

came into this world at a certain point and this other

roommate of hers had another child.

And what's the days of difference between these

children? Three days?

Three days? When it comes to infants 3 days

apart, is there much significant features that distinguish them?

Not really. Three days.

Very little to work with. If this one baby had been a few

weeks older, you wouldn't even have controversy here.

But you have two children. You have two babies coming to

this world three days apart. Very difficult to even

distinguish. I mean, only a mother can look

closely and see the difference as she confesses later.

But in terms of what this means for Solomon, you have very

little evidence. To work with in in terms of

making the right judgement and if it wasn't difficult enough to

have very little evidence. We heard it from our brother.

You have no eyewitnesses. What does she say?

Over and over again she said he she says it here at the end of

verse 18 and we were alone. There was no one else with us in

the house. Only we two were in the house.

No evidence, very little to work with in terms of evidence, and

no witnesses. This is what Solomon has to deal

with. How will he make a right choice

without risk? How will he solve this?

Where can he go with this? All he has now is 2

contradictory statements being made and you got to pick one.

You got to choose someone, and this is what thrilled my heart

when when studying this Out of all the potential circumstances

and predicaments, this is the one that the Lord brings to

Solomon to prove that his wisdom is in fact true.

It couldn't have been a little bit easier, no.

He gives them an almost impossible puzzle.

For what purpose? So that when the solution would

come about, Solomon would be absolutely convinced that the

wisdom he had. Was exceptional and given by

God. There would be no room for doubt

that if God will come through with what I asked for, then

certainly I have received my answer.

I want you to never forget that when God in His Providence

places you before something that seems absolutely impossible to

resolve, because that is by design as you walk in obedience

to His will. Remember this as a principle

that if I am standing before something that seems to be a

tight and tricky trial, how am I going to get out of this one?

Understand that by design, God LED you there so that when you

do come through, and you will, as long as you hold His hand,

both you and all the witnesses in your world will be able to

say, God did this, God did this. And that's why James can say

something. So bold as count it all.

Joy, my brothers, when you face trials of various kinds, What

specimen, What kind of human being can actually count it?

Joy When you face a trial, I'll tell you which one the Christian

not because of the Krishna, but because of the Christ in the

Christian's life. And so you really can't lose as

a Christian in your pilgrimage, because even things like this,

that seem like you don't know how you're going to get out of

this. You don't know how God's going

to be glorified in this. You don't know how you're going

to be able to exemplify Christ likeness in it and come out

successful, come out shining with his glory.

You will, because God often times brings us to these moments

so that you would come out believing him more and

confounding others who might have doubted him.

This is where Solomon's at. This is immediately following

his request to receive wisdom. And God says, I'll show you

wisdom and I'll show you that I'm with you and I'll prove

myself in and through you. Here are a couple of prostitutes

with no witnesses, with little to no evidence.

Now watch me work. Watch me work.

So you can smile, my brother. You can smile, my sister,

because of the Lord is. With you that he'll bring you

through. And that's what Solomon's going

to experience in a moment here. But look at this scene, this

interesting scene in verse 22. 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. Thus they spoke before the king.

So an argument breaks out in the throne room.

And that is often the case with people.

This is an extreme situation, but.

Tense relationships, accusations, lies, personal

offences are unfortunately far too common, especially believer.

Listen to me very carefully. As long as you live in

community, what you see here between these two women going at

it back and forth will be something that you will witness

on more than one occasion. I'm just preparing you, and what

we need is what Solomon has here.

As we do life with other people, Solomon's a leader.

Here's a king. He has governing authority.

He has a different kind of responsibility.

But this, this kind of context and situation is something that

you and I share in to some extent.

When we deal with people as Christians, and we're called to

bear one another's burdens, and we're called to confront sin,

we're called to listen to those who need some advice.

We need wisdom. You and I need wisdom from God.

Or else we'll do damage to ourselves and damage to others,

and ultimately damage to the testimony of Christ.

And so this is not just you and I studying an interesting story

and applauding it from a distance.

This is you and I saying, OK, yes, Solomon, receive a wisdom

that will never be repeated, but there is still an invitation for

me to receive wisdom. And I want to show you that

Solomon is exercising a wisdom that can be reflected on our own

lives before he even utters a word.

I believe Solomon is operating in wisdom before he even says

anything. You say how?

Look at the last part here, verse 22.

Thus they spoke before the King. Solomon's wisdom here is in his

silence. In his silence he has two women.

Here. They're both claiming something

contradicting each other and Solomon on his throne.

Let's one speak her mind and share her perspective and lets

the other speak her mind and share her perspective.

And this man is living out the principle that you see in two

verses in one chapter of the book of Proverbs.

The one is Proverbs 1813 and the other is a very well known one.

In Proverbs 1817 wisdom is not given to everybody, but it is

required of everybody. You and I are called to be a

wise people. And so let's glean some

practical wisdom. Here a couple ways that you can

assure yourself you can measure wisdom in your life.

Proverbs 1813 reads. If one gives an answer before he

hears it is his folly and shame if one brings an opinion, a

judgement before taking the time to gather as much necessary

data. It's foolishness.

It's foolishness. And often times people want to

try to prove their wisdom by interjecting halfway through

somebody's explanation to try to show that they are prophetic in

some sense. I guess I don't get it.

And the Bible says no, no, no, you have to actually wait and

hear before you give an answer. And part of waiting and hearing

before you give a judgement or opinion.

I'm telling you, so many Christians have made a mess of

so many relations because of they refuse to be wise in this

respect. One of the ways in which you and

I listen carefully before we give an answer is verse 17.

What does verse 17 say? The one who states his case

first seems right until the other comes and examines him.

The one who states his case first seems right until another

comes and examines him. It's a part of listening is also

including different perspectives depending on the nature of the

situation and how providential is this in a time in which we

are receiving hourly updates on a world scale.

There seems to be this pressure to make statements and to give

commentary on absolutely everything that comes your way.

You don't need to do that. You don't.

But because everybody's been given a platform, right, Which

is a blessing and a curse at the same time.

Because people who should have a voice can now have a voice, and

people who shouldn't have a voice.

They unfortunately have a voice. Be be careful.

Be wise. There's wisdom in silence.

There's wisdom in stepping back and examining.

There's wisdom in taking your time instead of allowing your

emotions to spring you into statements, to make judgments,

only to find ourselves to be foolish and shameful.

And so we're we're living in a different era of world history

now again because everybody has a platform.

And now not only your own little world, not only your family, now

you you are given access to what's happening across the

world. And so be very, very careful

because what you and I say and do ultimately reflects the one

that we love and serve. I don't want to be too specific

in this. I I think I I'm communicating

clearly enough, and Solomon here is showing that as a general

rule, when you and I are presented with a predicament of

problem, especially in our own world, Listen, ask, listen more,

inquire more, and patiently endure the temptation to try to

give a premature opinion or judgement.

Because if you and I desire to be wise, then what I just

explained from these two verses will help you do this and

applying it will clear your understanding so that your

vision will be more precise. In order that you can provide a

more specific and sound suggestion or an answer as what

Solomon does here. Look again in verse 23 First

Kings. Look at verse 23.

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.

What's Solomon doing there? He's making sure he got his

facts right. I just want to make sure I'm

clear here. So this is what you're saying

and this is what you're saying. And once that was affirmed, he

was able to now execute in wisdom, in wisdom.

Don't make decisions with your feelings.

Please, please don't do that right.

Ask the Lord for the ability to make statements, decisions,

moves, reactions, interactions with truth, with truth.

And the more truth you gather, the more confident you can be in

your answer, the more you save yourself from looking like a

fool. Is this what I'm hearing?

This is what you're saying about the child.

This is what you're saying about the child.

The silence here tends to agree that this is the case, and I

could not help but also at this point, think about Jesus.

Think about Christ and how he is greater than Solomon.

Do you know how? Because Christ will one day

return as king. And when he returns as king, he

will return as the king who judges the whole world.

He'll be a righteous dictator. And the beauty about King Jesus,

which is often found here, prophetically speaking, at least

in types and shadows with Solomon, is that he does not

need to and he will not need to do what Solomon does here and

what you and I have to do on a regular basis.

Let me prove that What do I mean by that?

And Isaiah 11, verse one and three.

This is a picture of Christ in terms of what he will do, his

ministry, what it would look like.

And in these first three verses you have what Christ will do in

his first coming, and also what he will do in his second coming.

Let me read these verses with you, verse one of Chapter 11.

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a

branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of

wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the

Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

Well, the fear of the Lord can't be what most people think the

fear of the Lord is if Jesus delighted in it.

This might disturb you, but it's OK.

It's Bible. Do you realize that Jesus Christ

in humanity feared the Lord? How many of us viewed Christ

that way? How many of us understand Jesus

in that sense? Jesus Christ feared the Father

and he delighted in it. So clearly the fear of the Lord

is a good thing. I'm very passionate about the

doctrine of the fear of the Lord.

If you can't tell, and this is the sevenfold ministry of the

Holy Spirit. You see this later on in

Revelation, The sevenfold ministry of the Holy Spirit.

It's explained here in Isaiah 11.

But notice this in verse 3. And His delight shall be in the

fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his

eyes see, or decide disputes by what His ears hear.

So when Christ does come, and he will come as King, there would

be no outward appearance or persuasive speech that will

alter or influence the accuracy of his assessment of every

single problem that will come before him as king.

Jesus doesn't need a jury. Jesus doesn't need eyewitnesses.

Jesus doesn't need security footage.

Jesus doesn't need fingerprints. Why?

Because the Lord Jesus knows what is in the heart of man, and

he can discern perfectly the depths of the human heart.

Oh, and when it comes to rule and reign, how swift that

justice will be, how pure it will be.

No one will be able to say anything about it.

No one will be able to blame him for anything.

No one will be able to correct them.

He will be able to bring justice.

Without the need to see anything or hear anything.

And that is true of Jesus when he comes to rule and reign.

But that is true of Jesus now. You and I can't hide from him.

This is the essence of the fear of the Lord.

In one way. Jesus is with me wherever I go.

He's with you wherever you go. If you really believe that

you're going to live differently, I promise you you

will. And so I can't wait for Christ

to come and to bring true justice to the earth.

He will come, Maranatha. May he come sooner than later.

The king on this particular occasion, did not have.

That much to work with. He didn't have the ability that

Jesus alone has, so he doesn't have eyewitnesses.

He has very little evidence. So what does he have to do?

He has to create his own evidence.

Solomon has to create his own evidence, and he's going to do

that in a very unorthodox way. On the surface it may actually

seem to be barbaric and just out of bounds.

Verse 24 and the king said, bring me a sword.

I wonder what the suspense was like at that point.

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.

Was there any gasp? I don't know.

The people break out in sweat. I don't know.

But I can imagine that there was much discomfort.

The king said divide the living child into and give half to the

one and half to the other. And this would prove to be

absolutely genius on Solomon's part.

But you know. Somebody earlier this week.

I don't even know if they knew we were talking about this at

this Bible study came with an interesting question, and I

presented to you because we know here that Solomon's purpose is

not to actually go through with this, right?

Solomon doesn't actually believe that this is the solution to

this problem. But what he is doing here is

that he is going to bring a test to measure the presence or the

lack of motherly affection and qualities of a true mother.

This is what he's doing. He's about to expose who here

truly has a heart of a mother. But the question was, this seems

a little bit deceptive on Solomon's part.

Because Solomon. Wasn't really going to do this

and the question was an interesting thought if this is

Solomon coming with a deceptive tactic to achieve his judgement.

He wasn't actually going to kill the baby, but the source of this

controversial approach was from God, evidently because this

wisdom would come from God. Does God here then promote a

form of dishonesty? There we say lying to achieve

certain ends. Do you understand the question?

I thought that was a thought provoking question.

How would you answer that? Any idea?

OK, but that's testing a faith. But what about actually?

OK, so you're looking at, from God's perspective, from

concealing certain matters, right?

OK, so you guys now are touching on the idea of God testing us

because he tested Abraham, right?

It's a test. So this is the.

So your answer would be this is more like a test than anything

else. This is, this is not, this is

not the Lord implementing, you know, duplicit things or he's

trying to be clever and sneaky. Would you guys agree with that?

I think that's a helpful answer. This is a test and I would.

Take it even further than that, because when you look at the

context and consider Solomon's position and responsibility,

then there's more light to be shed on this.

Solomon was a governing authority.

That was given the duty to do what?

To exercise justice in the land, to actually cleanse the land, to

even hunt for evil and to purge the land of evil right.

That was one of his responsibilities at least.

And as king with that sole and unique authority, he was also

granted with that certain approaches, certain permissions

to make his task effective. And maybe a modern example would

help. Because upon hearing that

question, this modern example came to mind.

Because in certain operations you have our police who will

undergo undercover, Undercover plans and investigations for the

purpose of what? Discovering evil?

Gaining evidence that would not be gained otherwise.

And you can almost say going undercover is what deceptive

you're camouflaging. To pretend to be something that

you're not, but with a righteous end, with a righteous goal in

mind, and none of us would criticize that, right?

None of us would look at that kind of a strategy and condemn

it, and rightfully so. And so the way I view Solomon

here, if this is a problem, we're seeing Solomon presenting

this in a in a certain way. Look at Solomon as a detective.

Seem here as somebody who is. Doing an investigation.

And part of that investigation is infiltrating, right?

It's to get deeper, go to the heart of the matter, discover

things that are cloaked, discover things that are not

easily perceived for the sake of what?

Executing justice. And God is behind that,

especially for those who hold certain positions that allow

them to punish evil and to establish that which is good.

And so the Lord enable Solomon here because of his unique

position and authority. To do so, and to do so very

well, yes, brother, you had your hand up.

Can you read it please? Psalm 1826.

With the purified you've shown yourself pure, and with the

truth you make yourself. Seem torturous?

Torturous, Yes. So is your question pertaining

to Solomon reflecting that truth?

Oh, I see. So you're saying because of the

nature of their sin and how they are dealing with things in a

crooked way, Solomon is responding in a crooked way as

well? Yeah.

I don't know if I would apply that certain verse to this, but

I think you are on to something in that Solomon has to, he has

to go about this in a different way to almost expose them at

their level, right. And and so he he is now doing

something that is wise. And coming down to a certain

level, meeting them at a certain level, and then from there

really pulling the sheets and exposing them and unveiling the

true nature of their heart posture.

So this is genius. And Solomon has all the

permission to do this. It's end is righteous, it is God

glorifying and it is good and it fulfills his role as a king.

And wisdom is the application of knowledge, right?

That's really what it is. A simple definition of wisdom is

the application of knowledge. You can be a knowledgeable

person. I know knowledgeable people.

They're not wise. They stumble, trip, bump into

things, socially speaking, financially speaking,

spiritually. They stuff their head with a

bunch of information that they're they're very good and

being able to rehearse facts and bring things to your attention.

But wisdom is being able to take all of that.

And to apply it to certain situations, ultimately

glorifying God. What is Solomon going to do

here? Divide the living child into and

give half of the 1 to the one and half to the other?

What is the knowledge behind this strategy that is bringing

him to formulate this kind of a plan?

What is he working with in order for him to bring this about?

The heart? Sure.

Think deeper. Who's he dealing with here?

What? What's the situation?

You have two women who are claiming to be what mothers.

They're claiming to be mothers. Solomon's Dilemma is who is the

true mother? What knowledge does Solomon have

here concerning a mother that is bringing him to this kind of

request? Motherly instinct, right?

Yes. OK.

And one of them is also a killer.

All right, so hold on. You have here, Solomon,

understanding something about the nature of a mother.

She has intrinsic love, sacrificial love, something

wired in her that's willing to do anything for her baby, right?

Any mother in here would know that.

And Solomon, knowing that now is taking that general truth and is

going to bring it to this situation.

That's what wisdom does. And as our brother said also,

these two mothers are blaming each other.

For the murder of a child. And the essence of this murder

is that there was carelessness involved, right?

Criminal negligence. One of these ladies apparently

rolled over during the night and smother the child to death.

So the way this is wired is that it would not only reveal who has

this true motherly instinct and nature.

But it also show who is the one who is less concerned of the

life of a child this is. Wise this is so good.

This is like, who said the Bible is boring?

Shame on you. Bible is not boring.

And so Solomon now is operating in wisdom and in a moment of

suspense the unmasking will take place.

And so he makes this strong suggestion, almost in the form

of a command. And verse 26 happens 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 neither might be mine nor yours

divide him. So let's look at these two women

separately, because not only do we have the success of Solomon's

wisdom before us, there's some things to learn between these

two women. Right?

So the first response is this woman, the same woman who opened

up this case to Solomon, pleading her innocence, is now

pleading for the life of her baby.

You have here the ingredients of true love.

Even in this story, you can. You can pluck something out of

it to apply in your own understanding of what true love

is. What's true love?

That you prioritize the well-being of someone else, even

if it's at your own expense. That you're willing to protect

and provide for someone else, even if it costs you.

Because that's what love does. It gives even if in that giving,

you have to surrender something. Can you think of something more

excruciating than a mother giving up her baby to the care

of someone else? And you can't do anything about

it? Can you?

Can you imagine that seeing a baby being handed over to the

supervision of someone else? And you know that this person is

careless. You know this person does a

really want to this child, and for the sake of that baby's

life, you're willing to pay that price?

Why? Because she loves that baby.

She loves that baby. That's what love does.

It surrenders. It prioritizes, it cost.

And what's so amazing about this woman is that she reflects the

exact opposite attitude of many people who are pro abortion.

Instead of yearning and protecting the life of babies,

they see them as a burden and they're gladly willing to

slaughter them in order to protect self.

You know, Paul told Timothy that one of the signs of the last

days, he lists all these different vices and one of them

stands out in light of this. It's in Second Timothy 33, it's

in the ESV, it's this. And you'll see if it goes on the

screen or if you want to turn there, you can turn there as

well. That one of the marks of the

last days is that there will be people in Second Timothy 33 who

will be heartless. I like how the King James words

it. Void of natural affection, Void

of natural affection. Things that are natural, like

the love that a mother would have for a baby, love in your

family. Things that are almost just

embedded in human nature. As we approach the end of all

things will become more and more rare, become less and less

common, and Jesus even said that there will be a coldness of love

for other people. As we approach the culmination

of the age, we tend to only think about rumors of wars and

wars. And that is true.

That is a mark. But the quality of men, one of

the marks, is that they will be void of natural affection.

That's a sign of the times, my friend.

The fact that we've slaughtered millions and millions of babies

is not divorced from prophecy. It's prophetic.

We're living in prophetic times and we tend to miss it.

But Paul spells it out clearly, and this woman here is is

showing that she does have natural affection.

I want that baby to live. And contrast it now with this

other lady and verse Kings 26th of Chapter 4.

And the second part You heard it, but the other said, He shall

be neither mine nor yours. Divide him, divide him can.

You imagine that. I mean, you've been making a

case that this baby is yours. And the moment you hear that

this baby can be killed, you don't even hesitate.

Here's the principle behind it. She professed one thing, but her

actions betrayed her. She confessed one thing, but her

deeds denied whatever confession or conviction she had.

And I looked at this verse and I thought to myself, we, here we

go, yet another example that time and certain opportunities

will either confirm or deny the legitimacy of your confession or

conviction. All takes is time and all takes

is certain opportunities to really show the sincerity of

what you might have confessed and the convictions you might

have had and even fought for, claimed to have.

Wow, isn't that fascinating? This woman claimed to be the

mother this woman claimed to be for the love of her child and

once this was brought forth she was exposed.

Jesus speaks about different soils and one of the seeds, the

word of God, would fall on rocky soil, and the rocky soil he

describes are those who receive the word of God initially with

what? Rejoicing.

That's the initial reaction This is.

Amazing. This is fantastic.

Yes, I want to follow this Jesus.

And in Luke's version, we were told they endure for a while.

Time. But when persecution arises on

account of the word, they're uprooted.

Certain opportunities, certain circumstances.

Here you have this woman. She had the confession strong if

I she was willing to go to court for it.

But when the opportunity, the time came, she was exposed of

being hollow and false. Why was she fighting for this

child then? Any idea why go through all this

effort? Why put yourself out there?

Why risk being exposed like this?

Well, let's make this certain. Did she love the child?

Oh, please say no. No, right?

Divide the child. Let it happen.

I'll take the 1/2. Who says that?

Who thinks like that? You would think that they would

both fight for the life of the child.

No one says forget it. So if this woman was willing to

be careless with this baby, surely she was careless with her

own. And that's what it reveals.

That's the wisdom of Solomon here.

Look at the difference here You have one mother who reflects

selfless love, and you have another woman who reflects

selfish ambition. One is so beautiful, the other

one is so ugly. May the spirit of Christ conform

us to that which is lovely. Look at verse 27.

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. I would love to be in that

courtroom to see the faces of people.

I would love to see the woman of that mother who was faking it

the whole time. Did her jaw drop?

Did they want to break out into tears?

We're not told, but what we are told is verse 28 and 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. When God gifts you with

something, when he empowers you in a certain way, not only will

he confirm it to you in one way or another, he'll confirm it

through the witness in the testimony of other people.

Remember that. Listen, if you believe God has

given you a call and he's giving you something special, something

supernatural, you don't have to parade it.

You don't have to advertise it. People will eventually recognize

it and see it, and that's the best way to do it.

That's the best way to do it is trust in God's Providence and

leading your life that it will be identified.

And let me give you a hint that if you're a person that's

wondering how is it that I can identify the gifts in my life,

God has ordained that the primary place for that to be

recognized is within the local church.

Because this is the primary arena where your gifts are

recognized and are utilized and other people benefit from it.

So if you're a person again who is eager Lord, what is it that

you have for me? How have you?

Furnished me. What is it that you want me to

do? Well, the longer you stay in the

local church and the more you build relationships with people,

and the more you respond to opportunity to serve, the closer

you will come. And if you're a true Christian,

I'm sure you want to know why you're here on the earth.

Side note, not really. In the main part, everybody saw

the wisdom that Solomon had a unique story, a unique measure

of wisdom. But an invitation for us still

to access wisdom for ourselves. I want to end here in this New

Testament text. Turn with me to James chapter

one. I referenced it earlier.

Many people know this verse, but they don't understand the

immediate context of this verse. Look at James chapter one, verse

2 counted all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various

kinds for you know James one verse 3.

For you know that the testing of your faith produces

steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its

full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in

nothing. Now it is an end there.

So what's that? What's he talking about here?

He's talking about what? Christians going through.

Trials is that. Does that tell you and I that

we're going to go through trials?

Yes. You're going to go through

trials of various kinds, various kinds of trials.

It might not look like the next person beside you because you

have a unique family, right? You have a unique marriage,

right? You have special children,

right? You work at a specific place,

right? So it's various kinds.

That's encouraging to you and I. Not just certain kinds of

trials, various kinds of trials. There's a spectrum of suffering

that this is for, but I can rejoice.

I can count it all joy. But that joy also is not just in

the truth that I can see the end of it.

There's going to be something produced in me as a result.

But look at verse five. If any of you lacks wisdom, let

him ask God, who gives generously to all without

reproach, and it will be given him.

Is James starting a random thought after this?

No, no, no, no. This is tied into the fact that

he just finished saying when you go through trials, Christians

count it all joy. So the instruction is still

within the context of you and I going through trials.

And one of the things that I do in trials, one of the commands

that God gives me as I go through these tribulations, is

not just to by faith counted all joy, but to ask God for wisdom.

So the asking God of wisdom is within the context of me going

through a trial when I go through something that, like

Solomon, seems difficult, unanswerable, challenging,

uncomfortable. I am commanded that if I don't

know what to do, how to respond, how to pivot to ask God for

wisdom. So here's what this tells me

too. That when I go through trials,

God allows trials. God expects me to talk to Him.

God expects you to talk to him when you go through a season of

trials. And it could be that many people

keep going through trials because you haven't caught that

yet. You still don't know how to go

to him and talk to him in your trials.

A lot of stubborn people. I know a lot of strong people.

And that's not a compliment, because it takes so much for

them to get on their knees and to ask God.

But here's the invitation. If any of you lacks wisdom, let

him ask God, who gives generously to all, to do what?

To know how to navigate through this trial.

Primarily, try to come out of the most successful, the

shiniest you can come out of it because that's what wisdom will

do. Wisdom will protect you from

making pitfalls, from making foolish decisions, and will

bring about the greatest success in your sanctification, if any

of you. I love that.

Not just kings and not just pastors.

If any of you likes it, let him ask God.

When was the last time you endure turbulence relationally

in the context of the Church, and you stopped and you ask God,

God, I need your wisdom. I don't know how to do this.

My flesh is telling me this. God, this is a very tangled and

complicated thing. Like Solomon, I have to make a

choice here. I have to stand on one side

here. The nature of my status in this

mess is that I am required to answer to it.

Lord, give me wisdom, please. That's God's will.

Notice it's not a suggestion, right?

If any of you lacks wisdom, if you feel like it, you can.

You can call God. No, let him ask.

It's an invitation, but it's also command your your

Commission to come to the Lord. And here's the beauty of it.

He will bring about and deposit in you something for that

specific trial. Some of you are very young here,

so you're hearing this and you're thinking, OK, live life

long enough and this will be a treasure.

Do life with professing Christians long enough and this

will be a refuge for you. But I even say as the world is

going through many trials and as Christians are stuck in the

middle. Let's ask God for wisdom and he

will give it to us. Lord, we thank you.

For this Bible study and we thank you that.

In this small portion of Scripture, you have awakened our

hearts to the beauty of your wisdom.

It's very possible, Lord, that there are people in here who are

suffering in one way or another and they feel like they're

suffocating because they don't know what move to make next.

They don't know how to answer. They don't know how to counsel.

They don't know whether they should give or not give.

They don't know whether they should keep or not keep.

They don't know if they should respond or not respond.

Lord, we ask for all the things that we might be going through,

things that are unspoken, unknown to our neighbors.

Give us wisdom. Give us wisdom and help us

believe that when we ask you, you can answer that you are a

God who says if any of you to the least, to the greatest, to

the minister, to the stay at home, Mom, you are willing to

give the same gift and we pray we would know what to do.

Lord, as we go tomorrow to serve you, give us power, energy.

May we be like Stephen and have our faces shine like an Angel.

It made people witness a people who are not of this world, a

royal priesthood, those who are unashamed and bold for truth,

those who have the same cry as this mother who in love are

willing to sacrifice time and energy to say let that baby

live. And so, Lord, we thank you that

your word is eternal. It is timeless.

It applies in every way for all things and all generations.

Lord, we want to glorify and give you thanks as we worship

you. In Jesus name we pray.

Amen. Amen.

Let's stand, fellow soldiers in Christ.