I thought it was wonderful that the first phrase of the first song today was, “Spirit of God, descend upon my heart.” Today we are going to talk about the heart. It is wonderful that we can ask the Spirit of God to descend upon our hearts today.
Before we get started, there are a few things I would like to go over. I will probably ask some of you to read Scriptures for me, or we may stop and pray several times during the ministry time. So do not be alarmed. And do not be alarmed if I ask you to turn around in small groups and talk to one another. If the Lord leads and we have time, we will probably do that.
If you are sitting by yourself, just turn to someone nearby, and I will explain later what to do. If somebody comes in later and does not know what is going on, just bring them into your group. Groups can be four or five people.
I am going to ask you to read a couple of Scriptures, and then you will turn around and discuss them for just a minute. It has to be quick. This is a way for you to interact with the Scriptures, because I like to teach more than preach. So that gives me the feeling that we are teaching. Everybody understand that? All right, let’s pray.
Lord, thank You so much that we have the precious Holy Spirit today. Thank You that we are Your dwelling place, and that we are here at Your house, Lord, to hear from You today.
Lord, though this message this morning is really quite simple, I believe that Your Spirit wants to speak it to our hearts in a new and fresh way. I pray that we would be encouraged, admonished, and even warned. Lord, do all this work today by Your Spirit. We rely upon You for all the work that You are going to do. We bless Your name, Lord Jesus. Amen.
We are going to be looking at David and Solomon and their hearts for the Lord. Before we begin looking in 1 Chronicles and Kings, I want to make sure we are all on the same page. I want to go over a few things before we look at the Scriptures.
Everybody knows these three references that I am going to mention now: Ephesians 2:22, 1 Peter 2:5, and Matthew 18:20. I am just going to read these and make sure that we understand a few things.
“In Whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit.”
— Ephesians 2:22
“Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house.”
— 1 Peter 2:5
“Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.”
— Matthew 18:20
We all know that the Old Testament had a physical building, but in the New Testament it is a spiritual one. We are the house of God. He does want to dwell among us, and He does dwell among us. His name is over us.
So there are three things: His dwelling is among us, His name is upon us, and His presence is with us.
As an aside, I really struggled. At first, I wanted to speak about the Lord’s name being upon us, but it seemed that the Lord wanted me to share about our hearts. Yet it is so important, brothers, that every time we meet, we declare that the name of the Lord is upon us, that His presence is with us, and that we are His dwelling place.
That very thing has been attacked, is being attacked, and will be attacked by the enemy when we meet together. We need to stand together every time and declare that the name of the Lord is upon us. We need to speak it.
What a privilege it is to come on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights and declare that to each other, to the Lord, and to all principalities and powers. That is a real honor. But we are not going to talk about that anymore, all right?
We are going to be talking about David’s heart for the temple. W. E. Vine states that the heart is used for “the hidden springs of the personal life.” It is the hidden man, the inward part not seen by outward eyes. It is where the wellsprings of life come from.
We know that the temple in the Old Testament was the Lord’s dwelling place. His name was upon it, and His presence was there. Over and over again, the Old Testament speaks of His name being upon His temple and upon His people.
So we see the same three things in the New Testament as in the Old Testament temple. We are all in agreement, then, about what the heart is and that the temple is a picture of the church.
Today we are going to look at how David’s and Solomon’s hearts were toward the temple. Hopefully, we will learn lessons about our hearts toward this place, this assembly.
I want to make it personal. I am praying that the Holy Spirit will make these simple things personal and real to us, so that when we are talking about the temple, you know that we are really talking about our assembly. The heart that David had is the heart that we should have. The heart that Solomon had—well, we will see.
Let us turn to 1 Chronicles. Put your finger near the end of 1 Chronicles. We will start in 1 Chronicles 28, but let me give you a brief overview.
In 1 Chronicles 17, we pick up the story of David, and that is where he first had the thought about the house of God. Chapters 18 through 21 record David’s victories. Chapters 22 through 26 describe the preparations David made for the temple. Chapter 27 describes his army. In chapter 28, the Lord gives David the plans for the temple. In chapter 29, gifts are given for the temple, Solomon is acknowledged as king, and then David dies.
Let us first look at 1 Chronicles 28. We are going to read verses 2–3 and 9–10.
“Then David the king stood up upon his feet, and said, Hear me, my brethren, and my people: As for me, I had in mine heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and for the footstool of our God, and had made ready for the building:
But God said unto me, Thou shalt not build an house for My name, because thou hast been a man of war, and hast shed blood.”
— 1 Chronicles 28:2–3
“And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve Him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek Him, He will be found of thee; but if thou forsake Him, He will cast thee off for ever.
Take heed now; for the Lord hath chosen thee to build an house for the sanctuary: be strong, and do it.”
— 1 Chronicles 28:9–10
Now turn to 1 Chronicles 29:14–19.
“But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee.
For we are strangers before Thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.
O Lord our God, all this store that we have prepared to build Thee an house for Thine holy name cometh of Thine hand, and is all Thine own.
I know also, my God, that Thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of mine heart I have willingly offered all these things: and now have I seen with joy Thy people, which are present here, to offer willingly unto Thee.
O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of Thy people, and prepare their heart unto Thee:
And give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart, to keep Thy commandments, Thy testimonies, and Thy statutes, and to do all these things, and to build the palace, for the which I have made provision.”
— 1 Chronicles 29:14–19
David said, “I had it in my heart to build a house, a place for God.” The more I have studied this, the more I have seen that David had an amazing heart for the Lord.
Turn to 1 Chronicles 17. Remember, as we look at David’s heart, think of your own heart. Think of your own heart.
The last verse of 1 Chronicles 16 says that all the people went home, each to his own home, and David returned home to bless his family. They had been offering sacrifices, and everybody was going home to rest. They were tired and wanted to go home.
“Now it came to pass, as David sat in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, Lo, I dwell in an house of cedars, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord remaineth under curtains.”
— 1 Chronicles 17:1
Nathan replied to David, “Whatever you have in mind to do, do it, for God is with you.” But that night, the word of God came to Nathan.
“Go and tell David My servant, Thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not build Me an house to dwell in.”
— 1 Chronicles 17:4
Evidently, David’s thought was to build a house, although he did not explicitly say so. He was saying, “Lord, You do not have a place like I do.” It was in his heart at that moment to build a house for the Lord.
The Lord said that He had not dwelt in a house from the day He brought Israel up out of Egypt. He had moved from one tent site to another, from one dwelling place to another. He asked, “Did I ever say to any of Israel’s leaders, ‘Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?’”
What was the Lord saying? “David, I have not given you a command. I have not given you a command for this.” Yet David’s heart somehow understood that God wanted a dwelling place. That is an amazing thing.
David had not heard this from anybody else. God had not said it. Yet David had a heart that understood what God wanted.
Do we have hearts that understand, almost without being told, what the Lord wants? Many times we are saying, “Lord, tell me what to do. Tell me what to do. Tell me what to do.” But I believe the Lord wants us to have the heart of David concerning His house: that almost without being told, we understand what the Lord desires and what He wants.
That would be an amazing thing—to be in that place where we have hearts that really want the Lord. David understood what God wanted, and he purposed in his heart to do that.
Do you sense the Lord’s desire for a house, for a dwelling place among us? Do you have that sense when you come—that the Lord wants to dwell here and wants to have a place for His name? Is it in your heart to build that?
Do you have a purposeful heart in that direction when you come and when you are with God’s people? Do you desire that the Lord would dwell here? We need to have that kind of heart of David.
There is a promise here that perhaps we could stand on for one another. At the end of 1 Chronicles 17:10, the Lord says, “I declare to you that the Lord will build a house for you.”
David had a heart for God’s house, and the Lord said to David, “You have had a heart for My house; I am going to have a heart for you and for your house.” To me, that is a great lesson. The Lord is for you—for your house, your family, and what you are doing. The Lord will bless that if you give your heart to Him and to His house.
That is an amazing promise. Perhaps, if the Spirit leads, we can stand on that for one another in the days to come. When households have trouble, we can stand on this: if we have a heart for the Lord, His heart will be turned toward us.
Turn back to 1 Chronicles 28:9. David had a purposeful heart.
“And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve Him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind.”
— 1 Chronicles 28:9
Wholehearted devotion is a heart given totally to the Lord. Listen to these references from Psalm 119:
“Blessed are they that keep His testimonies, and that seek Him with the whole heart.”
— Psalm 119:2
“With my whole heart have I sought Thee: O let me not wander from Thy commandments.”
— Psalm 119:10
“Give me understanding, and I shall keep Thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.”
— Psalm 119:34
Personally, I am a half-hearted person. By that I mean I am restrained and reserved. I do not like to give my heart, or anything, one hundred percent. I can hold back a little, observe for a while, and take my time. I do not like to jump into things. Well, that is my excuse, really. I do not like to give my heart totally.
I believe I have given my heart totally to my wife in our marriage. But in other areas, I like to hold back. I do not know whether any of you are like that. Some people seem to jump in headlong into anything, but I am just the opposite.
But concerning God’s house, we are to be wholehearted like David was. We are not to be half-hearted about it. The Lord wants all of our hearts, all of our devotion—a wholehearted devotion.
Our hearts are not to be divided, and our hearts are not to be diverted. They are to be devoted. Sometimes our hearts are divided, and we cannot devote ourselves wholeheartedly to the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, we need a heart search. We will talk about that, but let us ask the Lord to give us hearts like David’s, hearts wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord.
First Chronicles 28:9 says that “the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts.”
“Search me, O God, and know my heart:
Try me, and know my thoughts:
And see if there be any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.”
— Psalm 139:23–24
David knew what this heart was. It is a searched heart. David’s heart was amazing because he wanted his heart to be searched.
How many of you really want someone to search your heart—to open all the doors and go where all the shadows are? David had dark places in his heart, but he asked the Lord, “Search my heart.”
That is an amazing thing that we need concerning God’s house, when we are with God’s people, and in our devotion to the Lord: “Lord, search my heart.” To have a heart that asks the Lord to search us is an amazing thing.
So often we want to hide from the Lord. We want to hide from each other. We do not want the Lord to lay bare our hearts. But the Lord wants to search our hearts, and He wants us to have a heart that wants to be searched.
Implicit in opening your heart to the Lord is humility. A humble heart says, “Lord, search me.” A proud heart does not want to be searched, but a humble heart says, “Lord, whatever You find, I agree with.”
Will you agree with the findings of the Lord? When you say, “Lord, search me and try me and know my heart and see if there is any wicked way,” the Lord will show you. When the Lord searches your heart, He wants you to apply the blood to it. He wants you to say, “Lord, You are right.” He wants you to agree with His findings.
So often, I do not know that we really agree with the findings of the Lord in our hearts. I believe the Lord wants us to agree with that searching He wants to do. Brothers and sisters, let us have humble hearts like David’s that say, “Search me, O Lord, and try me.”
We can be fake so often with God. But when you pray a prayer like that, you need to mean it. If you do, I really think the Lord will search your heart.
Look at 1 Chronicles 29:18. The people had given generously to the Lord in this chapter. Between David and the people, they gave three hundred tons of gold, over and above what David had acquired. Amazing generosity was upon the people, and it came from joy that they were building the house of God.
David said:
“O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of Thy people, and prepare their heart unto Thee.”
— 1 Chronicles 29:18
I believe David was referring to the joy of heart they had in giving toward the building of the temple of God.
I believe the Lord wants to keep our hearts. I call this a preserved heart—a kept heart. Many times you have a burst of joy in service, or the Lord speaks to your heart, and you really sense His presence with you. Then somehow, a week later, it is gone, and your heart starts getting crusty and hard again.
If we have the heart of David, which I think we all want, we need to have this prayer in our hearts: “Lord, preserve my heart. Keep my heart.”
Think of those times in your life when you knew you were wholeheartedly for the Lord. Think of the joy you felt when the Lord searched you, knew you, and you confessed and were humble before Him. These are the things that the Lord wants to keep. He does not want them to dissipate.
He does not want you to constantly have a hardening heart and a hard heart. He wants you to be kept. We need to pray that for each other and for ourselves.
The last thing is 1 Chronicles 29:19: “Give my son Solomon a wholehearted devotion,” or, as another translation says, “Give my son Solomon a perfect heart.”
“Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?
Or who shall stand in His holy place?
He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart.”
— Psalm 24:3–4
“I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way.
O when wilt Thou come unto me?
I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.
I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes.”
— Psalm 101:2–3
These Psalms show that David wanted to have a perfect heart before the Lord. We are to have that same desire, especially in dealing with the Lord’s house. We are to come with perfect hearts, clean hearts, and clean hands. We are not to come with hearts dirtied by the world. The Lord wants us to have clean hearts.
As we step back and look at David’s life, there is so much here. We could read all these chapters, and I believe you would see that for David, it seemed to be all about his heart. “Lord, You try the heart. You search the integrity of the heart. Lord, make my heart this way and that way.”
David was really concerned about his heart, and he had a great heart for the Lord. David was concerned about living a real life before the Lord.
Keep these things in mind: David had a purposeful heart, a devoted heart, a searched heart, a preserved heart, and a pure heart.
Now let us go into 2 Chronicles and look at Solomon.
In chapter 1 of 2 Chronicles, Solomon establishes himself firmly over his kingdom. In chapters 2 and 3, the temple is built. It took seven years to build this temple. In chapter 4, the temple is furnished. In chapter 5, the ark is brought in.
“Then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord;
So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God.”
— 2 Chronicles 5:13–14
Just about the same thing happened in 2 Chronicles 7:1. That was an amazing thing.
But in all those chapters, it does not say anything about the heart. That really struck me: the difference between the description of David and the temple, and Solomon.
It is almost like Solomon was living on the heart of David. Over and over again, he says, “My father David,” and he goes to the Lord saying, “Because my father David did this.” But it never mentions, as far as I could find, that Solomon really had a heart like David’s.
It seems more like duty: “You are chosen to do this, build the temple.” Praise the Lord, he did it, and the Lord used him. But something was not right. Even without knowing the end of the story, you read this and think, “You have not mentioned a reliance upon the Lord, that He would open your heart and give you a heart for Him.” Nothing is there like that.
That made me realize that in the Lord’s house, there are no heart transplants. God is not going to take somebody else’s heart because you would love to have it and put it into yours. You cannot say, “Lord, make me like so-and-so. Give me their heart.” That is not going to happen. You have to have a heart that is yours.
Solomon could not live off David’s heart, even though he had a great heritage.
We are going to look at Solomon’s prayer in 2 Chronicles 6. This is where we will divide into groups. You can turn to your spouse or to a small group. You only have a minute for each section.
As I read, think of a good one- or two-word title for each section. What is it talking about? Put yourself aside from congregation mode and more into student mode.
Let us look at 2 Chronicles 6:18–21.
“But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee; how much less this house which I have built!
Have respect therefore to the prayer of Thy servant, and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to hearken unto the cry and the prayer which Thy servant prayeth before Thee:
That Thine eyes may be open upon this house day and night, upon the place whereof Thou hast said that Thou wouldest put Thy name there; to hearken unto the prayer which Thy servant prayeth toward this place.
Hearken therefore unto the supplications of Thy servant, and of Thy people Israel, which they shall make toward this place: hear Thou from Thy dwelling place, even from heaven; and when Thou hearest, forgive.”
— 2 Chronicles 6:18–21
The titles suggested were “total information to the temple” and “answered prayer.” This is simply about getting into the Word.
Now look at 2 Chronicles 6:22–23.
“If a man sin against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to make him swear, and the oath come before Thine altar in this house;
Then hear Thou from heaven, and do, and judge Thy servants, by requiting the wicked, by recompensing his way upon his own head; and by justifying the righteous, by giving him according to his righteousness.”
— 2 Chronicles 6:22–23
One title was “judgment.” That is good.
Now 2 Chronicles 6:24–25.
“And if Thy people Israel be put to the worse before the enemy, because they have sinned against Thee; and shall return and confess Thy name, and pray and make supplication before Thee in this house;
Then hear Thou from the heavens, and forgive the sin of Thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which Thou gavest to them and to their fathers.”
— 2 Chronicles 6:24–25
The title suggested was “forgiveness” or “restoration.” There are many things you could say here.
Now 2 Chronicles 6:26–27.
“When the heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against Thee; yet if they pray toward this place, and confess Thy name, and turn from their sin, when Thou dost afflict them;
Then hear Thou from heaven, and forgive the sin of Thy servants, and of Thy people Israel, when Thou hast taught them the good way, wherein they should walk; and send rain upon Thy land, which Thou hast given unto Thy people for an inheritance.”
— 2 Chronicles 6:26–27
The point here is repentance: they turn toward this place, confess His name, and turn from their sin.
Now look at 2 Chronicles 6:28–31.
“If there be dearth in the land, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting, or mildew, locusts, or caterpillers; if their enemies besiege them in the cities of their land; whatsoever sore or whatsoever sickness there be:
Then what prayer or what supplication soever shall be made of any man, or of all Thy people Israel, when every one shall know his own sore and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands in this house:
Then hear Thou from the heavens, even from Thy dwelling place, and forgive, and render unto every man according unto all his ways, whose heart Thou knowest; for Thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men:
That they may fear Thee, to walk in Thy ways, so long as they live in the land which Thou gavest unto our fathers.”
— 2 Chronicles 6:28–31
I have provision as a title, but I am not sure. Let us go on to 2 Chronicles 6:32–33.
“Moreover concerning the stranger, which is not of Thy people Israel, but is come from a far country for Thy great name’s sake, and Thy mighty hand, and Thy stretched out arm; if they come and pray in this house;
Then hear Thou from the heavens, even from Thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to Thee for; that all people of the earth may know Thy name, and fear Thee, as doth Thy people Israel, and may know that this house which I have built is called by Thy name.”
— 2 Chronicles 6:32–33
I think this is a great picture of evangelism. What if this place were filled with that? People would say, “Wow, look what God is doing there. See the mighty hand of God.”
To me, that is what the house of God and evangelism are about, apart from God gifting evangelists to go out. The presence of the Lord should be evident. We have a great name over us. The foreigner comes, prays toward this temple, and the Lord hears from heaven so that all the peoples of the earth may know His name and fear Him.
We will talk about victory and repentance later. Then, in 2 Chronicles 7:1, when Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.
This is twice that Solomon saw the glory of God visibly fill the temple, the dwelling place. He saw that God’s glory filled the temple.
Now look at 2 Chronicles 7:12–16. Here is the Lord’s reply.
“And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to Myself for an house of sacrifice.
If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people;
If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Now Mine eyes shall be open, and Mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.
For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there for ever: and Mine eyes and Mine heart shall be there perpetually.”
— 2 Chronicles 7:12–16
This is a really wonderful verse: “I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that My name may be there forever. My eyes and My heart will always be there.”
The Lord says, “My eyes and My heart will always be there.” Brothers, for us it is the same thing. The Lord’s eyes and His heart will always be among us.
I believe that the body of Christ is an expression of the heart of God. His heart is expressed among us, and His desires are expressed among us. As our hearts are toward the house, the Lord’s heart is revealed there.
To me, that is a wonderful picture. He desires our hearts to be toward His house, and His heart is toward it as well. There is a duality there that makes the house of God a wonderful place to be.
Now I want you to review. We have not heard anything, even in Solomon’s prayer, about his heart. Solomon had a great father. He had many instructions, prayers, and admonitions. God spoke to Solomon twice.
God had given him the most glorious of earthly kingdoms. God gave him wealth beyond imagining and wisdom beyond that of any other man who had ever lived on earth. Yet there was a problem with Solomon.
First, Solomon was warned. His father encouraged him to carry out the commands of the Lord his God. First Chronicles 28:9 says, “If thou seek Him, He will be found of thee; but if thou forsake Him, He will cast thee off for ever.”
Second Chronicles 7:19 warns:
“But if ye turn away, and forsake My statutes and My commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them;
Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of My land which I have given them.”
— 2 Chronicles 7:19–20
The Lord was saying, “Solomon, obey Me.” You would think that Solomon, the wisest man, with the heritage of a father whose heart was open before him, would understand this.
David’s heart was not veiled to his people, and especially not to his son. David expressed his heart for God and for the temple. Solomon knew all of that, just as we know so much about the way our hearts should be. We have so much knowledge, just like Solomon. Yet Solomon had a problem.
First Kings gives the same story of Solomon but shows some things about him that Chronicles does not. Turn to 1 Kings 11. I do not want this section to be discouraging. This does not have to be you.
“But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites;
Of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love.
And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.
For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.”
— 1 Kings 11:1–4
The command was clear: “You must not intermarry with them.” Why? “Because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.”
Nevertheless—what a loaded word. Solomon, with all his heritage, all he had seen, and all the commands about keeping his heart, still had this “nevertheless.”
“Nevertheless Solomon clave unto these in love.”
— 1 Kings 11:2
Solomon had a divided heart. It probably started when he was solidifying his reign, in the first four years of his reign. He began building the temple after four years.
His first wife, I think, was an Egyptian. He may have married Pharaoh’s daughter in order to make an alliance with Egypt and establish his kingdom. I think he did that even before he started building the temple, or very shortly after.
It is almost as if Solomon had the seeds of his own heart’s destruction while he was in the middle of praying that wonderful prayer and seeing the glory of God in the temple. He had this wife, and he knew it was not right. His heart was divided almost from the beginning.
Then he married more and more wives, and his heart loved them. They turned his heart away.
Not only did he do that, but 1 Kings 11:5 says that he followed Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord.
First, he made what may have seemed to him a legitimate alliance. Then his heart was turned. The love of his heart left devotion to the temple, and he started worshiping other gods.
First Kings 11:7 says that on a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for these gods. He did the same for all his foreign wives.
Here was a man whose father had a heart for the Lord, and who was instructed to have a heart wholly devoted to the Lord. Yet, in the end, he was building temples to foreign gods and worshiping them.
I am sure he did not mean to start out that way, but his life led him down that path. He was enticed away, and his heart was turned from what it should have been focused upon.
Brothers and sisters, do we do the same thing? I do not want you to be discouraged or downhearted, because we want to see how the Lord can solve this. But is your heart diverted sometimes, just a little bit?
Are you not wholehearted toward the Lord? What is the thing that is diverting your heart? It can be something legitimate. It can be something you think is good, yet it is pulling your heart away. Your heart is not wholly devoted.
It may start out as something legitimate, and then you begin loving it. It turns your heart totally away from the Lord. Then you start building a place of worship there.
It seems to me that where our heart goes, that is where we go for worship. That is where we worship. If the love of our heart turns toward something, we build a high place there and begin to worship.
The New Testament talks about idolatry even for Christians, does it not? James 4 speaks about spiritual adultery. You feel like saying, “Solomon, Solomon, how could you do that?”
It started with something very small, I am sure. Yet after a while, he probably had many high places all over the land.
Verse 9 says something so sad:
“And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice.”
— 1 Kings 11:9
It is almost as if the Lord were saying, “I appeared to you personally twice. What more could I have done?” The Lord has been gracious to us. He has revealed Himself over the years to us in marvelous ways.
Let us keep our hearts pure toward the Lord, wholly devoted.
One more section, and then we will come back and talk about how the Lord wants to solve this. We have already seen the answer; we have studied it.
I want to talk about enticement—how we are enticed away. I feel this is the enemy’s tactic with us: to entice our hearts away, perhaps a little at a time, until the love of our hearts goes somewhere else.
This passage is often interpreted as speaking about prostitution, but it is not only about that. It is about the enticements of the world upon you. Let us read Proverbs 7:6–27.
Think about Solomon. Think about your own heart. Think about the things the Lord might be telling you now: “Your love is being diverted to this thing. This is how you should view what is happening.”
“For at the window of my house
I looked through my casement,
And beheld among the simple ones,
I discerned among the youths,
A young man void of understanding,
Passing through the street near her corner;
And he went the way to her house,
In the twilight, in the evening,
In the black and dark night:
And, behold, there met him a woman
With the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.
(She is loud and stubborn;
Her feet abide not in her house:
Now is she without, now in the streets,
And lieth in wait at every corner.)”
— Proverbs 7:6–12
Brothers and sisters, this is for all of us. The world is everywhere, at every corner. It is lurking, first of all, to pull your heart away with some desire, some want. It is out there, and you need to see that.
See it as you would see a prostitute trying to come after you. Do not see it as a beautiful thing. It is out there.
“She hath beaten down many wounded:
Yea, many strong men have been slain by her.
Her house is the way to hell,
Going down to the chambers of death.”
— Proverbs 7:26–27
Here is what she says:
“I have peace offerings with me;
This day have I paid my vows.
Therefore came I forth to meet thee,
Diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry,
With carved works, with fine linen of Egypt.
I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning:
Let us solace ourselves with loves.
For the goodman is not at home,
He is gone a long journey.”
— Proverbs 7:14–20
Listen to those arguments. If you separate those verses from the rest of the context, they sound wonderful. That is how Satan attacks us so much with the heart: he presents things that sound so good, yet it is a prostitute pulling you away from your house to her house.
Just like Solomon, the temple was where he should have been. In the end, he ended up in the house of other gods, worshiping them.
“With her much fair speech she caused him to yield,
With the flattering of her lips she forced him.
He goeth after her straightway,
As an ox goeth to the slaughter,
Or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;
Till a dart strike through his liver;
As a bird hasteth to the snare,
And knoweth not that it is for his life.
Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children,
And attend to the words of my mouth.
Let not thine heart decline to her ways,
Go not astray in her paths.”
— Proverbs 7:21–25
When you hear this, put in your mind whatever enticement you can think of. When you start following that enticement of your heart, this is what you are like: an ox going to the slaughter, a deer stepping into a noose, or a bird darting into a snare, little knowing that it will cost him his life.
“Do not let your heart turn to her ways.” This is what led me to this chapter. It is all about turning your heart to somebody else’s way, going to somebody else’s house.
“Her house is the way to hell,
Going down to the chambers of death.”
— Proverbs 7:27
If we would look upon those enticements and see the end result, and if the Lord by His Spirit would show us the ugliness of a divided heart and where it will lead, perhaps we can be wise.
We can be wise in what we watch. We can be wise about where the love of our heart is going.
You may say this morning, “I know my heart is divided. What am I going to do?” Let us go back to what David said.
Only the Lord can try your heart. If you try your heart by yourself, you cannot do it. But you can say, “Lord, try me. I want to have a humble heart, so that when You try me and show me where I am going astray in my life, I will respond.”
I am talking about what you will be doing this week after you leave here, because that is where it will happen—outside of this house. When you go out, somebody or something will be pulling your heart away from Him.
Cry out to the Lord: “Lord, give me a pure heart. Lord, try my heart. Know my heart. Lord, work in my heart.”
When He shows you something, put it under the blood of Jesus. Only that will cleanse your heart. Then ask for a pure heart. Ask the Lord to keep your heart pure.
One reason I have been burdened with this is that I have personally sensed a blasé attitude about the house of God—a sense that our hearts are not really devoted.
It is like it is okay to do it for a little while, but then we are not fully devoted to the Lord. It can be your work, TV, a hobby, or many legitimate things. It could even be your family. I do not know. The enemy is so tricky in this.
But brothers and sisters, we must ask the Lord to show us where our hearts have been divided. He wants a whole heart—hearts wholly given to Him. Let us pray.
Lord, thank You so much that David’s heart is the heart You want us to have—a heart like David’s, Lord.
I pray that this morning we would not have divided hearts, hearts pulled away, but that we would be devoted to You. Thank You so much for Your Spirit that dwells in us individually and among us corporately.
Lord, He will lead us and guide us. He will show us our hearts. I ask this morning for humility of heart, that we may see those ways that need to be straightened out, Lord, and that You would lead us and guide us in the days to come.
We bless You, Lord, and thank You so much for speaking to us today. Amen.