Alright, as we look at this chapter 2, we've seen David turning over the reins, if you will, and literally beginning to reign over Israel. Quite a bit of difference between David's reign and that of Solomon. When Solomon came on the throne, he had to fight for several years just to just to preserve his life from Saul. God finally took Saul out of the way, and then God preserved him from all the enemies that border Israel. They began to attack, and Philistines that were especially intent on trying to get rid of David, he was their archenemy. And so he had all those battles to fight. Though he was, as it says in your notes there, he's a sweet psalmist of Israel, but in the middle of all that, and quite a contrast in the personality of David as you look at him as a person. Here's a man who was the most noted warrior king of Israel, and he's also the most noted hymn writer, if you would. wrote far more psalms than anybody else. He's noted as the sweet psalmist, and yet he was the greatest warrior king. That's quite a combination of individuals that you see in David, and of course, their abilities that God gave him. So his life and his reign was a testimony of the purpose of God. and preserving him, establishing him, his throne, making his throne the means by which, according to the flesh, that Israel's king would ultimately come, the Lord Jesus Christ. I do want to get into what it mentions here in the introduction there. We're going to get into that a little bit, but the Davidic covenant we have to be reminded of in 2 Samuel chapter 2 and verses 12 through 7 because it's so important. There are a couple of things that are very important that we can learn from these lessons and one of those is the history of Israel, the covenant that God made with David and how he used Israel not only to give us the Word of God starting with the prophets but also to bring to us the King, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, at the same time, you see a lot of things about David's life and we'll see a lot of things about these other people's lives that fits in with what Paul says in 1 Corinthians. These things are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world will come. So there's a lot of things we can learn about the people and lessons we can learn from their life as well as God's overall purpose. So all these things that have happened have to do with, in our lesson today even, it has to do with both David and then Solomon's position and his responsibilities. The same thing is true in their personal life. So when you come to verse, into chapter 2, Solomon has already been anointed as king. David had him recognized as king. We have his coronation. He literally came in and sat upon the throne. And so he is established as the king, but David is still there. Solomon was early thirties. I think thirties when he came to the throne. Thirty or thirty-two. I haven't looked ahead to see exactly what the Word of God tells us for his exact age, but it was right around that point. But young and very inexperienced in many ways. And David certainly knew that he didn't have the experience he had. So that's a big thing. The experience. that we can learn from other people's lives. And Solomon not only needs it for his personal life, but he needs it in his professional life, as you will, as a king. He's going to become a leader, and the leader, and that's a huge step to take. In verse 1 it says, Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die, And he charged Solomon his son, saying, I go the way of all the earth. Let's look at David for a little bit first. He charged Solomon. He gives a charge for Solomon's success. If you're going to be successful as a king and successful as a man who has all this responsibility, Here's how you have to do it. It's not a suggestion. It's a charge. And we'll look at that in just a minute. But first of all, he's remembering, and we need to remember the Davidic covenants I just mentioned. 2 Samuel chapter 7 and verse 12. So if you hold your hand here, I want to look back at this because we have to keep this in mind because it's what David is referring to in much of what is said. In 2 Samuel 7, verse 12, God said through Nathan, and when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seat after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. So notice what it says here to begin with. When thy days be fulfilled. And now in our text it says, now the days of David drew nigh that he should die. That's what it's telling us. It's not just the fact that, well, David was about to die. It's more than that. It's reminding us of what God said to David. When thy days be fulfilled. We have, all of us have an allotted time. But what this is talking about in 1 Kings chapter 2 is even more than that. It has to do with the promises of God and the prophetic statements of God. God said, when your days are fulfilled, so there's a course for your life and what God purposed for David to accomplish. And then that's it. David desired to build a temple for God. God said, no, you can't. There's too much blood on your hands. You can't build a temple unto me. Your son's going to do that. Well, the Bible says here, when the days of David drew nigh, that means when his days drew nigh, that his days were fulfilled. He'd run his course. It says that about John the Baptist in the book of Acts, and when his course was fulfilled. Well, he was only Not 31, maybe, 31 and a half, something like that. He was an extremely young man. He died in what we would say was the prime of his years. Right as he reached his prime, he died, and we would say, that's a tragedy. It wasn't a tragedy. It was a tragedy for the people that were involved in his death because of their sin, but it wasn't a tragedy that he died when he died. He fulfilled his course. Can we say we fulfilled our course and we've done everything that God put us here on this earth to do? It's not about how long we live. It's what we do with the years we have. The tragedy is not that people die. That's the tragedy that came in because of sin. We all die. We go the way of all the earth, as it says here in this passage. It goes on, and it says in verse 2, he says, I go the way of all the earth. We're all going this way. But there's more to it than this. David fulfilled God's purpose for him. Not because David was so great, but God worked in his life in spite of his sin and his failures. God accomplished what God had for him to do, and now it's time to go. It's as simple as that. All of David's sons, when you look at the history that comes from him, All of David's sons failed. The Bible tells us one major point, and that's all it tells us. Now we know that they did more wrong than that because they're sinners. But for the most part, their life was, some of these kings lived in a way that pleased God. But then God always points out they still had this failure. And that's true until you come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Every one of them, at some point, the throne was vacated as far as they were concerned. But that's not true with Christ. The covenant was confirmed in Christ. And so when you come to Acts chapter 2 and verses 33 and 36, and if you can hold your hand in both those places here for a minute because we're going to come back. But if you look in Acts chapter 2, this covenant that God made to David is fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. In everything that's part of that covenant, there's nothing in that covenant that's conditional. Except it depends on the mercies of God. Now, so Acts chapter 2, Peter points out this in verse 33. Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he has shed forth this which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens, but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool. Well, David hasn't ascended to the right hand of God, but Christ has. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ. He fulfills one of the messianic offices. He's a king. He has made him both Lord and Christ. And so David fulfills this. When you look through the rest of this covenant back here in chapter 2 Samuel 7 and verse 12, again notice it says, I will set up thy seed after thee. In other words, and then he gets very specific about this. Which shall proceed out of thy vows? Why is that so important? Well, because God wants us to make sure we don't misunderstand this as some heretics have. And then unsuspecting Christians sometimes fall into this. I had a man tell me a few years back that Christ is the seed of Abraham and of David in a spiritual way. I said, really, you think that's all? That Mary just was a surrogate mother? Because that's what he was trying to say. and wasn't actually from her, made of a woman? I said, the Bible says made of a woman, and then God said when he promised to David, he said, out of thy bowels. How do you get only a spiritual seed out of that? You can't. That's the answer. You can't. God makes it very clear. It's a physical seed. He's a real human being, and David's in his bloodline. In other words, If you could do a DNA test on both of them, it would work out just right. Now, verse 13 says, He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. Now, this passage tells us that this extends through not just the immediate son after David, because he says, If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men. But, that's an adversative. But, regardless, in other words, that won't change my covenant. My mercy shall not depart away from him. as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee." God's mercies. We're in 2 Samuel chapter 7, verses 12 through 17, dealing with 1 Kings chapter 2. My mercy shall not depart away from him. And thine house, that is, those that come from him, and thy kingdom, shall be established forever before thee. Thy throne shall be established forever. This is different than God's throne in heaven. It's different than where he's sitting right now. He's sitting at the right hand of the Father, but he's not on David's throne. According to all these words and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David. That is an unconditional covenant. It hangs only upon the mercy and the grace of God. That's why it speaks of it as even in Isaiah chapter 55 in verses 1 through 4, the sure mercies of David. The sureness of them are rooted in Christ and the promise that God made to David in that covenant. So now, when you come back, you'll notice then David's time was an appointed time. And God speaks of that in verse 12 there. When thy days be fulfilled, I will set up thy seed after thee out of thy bowels. and I will establish his kingdom. All of those things point to a natural seed. David's seed is a man of David's natural line, not just a spiritual seed. Jacob is another example. The other example we have before this. The same basic thing took place. God made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That's a formula in relationship to that covenant. You'll see that mentioned all the time. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What's God saying? He made the covenant to Abraham, He confirmed it to Isaac, and He confirmed it to Jacob in the mouth of two or three witnesses. That covenant is fully confirmed and clarified as it went along. So then you find Jacob doing the same type of thing in Genesis chapter 47 and verse 29. That's where he brought in He called his time was about to expire. In other words, his time was about to be fulfilled. It states the same type of statement that you have with David. And Jacob realized that and he sent word to Jacob, bring in your two sons. He made a covenant to those two sons having to do with what position that they would have in the kingdom of Israel. But it shows his faith in the covenant promise of God. God made a covenant and Jacob believed him. And then he made promise to these two sons based on that covenant. He's walking by faith. He'd come to the place where he'd lost all confidence in the flesh, finally. Boy, he had more evident problems with that than you see with Abraham and Isaac. But still, he's the one that God Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated. And God preserved him. When you come to the end of his life, he had a tremendous testimony of all my failures. But God has preserved me. And so he operated out of faith in making this covenant. So by faith, he called Joseph and blessed his two sons. David is not, I want you to notice in our text what the Word of God says, how the history is recorded for us. God doesn't make any mistakes. It says, now the days of David do not. Just David. Right now he's just David. What's it not saying? King David. He's still king, but he's about to die. And let me tell you something. When you and I die, it wouldn't matter if we died in the process of being the president of the United States of America. When we die, we die as Justin Fulton, John, Ken, Jeff, Tasha, you go right on back. We die as just us. We don't die according to our position in life. We don't die according to our status in life. We're just who we are. David knew that. And that's why he said, I go the way of all the earth. There's no difference between me and anybody else. We die as men. Because that's who we are. And when we stand before God, we will give account for what we have done, not only as a person, but in whatever position of authority that we've had. But we will stand there as a person. And that's it. Just a man, just a woman. That's how we'll stand before God. We're not going to be able to hold up our rank, but say, oh, but I was the king of Israel. Not when you stand before God. God would say, yeah, I put you there, and you did this, this, and this. You failed in a lot of ways, even at that. You see, we don't die as a special rank. We just die as a person. The way of all the earth, there is no difference. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We die as a person. Whether the degrees we have, the bank account we have, the level of rank that we have risen in authority, it wouldn't matter if we owned the world and ruled the world. It wouldn't make any difference. We stand before God as if we were just the lowest pauper. That's it. That's how we die. That's because of sin coming into this world. He's a king in his life. But a man in his death has absolutely no power. He had power, he had authority over the whole nation in his life, but none of us have any power in our death. None, whatsoever. Hebrews 9, before I get to that, let me point this out. Joshua 23, verse 14. Here's another man that's very similar to David, and some of the things that happened here. Joshua 23, this is the end of his life. He was the conqueror for Israel. He was their captain in defeating all their enemies coming into the land. And here in verse 14, Joshua 23 and verse 14 says, And behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth. Same thing, isn't it? You got Joshua who brought him into the land. You got David, their first king. But when they die, they go the way of all the earth. Absolutely No difference. As an Adam, I'll die. And that's it. Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 27 says, "...and as it is appointed unto man once to die, and after this the judgment." And when we stand before God, it's just like that. As it's appointed unto man. Not appointed different for a pauper, not appointed different for a king, just man, as it's appointed unto man. Now, when I come back here to this and look at what it does with Solomon here. He says, time drew nigh in verse 1, that he should die and he charged Solomon his son, saying. He charged Solomon his son. David's going to die. I sat there and I thought about this. Well, however many days there were from when he first sat on the throne until now, he could always go ask daddy a question if he wanted to. He could say, dad, what about this guy? You know something about him. I'm sure you know a lot more about him than I do. What about this situation? You've been over this before. What do you think about this? Now he can't do that. Now he's the king and dad's not around. The former king's not around. It's just him. There's nobody he can go to but who? God. That's it. That's the best place to go anyhow, but it's all on his shoulder. I look at Joshua chapter 1 and it's such a similar, as a matter of fact, this is so similar that many have said, and I agree, Judges was written by this time. David had this because he's basically telling Solomon the same thing that the Lord told Joshua. In Joshua chapter 1, I'm going to get out of Judges here. I'm still in Judges. Joshua chapter 1. Notice what it tells us in verses 5 through 7. Verse 2 says, and hold your hand there because we're going to come back. Back in chapter 2 of verse Kings, it says, I go the way of all the earth, be thou strong therefore and show thyself a man. That's saying exactly the same thing. Show thyself a man, be strong, and have a good courage. David's taking from the word of God to Joshua, and he's looking at his son, and tell him exactly what God told Joshua. God told Joshua, Moses is dead. Moses is gone. Now it's on you. Be strong and have good courage. Be strong and show thyself a man. Like it or not, He didn't say, be strong and show thyself a woman. He has the responsibility of standing up as a man and taking leadership as a man. God makes a difference, doesn't He? We need to recognize that difference. Men need to recognize that difference. Stand up. and be a man. It doesn't matter if all you have is your family. Stand up and be a man. Leaders need strength and courage. Strong means what? How do you be strong? Look at what he tells him. Be strong and have a good courage, back here in verse 6, talking to Joshua again. for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land here's what is your job this is what your life is going to be which I swear unto your fathers their fathers to give them only be thou strong and very courageous now notice this that thou mayest observe that word that in order that, be strong and courageous, very courageous, in order that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee, turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whatsoever thou goest." Two things. You need to be, as a leader, you need to be strong and courageous in order to keep the Word of God. Because the world and those about you look at Joshua's life and see how many times he had to stand up to the nation. Now sometimes he might have Caleb on his side, There's somebody out there, but for the most part, he had to stand up to the nation at times. Moses had to stand up to the nation. David had to stand up to the nation. And when he didn't, it's when he failed. When he didn't stand up to his family, it's when he failed. When he didn't stand up and deny himself is when he failed. It takes spiritual strength. Not, listen, the arm of flesh will fail you. The arm of flesh will fail me. If I depend upon myself, if you depend upon your natural ability, you will fail. It takes spiritual strength. It takes walking with God. And listen, when you look later in Solomon's life, he had major failure in his life. And the reason was that he did not have the spiritual strength to follow the Word of God. And every place where you see that he did not keep the Word of God, he had major problems. Spiritual weakness became his problem. A man of courage, and when he says, be a man, that means have courage. a man of conviction, stand firm on the word of God. Verse 7 says, only be thou strong and very courageous that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee, turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. Be strong that thou mayest keep. That means to guard all the Word that God gave Moses, guard the Word of God, and practice the Word of God. It takes spiritual strength to do that. It takes conviction. And convictions come from our faith. If we lack conviction, it's because we lack faith. And too many people lack faith because they're ignorant of God and of the Word of God. But knowledge doesn't mean you believe anything. You have to know something to believe something. But you can know something and not believe anything. So it takes knowing and then actually believing what you know. We evidence that we believe what we know when we practice what we know. Otherwise, what kind of faith is that, James says, that believes and doesn't do? So it takes spiritual strength and conviction. And conviction will give you courage. But it's got to be in that order. So that's what he's telling him. Now, Solomon's accountability. Notice what he says here, coming back. Verse 3. Notice what he says. He says, and keep the charge, verse 3, keep the charge of the Lord thy God. This is before God. It's David's charge. Notice what he says. Keep the charge of the Lord thy God. It tells us previously David charged him. But then he says, the Word of God says, David told him the charge of the Lord thy God. That's what Paul told Timothy. First Timothy chapter 1 and verse 18. This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy. Let me just look at that. He emphasizes the fact that this is not just him. Verse 18 says, There's been testimony. Now you look back at his life and you'll see when Paul first came across him, he was first mentioned. The elders of the churches gave testimony to Timothy's life and the evidence of God's call upon his life, not only in his knowledge of the Word of God, his diligence in the Word of God, and his use of the Word of God, and the evidence of it in his life. He had spiritual discernment, and he practiced what he knew, and evidently had some ability to express it too, to teach it and declare it. And so it was evident there were prophecies. In other words, some of those people still had the gift of prophecy then. And they saw those gifts in him. But that means it's according to the Word of God. If it's prophecy, it's according to the Word of God. So walk in his ways, Paul tells Timothy, David tells Solomon, first of all, and I want you to notice all these things here. Walk in his way. It's the Lord's charge, first of all. His just government, in other words, what he's talking about. It's the Lord's charge. It's his government. And he's to exercise God's judgment over Israel, which was committed to him. Then he says, walk in his way. As a man and as a king, in other words, your course of life, the road that you take, has to be according to all that is directed in the Word of God. This goes much further than the Ten Commandments and some of those things. It's all that's directed in the Word of God. Then he says his statutes and his judgments. What's that? Well, statutes and judgments are his commandments and his ordinances. It's the ceremonies under the law. The judgments are God's determinations also. So the judgments, when we walk according to God's judgments, it means sometimes, as a matter of fact, we're going to run into this in our life. God's going to work providentially in our lives. Things are going to come to pass in our lives. We have to accept the fact that that's God's judgments. That's what God has determined for us. And we're to walk according to that. The testimonies of God. That's all that God has given witness of himself and of his mind. God's testimony, his witness of himself that's found in the word of God. Everything that is written. It is written, he says in verse three, it is as is written in the law of Moses that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest and whithersoever We're out of time to turn back and look at this. Deuteronomy 17 and verses 17 to 21. You can jot that down. Go back and look at those verses. It's important to compare all those points that are mentioned back there to Solomon's life because it mentions things like not taking horses to yourself. He did that. Not taking many wives. He did that. I mean, you just go through there and look at the things that God says there in the book of Deuteronomy and those verses about when you have a king, this is what he's not supposed to do, this is what he's supposed to do. Solomon failed on those basic things. And when he failed in those things, they became, they looked like little things at the time, they became big things down the road. Get this. For every leader, success is defined this way. Success is following the Word of God. Solomon must rule in righteousness according to the Word of God. He doesn't have to figure out what righteousness is. He has to go to the Word of God. Success is not evidenced necessarily by how big his kingdom gets and how wealthy it is. Because his kingdom became the largest and the most wealthy. And it was still that way when he became a failure. When he no longer worshipped God in truth and got involved in idolatry and all these other things, he was still prosperous. But the judgment of God was falling. So, in verses five through nine, I'll just mention this quickly, David gives Solomon some personal direction with some very specific people. Let's just read it quickly. Do therefore, he says in verse five, moreover thou knowest also that Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, and what he did to the two captains of the host of Israel, and Abner the son of Ner, and Damascus the son of Jephthah. You know what he did to all those three situations. whom he slew, and shed the blood of war and peace. You know about that. And put the blood of war upon his girdle, that it was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet. Do therefore according to thy wisdom, and let not his whorehead go down to the grave in peace. Exercise judgment on that man. You've got to do that. Verse 7. Show kindness unto the sons of Barzillai, the Gileadite, and let them be of those that is his sons. Let those be that eat at thy table, for they came to me when I fled because of Absalom, thy brother. And behold, thou hast with thee." So he goes on, he says, now, behold, thou hast with thee. Shimei, there's another man that gave David trouble. Abedjamite, Bahurim, which cursed me with a grievous curse on the day that I went to Maanam. But he came down, so he shows why he didn't do anything at the time, because he came down to me at Jordan, and I swear to him by the Lord, saying, I will not put thee to death with the sword. David was in a mess of the nation being divided and scattered. He had some other things to deal with at the time. And so now he's telling Solomon, but don't trust this man. Now therefore, hold him not guiltless, for thou art a wise man, and knowest what thou oughtest to do unto him. But his whorehead bring thou not down to the grave with blood." In other words, you need to exercise some wisdom in dealing with this man. He knew the man's heart and what the man would do. And he's just telling Solomon, you use wisdom. And then you execute what you determine that needs to be done. Because he'll fail. He'll do what's in his heart to do. He'll do what he's always done. And you take care of it. And so David gives him some last minute advice as far as the major problems that he would have in his kingdom if he doesn't take care of these things. And leaves it up to his wisdom to take care of it. We'll get into that when we actually see what he does. But it's tremendous. God gave Solomon wisdom even before the great wisdom that we see later God blessed him with, but He gave some wisdom to Solomon right off the bat when he first started out in dealing with