Solomon finally repented of that and came back into fellowship with the Lord toward the end of his life.
I find at least two lessons from his life story:
First, never give up on a person
There are some people that seem so hopeless and so far away from God that we can’t imagine them returning.
We especially feel that way if they used to be faithful to the things of God and they walk away.
• Sometimes they tell you that they don’t believe any of the Bible is true any more
• Sometimes they tell you that they used to be Christians and now they are atheists
• Sometimes we see their blatant life of sin and don’t even want God to forgive them
Solomon teaches us that anyone can repent and return to the Lord.
• They may tell us they don’t believe any of the Bible any more
• They may live as if they hate everything they used to say they loved
But we do not know what God is telling them to the heart.
Don’t give up on them.
• Don’t stop praying for them
• Don’t stop loving them
• Don’t stop urging them to return to Christ
The second lesson is
God a message of God’s grace
The New Testament – the Lord Jesus Christ, does not recall Solomon’s venture into sin and cynicism. Only
• His wisdom,
• His splendor and
• His riches
Ezekiel 3:20-21 (KJV) says,
Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.
There are a couple of lessons in this passage but the one I want to show you is this:
Here is a righteous man who gets caught up in sin.
• You warn him and he stays in his sin – the Bible says that the righteousness that he did will not be remembered.
• But if you warn him and he repents, his sin isn’t remembered, but his righteousness at the end.
The only unhappy Christian will be the Christian who defies the authority of Christ in his or her life.
Jesus said, Matthew 16:25
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
The only unhappy Christian will be the one who doesn’t want to give himself or herself completely to the Lord.