Learning From Bad Examples

Good afternoon, brethren. There’s an old saying, maybe raise your hands if you’ve heard it, good artists copy, great artists steal. Anyone heard that? Okay. A couple of artists in the room, I think raised their hands. Hopefully, they’re not thieves. I don’t think so. Mr. Baxter, I saw his… It catches your attention. And there’s an article here that explains what it means. Explains the thought behind it. It’s not a bad thing. There are other names I could have mentioned who’s hands raised but not a bad thing. This comes from sightsize.com and it’s from an article titled Old Masters Copying Old Masters.

The statement that good artists copy, great artists steal has been attributed to many. History is replete with examples of both sides and not just in art but also in other fields. “Is the assertion true?” the author asks. The answer, I think, depends upon both the reason for the copy and how well it was done. Let’s avoid the controversy and look at some old masters copying older masters. There are many reasons for copying old masterworks. Among them are learning a proven technique, learning to see nature as drawn in line or paint, searching for the noble ideal, creating a replica for yourself or another, or incorporating the masterwork in part or whole into your work and memory.

This is the key. The training of painters in past centuries regularly involved copying old master drawings and paintings. To that end, most museums happily allowed students into their building for that very purpose and some still do. He goes on to say, but the practice was not limited to students. Even fully trained old masters copied older masters. Most student copyists endeavor to copy their chosen source exactly. Less exact copies, called free copies, are useful as memory jogs, much like a photographer’s or designer’s clip file.

Since everyone’s cell phone has a camera, free copies are far less prevalent now than in the past. That’s a shame because even a free copy is a learning opportunity. Plus, the physical act of doing it is itself a visual memory reminder. Then he goes on to give examples of old masters copying older masters. And I’ll just give you the first example. Michelangelo copying Giotto. Now Michelangelo was copying this old painting at the age of 15 and we know where he ended up going in his career. Greatest sculptor the world has ever seen. Masters copy masters.

Turn to First Peter two. First Peter two. You might think you know where I’m going, but we’ll take a left turn in a few minutes here. First Peter two. Michelangelo learned his trade by copying the masters. He went to someone more skilled than himself and built upon it. First Peter two and verse twenty-one, Peter wrote, “For even hereunto where you called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example,” meaning a copy for imitation in the Greek, “Leaving us an example that you should follow in his steps.”

Like those students at the museums, they were looking at a master’s work and attempting to emulate. So Christ came as the ultimate example. But I want to ask a question. And it sets up what we’re going to talk about. It helps set up what we’re going to talk about. What is one thing that you cannot learn from Christ’s example? Take a few seconds to think about that. What’s one thing you can’t learn from Christ’s example? Peter said, He came, He suffered, He left us an example, a copy for imitation that we should follow in His steps, yet I’m asking, what’s one thing we can’t learn from it?

And maybe you have your answer down, maybe you wrote it down. Turn to Hebrews Chapter four. Hebrews four. We’ll start to see the answer. What’s one thing you can’t learn from Christ’s example? Hebrews four and verse fourteen. “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let’s hold fast our profession. For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,” He went through all kinds of emotions, just like we go through, through all kinds of experiences, trials, temptations.

He prevailed through them all. “We have not a high priest which can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let’s therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Christ never made a single mistake. He was sinless. That’s how He qualified to become our Savior. You can’t learn, I can’t learn from Christ’s mistakes. We learn from all the good things He did.

But God wants us to learn from bad examples, and He’s created a backup plan for that. God and Christ never, of course, make mistakes. We can’t learn from any kind of bad example that they give, yet they record over and over and over again in Scripture, people messing up, sometimes tragically, sometimes with eternal implications to teach us. It’s the flip side of the example coin. They’re not the kind of masters we want to emulate. It’s the flip side of the coin.

The Bible is filled with wonderful examples, the faith of Abraham, the patience of Job, maybe the persistence of Jacob. You can name your Bible hero or Bible figure that teaches a specific personality trait or greatly exemplifies a personality trait, but it’s also filled with cautionary tales. When you think of children’s stories, Little Red Riding Hood, don’t trust strangers or you might get eaten by a Wolf, that kind of tale. But these of course are true accounts. First Corinthians ten. I’m going to look at some of those cautionary tales today. First Corinthians ten. Some of those bad examples, some of the things God gave us so that we wouldn’t copy them, we’ll see here in First Corinthians ten.

First Corinthians ten verse one, “Moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. But with many of them, God was not well pleased.”

God was upset with them with devastating consequences, “…for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.” So we were given the ultimate example of how to act, Christ, and then, of course, you have figures like Paul saying, “Imitate me even as I imitate Christ.” Paul was copying his master teacher. Of course, the ultimate master teacher is the Father, but Paul was imitating Christ to the point where he felt confident telling brethren, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ.” We have that ultimate example who walked Earth without sin but then we also have these examples.

Now, “examples” here is a little bit different. It’s tupos, examples, a die as struck. You think of a die stamping a coin, and you see a very crisp image or stamping out a tool out of a sheet metal or extruding metal, but a die. Also, a stamp or scar, by analogy a shape, a statue, a resemblance, a sampler, a model. “We have these bad models,” Paul is saying “We have these bad stamped examples,” he’s saying. “You know exactly what not to do,” Paul told the Corinthians “Neither be you idolaters,” verse seven, as were some of them as it’s written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.

“Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents.” It’s very different now because there isn’t real-time punishment for sin. I remember when I was in the United Church of God, I had a friend. He had me over at his house and a very nice gentleman. I can’t wait to see him again one day. But he gave me a copy... he loaned my a copy or gave me. I can’t recall. I still have it, so hopefully, he gave it to me, but a copy of Mystery of the Ages.

And whenever I open it, every now and then, I’ll see his name at the top and it reminds me of a story he told me about when he was a boy. He said, “When I was a boy growing up in the church, I thought that immediately after sinning God came down and would punish you.” So he was straight-laced and scared his whole childhood, a terrible, terrible way to feel but it illustrates the purpose. If you were seeing God strike down twenty-three thousand people in real-time. You’d think twice about rising up to worship an idol or fornicate as those previous examples were. Things don’t happen in real-time now.

God expects us just to look at these examples. Look at, “Okay. Here’s what happened anciently. This is how I feel about some of these actions.” Either let us commit fornication... Okay, twenty-three thousand, “…neither let as tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur you, as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now, all these things happened unto them for in samples…” same word for models, for examples, for dice, “…for in samples, and they are written for our admonition…” meaning to get our attention or to warn us in the Greek, “…upon whom the ends of the world are come.

Wherefore, let him that thinks he stands, take heed, lest he fall.” Good examples and bad examples. There’s a famous saying George Santayana, probably most have heard it, I think it’s quoted in church literature if I’m remembering correctly. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. And there are many variations of this that are produced that had alternate versions of the same quote. Wikipedia lists a few of them, but the one that most hits home here as we look at bad examples is those who fail to learn from mistakes of their predecessors are destined to repeat them.

Those who fail to learn from the mistakes of their predecessors are destined to repeat them. So we’re going to look at bad examples, but more specifically, bad examples of certain individuals throughout the Bible. Some of the cautionary tales God gives us, some of those end samples that we don’t want to emulate. And of course, human beings started messing up very early. So we can just go to Genesis chapter four. The first human ever born, not created by hand, but the first human ever born just as you or I were born. Coming off of Adam and Eve being kicked out of the garden.

Now if you’re like me, you have parents who tried to guide you and maybe they even opened up and told you about a mistake that they made when they were younger so that you wouldn’t make the same mistake. “Son, when I was your age or when I was a little older than you, I did such and such and this happened. Don’t be like me,” or “Don’t be like your uncle who did such and such.” Every family has certain examples that they cite.

Imagine you’re Cain and you have Adam and Eve as your parents. “Yes, son, you know what a hundred whatever years ago, we were in the garden and God created us. There wasn’t anyone else around. We were the first human beings and God gave us some very specific instructions, but we decided to listen to a snake instead.” I mean, Cain had the lessons handed to him on a golden platter. I mean, it doesn’t get more traumatic than that. “I was literally confronted by the devil embodied in a snake and I listened to him. I shouldn’t have done that and I forever changed the course of humanity.”

However, it… or “Dad, yes, we wouldn’t have done that if it wasn’t for your mother.” Whatever these conversations would have been like, you can let your mind roll. I mean, I’m sure both of them editorialized a little bit and took some license and tried to shift... Adams... I doubt he learned not to shift blame in a perfect way just because he was thrust out of the garden. But you understand Cain had lessons handed to him on a golden platter and yet this happened for one. “And Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bear Cain and said, ‘I’ve begotten a man from the Lord.’ And she again bear his brother Abel and Abel was a keeper of sheep.

But Cain was a tiller of the ground.” So Cain was a farmer and Abel was a shepherd. “And in the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to God,” Cain’s firstborn. He brought the offering first, “An offering unto the Lord and Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof and the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering, but unto Cain and to his offering,” so not just his offering but Cain himself, “He had not respect and Cain was very wroth and his countenance fell.”

Now, there are several lessons here. Obviously, God doesn’t like vegetables, might be the first one.

No, not so, but Cain was a vegetable farmer, but obviously he didn’t bring the best of what he had to God. Maybe he had some vegetables that looked marred or that he didn’t really want to eat, and he said, “Oh, I was going to throw these away anyway. I’ll give them to God. I may as well make double duty of this corn,” or whatever it was, “I’ll give it to God as my offering.” Abel was very thoughtful in what he gave to God. He selected the firstling. I’m sure he made sure it was healthy. It was a lamb that he probably cherished, but he gave that to God.

Cain was not generous. One of the first things we’ll look at. He gave a bad example when it came to generosity. He didn’t want to give God the best. Second Corinthians nine. Cain was not generous. I think if I was young and in the church, I would’ve tried to use Genesis four to justify not eating vegetables. It’s a low-hanging fruit. God wants steaks, mutton. It makes perfect sense.

Second Corinthians nine, verse one, “For as touching the ministering to the saints, helping one another, being generous toward one another, it’s superfluous for me to write to you for I know the forwardness of your mind for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago and your zeal has provoked very many.” They saw your good example and they wanted to emulate it. Your good example provoked others. It encouraged others, Paul was saying.

“Yet have I sent the brethren lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf, that as I said, you may be ready, lest happily if they have Macedonia come with me and find you unprepared. We that we say not you should be ashamed in this same confident boasting. Therefore, I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren that they would go before unto you and make up beforehand your bounty.” get the offering ready. “Whereof you had noticed before that the same might be ready as a matter of bounty and not of covetousness. But this I say, he which sows sparingly, shall reap also sparingly.”

Now, this doesn’t just apply to money, doesn’t just apply to offerings, but if you’re not generous, you won’t receive as much. Paul is saying, “He which sows sparingly, shall also reap sparingly, and he which sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully.” Look at that example of Abel and Cain in the strictest sense. God had respect not only for Abel’s offering but respect for Abel. He got the commendation, the approbation of God. Not that we can buy that from God, but God was impressed with Abel’s heart, but Cain sow sparingly and he reaped sparingly. Worse than sparingly actually. God was upset with him.

“Every man according as he’s purposed in his heart so let him give not grudgingly or of necessity for God loves a cheerful giver.” He doesn’t want us to become destitute giving. It’s not His point at all. Not His point at all. He wants us to learn the lesson of generosity, and He promises that if we do that in a balanced way, He’ll take care of us. Verse eight says, “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you that you always having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work.”

God weighs circumstances carefully. We don’t have all the details of that offering that Cain procured, but we can surmise that obviously he was giving something that wasn’t at all valuable to him. He didn’t carefully consider what he wanted to give God. Luke chapter twenty. Luke twenty. He could have given Him marvelous vegetables. I mean, look at the vegetables that we grow here on the campus. Beautiful vegetables that God would be well pleased with. Luke twenty in verse forty-five. Cain was not generous.

“Then in the audience of the people, Christ said to the disciples,” Luke twenty, forty-five, “beware of the scribes which desire to walk in long robes and love greetings in the markets and the highest seats in the synagogues and the chief rooms at the feasts, which devour widows’ houses, and for a show make long prayers, the same shall receive greater damnation.” Twenty-one, one, “And he looked up and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury.” A very familiar account. “And he saw also a certain poor widow,” one of these widows that maybe the Pharisees would have tried to take advantage of there, in verse forty-seven, “Casting in thither two mites. And he said, of a truth I say to you that this poor woman has cast in more than they all.”

She was giving out of want. “For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God. But she of her penury has cast in all the living that she had.” She didn’t have anything yet she gave this little bit. Now that’s not what we want to do. Again, we don’t want to be destitute, but a powerful lesson here. It hurt a little bit. In her case, it hurt a lot. It wasn’t a lack of generosity. This was extreme generosity. It reminds me of a story that I didn’t appreciate as a young boy. But my family, my father’s side, as I’ve mentioned before, comes from Lebanon, and they were a very poor family.

All the brothers, mother, father, all in one room growing up, not separate rooms like we have here in the States or in more prosperous nations. Even when I would go visit my grandmother in the nineties and early two thousands, still didn’t have running water in her house. We eventually put a tank on the top. And her children tried to get her to move here, but she wouldn’t. She wanted to stay with what she knew, died very old. But no running water, only electricity for part of the day, if I recall correctly. She’d wash the clothes in the aqueducts on the side of the road, bath with a tub, and poured over.

The restroom was not inside, it was outside. That kind of poverty. And really the only substance she had was her children sending her the money that she needs to buy what she wants to eat. She wasn’t going to be without, don’t get me wrong. My dad and his brothers loved her very much, but one thing that she did have was chickens, and these chickens were very precious to her. They were like her pets, but also it’s where she got her eggs, and she loved these chickens. Sometimes they’d even come into the house. You leave the door cracked and they’re going to run in. And she cherished these chickens.

That’s basically what she had in life. And we ate eggs and whatnot. But one day, because her grandchildren are there and because she doesn’t have anything, she decided, “I’m going to kill one of these chickens and prepare a meal for my son and his children.” And my dad was very touched by it at the time. We didn’t understand as kids. It’s like, “Oh, you get a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. Great-grandma made chicken today.” But in hindsight, it was a huge gesture. You give of what matters to you in that case. Just an example of a widow giving something very special.

Now, that wasn’t to God, it was to others, but you understand the point. But this sacrifice that God wanted of Abel went far beyond... or of Cain rather, went far beyond the financial. In fact, more importantly... let’s turn to Romans twelve and read this. More importantly, God wants us to live a life of sacrifice. And we’re not just going to beat up Cain today. We’ll get to other flawed individuals too. But God recorded these things for our learning, so it’s important we look at them.

Romans twelve verse one, “I beseech you, therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God. A living sacrifice.” We’re to be a sacrifice to God. We’ve given up our own life and we now live a life that comports with His desire for us. We’ve left doing our own thing. We’ll get to that later. But we’ve become a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. “And be not conformed to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Now, back to the Genesis account. So the first problem was Cain was not generous, and God called him out on this and something else emerged. Genesis four. Back to Genesis. It’s one thing if a mistake is pointed out and you take it well. It’s another thing altogether if a mistake is pointed out and we don’t learn the lesson. We might even dig in and matters get worse as we’ll see here in Genesis four. We’ll read verse five again. “But unto Cain and his offering, God had not respect, and Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.” Cain’s emotions began to get the better of it. Wroth means to glow or grow warm, figuratively, usually, to blaze up in anger, jealousy.

Now, what was he angry at? Was he jealous of his brother? Probably. He gave a better offering. “God was pleased with him but He’s not pleased with me.” Could see that. Natural jealousy there. Maybe angry at his brother. “Why? Why do you have to go above and beyond? Why didn’t you give something on par with me?” Maybe he’s even angry, probably in part with God. Very dangerous territory. But he was not just wroth. He was very wroth. “And the Lord said to Cain,” verse six, “Why are you wroth? And why is your countenance fall?” What’s the reason you’re of this disposition?

“If you do well...” like your brother, Abel, “If you do well, should you not be accepted? Shall you not be accepted? And if you do not well, sin lies at the door, and unto you shall be its desire, and you shall rule over it.” There’s a fork in the road here, Cain. You’ve got a bad attitude about something you did wrong. You can either fix it, repent, move on, or you can dig in and sin lies at the door, and it wants you. It wants to take you out. “And Cain talked with Abel his brother, and it came to pass when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and slew him.”

First child ever born to human parents killed his brother. “And the Lord said unto Cain, ‘Where is Abel, your brother?’ And he said, ‘I know not. Am I my brother’s keeper?’” I don’t care about Abel. “And he said, ‘What’s this that you’ve done?’ God asked him. The voice of your brother’s blood cries unto me from the ground, and now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened her mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto your strength. A fugitive and a vagabond shall you be in the earth. And Cain said unto the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear.”

He’s probably upset about the punishment he received, not necessarily about... you don’t hear him say, “Oh, I’m terribly sorry I killed my brother.” No. The punishment is more than I can bear. I don’t want to do the time, so to speak. Cain let his emotions get the better of him. One of the first accounts in the Bible. God says you can let your emotions get the better of you and it can result in disastrous consequences, and we’re not immune from that either, brethren. Emotion can often spiral into offense or frustration.

The seeds of that anger can derail us, or even end our pursuit of eternal life. Derail us on our pursuit or end it all together. There are times where people get offended, it doesn’t happen often, but they get offended and leave the church. Maybe something happened with the brethren. Maybe something happened with their minister. Maybe they got upset about the prophecy. Why are things changing?

And they lose sight of the big picture. Look at how much we understand with prophecy. Look at how far we’ve come. Incidentally, Mr. Pack is not going to speak today. He’s learned powerful additional things that I know about, but I’m not allowed to tell you. And he will cover them next Sabbath, likely. And I can tell you the picture is clearer and better than we previously believed, but something as mundane as that can trip somebody up.

They can lose sight of First Corinthians thirteen, where Paul puts prophecy in perspective. But offense, anger, emotion, whatever caused it, whether it’d be something that happened at services, in the kitchen or with brethren or at a social or maybe you wrote your minister something and he didn’t get back to you, whatever it is. We’re not getting into any kind of specifics but that anger, that emotion left unchecked can breed offense which is one of the chief things Christ warned about, Christ warned we had to guard against.

And it’s exemplified in this account with Cain and God and Abel, where Cain took it to a thermonuclear level and got angry with God Himself. God of course has government in place and He has brethren whose spirit resides in them and there’s plenty of room for offense where human beings are involved, but look at what Christ warned about in Matthew chapter thirteen. He gave a very short list of things that can shipwreck a person’s faith.

Let’s read it in Matthew thirteen. And verse sixteen, “But blessed are you...” Matthew thirteen, sixteen, “Blessed are your eyes, for they see and your ears for they hear,” Christ told the disciples, “For verily I say unto you that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which you see, and have not seen them, and to hear those things which you hear, and have not heard them. Hear you therefore the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and understands it not...”

We understand the word of the kingdom better than ever before. It’s amazing because of this journey that we’ve been on. We’re incredibly privileged, unlike any generation past. It’s an amazing time to be alive. “Hear you, therefore, the parable of the sower, when anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and understands it not, then comes the wicked one, and catches away that which was sown in his heart.

This is he which received seed by the wayside, but he that received the seed into stony places, the same as he that hears the word, and with joy receives it, yet has not rooted himself, but endures for a while, for when tribulation and persecution arise, because of the word,” when something goes wrong for righteousness’ sake when God tells Cain, I’m not pleased with you, by and by, he is offended.

We could say by and by he lets his emotions get the best of him and he’s offended if we can amplify it a little bit. Offense. It always starts with emotion and then it builds, and builds, and if not taken care of it can pull you out of God’s way. It can pull me out of God’s way. None of us is immune to it. We want to be like the one who received seed on the good ground, of course, but poor decisions are never, ever, ever born of logic or truth. Poor spiritual decisions are never born of logic or truth. They’re born of emotion and miscalculation. They’re born of not keeping things in perspective. Not making a mountain out of a molehill and then letting that mountain fall on us, so to speak. Emotion. God asked Cain, “Why are you wroth? Don’t let this get the best of you. Sin lies at the door, and it wants you. Get your anger in check,” He told him, we could say.

First Peter two. Maybe whatever you or I are offended about, maybe we are right in that case. Every circumstance is different. Maybe we’re right. Well, Peter basically, if I can loosely quote him, says, “Who cares?” Here’s First Peter two, twenty. First Peter two, twenty, “For what glory is it if when you’re buffeted for your faults, you take it patiently?” You know, everybody gets buffeted for their faults at times. “…but if when you do well and suffer for it, you take it patiently, it’s acceptable with God.” It’s actually an opportunity to impress God. Wow. You know, things aren’t going well for that person and it’s not necessarily his fault. Maybe it’s 50% his fault or 51% the other person’s fault and 49%.

There are just so many complexities to human relationships. But he wasn’t really at fault here, but he’s taken it well, or she really, there was a misunderstanding. She wasn’t the one who was wrong in this situation, but you know what? She accepted it, moved on. She wanted to live peaceably. She didn’t want it to become more than it should have. Whatever was the case. “For even here unto were you called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow in His steps.” The scripture we opened with.

There will be times where we’ll feel our anger is justified. Well, even if it is, we’ve got to get over it. We’ve got to move on. Otherwise, we could become wroth and, spiritually speaking, become a murderer. Let’s go back to Cain’s example. We could harm one of our brethren. We could harm ourselves. We could blow out of the church, whatever is the case. I’m not speaking of specifics here. Peter says if you suffer for wrongdoing when you did right, just take it patiently. Look at all the wrong Christ endured, and we saw He, of course, was without sin. Will we let our emotions get the best of us?

Whenever anger crops up or whenever frustration crops up, we have the ability to examine the situation and we can either do well, these were the options offered back in Genesis. We can do well and be accepted, or we cannot do well, and we can spiral into sin. It’s a tremendous lesson from Cain. He didn’t guard his heart. He didn’t keep his heart with all diligence as the Proverbs instruct.

Speaking of the Proverbs, Solomon. We have a very different view of Solomon than we did historically. We’ve come to learn a lot about Solomon. Answered a lot of questions for me and I’m sure a lot of you. How could somebody have a thousand women and still be considered a great man of God? Just one instance or abuse those under him and still be considered a great man of God, or multiply horses, and houses, and so on, and so forth. Things God warned against and still be considered whatever it is. They were puzzling matters that have now been cleared up.

First Kings three. Look at his beginnings. Deep lessons here for us from this bad example. This tragic failure who also had a father who had certain great things to emulate, and certain things he was deeply sorry he did.

I mean, I’m sure Solomon heard about his mother’s first husband and how that went. And I’m sure David expressed to Solomon, I can’t believe the state of mind I allowed myself to get into when that happened, when I committed adultery, and when I killed your mother’s former husband. Talk about lessons. Thankfully, we don’t have parents who can teach us lessons that are that heavy. My point is, Solomon, he had the background, but then he also had this. First Kings three and verse three.

“And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David, his father. Only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places. And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great place. A thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar. In Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night. And God said, ask what I shall give you. And Solomon said, ‘You have showed unto your servant David, my father, great mercy, according as he walked before you in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you, and you have kept for him this great kindness, that you have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. And now, O Lord, my God, you have made your servant king instead of David, my father. And I’m but a little child. I know not how to go out or come in.”

Now, of course, he knew these things, but this was great humility being expressed through figures of speech. “I know not how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of your people which you have chosen, a great people, that can’t be numbered nor counted for multitude. Give therefore your servant an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and bad, for who is able to judge this you’re so great a people?

And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. And God said to him, ‘Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself long life, neither have you asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies but have asked for yourself understanding to discern judgment, behold, I have done according to your words. Lo, I have given you a wise and understanding heart so that there was none like you, before you, neither after you shall they arise like unto you…

Unparalleled wisdom. “‘…And I have also given you that which you have not asked, both riches, and honour...” Now, these riches were ones that God gave him, acceptable, of course, or God wouldn’t have given them to him. “...so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto you all your days.” And here is the conditional. One of the conditionals, “And if you will walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as your father David did walk, then I will lengthen your days.

And Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants.” He had it all. He had everything, the physical, the wisdom, the knowledge. He wasn’t lacking anything. Read in verse twenty-nine, the next chapter, four, twenty-nine. “And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that was on the seashore.”

He understood life, yet this happened. First Kings chapter eleven. Given everything. “But Solomon...” Eleven verse one. “...loved many strange women together with the daughters of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, Hittites, of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, “You shall not go into them, neither shall they come in unto you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their God.” Solomon clave unto these in love, disobeyed God. And he had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 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. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord and went not fully after the Lord as his father David did. Then did Solomon build a high place…” And then verse nine, “And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, which appeared unto him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods, but he kept not which the Lord commanded.”

Maybe God even appeared to him twice about this very thing, I’m not sure. Wherefore, the Lord said to Solomon, “For as much as this is done of you, and you have not kept My covenant and My statues which I have commanded you, I will surely rend the kingdom from you and give it to your servant.” He had a kingdom taken from him. Now we too, every Christian, has the potential of having the kingdom taken from them, so to speak, and disobedience is a sure path to that. The ultimate example of someone given everything and walking away from it.

You and I, brethren, are a lot like Solomon in a certain sense. We don’t have the riches. Part of the reason we don’t have the riches is because those riches can destroy us. We don’t have the riches that Solomon had, but we have the knowledge. We have the understanding. I dare say, we understand certain mysteries that Solomon didn’t understand. We have the benefit of reading the words of Christ. We have the benefit of having prophecy open to our minds. Now, do we have the administrative capacity of a man visited by God and given the ability to rule over a physical nation thousands of years ago? No.

But we have tremendous wisdom that God has given us, precious wisdom that God has given us, and we know the terms. We’re a lot like Solomon. Turn to Luke’s account of the parable of the sower. Luke adds in Luke eight, ten, “Unto you coming off of the parable, it’s given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to others in parables that seeing they might not see and hearing they might not understand.” We have an amazing arsenal of knowledge at our disposal, and we were hand-picked as sure as Solomon was hand-picked.

John chapter six. We’re a lot like Solomon, at least in the beginning. John six and verse sixty-five. And Christ said, “Therefore said I unto you...” John six, sixty-five, “...that no man can come unto me except it were given unto him of my Father.” It was given unto us by God to be here, to be exposed to this knowledge, to be in the pursuit of eternal life, to understand the family of God, to understand our awesome potential. It had to be given to us, just like that wisdom was given to Solomon, just like the mysteries are given to us, just like our ability to understand is a gift from God.

“From that time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. Then Jesus said unto the twelve, Will you also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life…” you have the truth. Chapter eight. We have knowledge, amazing knowledge, life-changing knowledge. We have the blueprint, the road map to eternal life. Then said Jesus to the Jews which believed on Him, John eight, thirty-one, “If you continue in my word, then you are my disciples indeed….” If you listen to what I have to say, “…then you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

We have the keys to freedom, ultimately from freedom from physical life, to freedom from physical life, to enter the God family. Verse thirty-six, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed,” he added. Free from sin. We have it all. The truth is setting us free now and will ultimately set us free in the grandest sense. When we’re no longer subject to mortality. The richest men on earth today probably don’t compare to what Solomon had in terms of his stores of resources and gold and treasures, things that God gave him but also allowed him to amass, maybe certain things he shouldn’t have amassed, I’m not commenting on that.

But the richest men today give anything to have what we have. Now, they have a veil over them, they don’t understand what it is they’re offered. So, if you or I went up to the gentleman who’s been in the news a lot lately and said, you know what, if you’ll divest yourself of however many trillion dollars you now have, you can have eternal life, he’s probably going to laugh at us. But if God sat him down and really explained the terms, and he knew this is for real, I can give up what I have, and it’s not just that we might be able to inhabit Mars and prolong our life by X number of years using microchips and whatnot. There is actually a way to attain not just prolonged life but eternal life, I think the man’s ears would perk up. Yet it’s been given to us, we don’t even have to ask for it. It’s been given to us, the knowledge and the offer, the opportunity.

Mark eight, verse thirty-four, “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said to them, ‘Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” A man could become wealthy enough that he gained the whole world, and it would be meaningless if he didn’t have eternal life.

We have more than anyone on earth, and we should always keep that in mind. Yet amazingly, with this amazing treasure we’ve been handed, we can let it slip. We can lose sight of it. Turn to Hebrews two. Paul and Corinthians said we have this treasure in earthen vessels. You know, we’re these temporary vessels filled with treasure. We’ve got the Holy Spirit. We’ve got the earnest of the Spirit. We’ve got the down payment of eternal life. But just like Solomon, we can have it all one day and then find ourselves in spiritual quicksand sometime in the future and who knows where after that.

Hebrews two and chapter one, “Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things we’ve heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him?”

God also bearing them witness with both signs and wonders and diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His will. Solomon is the ultimate bad example of having it all and losing everything that’s important. Let’s take that lesson to heart, the ultimate cautionary tale in certain regards, for those given precious knowledge, for you and I, brethren. How about Esau? The father of the Turks. The Turks are in the news a lot, posturing after the fall of Syria. They’re strong people.

I remember hearing stories of my great-grandfather during the Ottoman Empire when Lebanon was essentially enslaved by Turkey or at least under their control. They would make my great-grandfather collect a basket of locusts every day because there was a plague before they would give him wheat for the family to eat. Very tough people. Genesis twenty-five. Great producers of technology today, weapons systems, and amazing people. Great industry. Conquering empire in the past.

Genesis twenty-five, verse nineteen. “These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son. Abraham begot Isaac. And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the wife, the daughter of Bethuel, the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban, the Syrian. And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife because she was barren, and the Lord was entreated of him, and Rebekah, his wife, conceived. And the children struggled together within her, and she said, if it be so, why am I thus?

“And she went to inquire of the Lord, and the Lord said unto her, two nations are in your womb, and the two manner of people shall be separated from your bowels. And the one people shall be stronger than the other, and the elder shall serve the younger. And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. And the first came out red, all over like a hairy garment, and they called his name Esau…” which I think means red in Hebrew.

“…And after that came out his brother, and his hand took hold of Esau’s heel, and his name was called Jacob,” because I think Jacob means heel catcher in Hebrew, supplanter in Greek. “And Isaac was threescore years old when she bore them, when she bear them. And the boys grew, and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field, and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau because he did eat of his venison, but Rebekah loved Jacob. And Jacob sod pottage, and Esau came to him from the field, and he was faint. And Esau said to Jacob, feed me, I pray you, with that same red pottage. For I am faint, therefore was his name called Edom. And Jacob said, sell me this day your birthright. I want your birthright. I want what’s promised to you, in exchange for this bowl of soup.

“And Esau said, Behold, I’m at the point to die, and what profit shall this birthright do to me?” “I’m so hungry. I don’t need this birthright, I want this food to satiate my hunger.” Big mistake. “And Jacob said, Swear to me this day, and he swore to him, and he sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob went through on his word and gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils, and he did eat and drink and rose up and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.” God recorded.

Now, if you go to Romans nine, it says, Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated. God despised what happened here. Hebrews twelve. When God gives something valuable to somebody. This parallels Solomon’s account closely. When God gives something of great value to somebody and they despise it, we’re warned elsewhere in Hebrews not to do despite to the Spirit of grace. When we despise, when someone despises what God has given them, God takes it very, very seriously.

Hebrews twelve and verse fourteen. “Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord, looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled, lest there be any fornicator or profane person, as Esau, profane, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For you know how afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place of repentance, so he sought it carefully with tears.”

He desperately wanted that birthright, but it was too late. He cut a deal. And God calls him profane for it because he’d trade a morsel of meat in exchange for his birthright. For you are not come unto the mount that might be touched. How much greater is what we’ve been offered in that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, which voice that they heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. For they could not endure that which was commanded. And if so much as a beast touched the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart.

And so terrible was the sight that Moses said, “I exceedingly fear and quake. But your come to Mount Zion and to a city of the living God in heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly of the church of the firstborn which are written in heaven and to God, the judge of all and the spirits of just men made perfect and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant and the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. See that you refuse not him that speaks. For if they escape not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from him that speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth.”

And then it builds to twenty-eight, “Wherefore, receiving a kingdom which can’t be moved, let’s have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire.” Let’s have respect, Paul might say, to what God is offering us. Let’s not treat what we’ve been given lightly, would be another way of putting it, he might have told the Hebrews.

Don’t be like Esau, who for some trivial matter, sold his birthright. Take hold of that kingdom, he told them, that can’t be moved. We have to value that which is most valuable. Our relationship with God and our calling above all else, would be the lesson that Esau taught us. There are many other figures we could look at, Nebuchadnezzar’s pride, or, you know, what are others that come to mind? Nimrod’s evil influence on people, whatever it might be. But all of these individuals ultimately trace their problems back to one being who is the ultimate flawed character, the ultimate bad example, who Ezekiel said was created perfect in his ways. He was without flaw.

He was the pinnacle of God’s creation at the time he was created. Satan, of course. But it’s Isaiah fourteen, let’s turn there, that records where he went wrong. Because all of these stories have a common theme. Every one of them. Isaiah fourteen. “And it shall come to pass...” Fourteen, three. “...in the day that the Lord shall give you rest from your sorrow and from your fear and from the hard bondage wherein you were made to serve, that you shall take up this proverb against the king of Babylon and say, ‘How has the oppressor ceased, the golden city ceased?’ The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked and the scepter of the rulers.

He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted and none hinders. The whole earth is at rest and is quiet. They break forth into singing. Yes, the fig trees rejoice at you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, ‘Since you are laid down, no feller has come upon us.’ Hell from beneath is moved to meet you at your coming. It stirs up the dead for you, even all the chief ones of the earth. It is raised up from their thrones, all the kings of the nations, and they shall speak unto you. Are you also become weak as us?”

Now, of course, Satan inhabits certain men or possesses certain men at the end, “But are you also become weak as us? Are you become like unto us? Your pomp is brought down to the grave. The noise of your vials, the worm is spread under you, and the worms cover you. How are you fallen down from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How you are cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations.”

Ezekiel said he was perfect until sin was found in him. What was that sin? What was at least an element of that sin? What did maybe that sin give rise to? Or maybe this was the original sin found in him here. For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be, like isn’t in there, I will be the Most High.

Satan wanted to call the shots. Now, when brethren have apostatized down through the centuries, it’s likely not that they wanted to become God. You know, I want to rule the universe as the father in heaven. I mean, this is an ambitious evil being.

But more likely than not, they wanted to call the shots in their own lives. And that’s the genesis of all these bad examples. People who want to call the shots in their own lives as opposed to yielding to God. This ultimate bad example, Satan’s bad example, is seen in every one of those examples we looked at earlier today. First Corinthians twelve as we begin to come to a close here.

First Corinthians twelve. God has a plan for each and every one of us. He knows what each of us is capable of. But in this life, we have to yield to Him. We have to yield to His government, we have to yield to His laws. We have to demonstrate our trustworthiness. Because He’s going to hand us awesome power.

First Corinthians twelve, verse fourteen, “The body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, because I’m not a hand, I’m not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, behold, I’m not the eye, I’m not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now has God set the members every one of them in the body as it has pleased Him.”

God has given us a specific work, each of us. It says somewhere in Paul, He’s even created works that we should walk in them. He’s working with us each in very unique and special ways because He has an amazing future planned for each of us, an amazing future that will ultimately influence trillions and then some. But we can’t call our own shots. We can’t be like those bad examples, those three we looked at, who wanted to do things their own way, who were ultimately children of disobedience, yielding to the father of disobedience, the being that wanted to do things his own way, to the point where he wanted to be God. We live lives of sacrifice, as we saw earlier.

Brethren, the Bible is filled with examples. We have the ultimate good example of Christ, but we also have many bad examples, which God says we should learn from. Learning from both is key.