September 9, 2018 - Carter Conlon - The Wisest Man Who Ever Lived

I want to speak to you today from proverbs chapter 5 about the wisest man who ever lived if you have your Bible or some kind of device that can bring you to the scriptures I'm using the New King James that's just because I like the translation no other reason it's proverbs chapter 5 now father I thank you Lord with all my heart God for your presence here in the sanctuary today I thank you Lord for the gladness that touches us the truth Lord in these beautiful songs that we've sung today which you longed to make a reality inside of each of us I pray God for the grace to deliver this message and I ask for the grace to hear it Lord for those that you've gathered here today both in this campus and on North Jersey and online and in the main sanctuary Lord I pray God with all of my heart oh Jesus Christ son of God God Almighty send your Holy Spirit and enable us Lord to embrace to longed-for to love and to live in truth it's only truth that will keep us only truth that will set us free only truth that would lead us on a pathway of becoming everything that you have destined our lives to be lift us out of weakness and poverty into the strength of your presence inside of each of our lives we thank you for it Oh God Almighty help us to love your word we ask it in Jesus name Amen the wisest men who ever lived proverbs chapter 5 I'm just going to start with verses 1 & 2 written by Solomon King David son my son pay attention to my wisdom lend your ear to my understanding that you may preserve discretion and your lips keep knowledge now Solomon was a unique man on the face of the earth he was unique gifted by God touched by God empowered by God he had such wisdom given to him that even the Queen of Sheba came from a distant nation because she had heard about this wisdom in the divine operation of God that flowed not only from his lips but everywhere everything his hand touched had the touch of God on it she came into the temple that Solomon at that time was heading and when she saw just the the the way the people moved when she saw they the attendants that they how they moved the incredible divine order that was everywhere the scripture says it she had no more spirit within her she had no resistance in a sense to what she was seeing she was seeing the hand of God in a phenomenal way moves through the life of a man who had been set apart for a divine purpose in the book of second Kings our first Kings rather chapter three verses 12 to 14 tells us that when the Lord appeared to Solomon now Solomon prayed to prayer and God responded to his prayer and he said in verse 12 of first Kings 3:12 he said behold I've done according to your words this is God now speaking to Solomon see I've given you a wise and understanding heart so that there's not been anyone like you before you nor shall any like you arise after you in other words you will be the wisest man who ever lived a part of course from Christ Jesus who was fully God and fully man but Solomon being an ordinary human being like you and I that would never you are not smarter today than Solomon I know there's some people here to think you're smart but you're not smarter than Solomon he said nobody before you will have such wisdom and nobody after you and I've also given you what you have not asked for both riches and honor so that there will not be anyone like you among the kings all of your days so if you walk in my ways to keep my statutes and my Commandments as your father David walked then I will and your days so what an incredible promise God comes to this man says I'm going to give you wisdom like nobody before you and nobody after you will ever have the wisdom that I'm about to give you I'm also going to give you what you didn't ask for I'm going to give you riches and authority and power and there be a divine presence on all that you touch and there'll be not a king in the earth that can make the boast of having the things that you have and if you will walk with me if you will have a heart like your father David I'll also lengthen your days and that has an incredible connotation it's not just that you'll live long on the earth but you'll leave a posterity there the after you're gone there be there be like a savior that follows you because of the presence of God that emanated through your life in the book of first chronicles chapter 28 verses 9 and 10 now David the king in the last stages of his life was speaking to Solomon as a young man that was being commissioned by God to do a specific work on the face of the earth as for you David says my son Solomon know the God of your father and serve him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts if you seek and me will be found by you but if you forsake him he will cast you off forever consider now for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary be strong and do it consider the calling David said to his son Solomon consider the calling on your life you have been called for a specific reason on the earth and I would like you today also to consider your calling the Apostle Peters tells us that as living stones we are fitted together building a house in a sense where God is glorified on the face of the earth and that's what God gave Solomon to do David the king was given the pattern of this incredible temple there would be the end the world where the tangible presence of God was going to dwell weather would be answered prayer even for the stranger coming in he would have his prayers answered and Solomon was given the responsibility of building this house and maintaining this house dedicating this house and keeping this out that was the work of God given to him on the air that was the primary work as well as being king over a nation it all emanated everything you do doesn't matter your family your career your future all gathers it's strengthened its highest purpose and how you view the calling of God on your life to honor him to be a dwelling place of God we are the temple now of the Holy Spirit and how we choose to honor that call everything flows from the honoring of that calling in our lives now rabbinic tradition tells us there holds that Solomon wrote proverbs chapter 5 when he was middle aged he wrote they say he wrote the Song of Solomon when he in his youth he wrote proverbs chapter 5 when he was around 40 years of age and he wrote Ecclesiastes which essentially is a lament of a wasted life and in his older years at this point when he wrote proverbs chapter 5 he was his wealth was the envy of the kings of his day and he had success which was unparalleled anywhere in his time now there various commentators on proverbs chapter 5 and let me read to you a couple of them one says given Solomon's demise later in life it's absolutely shocking and serves as a fitting warning to us what all of this means is that Solomon much like many of us thought he was an exception to the rules he knew full well that he was holding fire to his chest but he thought that he wouldn't have gotten burned it's it's a particular frailty of the human heart that we have this propensity inside of each one of us as was sown in humanity in the Garden of Eden to become God to ourselves and to declare something to be good which God says is not good and to somehow convince ourselves that we can partake of things and there'll be no consequence to it this is exactly what Solomon did another commentator says if one should ask if Solomon is the wise author how could if it died such a fool let it be noted that he constructed his own gibbet on which he impaled himself that is he ceased listening to his own instruction spiritual success today does not guarantee spiritual success tomorrow and Matthew Henry the incredibly respected commentator said it this way it's easier to see a mischief and to show to others than to shun it ourselves now for those today who don't know Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived but he finished his life a disillusioned old fool having built the house of God he finished his days by building heathen temples temples that were an abomination to God or children were offered in sacrifice temples were some of the most vile and immoral practices happened inconceivable inconceivable that a man to whom God had appeared twice and spoken to him directly a man who knew the glory of God so powerfully in the temple that everyone was on the floor and nobody could even stand nobody couldn't minister in the presence of God a man who was given a promise of life and wealth and wisdom a man who had knew the divine operation of God how is it possible how is it possible that he ends up building heathen temples at the end of his life how is it possible that he writes words at the end of his life that all is vanity and vexation of spirit and I looked at all the works of my hands and there was no profit under the Sun how does it men like this not put up his feet in his bed at the end of his days and shout glory to God be talking to his son about who God is and what God has done in the past and what God is willing to the future and the promises that God has given him how does it happen that the wisest man who ever will live ends up this way instead of leaving the glory of God in the nation of Israel and a strong and mighty people he leaves behind a very weak son he leaves behind a soon to be divided and weakened nation he leaves behind a pathway for the enemies of God to eventually plunder everything that God had given him and everything he had ever worked for let me read to you from first Kings chapter 11 about the end of his days verses 1 to 8 first Kings chapter 11 but King Solomon loved many foreign women as well as the daughters of pharaoh women of the moabites ammonites Sidonians and Hittites in other words he loved women of those who were the avowed enemies of God and the kingdom of God from the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel you shall not intermarry with them nor they with you surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods Salomon clung to these in love he knew what the scripture said to be a king in Israel you had to hand copy the letter that the Old Testament you had to write it out it was one of the qualifications of sitting on the throne at that time and he knew this scripture he knew what it said but he chose as we said earlier he somehow believed that the rules didn't apply to him and he had 700 wives princesses and 300 concubines imagine trying to keep track of birthdays even in all of this and his wives turned away his heart for it was so when Solomon was old that his wives turned his heart after other gods and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God as was the heart of his father David for Solomon went after ash the goddess of the sidonians that sensuality after milcom the abomination of the ammonites Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord and did not fully follow the Lord as did his father David Solomon built a high place for tomash the abomination of Moab on the hill that is east of Jerusalem and from Moloch the abomination of the people of Ammon and he did likewise for all his foreign wives who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods so this this is the end result of the wisest men who ever lived and if it doesn't put the fear of God in your heart today nothing will I pray a prayer every day I prayed it this morning on this platform oh jesus oh Jesus let me finish well for your namesake Oh God let me finish well let me not assume that everything is right and everything's going to be ok keep me diligent keep me in love with your word keep me in love with your truth of God because if the wisest man who ever lived his wisdom could not keep him I'm not as smart as Solomon God helped me that's my prayer every day now now if only when God had appeared to him he had asked for not only wisdom but for a heart to obey what he would be taught the Lord appeared to him and he said ask ask whatever you will not give it to you ask and so he says well God I'm just young and tender I don't know how to govern such a people so give me wisdom that I might be able to come in and go out among the people now if only he had stretched his prayer just a little bit more and said don't just give me wisdom but give me a heart to obey what you teach me or God give me intelligence in the study of the scriptures but God give me the heart of my father David my father David wasn't perfect but he is a man you even described today as a man if your own heart because he could be reasoned with he could be spoken to he could be turned from evil and turned back to Oh God give me a heart to follow you that's my prayer that ought to be your prayer today give me a heart to follow you all of my days give me a heart to obey what I know give me a heart to follow what you will teach me so now we go back to proverbs chapter five where we began now I believe he's 40 God knows his future God knows your future and when you open the Word of God he will speak to you about certain things in your life he will bring it back to your understanding time and again if you're involved in something if you're pursuing something if you're going somewhere that's going to cost you it's gonna perhaps cost you everything it's gonna week and your family's going to divide your home it's going to destroy the testimony of God God knows remember spiritual success today does not guarantee success tomorrow God has to be able to speak to us even when we're living in the time of victory so Solomon is 40 years of age or so at this time when God gives him this work and he's going to the temple no doubt every day and he's he's become familiar with the operation of God he's become familiar with the presence of God he's seen prayer answered there's never a lack of resource it's pours in from all over the place Kings are still coming in foreign emissaries are still coming in the scripture says they they brought Apes and peacocks and silver and gold and things that were precious in their land they brought to him and in the days of Solomon it says silver was accounted as nothing yeah everything was gold even the inside of the temple was all overlaid with gold there was God had so touched this man's life and everything he had touched now at the age of 40 he is writing the inspired text of the Word of God you understand this is inspired by the Holy Spirit the pen is in his hand but the scripture tells us that all Scripture is inspired by God it is profitable for doctrine for instruction and righteousness etc etc and so God is speaking him that's why in proverbs chapter 5 I don't believe that he's riding to rail bomb his son I believe that God is speaking to him and he's writing it down that's my personal opinion on this because it starts my son pay attention to my wisdom in other words sons teaching you things I'm speaking to you you're learning but pay attention to it don't just write it it's not just something I'm giving you for other people it's not to something so you can increase in knowledge and put another certificate on your wall or standing and boast about how much you know about my kingdom but pay attention to it lend your ear to my understanding that you may preserve discretion and your lips may keep knowledge you won't end up at the end of your days Solomon lamenting the loss of what could have been for the lips of an immoral woman drip honey and her mouth is smoother than oil but in the end she's as bitter as wormwood sharp is a two-edged sword her feet go down to death and her steps lay hold of hell unless you ponder her path of life her ways are unstable you do not know them I believe that God's trying to speak to Solomon and saying you're falling into a trap and you think you're smart enough to get through it but you don't understand what you're dealing with you might be smart but you're not smart enough Solomon to get through this one you've fallen into a trap you've fallen into a seduction and you believe that this is acceptable in the sight of God and you believe that there will be no consequence to this therefore hear me now my children and do not depart for the words of my mouth remove your way far from her I do not go near the door of her house lest you give your honor to others and your years to the cruel one lest aliens be filled with your wealth I want you to think about the armies that subsequently came into Israel after Solomon and and plundered the temple and took away the shields and took away the gold and eventually took everything even the vessels of the temple lest aliens be filled with your wealth and your Labor's go to the house of a foreigner think about Solomon building temples to Astaroth goddess of seduction really and milcom where they would heat this metal beast and offer their children alive into the fire and your Labour's go to the house of a foreigner and you mourn at last when your flesh and your body are consumed and say how I have hated instruction and my heart despised correction I've not obeyed the voice of my teachers nor incline my ear to those who instructed me I was on the verge of total ruin in the midst of the assembly and the congregation now this is if you read Ecclesiastes when you get home you will see this is where Solomon finished this was the end of his day on the verge of total ruin coming into the Assembly not seeing what's happening in his life not understanding how evil is encroaching more and more into his thinking because he's he's toying with something that he's been completely and thoroughly warned by the Word of God just to walk away from he thinks he won't get burned he thinks it won't affect his testimony or his life but he does not know drink water from your own cistern and running water from your own well in other words listen Solomon it's me the Lord says he's been speaking to you it's me who's given you wisdom it's it's me who speaks to you in the morning and tells you at night it's me who's been the source of the intelligence that is supernatural that's been given to you and is being imparted from you so don't go to another source to get your information drink water from your own cistern and running water from your own well should your fountains be dispersed abroad streams of water in the streets let them only be your own and not strangers with you let your fountain be blessed and rejoice with the wife of your youth in other words Solomon you're leaving your first love just as Christ spoke to the church that led the seal in the book of Revelation which many believe is the Church of the last days you're leaving your first love you you your wrench increase with Goods you don't see your need and you don't know you don't understand that you're walking away and you're embracing other loves in your heart and you think you will not be hurt by this as a loving deer and a graceful doe let her breasts satisfy you at all times and always be enraptured with her love for why should you my son be enraptured by an immoral woman and embraced in the arms of a seductress for the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord that he ponders all his paths his own iniquities trapped the wicked man and he's caught in the cords of his sin he shall die for lack of instruction and then the greatness of his folly he shall go astray so the Lord starts by saying to solomon my son pay attention to my wisdom and lend your ear to my understanding and he concludes his thought by saying his own iniquities will trap the wicked man you'll be caught with the chords of his sin he will die for lack of instruction and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray if only he had asked for a heart to obey God if only he hadn't assumed that wisdom was enough to keep him there's a lot of people who have degrees there's a lot of people who spend their time studying the Word of God then that's admirable I thank God for that but if you're gonna do that you'd better pray for a heart to obey what you're studying you see because your service to God even being here today does not substitute for obedience don't think you can substitute one thing for another and somehow get to the same result Samuel member came to King Saul when Saul was in danger now he'd come to the point where he was going to lose every promise that God had ever made to him he was about to lose the kingdom that God the work that God had entrusted to his hand he was on a pathway just like Solomon of forfeiting everything God had promised him and Samuel came to Saul Saul is sacrificing you understand he's sacrificing he feels that what he's doing is right even though the instruction of God has told him not to do this and Samuel comes to him and says learn what this means I will have obedience and not sacrifice learn what this means learn what this means you can sacrifice you can do works you can give to the work of God you can do all kinds of things but if you're not a bank the truth of the word of God there's a blindness that comes into your life and trust me folks I've lived this I've seen this I've seen people finish in an absolute train wreck that had a lot more knowledge than I had of the scriptures but there was something in the heart just like in with Solomon they felt that they could embrace something and not suffer for it that yes consequences came to everybody else but this same consequence can't possibly come to my life after all God has favoured me and cleansed me and calls me his own and wakes me up and watched with me in the morning has given me wisdom and provision surely God will not hold this little thing against me this little lust this little love this little walking outside the boundaries this little little foray into fields that I've been warned I ought not to go in surely God will not hold this against me in John chapter 16 verses 23 and 24 Jesus spoke words which I'm taking to my own heart now in a new way and here's what he said to his disciples most assuredly 16 John 16:23 24 most assuredly I say to you whatsoever you ask the Father in my name he will give it to you I see that word to me and to you from Jesus identical as to the time when God here to solomon and said ask me what you want for and I'll give it to you ask me and so realistically we are probably sixteen hundred Solomon's and Solomon's in this assembly today add to that the people in the annex add to that the people in our 810 home fellowships and those in North Jersey and others are on line with us today we are the people that God has appeared to in the face of his son Jesus Christ has given us his word and if you can hear it as powerfully as he did with Solomon although we will never be as wise as Solomon because the promise to him was no one will ever be as smart as you are or wise but he says I say to you assuredly whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give it to you do you believe that I believe that with all my heart I believe according to the Apostle James that if I ask of God for something and it's not to consume it on my own lust if I ask for the right reason according to the will of God it will be mine I could even ask for wisdom and the scripture says it will be given to me and God will not withhold he will give it to me if I want wisdom for the right reason and he says until now you've asked nothing in my name ask and you will receive that your joy might be full ask of me and I will give you a joy I will answer your prayer and the full joy to me means that I make it to the end that I make it all the way through it's not just a joy that's temporary not just a joy at 10 o'clock Sunday morning in September at Times Square shirts at last on Monday at 2:00 in the afternoon ask of me I will give it to you and your joy will be full your joy your joy that means when you get to your deathbed and you put your feet up if God should give you that moment your joy is full God I've been involved in the work you gave me to do I built your house by the power of your Holy Spirit and by the direction of your word I have no regrets Lord I've done it the best I know how I've obeyed your word as much as I know and when I've been in error you corrected me and my heart's been open and so I'm not leaving a weak family I'm not leaving behind me weak children in a weak house and weak grandchildren I'm leaving behind me that promise that my joy will be full that when I get to heaven I stand at the gate and I'm gonna wait for my sons and my daughter and my wife and my children my grandchildren and they're coming home and they're gonna live for you too not in a weak and divided Kingdom but in the place where you were promised blessing oh how beautiful to finish your life and get to that place where you say God I trust you God thank you for not letting me go God thank you for giving me a heart giving me a heart because every human being doesn't have it on their own but giving me a heart to obey a thank you Lord for helping me to turn in the direction you were calling me when it was the hardest thing to do in my life thank you for leading me to forgive when everything in me wanted to hate thank you God for giving me this strength to forgive even my enemies thank you Lord for helping me to make restitution when everything inside of me wanted to keep that little bit for myself thank you Lord for giving me the courage to walk humbly when others had a word of correction to bring into my life thank you God for changing my heart from image to image and glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord thank you that even in my deathbed you're giving me a vision of the future thank you Lord that was your promise in the book of Acts and through the Prophet Joel that your old men will dream dreams thank you God that I see something in the future for my posterity something that will not end after my death a week will not follow me because I thought I could live in duplicity and somehow still have the blessing of God in my home thank you Lord for giving me a heart to follow you that's the cry of my heart I'm 65 years old next week I will most likely be in heaven in the next decade or 15 years at the most for real I'm not afraid of that thought doesn't bother me at all I'm ready to go as the Apostle Paul said I just I stayed for your sake I stayed for my children's sake I stay for my grandchildren sake I have no other reason to stay ask-ask and your joy will be full ask and here's what you asked for God give me a heart to obey what I know don't let me think that I can embrace something like Solomon did and think that I'll not get burned give me the courage to not push away the hard things in your word and just gravitate to the easy things give me the courage Lord the courage that I need because your promise is that my joy will be full full full not half empty not full regret but full God my joy will be full I'm not smarter than Solomon but then again maybe I am if I ask for a heart to obey what I know now father I thank you Lord with all of my heart with all of my heart I thank you for your people you are draw drawing us in this last hour of time to you you are drawing us to a place where we love truth enough to obey it you are drawing us to a place Lord where we are willing to turn away from falsehood and embrace that which is right help us Lord to learn from the example of those who have gone before us help us Lord Jesus Christ to be like the Apostle Paul when he finished and said I fought a good fight I've run the race that was set before me now there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness but not me only all those who have loved the Lord and loved his appearing it's a father I thank you lord thank you God with all of my heart I pray Lord Jesus Christ for my own house my own children my own grandchildren I ask Oh God that my house would be known for missions for years to come I ask Lord Jesus Christ that you would remove every obstacle every hindrance every contrary argument I ask father that you would protect my grandchildren from every encroachment of hell that will try to get into their minds and you build a hedge of fire round about them and keep them I ask Oh Lord Jesus Christ that through my life the heritage of godliness will be born into my house I pray for your people today Lord for every young person that's here of your man every woman that's here oh Jesus Christ would you give us a heart to obey your truth to give us a heart to turn away from sin and turn to what is right give us a heart to love you and to let our bodies become the true temple of your Holy Spirit help us Lord God not to live in duplicity and compromise help us to put away that which will make us blind ineffectual and weak help us God to understand that all the devil needs is a toehold in our lives and soon he will come in give us great grace Lord that we not end up like Solomon help us Lord to finish even in the midst of our mistakes as King David did a man after your heart Lord I bless you and I praise you God for the simplicity of this moment but yet it's not that simple and I thank you in Jesus name I'm going to give an altar call I'm going to give an altar call and I'm going to give it with a story if you'll just hold still for one moment it was 19 roughly 1904 to 1906 the whole nation of Wales was aflame with the presence of God a spiritual awakening had begun that was going to tots most of the known Western world of its time it was because of the Welsh revival that Azusa Street happened here in America that brought the renewed understanding of the power of God to the Church of our time Evan Roberts a young preacher in training was the vessel that God chose to use for that spiritual awakening and there was a service probably similar to this if I remember correctly there was well over a thousand people in attendance in the service and everybody was waiting for this man of God to speak and they waited and they waited he sat in his seat and they waited and waited and waited there was a stillness and a silence to the point where it became very uncomfortable finally he left his seat strolled into the pulpit bowed his head in silent prayer then lifted his head up and said two words obey God you see that the point is the people already knew what to do there was no more knowledge needed no more instruction had to be given there was not going to be a revelation to some new little bit of truth that was suddenly going to ring the bell and everybody was going to be a spiritual millionaire they already knew what to do and he went back and sat in his seat and the writer of this particular book said people began to stand they began to confess theft that they had to make right they began to make restitution they asked for forgiveness in other words everybody already knew what to do and so that's my altar call today as God would you give me a heart to obey you this is what I asked for and if you ask you will receive it you will a heart to obey you in what I know and in what your word reveals to me would you give me the heart to obey you pray this with me Lord Jesus Christ [Music] give me a heart to obey what I know [Music] the things you've already spoken to me from your word help me not to push it away from my conscience and from my practice give me the strength to live an obedient life to your word thank you Lord Jesus for your promise to me that you will answer this prayer and my joy will be full I believe that I receive that by the Spirit of God within my life my joy will be full and I thank you for it god help me to not turn away from what I've heard today and I ask all of this in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Times Square Church

Views: 16,430

Rating: 4.8992443 out of 5

Keywords: Carter Conlon, Sermon, Times Square Church

Id: X498xnIJD-U

Length: 39min 15sec (2355 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 12 2018