God’s Way Is Best

Introduction

Good morning. God is good. Amen. We certainly blessed in this congregation with many visitors this morning, and I hope that those who are visiting and those who are members here know that that song we just sang is one not only of uh biblical grounding, but of great encouragement as well. And that Jim Duke and Tim Caldwell and Cody Baker to name just three of at least the ten or more, nearly even a dozen, perhaps, individuals here who have worked very hard to make that supplement that is in, I think, some of the pewacts before you to make it possible, to make sure we had all the copyrights and to adjust the wording to be faithful to God’s holy word. A lot of work has gone into that, and thankful to them for that effort, and thankful most of all to God for giving us his word, that we may understand who he is and how to be with him.

In fact, in this new year, that is the topic for the lesson this morning. I hope you’ll turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Kings chapter 11. And 1 Kings chapter 11, we’re going to see an underscoring of the news that God’s way is best.

But as we start this new year, and as God has blessed us with the ability to be here today, to have access to the Word of God, to be surrounded by brothers and sisters of Christ who both live in the Orlando area, and those who don’t. Let’s understand what it means to live as God has decreed. In first Kings chapter 11, though, we run into a man that we know for wisdom, a point that we’ll examine a little bit more closely in just a few moments. But in 1 Kings chapter 11, we find the last chapter in which we have the King Solomon alive. In 1 Kings chapter 11, though, read with me beginning in verse 1 about Solomon the wise. Now, King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women from the nations concerning, which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, you shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.

Solomon clung to these in love. He had seven hundred wives who were princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned away his heart. For when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Astaroth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Melcom the abomination of the Ammonites. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not wholly follow the Lord as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Kamash, the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites on the mountain east of Jerusalem, and so he did for all his foreign wives who made offerings and sacrificed to their God.

1. Solomon Was Particularly Wise

I think there is no doubt in my mind or any Bible reader’s mind that Solomon was a wise man, perhaps even the most wise man, who is not Jesus the Christ in the flesh. But when we think about Solomon and we think about 1 Kings chapter 11, we have a problem because what has happened is Solomon hit the intersection that each and every one of us do, and that’s where he, this is what I think I want, and this is what God has plainly said. Now Solomon had the wisdom to make that choice correctly. In fact, if we learn from Solomon, we need to remember he was particularly wise, and where that wisdom came from. Look at me in chapter three of the book of 1 Kings.

Not only did was Solomon wise, but I think it’s it’s of note to see where his wisdom came from, why he was blessed with such wisdom. So much so that as the verse referenced behind me says in verse 41, that as Solomon’s last words are written about in the book of 1 Kings, chapter 11, his wisdom is noted. But note you might say the origin of his great wisdom in chapter 3. In 1 Kings chapter 3, beginning in verse 1. Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her into the city of David until he had finished building his own house and the house of the Lord and the wall around Jerusalem. The people were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the Lord.

Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father, only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places. And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. At 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 shown great and steadfast love to your servant David, my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart towards you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day. Remember that special promise about a son sitting on his throne, because of David’s faithfulness.

But in verse 7 it continues, And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of David, my father, although I am but a little child, I do not know how to go out or to come in. And your servant is the midst of your people, whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to govern this your great people? First of all, we see the request of Solomon when God says, Ask and I will give it to you. He could have asked for anything. The point is well documented. He could have asked for glory, he could have asked for fame and riches, but in verse 9, he asked for not just wisdom, but the application of it.

We see this is what wisdom is as biblically defined. The ability to discern right from wrong. And true wisdom is how God discerns right from wrong. And that we practice it in the same way. But if you know when God’s answer, as the text continues in verse 10, this pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. And God said to him, Because you have asked this and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right. Behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you, and none like you shall arise after you.

But sufficient for now is to note that Solomon asked of God for great wisdom. And God not only gave him wisdom, he gave him what else? Everything else. Solomon was particularly wise, such as there had not been before and there would not be after. Solomon was equipped with understanding who God was, what God did for those who submitted to his will, because he already mentioned that in chapter 3. What was it that Solomon was aware of? How God dealt with David, his father. And Solomon had this wisdom granted to him by God, and of course, there’s great examples of how Solomon uses his wisdom. But at the beginning of the chapter in chapter 3, we saw that there was something missing. There was no great temple for the Lord.

2. Solomon Had Been Given Unique Promises

And of course, it was under Solomon’s leadership that the great temple to God was built. Solomon had great wisdom. Solomon knew what God expected, and Solomon provided on what God had requested, fulfilling prophecy by creating and building the temple. Solomon knew what he was being faced with. But Solomon also had been given unique promises. If you note in chapter 2, we mentioned his father David, but not only was Solomon promised great things by God, as we’ll see in chapter 9, but he was in chapter 2 by his father. Solomon had been brought up to know God. In 1 Kings chapter 2, the first four verses. When David’s time to die drew near, he commanded Solomon his son, saying, I am about to go the way of all the earth.

Be strong and show yourself a man and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do. And wherever you turn, that the Lord may establish his word that he spoke concerning me, saying, If your sons play close attention to their way, to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel. I think verse 3 is important. I think our minds go directly to the idea that he has to keep what the law of God has commanded, and that is certainly of the utmost importance.

But if he did, let’s also search out verse 3 and verse 4. What was the promise of God? What had God made clear to David, who was now instructing his son? If you do this, at the end of verse 3, you may prosper in all that you do, and wherever you turn, if you stick with God, he would bless you. And in chapter 9, God even promises Solomon this very thing. In chapter 9, note with me in first Kings chapter 9, just several chapters over, beginning in verse 1, as soon as Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord, the temple, and the king’s house and all that Solomon desired to build, the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.

Of course, we read about that instance where he received great wisdom. Verse 3, and the Lord said to him, I have heard your prayer and your plea which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house that you have built by putting my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. And as for you, verse 4, if you will walk with me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules, and I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, You shall not lack for a man on the throne of Israel, verse six. But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them.

And I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples, and this house will become a heap of ruins. Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, Why has the Lord done this to this land and to this house? Then they will say, Because they abandoned the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the Lord has brought all this disaster on them. We see clearly from just the several texts that we so quickly read through this morning.

Solomon had an opportunity to be blessed in a unique way. Not only was Solomon the son of David, he was ruler of God’s people. When you think about the history of the people of Israel, not only did they have Moses at the lead, but the time came for the judges. And of course, when it was Samuel that the people came up and they said, We want to be like all the other nations. By the way, something that God foresaw in Deuteronomy chapter 17. And there were rules for how the kings were to live. But Saul didn’t do what God had commanded, and so he was replaced with David, who by and large was a beacon of faithfulness. In fact, from the book of Acts, we know David as what?

A man after God’s own heart. Solomon had those two bases for understanding. He would have known the history of Saul. He certainly understood the life of his father David. He had great wisdom. He had been given direct promises by both David and God. If you will stick with God, he will bless you. If you turn your back on God, God will forsake you.

3. He Ignored and Violated God’s Warnings

And as we read from 1 Kings chapter 11, he ignored and violated God’s warnings. We saw the wording in verse 3 that it was of the chapter 11 that he kept those women in love. He chose the women over God’s decree. I think as we continue in 1 Kings chapter 11, though, you’ll see the predictable fallout in verse 9. And this will be the focus of our lesson this morning and our challenge to be better than Solomon in this chapter. In verse 9, the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. That he did not keep what the Lord commanded.

Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, Since this has been your practice, and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. Note interesting language in verse 12, though. What do we learn about God? God is faithful to his promises. In verse 12, yet for the sake of David, your father, I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of David, my servant, and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen. Of course, we see in verse 14 and verse 23, and if we do closer reading, we’ll see that God raised up adversaries for Solomon.

And of course, we know the finality of this is in chapter 12, when Solomon’s son Rehboam chooses foolish counsel of his peers. He tries to put too much upon the Israelite people. And they revolt. And the kingdom splits just as God told Solomon that it would. Although, yes, Rehoboam did remain on the throne of Judah. How interesting that Solomon, this great, wise, powerful ruler, this great son of David, the man after God’s own heart, Solomon, who created and built the temple of the Lord, would choose in chapter 11 with all of his wisdom, with all he had been promised, to ignore and violate the commandment of God. When we see in church or in church services, or we see on billboards that God’s way is best, we agree, because we know it’s true.

But Solomon knew it was true as well. He just loved the women more than God. He chose the political alliances, all that would come with that. He chose that I would rather have this than do what God has said. And that tells me that I have a strong challenge in this new year and in any day that I live. Not only did I operate with the wisdom to properly discern right from wrong as God allows us to have, but do I truly seek God’s word? I challenge you this morning to consider do you do as God has said? Do you care what God has said? If the answer is yes, you’ll be reading in the book. I hope we’ll see two facets of God this morning, though, that should govern us and should encourage us to learn more about God.

4. He Is a Faithful God

Because first of all, we see He is a faithful God. He was faithful with all of his people. You can look in Genesis chapter 12, and what do we see there? The promises to Abraham, the father of the Israelites, whom Solomon was king of. In Genesis chapter 12, if Abram would go out to the land that God showed him, he would make those three promises. Remember the nation promised, the people of Israel, the land that would be the land of Canaan, the very land and people that Solomon was king over, and of course his seed, through which all families of the earth shall be blessed. The name Jesus the Christ, whom we are here to worship even this morning. God fulfilled his promises to Abraham. But even as you continue on, you see in Exodus chapter 19 that God made the people of Israel a particular promise, that they could be a holy nation to him.

And in 1 Kings chapter 11, we know in the fallout of Solomon that if he had just stuck with God and he had not turned after the other gods. We know from the other chapters that we’ve already read in the book of 1 Kings, that he would be with Solomon. He would prosper every way he turned. 1 Kings chapter 2 and verse 3. What a powerful promise from a faithful, powerful God. And the truth is that God is faithful to us today. And He’s made a great promise. Look at in Hebrews chapter 10. The Hebrew writer says directly what we are addressing. In Hebrews chapter 10, note in verse 23, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

Our God is a faithful God. How great. A God that we serve. And verse 24 continues, and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, and encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. The response to understanding who a faithful God is to focus on being the best we can be and encouraging others in the process. It’s interesting that it’s in verse 23 that God is faithful. In verse 24 and 25, that passage we know so well about not neglecting to meet together. Not as many translations in the assembly this morning will read, forsaking the assembly. Our service to God is predicated on our understanding that God is faithful.

But can I take it a step further? That if I’m doubting God, if I’m saying there’s a lot happening to me that I don’t understand, I need to know that God is faithful to his promises. Solomon should have known better and he made the wrong choice. We can know better. When we see Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 23, when we read the promises of Jesus in John chapter 14, that he’s going to prepare a place for his disciples. We need to take that to heart. We need to know I can make it through this life because Jesus has promised and God is faithful. That’s life changing if I know it’s waiting there for me. And I’ve got to ask the question if we don’t think about that every single day, how are we going to make it?

I don’t think we will. If we don’t meditate on daily the greatness of God and his love that makes being with him forever possible. And understand and underscore and repeat every day that God is faithful to his great promises, we will not have the endurance to overcome this life. We’ve got to be pressing on towards our Heavenly Father. God is faithful to us today. But I have a question. What if God was faithful to us? Like I was faithful to him this past year? We all have our tough moments, our tough dips in life. Maybe the dips are longer for some, shorter for others. Maybe it’s an occupational problem. Maybe it’s a familial problem, marriage problem, maybe it’s a spiritual doubt. But I wonder if I could even possibly make it through life.

If God was faithful to me, like I’m faithful to him. I think that’s an important consideration for us as we look back over the past year and our years of service in God’s kingdom. And as we look forward to be better, that God’s standard of holiness and excellence is at the utmost height of 100%. But where is my faithfulness to God? If God is faithful, if God is holy and I fall short of that expectation, what does that mean for me? What does that mean for how I will answer to the very God who gave the expectation of sacrificing ourselves, denying ourselves daily and taking up our cross and following after Jesus? Am I faithful to God? Do I keep his commandments like I want and expect God to keep his promises to me?

5. Adhere to God’s Word Because His Wisdom Is Perfect

If not, I know where I need to be. We can be better. We can help. We can grow. We need to be faithful to God, like we want God to be faithful to us. Consider, secondly, why we should adhere to God’s word, because his wisdom is perfect. When you think about Solomon in 1 Kings chapter 11, the most problematic aspect of that is God told Solomon, not just don’t have the foreign wives because God didn’t want them. Why did God not want Solomon to have those wives? They would turn his heart from God. What does verse 8 say in 1 Kings chapter 11? They turned his heart towards God. He was offering sacrifices to all hosts of other gods because of the women God told him not to have in the first place.

God’s wisdom is perfect. You have to think that Solomon made his own bed. And you know the expression, if you make your own bed, you’re left to lie in it. Solomon made his bed because he went a different way from God’s wisdom. I want us to see this morning, though, that God’s word is beneficial not just in the sense of, I need to get to heaven and I need the encouragement to get there. I want to encourage us this morning to see that God’s word is beneficial to us even here and now, just to enjoy and get through this life. Did you know some of these passages that we’re going to look at this morning? First of all, God’s word is a benefit to us financially.

Turn to the book of Proverbs with me. We’re going to look at a few. Turn to the book of Proverbs with me, beginning in Proverbs chapter 11 and verse 15. In Proverbs chapter 11 and verse 15, what we see is a warning against cosigning alone. I just picked a few in each category here this morning. But we’re going to see that God’s wisdom is thorough. In Proverbs chapter 11 and verse 15, whoever puts up security for a stranger will suffer harm. But he who hates striking his and pledge is secure. What’s the problem with cosigning a loan, even if someone’s your best friend or your neighbor or your family member? If you’re going to sign that loan, be ready to lose what you have at stake.

In Proverbs chapter 22 and verse 26 and 27, we see this concept repeated in chapter 22, verses 26 and 27. Be not one of those who give pledges who put up security for debts. If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you? We need to be careful what we do. In fact, it’s the Proverbs that say that the debtor is slave to the lender. That’s a principle from God’s word, not any common devised idea from man. God’s word is practical financially. We need to not spend more than we make. We need to trust in God to give back as he has prospered us, and we need to make fine decisions. But God’s word tells us that. I have a question.

Did we know that those verses were in there? If not, that should be a challenge to us this new year to read the Proverbs, to read the will of God, realizing there’s so much more always for us to learn. How about with friends in Proverbs chapter 25 and verse 17? Here’s an interesting passage. Perhaps you’ve lived out this, I hope, on the receiving end and not on the end where you are the felon here. In Proverbs chapter 25 and verse 17, let your foot be seldom in your neighbor’s house, lest he have his fill of you and hate you. This is the classic overstaying your welcome. Now, the truth is, this is in the will of God. This is in his inspired word. Did we know that that was in there?

If not, why haven’t we been reading the book of Proverbs? Why haven’t we been studying the will of God? Because this is going to go a long way to help us with our friends and our relationships. Again, I could insert all kinds of funny stories, but sufficient to say just about everyone’s been with someone who’s held them too long, kept them from something they needed to do, or mainly even just wanted to do. God’s word is beneficial financially. It’s beneficial for our friends. Certainly it’s beneficial in our marriage and our family. In Ephesians chapter 5. Hope you’ll turn there with me in Ephesians chapter 5. It should be of no surprise that God’s word is the best marriage advice that we can find. In Matthew chapter 19, a passage we won’t look at, you know that God’s impact on marriage and society is clear.

God expected marriage as from creation to be what? One man and one woman becoming one for life. That was God’s plan. In our society, we’re reaping the seeds of the corruption of God’s perfect ideal life and home. It should be of no surprise that when we have a generation that raises up with one parent, one mom, or one dad, that it’s not like God had commanded. That we have authority problems, that we have marriage unsat dissatisfaction. Might we stick with the word of God and benefit from so doing? In Ephesians chapter 5, though, in verse 22, wives submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body and is himself its savior.

Now, as a church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Wives, submit to your husbands. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church. I don’t know that we see that advice a lot in marriage books. I love self-improvement books. I always have. I have a lot to work on. So I need all the books I can get. Society says, do not submit. Society said marriage is for you, for your satisfaction. Why do you think we have so many divorces, not just in total, but among own single people? They are married three, four, and five times. Do you think that those individuals were loving themselves, submitting to their husbands if they’re female, or loving their wives as themselves or as Christ loved the church as a man?

What strong, powerful words of not only advice from Paul, but the bigger picture behind Ephesians 5 was not just marital advice. It was our understanding of Christ in the church. God expects his people to be holy, to be splendorous in verse 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish in the same way. Look at verse 28 with me. Husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh but nourishes it and cherishes it just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.

What a powerful picture. And I gotta say, as a husband, that’s a powerful standard that I do not always live up to. But if I want to have a happy marriage, yes, the old adage, happy life, happy wife, happy life, is applicable. But what God says is it goes deeper, not just to have some sort of super art superficial, artificial happiness, but to have a meaningful relationship with someone who will help me get to heaven with God here and now, God’s advice is sound. It is perfect. And we should invite the pages of his word into our lives at every open turn. And if we’re not, what does that say about us? And if we reject his advice, what is going to be the consequence? Not just what Solomon faced in the terms of a cutting off of his kingdom as a kingdom.

Not just being separated from God in eternity, but even in this life, brothers and sisters, we will not live as God wants us to. We hear so often that God just wants you to be happy. I know that God wants us to be with him. But if we trust God’s advice, we’re going to be a whole lot happier even here and later. Because there’s something special that God offers, and we’re going to talk about that as we conclude the lesson this morning. But we’re going to see that our lives will be better if we trust in the Lord here and for eternity. I want to make one final point on his wisdom being perfect. I think, like Solomon, too often we ignore God’s word. And then we look up after having rejected God at this turn, rejecting his marital advice, rejecting his friendship advice, rejecting his financial advice, and then we look around and we say, Why is life so hard?

Why did God let this happen to me? The answer is because of my sin. When somebody’s in the water drowning, and you don’t throw them a life preserver, why do they drown? Because they’re in the water. Yes, God holds the key to salvation. Yes, as Christians, we can share the good news of salvation with others who are living in sin. But too often, how do people end up in the water? They choose to go there. They choose to jump. They choose to swim. They choose to walk in. We invite all manners of sin into our life. And then we wonder at God why he would let that happen. We invite sex and profanity and all matters of ungodliness into our home on our television and computer screens.

And we wonder why our lives are not holy, and we’re not using the wisdom that God has granted us to discern right from wrong. I wonder how often we would allow in our homes what we watch on our screens, if people were doing that right in front of our very eyes. If people talked like actors and actresses do, if they behaved and dressed like actors and actresses do. What a shame and a pity when we choose to see God’s word, to know what is this path, and to choose unrighteousness anyway. That’s what Solomon did. Now, I understand that not all tough lives and consequences are a result of sin. Job is a testament to that. Joseph is a testament to that. The apostles, in living out their confession of teaching Jesus and their unique role as pillars of the early church, were not treated fairly and justly, and I don’t think they were punished and martyred because of their sin, but rather because of their stand for righteousness.

But for many of us, it is our choices that result in our own struggle. But note this.

We are responsible for the choices we make. We may not make good choices, we make, we may make decisions that we have to live with the consequences for years or for months. But the truth is, with God, we can get through. With God, we can be forgiven of sin and press on towards the goal. In Philippians chapter 4, we see that God and God alone offer something unique, something that will not only last us while we’re here, but to be with God for all of eternity. In Philippians chapter 4, beginning in verse 4. Note the advice and the wisdom of Paul in verse 4. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus in verse 7. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding. It’s the peace that only God offers. It surpasses the wisdom and understanding of man. And it will guard our hearts, it will guard our minds in Christ Jesus. Praise God for what a gift. What a special blessing is God’s word and God’s ability to reach out to man and to make it to where if we will submit to Him, we can be one with God. Solomon lived out what it means to reject God.

Conclusion

And yet he knew better. All of us here this morning would say that God’s way is best, that God is faithful, and that God’s wisdom is perfect. But do we live like it? If we live that God is faithful, we’ll submit ourselves entirely to Him and His cause. We will live each and every day like it’s our last, because it very well may be, not just because some tragedy might strike, but because Jesus may come again. And we need to understand that God’s wisdom is perfect. And that will be reflected in how I am a steward of God’s blessings, and how I deal with friends and brothers and sisters in Christ, how I affect my family, and how as a child I respect my parents, and as a parent I train my children.

What a blessing that God makes his will so readily available to us in this country and in this nation and in this time. But what a waste if we close the book. We don’t search the internet for the truth of life in the inspired words of God that are available in every language and frankly just about every type of translation, poor and excellent, that you can imagine and fathom. We need to be better because God has shown us how to be. What a blessing to be a child of God. It may be this morning in this new year that we realize that when I take the mirror of the Word of God, what I see is holiness and perfection, and what I’m living is like Solomon, an outright rejection and the ugliness of sin.

It might be that we’re struggling, that we don’t know why God has allowed this to happen. Maybe you’re like Job. Maybe you’re like Joseph. Maybe we’re like Solomon who invited his own chaos into his life. We need to remember that God is faithful. And what God promised us is for those who are Christians in 1 John chapter 1 and verse 9, God is faithful. If we confess our sins, we know that he will forgive us. We need to know that God is faithful, that if we want to become a child of His, if we want to submit to His will and His righteousness, knowing that God’s way and God’s way alone is right, we can be a child of His today. You have to have faith.

You have to believe that He is. Be willing to confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. Our God is awesome. Let’s follow Him today. If we can help you in any way as we live out the confession that God is who he says he is, come forward as we stand and sing the invitation song.