Turned away his Heart
Category: Obedience to God’s Will
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: June 7, 2024
Thank you so much. Appreciate the test. Oh, he got me there.
We moved to Tennessee in the spring of 1972. I think we had been here about a year when a knock came on my door. I went to the door, and it was a preacher from Calvary Baptist Church with one of the men from the church. He asked me if I was going to heaven; I lied and told him I was.
He said, “Well, you can come visit my church.” So we did the next day: my wife, my three little boys, and me. About halfway through that message, I knew that I was lost as a ball in high weeds. I could honestly feel hell. It was hot, and I had to do something. When he gave the invitation, I went forward. He said, “What do you want?” I said, “I want you to save me.”
He said, “I thought you were already saved.” I said, “Sir, I lied. I need to get saved.” He said, “Well, I can’t save you.” I thought, “Oh no, I’ve been so bad, I can’t be saved.” He said, “But I know a man that can.” Amen. I was crying so hard. I know somebody led me through the plan of salvation, but I really do not remember it. I just remember getting down at the altar and praying and praying and praying. I think we were the last ones to leave. Then I backslid. I went right back into the world and lived the most ungodly life for 15 years.
After a long period of alcohol and drugs and this worst kind of life, I finally bottomed out. When I bottomed out, I realized that I have got to nail it down for the Lord. I have got to find a church to go to, and I have got to get my life right. I looked high and low and tried every denomination you can think of, but it just was not right. I could not go there. I said, “Something is wrong with that; it is not biblical.” Finally, toward the end, there was a real good neighbor that lived down the street, and he was starting—well, it is a Methodist church, but it is more than Methodist; it is really close to the Bible—except they believe that sanctification is a separate step from salvation, and I just could not do it. I could not make myself believe it; the Lord would not allow it; He just would not allow it.
In the meantime, I saw this quaint little sign that said, “Rutherford County Baptist Church.” It was on a little bitty building, a storefront building. I said, “That is a quaint sign. I ought to go visit that church someday.” Every time I would pass it, the Holy Spirit would tell me, “You need to go and visit that church.” Finally, after a while, I got Sunday off, and I went and visited Rutherford County Baptist Church. I have been going ever since. That has been about 18 or 19 years ago.
I did not really understand everything. I did not know how to get my life right. But Pastor Paul and the good Sunday school teachers taught me just the basic fundamentals of the Bible. The thing about it was they were simple, but they were true. They were true, and that truth mattered to me more than anything else. I said, “Lord, I will knock and seek and ask for the truth. That is what I want.”
So we moved into a bigger storefront building. I wish I had a lot of time; I could tell you some real, real stories. Only God could do that. He has been so good to us. I have seen it grow, and then we moved over here to Bible Way, and we had all the room we needed. The church grew and grew and grew. Every Sunday we were dragging out the chairs, dragging out the chairs. Now we are getting ready to move over to Ambleville Road to a bigger church, and I just cannot wait to see what the Lord is going to do over there. I promise you it is going to be fantastic because God is fantastic.
Amen. Thank you so much for singing out. You never know how much you enjoy or appreciate something until you do not have it. I appreciate Mr. Cotaur playing and trying to play through the day, even though it is painful. It reminded me—we had a special; we are just going to postpone that—but it reminded me at the beginning of the church. I had to be the song leader. I would not be too nervous about preaching, but song leading? Oh, I remember my hands used to sweat. I thought, “Lord, just get me through the song service.”
I think our very first Easter, we were in our second building, and I have a niece that was learning to play the piano. She lives in North Alabama. I thought, “Let me get Shayla up here; she will play for us, and we will have a piano player.” Back then, we did not have any of that; we just brought a little keyboard in for her to play. I thought, “It is going to be great; I am going to have a piano.” She came up and spent the night with us on Saturday evening and said, “Let us go up there and just practice one time.” When she began to play—of course, the good thing is when you do not have music, you can sing in any note, any key you want; you can change in the middle of it all—she was playing the way it was written, and she could not transpose. I thought, “This is not good, because I cannot sing like it is written way up there.” I thought, “It is kind of nice not to have a piano player every once in a while.” So it reminded me of that tonight. But we made it through, praise the Lord; you just go an octave lower, right? Turn to 1 Kings chapter number 11, if you would.
1 Kings chapter number 11 of God’s word tonight. I appreciate you being faithful. I was thinking of some of you, and I understand—I am trying not to pick on someone whose health compromises their attendance, whatnot, online—but I was thinking this afternoon about those of you who, as soon as we started getting back to church, have been here every time. I appreciate that; it is a blessing. I know more will come, and I am excited about them coming in, but I appreciate those of you who can, and you have. I appreciate that very, very much. What a blessing that is. I feel like I got my wife’s false teeth in tonight just talking too much. Do not take me serious on that, all right. Some of you heard me tell the joke. She is going to get me tonight, by the way. I will be the one with hurting ribs next Wednesday night, and it will not be from painting either.
The preacher was on Christian radio, and it was around Pastor’s Appreciation Month, I think, and the guy was interviewing me. He said, “What do you want for your people for Pastor’s Appreciation Month?” He said, “The biggest thing I want for my people is faithfulness.” When he said that, I said, “That is it. He hit the nail on the head. That is exactly it.” I understand some cannot, but I just appreciate those that can. You are, and those that have for years and years—what a blessing that is. 1 Kings chapter number 11 of God’s word. I am reading through my Bible chronologically. That is an interesting thing to do if you have never done that; I would suggest that. Some of you read it through many times, and that is awesome. Sometimes just changing things up is good. It is good to read it through chronologically. I recently read a little phrase: “The heart of Solomon was turned away.” That just stuck with me. In fact, I wrote it down on the car, and I thought, “Maybe one day the Lord probably had me preach on that.” Just this afternoon, I was going to preach something else, but I felt like the Lord said, “No, it is time to go back to that.” The Lord used it in my heart and my life, and I hope it does it in your heart and life. “Turned his heart away” is what we are going to preach about a little bit tonight. 1 Kings 11, verse number one is where we are starting. Would you please stand as I read God’s word together? 1 Kings 11 and verse number one of the Bible. And here we go:
But King Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites. Of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, “You shall not go in unto them, neither shall they come in unto you, for surely they would turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clave unto these in love, and he had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines; and his wives turned away his heart.
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.
Solomon was an incredible king, just amazing. Under his leadership, Israel really reached its pinnacle, just amazing. Often in history, it is called Israel’s golden age. It is amazing what Israel was like underneath Solomon’s leadership; it was a time of peace.
In fact, God had told—God is speaking here to David, Solomon’s dad. It is in 1 Chronicles 22:9. He says, “Behold, a son shall be born to thee.” David wanted to build the temple. God said, “No, no. Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about, for his name shall be Solomon.” Solomon means peace, and I will give him peace and quietness unto Israel in his days.
It is amazing. David was a warrior, and he took a lot of territory and conquered a lot for the Lord and for Israel. But it seemed like Solomon did not have to lift a hand, just by God’s promise and by his wisdom. He had all the countries pretty much around Israel that year by year would bring money—basically, they would give them taxes, protection money. It is not that Solomon fought with them; it is just that Solomon had a knack of wisdom about it. Honestly, it is so powerful, nobody wanted to challenge him. They just said, “Well, we do not have to fight with you, Solomon; you win.” It is amazing. He was so good at making allies. He had allies all around. If he wanted to build a confederacy, wow, he could have done it.
Solomon—here is something about him: not just politically with Israel, but when he was younger, he was really close to the Lord. He walked with the Lord as a young man. Another passage is in 1 Chronicles 22, verse number 10: “And he shall build an house for my name.” God speaking to David about Solomon, his son: “And he shall build an house for my name, and he shall be my son, and I will be his father.” Solomon and the Lord had an incredible relationship. Twice, twice the Lord appeared unto Solomon. God used Solomon to build the temple, and Solomon praised and led the children of Israel to praise the Lord. A little while after that, the Lord appeared unto Solomon again. He said, “Hey, Solomon, tell me what you want.” Wouldn’t you like for the Lord to show up to you and say, “Tell me what you hope”? That is what the Lord did. Solomon chose wisely. Solomon said, “I want a heart of understanding.” He said, “I am so young; I do not know how to go in and out before the children of Israel. I need a heart of understanding and wisdom.” God said, “Boy, you asked for a good thing,” and God said, “I give you that.” He said, “And I will give you the other things you did not ask for.” He was close to the Lord; he walked with the Lord.
Remember the story of the two ladies that walked in, and they both had little children, babies. One, in the middle of the night, had rolled over on her baby and suffocated her baby. They woke up in the morning, and that lady had suffocated her baby; she changed out the babies. When the other lady woke up, her baby was dead. A little while later in the morning, she is mourning, and she sees that other lady’s baby. She said, “That is my son.” Can you imagine the argument? Courts and decisions—I imagine it got appealed. Finally, these two ladies go before Solomon, and they are arguing, “This is my child,” and the other one says, “No, this is my child.” They are arguing over it. Solomon makes a statement in this court decision, if you will. Solomon says, “Bring me a sword.” That is a pretty awesome statement. Solomon said, “I am going to get this sword. We are going to divide that baby in half, and we will just give half to each.” Pretty soon the mother, who knew that was her son, said, “No, do not kill the baby. I will give the baby up; just do not hurt that baby.” Solomon said, “That is a real mother right there.” He had wisdom and an understanding heart. He was amazing—walked with God, wise, just such a great leader. He built the temple for the Lord. The dedication was something: the sacrifices, the instruments that played music—it was just… I would love to have been there that day when they dedicated the temple. It was amazing.
Let me read for you what happens at that time. 1 Kings 8, I am reading verse number 10: “And it came to pass when the priests were come out of the holy place that the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord.” Can you imagine that under Solomon’s leadership, at the dedication of this temple, the glory of the Lord just filled that house so that the priests could not minister? I do not know if it is a matter of them not being able to see or just the presence of God was so strong they were just awestruck. I am not exactly sure about everything, but the priests said, “It is just too much; God has filled that temple with a cloud and His presence. We cannot minister in it right now.” It is amazing. That is under Solomon’s leadership; he was such an amazing king. He was famous. His fame went so far out that people would just talk about it. The Queen of Sheba—we are not exactly sure, but we think that is over where a human is, and it is a good ways off—this queen over there, in a little bit of a remote area, had heard of the fame of Solomon, and she traveled all that way. She said, “I had to find out if this thing is real.” You know how things get exaggerated. She said, “I do not know about all this I hear about this King Solomon. I am going to go see him.” She took this great entourage, and they went to visit Solomon. The Bible says she had a bunch of hard questions for him. Man, she had her list ready to go. When she got done with her list, the Bible says basically Solomon told her all that was in her heart. She said, “Wow, he has answered them all and told me what is going on inside of me.”
She looked around and said, “Man, his kingdom is amazing. I came to prove him, but he has told me everything in my heart.” She had seen all the wealth, all the wisdom, how happy his servants were. She said, “I tell you what, I thought it was exaggerated, but half was not told to me. It is amazing.” King Solomon—God had His hand on him. We have not really talked about the wealth too much. Look over in chapter number 11. Look in chapter number 10, verse number 18. We are just going to read a little bit about some of his wealth in the kingdom under King Solomon. We are in chapter number 10, 1 Kings. Look at verse number 18. Stick with me through this:
“Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with the best gold.” I am not sure if “the best gold” means it is 24-carat or what, but a throne made of ivory, carved out, I am sure, and then overlaid with the best of gold. The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round behind, and there were stays on either side on the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the stays. And 12 lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps. There was not the like made in any kingdom.
Can you imagine walking up to a throne overlaid with the best of gold? Basically, he has lions all around the throne. Can you imagine how intimidating that would be? It is intimidating enough to walk up to the king on his throne, and then he has all these lions. I cannot quite grasp exactly where they are situated. I have tried to visualize it somewhat, but maybe it is where if a man just took off after the king, the lion would get him. You had to know a certain way to get up to that throne. Can you imagine these lions? Our little Yorkie, Bell—most of you have seen her—she thinks she is about six feet tall. I can tell Bell, “Get that kitty cat,” and that little buddy Yorkie thinks she is somebody. In fact, she is afraid of the beep monster when the phones start beeping—you get your text, whatever, the emails in, they beep—it sends her into a little bit of fear. I can say, “Belle, get that kitty cat,” and she will start barking, and it brings bravery to her. She is not afraid anymore of the beep monster. Our house is weird, I tell you what; it is all because the pastor is weird over there. Can you imagine maybe Solomon had some command, “Get the kitty cat”? Maybe the lions were like, “We are kitty cats, but we will roar for you.” Maybe he had some kind of command; all those lions would roar! Can you imagine 12 lions roaring at you? Man, just the intimidation factor here—this is Solomon in his kingdom right there.
Look at this: verse 21. He said there was no throne like this in any kingdom made. Verse 20: “And all King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, all of them. And all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold.” These are gold—I mean, gold cups. None were of silver. If you have a silver drinking cup, that is something, but all of them were of gold; none were silver. It was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon. In other words, there were just so many; they could not keep track of all the gold and silver and brass. The king had a navy of Tarshish with the Navy of Hiram, that was one of his allies. Once in three years came the Navy of Tarshish bringing gold and silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. You can read the book of Ecclesiastes; Solomon excelled in a little bit of everything. These ships were coming every three years, bringing exotic animals and gold and silver and all—just amazing wealth. Some nations year by year would just bring wealth into Solomon. Just talk about the greatness of the kingdom under Solomon. 1 Kings 10:23: “So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom.” All the earth sought to Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. They brought every man his present: vessels of silver and vessels of gold, garments, armor, spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year. Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen, and he had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, whom he bestowed in the cities for chariots with the king at Jerusalem. The king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars he made to be as the sycamore trees that are in the vale for abundance. Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn—the king’s merchants received linen yarn at a price. A chariot came up and went out of Egypt for 600 shekels of silver, and a horse for 150. So for all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Syria, they brought them out by their means and brought them to Solomon. It is incredible, the greatness of the kingdom under Solomon.
What a great king! What a wise man! What an amazing man! God had met with him, and God had personally, if you will, appeared to him twice. God called him; He was going to be His son, and He was going to be his father, and they had a special relationship. All the blessings—it seemed as if Solomon and his kingdom were in prime position. Nobody could get in; nobody could get to him. Nobody even tried. Nobody went against him. But perhaps the saddest verses in all the Bible are in chapter 11, verses 3 and 4. 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.” That little phrase, “turned away his heart”—such a sad thing. This man who had been so blessed and had such wisdom and understanding—it turned away his heart. It is sad. Such a great man, blessed and close to God, walked with God, and had the favor of God, but turned his heart away.
Can I just ask, or would you let the Holy Spirit—is there something maybe that is just pulling on your heart and pulling it away from the Lord? Satan is so sly. There was not a king that could march in there and come close to taking Solomon. There was not anyone that could outwit Solomon. But Satan was so clever at just putting something in there that was pulling on his heart. Is there something maybe in your life that is pulling on your heart?
I really believe that before this, Solomon’s heart was toward God. I do not think God would have just shown up twice and said, “Hey, whatever you want, I will give it to you.” I do not believe that happened unless he was walking for God. God said about him, “I am going to be his dad; he is going to be my son.” Verses three and four beg the question: Did they turn his heart away and begin to serve other gods? He was serving the God, Jehovah. If you will, Solomon was a faithful, sold-out, dedicated Christian. He was involved in the church. He was reading his Bible, he was praying, he was walking with God. Solomon was close to the Lord, but something turned his heart.
It reminds me of the verse, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” It does not matter how strong you are, how wise you are, how close you are to the Lord. If your treasures are in the right place, your heart is going to follow your treasures. If anybody could debunk that, if you will, Solomon could. He had his wisdom and understanding heart, but he did not. He put his treasure in the wrong place, and pretty soon his heart was there. It turned; he turned his heart away. I believe he had walked with God for years, but…
One of our good people in the church was saying recently they had taken—I do not know, it sounded like hundreds—of music CDs and they chucked them in the trash. They said, “I debated maybe selling them, then it is on them; I get a little money.” But they said, “No, I could not do that.” They chucked it. Praise the Lord. That is giving them a good sign. Maybe years and years down the road, their heart will still be for the Lord because they are giving their treasure to the Lord. If I am not careful, things will pull on my heart and turn it. Solomon was not ready, not willing to let go of these things. Slowly, I believe it was just over time, they pulled on his heart; they turned his heart. By the way, the instance here is his wives. It could be for a lady or a husband; it is not women per se. It can be so many things. It could be music, which we just mentioned. It could be your heart having bitterness that you want to let go of. It could be hanging on to something in your heart, maybe fear in your heart, whatever it may be, but something that Satan will use—so many things—to pull your heart, to turn your heart. That is what happens to Solomon.
There is something else about Solomon. Look in verse number four, if you would, please. Verse number four of 1 Kings 11. “For it came to pass when Solomon was…” What is the next word? Old. Did I hear somebody say “like me”? I do not know who that was. Here is my thing: I think Solomon had to live for the Lord for years and years. Just because I have lived for the Lord for years and years, there is no insurance that I am going to finish right. Solomon, I believe, spent the majority of his life walking with the Lord, reading his Bible, praying, seeking the Lord, and having God’s favor on his life. And yet, later on in life, his heart got turned.
It is such a sad thing. I know of preachers, good men that God had His hand on their lives, and yet their heart was turned. I think of a man whose son-in-law is a great preacher, used greatly in their day and time, and yet that preacher, his father-in-law, up in years, well up in years, just maybe a couple years ago fell to immorality. He had served God pretty much his whole life and had been a faithful preacher for years, and yet in the later part of his life, he fell—such a sad thing. I love him, and I know him personally; we have taken trips together. God had His hand on him, so used by God, and he had a national voice, and yet he had an affair with a teenage girl, and he has been in jail for years and years now, and rightfully so, in jail, by the way. But I am saying your heart—just because you serve God for years and years, friend, your heart can get turned. Satan is always trying to turn our hearts. I think of a preacher who has preached in our church before. He just had the hand of God on his life several years back, and God was just using him. It was over a children’s home, and God was doing an amazing thing through that children’s home. Some of you may remember those who would come and testify. In our old building, the last time he was with us, we were packed out—maybe 140, 150 people there that day. They would give testimony, and he would preach. I do not know if there was a dry eye in that place; everybody seemed like they were crying, and God was working through him in a great way. We have had them at our house before. But his heart got turned away. I do not even know if that children’s home is open anymore. If it is, it is a very, very small percentage of what it used to be. Friend, Solomon had been serving God for years. I wonder, with this pandemic and all this that has changed our schedules, how many people who served God for years—saints—are trying to use this to kind of get out of church and get out of schedule? I wonder how many saints are letting their heart turn, even though they have been serving God for years. Solomon had been too, and he was the wisest man there is, friend, and he could not stand up to it. Oh, no. What a sad thing. I do not know about you, but I like to finish right. Satan is always going to be trying to lasso our heart, and he is going to be roping. There are going to be times we have got to come along and just cut ropes. “No, I do not want my heart pulled there. No, I do not want to put my heart there.” He is always looking for some facet to turn your heart from so many different angles. He will use so many different things, whether it be music, whether it be ill feelings, whether it be bitterness, whether it be wanting to be popular, whether it be all these things. Everything he can think of, he will use trying to pull your heart.
What a sad thing. Solomon’s heart was turned. Look down in verse number five and verse number six of this chapter. We have not read these yet. Verse number five: “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 did David, his father.” You see, once your heart is turned, pursuing actions will follow. The things you think—these preachers I mentioned tonight, I do not do that very often. I am not trying to cast light on those individuals; I am trying to let you know it can happen to any of us. The things you think you will never do, you will do if your heart gets turned. Such a sad thing. He knows Jehovah God. Jehovah has appeared to him twice. He knows Him personally, and yet he is worshiping a goddess; he is worshiping false gods. He is still, if you will, keeping the temple going over here and trying to serve Jehovah, but God made that clear: No, there is one God you serve.
So many Christians allow something—maybe it is money, maybe it is climbing the corporate ladder, maybe it is luxury, maybe you just want to build that nest egg, whatever may be—and after a while, that thing turns your heart, and you are doing things you thought you never would do. I guarantee you there are people, Christians by the drove in this Middle Tennessee area, that thought, “I will never be out of church,” and yet they are. Friend, the devil will slowly and slyly turn your heart. Can I say this: backsliding is a slippery slope. When you start going down that path and something is pulling, tugging on your heart, you just never know where it will end up. Nobody says, “Well, I am going to go this deep.” Nobody says that, but it happens. Solomon here is to the point he is worshiping false gods. Solomon did not have the completed Bible, but he had Deuteronomy 17:17. Look it up if you like to. Years and years before, God had told the children of Israel, “Now when you get in the land, you are going to want a king. Let me lay down some guidelines for this king.” This is one of the guidelines, very clear. Solomon knew he was going against God’s Word. I want you to see it. Deuteronomy 17:17—here is one of the guidelines for a king: “Neither shall he multiply wives to himself.” Look what God said was going to happen—exactly what happened: that his heart turned not away. Exactly what God said happened. Yet Solomon, maybe he just thought he was tough enough, wise enough, understanding enough to handle it. But nobody goes against God’s word and wins.
He just could not let go. Sure enough, the thing that God said—and it is clear as day—God told the king, “Look, I do not want you doing that.” Solomon, and sometimes we think, “Well, that is good for everybody else, but that does not apply to me.” Friend, the Bible applies to every one of us, all of us. The thing God said was going to happen happened when Solomon went against God’s word. Such a sad thing.
Just very briefly, we are going to be done tonight. The end of Solomon, this great, magnificent king and kingdom—yet Solomon’s heart was turned away, and he started to worship these false gods. So God said, “I am going to send the enemy.” Actually, it was a relative of Solomon. This man, this young man, said, “Well, I know better than to go against Solomon.” In fact, Solomon spent the last years of his life trying to kill this man. Is that not amazing? He had everything; he had hit the world by the tail, yet he started disobeying God. Now he is trying—he spent his last years trying to kill a guy, and he could never even accomplish that—that young man, Jeroboam. Jeroboam went and hid over in Egypt, but he said, “I am not going to go against Solomon; he just has too much power; he is too wise.” But as soon as Solomon was gone, old Jeroboam got back in town. Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, was trying to ascend to the throne, and Rehoboam made a bad decision. Jeroboam was right there. Jeroboam ended up being the king over a vast majority of Israel. Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, just got a small portion. Why? Because of Solomon’s sins. That enemy rose up; God allowed that because of Solomon’s disobedience. Such a sad ending to a great life. The end of his life is just a sad thing. He spends his years trying to kill a guy, never kills him, and as soon as he is gone, this guy ascends to the throne over the majority of Israel. What a sad ending. It seems like his whole career is tainted—a beautiful portrait, but now it is painted over with black—his whole kingdom, his legend, if you will.
Then God, I believe in his later years, uses Solomon, under God’s leadership, to pen the book of Ecclesiastes. When I was younger, I would read the book of Ecclesiastes, and I did not understand the theme of it. I understand what is going on, and honestly, to be honest with it, it was depressing to me. Years ago, I would kind of get to that part of the Bible and think, “Man, I do not want to read this thing; it kind of discourages me.” Let me tell you a part of it, because God is using Solomon—he is a backslidden king, a backslidden preacher—and he is not happy. He is trying this, that, and the other; he is trying to have a life of luxury, whether it be women in relationships or exotic animals or gardens. He tries to seek after wisdom, but everywhere he turns, it is just all empty, and he is disillusioned. He is not happy, and he is kind of like, “What is the use in life?” because he is a backslidden man. Very interesting—Ecclesiastes 12:13 to 14, the last two verses. That is probably the last words of Solomon. Let us hear the conclusion of the matter: “Fear God.” Verse 14 talks about how one day He is going to bring every word, whether it be good or bad, and He is going to judge it. Can you imagine a depressed bachelor? He says, “Serve God in the days of your youth.” Basically, he is saying, “Do not blow it like I did.” Such a sad thing. We can learn, and there is so much wisdom in Ecclesiastes. It is one of my favorite books now that I understand it. But if you read between the lines, the life of Solomon—he just keeps saying it is all waste: “Vanity of vanities under the sun.” Here is the sad thing, and I am done regarding the end of Solomon’s life: As far as we know, Solomon never got right. He died backslidden, if you will. He died out of church; he died with his heart being turned.
It reminds me of Jesus in the New Testament when Jesus answered, “Very early, I say unto you, whosoever committed sin is a servant of sin.” We have phones galore tonight; we have phones all over the place tonight. Friend, listen, when your heart gets turned away, and before long, our heart gets turned away, we start going there. We never know where we will end up. Sin has changed. “I will just do it a little bit.” Oh, that is all Satan needs—a little bit to wrap his chains. His head comes around, that old heart gets turned, and Satan is just gaining strength, putting bigger and bigger chains on your heart. As far as we know, Solomon never got right. I hope it is different in every one of these situations, but the preachers I mentioned, as far as I know, they never got right. Good men; I meant to love them. I have shed tears over just about every one of those. Friend, Satan is always trying to turn our heart. Would you let the Holy Spirit say, “Hey, Satan is trying to put a hook in right there”? Would you just let the Holy Spirit go through your life and point out if there is an area he is trying to pull your heart?
Original File: Turned away his Heart - Pastor Paul Chisgar 52420