← ArchiveKings and KingdomsKings and Kingdoms – When Blankets Can’t Keep You Warm (1 Kings 1:1-4)DateJanuary 13, 2025SpeakerDr Josh BurnhamText1 Kings 1:1–4Passages in this sermon1 Kings 13:28Psalms 909:061 Kings 220:381 Kings 3:329:50TranscriptClick any line to jump there.0:00Thank you very much. Thank you very much.0:30If you have issues with strobe lights, close your eyes and we're going to turn the lights1:00on. Make sense? So go ahead and close your eyes if you don't like strobe lights and we're going to turn all the lights on. One, two, three. Oh, okay. So now that the lights are on, if you have your Bible with you and you can now read it, turn to the book of 1 Kings. So because of your generosity, we just want to kind of let you know that this sanctuary is being renovated. So hopefully next week we will have brand new seating in the balcony.1:28Hopefully by the end of next week, all of our new lighting will be in. And hopefully by a month's time, our pews will be in downstairs. So, uh, so there, um, and that's because of you, because you give, because you pray, because you attend, these things can happen. So my name is Josh, a lead pastor here at Bethel. And we begin a brand new sermon series today in the book of 1 Kings.1:56So if you have your Bibles, go ahead and mark that. We gather for this reason, no matter if the book is in Genesis or Revelation, we believe all of scripture is inspired and we gather because Jesus took our place on the cross to forgive us of our sins, to purify us from unrighteousness, to make us holy. And the word for that is the gospel. That is the good news. That is why we are here today. And we begin 1 Kings with this reminder from an Ephesian philosopher named Heraclitus.2:25Over 2,000 years ago, he said this, and it's a phrase you've heard before. He said, the only constant in life is change. The only constant in life is change. In the book of 1 Kings, we will see that our lives are full of transition and change.2:50Today, we're going to see the kingdom of Israel transitioning from David, this heroic king, to now what's next? David, this man of God, he was a great warrior, an epic king, a poet. He's now frail. He's cold. And the kingdom is potentially in shambles. What do you do when everything that you hold true is no longer accurate?3:20David is such a difficult place and not even a blanket, the Bible says in 1 Kings 1-1, can keep him warm. Bed clothes, blankets. Think of like Snuggies. This is the ancient Snuggie. Not even that can keep him warm. So this great hero of faith is now in the twilight of his life. And it's the reminder for all of us, every kingdom will pass away.3:50Every gift that you have, everything that you hold dear, every strength that you have in your life will one day be for nothing or be frail. So what do we do when everything that we have held up as a source of pride is no longer a strength? That's the topic of today's message. And that is the theme of 1 Kings.4:19Not simply in verses 1-4, but this is the theme of the entire book. Actually, the entire king's corpus is a reminder that kingdoms come, kingdoms fail, but the word of the Lord endures. So today's message is, when blankets can't keep you warm. When blankets can't keep you warm. So if you would open the word of God to 1 Kings, let's read verses 1-4. And we will see how the Holy Spirit opens our lives.4:49The only constant in life is change itself. King David was old and advanced in age. Although they covered him with bedclothes, and some of your scriptures say that they covered him with blankets, he could not get warm. So his servants said to him, Let us search for a young virgin for my Lord the King. She is to attend to the King and be his caregiver.5:17She is to lie by your side, so that the Lord the King will get warm. They searched for a beautiful girl throughout the territory of Israel. And they found Abishag. Because what would you name a beautiful girl but Abishag? Her beauty was not matched by her name. The Shunammite. And brought her to the King.5:48The girl was of unsurpassed beauty. And she became the King's caregiver. She attended to him, but he was not intimate with her. What do you do when your life is constantly changing? And not even blankets can keep you warm. That is the purpose of our gathering today. Let's pray. Father, as we have read your word, would you open our hearts as we open your word?6:18Lord, there are many in our midst that their life is out of control. And we are in the midst of a changing world. And the only constant in our life is change itself. Father, would your unchanging word be our guide? Would your unfailing promises undergird us in a life that is filled with coldness and seasons of change?6:40Father, what do we do when not even blankets can keep us warm? We pray that you would light a fire by your spirit within our souls. That would warm our soul until you bring us home. Lord, this is our petition.7:08In Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen. Now, you might be thinking, what in the world does 1 Kings have to do with our lives? Well, that's the application, and that is the challenge ahead of us. So verse 1, what do you do when blankets can't keep you warm? First, we need to anchor our lives in Christ amid constant change. We need to anchor our lives amid Christ, in Christ amid constant change.7:35Verse 1 makes it incredibly clear that David is advanced in age. He's not old. He is really old. And he's not only old, but really old. He's just suffering from chronic coldness. Some of you are cold today, thinking, I am David. It's cold in here. But the Bible goes to great lengths to reiterate that this man who was once a vitality that has many wives and many children has a beautiful lady attending to him to keep him warm.7:59So the vitality of life has left him, and he is frail, and he is worn, and he is in a place of difficulty. Now, that might surprise you because you know David as the, he's the first Renaissance man, right? Goliath slayer, sheep herder, kills lions, kills bears, plays for the king in his spare time.8:29He writes poems. He authored many psalms. But that David exists no more. And maybe you feel that in your life. Maybe you say, well, I used to be this hero, and I used to do everything I wanted to, and now I can't. And Lord, what is left? Every kingdom, every strength in our life has a limit.8:57And that's not simply a first king's reminder. Psalm 90, written by Moses. Moses would say it this way. He said, our lives are 70 years, or if we are strong, 80 years. Even the best of them are struggle and sorrow. Indeed, they pass quickly, and we fly away. Psalms 90 says. It's a reminder that we are to anchor our lives in Jesus Christ amid the constant change that we all experience.9:23So I would urge us all, don't place your ultimate hope in health, fame, or success. Those are depreciating assets. Put your hope and put your trust in Jesus Christ alone. Think about what the Apostle Paul would say to this scripture.9:51He cries out to the Lord. He said, Lord, there's a thorn that's bothering me. We don't know what that was. Maybe that was poor eyesight. Maybe that was someone stalking him on Facebook. We don't know. And I think that that's God's grace to us, because if we knew, then we could rationalize it with our minds. And so Paul said, Lord, take this from me. He prayed three times. And the answer to God was this.10:20My grace is sufficient for you. And by the way, Apostle, my strength is made perfect when? Not when you're in the vitality of life. Not when you're warm and happy. Not when you're slaying giants and keeping the sheep. Not when you are at the pinnacle of your career. My strength is made perfect when you are weak. What do we do when blankets can't keep us warm?10:50When we are frail, when we're tired? We know that God's strength is made perfect in our weakness. Church, steward your life for God's glory. If you say to me, well, I am strong, I'll never be weak. Hold that thought. Because we all need the ever-changing gospel in our lives. Anchor your life in God amid change. Now look at verse 5. We see the fall of self-made glory.11:20Adonijah, son of Haggith, kept exalting himself, saying, I will be king. He prepared chariots, cavalry, and 50 men to run ahead of him. Now jump to verse 50. This same man, Adonijah, in verse 50, was afraid of Solomon. So he got up and went and took the horns of the altar and placed his hands on them.11:49That was a reminder. To grab the horns of the altar in the sanctuary was a cry for God's protection. It was an SOS prayer. God, save me. And if someone was pursuing you, they wouldn't go into the sanctuary. To respect of God's holiness. It was a way to put boundaries around the bloodshed of the kingdom.12:13So Adonijah is pursuing that. So to make matters worse in David's life, not only is he cold, not only is he frail, not only is he a beautiful woman with an unbeautiful name tending to him, his fourth oldest son, Adonijah, is trying to be king. Now some of the astute Bible scholars in our midst would say,12:42well, we know that Adonijah is not the true king because who takes the place of David? Solomon. But Solomon is number 10, not number 4. Solomon was the last son of Bathsheba. Solomon was born in Jerusalem, so Adonijah actually has more claim to the throne than Solomon does. And that's not something that we know. That's something that Solomon knows. That's something that Adonijah knows.13:11So to make matters worse, David's lying in bed, dying, and his kingdom is a complete disarray. So if you look at your life and you say, God, my family is a mess, you're not alone. David is echoing that experience in life. And Adonijah is saying something that we might not verbalize because we're too timid, we're too self-righteous, but he says it.13:39Adonijah kept exalting himself saying, I will be king. Now many of us act like we're king, we would just never verbalize it. Because it's more spiritual to do it and not say it, right? But Adonijah said, I will be this king. But something is different in Solomon's life. If Adonijah is the man of self-grandeer and self-glory, wisdom is found in Solomon's life.14:07And we see, because Solomon is a man that is pursuing Christ in some way, that Adonijah flees Solomon because he's terrified of his life. And we'll see why shortly. But let me encourage you, do not be Adonijah. When things get difficult and often in seasons of coldness, we have a tendency to say, Lord, I'll do it my way.14:35I will be king. God, I will make this happen. And this life, the life of self-made glory always falls on its face. Myself and several from this church spent time in Greece last week. I think it was last week. It was some point in the past. And for the Greeks, you know the greatest sin?15:04Wasn't stealing, wasn't murder, wasn't adultery. The greatest sin in Greek culture was hubris. And you could actually take someone to the Supreme Court due to arrogance and hubris. And I turned to my guide and I said, do you know how many people would be in jail today if arrogance was a sin in America? So we already have an overcrowding problem in the prisons.15:31Because we think that hubris, since it's internal, is not seen by God and that's not an issue. What do we do in seasons of coldness? Hubris will always lead to the fall. Proverbs says it best. Pride comes before the fall. May we be wary of self-aggrandizement. And I find in my life, and we see this true in Scripture,15:58moments of stress and moments of difficulty, moments of cold, only magnify your character. So if you get stressed and you do something, you say, well, that wasn't me. Actually, it was. Because we never rise to the level of difficulty, we fall to the measure of our virtues. And stress and pressure and difficulty magnify who we are. Why is it so important to walk in step with the Lord today?16:25Because I don't know what tomorrow looks like. May the Lord order our steps. Pride comes before the fall. So now look at verse 8. In these moments of difficulty. So the priest Zadok, Benaniah, son of Jehodiah, the prophet Nathan, Shemaiah, Ra'i, and David's royal guard, did not side with Adonijah.16:47So let me summarize this second chapter. Adonijah knows that he can't be king by himself, although he says, by himself, I will be king. So he says, I need a priest. I have one, Abiathar. I need a good warrior. I have one named Joab. And Joab was with David, and was one of David's mighty men.17:16And so these men surrounded themselves with Adonijah and said, hey, we will make this happen. But there's also another prophet in the lands. You remember the prophet who comes to David and tells David a story? He says, David, king, I know you're the king, and not many people give you difficult news, so I'm going to tell you a story. Here's the story. There's a rich man that has all the sheep in the world, and there's a poor man. And the rich man steals from the poor man, although he had what he needed.17:46So king, tell me, what should happen to the rich man that took advantage of the poor man? And David said, that man deserves death. And Nathan says, that's funny because, David, you are the man. We all need Nathans in our life, don't we? Nathan did not join Adonijah. Nathan took the side of Solomon and also some of David's mighty men, and also Zaduk, which means righteousness.18:11So as Adonijah takes his band of people, and they make themselves king, Nathan goes to Bathsheba and says, hey, I don't know if you know this, but the fourth son is trying to usurp Solomon. Here's what we're going to do. You're going to go to the king first, tell him what's happening. I'm going to come later. You leave. I'm going to tell the king what's happening. Solomon needs to be in this place.18:41Again, you think your family has issues? Talk to David. But in this struggle, in moments of coldness in our life, we're reminded that we need God's people around us in times of difficulty. You show me who you've surrounded yourself with, and I will show you the influence and the encouragement you have.19:07If you surround yourselves with ungodly people, do not be surprised that when your world falls apart, you don't have the support you need. Why do we need the community of faith? Why do we need the gathering of the saints? Because we need Christ-centered community. Your companions of faith will shape the course of your life.19:35Seek fellowship. Seek the right people in your life. If you say, well, pastor, how do I find that out? How do I know that Zaduk and not Abiathar is the right priest to follow? Open the word of God. Let the Lord order your steps. We need godly counsel in our life. If you don't know where to find godly counsel, look around.20:03There are people in this room. There are people that you know that have walked through the fire, and God has been their steady anchor. Look to those people. Surround yourselves with them. If you say, well, I don't like them, they don't tell me what I want to hear. They tell me what I need to hear. That's what you need to hear. May we surround ourselves with godly people, especially in seasons of coldness and difficulty.20:29Okay, 1 Kings chapter 2 now. So I summarized chapter 1. If you want to know the specifics, you can go back and read this week, and I would encourage you to do so. 1 Kings 2, verses 1 through 4. As the time approached for David to die, he ordered his son Solomon,20:54As for me, I'm going the way of all the earth. Be strong. Be a man. Keep your obligation to the Lord your God to walk in his ways, keep his statutes, commands, ordinances, and decrees. This is written in the law of Moses, so that you will have success in everything you do and wherever you turn. And so that the Lord will fulfill his promise that he made to me.21:21If your sons guard their way to walk faithfully before me with all of their heart and all of their soul, you will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel. You will never fail. How do we walk through difficult times? Well, look at chapter 2.21:50David says, he says, be strong, be a man. Keep your obligation to the Lord your God. Walk in his ways. We walk through difficult times with the word of God in our minds, in our hearts, upon our lips, and in our hands. David says that very thing. Keep his statutes. Keep his commands. Keep his ordinances. Keep his decrees. David says that.22:23And yet, in the same breath, is offering mixed signals. Now, let's go back to chapter 1. And I'll show you why. Verse 6. Now, Adonijah, the fourth son, wants to be king. And he says that, I will be king. Look at verse 6 of chapter 1. The Christian Standard Bible says, his father had never once infuriated him by asking, why did you do that?22:47In addition, he was quite handsome. He was born after Absalom. Some of your translations say this. David never once scolded him. So, David now is telling Solomon, walk according to the ways of the Lord. But David is refusing to walk according to the ways of the Lord unto Adonijah.23:13Because he is refusing to discipline his son in a way that is right, that is holy, and a way that is according to God's standards. Walk according to the word. You say, well, I find that difficult. Yeah, you're not alone. But David also finds this difficult. But the truth is that God's word never changes.23:43God's word never changes. It is the pillar of the Lord's throne to exercise our faith and be adapted into what we need today. So, what do we do in a world that's constantly changing? We have the word of the Lord that is unchanging. And God's word meets the circumstance as we need and as the Lord sees fit. This is the message.24:13David is basically saying to Solomon, Solomon, do as I say, not as I do. And there's tremendous hope in David's faith in this moment. Because some of us see this and we say, well, God, that's my life. I am not the perfect parent. And if you can't say that, you need to say that. And so, if you say, well, I don't know if I've messed up my family for future because, Lord, what I say and tell them to do is not what I've always done.24:40And, Lord, would you help? You can call others, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians, imitate me as I imitate Christ. Paul is not saying, I am perfect, follow me. He's saying, I'm going to walk out my salvation with fear and trembling. Walk behind me as I walk out my salvation with fear and trembling.25:09What do we do in moments of change? Keep the statutes of the Lord. And even if you can't keep those perfectly, we have a Savior who perfects us in righteousness. So, for all the failed parents out there who say, I've blown it, God says, I know you did, but my grace is sufficient.25:34For all the parents who say, well, how can I ask my family to walk according to the word because I've not been doing it? Well, start today and call them to righteousness and let the glory of God work in your life. Walk through transition with the word of the Lord.26:00Now, verses 3 through 6, chapter 2. David says, keep your obligation to the Lord your God. Now, we're going to talk about sending mixed signals. David says, walk according to the word. God's promises are sure. He will hold you fast. Now, look at verse 5. David says to Solomon, You also know that Joab, son of Zariah, what he did to me and what he did to the two commanders of Israel's army,26:31Abner, son of Ner, and Asah, son of Jether. He murdered them in a time of peace to avenge blood in war. He spilled the blood on his own waistband and on the sandals of his feet. Act according to your wisdom and do not let the gray hair descend to Sheol in peace. So, David says, Solomon, we're going to have this beautiful paternal moment.27:00I want you to open the Bible and follow Jesus. And by the way, as you do that, don't forget to kill Joab. That's exactly what David is. Talking about mixed signals. Like, what happened to the whole turn the other cheek? Well, do that after you kill him. David is, at the very end of his life, trying to anchor his legacy in the Lord, and he's still struggling with the flesh.27:24Do you ever feel that? Do you ever feel like, Lord, the spirit is willing, but my flesh is weak? God, I read your word. I know to turn the other cheek, but man, if you would not just smite my neighbor today, that would really be nice. Joab, before his gray head falls on his pillow, killed him.27:50But here's what we see in David's life. The first time David ever speaks, he is asking people, what would be done for the person who murders Goliath or kills him? The last time David speaks, you know what he says? Don't forget to kill Joab. At the end of David's life, we still see this man who the Bible says is a man after God's own heart.28:15He is still wrestling with the flesh in his life. He's still wrestling with, God, they've done to me wrong. Let me do to them in equal measure. And we're called to anchor our lives in Christ. It's a reminder that even the best of us, even the greatest heroes of faith, have feet of clay.28:43You say, well, David, he is the greatest king in Israel's history. He is the man who God promised that one day you will always have someone sitting on your throne. He is the one that points to Jesus Christ, the great Messiah, the greater king. Surely David is the beacon of light.29:11Church, even David has feet made of clay. Even David has fleshly parts that God is pruning and God is removing in his life, even into the day of his passing. You might hear that, you say, well, man, that's a horrible way to end this message. Look at chapter three. Although David leaves Solomon with, don't forget to kill my adversaries.29:42In 1 Kings 3.3, we see this about Solomon. Solomon loved the Lord by walking in the statues of his father, David. Let's stop there. If you can only do one thing well, love the Lord well.30:10Love him with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. And if we do that, people will see the glory of Christ in our lives. You say, well, Pastor, what about all the mixed signals that David was sending? What about the adultery? What about the murder? What about the multiple wives? What about all these things that he did?30:40What about the blood he's trying to avenge in the frailty of life? In spite of all that, look at Solomon's life. He loved the Lord. Why? Because he saw his dad love the Lord. May we love Christ with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Now, don't take that the wrong way. Solomon is not perfect in his own. Look at what the Bible says about Solomon. He loved the Lord by walking in the statue of his father, David.31:10But he also sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. John Wesley was the first, we believe, that said what is now famous. He said, what one generation tolerates, the next generation embraces. So let me say to our wiser generations, our mature people in the midst.31:35When you complain, well, what's wrong with this young generation? My response, you are. We're embracing what you tolerated. Don't blame us. Look in the mirror. And for the younger generation, the next generation is going to embrace what you tolerate. May we live lives that are anchored in Christ.32:05And church, it's a reminder, and it's a beautiful reminder in scripture, that authentic faith will outlive you. If you can only do one thing right, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Because if you love God in that way, you will have verse threes in your life. You will have people who love Jesus because they have seen you love Jesus. What a beautiful legacy to leave.32:36What a beautiful legacy to leave.32:43So we wrap up these first three chapters, and we say, well, how do we live this out? David's life and legacy is the reminder that there will be cold days in all of our lives. Maybe that's not today. Maybe you walked in, and this is the best day in the history of best days. The sun was shining. You didn't have any ice on your windshield. Everything is beautiful. And you walked in here, and you say, God, this day could not get any better.33:14Praise be to the Lord for his sovereign grace in your life. But maybe you walked in in the opposite. You say, God, this is the most difficult day in the world. How could it get worse? In the midst of those bookends, we are reminded in the word of God that when we can't get warm, the Holy Spirit is what we need. God warms our soul.33:42He sustains us. So let me ask you, what happens to David? At the end of David's life, what happens to him? He was buried. And the Bible says that he went to the ancestors. We're not here today to worship David because David was buried.34:09But we are here today because there is a greater David. Let me tell you about that man. There's a man named Jesus Christ who the Bible says fulfilled everything the Old Testament said would be true. The Bible calls him the greater David, the great king. And that man named Jesus Christ suffered under Pontius Pilate after he lived a sinless life and he also was buried.34:33There's a difference in the second David. The second David is not still buried. You can go and visit what we think is the tomb, but here's why it's now a tourist attraction. Because the tomb in Jerusalem is empty. We worship the second David because he rose again. That's why we have hope.35:04That's why in the difficult moments of life, we can still say, God, your grace is sufficient. Your strength is made perfect. Lord, when I am weak, when I am cold, when I cannot warm up, Lord, when my family is falling apart, when I don't know the answer, God, when I am tired and I'm ready to give up, Lord, when my life looks how David's ended, God, you are still present. This is the hope that we have.35:35Praise be to God that the greater David is not still buried. He rose again. That's the gospel. God sent his only son to die on the cross. And so what do we do in light of the gospel? I'm reminded about the letter in Revelation to the first church, Ephesus. God writes to them and says, you've done a lot of things well, but I have one thing against you.36:04One thing. He says, you've lost your first love. Another way to say that is your heart has grown cold. And if 1 Kings could teach us anything, it's when the world grows cold, your heart doesn't have to. You don't have to become jaded. You don't have to grow weary. And you don't have to grow cold to the graces and the doctrine of God's mercy.36:30And maybe that's you today. Maybe your life is cold and you need to ask God again today. Say, God, stir in me something beautiful again. God, I'm cold. I'm weary. I'm tired. But I don't want my heart to grow cold. Would that be our prayer? How can we not grow cold in the midst of a world that has seasons of winter?36:58Again, I'm reminded of what Revelation says to us, that because of Christ, the church will be given a fine linen garment to wear. Because we can put on the robes of righteousness, our heart doesn't ever have to grow cold. Take it from David. There's nothing that the world offers that will ever warm your soul for eternity. There is no earthly blanket.37:29There is no snuggie that the world offers that can soothe what you need. You say, well, Pastor, I have financial issues. If I just get a job, if I get a raise, that's what I need. My world will be ordered. No, it won't. God, my family's in disarray. If I can just work harder, if I can just do these things, then I will have peace. No, you won't. True peace, true righteousness, true warmth of the soul is found in the robes that Christ fits you with.37:58How do we get those robes? It's by faith. I'm often overwhelmed to know that the Holy Spirit tailors the garment of Christ to fit you perfectly. That's what he does in Jesus. So I have two questions for you today.38:29Have you given your life to the better David, the greater David, the one who died, was buried, but who rose again? We are saved by grace through faith. Have you trusted in Christ as your personal Lord and Savior? And if you're here today, maybe you're listening online, you say, well, I've not done that. Would today be the first day where you become Solomon and not Adonijah?38:58Where you quit trying to exalt yourself as king and say, God, I will never be king. But forgive me of my sin. Forgive me where I failed you. And, Lord, I believe in your son, Jesus, who you sent to die on the cross after he lived a sinless life to take away my sin. God, I believe that, and today I will follow Jesus no matter the cost. Would today be your step of faith, Lord?39:29Second question is, would you let God warm your soul again? Maybe you have walked through difficult seasons, dark seasons, heavy seasons, cold seasons. You say, my heart is growing cold. That can change today. By God's grace, the Holy Spirit can warm you once again. There's no blanket in the world that will offer the fire that Jesus Christ offers in your soul.40:00So what do we do in a world that is desperately dark? We cry out to Jesus and find that he is able to sustain us yet again. Church, when blankets won't keep you warm, there is nothing better to wear than the robes of Jesus.40:26Let's pray. Father.Next in Kings and Kingdoms →Kings and Kingdoms – A Blueprint for FaithfulnessMore sermons on 1 Kings →
