Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

Free Grace Media

Of Princeton, New Jersey

 

AuthorClay Curtis
TitleThe Judge, the Judged & the Judgment
Bible Text1 Kings 3:16-28
Synopsis Christ manifests who have and have not the love of God in our hearts by the gospel. Listen
Date03-Feb-2019
Article Type Sermon Notes
PDF Format pdf
Word Format doc
Audio HI-FI Listen: The Judge, the Judged & the Judgment (32 kbps)
Audio CD Quality Listen: The Judge, the Judged & the Judgment (128 kbps)
Length 46 min.
 

Title: The Judge, the Judged, the Judgment
Text: 1 Kings 3: 16-28

Date: February 3, 2019
Place: SGBC, NJ

 

1 Kings 3: 16: Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and stood before him.  17: And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house. 18: And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also: and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house. 19: And this woman’s child died in the night; because she overlaid it.  20: And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. 21: And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead: but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear. 22: And the other woman said, Nay; but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, No; but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king. 23: Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living. 24: And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king.  25: And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.  26: Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it. 27: Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof. 28: And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.

 

For this message, I do not have an introduction.  I want to get right into the message.  My title and my divisions are the same: 1) The Judge; 2) The judged 3) The Judgment.  Toward the end of the message I will give you the propostion—the main point—that I want you take home from this message.

 

THE JUDGE

 

1 Kings 3: 16: Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and stood before him.  

 

The Judge is the risen King Jesus typified by Solomon.  Solomon is a very good type of Christ.

 

Solomon was the son of David and the son of God.  Christ Jesus is the son of David—according to flesh, Christ Jesus came through David’s family tree.   Christ is the son of God—he is God come in human flesh.  Christ Jesus is the GodMan—all God and all Man, two natures in one person.

 

In the earlier chapters, a great battle took place as an enemy tried to usurp the throne.  Yet, Solomon was victorious.  Solomon’s father gave the throne and the scepter to Solomon so that all judgment was given to the son.  This is picture of Christ.  The devil has been trying to usurp the throne of God from the beginning.  But on the cross, Christ won the victory, crushing the devil’s head.  God the Father gave the throne and the scepter to Christ Jesus.  On the day of Pentecost, the apostle Peter stood up and said, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36).

 

After putting down his enemies and ascending to the throne, the first thing king Solomon did was take a bride from among the Gentiles, an Egyptian, Pharaoh’s daughter.  The first thing Christ our King did after ascending to the throne is turn to his elect bride from among the Gentiles and begin calling out those he redeemed from among the Gentiles.

 

When Solomon ascended the throne, God said to Solomon, “Ask what I shall give thee.”  Solmon answered, “And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad” (1 Ki 3: 8).  And it pleased the Lord.  The Lord said to Solomon, “Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.  And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days” (1 Ki 3: 12-13).  This is a picture of Christ.  In Psalm 2, when God set his Son, his King, in his holy of Zion at God’s right hand, God the Father said to Christ his Son, “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession” (Ps 2: 8).  Christ is the Wisdom of God—there is none like him before nor shall there be any like him after.  God also gave our risen King all Power over all—there is none like him before or after; he is KING of kings and LORD of lords.

 

So we see Somon is a picture of the true Judge.  Christ Jesus is the Power and Wisdom of God.  Christ our King is alive, glorified and reigning supreme over all as the GodMan, the Head of his church, the King of his kingdom.  All judgment belongs to Christ and Christ is working all things to manifest who are truly his and who are not within his church.  Christ said, “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him” (Jn 5:22-23).

 

THE JUDGED

 

1 Kings 3: 16: Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and stood before him.

 

The judged are sinners, which in our text are typified by the two harlots.  Harlots make a great representation of sinners.  In ourselves, due to our fall in Adam, all sinners are great, depraved, vile sinners like these two harlots.  One harlot, the true mother, represents a true child of God.   The other harlot represents a false professor.

 

In the harlot who was the true mother we see a true elect, redeemed, regenerated child of God represented.  As soon as there was a problem, the harlot who represents a true child of God came directly to Solomon, “And the one woman said, O my lord…” (v17). She came bowed down, addressing the king as lord.  She came with urgency because she thought the king was the only one who could help her.  And she came with expectancy, believing that Solomon was able to make the proper judgement in the matter.  That is how true believers, in whom Christ has created a contrite, broken heart, come to Christ—they come bowed down before Christ with God-given fear and reverence.  They come with urgency knowing that Christ is the only one who can help.  And they come expecting Christ to discern and make the righteous judgment for them because they believe Christ is able.

 

The other harlot represents a false professor.  Notice how she came before Solomon, “And the other woman said, Nay; but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son” (v22).  She only came before the king because the other woman came.  But she was so concerned with defending herself that she gave no reverence to the king.  She was only concerned with herself and having her way.  That is the heart of an unregenerate sinner.  The heart of a vain professor of Christ has no reverence for Christ.  An unregenerate sinner never looks to Christ because he is not in all their thoughts.  They are only concerned with defending self and having their way.

 

Notice, there was much about the harlots outwardly that was the same.

 

Both harlots were in the same house in the same kingdom—"I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house” (v17).  There are true and false professors in God’s house, the visible church, in this earth.  Some are truly born of the Spirit of God, while the others are not.  But who can discern the difference?

 

Each harlot bore fruit—both had an infant.  Only one, the true mother of the remaining child, had love in her heart for her child.  The lying harlot was careless and her fruit—her child—died because she rolled over on it in the night.  But the true mother loved her child: she immediately recognized that the baby which the lying mother put in her bed was not her child.  Many in God’s house appear to bear the fruit of the Spirit.  But only those born of God are true believers.  They are the ones who come before Christ and lay out the matter before Christ our Judge like as the true mother came to Solomon, first.  It is because only those born of God and given love in the heart truly love Christ.  And the love which is of God is stronger than a mother’s love for her newborn child.  Believer’s love three things above all: one, they love God and his Son; two, they love the gospel because it honors him; and three, they love their brethren because he died for them and they are born of the same Holy Spirit.  The apostle John said, “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love” (1 Jn 4:7-8).

 

Also, notice, when these two harlots were in the house, there was none to bear witness to which was telling the truth of the matter.  Verse 18 says, “there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house.”  So when each told their story, each claimed the child was theirs—"Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living.” (v23).  The true as well as the false professor each use the same scripture with the same arguments, each claims that scripture’s description of the true professor describes them and each claims scripture’s description of the false describes the other. 

 

How is it manifest who are Christ’s and who are not? Notice, where both these harlots stood.  They each stood before king Solomon.  Likewise, all who profess to be Christ stand before Christ the Judge who knows the heart.  None knows the heart in sinners but God our Savior.  Christ our Judge has something that is the great discerner of the heart—"And the king said, Bring me A SWORD.  And they brought a sword before the king.” (v24)  What is the sword in the hand of Christ our Judge?  It is the word of God.

 

Hebrews 4: 12: For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13: Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

 

The sword of the sword—the word of the word—the gospel of the gospel—which pierces deepest and discerns the true thoughts and intents of the heart is the sword of the righteousness of God which pierced our dear Savior on the cross.

 

Zechariah 13: 7: Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.

 

The lie of the false professor is always exposed by “What think ye of Christ?”  Particularly, the lies of the false professor, are manifest by what they think concerning Christ on the cross.

 

One, the sword of justice discerns the heart by making us answer “For whom was Christ smitten with the sword?”  Most say Christ laid down his life for all sinners without exception.  What says the Word?  Christ said, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep…as the Father knoweth me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep” (Jn 10: 11, 15).  Christ prayed to God his Father saying that the Father gave him an elect people to whom Christ gives eternal life.  He said, “As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him” (Jn 17: 2).  This is the sword that discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart.  Whatever one believes and confesses concerning who Christ died for manifests whether or not he understands and discerns the righteousness of God.

 

Two, the sword of righteousness discerns the heart by making us answer “Why was Christ smitten with the sword of justice?”  This is the heart of the gospel.  This is the gospel itself.  According to Romans 3, Christ was smitten to declare the righteousness of God, that is, how God can be just and the Justifier of his sinful, guilty people.  To put it simply, the righteousness of God is that God will by no means slay the innocent and God will by no means clear the guilty.  God says, “He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD” (Pro 17: 15).  That is to say the day a judge slays an innocent man or clears a guilty man then he ceases being a just judge and becomes an abomination to the LORD.  There would be no reason any could trust such a judge to always judge right judgement.  But Christ manifest that the just Judge of heaven and earth always does right.  God would by no means slay his innocent Son until somehow Christ was made guilty in the eyes of the law of God.  And God will by no means clear his guilty people until somehow we are made innocent in the eyes of the law of God.  How are each of these accomplished?  The answer is found here, “For he hath made him sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor 5:21)  This is the sword of the word that discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart.  Whatever one believes and confesses concerning God’s righteousness manifests whether he understands and loves the righteousness of God or not.

 

Three, the sword of righteousness discerns the heart by making us answer “What did Christ accomplish by being smitten with the sword?”  Most say Christ made salvation possible.  Other say Christ made it “as if” his people are righteous.  The scriptures say Christ accomplished the salvation of his people.

 

Isaiah 53: 5:…with his stripes we are healed…12…he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Hebrews 1: 3…when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Hebrews 9: 12:…by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

Hebrews 10: 14: For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

 

Four, the sword of righteousness discerns the heart by making us answer “What does Christ accomplish in his redeemed through his righteousness?”  The very justice that once demanded we die due to our sins, now demands we be given eternal life due to Christ’s righteousness.  To give his elect life through the righteousness of Christ is the very reason God sent forth his Son. 

 

1 John 4: 9: In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 

 

Galatians 4: 4: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5: To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.  6: And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

 

Titus 3: 5: Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6: Which he shed on us abundantly THROUGH Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7: THAT BEING justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

 

The very purpose for which God made his people righteous in Christ on the cross is so that through Christ’s righteousness, God might create his people entirely new in body, soul and spirit in righteousness and holiness.  God begins this work by creating within Christ’s redeemed a new man, a new spirit, in righteousness and true holiness.  This new man is a partaker of the divine nature being created after God’s image in righteousness and true holiness (Eph 4: 24; Col 3:10-14; 2 Pet 14)  In heaven’s glory, the new creation will be complete.  Then we will be righteous and holy entirely in body, soul and spirit and have no sinful flesh whatsoever.  Then we will praise God alone for making us this new creation.  But for now, we praise God that he has created in us a new righteous and holy spirit by God the Holy Spirit.  Why would we not praise God now for this work which is entirely of God alone, the same as we will praise him then?  It is not stealing Christ’s glory to declare this work of Christ in his people, it is giving Christ the glory due to him!

 

Be sure to understand.  Indeed, the new spirit God gives us is inseparably one with Christ.  Indeed, the new man is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col 1: 27).  But the new spirit is spirit distinct from the Holy Spirit which dwells in us.  The Spirit of Christ does not believe for us.  We live and believe in our new spirit, not in our dead, sinful flesh.  Our flesh does nothing but sin.  We owe our flesh nothing.  If we live after the flesh we shall die (Rom 8: 9-12) The apostle Paul, writing by the Spirit of God, made this distinction between the new man which is created of God and our sinful flesh which is of Adam when he said, “I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing” (Rom 7: 18) The new will God gives us in the new birth is in the new spirit that God gives us, not in our flesh.  I heard brother Henry Mahan make this distinction once back in the late eighties but I did not know why.  Now I do.  This distinction is important because when men claim that a regenerated believer is only flesh, they lead men to believe that it is in the flesh that we believe, repent, love and so on.  Our flesh does nothing but sin.   It is in the new man that we believe Christ and love our brethren.  As Christ Jesus our Lord declared, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing…” (Jn 6:63).

 

So it is the word of God that is the sword in the hand of Christ by which Wisdom discerns the thoughts and intents of a man’s heart.  The truth or the lie that is within a man’s heart is manifest by what he believes concerning God’s righteousness manifest in Christ crucified. 

 

THE JUDGMENT

 

1 Kings 3: 25: And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.  

 

Christ uses the gospel sword to discern who truly has the love of God in our hearts and who does not.  The living child was the object of the true mother’s love.  When God puts his love in our hearts, the object of our love is: one, God our Father and his Son Jesus Christ our Redeemer; two, he gospel which gives God in Christ all the glory; and three, our brethren for whom Christ laid down his life to whom we are united by the same Holy Spirit of God.  If any one of these three is harmed then all three are harmed.  That is how one God, his gospel and his people are inseparably united.  By God perfecting his love within us, the love of God in a believer’s heart makes us love these three with a stronger love than this true mother loved her infant child.  Therefore, when these three objects of our love stand to be harmed, those who truly have the love of God in our hearts are manifest, from those who do not have the love of God.

 

We see this typified in how the true mother loved the child and how she responded when Solomon ordered the object of her love to be cut in two—"Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it” (v26)  “Her heart yearned for her son” therefore she was willing to suffer the greatest loss to her own self so that the object of her love remain unharmed.

 

When God saw his people fallen in sin God yearned for his people because he loved us with an everlasting love.  Therefore, God sent his only begotten Son who lay down his life, even upon the cursed tree that he might save the object of his love: one, God the Father and God the Son; two, the gospel of God; and three, his elect people. Love made God willing to suffer the greatest of all loss because of his love for us.

 

1 John 4: 9: In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10: Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  11: Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. 12: No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.  13: Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.  14: And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.  15: Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.  16: And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.  17: Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

 

When God, who is love, dwells in a sinner then that sinner dwells in God, and therefore, dwells in love.  The love of God makes the child of God willing to suffer great loss in order that no harm come to the object of our love.  The love of God makes a believer’s heart yearn for the object of our love: one, for God our Savior; two, for his gospel; and three, for his people our brethren.  His love controls our heart!  The love of Christ constrains us.  His love makes us willing to suffer the greatest loss to our own self so that the object of our love remain unharmed.

 

2 Cor 5: 13: For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause. 14: For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: 15: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

 

A believer may suffer for standing with God our Savior.  The believer says, “So be it!”   We would rather suffer reproach than save ourselves reproach and deny him.   We may suffer the loss of our dearest loved ones for the truth of the gospel.  The believer says, “So be it!” We would rather suffer that loss than see God’s glory denied by a false gospel.  We may suffer the loss of our own wants and desires to keep peace between brethren.  The believer says, “So be it!”  We are willing to suffer the loss of anything—short of compromising the gospel—to maintain unity in the bond of peace.

 

However, the false professor who does not have the love of God in their hearts will not do so.  They will be manifest as frauds when tested by our all-wise Solomon.  We see it typified in the mother who did not have love in her heart for the child.  How did she respond?—"But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it” (v26)  A moment ago she was making her arguments that the child was hers.  In the next breath, she says, “Let it be neither mine nor thing, but divide it.”  The child was not the object of her love.  She had no love in her heart for the child.   Therefore, she had nothing to constrain her to do what was best for the child.  The object of her love was self.  Her heart was ruled by sin: jealousy, envy, malice and so on.  It was manifest because she was willing for the child to die so that the other mother, whom she hated, could not possess the child.  She said, “Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.” A pretender has no love for Christ, no love for the gospel and no love for brethren.  Therefore, they are willing to deny Christ his glory, by denying some part of the gospel, because the unregenerate loves self and hates Christ and Christ’s brethren.

 

THE MAIN POINT

 

If we profess to be Christ’s, at some point, Christ will try us. 

 

1 Corinthians 3:13: Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

 

If you see a turtle on a fence post you can be sure a man put it there.  If you see a believer straddle the fence concerning the truth of God you can be sure sinful man put him there.  But if he is Christ’s, God will force his child to come down on Christ’s side, on the side of truth, with his brethren. God uses heresies to manifest those he has approved.

 

1 Corinthians 11:19: For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made MANIFEST among you.

 

1 John 2:19: They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made MANIFEST that they were not all of us.

 

God puts his child in trying situations where he is pressed down beyond his strength.  But Christ who abides in his child will uphold him, constraining us by his love by which Christ will make us deny ourselves great loss for the object of our love.  This Christ will do to manifest that he is the strength within his child.

 

2 Corinthians 4:11: For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made MANIFEST in our mortal flesh.

 

By the love of Christ, the child of God will be manifest because he will continue doing righteousness (believing on Christ) and loving his brethren.  The child of the devil will be manifest because he will not.

 

1 John 3:10: In this the children of God are MANIFEST, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

 

Christ warned us that being his disciple will involve a warfare.  But the constraint of Christ’s love is really and truly so powerful that he always constrains his child to suffer the loss of that which is nearest and dearest to us for the cause of Christ and the good of our brethren.  It is because above all—Christ makes his disciple love him.  Christ said those who are not willing to suffer the loss of their greatest love are not worthy to be disciple.

 

Matthew 10: 34: Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.  35: For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.  36: And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.  37: He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.  38: And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.  39: He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

 

WE NEVER LOSE SUFFERING LOSS FOR CHRIST

 

We must see this before we end.  Brethren, you will never be the loser for suffering loss for Christ.  In fact, you will gain far more.  We see it in what the mother gained.

 

1 Kings 3: 27: Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof. 28: And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.

 

Remember, the living child was the object of her love.  When her love was manifest by her willingness to deny herself so that the child be not harmed, Solomon gave her the object of her love. 

 

Again, the object of every believer’s love is: one, God our Father and his Son, Jesus Christ; two, the gospel of Christ; and three, our brethren.  When Christ makes us willing to deny ourselves that none of these three suffer harm, Christ will make certain we always have these three objects of our love in abundance.

 

By God’s grace, I have believed on the same Lord Jesus Christ, been under the same gospel, and had the same faithful brethren for over 30 years.  I have seen the Lord send a few trials and heresies to his church.  I have seen some go.  But I have seen many more stay. And through every trial and every heresy, I have personally witnessed God make his people see Christ our Wisdom more by the judgment Christ worked in the trial.  Christ always makes the worst of things turn out to be the very best of things.  What at first appeared that it would surely detract most from the glory of God and do most harm to God’s people has always brought more glory to God and been most good to his people.  Beholding this, God grows us in fear and reverence for Christ our King and increases the love of God in our heart. 

 

Brethren, what a wise King we have!  I am so thankful to him for his gift of loving brethren.

 

Amen!