Turn with me, if you would, now
to 1 Kings 3. 1 Kings 3. Our text will be 1 Kings
10, where our brother just read for us. We're going to look at
the story of the Queen of Sheba coming to Solomon. And I want
to go ahead and tell you that this is a picture of a sinner
coming to Christ. That's what this is. Everything
that we're going to see about this queen coming to Solomon,
we're going to compare it to how sinners come to Christ and
what the experience is of a sinner that comes to Christ and what
the sinner is brought to who comes to Christ. And I wanna
start with 1 Kings 3 because this will show us why the queen
of Sheba wanted to come to Solomon in the first place. 1 Kings 3, look with me at verse
5. It says, in Gibeon, the Lord appeared
to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, ask what I shall
give thee. All right, now you think about
this. The Lord God came to Solomon in a dream, and he said, ask
anything you want of me. He said, ask what I shall give
thee. Verse six, and Solomon said,
thou hast showed unto thy servant David my father great mercy,
according as he walked before thee in truth and in righteousness
and in uprightness of heart with thee, And thou hast kept for
him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to
sit on his throne, as it is this day." Solomon was David's son,
and he is taken over the throne. Verse 7, "'And now, O Lord my
God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father,
and I am but a little child.'" Man, oh man. What a thing to
say, what a thing to respond to the Lord with. This man, he
said, I'm a little child. I know not how to go out or come
in, 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, He said, give therefore thy servant an understanding
heart. Give me a hearing heart. And
what he's asking for is wisdom to know how to answer what I
hear. Verse nine, give therefore thy servant an understanding
heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and
bad, for who is able to judge this thy so great a people? And the speech pleased the Lord
that Solomon had asked this thing. And God said unto him, Because
thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long
life, neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the
life of thine enemies, but hast asked for thyself understanding
to discern judgment. He said, Behold, I have done
according to thy words. Lo, I have given thee a wise
and 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 honor, so that there shall not be any among the kings like
unto thee all thy days." What proof that is of the Bible study
we just had. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness and all these things will be added
unto you. The Lord said to him, because you have sought me, you
have sought wisdom, understanding from me, to be able to serve
me. And you didn't ask for all those
things because you sought that first. He said, I'm going to
give you what you sought and I'm going to give you all those
things too. All the riches. And as a picture of Christ, nobody
ever received as much from God as Solomon did. Nobody. He was the wisest. He was the
richest. And he was the kindest, most generous Solomon, the son
of David, literally the son of David, as our Lord is also called. Blind Bartimaeus cried, Jesus,
thou son of David. Solomon, the son of David is
a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 15 right here.
And Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. And he came to
Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord,
and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings,
and he made a feast to all of his servants. He's a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. offered sacrifices and intercession
to God, and gave a feast to all of his servants. So he's a picture
of Christ. Now let's go to our story in
1 Kings 10. From the first thing that we
read here, we are going to see how sinners come to Christ. As we see this queen of Sheba
come to Solomon, We're going to see how sinners come to Christ. This queen is going to represent
a sinner, just like you and me. And I believe in seeing this,
we're all going to be able to say, that is exactly how it was
with me. This is how it is with all of
God's people. Verse 1, 1 Kings 10 verse 1,
it says, And when the queen of Sheba heard, Want to know where it starts?
And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning
the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions.
hear about religion, and they hear about humanitarian efforts,
and they hear about good morality, and they hear about all these
things, but when they hear, when they truly hear of the fame of
Solomon, the greater than Solomon, he's such a picture of Christ,
even the Lord said a greater than Solomon is here. And when
they hear of the fame of Christ concerning the name of the Lord,
this is where coming to the Lord Jesus Christ begins. I pray we might hear. Lord, let
us hear. Let us hear. Let your word, let
none of this fall on deaf ears. Open our ears that we may hear. Please, please. Sinners coming
to Christ begins with hearing the gospel of Christ. And not
just with the ear, but with the heart. Truly hearing in the heart
the fame that has gone out. The things concerning our Lord
were not done in a corner. None of the things concerning
the glory of the Lord have been hid. They have gone out concerning
the name. Blessed be the name. I think about that. Wouldn't
you love to stand in a congregation that no man could number? Here
in that whole congregation, cry, blessed be the name. There is no other name given
among men whereby we must be saved. Call his name Jesus, for
he shall save his people from their sins. Call his name Emmanuel. Call his name Christ. because
God is with us. The call of a sinner to come
to Christ begins with that sinner being given a heart ear to hear
the message concerning Christ. Turn with me over to Romans chapter
10. Romans 10, look with me at verse
13. It says, for whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Verse 14 says,
how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And, you know, calling on the Lord is not calling on yourself. Most people think they're calling
on the Lord, but really they're calling on themselves saying,
I, let me tell you about my name. That's what they're doing. But
given that ability to truly slay yourself and call upon the name
of the Lord. Master, creator, God, sovereign. My only righteousness, my only
hope. How are men truly going to do
that in whom they don't even believe and know who He is? Verse
14, How then shall they call on Him in whom they've not believed?
And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they
preach except they be sent? God's preachers are sent. God sends them. Men don't decide
to put themselves in the ministry. God's preachers are sent. Verse
15 goes on to say, as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings
of good things. But they have not all obeyed
the gospel for Isaiah said, Lord, who hath believed our report?
So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. That's where it begins. If we
want to come to Christ, I want to come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And if we want other centers, just like us to come to the Lord
Jesus Christ, then we must, and they must hear the true message
of Christ. Look with me at first Corinthians
chapter one. First Corinthians 1 verse 21,
it says, for after that in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that belief. Why did it
please Him to do it that way? It just did. It just did. That's just how He chose to do
it. So just like all of God's people, that's where it started
for the Queen of Sheba. When she heard. When she truly
heard. When God opened her ear, opened
her heart. Just like Lydia, it says God
opened her heart and she heard. And may God open our hearts,
open our ears, open our hearts. Go with me back to 1 Kings 10. Verse 1 says, And when the queen
of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of
the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions. She had
some hard questions. And may God put some hard questions
in us. I sincerely pray that the Lord
will put some hard questions in us, some soul searching questions. It says in verse two, and she
came to Jerusalem with a very great train and with camels that
bear spices and very much gold and precious stones. And when
she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that
was in her heart. She came and she knew that she
couldn't come empty handed. And everybody naturally knows
that God requires something. Everybody knows that. It's ingrained
in the conscience of every man and woman. I have to bring something
acceptable to Him. So it says, she came and she
communed with Him of all that was in her heart. And I'll tell
you that when God calls a sinner to Himself, that sinner will
commune with Him. That sinner will not go to another
man. That sinner will not go confess to a priest. That sinner
will not... The Apostle Paul said, when it
pleased God, who revealed, who separated me from my mother's
womb, He revealed His Son in me. And I didn't confer with
flesh and blood. He dealt with me directly. And
that's how this is. She communed with Him of all
that was in her heart. And when the Lord calls a sinner
to himself, that sinner will empty all of it. All that was
in her heart. That sinner will hold nothing
back. There will be utter honesty. Do you know that we won't really
get honest with ourselves sometimes? You know that? We won't even
get honest with ourselves sometimes. We'll know the truth, but we'll
try as hard as we can to convince ourselves, ah, it's probably
not the case. But when a sinner comes to Christ, when a sinner
is drawn to Christ, called to come, that sinner will empty
everything. There will be utter honesty before
God. Utter sincerity before God. Verse
three says, and Solomon told her all her questions. There
was not anything hid from the king, which he told her not. She came with hard questions.
And I believe we can very much enter into that. Here's some
examples of the kind of questions that go through our minds when
we are confronted with the truth of God, right? These are the
kinds of questions. What level of perfection do I
really need to be? Okay, I'm seeing something of
a holy God. I'm seeing something of a just
God. How good do I have to be? Just how perfect in order for
Him to accept me into heaven? because everybody knows the good
has to outweigh the bad. Okay, we're going to put it on
scales. And as you know, people think as long as the good outweighs
the bad, how good do I really have to be? This is what the
wisdom of the word, the wisdom, Christ himself and his word.
This is what the wisdom of the word will say to that sinner
who comes to Christ. You have to be as good as God almighty. How good do I have to be to stand
in His presence? You have to be as good as God,
as perfect as God, as spotless as God, as righteous as God,
as holy as God. Only beings who are as holy and
spotless as God are in heaven. That's an amazing statement,
isn't it? The questions continue. All right, well, I'm not perfect.
I'm not that way. That's not me. Knowing that I'm
not as perfect as the almighty God is, how can God justify me? How can he welcome me in? Aren't
these the kinds of questions that go through our minds? The perfect wisdom of the Word
replies, and this is the reply. How can God justify me? Here's
the reply. By substituting you with Christ. Is Christ as perfect as the Almighty
God? Is Christ as holy and as righteous
as the Almighty God? Christ is the Almighty God. Is Christ justified before God
the Father? Christ is God the Father. He
said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. I don't understand
that either, really, not really. But it's so. He was made to be the substitute
for you. That's what the Word will say.
That is the only answer that will actually relieve hard questions. Honestly, when it comes to all
of these questions concerning salvation, all of these questions
of, but doesn't the Bible say? That's a hard question. Doesn't it say that you have
to? And doesn't it say you can't? Doesn't it say if you are this
way, you can't come in? These are hard questions. Here's
the only answer that will relieve hard questions. Christ was made
to be the substitute for you. But isn't it so that I don't
stack up? Correct, you don't stack up. Does Christ stack up? Yes, Christ
was made to be the substitute for you. How can I make this flesh better? You can't. Christ was made to
be the substitute for you. When am I gonna be like Him down
here on this earth? In the flesh, you're not. Not
as long as you're in the flesh. Christ was made to be the substitute
for you. Christ walked this earth for 33 and a half years as your
substitute. When a sinner comes with these
hard questions in his or her heart, And when the Lord communes
with the sinner through the wisdom of the Word and answers those
questions, this is what the sinner will realize and the sinner will
see. He'll see everything that God requires of me, He has provided
for me by substituting Christ the Son with me. This is what a sinner will see.
If he comes to Christ, this is what he'll see. This is all about
Christ. This is all about Christ. Our
acceptance is all about Christ. It all hinges on Christ. Our
acceptance is in Him. Somebody will say, okay, but
I still have some hard questions. I still have a hard question.
What about my sin? I got this sin that is haunting
me. It is haunting me. It will not
go away. What about my sin? All of the
sins I've committed. If God must punish sin, if He's
holy and He must punish sin, and I've sinned, and if I must
be punished and condemned, if the wages of sin really is death,
Then how can God judge me and condemn me and punish me rightfully
like he's supposed to do and then still set me free? How can I die for what I've done
and he give me eternal life? How, how's that even possible?
That's a hard question. Here's the answer to it by substituting
you with Christ. God dealt with you on the cross
of Calvary. You know what the cross was?
That was God dealing with you. That's what it was. The gospel means good news. It means I have good news to
tell you, that's the whole reason that this wood was constructed
in this way. And that's the whole reason I'm
standing behind it. It's because I'm here to say I have good news
for you. And that good news to hear is
this, Christ was made to be the substitute for you. That is all the good news that
there is. That is the good news that answers every question that
a sinner has when it comes to Christ. Christ was made to be
wonderful news Christ was made to be the substitute for you.
With the answer to every one of those questions being Christ,
Christ. With that, the more we hear that,
faith comes. We start to believe it. Whenever
I first started preaching, it was wisely told to me, be very
careful what you say. Somebody's gonna believe you. And it's true, the more you tell
people, Christ was made to be the substitute for you. Christ
was made to be the substitute for you. The more you hear that,
faith comes by hearing, the more you hear that, people start to
believe it. Christ was made to be the substitute for me. Spiritual
eyes are opened through this, and they see Christ for what
He is, who He is, Who is He? Well, He's all of those things
we said. He's God, He's righteousness, all that. But who is He? He's
the substitute for sinners. He's the substitute of His people. They see Christ for who He is. Not a good man trying to show
everybody, now y'all follow me, stay in line, get back in line.
That's not who He is. He's the substitute for His people. He's the one who came and said,
move. I'll stand in your place. You stand in mine." Verse 3 says, Solomon told her
all her questions. There was not anything hid from
the king which he told her not. And when the queen of Sheba had
seen all Solomon's wisdom in the house that he had built,
faith comes by hearing. And that faith opens the eyes.
The eyes see Christ. They see the wisdom of God. What is the wisdom of God? Christ. They see the righteousness of
God. What is the righteousness of God? Christ. What's the holiness
of God? Christ. What's the fulfillment
of God's law? Christ. Christ, it's all Christ. And she saw the wisdom and she
saw the house that he built. Except the Lord built the house,
they labor in vain, they build it. Finally, you know, everybody
trying to build, working on a building for my Lord. Finally, when their
eyes are open, they see he's already built the house. We're
just lively stones built together on that chief cornerstone, Christ
himself. And the building is already done.
He's already built a house. And when she saw who this man
was and what he had already done in all of his glory, she realized
this is not just a man like every other man. This is the man of
men. This is the king of kings. And
that's what every sinner will see when he or she truly sees
Christ. They will see this is not just
a good man, this is the God man. This is the fullness of the glory
of God in the person of a man. This is the fullness of the glory
of God in the person of a man. Amazing. Verse 4, When the queen
of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom in the house that he had
built, and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants,
and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers,
and his assent by which he went up unto the house of the LORD,
I love thinking about that. She watched Him go up to the
house of the Lord, and we're all going to watch the Lord Jesus
Christ ascend. He is the house of the Lord.
We're going to watch Him ascend His throne, and it says there
was no more spirit in her. It broke her. And when a sinner
sees Christ in all of His glory, that sinner is broken. That sinner
is humbled. That sinner is emptied of self. There was no more spirit in her.
She had brought some gifts with her, but when she saw who he
was and what he already had, there was no more spirit in her. She thought, what did I even
bring these things for? He doesn't need these things.
And that's what every sinner will see, and that's what every
sinner will say, who tries to bring his or her own gifts and
his or her own works to the God of heaven and earth. What did
I even try to bring these things for? He doesn't need these things. It's not what we're going to
do for God or bring to God. This is trading places with Christ. It's not living up to a higher
standard and trying to attain this perfection that God demands.
It's trading places with Christ. to have His righteousness for
my own and to have His redemption for my own. If I could have Him
and have the fellowship of His sufferings, do we understand? I wouldn't have my own sufferings
if I have the fellowship of His suffering. I won't have my own
death if I have the fellowship of His death. I'll have my own
resurrection in the fellowship of His resurrection. So I don't
need to bring anything. All that I need is in that man
right there. When a sinner comes to know that,
that sinner has come to know the gospel. The gospel. Verse 4, the queen
of Sheba, when she had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house
that he'd built, and the meat of his table, I don't really
want to run long, I want to be on time, but I just still want
to show you this really quick, okay? Just go over to 1 Kings
4. Just really quick, this is as a picture of Christ. Look
at the greatness, the glory, okay? She saw the meat of His
table. Here she brought some things with her and once she
laid eyes on the meat of His table, this is the food that
Solomon set out for everybody to eat every single day. 1 Kings
4, look at verse 22. Solomon's provisions for one
day was 30 measures of fine flour and three score measures of meal.
30 measures of flour and 60 measures of meal. I don't really know
what a bushel is. I've heard about it all my life,
but I'm not a farmer and I don't go to the farmer's market and
I don't know how much a bushel is. But they say that's 150 bushels
of flour and 300 bushels of meal, I guess cornmeal. Every day, 10 fat oxen, 20 oxen
out of the pastures, that's 30 oxen, a hundred sheep. You know, we'll get one brisket
out of a cow and feed quite a few people with it. You think of
a whole animal, a hundred sheep. Besides hearts, there may have
been a hundred or more hearts. And besides roebucks, there may
have been a hundred or more roebucks. And fallow deer and fatted fowl
every day. where he had dominion over all
the region on this side of the river from Tispha even to Asa? over all the kings on this side
of the river, he had peace on all sides round about him." Peace
on all sides. Judah and Israel dwelt safely,
every man under his vine and under his fig tree from Dan even
to Beersheba all the days of Solomon. Now watch this, and
Solomon had 40,000 stalls of horses. I Googled it. The largest horse farm in America
has 130 stalls. Solomon had 40,000 stalls of
horses for his chariots and 12,000 horsemen. And those officers
provided victual for King Solomon and for all that came under King
Solomon's table. Every man in his month, they
lacked nothing." I like that line. They lacked nothing. barley also, and straw for the
horses, and dromedaries brought they unto the place where the
officers were, every man according to his charge. And God gave Solomon
wisdom and understanding, exceeding much, and largeness of heart."
This man was a giver and a giver. He freely gave and he freely
gave. What do you need? You come to
me and I'll give it to you. And he had largeness of heart,
even as the sand that is on the seashore. And Solomon's wisdom
exceeded the wisdom of all the children of the East country,
and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men,
than Ethan, the Ezraite, and Haman, and Calchol, and Dardah,
the sons of Maol, and his fame was in all nations round about.
And he spake three thousand proverbs, and his songs were a thousand
and five. And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that's in
Lebanon, even unto the little hyssop that springeth out of
the wall." He spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping
things, and of fishes. And there came of all people
to hear the wisdom of Solomon from all kings of the earth,
which had heard of his wisdom." What a man. And that's what God's
people say about the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no man like this
man. There is no man. All come to
him. just to sit and listen to His
wisdom. All come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
So very quickly, back in our text. Verse 4, when the queen of Sheba
had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house that he had built,
and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants,
and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel. Oh, when she
saw their apparel, she said, she had this great train that
came with her, and she said, would you just look at what they're
wearing? Would you look at what they're
wearing? Look at the glorious robes that
they're wearing. And that's what's gonna be said
of all of God's people. All of the servants of the King,
all who have been robed in the glorious perfection and righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. In that robe, they're all gonna
look just like Him. And everything that has breath
is gonna cry, what an apparel. What an amazing covering that
has been given to the bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse
five, he goes on to say, his cup bears his ascent by which
he went up unto the house of the Lord. There was no more spirit
in her. And she said to the king, it was a true report that I heard
in my own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. Now here we are
in our own land, hearing about him. And she said, it was a true report
that I heard in my own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. Howbeit,
I believed not the words until I came and mine own eyes had
seen and behold, the half was not told me. Oh, how generous
that statement is. That is a generous statement.
God's true preachers are trying as hard as they can with what
little knowledge they've been given. But I'm going to tell
you, 99.9999999% has not been told. You put you a decimal and put
you as many zeros as you want to, and then a little one at
the end. That's all we know of the glory
of this man. That's all we know of the wisdom
of this man. You talk about no more spirit in you to see him
as he is. She went on to say, Thy wisdom
and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard. Verse 8,
she said, Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants,
which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom. Every man and woman who hears
your wisdom is so happy. Just so happy. And we are, aren't
we? We are happy. Every child of
God feels so blessed to be a humble servant of such a great and glorious
King. We all cry, it was by His grace. This was by His grace. We were
not worthy. We were not deserving. And that's
why I'm so happy to just be here. And I'm honestly saying that.
I am happy to be here. I'm so thankful to be here. I
am so thankful to be here. And then verse nine, here's the
conclusion that the queen of Sheba came to. And this is the
conclusion that every sinner that comes to Christ will come
to. All right, she's speaking to him. She's saying this to
the king, acknowledging the king himself. Verse nine, she said,
blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee to set
thee on the throne of Israel. Because the Lord loved Israel
forever, therefore made he the king to do judgment and justice. That verse just slays me. Slays
me. I have a lot of people make fun
of me because I say, this is my favorite verse of scripture.
But I'm telling you, this is one of my favorite verses of
scripture. Every time I read that, I just, I love it. I say,
amen. She said, because God loved his
people, he made you king and nobody else. Why did God set
Christ on the throne? It's because he loved his people. He gave to them the greatest,
most glorious king that could possibly be given. And that's what every soul that
comes to Christ is going to cry for all eternity. They're going
to cry because God the Father loved us. He made Christ to be
our King. And then I'm done. Verse 10 says,
she gave the king everything she brought with her. She ascribed
it all to him, emptied herself. And I know you don't need it,
but I'm giving it to you anyway. That's what, that's what it'll
produce in the heart. I know you don't need it, but
I'm saying thank you anyway. I ascribe it all to you. I give
it all to you unto him alone. that loved us and washed us from
our sins in His own blood. To Him be glory forever. And
then we'll close with this. Verse 13, King Solomon gave unto
the Queen of Sheba all her desire. Whatsoever she asked, beside
that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty. So she turned
and went to her own country, she and her servants. She got
what she came for and so much more. And every sinner who comes
to Christ will get what they came for and infinitely more,
infinitely more. Truly, honestly to Him be glory
forever. Amen.