It's an article we put in the
bulletin, top right-hand page, written by our dear brother and
pastor friend, David Edmondson. He writes, there is no I in grace. The emphasis of a false profession
of faith is always put on what the sinner does. I love Jesus. I accepted Him. I received. I decided. I came. I let Him have His way. I gave
Him my heart. I made Jesus Lord of my life. David closes with this, there
is no I in grace. What a wonderful name for our
Lord and Savior. Grace. Grace. Please stand for scripture reading
and opening prayer. If you will, for our scripture reading,
please turn to 1 Kings 10. 1 Kings 10, we'll be reading
the first 13 verses. This is Big Brother Gabe's text,
so pay close attention. 1 Kings 10, verse 1. 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. And she came to Jerusalem with
a very great train of 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. And 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, 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, and his cupbearers,
and his ascent, by which he went up unto the house of the Lord,
there was no more spirit in him. She said to the king, 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
till I came, and mine eyes had seen it. And behold, The half
was not told me, thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame
which I had heard. Happy are thy men, happy are
these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and
they hear thy wisdom. 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. And she gave the king 120 talents
of gold, and of spices very great store, and precious stones. And
there came no more such abundance of spices as these, which the
queen of Sheba gave to the king Solomon. and the navy also of
Hiram that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir
great plenty of almog trees and precious stones. And the king
made of the almog trees pillars for the house of the Lord and
for the king's house, harps also and psalters for singers. There
came no such almog trees nor seen unto this day. And King
Solomon gave unto the Queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever
she asked, besides that which Solomon gave her of his royal
bounty. So she turned and went to her
own country, she and her servants. Let's pray together. Father, be with your servant.
as he gives us knowledge and understanding of these scriptures.
Lord, be with us as we're about to go into our own country with
our families. Allow us to see that one that's
mightier than Sodom and Gomorrah. What a precious Lord we have.
What a great king, a mighty king. Lord, let us see with our own
eyes today. We understand it's through a
glass door. These feeble eyes, we only see the half of it. Lord,
as we wait for that day, we shall be with thee. We rejoice now. Give us happy hearts as your
servants. Feed us, comfort us as you promised
you will. Forgive us for what we are, Lord.
Forgive us of our doubting and our sin and our unbelief. Exalt Christ in the hearts of
your people today. Thank you for this hour, Lord.
Be with every soul in this room. Accomplish your will and glorify
your son. It's in his name that we ask. Amen. Amen. Thank you, brother. Be seated, please. Every message we have heard in
this wonderful time, this time we call a conference where we
gather together, every message has told us one thing. Despite
the troubles that we are in in this world, people of God have
a victory. And that victory is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Let's get right to it, shall
we, Brother Gabe? Gabe Steiner, Pastor Gabe Steiner
from Kingsport Grace Church. Good morning, everyone. I don't exactly know how to say
this, but I want to say something to this effect. I would love
for John and Kathy to know how much they mean to us, and I would
like to speak on behalf of all of us who have traveled here
to this wonderful conference, this wonderful gathering of saints. I did not know what all it took
to have a conference until I became a pastor. And he just told me
that when this is over, he's going to call his pastor again
and say, thank you for everything you did all those years. The work is intense. And we know
that. We know that. Anyway, the two of you are an
inspiration to us. And the effort that you are making
for the promotion of the gospel on the west coast of this country,
we are grateful to you for it. And I mean that. We love you. And I'm thankful to be here.
Very thankful. And I want to say thank you to
everyone in this congregation for all of your hospitality.
It's just wonderful. Thank you. Turn with me if you
would to 1 Kings chapter 3. Our text will be 1 Kings 10,
where our brother read a moment ago. We are 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 sinners coming to Christ. That's what this is. This is
a wonderful picture of sinners coming to the Lord Jesus Christ.
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. You know, that's the command,
isn't it? Come to Christ. That's the command. Well, how? How? How do sinners come to the
Lord Jesus Christ? I want to start with 1 Kings
3 because this will show us why the Queen of Sheba wanted to
come to Solomon in the first place, okay? 1 Kings 3, 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. 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. And now, O Lord my God, thou
hast made thy servant king instead of David my father, and I am
but a little child." What of it? What a heart. What an attitude. That's the
best attitude any sinner before God could ever have. May God
never let us leave that converted state of little children. Little
children. Solomon said, I'm but 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. Give therefore thy servant an
understanding heart, that means a hearing 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 thou asked riches for thyself, nor hast
thou asked the life of thine enemies, but hast asked for thyself
understanding to discern judgment. 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 seek ye first
the kingdom of heaven and His righteousness and all these things
will be added to. All these things will be taken
care of. The Lord asked Solomon, what do you desire and I'll give
it to you. Solomon said, I desire wisdom. That's Christ. That's Christ. The Lord said, because you have
asked for wisdom, the wisdom of Christ and not the things
of this world, I'm going to give you wisdom and I'm going to give
you the things of this world. And as a picture of Christ, nobody
ever received as much from God as Solomon did. God put everything in that man's
hands. He's a picture of Christ. He's a picture of Christ. Everything
has been given into His hands. Everything. Solomon, as this
picture, he was the wisest, he was the richest, he was the kindest. Most generous. Solomon was generous. Solomon, the son of David, as
our Lord is also called. Jesus, thou Son of David. Solomon,
the son of David, is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse
15 says, 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 made a feast to all his servants. Solomon is
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 the Lord
Jesus Christ. This Queen of Sheba is going
to represent a sinner just like me and you. And I believe in seeing her story,
We're going to be able to say, that's exactly what happened
to me. I believe just by seeing what happened to her, we're going
to enter into it, and we're going to say, that's exactly what happened
to us. This is what happens to all of God's people. All of God's
people. Verse 1, 1 Kings 10 verse 1,
it says, And when the queen of Sheba heard, When the Queen of Sheba... How many times did you and I
listen to the Gospel, and listen to the Gospel, and listen to
the Gospel, and listen to the Gospel? I mean, I grew up under
it. I wasn't under false religion.
My dad was preaching the truth by the time that I could understand.
Not when I was born. He was in Southern Baptist religion.
But the Lord opened his eyes to the truth and he realized
I'm preaching another gospel which is not another. So I grew up only hearing the
gospel preached and only hearing the gospel preached. But I'm
going to tell you this, there came a point in my life when
God opened my ear and I heard it. I listened for years and
years and years. But there came a point in my
life when I heard. Verse 1 says, When the Queen
of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of
the Lord, she came down. When she heard. when she heard. This is my prayer. I pray that we might hear today. I pray that we might not listen. I pray that God would cause us
to hear. Sinners coming to Christ begins
with them hearing the gospel of Christ. Not just with the
ear, but with the heart. Brother Henry used to say, salvation
is about 18 inches. The distance from the head to
the heart. Sinners coming to Christ, it
begins with them truly hearing in the heart the fame that has
gone out. This fame has not been hid in
the corner. It has gone out concerning the
name. Blessed be the name. There's
no other name given among men whereby we must be saved. Call
Him Savior. Call Him God with us. Call His name Jesus. Call His
name Emmanuel. The call of a sinner to come
to Christ begins with that sinner being given an ear to hear the
message concerning Christ. Not the message concerning religion,
not the message concerning the law, not the message concerning
turning over a new leaf, straightening up, flying right. The message
concerning Christ. The message concerning Christ.
Turn over to Romans 10 with me. You can put a marker here if
you want to. Turn to Romans 10. Romans 10 verse 13, it says, For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's so. That's so. Verse 14 says, How
then shall they call on him in whom they have 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? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. Every time these men from these
generations before us, when the Lord really started dealing with
me as a preacher, having this desire to preach, It was at the
time when I was in Rocky Mountain, Brother Henry Mahan moved to
Rocky Mountain. And when he got there, Brother Paul Mahan, my
father-in-law, had him preach all the time. And every time
he stepped up into the pulpit, I thought, how beautiful are
the feet that bring those glad tidings. How beautiful are the
feet. This gospel is everything. Sometimes
we don't enter into that, do we? But this gospel is everything. This gospel is not just a big
part of believers' lives. This is life. This is life. Everything else is going away,
and this is the only thing that will last. Verse 15 says, How shall
they preach except they be sent? 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. What does the gospel say? Rest. Stop working. Look. Trust. Believe. Isaiah
said, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. So this is where
it begins. If we want to come to the Lord
Jesus Christ, And if we want other sinners to come to the
Lord Jesus Christ, then we must, and they must, hear the true
message of Jesus Christ. Amen. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
1. 1 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 believe." It pleased
God through this means. And it's not foolish preaching,
but the man standing up here doing it sure does feel like
a fool most of the time. Honestly. But just like all of God's people,
that's where it started for the Queen of Sheba. When she heard,
when she heard. Ask the Lord to open your heart.
Ask the Lord to open your ear and your heart. Just like Lydia,
when God opened her heart, it says that Paul went and preached
to her and the Lord opened her heart. Our Lord said, ask and
you'll be saved. The Lord opened my heart. May God open our ears, our hearts.
Go with me back to 1 Kings 10. 1 Kings 10 verse 1, it 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 in
her. And I pray that God will put
some hard questions in us. Verse 2, And she came to Jerusalem
with a very great train, 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. brought a gift with her. She
believed, like most people do, that they cannot come to God
empty-handed. They have to come bringing something
that He will accept. And it says she came and communed
with Him of everything that was in her heart. These hard questions. If a sinner ever truly comes
to Christ, that sinner will empty his or her heart to the Lord
Jesus Christ. That sinner will empty his or
her heart to the Lord Jesus Christ. That sinner will hold nothing
back. It'll be utter honesty and sincerity before God. You
think about David in Psalm 51. Was that man holding anything
back? Oh God, be merciful to me. This is everything I've done
before you. If you slay me right now, you're
just in doing it. Verse 3, 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 are some examples of the
kind of questions that go through our minds when we're confronted
with the truth of God. What level of perfection Do I
need to be? This is a hard question right
here. How perfect do I need to be to be accepted into heaven? Just how perfect do I need to
be? The answer is as perfect as God Almighty. That's how perfect. Perfect as God. A sinner sees
that and they think, what in the world was I doing trying
to obey this law to get into heaven? You know, I went and
mowed my neighbor's grass this morning so I could get into heaven.
As perfect as God. The questions continue. Well,
alright, then knowing that I'm not perfect, if that's the case,
I have to be as perfect as God. Knowing that I'm not perfect.
How can God justify me? The perfect wisdom of the word
replies, by substituting you with Christ. Is Christ perfect before the
high and holy God? Is Christ as perfect as God? Christ is God isn't He? Christ is God. Is Christ justified
before the Father? Christ is the Father. One with
the Father. You've seen me, you've seen the
Father. That little baby that was born? That's the mighty God. The everlasting Father. The Prince
of Peace. Yeah, He's justified. Here's
the answer to that question. Is Christ justified? Yes, He's
justified. And He was made to be the substitute
for you. He was made to be the substitute
for you. That's the only answer that will
actually relieve a hard question. How can this be? But how can
this be? When it says this, how can it
be? Christ is the substitute of you. Christ is your substitute. That's
the only answer that can relieve a hard question. When a sinner
comes with these hard questions in his or her heart, and when
the Lord communes with the sinner and answers those questions,
this is what the sinner realizes and sees. Everything that God
requires of me, God has provided for me, by substituting Christ
His Son with me. That's what we say. Everything
that God requires of me, He has provided for me by substituting
Christ with me. We'll never get relief until
we completely remove ourselves from the equation. As long as flesh has some component
in it, it's just utter Despair. This thing is all about Christ.
This thing is all about Christ. Our acceptance is all about Christ. Our acceptance is in Christ. Somebody will say, OK, but I
still have a hard question. What about my sin? OK, I've done
it. I did it. I committed it. It's there. You know, you commit
a sin in the world and give it a little time and it'll fall
off your record. Well, it doesn't work that way with God. It doesn't
just fall off our record. What about my sin? What about
all this sin that I've committed? If God is holy and He must punish
sin, if because I have sinned I must be punished and I must
be condemned, if the wages of sin really is death, Then how
can God judge me and condemn me and punish me rightfully for
what I've done and still set me free? How can I die for what I've done
if God gives me eternal life? How can I die if He gives me
eternal life? Here's the answer. By substituting
you with Christ. By substituting you with the
Lord Jesus Christ. God dealt with you on the cross
of Calvary. That's what happened. God dealt with you and me on
the cross of Calvary. The gospel means good news. The
gospel means good news. It means I have good news to
tell you, and that good news is substitution with the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the gospel that God's
people hear about. And those are the hard questions
that the gospel answers. And with the answer to every
one of those questions being Christ, it's always Christ, faith
comes. Spiritual eyes are opened. God's
people see Christ as He is, for who He is. Verse 3 says, And
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, and the house that He had built the
house that He had built. If a sinner ever sees the house
Christ builds, you know that old song, that old religious
song, I'm working on a building for my Lord. That's what everybody's
trying to do. I'm working on a building. We're
all working on a building. Not when a sinner sees Christ.
Once a sinner sees the house that He had built, except the
Lord built the house, they lay them in vain to build. When she
saw who He was, what He did, 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'll see this
is not just a good man. 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. Verse 4 says, 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,
and His cupbearers, and His ascent by which He went up into the
house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her. It broke
her. When sinners come to Christ,
that's what happens to them. They're broken. They are broken. Broken and contrite. She was
broken. She brought some gifts with her.
But when she saw who He was, And what he already had, she
thought, what in the world did I bother bringing this junk for?
And that's what sinners will say when they see Christ. That's what every sinner will
see and say who tries to bring his or her own gifts and his
or her own works to God. He or she will see. It is not
what we're going to do for God. It is not what we're going to
bring to God. It's trading places with Christ. That's what it is.
It's not living up to a higher standard. It's not trying to
attain perfection that God demands. It's trading places with Christ. That's what baptism represents. I died in you. That was mine. It's appointed unto man once
to die. There it was. Did it hurt? Oh, to have His righteousness
for my own. I don't want my own righteousness.
I want His. To have His redemption for my
own. If I could have Him and have
the fellowship of His death and the fellowship of His resurrection,
why on this earth would I want to bring anything of my own?
If I could have His, why would I want my own? He has all that I need. Everything
that God requires of me is plentifully provided in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ. When a sinner comes to know that,
that sinner has come to know the Gospel. The Gospel is a person. The Gospel is a person. Verse
5 says, I was going to have you turn over to see this. It says,
well, 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. Have you ever read and paid attention
to the meat of Solomon's table? Have you ever seen what all Solomon
provided for everybody to eat? Whoever wanted to come eat could
come eat at his table for one day. It's indescribable. It's indescribable. the provisions,
the, you know, every day, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of
animals, and bushels and bushels and bushels of flower and grass.
I mean, it's just indescribable. There's no man like this man.
A sinner who sees Christ will say, there's no man like this
man. The end of verse 5 says, when she saw Him, when she saw,
look at verse 5, the meat of His table, the sitting of His
servants, the attendance of His ministers, and their apparel. You know, I didn't have, I don't
know what you call it, in a way I'm kind of jealous of people
who had false religion Give me that! Now, I didn't grow
up in false religion, but I can only imagine that a person who
does, once they see this spotless robe of righteousness that's
given to them in Christ after they've been trying and trying
and trying and feeling guilty and guilty, I can only imagine
when they see this robe, they're like, oh, that is just so. Give me that. It says, when she
saw the meat of His table, the sitting of His servants, the
attendance of His ministers, their apparel, His cupbearers,
and His ascent by which He went up unto the house of the Lord.
I'm going to tell you this, by faith we see it, but one day
real soon we're all going to watch Jesus Christ ascend the
throne of His glory. The house of our Lord. And when
that moment comes, there's not going to be any more spirit left
in us. There was no more spirit in her.
Verse 6, she said to the king, 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 eyes had seen it. And behold,
the half was not told me." That is the most generous statement
in the Scripture. That's the most generous statement
in the Scripture. God's true preachers are trying
as hard as they can. We are trying as hard as we can.
We're trying as hard as we can. to expound this word, convey
this word, set forth the glory of our Savior. We're trying as
hard as we can with what little knowledge has been given to us.
And I'm telling you this, 99.9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 Verse 7 says, Howbeit I believed
not the words until I came, and mine eyes had seen, and behold,
the half was not told me. Thy wisdom and prosperity exceeded
the fame that I heard. Do you love Jesus Christ? Do you love Him for what you've
heard so far? Wait till you see Him. Wait till
you see Him. This is what you're going to
say. This will be your experience. Lord, your wisdom and your prosperity
exceeds the fame that I heard. Verse 8 says, Happy are thy men,
happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before
thee, and that hear thy wisdom. And we are, aren't we? All of
us. All of us. We're so happy, we're so thankful,
we're so miserable in the world, we're so happy in our home. Every
child of God feels so blessed to be a humble servant of such
a great and glorious King. And we all cry, this was by grace,
all by grace. They're so happy to be here,
aren't we? We're just so happy. So blessed. In verse 9, here's
the conclusion that the Queen of Sheba came to, alright? This
is the conclusion every sinner that comes to Christ will come
to. Speaking to the king here, acknowledging
the king, she said in verse 9, 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. She said because God loved His
people, He made you King. Because God loved us, He made
Jesus Christ to be our King. And that's what every soul that
comes to Christ will cry for all eternity. Because God the
Father loved us, He made Christ to be our King. And then it goes
on, and I'm just going to stop. It goes on to say that she gave
Him everything she had. She ascribed her all to Him.
She ascribed her all to Him. And the final verse is verse
13. It says, And 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. Every
sinner who comes to Christ will get what they came for. Every
sinner who comes. will get what they came for and
infinitely more. Thank you Brother John. Thank
you for having me.