And all the Lord Jehovah evermore
shall reign. He is all, all in all. Through earth and heaven, one
song shall ring, from grateful hearts this anthem spring. The righteous saints salute thy
king, All thy days sing his praise. That was just an excellent choice
of hymns for the subject at hand. could not have chosen. I didn't
come up with that. Brother John did. Just excellent. It sounds as if it were written
with this passage in mind. Don't murmur at his wise decrees. Let's read a verse in Matthew's
Gospel first. Matthew chapter 12, in which
our Lord mentions this woman, this queen of Sheba. Matthew
chapter 12. Our Lord speaks of her that she
and her story is a witness, will be a witness in the judgment.
Read with me Matthew 12, verse 42. The Queen of the South, he
said, the Queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment
with this generation and shall condemn it. For she came from
the uttermost parts of the earth. to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, a greater than Solomon
is he here." So our Lord said that this woman in the judgment
will someday condemn all religious pretenders, all part-time professors
of religion, by the great lengths she went to, to hear the wisdom
of but a man. Solomon. And he says, Behold,
a greater than Solomon is here, to whom men should come to hear
of wisdom. I Kings chapter 10. Now, go back
to the story, and I want you to see with me, I hope, God willing,
that you will see how this woman is a picture
of every true seeker, everyone who seeks the truth, be it man
or woman or young person, and how they will find the truth
and hear the truth as it is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Solomon
represents the Lord Jesus Christ. And hopefully, hopefully, wouldn't
it be wonderful if there was a seeker and a finder in here
this morning. Now, the Lord said of this woman,
she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear Solomon.
Verse 1 says the queen of Sheba. Now, Sheba was a province, a
place in southwestern Arabia. It was 1,500 miles from Jerusalem. 1,500 miles, and she came on camelback. How long did it take her? What
great lengths and hardships she endured to go here, Solomon. The Lord will bless that. He
said, Seeking me, you shall find me when you search for me with
all of your heart. She came, she heard, because
she heard, verse 1, of the fame of Solomon. She heard about this
great king on the throne, and his fame was due to, or concerning,
the name of the Lord. What she heard was, she heard
that there's a great king on the throne who knows the true
and living God, and he declares him. He makes known the wisdom,
the wonder, the glory of the living and the true God. There's
a king on a throne who actually knows who the real God is. He
knows the truth. I'm going to go find out. She heard. Somebody told her
there's a king in Jerusalem, in Israel, a real sovereign.
I mean, he's a king. You're not. He's a king. And his God is God. And so it is with everyone who
hears the truth, every true seeker. God Almighty blesses people. And is it Psalm 65, verse 4,
I think, Brother John, it says, Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causes to approach unto thee. God Almighty in his
sovereign providence caused this woman to be interested in this
king so far away and his God that he declared. And so it is
with every one of God's chosen. He draws them. No man can come
unto Christ except the Father which hath sent him draw them. God in mercy and grace draws
his people to hear the truth. And what it is that draws them
is the same thing which drew this one. She didn't, it doesn't
say she came to see Jerusalem. It doesn't say she came to see
the wonders and the beauties of this place. She came to hear,
she heard of Solomon and Solomon's God. And that's the way it is
with all true seekers. God Almighty brings them, causes
them to approach where Christ is being preached and declared,
the true God. And people come, people come
not because they hear of some great elaborate structure, a
religious building, a crystal cathedral, or because of the
beautiful choir, or because of this or that program they have
for the young people and so forth. They come because they hear there's
a man declaring the God of the Bible. And that's what I'm interested
in, true salvation. the true God, what God really
says in this book, and I'm going to go here. That's the drawing
power. So God Almighty in his providence
caused this woman to come to Solomon. She heard about Solomon's
God. Verse 1, she came to prove him
with hard questions. Now, she does not yet know him, who he is. She just heard of
him. But she wants to know him and about his God. And so, like
so many people, she came to put him to the test. She came to
try him, to prove him with hard questions, hard questions. You're
going to ask Solomon something hard. She thought they were tough
questions that he might couldn't answer. She came to put him to
the test. She came. You know, most folks
who are ignorant of the true God and the truth, God's truth,
the word of God. Many think they're experts. People
can quote about three verses, partially quote three verses and are suddenly experts on theology. And when they come to hear the
truth, they come to have God prove himself to them, to have
the truth proven to them. They hear about some things they've
never heard before, and they come to have it proved to them,
put it to the test. People come, most people come
with preconceived notions, preconceived notions, things they've heard
and believed all their lives about God, and they come And
they subject God's word to their own finite understanding. They
put God's word to the test of their foolish notions and understanding. Now, there's nothing wrong with
asking questions. Nothing wrong. Our Lord answered
Nicodemus's question, didn't he? Our Lord answered all of
the Pharisees' tough questions. Remember, they asked him tough
questions, and he put them to shame. And he asked one question,
and they quit asking questions. At any rate, our Lord answered
quite a few questions, and they were amazed by his wisdom. And he answered all of Nicodemus.
Nicodemus, I believe, was a true seeker. and asked questions that
he was confused about. And the Lord answered the questions,
but not everyone's questions. He did not answer everyone's
questions. The Lord does not prove himself to the sons of
man. The Lord is not up for acceptance or rejection. We are. God's Word
is not open for debate. God's Word is not to be subjected
to our finite understanding. God's Word is not—he didn't write
it to prove our preconceived notions. We don't put God's Word
to the test. What we do when we come before
God's Word is to have the Word of God put us to the test. We come and subject ourselves
to God's Word, not vice versa. We're to come as little children
to be taught, to learn. We're to approach God's Word
as knowing nothing, having nothing, without strength, without to
come to him, him who is wisdom personified, to be taught by
him all things. The scripture says, if any man
thinks he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought
to know. There's not one single subject on earth that man is
a master of. Our Lord said that to Nicodemus,
didn't he say, you are a master in Israel, a teacher, you have
a master of divinity, a doctor of divinity, and you don't know
the fundamentals of the truth. That a man must be born of God.
But that which is flesh is flesh, and that which is spirit is spirit.
And if a man's going to be from flesh to spirit, God's going
to have to do it. You can't understand the most simple, fundamental
truth that if a man's going to get to God, God's going to have
to bring him. And you're a master of divinity. So it is with the finite and
foolish notions of man. I sat in my home years ago as
a young believer. I didn't know much. But I sat
there with a young man who had been through the schools of divinity
and a master of divinity. Now you think about that. The
audacity of a human being to say he's got God mastered. And I sat in my home. Do you
remember the fellow? And I sat in my home, and I didn't
know much at the time, but I knew more than he did. It was obvious. We sat there, and he did not
rightly. quote, one verse of Scripture.
He could not. There's several things he brought
up, but I had to finish quoting the Scripture. You mean, in such?
He's a master of divinity. Well, she came to prove Solomon
with hard questions. Nothing wrong with asking difficult
questions. There's some things hard to be
understood. Peter said that, didn't he? Paul wrote some things
hard to be understood. If you sit down and shut up and
listen very carefully, all your questions will be answered. Questions
that you didn't even bring up, questions you didn't think about
asking will be answered. Well, this woman came a long
way, and apparently she was very sincere about learning the truth. She came a long way to hear it.
Long way, at great costs. Now, this King, Solomon, did
not have to give her an audience, did he? He did not have to perceive her.
Solomon, one of his butlers would say, Sir, King, there's a woman
here to see you. It is said that she's the Queen
of Sheba, and she would like an audience with you. Being who
he was, the greatest king on earth at the time, he could have
said, I don't wish to see her today. Send her away. Couldn't
he? Sure he could. The king, now
a real king, is not at the beck and call of subjects, is he? No, no, no. Neither is God Almighty,
whom modern men would have us think that God's just waiting
out there, hoping we'll open the door and let him in. King doesn't have to give anybody
an audience. But I'll tell you who he will
give an audience to. Those who seek, they're fine. Those who
ask. Those who are outside the door
doing the knocking. He's not knocking. But we need to. And he opens
up to those who seek him in spirit and in truth. God is worshipped
in spirit and in truth, from the heart and in wanting to know
the truth. Our Lord said, listen to this,
to this man, he said, he that the heavens are my throne, the
earth is my footstool, I dwell in a high and lofty place, and
to this man will I look, he said, though I am the God of gods. But to this man will I look.
This is the person I'm going to give audience to. This is
the one I will receive and commune with. To he that is poor and
of a broken heart and trembleth at my word. I'm going to answer
the questions of someone who is genuinely confused and genuinely
wants some true answers, who truly comes to hear the truth. I'm going to answer their question,
one who trembles at my word. Heard a woman one time say to
me, she said, she said, when I get to heaven, I'm just going
to ask God why this and why that. Mighty presumptuous of her, isn't
it, to think she's going to be there? To think she's going to be there,
let alone be so impudent in the face of God. It says that she came, truly
speaking, in verse 2, she came to Jerusalem with a very great
train, for that is processional people and things, with camels
that bear spices and very much gold and precious stones. And
when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him. She came
and he received her. And she communed with him, spoke
with him. had intimate conversation with him of all that was in her
heart. Here's a true seeker, and she
comes to him and him alone who can answer her hard questions,
and she poured out her heart to him. She opened up her heart
to him. She made bare her soul to someone. Look at this. Verse 3, Solomon
told her all her questions. There was not anything hidden
from the king, which he told her not. She found out. What she found
out when she got in the presence of this man who is wisdom itself,
what she found out was, this man knows more about me than
I do. Why, this man knows the very
thoughts of my heart. She started to ask a question,
and Solomon asked it for her. Solomon answered it for her, until she just finally quit asking
and started listening, amazed by his insight into the very
depths of her being and her heart. Oh, my. And that's what we'll
find when we come humbly, trembling before the Word of God. When
we come as true seekers to find out the truth What we'll find
out is the Word of God, I'm reading from Hebrews 4.12, the Word of
God is quick, powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. Piercing,
the Word of God is piercing, even to the dividing asunder
of the soul and spirit, of the joints and the marrow, is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there's nothing
Scripture says, nothing manifests that's not manifest in his sight,
that all things are naked, all things are brought out, all things
are made bare, all things are exposed before the eyes of him
with whom we have to do it. We come before God's Word. You
see, this is the first thing which God's Word does and must
do to us. God's Word exposes us, lays us
bare. God's Word strips us before it
clothes us. This is the way salvation happens. God's Word must break us first,
break our proud, sinful hearts, bring us down before it builds
us up. God's Word must wound us with conviction of sin, righteousness
and judgment, Christ said, before it heals us. God's Word must
kill us in all our notions. all our wrong notions before
it makes us alive. God's Word will bring us down
before it lifts us up. We'll bow before the presence
of a thrice holy and sovereign King before we're lifted up to
sit and sup with Him. The Word of God. You come to
hear the truth, the first thing you'll hear is your heart exposed. You'll hear the very thoughts
and intents of your hearts exposed. I told you most of you have heard
this story but for those who have not heard it it's a good
one. It was a couple a little older couple up in the church
in Kentucky. Remember Champ and Opal Clark.
Well years ago the Lord saved Opal the wife and she was there
a member of the church in Ashland and her husband was not. Champ
was his name. She would ask him to come to
hear the gospel with her all the time. And he came to hear the gospel
with her one day, and on the way home, he was so mad, he could
just shoot nails in the head. She said, what's wrong, champ?
He said, you've been talking to the preacher about me, haven't
you? That's what he said, Henry. He
said, you told the preacher all about me, haven't you? He said,
Jim, I have never mentioned you to the preacher. We have never
talked about you, ever. Well, you said, well, he sure
enough sounded like he would listen to our conversations. It's God's Word. And the same
thing has happened to you, has it not? God's Word, just the
very discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, and
the first thing it does is it exposes us to ourselves. You
read The Mirror, about The Mirror, the article in the bulletin this
morning. The Mirror is not to show you how beautiful you are.
It's to show you all the blemishes. And the closer you look in the
mirror, what will you see? More blemishes. And try as you
may, the closer you get, you think, It's impossible. This
is impossible. I cannot get rid of all these
nomades for myself up. They're there. They're there. Well, the word of God exposes
us, and it did to her. And she communed with him, though,
and laid her heart bare. And look at verse four. And when
the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house
that he had built. She saw, what she saw in this
great man was a real king. Now, she'd seen some kings before.
Maybe she had one. She's a queen. Maybe she had
a hen-pecked husband who was called king, but he wasn't a
king. She was in charge. You know,
these little delicate fellows that have these little laurels
on their head, you know, and they come with their little toga on
their arms, you know. And that was her concept of kings back
then. You know that she was stronger than a man around. And maybe she thought Solomon
he might not be any different. Oh was she wrong. Man this is
the figurehead on the bowels of ship the ships that used to
have these carved heads figurines on the bow of the ship that would
represent some great personage that they some patron saint or
king or God. to protect them from the elements
and all that, some figurehead. It was just symbolic. That thing
couldn't do a thing, just an idol. Well, Solomon was no mere figurehead.
I mean, he's a real king sitting on a real throne. This is the
first thing she saw, Brother Kelly. This man is wisdom itself. This man is sovereignty personified. Why, this is the very King of
kings, the wisest, most powerful man on the earth. And every one
of God's chosen people, upon hearing the truth, being drawn
by God's sovereign grace, who come to Christ seeking, they're
going to hear and they're going to see that God who is God, no
mere figurehead, no mere God in name only, I mean a God who
reigns, actually reigns and rules among the armies of heaven. and
among the inhabitants of the earth. And none could stay his
hand, because that's what it means to be God. That's what
they see. Every single one of the seekers
of the truth hear this, first and foremost, that God is all-wise. He doesn't make contingency
plans, that he purposes all things according to his all-wise will
and purpose. It's the only thing that can
be done, because he's wisdom. God never changes, he said. I am the Lord, I change not,
Malachi 3, 6. Why? Because anything that changes
is imperfect. It must change for the better
or for the worse. God doesn't change. He doesn't change his
mind. He doesn't change his will. He
doesn't change his purpose. Why? Because it's all wise. He's all wise. And what you'll come to hear
and see in the God of the Scriptures is a God who's known unto who
are all his acts, all of his works from the beginning of the
world, a God who worketh all things after his own will and
purpose, a God who hath created all things for himself, even
the wicked. Proverbs 16, verse 4 says, even
the wicked for the day of evil. You'll see a God who's just yet
justifier. A God who is yet God, yet man. You'll see the wisdom of God
in the Lord Jesus Christ as you've never seen it before. There is
no wisdom to be seen outside of Christ. What you'll see and
hear is the wisdom of God Almighty. And I hesitate to bring this
up again, but it has to be used in contrast so that you'll see
just how foolish the notions of man that man has about God. Religion has made such a mockery
of God Almighty. As Brother Scott Richardson said,
they're making a fool out of God. They have the creator. I mean the one who created all
things out of nothing by the word of his power. They've got
the creator subject to. waiting, hoping, wanting his
creatures to let him do something. It's utter foolishness, isn't
it? It's utter blasphemy is what it is. They've got God who's
tried about everything there is to save man, hoping man will
end up with the right answer. They've got God who upholds all
things, Scripture says, in whom we live and move and have our
being, Scripture says. They've got God waiting over
on the sidelines, standing there like a bystander, hoping, wanting,
wishing that everything will turn out all right, and everything doesn't mess up
his plans. They've got a judge—listen to this—they've got a judge hoping
that criminals will accept his pardon. What could be more foolish? The judge standing down there
while the criminals are on their sovereign, free-will throne,
deciding if they'll accept his free pardon or not. Folks, man is guilty until made
innocent. That's the justice of God. Man is under the wrath of God
until God lets it be known otherwise. not under the love of God. Well, what you'll hear and see
when you seek the truth, and you'll find it, you'll see that
God is God, reigning, ruling. You'll see His wisdom. You'll
see how God has to be God. Oh, don't you see that? Don't
you see how God has to be God? If He's not, then Satan—why doesn't
Satan just kill everybody? Huh? If he's the one doing all
this bad stuff, why didn't he wipe everybody out? Why doesn't
he? He'd be crazy not to, wouldn't
he? Because God reigns. Satan doesn't. You'll see God's wisdom in being
God. And someday we'll see, known
unto God are all his works from the beginning. And Scripture
says we'll know someday, even as we've been known. We'll know,
we'll see why. everything happened the way it
did. We'll see. And we'll realize, not until
then, but we'll realize that, oh, this was so wise. So wise,
like Joseph. Remember the story of Joseph,
his wicked brethren doing all that they did to him? Cast him
in a pit. This is horrible. This is terrible.
Don't let this happen to Joseph. Just wait. And all of a sudden,
he ends up lied on, maligned, and all of that. But now, the
end of that story. They meant it for evil, didn't
they? Oh, but God, in His wise purpose,
purposed it to the salvation of His people. He has known unto God all His
works from the beginning. Acts 15, 18. All right? She says that she saw the wisdom
of Solomon and the house that he built. the house that he had built.
Oh, what a picture this is of salvation for the church, which
is God's house. Scripture says, except the Lord, our labor is in vain. The house
that God built is his church, his temple, his Zion is holy. Zion's salvation is of the Lord. It's the work that he did. Salvation's
of the Lord, something that he performed. God the Father purposed
it. Nobody helped him. That makes it sound like Solomon
was the only one that built it. That's the way it's written,
isn't it? That's the way it's written. God the Father purposed it. God
the Son worked it out, our salvation. God the Holy Spirit applies it.
Now, what's Sheba? We'll call her Sheba. We don't
know her name. She's a queen, but we don't even know her name.
That's all right, isn't it? We'll call her Sheba. Sheba heard
and saw of Solomon. What she heard and saw of Solomon
and the house that he had built is what every true seeker hears
and sees. Read on. When she came to his
glorious house, this is what she beheld. Verse 5, the meat
of his table. When she saw the provisions of
his table. Now let me just, let's go back
real quick. Chapter 4, you've got to see
this. Solomon, the provisions, one
day's provision. One day. One day in the spreading
of Solomon's table. Look at it. Chapter 4. You have
it? Now Solomon's provisions for
one day—that is, the bread, the meat of his table—was thirty
measures of fine flour. That's nine tons, Stephen, eighteen
thousand pounds of flour to make bread. Read on. And three score
measures of meal. That's ten tons of meal. Well, it is cornmeal, and I think
like cornbread. And read on. Ten oxen, fat oxen,
big oxen, the best oxen. Twenty oxen out of the pasture.
A hundred sheep. Besides harts and roebucks and
fallow deer, all sorts of cleft-footed, clean animals. and fatted fowl
and birds and so forth, pheasants and fish. He doesn't tell of
the fruits, all the fruit that he spread on his table, or all
the vegetables and all of that. One day, one day, Sheba came,
and maybe she thought, Brother Kelly, maybe she thought, I hope
you'll have something to eat when I get there. I'll tell you what I'll do, she
said. I'll bring some food with me. I have some stuff here, I'll
bring it. You know, some crackers and cheese. And she saw his table. Now why was
there so much food? Why was there so much food? Solomon
couldn't eat it all. I'll tell you why. Because Solomon
would have anybody who was hungry come to the table. It didn't
matter who it was. Rich, poor, young, old, black,
white, male, female. Come one, come all. Whoever's
hungry. The decree went out. Whosoever
will, come. Eat. Come and dine. All things are ready. Don't bring
anything. Don't bring your cheese and crackers.
You come to be fed. Oh, you'll be fed. Gospel table,
that's what you'll find when you come here. Some of you in
the past, you've heard some of these Old Testament stories and
never heard Christ's name mentioned. It's amazing, isn't it? It's
amazing. But what you see and hear when
you come here, the truth, you hear the Word of God just so
bountifully opened up to you. You'll see all manner of marvelous
things. A feast, the Scripture says,
of fat things. Wine on the leaves, well refined. well thought out, unsearchable
riches of the Lord Jesus Christ, a bountiful gospel table, and
anybody can come. That's what you find. Anybody
can come to whom the King bids. Bountiful. And look at this.
She saw the attendance, the sitting of His servants. That means she
saw who all was there. Well, look there. There's a little
child. And there's an old man, there's an Ethiopian. She looks like she's a notorious
woman. What's she doing there? Ah, Solomon will receive the
chief of centers. The only thing that's required
is hunger. Ah, the sitting of his servants,
read on, and she saw the attendance of his ministers and their apparel,
all those who ministered to him, that served him. What Sheba saw
and what made an impression upon her is that all those who were
around this king of kings, the dignity, the reverence, the respect
with which they conducted themselves, down to the way that they dressed
before the king, they saw that this was serious to these people
in it. They fear this king, don't they? This is no mere game that
they're playing. That's what they saw. It impressed
what she saw, and it impressed her that these people are different.
This king is different than anything I've ever heard. Read on. It says she saw his
cupbearers, that's his private butlers, those who were his right-hand
men. She saw these men. These were
men of character, the best of men. Solomon, the greatest of
men. His men that he'd chosen were
the best of men on earth. They weren't some idiots, some
fools, some little effeminate helpless—they were the best of
men. And so it is with God's prophets
and apostles and evangelists and pastors and teachers. Even
to this day, I challenge you to look at the average religious
leader today and tell me if you have any respect for any of these
idiots. Ah, but when you look at Abraham,
and Joseph, and Moses, and David, and Solomon, and Paul, and Peter,
and Scott, and Henry, and Maurice, and tons of men who are men, the best of men, Stephen, and
the world can't withstand the wisdom by which they speak. These
are God's men. They're not puppets and pawns
to anybody. They're servants of the king
himself. They fear the king. They don't
fear men. That's what you'll notice when you come to hear
the true God. And what else you'll notice is,
above all else, the thing that made the greatest impression
upon Sheba, the thing that stuck in her mind, the thing that reduced
her to nothing, was Solomon himself. Look at it, verse 5. and when
she saw his ascent, by which he went up unto the house of
the Lord." No more spirit. In other words,
she watched Solomon himself, wearing his royal apparel, with
that crown of crowns on his head. that reed, that scepter of righteousness
in his hand. Ascending up, not stooping down
to where she was, but ascending up under his sovereign throne. She thought, I've never seen
anybody like that. His ascension. Didn't Peter say
that at Pentecost? We see him high and lifted up. God is highly exalted in giving
him a name which is above every name. Not a name to be taken
on everyone's lips. Not a name to be put on a bumper
or in the gutter. A name that's to be exalted,
Scripture says. To be used with care and fear
and reverence. This is what helps every one
of God's people come to see and hear. When they come to see and
hear the truth, they'll see Christ exalted more than just a man,
the sovereign King of kings and Lord of lords. And what it will
do to every seeker is reduce us to nothing. There was no more
spirit left. The same thing Job said, the
same thing Daniel said, the same thing John said, the same thing
happened to Saul of Tarsus, happened to this woman. She fell in the
dust before such sovereignty and fear. his ascension, the thing that
made the greatest impression of all was Solomon himself. That's
what you'll come to see and hear when you find out, when you hear,
and are brought to hear about Christ. The thing you'll be more impressed
with than anything is Christ Himself. You won't go away talking
about the preacher. You won't go away talking about
the choir. You won't go away talking about the building. You'll
go away talking about the King of Kings. and Lord of Lords,
and that great work that he did. Solomon's dignity. I wish I had
another hour. This man, apparently, was something
to behold. The dignity, his regal and royal
repose and character. His countenance was like any
other man, apparently. His wisdom, his fortune, spake
like no other man. What a fitting type he is of
the Lord Jesus Christ. His Majesty, His Glory. Well,
it says there's no more spirit. She came to prove Him. She came
to prove Him. Imagine her foolishness. Imagine
her lunacy to come to prove this man, to put this man to the test. And what happened? Since the
King mercifully and graciously gave her an audience, what happened
was she was proved. She was put to the test. He proved her. What did he prove
her to be? Nothing. You know, she came there thinking,
I'm the queen. I'm somebody. I'm better than most. What she went away was thinking
that there's only one person around who's deserving of any
recognition or titles at all, and it's Solomon. Queen. Ha! That man reigns. No more questions, even. No more
questions. Look at her confession. Oh, I
love this. Her confession. Look at it. Verses six through ten. She said
to the king. Her confession. Now, John Davis,
all she said was how great Solomon was. Her whole confession was
the greatness of Solomon and the blessings of God that were
in Solomon. She understood this. You know, I hate these testimonials
that people give. I hate them. Scripture doesn't say confess
your sins before other people. People get up and tell what a
great drunk they were. I mean, really drunk. I mean,
a drunk drunk. Bad drunk. Stayed drunk for five
years. Just drunk and drunk. Who cares? Bragging on how bad they were.
I hate that. Everybody knows how bad you are.
God's people do. They know, and a half hadn't
been told. He hadn't told a half of them how bad you are. How
bad you are right now. God's people, if they have anything
to say, if they have anything to confess, it's of His greatness. They confess their sins to Him,
yes. See, she opened up her heart to Him. But her public confession
now was of Solomon. That make sense? It does if you've
made that confession. Verses 6 through 10, she said
to the king, it was true. The report, who hath believed
our report, Isaiah said, to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
The arm, the power, the majesty, whoever he reveals it to. It's true, the report that I
heard in my own land of thy acts. by sayings thy words, and of
thy wisdom. How be it? I just didn't believe. I believed not the words until
I came, and mine eyes had seen it." Old Job said, I've heard of thee.
Job did a lot of talking, didn't he, with all his friends. They
all had all answers. When God began to demand of Job,
some answers. Then he shut his mouth. And Job
said in the end, he said, I've heard of thee with the hearing
of mine ear. Now my eye sees you, and I hate myself. Abraham
said, I've spoken things too wonderful for me. He said, I'm
going to put my hand over my big mouth. She said, everything I've heard
is true. But you know what? The half wasn't told. Nobody
knows until they see for themselves. Nobody knows until they come
to Christ for themselves and see His glory. You can't tell
them. She's going to go home, Tammy,
and try, but they're not going to know until they see Him or
there's this. The half hadn't been told. And
people, this message, the best message ever preached by a mortal
man is that the half wasn't told. I can't wait to hear our Lord
Himself preach this. Take each one of those precious
spices and open them up. Mmm. My, my. The half wasn't
told. Read on. Thy wisdom in prosperity
exceeded the fame which I heard. Now look at this. And I close. Happy are thy men. Your men. Oh, God's men. God's elect. God's
chosen. Blessed. Blessed is the man whom
thou choosest. Happy are these thy servants,
those that sit at your table. What a blessed people who sit
at this big table. And your ministers, your servants,
your butlers, which continually before thee that hear thy wisdom. Oh, how blessed are God's true
preachers, Brother Ron. They don't run out of material.
They don't have to have somebody send them fifty-two sermons for
the year. There's fifty-two in this one
chapter. I had people call me all the time
wanting to pawn off their religious literature to me. One time I
got so fed up, I said, don't y'all have Bibles over there?
So you want to send your people this, that literature, this and
that. I said, we have Bibles, thank you. And they're full. Treasure house is full. Oh, happy are the people that
sit at your table, and those that stand continually before
thee, and hear thy wisdom. People, nobody in here is blessed
like I am. I've got to eat this twice. You know, food's sometimes
even better leftover. Dad and I fixed some fish, some
red snapper. And, uh, red snapper. Ron, fresh
red snapper. You ain't had any this week,
have you? Well, you've been eating. Bayonets
and crackers, red sniper, and jumbo red shrimp, buddy. I just
had to rub it in. But you know, I love that fish
leftover. I like it even better cold. I'll
eat it for breakfast, and I did, and lunch, and dinner. Oh, and
people, I've already feasted on this, and I'm having about
as good a time as a man can have right now. Happy are those that continually
stand before thee, and hear thy wisdom." Verse 9, "'Blessed be
the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee. O blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessing in the heavenly places which are in
the Lord Jesus Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him.'"
And on and on we could go. Abshiba could have wrote Ephesians
1. Blessed be the Lord which delighted
in you to set you on the throne of Israel. It must be because
the Lord loved Israel forever. He made you king. What blessed
people they are, whose God is the Lord. To do judgment and
justice, never do wrong what does right by his people. No
matter what it may seem, it's right and fine because he loves
them. He's all wise. He can't do wrong. blessed people. You could be under the reign
of a wicked king. You could be Sheba thought, my
people, I'm going to bring them all up here. We're going to sit
and listen to a man that knows something. Thought I knew something. Well, she was so grateful that
she gave to the king. Now, she was grateful. She's
a blessed woman. She was said she is a woman of
great riches, and this is what God's people experience. Overwhelming
gratitude, and it makes them generous. They want to give to
the cause of Christ for the furtherance of his gospel and God's people
meet their needs and so forth, and they're generous. They love
that. Freely have they received and
freely give. And she wanted to give to the king. She was going
to give him something. Well, you know, she gave him
all she could. And it was great. It was great
what she gave him. She said, there's nothing like
it. Of the abundance of spices, there's nothing. And nobody had
ever given as much as she began. Until Solomon started giving. Until Solomon started giving
her. My, my. She left, look at verse fifteen,
or thirteen, King Solomon, now King Solomon gave unto the Queen
of Sheba everything she asked for. Whatever she asked for, he gave.
Beside that, in addition to that, he gave the bounty, of his royal
bounty. In other words, she went home
with more than what she gave. She went home richer than she
came. She came with just a bunch of
trinkets. She went home empty, devoid of
any wisdom. That's the way she came. Thought
she knew something. She didn't. And when she came
and heard him, and he began to open up and reveal to her heart
and expound his wisdom, make himself known, and she saw all
of this. And he gave to her of his royal
bounty. He abounded toward her in wisdom
and prudence and charity and gifts, unspeakable gifts to her. She went home full. She went
home full. How about you? That's the way
it is with every one of God's people. What do you think she
talked about for the next week or so? When she got home, what
do you reckon her conversation was of? You reckon she said, you all
can't believe Jerusalem. That's the prettiest place I've
ever seen. There's a chandelier in one of
those buildings that came all the way. You ought to see Solomon's singers. Her conversation was of Solomon.
And she, like that woman at the well, remember the woman at the
well? After the Lord revealed himself to her, she went home,
left her water pot. Water pot, an empty vessel. She
went on full. She had water springing up. And
she told everybody, she said, You need to come see a man. This is the Christ. All right, brother John, you
have a hand picked out. Four ninety five. Four hundred
ninety five.