All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn with me to the book of 1 Kings, chapter 10. 1 Kings, chapter 10. I'd like to look at one verse
of Scripture, verse 1. 1 Kings, chapter 10, and verse
1. The Scripture declares, And when
the Queen of Sheba heard of the famous Solomon concerning the
name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions. I think that revelation right
there concerning what she wanted to talk to Solomon about is so
honoring. You know, there's so many things
that just feed our fancy. You know, we hear of things that
are very strange, unusual, things of the future, things that we
just don't... And we're interested, humanly
speaking, in those things. what she wanted to talk to Solomon
about. Because she had heard of his
fame, of a wisdom that God had given this man, she came and
she wanted to talk to him concerning the name of the Lord. I want
to hear what God has taught you. about himself. Now, you know, it's not easy, many times, to
find a person that's willing to admit that there's doubt in
their minds, that there's some areas that they should be well-versed
in, but they're not. And we'd rather Try to make people
think that we know what we're talking about when often we don't. But you let a man, a woman, a
sinner be touched by the Spirit of God and let the Spirit of
God teach that person some things of themselves and their ignorance
And that person is going to desire to find out some things that
they now honestly admit, I don't know. There'll be times that
someone may call me, one of my children or something, and ask
me something. Maybe something of the scriptures
especially. And if I don't know, if I can't
answer, right now with a vivid remembrance of what I've looked
at or studied. You know, the flesh would say,
well, I'll tell you what it means, and I'm stammering around trying
to come up with something, trying to remember. Instead of just
saying, why don't you let me look that up and find out what
God has to say about it and I'll call you back. Brother Henry Mahan did that
to me one time. I called him and asked him about
something. And he said, Marvin, let me look it up. He said, I
just can't remember right now. And that so impressed me, you
know, I thought Henry knew everything, you know, had vivid recall, but
not one made to understand the fallacy of man, one that truly
realizes something of themselves. And so this woman came and she
wanted to ask out of a true desire of Solomon some things that the
scriptures refer to as hard questions. Actually the word is riddles.
riddles, but not riddles in the sense that she was trying to
trip him up, trying to fool him, trying to make a fool out of
him, but to test truly, sincerely one's wisdom, to have their questions
proved to them. A believer wants to know some
things and this woman came and made great effort to find out. I want to know. I want to know
what God has to say. Hold your place right there and
turn to Matthew chapter 12. Matthew 12. The Lord spoke of
this woman. And He said in Matthew chapter
12 and verse 42 concerning this woman's fervency to know the
things of God. Matthew 12, 42. He said the queen
of the south That's the Queen of Sheba. She'll rise up in the
judgment with this generation. Not only that generation, but
this generation, every generation. Now, you think about this. This
woman, our Lord said, is going to rise up in the judgment. He's
going to call her forth to be a witness in the day of judgment. The Queen of the South shall
rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn
it. Why? For she came from the uttermost
parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And the Lord
said, and behold, a greater than Solomon is here. This woman that
made great effort went through great pains You look back in
1 Kings 10 and you read that chapter, you'll find out she
had a great caravan with her. Many provisions and gifts to
give to Solomon. I just want to have a few minutes
of your time. I want to talk to you. I want
to understand. Isn't that a marvelous thought? When you have somebody,
you think of someone you know, someone in your family that would
come to you And because of what you've professed, what you believe,
and what you have set forth concerning the things of God, and ask you,
can I ask you some things that really perplex me about God?
I want to know. I'd just thrill your heart, you
know. Well, I want to look for just
a few minutes, and there's so many. I mean the list of questions
that could be asked. I tell you one that just popped
in my mind right now. Job. How should a man be just
with God? I had someone ask Gabe years
ago when we were living in Franklin. And this fellow, out of a sincere
heart, Gabe had told him that man is a sinner. and the wages
of sin is death. Well, that pretty well can sum
up, humanly speaking, that man doesn't have any hope. If man
is a sinner, and he is, and the wages of sin is death, well, where does that leave me?
And this young man gave this question, and I was amazed when
I heard the question. And he asked then, he said, well
then how can someone be saved? I thought, boy, that's a great
question. How should man be just with God? So there's so many
questions that we can ask. But I want to just ask just a
few questions here. Questions that I think that really
man honestly would ask a hard question. Here's
my first question. How does a man know that he is
one of God's own? How do you know that? How do
you know? I know that God, turn with me to 1 Thessalonians 1.
I know that God has an elect. I know that. I mean, scripture
teaches that. How do I know that I'm one of them? What does God
have to say about giving me some assurance that I'm one of God?
Now listen, 1 Thessalonians 1, we've read this before, but that's
okay. We'll read it again. 1 Thessalonians 1, starting in
verse 4, knowing brethren, beloved, Your election of God. Now, you
know, if somebody could tell me something like that and said,
I'm going to tell you how you know your election of God. I
said, okay, tell me. I'm sure I've heard that before,
but would you tell me one more time because I'd like to be reminded
of it. Tell me one more time. For, because,
our gospel came not unto you in word only. You know, when
the gospel comes to someone in word only, you know what they're
going to do? They can take it or leave it. But, he said, also empower, and
in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance, as you know what manner
of men we were among you for your sake, we were preaching
the gospel to you. And you became followers of us.
This gospel had an effect upon you. You believed the gospel
that we were preaching and you followed us in heart. You became
followers of us and the Lord having received the word in much
affliction with joy in the Holy Ghost. It's costly. It's costly to believe the gospel. You're going to have to take
sides with God against yourself first. And then you're going
to have to take sides with everybody else that doesn't believe it.
Those of your own household are going to be your biggest enemies.
Verse 7, so that you were examples to all that believe in Macedonia
and Achaia. For from you sounded out the
word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also
in every place your faith to God was spread abroad, so that
we need not to speak anything. For they themselves show of us
what manner of entering in we had unto you. Paul is saying
the effect that our entering into you with the preaching of
the gospel, how that you turn to God from idols to serve the
living and true God. How does one know he's one of
God's own? I'll tell you how it is. They
believe God. They believe God. The gospel
comes to them not just in word, where it's just a mental, you
know, you can have a mental ascent to the gospel and you get all
the points right, but have no heart for it. He said it didn't
come to you in word, it only came in power and much assurance. Look at 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse
12. 2 Timothy 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 12. For the witch cause I also suffer
these things, nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know not what
I believe, though we do believe. A what? We do believe the gospel. But he said, for I know whom
I have believed. And I'm persuaded that He is
able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that
day. Believers by faith know Him to
be God's Lamb for them. I know whom I have believed. Paul didn't say, I know that
God's people believe him. That's true. But Paul said, how
do I know that I'm one of his own? Because I believe him. He that believeth on the Son
and not in himself, according to the Scriptures, hath life. How do I know that I'm his? Because
I know by faith, I believe that the God-man mediator, I believe
that when he died, everybody believes he died, but I believe
he died for me. I believe that he had me on his
heart. How would you believe that? I am the good shepherd. And the good shepherd knows his
sheep. And they follow me. How do I
know that I'm one of God's own? I believe that Almighty God has
given me a heart to cast myself upon the mercy of God in Christ. And I believe that when He said
He finished the work, I believe that that means that there's
nothing else for me to do. Someone says, you put all of
your hope and eternal life in just saying you just believe
Him? Yes. That's all I've got. I have nothing else. I believe
that when He died, He died for me. I believe He was buried and
raised and ascended into heaven for me. And I believe that right
now, He's praying for me. As He prayed for Peter, that
my faith fail not. And I believe right now that
I'm being kept by the power of God through faith, ready to be
revealed in that last time. I believe that salvation is totally
by the grace of Almighty God. But one might ask, what about
those who are deceived and all the while they feel in their
heart that they're right. What about those? You truly believe
that you're the only one that's right? Look at Romans 14. Romans
14. Romans 14 verses 7 to 9. Romans
14, 7 to 9. What makes you think that that the message, the Christ,
the gospel that you say is right. What makes you think that you're
right? Romans 14, 7. For none of us
liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether
we live, we live unto the Lord. Whether we die, we die unto the
Lord. Whether we live therefore or die, we are the Lord's. For
to this end Christ both died and rose and revived that He
might be Lord both of the dead and the living. What's the difference
between one that believes and one that doesn't? What's the
difference? Who is the Lord? Who's the Lord? Christ is revealed in Scripture
to be sovereign. He's the Lord. He's not a beggar. And anyone that calls Him Lord,
and meaning Lord, meaning God, God, who does as He will in the
army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and
nobody stays His hand, that person must do so by the
Spirit of God, because the Spirit of God is the only one that can
reveal that. For without that divine revelation, we don't see
Him as Lord. We believe Him to be a lowercase
l-o-r-d. that is desiring or wanting or
something, He's the Lord. Anyone that's preaching anything
that doesn't make Him sovereign in creation, in providence, in
salvation, is not preaching the gospel. How do I know that I'm one of
the Lords? Because I believe that He's the Lord and not me. Here's my second question. When does the gospel become good
news? You know, I can tell you something
from experience, and I'm sure you can too. Religion is boring
to me. Religion is extremely boring. Ceremony and tradition, rituals, I remember growing up in free
will religion. I had to try to keep a front
up. I had to talk the talk and try
to make it look like I was walking the walk. But I'm telling you,
being honest with you, this was the most boring thing I could
possibly think of. I did it to please my parents. I did it please those that were
there too, I did it maybe to appease my conscience, but I
did not like it. There's nothing in a dead heart
that moves it to joy, to thankfulness, or a need of Him. The only time
that truth is good news is when it's good news to me. Now, what is the example of one
that has now heard the truth and is now good news to him?
I love this. Luke. Luke 18. Luke 18. This is that story of two men
that went into the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, one
was a publican. And you know the Pharisee, scripture
says he lifted up his eyes Starting in verse 9, Luke 18, the Lord
spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that
they were righteous and despised others. Now you know that's man
by nature. Trust in himself, despise. Two
men went into the temple to pray. One a Pharisee, the other a publican.
The Pharisee stood, prayed thus with himself. I thank Thee that
I'm not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as
this publican. I fast twice in the week. I give
tithes of all that I possess. Here's the evidence of one to
whom the gospel has been good news. The good news that God
Almighty will have mercy will have mercy on sinners. Here's
some good news. God has mercy. That's what He
told Moses. Show me your glory, Moses said.
The Lord said, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy. I'll have
compassion on whom I'll have compassion. That's my glory.
And what does this publican say? The publican, verse 13, standing
afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven,
but smote upon his breast, saying, Be merciful, be propitious, be
compassionate, be merciful to me. Why? I am a sinner. I'm a sinner. When is the good
news, good news to somebody, when that person sees himself
as a sinner against God and deserving Judgment. And ask out of a new
heart, Lord, would you show mercy to me? Lord, would you not pass
me by? Would you show kindness to me?
Look at John chapter 6, verse 63. John 6, verse 63. He said some hard things, hard
sayings. That's what they said in verse
60. They said they'd been listening to Him preach. Many of His disciples,
when they heard this, said this is a hard saying. Who can hear
it? Listen to the words of our Lord
as He continues. Verse 63, It is the Spirit that
quickneth. The flesh profiteth nothing. You know, isn't it amazing how
you read something like this, and once your eyes have been
opened to the truth, you don't have a problem believing that
the flesh profiteth nothing. But you know, until the Spirit
of God opens your eyes to something like this, you know what you
believe? That the flesh profiteth. That I can. He said, it's the
spirit that quickly, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words
that I speak unto you, they're spirit and they're life. But
there are some of you that believe not. You know what? You know what that says right
there? That God's omniscient. That God knows. You know, I can
look out here and I don't know if you believe or not. You don't
know if I truly believe or not. But the Lord does. There are
some of you that believe not, for Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not, and who should betray Him. And
He said, therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto
Me. You know what that means right
there? That means that man is depraved.
That's what He just told them. He said man is depraved. No man
can, no man has the ability to come unto Me except, now He's
going to start preaching particular grace, distinguishing grace,
except it were given unto Him of My Father. And from that time,
many of the disciples went back, walked no more with Him. Why?
Because the Gospel was not good news to them. They've heard the
truth. God told them. The Lord Jesus
told them. He said, you can't, you can't.
And they thought, I can. And He said, except my Father.
And they said, no, except I choose to. And from that time, they
walked away. They wouldn't walk with Him anymore.
Then Jesus said unto the twelve, will you go away also? Now here's
going to be the answer to one The gospel has been good news.
This is some good news. Simon Peter answered Him, Lord,
to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. We believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the
Son of the living God. And Jesus answered them, Have
not I chosen you twelve? One of you is a devil. This is
good news to one who now has seen the bad news of himself. I am a sinner. One that is a
rebel by nature against God. The gospel is good news only
to one that finds his own righteousness. Turn to Romans 7. One that sees
his own righteousness to be nothing but filthy rags. Romans chapter
7 and verse 18. Here's one. Here's the answer
to one. To whom the gospel is good news.
Look at 18. Romans 7, 18. Paul says, For
I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me,
but how to perform that which is good I find not. Look at verse 25. He said, Now
I thank God. through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So then with the mind, though I know what I am, is what he's
about to say, with the mind I myself serve the law of God. With my
mind I serve the law of God, but with the flesh I serve the
law of sin. By the grace of God I am what
I am, but I see an old man in me too that still struggles against
me. And here's my third question. There's so much That's so hard
to comprehend. And I know that salvation is
by grace through faith. How much faith does it take for
a man to believe on salvation? How much faith? Nowhere do I find in the scripture
that any person had perfect faith except the Lord Jesus Christ.
I read many places of little faith, great faith, strong faith,
the measure of faith, weak faith, lacking faith, growing faith,
sound in faith, but I never found any place where the Lord spoke
of anyone that had perfect faith. And I say this not to give myself
any liberty to sin, but because I find my hope only in Him when
I realize my lack of faith. Turn to Matthew 17, 14. Matthew
17, 14. Matthew 17, 14. And when they were come to the
multitude, there came to him a certain man kneeling down to
him, saying, Lord, have mercy on my son. He's a lunatic, sore
vexed, for oft at times he falleth into the fire and oft into the
water. I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.
And Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation,
how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you?
Bring him hither. to me. And Jesus rebuked the
devil. He departed out of him and the
child was cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples
to Jesus by part and said, why could not we cast him out? And
Jesus said unto them, because of your unbelief. Unbelief. For verily I say unto you, if
you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, You shall say unto
this mountain, remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove,
and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit, this kind
goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." I thought to myself,
faith as the grain of mustard seed, how obviously that must
be small. That must be a little bit, but
the Lord said if you had that much, you could speak to a mountain
and it would be removed. You know what that tells me?
Oh, how little I believe. It's not the quantity of faith,
but it's the presence of it. The presence. The more I realize
of my inadequacy, the more beautiful, mercy becomes from the Lord. And then lastly, here's my fourth
question. If a man be as frail and weak
as scripture declares him to be, how secure am I? Man is weak, he's frail, the
dust, how secure Look at Psalm 111, verse five. Psalm 111. Verse five. I'm gonna say this to every believer
who sees the continual presence of their sin, who sees the inadequacy
in themselves, the inability, the waywardness, the wanderings.
Psalm 111 verse 5, He hath given meat unto them that fear Him,
and listen to this, He will ever be mindful of His covenant. Now, how secure is a frail creature
of the dust. David, King David, 2 Samuel 23. I'll read this for you. This
is what David said. And oh how David, reminding me
of myself, in his confession of the Lord in Psalm 51, he said,
My sin is ever before me. I see I see that Paul says, in
me dwelleth no good thing in my flesh. There's nothing that
I see in me of any consistency. Wherein is my security? Well, I can tell you this, it's
not in me. It's not in me. David said, 2 Samuel 23, 5, Although
my house be not so with God, yet He hath made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things insure, this is all my salvation
and all my desire. Although He make it not to grow,
David said, it's not become evident to me, the completeness of this. God Almighty, in the person of
His blessed Son, has said, I will have mercy. I will save my people. Christ laid down His life for
His own, put away their guilt, put away all that opposed God
Almighty, robed them in His righteousness. How much do I see of that? I don't. that I'm robed in the very righteousness
of Christ, that Almighty God has looked upon me and sees the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, what confidence do you have? Lord, I believe that you have
mercy on sinners. And Lord, having mercy on sinners,
Lord, would you have mercy on me And Lord, would you, for Christ's
sake, remember your covenant to show mercy to me. I'm not
saying I deserve it. Lord, I'm just saying, have mercy
on me. You say it. Him that cometh to
me, I will in no wise cast out. Lord, don't cast me out. Lord,
don't leave me to myself. Don't pass me by. Of all the questions that can be
asked, I think that it comes down to this last question to
somebody. How do you plea? Do you plea
yourself to be innocent? Well, any innocency I found in
me has been charged to my account because the Lord Jesus Christ
who is the holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, that Savior
has stood and answered for me and has put my guilt away by
the shed blood at Calvary. And that's the only innocence
that I have. I'm a guilty sinner. that Almighty
God has been pleased to call out of the darkness of unbelief
and has given me some knowledge of Himself. He's given me faith
to cast myself upon Him. What are you going to do? What
does a believer do? Let me tell you, I'll read this.
Turn to 2 Kings 7. I will end with this one. I said I was going to, but I
really will end with this one. 2nd Kings chapter 7. I love this
story. There were some helpless lepers. 2nd Kings chapter 7 verse
3. Samaria was besieged and here
they are. They are at the gate starting
in verse 3. 2nd Kings 7 verse 3. There were four lepers, four
leprous men at the entering end of the gate. And they said one
to another, why sit we here until we die? Now that, spiritually
speaking, when a man is brought to ask that question, why will
I stay here or die? They're like that prodigal son.
Came to himself and he said, I'm going to go back to my dad.
Verse 4, if we say we will enter into the city, well then the
famine is in the city, and we shall die there. If we sit here,
we die also. Therefore come and let us fall
into the host of the Syrians. The Syrians had them surrounded,
had them besieged. Let us fall unto the host of
the Syrians. If they save us alive, we shall
live, and if they kill us, We shall but die. We're going
to die anyway. If we sit right here, we're going to die. We
ain't got nothing to eat. There's nothing in the city.
And they rose up in the twilight to go unto the camp of the Syrians.
And when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of
the Syrians, behold, there was no man there. For the Lord had
made the host of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots,
the noise of horses, even the noise of a great host. And they
said one to another, lo, the King of Israel hath hired against
us the kings of the Hittites, kings of the Egyptians, to come
upon us. Therefore they arose and fled in the twilight, left
their tents, their horses, their asses, the camp as it was, and
fled for their life. What did these four leprous men
do? They were four sinners, leprous
being a picture of their sin, in need of deliverance. And by
the grace of God, spiritually speaking, they cast themselves
into the hand of those that were mighty, into the hands of the
Syrians. A picture of those that comes
only to the Lord of glory. He who holds the keys of hell
and death, keys of heaven. What they said was this, these
guys, they're the boss. And we're going to go and cast
ourselves upon their mercy. If they save us alive, we've
got some hope. But if we stay right here, when a sinner has
nowhere else to go but Christ, that sinner's got some hope.
What's the evidence of one that has been given life in Christ? He can't go anywhere else. He
believes God. He sees himself as a needy sinner. And Christ is my only security
in life. How do I know, concerning these
hard questions, that God's done something for me? I don't have
anywhere else to go. There's no other life but in
Him. He's convinced me of that. And I pray God continue to teach
me that daily. For Christ's sake and my good.