Good evening. If you would open
your Bibles to 1 Kings, 1 Kings chapter 10. 1 Kings chapter 10. 1 Kings chapter 10. We'll read the first nine verses
of 1 Kings 10. 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, 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. 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 assent 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 mine 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. Thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth
the fame which I heard. Happy are thy men, happy are
these thy servants, which stand continually before thee. and
that 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 thee
king, to do judgment and justice." I love this story. But as a child,
I remember thinking to myself that this was a story of a wealthy
queen who had heard about potentially a wealthier king and she had
to go see who was wealthier. I thought she'd heard of his
fame and she wanted to go see who was better, who had more
money, who was more powerful. But there's an important phrase
in the first verse of chapter 10 that tells us it's more than
that. And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon
concerning the name of the Lord, there was more to this. She heard
of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord. It is quite
evident that the queen of Sheba's visit to Solomon is a picture
of us or the sinner coming to Christ. We come to Him for our
Lord Himself referred to it in Matthew 12. Listen to what the
Lord said in Matthew. 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 here. This evening, I want to take
a few minutes and examine how this story is a parallel to us
coming to the Lord. And in doing so, I want to look
at a few aspects of what she experienced, of what made her
come, all those things. So look in verse one. Look at
this. It says, And when the queen of Sheba heard, when she heard, She had to have heard something
pretty special. Often we hear things that pique
our interest. We live in a society today where
we can pretty much find out anything in a matter of moments. When
we hear something that's a question or something we don't know, if
it intrigues us enough, we just type it on our phone and we get
the answer. Well, in this day and age, there was nothing that
she could do other than finding someone else or hearing what
someone else to give a report. And it says here, she heard.
She heard something of the fame of Solomon. It says, I've looked through
different writers, an estimation is that she lived somewhere around
1,500 miles or more away from him. And that this journey at
the very least would take months, but most people estimated it
would take over a year to come and see him. Can you imagine
what you would have to hear to walk to New Mexico? This woman traveled a treacherous
journey over an extended period of time on something she had
heard. As a sinner, the Lord peeks the
ear of his children. He makes us to hear something. Now, I'm going to say this now,
and I won't keep saying this over and over again. A sinner
will not come to Christ in the same way this woman came to Solomon
unless the Lord makes us to hear something. And nothing am I going
to say, does this woman deserve credit or in this illustration
or us deserve any credit of any kind for coming to the Lord.
But I'm going to say over and over again, we must come to the
Lord. The only way we can come is if he makes us to come. Everything
I say, I feel like I would need that qualifier. I need to keep
saying, but only because he makes us to come, but I don't want
to keep saying it. So remember that all of this is of the Lord. So
she heard something. Now, what have we heard? of the Lord Jesus Christ. What
could we hear about Him that would make us come to Him? Well,
turn with me to Isaiah chapter 7. Isaiah chapter 7. And Isaiah 7, look at verse 14. Look what we hear here about
our Lord. Therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. We hear about
the person and work of Christ. Turn over a page to Isaiah 9.
Isaiah 9, verse 6. It says, For unto us a child
is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon
his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Listen to what it says in Galatians
about the work of Christ. But when the fullness of the
time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that
we might receive the adoption of sons. Is that something that's
worth hearing? Is that something that's worth
coming to Christ? To redeem them that were under the law that
we might receive the adoption of sons. What else have we heard?
Turn over to Hebrews 1. Hebrews chapter 1. I want to turn to a few of these
verses because in case we haven't heard, maybe this is a reminder,
but if someone hasn't heard this, There are so many amazing things
about our Lord in this book and that have been preached in this
place that are each individually worth us coming to Him. But I
want to show us some of these in the scripture because it'll
come to it in a few minutes with the Queen of Sheba where she
says she came to prove that He was what she'd heard. We must
prove through this book what He's done. All right, look in
Hebrews 1 verse 1. God, who at sundry times and
in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made
the worlds. who being the brightness of His
glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding
all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty
on high, being made so much better than the angels, as He hath by
inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which
of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son, this day
have I begotten thee, and again I will be to him a father, and
he shall be to me a son." This man, the Lord Jesus Christ, he
made the worlds. I don't even think that I use
the term worlds. I think of a singular world.
He's made the worlds. He's made more than we can comprehend.
It says in verse 3, he's the express image of his person upholding
all things by the word of his power when he had by himself
purged our sins. Is that worth coming to the Lord
Jesus Christ? That he purged our sins? Talk
about something we can't do. He purged our sins. Listen to
what it says in Colossians. For by Him were all things created
that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created by Him and for Him. And He is before
all things, and by Him all things consist. And He is the head of
the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence.
For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell."
He created all things, and He has preeminence over all things.
I find it So frustrating, for lack of a better term, how many
times I hear things in false religion completely accepting
that God created the world, yet he doesn't have the power to
control over everything. To think that he can create all
things and that he doesn't have dominion and power over it all.
But He does. It says it right here. He says
He has dominion over everything. Principalities, powers, things
we don't even understand. He has power over all of them.
He's in control. Turn with me to one more. 1 Corinthians
15. 1 Corinthians 15. And verse 20. But now is Christ risen from
the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since
by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the
dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be
made alive. But every man in his own order,
Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ's at his
coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered
up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have put
down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign
till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy
that shall be destroyed is death, for he hath put all things under
his feet. But when he saith, All things
are put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted, which did
put all things under him. And when all things shall be
subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject
unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all
in all." Have we not heard of the person and work of Christ?
Have we not heard of the deity, the glory of Christ? Have we
not heard of the wisdom and power of Christ? Have we not heard
of the death and resurrection of Christ? This morning, there
was a message on mercy. In this book, it says that His
mercy endureth forever. Another message on grace. It
says in this book that His grace is sufficient for thee. Paul
told Festus in Acts, he said, these things, these things I'm
telling you, they weren't done in a corner. These things were
done in the open. These things were done for all
to see. We have a book that was written for this. And it's probably
for all the wrong reasons, but this book is in every drawer
in every hotel room and all over the place. And it's there because
this is there for everyone to see. This is the truth. No one
can say they have not heard of this man, Jesus Christ. And what we've heard of him,
all these things we've heard, what would that make us do? Turn
back to our text. Turn back here. Let's see what
she did in this example. 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. She went. She heard something
so great that her only recourse, the only thing she could think
to do is, I've got to go see if this is true. I have to go
see this person. If the Lord Jesus Christ ever
ever pricks your heart or your ear to truly hear the things
of this book, the things that he's done, the only result will
be to come to him. You can't not come to him. If you hear, if he shows you
who you are and who he is, you get a glimpse of the holiness
of God, there's nothing to do but to come to him. Now, I understand
in this illustration She could come to a person. Solomon was
a man, and we don't have that. But in this example, we can come,
we can approach our Lord. This book says so many times,
come unto me. It says, approach the Lord, come
to him. The queen, having heard of Solomon, came to him to see
and hear for herself. She took the only course she
could. She came directly to him. Take everything to the Lord,
directly to him. Don't go around anywhere else.
Don't look for another option. Go straight to Him. Is this not
the thing for all sinners to do? Come to Christ. Come directly
to Him. Don't be satisfied with only
hearing of Him. There was an old preacher who
was asked by someone, would you please write down in black and
white, write it down on a piece of paper, can you write what
I'm supposed to believe? Can you give me a text? There
are so many things. Can you give me one thing? Give
me one thing to read and to believe. To which this pastor replied,
It is not any one text, nor any number of texts, that save. Any
more than a manslayer, a murderer, could be saved by reading the
signpost on the road to the city of refuge. That man must go and
enter the city of refuge. Salvation is in Christ and in
coming to Him. When a man is thirsty, he is
not satisfied by going to the well, by studying the well, by
looking at the water of the well. Satisfaction comes by drinking.
In Colossians, it says, "...to whom God would make known what
is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles."
This mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. The
hope of glory is Christ in you. It is in you. Look back at verse
2, or 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." This word, prove, is one that
I think we misunderstand. Unfortunately, I'll speak for
myself, but I think a lot of people do this. When someone
tells me something, I so often immediately think in my head,
prove it. If you tell me something that
I'm It just isn't natural for him to hear. You say, I just
did this. My mind so often is doubting. I don't know if that's
because I'm so apt to lie or so apt to embellish or to make
things up, but I always think to myself, prove it. I want to
see it. Show me. And you can show me
a picture or show me something and I'm like, oh, okay, you did.
Why do we act that way? But that's not necessarily what
she's saying. It says, she came to Solomon. She came to prove
him with hard questions. She came to him because she wanted
what he knew and what had been given to him to be applicable
to her. We don't come to Christ doubting
that he's done what he says. We come to Christ because we
want him to show us that He's done this. We want Him to show
us what He's done. I don't come to Christ looking
thinking, I doubt He can do that. I doubt He would do it for me. But I want Him to prove when
it says that He did this for sinners. I want to see it. I
want Him to show it to me. I want to understand. Because
without that understanding, I just don't get it. I don't understand.
She proved Him with hard questions. Now, the queen came to him with
many hard questions. And I've read so many different
writers who've written a bunch of hard questions. I have no
idea what questions she asked him. But can I tell you the difference
in a hard and an easy question if you know the answer? If I
said, what's one plus one, pretty much everybody in here thinks
that's an easy question. Well, if I go back in the nursery
right now and ask that question, that's a hard question. A hard
question is a question we don't know the answer to. We come to
Christ with questions that we don't know the answer to, questions
that we can't solve ourselves. We want to ask Him, can I be
saved? Is there a way for me to be saved?
What can you do for me, Lord? We come to Him with so many questions
because we have no answers. We have so many questions because
we don't have answers. We come to Him with hard questions.
We come to Him with any question we have. to him give all the
prophets." The Lord Jesus Christ, this woman, had read. She had
read something because it says she was concerning the Lord.
Now at this time, I'm not sure if she just had the initial five
books of the Bible. I'm not sure what exactly she
had. But she had something. And maybe she asked the question,
all Old Testament prophecies, these things I've read, these
pictures, these types, these sacrifices, point to someone
and to some great event. Who is that? She'd probably ask
him that. Who gave you all this power?
You talk about this? I'm sure Solomon told her. He
told her his experience. He told her where the power came
from. He told her that all of this is of the Lord. It's all
from Him. He didn't do anything to deserve this. In Luke it says,
"...to Him give all the prophets witness that through His name
whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins." All
of it. Look in verse 3. Well, 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. She came to him, and she asked
him everything that was in her heart. Every single thing that
was on her heart, she asked him. Anything that is on our heart,
take it to the Lord. Anything. If it's a burden, if
it's a pain, if it's a pleasure, if it's anything, take everything
to the Lord. It says she asked Him all that
was in her heart. All of it. And what happens?
Look at verse 3. Solomon told her all her questions,
or he answered all her questions. He did not hear a question that
he didn't have the answer for. Every single question that we
ask the Lord, he will give us an answer. Now, maybe you're
thinking to yourself, I don't know what questions to ask. That's
okay, because if you come to him, it's because he's given
you a question. And when He gives you a question,
He'll answer the question. And you know what He does then?
He gives you the next question. And then He gives you that answer.
And He gives you the next question. The Lord takes us every step
of the way. We just don't understand anything.
We see through the glass dimly. He gives us the question, and
He gives us the answer. He gives us all these things.
And Solomon told her all her questions. There was not anything
hid from the king, which he told her not. I love that not only
does it say he had all the answers, but it said there was not anything
hid from the king, which he told her not. Our Lord answers all
our questions and tells us everything we need to know. He gives us
exactly the answer we need in the exact moment we need it for
the exact time we're in. It says nothing was hid. Now,
one day we'll see things clearly, and we'll get more to that in
a minute, but He will give us the answer and everything we
need. If there's a question that you can't find an answer to in
this book, that if you have a question that you pray about and the Lord
doesn't answer, it's not the right question. We get bogged
down sometimes and it's shameful that we think about all this
stuff. We've heard our pastor talk about these words and different
things. If it's a question that we can't find in this book and
our Lord doesn't answer us, move on. Get back to Him. Focus back
to a question on the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 4. 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 assent by which he went up unto the house of the Lord,
there was no more spirit in her. When she had seen Everyone around
him, when she had seen his court, when she had seen his servants
and she had seen everybody, it says there was no more spirit
in her. She didn't know what to do. She
had no words. She had no action. She had nothing.
It was as if her soul had been removed. She could not think
of anything. When the Lord Jesus Christ answers
our question, when he calls us to him, when he shows us who
he is, when we get a glimpse of the Lord Jesus Christ, it
will take our breath away. We will have no words. We will
have no understanding other than to do what she did. We have to
praise him. We give him glory. Verse six
says, and she said to the king, it was a true report that I heard
in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. She says,
it was true. Everything I'd heard was true
about you. All of it. Verse seven, how be
it? I believe not the words until
I came and mine eyes had seen it. One day, one day, Everyone
will see the glory, the power and the holiness of God. In this
life. We are called to come to him
and to believe on him. To believe from what we've seen
in this book and what we've heard and what he shows us. Because
when we stand before him, it's too late. If we ever stand before
God in our own self, by ourselves, we will be condemned. We must
be in the Lord Jesus Christ. But it says here, I believe not
until I came and mine eyes had seen it. Until the Lord shows
us who he is, we will not believe. I said, we only come because
of Him, we only ask because of Him, we will only see, we will
only believe because He makes us. Lord, I believe, help my
unbelief. Verse 7, how be it, I believed
not the words until I came, and mine eyes had seen it, and behold,
the half was not told me. I had heard so many things. I had heard unbelievable things,
things that I cannot comprehend. I cannot comprehend how How could
the Lord Jesus Christ, why would he save me? Why would he do this?
But seeing it's believing, but not the half was told. If the
half was not told on Solomon, the billionth, the infinitive
isn't told on the Lord Jesus Christ. The things we've heard
as this woman She didn't know what to do. As the disciple who
ascended into the third heaven, when he came back, he said, it's
not lawful to use words. He said, I don't even understand
how to say anything. As humans, we don't have words
in any language that anything could even touch how amazing
it was. what we will see from what we've
heard. What we hear is amazing. And
if we could truly understand this book and understand him,
it would be even more so. But in our little understanding,
it will be infinitely greater when we see his glory, his purpose,
and what he's done. When the queen had seen Solomon's
wisdom, the house he had built, his riches, his piety, she was
quite astonished. like one who had no power to
speak because what she saw and heard had affected her so much.
And she said to him, what they told me, the half was not told
to me. At the end of verse seven, and
behold, the half was not told me, thy wisdom and prosperity
exceedeth the fame which I had heard. We will see one day that
every single thing that has happened, every single thing that he purposed
was all just perfect. Not only was it better than we
expected, it could not have been done better. Every single thing
that happens to a child of God, it couldn't have happened in
a better way. It couldn't. It's the exact thing
he purposed in the exact manner and for the exact purpose. All
of it is perfect. So much better than we could
ever imagine. Though we heard of Christ's love,
we heard of His mercy, His grace, and His glory, it was not until
we came to Him in faith, by His calling, that we saw and experienced
Christ, the wisdom and power and glory of God. We stand amazed
in the presence of our Lord, realizing that it is impossible
to put into words the riches of His grace and glory. Look
at verse 8. Happy are thy men, happy are
these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and
that hear thy wisdom. She said, every single person
around you, everyone in your house, everyone that comes in
contact with you, all of them seem to be the happiest people
in the world. They seem like they wouldn't
trade their standing as a servant for this king for anything else.
Anyone who sees Christ, anyone who sees Him and who He is in
His holiness, would not trade that for anything. Now apart
from Christ, we would trade everything for anything. It's shameful what
we would do. But we can't. In the same way
that we can't save ourselves, we can't unsave ourselves. We
can't do anything. But every single person that
is in Christ, will be the happiest person alive. They will be, and
this is something that is always a struggle to even say. Every person, the street sweeper
in glory, we hear stories about all these things, about someone,
you take any job you could get, any person that the Lord has
saved is just the happiest person ever. All right, finally, let's
look at verse nine. Blessed be the Lord thy God,
which delighteth 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. The queen blessed the Lord God,
who delighted in Solomon, who put him on the throne of Israel
to do judgment and mercy. The Lord loved Israel forever,
and he made Solomon their king. He gave them this king. The Father
loves the Son and has given all things into the Lord's hands.
The Father delights in the Son and gave Him preeminence. The
Father made Christ the surety. He made him the prophet, the
priest, and the king of spiritual Israel because he loved them
all in Christ with an everlasting love. Christ came to the earth
to honor God's law, to satisfy God's justice, to do judgment
and justice that God may be just and justifier of all who believe. Turn to Romans chapter three,
and I'll be done. Romans 3, look at verse 25. Whom God has set forth, the Lord
Jesus Christ, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through
faith in His blood to declare His righteousness for the remission
of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. To declare,
I say, at this time His righteousness that he might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus Christ. All these things
we've heard, all these things I've said, if you even have a
simple understanding of what these mean, a phrase that always
comes to my head when I hear all these things that the Lord
has done for his people, it just sounds too good to be true. I
know that's what the Queen of Sheba thought. He heard those
things and she made that journey, thinking to herself, there's
no way this is all true. There's no way the things I've
heard of him can all be true. Thankfully, these things are
too good, but they're all true. Everything that is in this book
that the Lord Jesus Christ has done, they're all true. And they're
all done for those that are in him. It says, come unto me and
be ye saved. Just come. He has to draw us,
but all I can say is come to the Lord Jesus Christ. He'll
give you the question. He'll give you the answers. He'll
do it all. Just come to Him. We've heard
great things, and as this queen did, we need to have this reaction. When someone says so many of
these things that I've just read, so many of these things I've
said about the person and work of Christ, the glory of Christ,
the wisdom of Christ, His death and resurrection, His sacrifice,
The mercy, His mercy endureth forever. His grace is sufficient.
All those things. We need to have the same response
as her. Pack it up. Let's take everything
we've got and let's go to Him. That's all that matters. He has
everything. Every single person that is in
Christ, that is with Christ, that is in glory with Christ,
all of them are the happiest people in the world. They have
everything in Him. So again, come to Him. Drop everything. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ
and He'll give you peace. All right.