Matthew 12, we have already looked
at the verses in this chapter, but I mentioned to you that we
would possibly come back and look at certain portions of this
chapter, and that's what I'd like to do this morning. Verse
42 will be our text. Matthew 12, verse 42. It says, 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. A greater than Solomon Solomon is a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ. In the scripture, Solomon is
a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this Queen of the South,
we just heard our brother read that account, the Queen of Sheba,
she is a picture of a sinner who comes to the Lord Jesus Christ. I love how it says that she came
from the uttermost part of the earth. It doesn't say she came
from Sheba. She was the queen of Sheba. But it doesn't say
she came from Sheba. It says the uttermost part of
the earth. Do you know where Hebrews 7 says our Lord is able
to save to? The uttermost part of the earth. the uttermost. What I want to
do is I want to look at her story, and I want to see this comparison. I want us to give a spiritual
picture right along with the physical picture. As we go through
it, let's immediately see Christ and the relationship of one of
His own sinners coming to Him. right along with Solomon and
the Queen of Sheba. The message of today's message
is, come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ. While people are looking at everything,
here's the message of today's message. Look to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Cast your all on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Worship the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's see this here in the story
of this queen coming to Solomon. That story's in 1 Kings 10, but
I want us to see some things about Solomon first. Go with
me to 1 Kings 3. Verse Kings 3. Verse 5 says, in Gibeon, the Lord appeared
to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, ask what I shall
give thee. The Lord said, ask of me what
you would like for me to give to you. Look at verse 9. Solomon said, Give therefore
thy servant an understanding heart, 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 asked riches for
thyself, nor hath asked the life of thine enemies, but hath asked
for thyself understanding to discern judgment. Behold, I have
done according to thy words. Lo, I have given thee a wise
and an 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 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." That's
a picture of Christ, isn't it? The Lord said, none will compare
to you. No one will compare to you. You
will be the greatest in every way, shape and form. The wisest,
the most approachable, And if you're a sinner in need
of mercy, that's a blessing. The most understanding, the richest, the most honorable, that's Christ.
That's the Lord Jesus Christ. Solomon is a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Look at chapter four, verse 29. And God gave Solomon wisdom and
understanding exceeding much and largeness of heart. He gave him a giving heart, a
generous heart, largeness of heart, even as the sand that
is on the seashore. And Solomon's wisdom excelled
the wisdom of all the children of the East country, all the
wisdom of Egypt for he was wiser than all men." What this tells
us is Solomon was in need of nothing. He needed no man's counsel. He needed no man's riches. He was the counselor. He was
the provider. He was the king. And that's Jesus
Christ. But in a way that is infinitely
greater than Solomon. Infinitely greater. And every
sinner that comes to Jesus Christ is going to see that to be the
case. It's not what I'm going to do
for him. It's what he's gonna do for me.
Every sinner who truly sees Christ is going to see that. It's not
what I'm going to do for him. It's what he's going to do for
me. And that's what the Queen of Sheba realized when she came
to Solomon. Turn with me now 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. And she came to Jerusalem with
a very great train, with camels that bear spices, and very much
gold, and precious stones. She heard of him, she heard of
his greatness, And she came to him bringing things that I'm
sure she thought he needed. May God teach us something today. She came to him bringing things
that I'm sure she thought he needed. things that she thought would
be pleasing to Him. That's what men and women naturally
do with the Lord Jesus Christ. Man comes bringing offerings
of his own. These are the things I have attained.
These are the things that I have. He comes bringing those things,
thinking God needs them. A sinner who truly comes to Christ
is going to soon realize the same thing the Queen of Sheba
realized. Look with me at verse 21, 1 Kings 10 verse 21. It says,
now just listen to this. It says, all King Solomon's drinking
vessels were of gold. And all the vessels of the house
of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were of silver. It was nothing accounted of in
the days of Solomon. For the king had at sea a navy
of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram. Once in three years came
the navy of Tarshish bringing gold and silver, ivory and apes
and peacocks. So King Solomon exceeded all
the kings of the earth for riches and wisdom. All of them. Look at verse 27. I love this.
It says, and the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones. The silver was just piled up
everywhere. Like rocks is piles of silver. And this queen of
Sheba brought her salt and pepper. You know, she had her spices.
had some things that she thought, you know, let's make this savory
for him. Let's bring something that will
be savory to him. And it says in verse 2, she brought
much gold, and here's the thing about it, I'm sure to her it
was much gold, but it wasn't to Solomon. And she immediately realized
that. 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 ascent by which he went up unto the house of the Lord,
there was no more spirit in her, And she said to the king, it
was a true report that I heard in my own land of thy acts and
of thy wisdom. 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." When a sinner comes to the Lord Jesus Christ
and truly sees Christ, ask the Lord seriously. Ask the Lord
to open your eyes to see Christ today. If you've seen Him before,
say, Lord, would you let me see you again? If you don't know
if you've ever seen Him before, ask, Lord, would you reveal yourself
to me today? Ask Him that. Ask Him that. Because
when a sinner truly, truly sees Christ, I'll tell you what happens.
It slays the sinner. It slays that sinner. She brought all her things, but
when she saw Solomon, she said, I'd heard of it, but she said,
I didn't believe it until I came and saw it with my own two eyes.
And she said, the half wasn't told me. There was no more spirit in her.
It slayed her. This is the honest truth. If
a sinner has never been slain, that sinner has never seen Christ.
That's just the honest truth. If a sinner, if somebody says,
what does that mean? Ask the Lord. Lord, what does
that mean? If a sinner has never been slain,
that sinner has never seen Christ. A sinner who truly sees Christ,
it will slay that sinner. it'll slay that sinner. That
haughty, and you don't even know you have it until God reveals
it to me, to us, but that haughty, arrogant, self-righteous, self-sufficient
sinner who thinks he or she has something to offer God, that
will go away. That will go away. Those who
think they have something worthy, Those who think they have something
of value, now he'll be pleased with this. This will be valuable
in his eyes. That will go away. When Moses saw him, he hit the
dust. The scripture says Moses hid
his face. He was afraid to look upon God. And this was Moses. Do you see
that much in religion anymore? Do you see people just cowering
down, afraid to look upon God? Really? When Isaiah, or let me back up,
Joshua, when Joshua saw him, Joshua, the man who led God's
people into the Promised Land, when Joshua saw him, he hit the
dust. A man named Manoah, when Manoah
saw him, he and his wife, Manoah hit the dust. He said, we've
seen God's holiness and he's going to kill us. Isaiah, if you read the book
of Isaiah, those first five chapters, he spends all of his time saying,
woe unto you, woe unto you, woe unto you. But the moment he saw
Christ, he cried, woe unto me. I am undone. I'm the man of unclean
lips." The first time Peter saw him, he hit the dust. And this is what Peter cried.
He said, Lord, I'm a sinful man. The first time Paul saw him on
the road to Damascus, he hit the dust. It knocked him off
of his horse into the dust. When John saw him on the Isle
of Patmos, he hit the dust. He fell at his feet as a dead
man. Every sinner who truly sees Christ
will do the same thing. Every sinner. Somebody says,
well, I don't want to do that. Well, thank God it's not up to
us. If God says, look at me, we will and we will. Every center will be emptied.
Every center will be broken. We just looked at the parable
of the sower, ground made ready. That will happen so that every
sinner can be filled with the wisdom of the Word of Truth,
nourished back up through the provision of this all-sufficient
King. That's what happens when salvation
comes to sinners. They see the all-sufficient Christ. That's what happens. They hear of the all-sufficient
Christ, and they are filled with the knowledge of the all-sufficient
Christ, the King who needs nothing and provides everything." If
we want to get the comparison here, here's the summary. This
King needs nothing and provides everything. Look again at chapter 4, 1 Kings
4, look at verse 22. 1 Kings 4 verse 22, it says, And Solomon's provisions for
one day was thirty measures of fine flour and threescore measures
of meal, ten fat oxen and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and
in hundred sheep beside hearts and roebucks and fallow deer
and fatted fowl." He made this table and said, anybody who wants
to come and dine, come and dine. Verse 24 says, for he had dominion
over all the region on this side of the river from Tispa even
to Asa, over all the kings on this side of the river and he
had peace on all sides round about him. And Judah and Israel
dwelt safely, every man, under his vine and under his fig tree,
from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon." I love
this. Verse 26 says, "...and Solomon
had 40,000 stalls of horses for his chariots and 12,000 horsemen. And those officers provided victual
for King Solomon and for all that came unto King Solomon's
table, every man in his month." They lacked nothing. They lacked
nothing. That's what men and women see
when they come to Christ. That's what men and women see
when salvation comes. This Queen of Sheba perfectly
pictures that. Go back to 1 Kings 10. Verse 1 says, And when the queen
of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, heard of the fame of
Solomon, and that's how it starts. When the work of salvation is
first made known to a sinner, it starts with that sinner hearing
that it's all about Christ. It's all about Christ. The fame
of Christ. The fame of Christ. All attention
on Him. All eyes on Him. He's our object. He's our all. Verse 1 says, When
the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the
name of the Lord. Now this is important. When God's people start to really
hear the truth concerning Christ, what they hear is, this is what
they start to get a hold of, this is what they start to really
understand, the truth concerning His name. What is His name? What is the truth concerning
His name? Matthew 1.21 says, Call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people
from their sins. Job said, I heard of you with
the hearing of my ears, but he said, now my eyes see you. What
did he see? He saw the Savior of sinners. And he said, I abhor myself. You're my only hope. You're the
Savior of sinners. I'm not. He is. Only He is. If a sinner ever
sees Christ, he will not see a cooperative Savior. He'll see the Savior. If he ever sees Christ. He won't
see someone who is trying to make salvation possible. He will
see the Savior. Based on what He sees, He will
not say, I need to help Him save me. Not if He truly sees Christ
in all of His greatness, in all of His riches, in power, in wisdom,
in might. He will not say, He needs me.
He needs me to help him. He won't say that. He'll say,
that's the only Savior that there is. There's no other name given among
men whereby we must be saved. And the reason is because every
other name given among men is just a sinful man. Just a sinful
man before God. I'm a sinner before God. That's
all that I am. I'm a sinner before God. That's
what we all are. We are sinners before God. A
lot of people don't know that. A lot of people haven't heard
that. That's what we are. We're sinners before God. And
every time a sinner sees the truth of God and sees His holiness
and sees this Holy Judge, with that, the sinner will see the
truth of himself. And he will see his sin against
this God and the judgment that must come to him. He'll see the
truth of God's law. He'll see the truth of God's
justice. And every time It will produce hard questions within
that sinner. Every time. Right here in 1 Kings
10, the end of verse 1 says, When the queen of Sheba heard
of the fame of Solomon, she came to him with hard questions. Every
sinner does. Hard questions. Questions like
this. How can a sinner like me be just with God. That means how can a sinner like
me be justified before God? That means how can a sinner like
me be seen in God's eyes as being good and right and acceptable?
How is that possible? If God must punish sin, how can
God be holy and right and justified in forgiving me and setting me
free? How? If God knows everything, if He
knows the end from the beginning, if nothing is hid from Him, how
can He remember my sins no more? How? This is the gospel. Verse 1 right
here says, 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. Now look at verse 3. And Solomon
told her all her questions. There was not anything hid from
the king which he told her not. Solomon told her. Solomon revealed
to her. He was the revelation. He was
the revealer and he was the revelation. He had the answer. He was the
answer. That's what a sinner will find
who comes to the Lord Jesus Christ. He has the answer. He is the
answer. How can a sinner be justified
before God? How? Romans 3.24 says, freely. That's how. Freely, by His grace, through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. How? That's how. What does that mean? That means
God the Father set him forth to be a bloody victim sacrifice. To pay the debt of the sin of
his people, to put that sin away forever. And it's gone. It's gone. How can God remember
my sin no more? Because it's not there. In that
blood, it's gone. It's gone. That's how he can
be holy and right and justified in saying, you're free to go. A sinner who says, how, how? The moment he sees Christ, he'll
say, oh, that's how. Oh, that's how. He is how. He's the answer. He's the remedy. He's the redeemer. He's my salvation. He's my salvation. It's not me,
it's Christ. And I'm done, so I want to emphasize
this. It's not me, it's Christ. And
it's not you, it's Christ. And it's not morality, it's Christ. But I'm so immoral. Well, it's
not morality, it's Christ. And it's not the law, but I break
the law all the time. Well, it's not the law, it's
Christ. It's Christ, it's Christ. Salvation is of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Let's stop looking to the flesh
and start looking to Christ. Let's stop coming to the flesh
and start coming to Christ. The Queen of Sheba did. And in
this type, in this picture, God gave her eyes to see and she
saw. And this is what she said in
closing, verse 4, When the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's
wisdom, and the house that he had built, and the meat of his
table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance
of his ministers, and their apparel, 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 the
king to do judgment and justice. Infinitely greater can be said
about the greater than Solomon. Because God loved his people,
he made Christ to be their king. Christ to be their wisdom, Christ
to be their righteousness, Christ to be their sanctification, Christ
to be their redemption. Christ is our provider. Christ
is our protector. Christ is our Savior. He is our
Savior. And to that, all of God's people
cry, all hail the King. All hail the King, the King of
Kings, the Lord Jesus Christ. Come to Him. Look to Him. Bow to him, worship him.