If you would open back to First
Kings chapter 10. First Kings chapter 10. This story of the Queen of Sheba
going to see Solomon is a familiar one. I remember hearing it as
a child, and I remember thinking that it was a pretty simple story
of a rich and powerful queen who was going to see a rich and
powerful king to see who might be the richest and the most powerful.
I thought, what could be the reason why she would travel so
far to see? If we look in verse one, of this
chapter, it says, and when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame
of Solomon. This story is a picture of the
sinner going to see the Lord. The queen of Sheba represents
us in her journey to see Solomon. She had heard many things about
him. This picture is clear because
in Matthew 12, it says, The Queen of the South shall rise up in
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. The Queen heard the fame of Solomon. This journey that she made was
one that is kind of estimated on where she came from. But it
is at least a 1500 mile journey. that would have taken her at
the minimum months. And at this timeframe, this journey
would have been perilous. This was not the same way that
we think of things, that I've traveled this journey of a thousand
miles, and I was at home sleeping in my bed in the morning, and
at lunchtime, I was here in your city. This would have been a
perilous journey, a dangerous journey. Why? Why would she make
such a journey? It says how she is powerful.
It says she is rich. with a description of what she
brought with her. She had everything she needed. Why would she risk
her life to go see this man? Why would she do it? Well, it
said she heard the fame of Solomon. There is a very important phrase
in this chapter that changed my whole perspective on why she
went. Look at verse one. And when the queen of Sheba heard
of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord. She had heard something about
him, and she realized it could not be something that he had
himself. She realized there was something
special. Someone had given him something.
He was not a normal king. In this time frame, there would
have been a lot of kings that were powerful and rich. It was
a time of whoever was in charge took everything they wanted from
anybody they could. but she heard something that
was different about him. What have we heard about the
Lord Jesus Christ? What have we heard about him?
In this picture, and what we're gonna talk about for the next
few minutes, the sinner coming to Christ. Why would we do that? Why did she make this journey?
It's the same reason. She heard there was something
unique. She heard that this man knew
things that she didn't know. She heard that this king, that
he had things she didn't have. And she heard that he did things
she couldn't do. She heard all those things and
she said, I've got to go see about this. She had to go figure
it out. And from this lesson, we must,
the point of this whole message, we must come to the king. We have to come to him. He has
what we don't have. He knows what we don't know,
and he can do things that we cannot do. The queen heard of
his fame. She had heard of his wealth,
of his glory, of his wisdom. So let me take a few minutes.
What have we heard about the Lord Jesus Christ? In today's
information age, news travels so fast. Anytime you look on
your phone, on the TV, anywhere, there's religious stuff everywhere.
At this time, News did not travel fast. Someone had to take the
news. This woman who heard about Solomon
from thousands of miles away, someone had to deliver that message. Think about how important something
had to be or how amazing something had to be to travel thousands
of miles. I don't know if she heard this
from a messenger. I'm not sure if she heard this from an emissary,
from a stranger. I'm not sure where she heard
this. But Solomon was so great. that anyone who met him couldn't
stop talking about it. Have you guys ever been in a
situation where you heard something? Now most of the time this is
going to be very trivial for us, but you've heard some piece
of information that you don't think other people know and you
can't wait to tell them about it. Oftentimes it's gossip, but
we hear a piece of information. It doesn't come from us, it doesn't
affect us, but we want to tell everyone about it. That's the
way everyone was when it came to Solomon. And that's the way
everyone is who understands and sees who the Lord Jesus Christ
is. It's something that you've never heard before. It's unique,
it's different. And if the Lord teaches us, we
realize how much we need it, how we're so dependent upon it.
So for just a couple minutes, let's look at a couple scriptures
to see what we have heard or what we need to hear about the
Lord Jesus Christ. If we're gonna come to him, As
this queen came to Solomon, we need to have a reason. And boy,
are there so many reasons. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
seven. Turn to Isaiah chapter seven. In Isaiah seven, look at verse
14. Therefore, the Lord himself shall
give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. Even the birth
of the Lord Jesus Christ is a miracle. Even that is amazing. Have we
not heard of the person and work of Christ? If you turn a page
over, look at Isaiah 9, verse 6. 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.
These are just a few of his names. He's so amazing that when you
see him, when you hear about him, you can't help but say he's
wonderful. He's amazing. Turn with me to
Hebrews chapter one. Hebrews chapter one. while you're turning, in Galatians
it says this, when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth
his son made of a woman, made under law to redeem them that
were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. To think that God became a man. I don't even understand that.
I don't know how that's possible. God became a man. And what, because
we had to have it. We're sinners. We can't do anything
ourselves. We had to have a substitute.
We had to have someone else, and the only one who could do
that is God. Look here with me 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 anointed 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. In these verses it says that
he made the world. Is it not worth going to see
someone who made the world? It says that he purged our sins. If you have any idea who you
are, if the Lord has been gracious enough to give you a glimpse
of who you are and understand what a sinner we are, to hear
that someone can purge sins? There's someone who can pay for
my sins? They can take care of my death
sentence that I've got because I'm a sinner? Someone can purge
that for me? We hear about the person and
work of Christ. We hear about the deity, the glory of Christ.
Have we heard about the wisdom and power of Christ? Turn with
me to one more scripture in 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 15. First Corinthians and 15. There are so many of these that
it's impossible to to break this down in just a few, but let me
read one in Colossians real quick for you. 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. Everything. Everything was 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
of 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." Everything. If you want to be full, it's
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look here in 1 Corinthians 15,
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 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 has 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." There are so many things that
are written in this book about the Lord Jesus Christ that are
glorious and wonderful, but to a sinner, to see this, to see
that he became a man to die for the sins of his people, that's
the greatest thing we could ever hear. For someone who is condemned
to death, guilty, I mean, we're guilty. We can't even make an
argument for ourselves. To hear that there is a pardon,
there is a way that we can get out. To hear that, shouldn't
we go to the end of the world to find that? I want us to know
we have to come to the king. We have so many reasons to come
to him. But first and foremost, he died
for sinners. He is the place. He's the only
hope of salvation. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. We
must come to him. And there's so many more. We
could come to him for his mercy, his mercy that endureth forever,
for his grace. His grace is sufficient for so
many things. But I just want us to, one more
time to say this. There are so many reasons why
we must come to the Lord. Now, there's a caveat to this. We can't come to him unless he
draws us. It's very clear in the scriptures
that we must come to him. Come unto me and be ye saved,
all the hands of the earth. It's so clear here we have to
come to him, but it is also clear here that we cannot come to him
apart from him bringing us. Not only do we not want to come,
we don't know where to go, we don't know who to go see, we
don't even know there is someone worth going to see until he opens
the eyes of the sinner and says, come. That's when we come. But
at the same time, I'm not going to repeat that because everything
I want to say, when I say come to the Lord, I'm not preaching
works for you all. I'm not telling you that you need to do something.
You've got to do this to be saved. No, I'm saying the Lord has given
a command into all those that he tells come unto me. We will
come, but he'll make us want to come. He'll make us do that.
Turn back to the text in First Kings chapter 10. Let's take a couple minutes,
go through these verses. I'm just gonna make a few comments
so that we can see what happens when we come to the king. What
happens when we come? Verse one, it says, and when
the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the
name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions. She came to prove him. She wanted
to see if it was true. Have we ever heard of a rumor
or heard of something great, and when we go to see it, it's
a big letdown. Whoever been told so-and-so is
something or whatever, if you go to this place, you're gonna
think it's the greatest place in the world, and you get there and you think
to yourself, really? That's what they said was great? Why did
I even come? She wanted to prove him. She
wanted to prove that what had been told about him was true.
And how did she do this? She did this with hard questions,
hard questions. So many of the old writers, described
what questions they thought it might be. And there's a great
list of questions I've seen from so many of these writers. But
I had to ask myself, what's a hard question? Well, if I said to
you all, what is two plus two? I see some younger ones in here
that would immediately be like, I know that. That's four, that's
an easy question. Well, if I go to my three-year-old
and say, what's two plus two? She's going to look at me and
think, what are you even talking about? That's a hard question
for her. So what makes a question hard?
It's if we know the answer. If I don't know the answer, it's
a hard question. So the questions that we have
asked the Lord are the ones we don't know the answer to. And
in fact, we're dependent upon him to give us the questions.
We don't even know what to ask, but he gives us a question and
we ask him. There are so many things in this
book that we don't understand. I have heard, I remember hearing
my grandfather, who I trusted in everything he said, and he
spent, I don't know how many decades looking through the scriptures
and preaching. And on countless occasions, I heard him say things
like, I don't know what that means, or I don't truly understand
this. We have to ask questions of him
because we're just not smart enough to figure it out ourselves.
We have to hope he gives us the question, and then he gives us
the answer. And once he gives us the answer, you know what
he's gonna do? He's gonna give us the next question. And then we
just keep asking questions and we keep learning. That's the
only way we know. We're totally dependent upon him to answer
our questions. Look at verse two. 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. This may seem very obvious, but
it says she came to Jerusalem. She went to where he was. If
we want to have our questions answered, we must go to the places
where he answers questions. First and foremost, we must go
to his word. We must look in his word for
the answers. You know, we must come to places where the word's
being preached. How can we expect to learn anything?
Have we not studied? Have we not asked questions?
And at the end of verse two, it says, when she was come to
him, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. She
opened up everything. She opened up her heart and she
asked him. There was nothing that she kept.
Our Lord knows everything. He knows our thoughts. He knows
everything. We open our hearts to him. We ask him. We beg of
him. Please, please help us. Look
in verse three. And Solomon told her all her
questions. Solomon told her all her questions.
If we look in the margin, it says told her all her words.
Solomon already knew what she was going to ask. He already
knew what she wanted to know. Our Lord knows everything. He
knows our hearts, but yet we still ask. We still ask. And there was not anything hid
from the king. There was nothing that the king
didn't know, which he told her not. It is so glorious that we
have a king, that we have a Lord that knows all the answers, that
we are welcome to come to, that draws us to him, that knows our
questions, knows the answer, but how about this? There was
nothing that he did not tell her. He gave her the answers. He answered all her questions.
If we come to the Lord with a question, he will answer it. Now, does
that mean that we'll understand everything in the word? That
we'll have this great understanding? No, in this flesh we're sinners.
We see through a glass dimly. We're veiled in something, and
that's for our good. You know, I think about the first
thing that happens to a child of God is the Lord shows us who
we are. He opens a sinner's eyes that they're a sinner. And thankfully,
he just gives us this little glimpse of what we are. Because
the more we think about our sin, the more we realize how bad we
are, but we don't have even an inkling of an idea If we could
understand the true motivation in our minds, understand the
sins that we've committed, we couldn't live with ourselves.
He withheld nothing from her. He gave her all that she needed
to hear. Our Lord gives us the answer.
He teaches us. Look in verse four. 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, in 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 saw his wisdom, and his house, and everything that he had built,
when she saw it, there was no more spirit in her. She was completely
overwhelmed. When the child of God sees the
Lord, and who he is. When we see him for the first
time, when we see who he is and what he's done, we are completely
overwhelmed. We are completely overcome. Our
spirit is not in us. We have no more spirit. The Lord
Jesus Christ has done great things for his children. Great things
for his children. And when he shows us, we don't
even know how to react to it. It's so great. Look in verse
six. 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. It was a true report what we
were told. What we hear of him, what we
see of him through his word, it is all true. I'm ashamed to
admit that there are times even now when I'm reading the scriptures
or hear something and I think to myself, is that really true?
Did that really happen? The world has such a hard time
with that. The world sees the things that
our Lord did and they try to poke holes in everything. One
day we will see that every single word is true. Everything. Think about this. Think about
how the Pharisees, the religious people, the people who knew more
about religion than anyone in their day, when they were crucifying
the Lord, that they did every single thing that had been said
they would do for hundreds of years previously. They had these
words that said someone would spit on him, someone would put
a crown of thorns on him, somebody would rip his beard out, somebody
would say this, somebody would do this, all of those things,
and you know and they're crucifying him, they would have done anything
to prove that he wasn't God, to prove he wasn't the Savior.
And yet somehow, somehow, they did all the things that were
foretold for hundreds of years that they would do. Think about
that. The people who were most well-equipped to not do something
the Lord said was going to happen, they couldn't stop from doing
it. I don't know if he hid their eyes from it and they didn't
remember. I don't know if they forgot about it. I don't know
if they just, they just didn't know. But every single thing
the Lord says in his word comes to pass in every way, which is
wonderful because it says in this word, come unto me can be
ye saved. If we know everything's true,
then we hear him says that he can save us if we come to him.
Look back here. And she said, it was a true report
that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom.
All of it was true. Verse seven, how be it I believed
not the words. After that little speech I gave
there for one minute and said how everything is true in here.
That phrase, Lord, I believe help my unbelief. It is so true.
I am so fickle and feeble. There are so many things that
that the Lord says. And then I get out in the world
and man, I just I just forget all about it. I just don't, I
don't even, he says, come unto me, and yet I just go everywhere
I can go. Am I the only one who has a problem? A trial comes
up, it works, something will happen, and I'm just distraught.
What in the world am I gonna do? And I think about what I'm gonna
do. I think about what my business partner would do. I think about
what my parents would do. I think about what my wife would do.
I think about what the smartest people in the world, I think
about all these things, and I just can't ever find an answer, and it never
enters my mind. Maybe I should ask the Lord.
Maybe I should ask the creator of the world. Maybe I should
ask the one who says he has the answer. Maybe I should do that.
It's embarrassing. But I believed not the words
when I hear them. And then it says, until I came. I believe not. I didn't believe
the report. I did not believe what I had
heard about you until I came. That's why we have to come. Because
within our flesh, we got to see it. We have to see it. Have you
guys, there are so many stories of human nature about someone
giving a warning. Someone say, you don't do this,
or this is gonna happen. And what do we do? I'm gonna
go see. We walk right into a headlong.
Somebody literally says, somebody's down there doing something crazy
or whatever. And we think to ourselves, well,
I need to go prove that they're right. Until we see it, we don't
believe. That's our nature. But yet, when
the Lord Jesus Christ brings us to Him, when we see Him, when
we get a glimpse, and I mean a glimpse, The first moment that
we see the Lord, we believe in that moment. And there'll be
a moment one day where everyone will stand before judgment. And
the moment anyone sees God, they will know in that moment. That's
how glorious and powerful he is. The moment we see him, we
will truly understand, oh my God. I mean, that's a phrase
that's used in so many just horrible ways. but there'll be a day that
every single person standing before God will be totally overcome. And Lord willing, we will be
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Judgment will not fall upon us
because we will be in the one who did believe. We'll be in
the one who does have righteousness. The Lord Jesus Christ died on
the cross, perfect, and raised from the dead and ascended on
high as our righteousness. It just said that sin came into
the world by man, that he became a man to pay for our sin in the
same way that he took our sin. He was made sin for us, yet we
have his righteousness. What a trade for what he gave
us for what we deserve, that we have him. In verse seven there,
how be it I believe not the words until I came and mine eyes had
seen him. Thankfully, the Lord Jesus Christ
opens the eyes of his people. Otherwise, we'd just be blind
forever. He opens our eyes. And mine eyes had seen it, continue
there in the middle of verse seven, and behold, the half was
not told me. It is such a great thought to
think that what we, you know, if you're here, then you've heard
something about the Lord Jesus Christ. Whether you believe that
or not, I don't know. There were plenty of times that
I was here because I was made to be here for I don't know how
many years. I would rather have done anything.
but I was brought here and I was made to listen and made to hear.
And thankfully one day, one day I heard something. The Lord opened
my ears and I heard it. But behold, the half was not
told me. When the sinner sees God, we
realize, oh my, how much greater he is. And that's gonna happen
again. I just referenced standing before
God. Half is not the right word. I
don't know the right, math equation to say, but infinity times what
we think. When we see the Lord, we will
realize nothing was told of how great you are. He is greater
than anything we can imagine. Behold, the half was not told
me. Thy wisdom and prosperity exceeded the fame which I had
heard. He is so much greater than I
have even heard. No man can utter words to express
how great and how holy our God is. We can say with greater emphasis,
for a greater than Solomon is here. But think about this, blessed
is the man who the Lord chooses. Blessed is the man whose sin
is covered by our God. Blessed are the eyes that see
and the ears that hear. Blessed is the man whose delight
is in the Lord. Blessed are those who know him,
who love him and dwell by faith in him. The only place to find
a blessing The only place to be blessed is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's a phrase that so many
people use with God bless you and people say that so often
and sometimes in the most odd moments, but the only place to
be blessed is in the Lord Jesus Christ. The only way that God
blesses us is by putting us in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the blessing because he's the blessing. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the blessing. Look at verse eight. Happy are
thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually
before thee, and that hear thy wisdom. She said, I don't even
understand how everyone around you is so happy. She was like
these servants who are standing with you. They continually, they
just want to be with you. How is that possible? It's the
same thing with the child of God. We just want to be near
him. I remember as a child hearing,
I don't even know the where I first heard this, but saying I'd rather
be a street sweeper in glory than anything else. And I remember
as a kid thinking to myself, man, I want to sweep streets.
I've got no desire whatsoever to do that job. I think way too
highly of myself to have a job like that. Once we see who God
is in light of who we are, in that contrast, you just want
to be near him. I don't care what job I have.
I don't care if I have a job. I just want to be there. It says
these people, these servants, They continually stood before
him to hear his wisdom. They just wanted to hear him
talk. And in glory, that's all we want. We just want to hear
the words of our Lord for eternity. We will hear him speak. It will
be the greatest thing we've ever heard. Look at verse nine and
we'll close. 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. The queen blessed the Lord God
who delighted in Solomon, who put him on the throne of Israel
and to do judgment and mercy. The Lord loved Israel forever
and made Solomon their king. She recognized this. She recognized
this was the whole reason she came. She realized there was
some special power that had given him all this wisdom and this
power and this glory. So think about this. The father
loves the son. and has given all things in his
hands. The father delights in the son
and gave him preeminence. The father made Christ the surety,
made him the prophet, made him the priest, made him the king
of spiritual Israel because he loved them all in Christ with
an everlasting love. He said, this is my beloved son
in whom I'm well pleased. Christ came to the earth to honor
God's law, to satisfy God's judgment, to do judgment and justice that
God may be just and justifier of all who believe. Let me read
this to you in Romans chapter three. 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. He is the propitiation. He is
the one to declare his righteousness for his sinner. It's him. He
gets all the glory. He did all the work. It's his
grace. When I was in Wheelersburg a
couple of weeks ago, this article was in their bulletin by Joe. And it's so important to know
that his grace, his mercy, all these things that he gives us,
listen to this. Grace is not merely a doctrine,
but an unstoppable force of God. It is never without effect. We
are chosen by grace with the undeniable effect that we are
His. We are redeemed by grace with
the certain effect that we are free. We are called by grace
with the inescapable effect that we shall be with Him forever. The Lord Jesus Christ saves His
people. He does it. Despite our fists
up, despite our yelling back, I will not have this God to reign
over me, despite our desire to not have anything to do with
Him, His grace saves. He did it all. He did everything.
We come to Him because He has what we don't have. He knows
what we don't know. When He opens our eyes, we realize
that He has the truth. The Lord Jesus Christ has the
truth. And we realize that He has the power to save. He has
the answers to our questions. He has the ability to do what
we can, and he does it. How glorious is our God? Not
that he just has the power to do it. I think a lot of people
believe that God is powerful, but his omnipotence, that he
saves his people, that he chose a people worthless as we are,
just reckless sinners who can't do anything good, that he chose
them and he saved them, that he did it all. I remember as
a child, often hearing something on the TV or reading something
in the newspaper back when we read those things. And I remember
running in the other room and saying, Dad, Dad, on the TV,
they just said that we get this for free. And I still remember
to this day, his words looking at me and I repeat these to my
children. They'll come to me and say, so-and-so
said that we can get this if we do this. And he would say
to me, you don't get anything for free. You know, just forget
about it, it doesn't exist. Or he'd say something along the
lines of, if it's too good, if it sounds too good to be true,
it is. This is free. We don't have to do anything.
The Lord Jesus Christ saved his people on his own. He called
us and he makes us to come. I'm gonna say it again. We have
to come to the king, come to the Lord, come to him, beg of
him. but we won't do it unless he
pulls us, unless he draws us, unless he puts us in his bosom.
We're dependent on him. And the other one, that this
is too good. This is too good to be true.
We don't deserve this. We have no claim on salvation.
We have no claim on what he's done for us, but it is true. It is too good, but it's true.
Every word in the scriptures, all of it, all of it is true
about the Lord Jesus Christ dying on the cross in giving us His
righteousness, that we don't have to do anything. His free
grace. There's a reason we use that
term, free grace. Grace is free, but we've got
to put the word free in front of it because we don't understand
free grace. We can't do that. I'm not gracious
to anybody unless there's something that comes back to me in return,
which is not grace, but His free grace. Come to Him. I pray that
the Lord would make us do that. I say that for my own good. I
want Him to make me come to Him. Keep bringing me in. Make me
think to myself what this woman thought at the end. She thought,
everyone that's near you, everyone that is near the king is so happy. They're so, they don't need anything.
They have the king. We don't need to worry about
the material possessions. We don't need to worry about all
these things we want, about success and power. And my pride makes
me want so many things like that. We don't need anything if we're
with the king. If we're next to him, we have
everything. So one more time, come to the king, come to him
and ask him, make me come. All right, hope that's a blessing.