That's good. Who shall their
greatness declare? I'm going to try, by God's grace. Look at Matthew 12 first. Matthew
chapter 12. The Lord speaks of the Queen
of Sheba here. Matthew 12 verse 42. You have
it? Matthew 12, verse 42, the Lord
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, a thousand miles or more, on
camels, to hear the wisdom of Solomon,
and behold, Not greater than Solomon. He's
here. Here. In this place. Where two
or three are gathered. Didn't He say? I am there. Now
go back to our text. 1 Kings 10. Our Lord is the one
that said of the Old Testament, they testify of me. To Him give
all the prophets witness. A whole book of The whole Bible
is to testify or tell the testimony of God concerning His Son. Romans
10 says this is the gospel of God concerning His Son who was
made of the seed of David. That's significant. God calls
His Son the Son of David. That's significant. Now, doubtless,
every great man in Scripture, every prominent figure in Scripture
represents the Lord Jesus Christ. Every one. From A to Z. From Adam to Zerubbabel. If you've never heard the story
of Zerubbabel, Zechariah, he's the one that built the temple.
He's a great picture of Christ. Haven't preached that in years.
He'd ask me with mine. But now God calls his son the
son of David. Who's that? Solomon. David himself
represents Christ greatly, doesn't he? But Solomon even more so. There was never a greater man
than Solomon. Never a wiser man than Solomon.
The greatest man on earth. The most powerful king on earth
before or since. He was the wisest, he was the
richest, and yet our Lord said, I'm greater than Solomon this year.
All-powerful. King of kings. Wisdom personified. Solomon had wisdom, but you know,
he got it from Christ. The Lord is wisdom Himself personified. Now look at chapter 4 with me.
Chapter 4. I hope we won't get stuck here
and there. There's so much in this story
of Solomon. through it, but greater than
Solomon and devoted seven or eight sermons to it. Going all
through 1 Kings. I'd like to do that again. But
chapter 4 says in verse 20, Judah and Israel were many as the sand
which is by the sea and multitude, eating and drinking and making
merry. Oh, what of the kingdom of our Lord? Many. How many? As the sand of the sea. as the
stars of the sky. That was a figure of speech concerning
Solomon. It's not a figure of speech concerning
Christ's people. They are that many. And they
were eating and drinking and making merry in one place, it
says, every man sat under his vine and fig tree. Nobody lacked
for anything in Solomon's kingdom. And you know, there was peace
all the days of Solomon. Forty years. Not one arrow flew. Not one person died There was
no war. And in our Lord's kingdom, someday,
peace for him. Solomon reigned, verse 21, over
all the kingdom from the river and the land of the Philistine
to the border of Egypt. And they brought presents and
served Solomon all the days of his life. What of the Lord Jesus
Christ? He reigns and rules among the
armies of heaven, not from one river to the next, from heaven
to earth. And the earth is the Lord's and
the fullness thereof, and everything and everyone serves the greater
than Solomon, the Lord Jesus Christ. Solomon's table, look
at verse 22 through 25. Solomon's provision for one day
was thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore measures of meal,
ten fat oxen, twenty oxen out of the pasture, a hundred sheep
besides harts and roebucks and fallow deer and fatted fowl.
He had dominion over all the regions on the side of the river,
from Tipsha even to Asa. Over all the kings on this side
of the river 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 all the days of summer." Oh my, what of our Lord, His
great provisions for His people. It is said that one whale swallows
20,000 tons of fish a day. That's just one fish. How much
does our Lord, how much the provisions of our Lord for everything receives
their food from the hands of our Lord. Well, in chapter 10, you read
with me of all the riches of Solomon. Well, as much as we're
able to imagine those riches. But oh, we just sang, the unsearchable
riches of Christ. Those riches have been written
of from Genesis to Revelation. All the riches of Christ. Not all of them. Scripture said
if everything he did and said was written, the world couldn't
contain the book. But we have a wealth of the riches, both
of the wisdom and the power and the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. A wealth. But the half has not
been done. And someday it will. Someday
it will. Look at verse 14 in chapter 10.
Verse 14, it says that the weight of gold that came to Solomon
one year was 603 score and six talents of gold. That's 666 talents
of gold per year. One talent, 75 pounds. At today's
gold standard, that would be about a billion dollars worth
of gold in a day when a loaf of bread might have been a penny.
Fabulous wealth. Well, doesn't the Scripture say,
all the gold and the silver in the minds of our Lord? And people
say, God needs your money. We've got to have a fundraiser. Everybody brought everything
to Solomon. They brought everything. The earth is the Lord, Psalm
24, and the fullness thereof. The world and they that dwell
therein. He just has to give the command.
It's all brought to him, and he meets those needs. We've seen
that happen. We've seen our needs met. We've seen things arise
that we didn't know how we were going to pay for it. We don't have much to see today.
Everybody in Solomon's kingdom, nobody lacked anything. It sounds
like everybody had everything they needed. They did. Why was
his table so big? Why was there so much food for
one day? Well, he had a lot of servant, but the Scripture says
he had largeness of heart. It says the Lord gave him largeness
of heart, a heart so magnanimous or so merciful and gracious and
generous that anybody that wanted to eat with the king could do
so. Anybody! The poorest. The unknown, the nobodies, the
street people. You want to eat with the king?
Come on. Does that remind you of anybody greater than Solomon? The chief of sinners can come
sit at his table. And you know, we look at this
and I don't want us to think about Solomon at all. It's hard
not to be amazed by and impressed with Solomon's riches, but don't
be. Don't be. With riches like that, that's
not to impress us, but it's to tell us something of the riches
of Christ. Every single thing, if we had
time, we could look at all these things as some type of Christ. But material riches are vain
and deceitful, Scripture says. Our Lord didn't have any of that
when He was here on the earth. Oh, the unsearchable riches of
Christ. Riches that are true riches,
spiritual riches, true and lasting riches. Here's wisdom. Here's
wisdom. And our Lord is the One that
said this, and the One that had Solomon write this. Listen, here's
wisdom. There is He that maketh Himself
rich, yet hath nothing. Because everything in this world,
the riches of this world, are deceitful. They will not give
you what you think you're going to get from them. And they have
wings, you can't keep them. You come into this world poor,
as far as material riches go, and you're going to leave it
poor. It's certain you can't take it with you. That's not
riches. Scripture talks about durable
riches. Lasting riches. Listen to this.
Proverbs 8. Our Lord said this of Himself.
He is the subject of the Proverbs. Proverbs 8, it says this. He
says, riches and honor are with Me. Durable riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold,
yea, than fine gold. My revenue than choice silver. I lead in the way of righteousness
in the midst of judgment, paths of judgment. I cause those that
love Me to inherit substance. I'll fill their treasures. In Him are hid all the... treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. There is he that maketh himself
rich, yet hath nothing. And then it says, there is he
that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches. Who's that? He, though he was rich, yet became
poor, that we might through his poverty might be made rich. And
yet he said, here's riches, and blessed are the poor. Rich in peace. People, you know, gathered things
and places that they consider refuges so that they might have
peace and safety. Horses obeying things for safety.
The Lord is our refuge. Joy. Our Lord was rich in peace
and joy. He had nothing but a happy man. Constant joy, except where He
bore our griefs and sorrows. But He joyed in His Lord and
His God, didn't He? People are trying to find happiness.
They can't find it. Why? They don't love the Lord. Love, He was rich in love. People
want to be loved. It's good to be loved, isn't
it? Our Lord said, I love them that
love Me. If you don't love the Lord, you won't find true love. Mercy? He was rich in mercy.
Rich in mercy. Wouldn't you like to be like
Him? Goodness, wisdom, righteousness, holiness, fullness. All the fullness
of God is in the Lord Jesus Christ. He needed nothing. Now, that's
rich. And that's just a few of them. We need to go and learn
what that means. Alright, in our text, let's look
at this story. Look at the throne. He gave us
a picture of Solomon's throne. He said there were lines all
around his throne. Well, let me tell you something. There's
a throne in glory. John said, I beheld and looked
and there was a throne. And he said, you know, there
weren't lines around the throne. There was a line sitting on the
throne. That's the line of the tribe of Judah. And our Lord condemned this generation,
didn't He? This generation is the last since
the Lord came. It's it. This is it. That mankind
won't come to seek the Lord, who is wisdom itself. How few
will walk across the street to hear a man speak of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's why the Lord said the
Queen of Sheba will rise up into judgment someday. She'll rise
up into judgment as all the peoples of the world are gathered before
the Lord at His judgment seat. And the Lord will say to her,
Sheba, what do you have to say? And she'll say, I traveled a
great distance to see a man, to see the glory and honor and
riches of Solomon, to hear him speak, to hear his wisdom. And he told me of a greater than
he. Solomon told me of the name of
the Lord, who gave him all these things. And there he sits, and as she
may say, and there he is. And you had no interest in him.
Any wonder that the Lord is going to cast you out. But King Solomon, the Queen of
Sheba heard in verse 1 of the fame of Solomon, notice it says
concerning the name of the Lord. Did you catch that? I think I
caught that for the first time. It wasn't just his fame, but
he was famous because he knew the Lord. And his wisdom had
to do with the Lord. Oh, he spoke of trees and this
and that and the other. He spoke of all things. Read
the Proverbs. What are they concerning? The
Lord. He wrote 3,000 Proverbs and 1,500
Psalms. And I bet you every single one
of them are about the Lord. Everything else is vanity. Didn't
he say that? He's the one who said that. So she came to hear
Solomon and heard of his fame concerning the name of the Lord.
This man knows the Lord. And she came to prove him with
hard questions. You know, many skeptics and unbelievers,
self-conceited wise men, self-proclaimed wise men and women, come and
sit in judgment of God's Word. I've had several come here and
come to me and sit in my study and want to pose hard questions. And I quickly found out that
they didn't know anything. And that's what Solomon found out
about her. And I wish I had his largeness of heart, I'm not quite as patient, but
he was very patient with her, but she came to prove him with
hard questions. Hard questions. Hard questions. What hard questions do you reckon
she asked him? Was anything too hard for the
Lord? I have found in most religious
people that they don't know the questions asked. She came, verse
2, she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, a procession,
camels that bear spices and very much gold. As I said, she thought
she was bringing. She came bringing great riches
to Solomon. And this is what I say, that
religion is so bad that they don't know the Lord, they wouldn't
say things like that. God needs your money. God wants your this
and that. He can't do anything without
you. Our Lord is the one that said that, didn't He? I think
Psalm 50, He said, If I were hungry, I wouldn't ask you. Cattle on a thousand hills. All the gold and silver. She
came bringing Him great riches. How many come thinking that this
little church can use me and mine? She's going to go away with more
than she came with. She's going to go away with more
than she brought. She's going to go away thinking
she was rich. She's going to go away thinking,
I'm poor, compared to the riches of Solomon.
And all who see Christ, all who see the Lord Jesus Christ, go
away thinking, I am nothing, I have nothing. I have nothing
to offer Him. Nothing to give Him. Nothing
that He needs. But everything He has, I need. And those that go away, those
that truly get an audience with the Lord Jesus Christ, they will
go away rich in faith. If you have Christ, you have
it all. If you have Him, you have it all. If you've seen Him,
you've seen it all. And after that, I don't believe
Sheba wanted to go anywhere else after she'd been to see Solomon.
I think she'd seen all she needed to see, heard all she needed
to hear. And that's the way it is when
people finally hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
true Christ. Verse 2 says she communed with Him of all that
was in her heart. She communed with Him. Psalm 62 says this, you people
pour out your heart unto the Lord before the Lord. Pour out
your heart. Do we come here to pour out our
hearts unto the Lord if we've come to prove Him? I hope we
come here to pour out our heart, not to prove the preacher. Pour out our hearts unto the
Lord. If we do, you know what will happen? Verse 3, Solomon
told her. He told her everything. He revealed
everything to her. He told her everything. He answered
all her hard questions. And he posed some even harder
questions to her. The answer. He told her the answer. I don't
believe she knew the way. I don't believe she knew the
truth. I don't believe she had life. But she went away knowing
the way, the truth, and the life. And all who come seeking the
Lord and seeking true wisdom from above, they'll find it.
And what they'll find is that they'll go away saying, I didn't
know the answer. I didn't even know the right
question. And they learn of Him. They learn of Him that He's made
foolish the wisdom of this world. And the things I thought were
wise are foolish. And the things I thought were
foolish are wise. That's what you'll find. Verse
3, it says, Not a thing, there was not anything hid from the
King which He told her not. Hebrews 4. Go over there with
me. Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews chapter
4. speaks of the Word of our Lord. And Christ is the Word, isn't
it? Hebrews 4, we have it. This is
a familiar scripture. Hebrews 4, verse 12. The Word
of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing even to the dividing slender of soul and spirit, the
joints and the marrow, is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart, Neither is there any creature that is not manifest
in his sight. All things are naked and open
under the eyes of him with whom we have to do." And that means
us right now, tonight. He knows exactly what you're
thinking right as I speak. David said this, "'O Lord, thou
hast searched me and known me. You know my down-sitting, my
up-rising. You understand my thought afar
off. You encompass my path, my lying down. You are acquainted
with all my ways. There is not a word in my tongue,
O Lord. You know it all together. You
have set me behind before and laid your hand upon me. Such
knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain
it." Solomon represents our Lord. He told her everything. There is not a thing hid from
her. And if we come seeking the Lord, He will reveal Thoughts
and intents of our hearts. Verse 4 in our text. And when
the Queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom in the house
that he built, had she seen all of his wisdom? Well, she saw
a great deal of it. She saw it in general, didn't
she? But there wasn't enough time
for her to sit and listen to all of his wisdom. Didn't our
Lord say, one time to his disciples, I have many things to say to
you, but you're not able to bear them now. And we're going to
spend an eternity hearing his wisdom, an eternity. And she saw all the wisdom, Solomon's
wisdom, and the house that he built, the house. Go back and
read about Solomon's house, not just the temple that he built
himself. A private house in the forest
of Lebanon. He spent twice as long building
that house as the temple. Thirteen years. And he had things
from all over the world brought. He built his wife a private residence. Pharaoh's daughter. He built
her a house. What does this speak of? His church. His dwelling place where the
king dwells. Can you imagine what a place
it was where the king liked to dwell with his wife? Oh, the
house, the church, the kingdom of God that Christ hath built.
This is his house. He hath built it. Except the
Lord build the house. They labor in vain to build it.
Verse 5, And the meat of his table. She saw the meat of his
table. All of the provisions. I wish we had time to look at
that, but all of those things represent the sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus Christ. What's the meat of His table?
What's the meat of Christ's table? What's the meat we serve up here?
Huh? Christ and Him crucified. Didn't
He say, my body is meat and tea? My blood is drink and tea. Except
you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no pardon. She saw the meat of his table.
Oh, that's wonderful. She was hungry. The meat of his
table read on. She saw the sitting of his servants.
The sitting of his servants. Now, did you read that? And everybody
I read, the commentators said that his servants were sitting
there at the table. Now, isn't that something? I
thought servants were serving the table. And you know what?
I can just see this. His servants are sitting at the
table and Solomon's walking around serving them. That's happening. It says that of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that He shall gird Himself and serve His people. The story
of Boaz, when that poor Moabite woman Ruth came, he had her brought. Remember, she was so poor. She'd
been out in the field. And she was at his table. And
Richter's partner, that great Boaz, got up from his seat, center
of attention, got up from his seat and went over to this poor
little mole bite and made him say, here's some cornbread. I'm
so glad that he came. Servants were sitting at his
table with King Solomon. The king was serving down there.
You know, if you'd have looked at Solomon's right hand, something
Sheba may have said, who's that fellow in the wheelchair? And Solomon would have said,
that's an old friend of my father's. And he's my brother. He used
to sit here at the king's table all his life. That's Mephibosheth. I just love serving him. And then verse 5 says, she saw
the ministers, his ministers and their apparel. You reckon
they were dressed casually? No such thing as casual worship. We're in the presence of the
King, aren't we? Look at this, His cupbearers.
They're appareling. His cupbearers. That's His butlers.
That's His private men on His right hand and His left. Men
that were near and dear to Him. Who's that representing? His
prophets, His apostles. And she saw their the way they
conducted themselves. She saw their dignity and their
honor and their integrity and their seriousness and their soberness,
didn't she? These men weren't clowns. They
were serving the king. Oh, they were gracious men and
they were merciful and kind men like their master, but they weren't
entertainers or jokesters. They were there to serve the
king and serve his table. And there was a marked difference.
in King Solomon's cupbearers and the rest, she'd say. These
men had dignity and respect and honor that she hadn't seen before.
And so is it with God's true preachers. Look at verse 5. It says, She
saw his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the Lord.
Solomon got up from the table and he went to his throne, I
guess, to the house of the Lord and do whatever. And she saw
him ascend those steps. And she saw his dignity and his
honor and his regal and royal, majestic bearing. She thought
she was somebody. She thought she was a queen. Now here's what she said, And
of all who see the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified, buried,
and risen again, and ascended to the right hand of the Majesty
on high, they'll say with the Queen of Sheba, verse 6, It was
true. It was all true. The report I
heard. I heard it. Faith cometh by hearing done.
We first hear of Him. A report in my own land of thy
acts, of the works, works of our Lord Jesus Christ and His
wisdom." But she said, how be it, I didn't believe it. I didn't believe the Word. Like
that woman at the well, huh? Or the men that the woman at
the well came to. They didn't believe it, so they
had to come see Christ Himself. But she said, I believed not
the words until I came. And you won't believe either
until you come to Christ. And she said, Mine eyes had seen
it, and behold, a half was not told me. She said, Thy wisdom
and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard. Oh, brethren, I'm trying to say
something about Christ, and I'm failing miserably. But it's still
wonderful. And I can't make you interested.
But God can, and He does. He makes His people interested.
And He makes His cupbearers dearer than them. She said, happy. Your men are
happy. I told you the other day, I just
confessed to you, I get tired of preaching like you get tired
of your job. But most of the time, it makes
me happy. I'm just happy to do this. I
feel like a failure. Who do you think thought was
fit to wait on this greatest king on earth, Solomon? You think
they were not very nervous about what they did in his presence?
He had largest of heart. He appreciated everything they
did. Don't you know? That he greatly appreciated and
rewarded them for a cup of water. Happy. Your men are happy. They're
near you. Happy. Happy are these thy servants,
those that serve the Lord. Nobody's happy that doesn't serve
the Lord. Men aren't happy to serve themselves.
They serve their own lust. They're not happy. She said,
happy are those that stand continually before thee and hear thy wisdom.
I often wonder why people go to the various places they go
to and hear what they hear. nonsense and all the foolishness
that goes on. Oh, are you happy here? What do you hear? Happy. Blessed be the Lord, verse 9.
Thy God. Back there it said she had no
more spirit in her, didn't she? I left that off. She saw him
and heard him, and no more spirit in her. She came rich, and now
she felt poor. She came wise, and now she felt
foolish. She came somebody, and now she
felt like a nobody in the presence of him. And I tell you what,
when she left, she didn't feel like a nobody. When she left,
she didn't feel poor. She had wagon loads. She had
more than she came with. She didn't feel foolish when
she left. He had endowed her with wisdom
she didn't have before. Now she was wanting to go home
and tell somebody about what she learned. Oh, happy, happy, happy, though,
she said, are those that dwell here. Blessed be the Lord, verse
9. I love this. Blessed be the Lord, thy God,
which delighteth in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel.
Oh, my. Blessed be the Son of God. Beloved,
the Beloved Son. God said, This is My Beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased. He delighted in Him so much,
He set Him on the throne. Because the Lord loved Israel
forever, He made Thee King, she said, to do judgment and justice. And because the Lord loves us,
He made Him our Lord. He made Christ our Lord to do
judgment for us and justice And she gave the king 120 talents. I wrote it down how much that
was. It was several million dollars. And you read with me what he
brought in. Do you think he appreciated it? Why, thank you, Sheba. She gave the king 120 talents
of gold and spices. Now, great spices she gave him. Now, what does our Lord say about,
herein is my Father glorified. Let you bear much fruit. Let you bear much fruit. Oh,
those who have really seen His glory, heard His voice, and have
been privileged and received from Him such wisdom and such
honor, commune with Him. Oh, how we ought to adorn the gospel. Let the spices
flow. Come, Holy Spirit, blow upon
your garden. Let the spices flow out. Fruit
unto our God. And it goes on to say the Navy
brought all of this to King Solomon, and he made instruments with
them. Why do you think he made so many
instruments? To worship the Lord. That's what it's all about. The
name of the Lord. And then verse 13, King Solomon
gave unto the queen of Sheba all her desire. In other words,
whatever she asked him, he gave her. Ask, he said. Sheba, what is it you want from
me? Ask. I'll give it to you, the
half of my kingdom. He had the ability. He gave her
all her desire. Didn't David say, Lord, all my
desires before thee? What was that, David? One thing. If I desire. If Christ is all
our desire, He'll give Him to us. And we'll grow away happy
people. And whatsoever she has beside
that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty, oh my, we just
don't realize what the Lord has done for us. And she turned and
went to her own country. She went back home, got back
on her camel and rode, I forget how many miles it was, a thousand
miles. What do you reckon she was talking
about on the way home? Solomon. And everyone who's truly
seen Christ, seen His glory, that's who they talk about. That's
who they talk about. When she got home, who do you
think she talked about? Huh? She wanted to tell everybody
about who she'd seen. I want you to turn in closing
with me to Hosea 14. Hosea chapter 14 in closing. Yeah, after she'd seen Solomon's
beauty, there was no one, no one more beautiful than he. And
no one captured her attention quite like he. Hosea, Daniel,
right after the book Daniel, Hosea chapter 14. This is an
old Ephraim. Remember, he was joined to his
idols in the beginning. The Lord said, I can't give you
up. And He didn't. So finally, Ephraim
says this in verse 8 of chapter 14, Ephraim shall say, and this
is what all of God's people say, What have I to do any more with
idols? I have heard Him and observed
Him. Stand with me. Our Lord, forgive the vain babbling
vessel, but it's not by might or power, but by Thy Spirit.
It has nothing to do with the vessel, but the treasure is everything. The Word of God, that is Your
power. Your Holy Spirit is Your power.
And these are thy people. And I pray, I hope and I pray
that you have spoken to a heart or two. And that you have shown
something of thy, just a little of thy great riches and caused
us to desire thee even more. O Lord, wean us from this world. The things of this world. Wean
us from them. And set our affection truly on
things above. This world is a perishing place. But those in Christ, in the ark,
have taken up with Him. How blessed we are that someday
you will get up from your throne and shut the door of mercy and
open the door of heaven and bring your people into glory. Oh Lord,
show us. Show us. Show us, we pray. Thy wisdom. It's in Christ's
name we pray, it has to be sustained. Amen. You're dismissed.