Ask you to turn in your Bible
to Luke chapter eleven. Luke chapter eleven. Read a few verses here and then.
And I'm going to ask you to turn to first Kings. Chapter ten Luke
eleven. Any time. Anything that is written
in the. Bible. Anything written in this
book bears paying attention to. This is truly the word of God
Almighty. Anything written here bears paying
attention to. Anything written twice. Means
it's doubly important. And it doubly it needs to be
carefully, carefully heated. Look here at Luke chapter 11.
Our Lord gives these words of instruction and warning, and
it's very relevant to today, to each of us in here even. Luke
11, beginning with verse 29, and when the people were gathered
thick together, now we're not very thick, but we were gathered
together, not many of us. He began to say, this is an evil
generation. They seek a sign. And there shall
no sign be given, but the sign of Jonah, the prophet. For as Jonah was a sign under
the Ninevites, to whom he preached, so shall also the Son of Man
be to this generation. The Queen of the South shall
rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and
condemn them. For she came from the utmost
parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and behold
a greater than Solomon is here. Now our Lord gives these two
examples of two different people who heard or will hear preaching. The first were the Ninevites,
the Ninevites that Jonah once went and preached to. You know
the story, how Jonah went down to Nineveh and preached and all
the people repented. And our Lord rebukes those who
hear the word, like right now, everybody in here is hearing
what I'm saying. Everybody in here most everybody looked at
this book. Just now. And he's rebuking those
that here and that look at the word of God yet. Don't react. Are unmoved. Unrepentant. Go out of here unmoved unaffected
he's rebuking. Like the Ninevites they heard
it one time. Jonah preached one time. And
they repented and believed. And the scripture comes to us,
how long will God suffer? Everybody in here has heard that,
how long will God allow us to hear this message of salvation
without any reaction? How long? I don't know. This might be it, right? This
might be the last. Then he rebukes some people,
talking about this Queen of the South, in the judgment. He rebukes
some people who make little or no effort at all to even hear
the gospel proclaimed, to even hear the word, who seem to care
less about this glorious gospel. And he tells this story about
the Queen of Sheba, the Queen of the South, who Went to great
lengths to hear this man Solomon in all his wisdom. Now this is
where I want to dwell now. Turn over to first Kings with
me. First Kings chapter 10. This is where I want to dwell.
He rebukes those people who make very little effort at all to
come here to the gospel. By telling them that someday
in the judgment, this queen, this very woman is going to stand
up and judge everybody. That treated this thing very
lightly and made no attempt whatsoever to care less about the That's
what he's saying here. She's going to rise up in the
judgment and condemn you, because she went to great lengths to
hear Solomon preach. And Christ said, Behold, if she
went that far and went to such great measures to hear a man, what about those who could care
less about hearing God? He said, She's going to judge. Well, look here in first Kings
chapter ten with me now, when the Queen of Sheba heard of the
fame of Solomon. Now, stop right there. This is
the first thing that will condemn us. She was a woman. A weaker vessel. I didn't hinder
her from making a long, laborious journey to go here, so she was
a queen. She was a queen. Terry, she had
many responsibilities. Didn't you? Many cares. You're
talking about responsibilities and engagements and appointments
and cares and so forth of every day. Her every day was ordered. Everything she had to do. She
was a queen. She was in care of and in charge of a vast kingdom. She had a lot to tend to, didn't
you? Little time for it all. I imagine she rose up early and
went to bed very late because she had a lot to do. Yet she
put it all aside to go hear Solomon mention. She put it all aside. You've got some things to do,
Queen, where are you going? You can't just, I'm going to go hear Solomon.
And how many people talk of having to do this or that, having this
care, this thing to do, care for this person or that person
who cannot come worship God. Christ spoke of some people giving
some excuses. Christ said, talked to people
about coming to a wedding feast. He told them, he bid them all
to come, and they began one by one to excuse themselves. One
of them said, I bought Mr. P's property. I got to go see
about it. He'll be there when you get back. Yeah, but I'm married. You're married? It's going to
stop you from worshiping God because you're married? Yeah, but I've got to go. Let
me go first, Barry. I've got to go. Dead Barry's
dead. Oh, but I've got to make a living.
I've got to have a good job, and I've got to... No, you don't
have to make a living. You've got to die, though. It's
appointed unto man once to make a living? No. It's appointed
unto man once to die. And after that, the judgment.
I was thinking about this this week, thinking long and hard
about it, about who's going to be first in here that I bury.
I don't know. Because what made me think about
it was Brother Joe there. Who's going to be first? Somebody
in here is going to die very shortly. No doubt about it. Everybody
in here is going to die eventually. Got to make a living. No, you
got to die, though. Yeah, but I got a seat of this. I got a
seat of that. No, you ain't got a seat of nothing. You better
see him, though. You better see Christ high and
lifted up and bowed his feet and worshiped him. You better
see to that, hadn't you? You better see to your soul first,
right? You better see to that. Well, this woman was a queen.
She had many responsibilities. And they didn't keep her. They'd
keep her a bit. She dropped it off, went to hear
Solomon, a man. You're going to rise up in judgment
against this generation. That's what Christ said. It's
not my words. It's Christ's words, right? Right? Right. She came a great distance. She
was queen of Sheba. You know where Sheba was? It's
over a thousand miles away from Jerusalem. A thousand miles.
How'd she get there? Mercedes Benz? Concord? Jet? Boeing 747? Amtrak? She rode on a camel. You ever rode on a camel? Horses bad enough, camels worse.
Can't put a saddle on a camel. She rode a thousand, over a thousand
miles on a camel back. Months, it took her months to
get to this place to hear a song. Most people won't get in an air-conditioned
automobile and drive five minutes to go hear the greatest story
ever told. She endured trials and hardships,
dangers and discomforts. She was a stranger. Not only
was she a queen, not only did she come a long way, but she
was a stranger. She didn't know anybody there, and we feel so
uncomfortable when we come into church, don't we? We might not
attend here. We come in very uncomfortable. Nobody knows me.
I don't know them, and I feel so uncomfortable. This woman
was a stranger. She didn't know anybody where
she was going. She didn't know if they were
going to receive her when she got there. She was a stranger. She was from
a strange place and had a strange religion. Now, listen to this. Sheba is a place down in southwest
Arabia, what is now Yemen, over a thousand miles, southwest Arabia,
a very pagan idolatrous land, Arabia, just like it is now.
The Muslims there now worship idols and so forth. But that's
what she was. She was an idol-worshiping pagan
queen. Did that stop her from coming here in the truth? She
didn't care. She heard about Solomon. She
wanted to know the truth. She didn't let her religion get
in the way. Yeah, but Mama's a Methodist. I can't go down.
What's that got to do with the price of eggs in China? Yeah,
but I'm a Catholic. I can't. You can't come worship
God? Yeah, but I'm an Episcopal. I
just don't. I can't At the end of the day, we better
come hear Christ preached and drop this religion. Everybody
in here better drop their religion and come to Christ. Come hear
him preach. Right? Drop it. Drop it. I don't care what mama or daddy
believes. You listen. We're preaching Christ right
now. This was a costly journey. This cost this woman a great
deal. Look at verse 2 with me. She came to Jerusalem with a
very great train, a long train. Now, whenever a dignitary traveled,
they carried everything with them, much like some of our wives
do when we go on to a three-day trip, everything we own. Well,
a queen, you know, did that, and so does my queen. A long
train of everything, and it took great, you know, for a month,
several months' trip, it took a great store of provision. She
had to sacrifice a great deal of money and provisions and so
forth for this journey, and plus all these gifts she gave to Solomon.
She had this great train with camels that bore spices and very
much gold and precious stones and so forth. But she considered
it a very little thing to come here, this great man. cost what
it may," she said, "'I don't care. But, Queen, we can't afford
this. We're in a recession. I don't
care. Don't give that offspring. We
can't afford that, honey. I don't care. I've got to go
hear Solomon.'" She considered it a very little
thing in order to come hear this man. And if you ever see your
great need of Christ and his salvation, If you ever see that,
him, a better job in another city, a fine home, luxuries of
this life, worldly pleasure, will be nothing compared to him. Talking to Brother Todd Nyberg
the other day, sitting there in the hospital, a victim of
cancer. All he had to look forward to
was pain. And he said, you know, I started
talking to him about death. I asked him if he was ready to
die. And he said, yes, I am. He said, I want to see Christ. He said, you know, there's nothing
in this world that has any, any, any sweetness to me right now. Anything attractive about it
at all to me right now. Nothing. He said, my little daughter
that I love, my wife, I'd look forward to seeing him. Ah, boy, if you see him, nothing
will be compared to him, and cost what it may, you'll go hear
him, you'll go see him, you'll come to him. She received no
invitation, like I said, no invitation. Solomon didn't call her up on
the phone one day saying, hey, Shema, come on up, come on up
to Jerusalem, we'll talk. No, she didn't receive an invitation.
She received no promise. that he was going to hear her
or even that she was going to see this great king. No promise
whatsoever. She went on a venture. Perhaps. Solomon didn't call her. We're
called. Everybody in here is called by
creation. So how do I know there's a God?
Look at your hands. Look in the mirror. Look at that
baby. Look at the sky, look at the
tree, look at the flower. Only a fool can say, no, God,
no all-wise, all-powerful being has created these things. What
kind of fool, what kind of idiot would believe these things just
pop, came into existence? A fool. How do I know there's
a God? Look around. Creation calls us
and tells us that, that he is. Providence, what do you have?
You've got food, you've got shelter. Got clothing? A lot of people
don't. Who gave it to you? Get it of
your own wisdom and power and so forth? No. Who makes you the
difference? How come you were born in the
United States and you weren't born in Ethiopia? Providence tells us that, the
Word of God. We read the Word right now. It's absolutely undeniable,
unrefutable, the Word of God. I challenge, where is the wisdom
in this world, Paul said. I challenge the wisest man on
the face of the earth, Carl Sagan, I don't care who he is, to stand
before this book and refute it. It can't be done. This is the
wisest, most glorious piece of literature ever been written,
because it's God's Word. We're called. You know what it
says to us? Believe. Repent first. Repent. Fall on your face before this
great God who gave you everything you've got, and bow to him and
worship him, and then he'll show you more. He doesn't say, now
you understand all this, and if you see it and understand
it and all that, then you can believe. No, believe first. So
fall down, bow down, worship this God, and then he'll show
you something. But this woman, she came on a venture. We have,
Peter said, a more sure word, of course. We've got a book that's
withstood the test of time, nationalities, cultures. They tried to put this
book away for thousands of years. Can't do it. It's still around.
Can't do it. All the agnostics, all the mockers
of this word, they're dead. The ones that are mocking now,
they'll be dead very shortly. And this book will be living
right on, changing lives and changing people. and still proclaiming. Thus sayeth, thus sayeth, right? We have a sure word of prophecy,
wherein unto you do well to take heed as unto a light. This is
a light in a dark place now. You only have to look around
at this sinful, dark world to see that we're in a mess. We're
in a mess. Boy, I tell you, this thing's
going down here fast. But this is a light, boy. It'll
shed light on your eyes, and you'll understand it, won't it?
She came on a venture. We've got a word, a sure word.
What does it say here? We better be looking into it.
What does it say here? You mean they're going to meet
down there and talk about this word? I won't be in on it. See, here's
what God has to say. She had no promise of meeting
the King. Now, here's the blessed part. Terry, we've got a promise. Repent, believe, come to Christ,
and he'll receive you. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and you shall be saved." Well, I don't even know if there is
a Lord. The Bible says so, doesn't it? Yeah, well, believe it. Bow
down, ask him to reveal himself to you, and you shall. You shall. That's the way it is, isn't it,
folks? That's the way it is. Those that have been saved, that's
the way it is, isn't it? No promise, but he says, come and I'll give
you rest. Come, I'll give you rest. He that cometh, I'll no
wise cast out." Well, she went to hear a mere man. This queen
went to hear just a mere mortal man. He was a great man, a great
man, but he was just a man. And all he had to say, talk about
was worldly wisdom. We seek him. We come to hear. What you're looking at, what
you're listening to right now is wisdom itself. This is the wisdom
of God. We're not coming, we're not talking
about a mere man named Jesus. We're talking about the Lord,
high and lifted up, the one in whose hands your breath is. You're
breathing right now because this Lord has you in his hand and
causing you to breathe. And one day he's going to say,
stop breathing. And you're going to go face him. That's what this
book says, not my fault. That's what this book says, right? The God in whose hands your breath
is. That's who we're talking about, this person. That's who
we're talking about. When she went to hear a mere
man, we come to hear the God-man. We come to hear God speak. That's
the difference what we're doing here. I'm not preaching a sermonette
here. I'm not preaching hell's fire and damnation. I'm talking
about a person here, whom we're going to stand before. Everybody
is going to stand before this person. And whether or not you
enter into joy and fellowship and communion and eternal salvation
is whether or not this person knows you and has saved you and
revealed himself to you, or whether you know him or not. Right? Time
and eternity is going to depend on our relationship with this
person that we're going to stand in front of someday. We're going
to look him in the eye. No, we're not either. Those that
don't know him aren't going to look him in the eye. This woman came, and you know
Solomon could only expound unto her wisdom. He could only say,
well, this is the way that such and such teaches, or this is
the way the thing is. You've heard it said this, and
he could only expound it. Christ is made unto us wisdom.
He imparts it. He infuses it, wisdom. For as
Scripture says, they that are spiritual discerneth, understand
all things. Understand? They see how this
whole thing revolves around middle C, the Lord Jesus Christ. The
world doesn't see that. That's foolish. Look at this. Look at verse 2
with me. I want you to notice who she came to. Look at verse 2. She came to
Jerusalem with this very great train and bare spices and gold
and precious stone when she was come to Solomon. To whom coming? She came to Solomon. She came. She didn't send somebody
else. She didn't send for the tape. She came. She said, I've got a hearing.
I've got to go. It won't suffice. And you're
not going to, we're not going to get into heaven by proxy.
That is by a faithful wife or a faithful husband. Because your
wife's religious or because your husband's religious or because
your mommy and daddy are religious and go to church and all. You
don't get into heaven that way. You're going to have to meet
the Lord Jesus Christ yourself. Every person here is going to
have to come to Him, right? Every person. Not by prophecy.
Not by being in the right family or even the right church. You
have to come to Him. Him personally. And she came
to Him. She came to Solomon. She didn't come all that way
to take a tour of the Holy Land. Oh, I heard that Jerusalem is
really something there, she said. I heard it. I got to see all
the shrines. I got to go down in the tomb. Maybe get me some
dirt out of the tomb. I've got to dip into Jordan. I want to
be baptized in the River Jordan." Oh, it'll be so good. She didn't
come to here. She didn't come to see a tour
of the Holy Land. She came to see Solomon. And everybody's
looking for heaven. Pie in the sky and a sweet bind
by and waiting to meet mama in heaven ain't going to be there.
Everybody's looking for him. They're going to see him as he
is. Ain't going to be there. Sitting at his feet. We'll see that here in a minute.
She came to Solomon, wisdom itself, and that's what we need. We need
to hear him, be taught of him. Look at her purpose for coming,
verse 1. It says she came to prove him
with hard questions. There's some folks in here that
may ask a question right now. Now, if you want to know where
Cain got his wife, forget it. If you want to know who's sitting
on the white horse there in Revelation, forget it. If you want to know
when these things are going to come around, when the rapture
and so forth, forget that. Those are endless questions.
What is an endless question? The Bible talks about endless
questions. Questions have no answer. Everybody just speculates
about them. Endless questions, genealogies,
foolish questions. There's nothing wrong with asking
questions, or even hard questions, but they better be right questions.
They need to be gospel questions. They need to be questions like
this. Can this holy God, this holy, righteous, sovereign,
omnipotent, omniscient God, holy, how can this God have anything
to do with me? How's that going to happen? How
can I be saved? That's a good question, a hard
question. That's a good question now. I
wish more people asked that. Preacher, I've got a question.
I think, oh no, what's it going to be this time? You know, over
there in some obscure book, it doesn't seem like too many people
are interested in salvation, knowing God, who God is, and
who Christ is, and this gospel, which would take an eternity
to expound upon. She came to prove him with hard
questions. People want to talk about this and that and the other,
but my soul. She came to Solomon, and she
communed with him. She communed with him. She communed
with him, and that's what I want. That's what I want. I want to actually know him.
Like Paul said, I want to know him. Not just about him. I don't want to be just religious. I don't want to be a Christian,
per se. I want to know Christ. I want to be found in Christ,
don't you? I want to walk and talk with
the living Lord. Not just be in church on Sunday. How about you folks? I want to
commune with Him. And look at what she did when
she got there. When she communed with Him, she said she told Him
all that was in her heart. Told Him everything. Everything. And that's what we ought to do.
We ought to come to this Lord. naked and open to the Lord. I
don't understand him, no way. I don't know if I believe. I don't know
if the Bible's true or not. Tell him everything in your heart.
Say, Lord, I don't believe. Help my unbelief. Help it. Lord, I can't see. Give me sight. Lord, I can't hear. It doesn't
mean anything. Help me. Tell him everything, your fears,
your doubts, your sins, everything, your hypocrisy. He'll hear you.
Solomon did. And he'll hear you. He'll do
nothing, nothing. that you have gone through or
are going through or will go through that's uncommon to any
man that's ever been before you or anyone? Nothing. I don't care
who you are, where you've been, what you're doing now. There's
nothing. No sin. I don't care how deep in sin
you've been. There's nobody in here that's been worse than this
old fellow right here or worse than Jacob. Just talk about all
the old past saints, Abraham and Jacob and David and Saul,
the thief, the harlot. There's nothing you've done,
nowhere you've been that's ever been any worse than any of those
people. Nothing. They all came to Christ and told
him, Lord, I bet I've been a thief. It's all right. I came to save thieves. And I've been a harlot. Oh, a
harlot. It's all right. I came to save
harlots. You know, Lord, I've been married
five times. I'll be your husband from here on out. I'll never
leave him. Oh, but Lord, no, no, but to
it. He comes in and communes with
him in all that's in your heart. Everything. Everything. Everything. And there's nothing you could
tell him that's going to shock him. Nothing. But Lord, I did. I'm going to shock him. He knows. He knows what you've got to do,
but you don't even know yet. He knows. He would have shocked
him. He knows your heart better than you do. But look at verse
3 with me. And Solomon told her all her
questions. She asked him, she communed with
him, told him everything was on her mind, everything was on
her heart, told him everything, and he told her everything. Less
than hidden. It was not anything hid from
the king, which she didn't tell her. I bet you, I just guarantee
you, that this wise man, and when she came to him and started
asking questions, and finally she ran out of questions, I bet
he started posing some questions. I bet he told her some things
she didn't think of asking. Right? I bet she went away from
there thinking, wow. You know, she came with her pitiful
little questions and she went away thinking, whoa, what I've
heard this day. I never thought to ask. And he
knows what things you have need of, Terry Kinsley, even before
you ask him. He knows what you need to ask. You tell Christ your sin, he'll
tell you his merit, his righteousness. You tell Christ your weakness,
he'll tell you just how strong he is at overcoming. You tell
Christ the distance that you are from God, he'll show you
he's at the right hand of fellowship. He's got a hold of God's hand,
and he can bring you right to Him. Christ your poverty, he'll show
you his riches. You tell him all, he'll tell
you he's all and in all." Well, look at what she saw. Now,
look at this. Come on, gather yourself with
me. You're in for a blessing. Ask the Lord right now to help
you listen to this right here. Look at verse 4. This is what
this woman saw. And when the Queen of Sheba had seen all of
Solomon's wisdom and the house that he built,
she saw and heard him. I'm telling you now, nobody here
has seen this man Solomon. Christ himself said, Now, but
Lily, there's nobody been arrayed like Solomon. No king ever lived
like Solomon. You can look at all these past
kings like Haile Selassie. Remember that little fellow who
wore medals all the way down to his shoes? He's only about
four foot two. And all these kings and Queen
Elizabeth and all her pomp and show with her royal gowns and
her crowns and all that. You ain't seen nothing until
you've seen this man, Solomon. The greatest king on the face
of the earth. Everything. money could buy and everything
his heart could desire. But a greater than Solomon is
here. Yes, we're talking about the king of kings. We're talking
about the one who Solomon bows to, the one who Queen of Elizabeth,
if she ever knows him, will bow and kiss his big toe and thank
herself unworthy to do so. And this is the reason we say,
come to Christ, not church. This is the reason I say we're
not talking about a, we're not going through some little elaborate
ritual and ceremony here. We're talking about a person. I lift it up. I could tell it
like it ought to be told. If you ever see the beauty and
the glory of this person, you'll bow, you'll cast everything aside
to see this person fall at his feet. Cost what it made, whom
it made. You've got to know this person. And this is the reason all of
heaven and time and eternity is going to be spent talking
about him! I've seen him, I've seen a little bit of him, Henry,
and I've taken up with him. I've taken up with this and that
and the other. Him, I've seen him, I've heard
him. Every now and then, I'll get
a taste of heaven. I'll see him. Wow. You see him, and he does, he
lives, he moves, and I'm in his hands. Not talking about heaven
or mom. If mama's there, mama's gonna
be on her face like everybody else. You won't even recognize
mom anyway. In heaven, they're not married
or given in marriage, or mom or daddy, husband, wife, son,
or daughter, nothing. No, so they're all alike. Who
are you? I'm your mama. Oh, isn't he wonderful? She saw him. And look at this,
it says she saw the house that he built. She saw the beauty
and the glory of that temple and its buildings, all the jewels,
everything that went into making that temple. She saw it. She
looked around her. Now, I recognize that this church
doesn't look like much to the average person. You drive by
it, and most people drive right by it. It's a nice little building.
I'm not talking about this temple, though. I'm talking about the
church, that glorious Bride of Christ, God's people. I see some beauty. I see some
jewels. I'm looking in the face of some
jewels. I'm talking about diamond. In the rough, yes, but diamond. A ruby. Sapphire. Sweet smelling. Jewels. Jewels in Christ's crown. His
church. Oh, if you ever see the beauty
of it. If you knew some of God's real people. I know there's a
bunch of people out there that profess to know Christ. talk
about you behind your back and this and that and the other.
Man, he's got some real people. I know some of them. And they're
real folks, aren't they? Real folks. And you see, you're
going to see like this woman, you're going to see what it took
to make up those jewels. She saw that, she saw, and I
can't, someday I'm going to do a message on this temple. Cedar
from, cedar from the far remote Countries of the earth carved
with flowers and angels and gold, tables and chairs and altars
and candles, solid gold. It'd take many men to pick up
one table. Solid gold, cedar, diamonds,
stones, all these things in that temple. This woman just sat there. Oh, I tell you what, do you ever
see the unsearchable riches of Christ? No, no. Look at this. You've
got to look at this. Look at verse 5 with me. You've
got to see this. She saw that temple and the meat of his table.
Now turn over to chapter 4 with me. 1 Kings chapter 4. Look over
here with me. Look with me. She saw the meat
of his table. She saw food fit for a king. What do you reckon this table
looked like? Now, we have some feed, some eatins down here. Ladies, Ellen, I don't care how
good your cherry cheesecake looks, it's not going to compare to
this king's table. I want you to listen to some
of these things. This is food fit for a king. You know, Christ
said, my body is meat indeed. Meat indeed. Bread, he's called
the bread of life. Sweet, satisfying, delectable. food, his body and his blood.
That's what he's really talking about here, this meat. Look over
here, 1 Kings chapter 4. Look at it. She saw plenty of
it too. Wonderful looking food and plenty of it. You're talking
about plenty. Look at verse 22. Solomon's provision
for one day was 30 measures of flour, 19,940 pounds of flour. Three score, 60 measures of meal,
38,880 pounds of Martha White cornmeal. 10 fat oxen, that means grain
fed now. Grain fed, kept in the stall,
fed the finest grain. Tender, moist, delicious. Mm,
got to husk it out of here, I'm hungry. 20, just regular cattle
out there in the field. You bet they were good ones too.
Hundred sheep, lamb roasts, suckling lambs, harks, deers, roebucks,
elk, fallow deer, does, fatted fowl, pheasants, turkeys, chickens,
plenty of them, just everywhere. See, look, one day, one day,
if there's anything left over, you should throw it away. Now,
bring in the new stuff. That's just dinner. What about
breakfast? One day. Solomon, and I tell you what,
this gospel table, if you've ever sat at this table,
some of you sitting right now, if you taste a little bit of
it, we're talking about mercy and love and grace and kindness
and gentleness and wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption and holiness and goodness and meekness. Things that are pure and lovely
and of good report and honest and life. Tell them about the
table. Oh, John, I wish I could serve
up this table like it ought to be served. I wish men could see
the beauty of this table. I tasted it. I sat there. I'm
just like Omar Fibichek, sitting there at the table. Goodness
gracious. It's strong meat. There's everything
there for anybody that wants it. Strong meat for men. Henry,
if you sat there, you couldn't get full. I mean, you couldn't
get too much. I mean, there's enough, is what
I'm trying to say. There's enough for even old Henry and Joe and
Ed and some of you gluttons. There's enough there. There's
strong meat for men. I don't care how you like it.
Rare. It's there. Rare. It's rare, all right, isn't
it? It's rare to find any strong meat for preaching, isn't it? Sweetened milk for babies. Little
weak, tender little babies in here can suck some sweet milk.
Fruits? Fruit of the Spirit. Oh, boy. Abundance of joy at this table.
Abundant life. Enough to go around to. Scripture
says, Come, it's all ready. It's all ready. Come thine. Come thine. And look at this,
what she saw too. I've got to hurry. Verse 5. She
saw the meat of his table and she saw the sitting of his servants.
Are you looking at it? She saw this table spread, and
she saw everybody sitting around. See, everybody's sitting at the
feet of old Solomon, weren't they? And if you look at that
table, that wedding feast in heaven itself, you'll see some
people. They're all sitting down here,
sitting at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. You look up there.
You'll see saints. You'll see servants. You'll see
Mary. Right where we left her, Janette, sitting at his feet.
She's been sitting there now 2,000 years. Won't her knees
grow weak? No. She's going to be sitting
there for the rest of her days. The sitting of her servant, of
his servant, and the attendance of his ministers. Look at that.
Have you seen how that everything in this universe attends to God
and Christ? It's attendant unto him. You
and me, whether we know it or not, we're serving God Almighty.
Whether we know it or not, we're serving His purpose. We're in
His purpose. So I want to know the will of God. You're in it.
You're in it. And they're a peril. Look at
this. They're a peril. Now, I couldn't get in there
like this. I couldn't have got in there. I may look pretty good
to you people. But I couldn't have got in, I
did. This is not royal apparel. This is Jones, not Burgess, but
Jones of New York. I couldn't have got in here.
I've got to have a royal garment on. Right? Splendid robe. A perfect robe. A wedding garment. Scripture talks about us needing
a wedding garment to get in to this marriage supper of the Lamb
with pride. What is it? Somebody tell me what that is.
The robe of Christ's righteousness, unless you're clothed with the
life of Christ, unless you're in Christ by faith, unless he
is your representative, unless he has covered you with that
life of his, your life looks terrible. Your robes, your morality,
your religion and everything is filthy, rags. Look it up sometime
what that means. Your religion, your works, your
morality is filthy rags to this holy God. You've got to have
a perfect spotless robe on. The robe of Christ's righteousness
to stand before this holy God. And I see them now. They're there.
There's lots of people there. But they're all wearing these
robes. They look good. Nancy, someday we're really going
to look good. We don't see how now, do we?
Someday, Joe, we're going to look good. Full head of hair
and all, buddy. Someday, we're going to look
like him. Not going to look like our opinion
of good. We're going to look like him. Him. Fine white linen. That's the
robe of righteousness. And look at this. His cupbearers. She saw his cupbearers. Now,
that's his ministers. Oh, time would fail to talk about
the prophets and the priests and the preachers But when in
times past, Abraham, David, Elijah, Isaiah, Paul, Peter, Virgin,
Gil, Knox, Bunyan, great men, cupbearers. The world's not worthy
of those men. The other world thinks they're
all scouring, but the world wasn't worthy of some of these men.
Great men, the greatest men that have ever lived. And here's the
stand, look at this, you've got to see this finally. And she saw, most of all, his
ascent by which he went up into the house of the Lord. She saw old Solomon there. Like
I said, I wish I could tell it like it was. She saw old Solomon
get up from that royal table, and everybody else got up too.
And she saw Solomon walking toward that temple. And there was a
long viaduct, a bridge that went to that temple, crossed over,
a bridge that crossed over to the temple. And he ascended up
these stairs out of marble, solid marble, imported marble, gold
handrails. And his train, his glory, his
servants, the multitude of cupbearers and ministers and all trailed
behind him as he ascended up into that temple to go worship
the Lord. Have you ever seen him? He who came down was made
of a born of a woman, made of the seed of Adam or the seed
of David. and lived this perfect life and
established that righteousness, that role, and then went down
into that grave and died. But he ascended. He came out
of that grave and he ascended to the right hand of the Father.
And his train, his glory fills the temple. Have you ever seen
that? Have you ever seen him like that? Oh boy, high and lifted
up. And it says there was no one.
She saw all this. There's no more spirit in her. And I don't
think I've got much more message in me. She saw him. She started out seeing him there,
and she ended up seeing him. He is a saint. And this is what
she said. Here's her confession. She said, I've heard many things.
Verse 6, she said to the king, it's true. I've heard a lot,
but it is true. I heard about this all my life.
Now I see. That was like me, Terry. I heard
it all my life. Sat in church all my life. PK,
you know, the worst kind. Preacher's kid. Message, sermon
after sermon after sermon. And one day I saw. And I say, it's true! God is
God, isn't He? And I am condemned before Him.
And Christ is my only hope. Christ help me. I saw Him. Came to him by faith. I didn't
do anything. I merely believed. I've heard
of you, she said. I've heard of you. And now I
see you, she said to Simon. And like old Joe, oh, now I hate
myself. I'm nothing. She thought she,
probably on her way up there, she thought she was a pretty
high, mighty queen, didn't she? Queen of Sheba. When she left that
place, buddy, she wasn't, she didn't realize she wasn't nothing.
You know what she realized? Oh, Solomon, now he's something.
Isn't he? If you ever see Christ, you'll
see all in all. You don't, you won't think yourself
to be something when you're nothing. You'll realize you're a burglar.
He's the king. You'll leave saying, now he's
all. Well, what about old Robert Tudor?
What about this man? He ain't nothing. He's all. What about your picture? He ain't
nothing. Ask Him. For with Christ is all. He's
all and in all. It's true! And look what she
said. It's true! I see it! And behold! I've never
heard a half of it. The half wasn't told. I have
not seen. Nobody in here has seen. Ear
hath not heard. Neither hath entered into the
heart. Not a smidgen, Rick, has entered into your heart. the
things pertaining to this game. Hang on a second. Someday. This is the reason we're going
to be standing around throughout the eternity of our mouths open. Well, let me rush on down here. She gave, I wish I could read
all of this. Go read it sometime this afternoon. She blessed him, and she gave
him her little trinkets. She gave her offering. She gave
her ten dollars in his offering plate. In King Solomon, look at verse
13. He gave unto the queen whatever she asked, and beside
that, he gave unto her of his royal Oh, goodness. She gave a smidgen. Nothing. She went away rich and
increased with goods. The bounty, the king's treasure.
Let me read this to you over here in Mark chapter 10. You
don't have to turn, but I'll read it to you in closing. Mark
chapter 10. Mark chapter 10. Peter said,
Lord, we've left off. We've left all. We've left all
and followed thee. You mean, what you mean, Peter,
is you've traded in dung for pearls, don't you, buddy? You think you made a bad trade,
Peter? We've left it all, though. We've sacrificed so much. We've
left all and followed thee, and Jesus said, I tell you, there's
no man that hath left house Brethren, sister, father, mother, or wife,
or children, or land, for my sake, in the gospel, for he'll
receive a hundredfold, right now, in this time. Oh boy, we're
going to be rich, healthy and well, right now. That's not what
he's talking about here. On the contrary, the opposite. The opposite. He doesn't promise
us riches by believing on Jesus. No, you'll have tribulations.
You're just going to live from hand to mouth. I tell you. You're going to have
to struggle to make the house payment like everybody else.
Here you are. But you've got a hundred other
houses just like the one you're paying on. Why don't you sell
it and rent out? You've got a hundred other houses.
I've got houses all over Rocky Mountain, don't I? You say it.
You mean it. My house is your house. You mean
that. I'm moving in next week, Joe. I can't make my payment. A hundred and four. I've got
houses in Danville, Kentucky. I've got houses in In Tennessee,
the houses, it's all over. North Carolina, got a real nice
house by a stream down there in Sequoia Indian Reservation.
The Cherokee Indian Reservation. Houses all over. Brother, I wish
I'd left my husband. Husbands around here a dime a
dozen. Ask some folks who've been married several times. You
can find a husband on every street corner. Christ said, God said,
I'm your husband. I'm your husband. I'll never
leave you. Ah, boy. I got some fathers and
mothers in here. Brothers and sisters. I got some
real brothers now. My earthly brother doesn't have
a thing to do with me. He hasn't written me, called
me, or spoken to me in a year. I'll see him Christmas. That's
the first time. Boy, I got some brothers in here,
though. Don't I? Some sisters. Ah, boy. Ah, boy, a greater insolvency
here. God grant us eyes to see, see
Him, see Him, and come to Him and worship Him from now on. Oh, my, He's worthy to be worshipped,
isn't He? Well, stand with me, and
I'll dismiss it. Our Lord, words are so pitiful before this glorious account
of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, forgive this fumbling,
mumbling, main babbler. Take your word, though. Just
take one of these verses and show somebody Christ. I sure
can't do it. Only the Holy Spirit can. Oh, Lord, how we thank you for
sending Christ down here. May we ever live to sing His
praises. In the name of Christ, we've
met together and we've done all these things. Amen.