Good morning, everyone. Our pastor
is recovering from COVID, him and Janet both, and Luke Coffey
is here to preach for us today, so we're very thankful to have
Luke and Tracy and the kids up here. What a beautiful family,
aren't they? Just love seeing them. Also want
to note that in, you'll see it in the the bulletin, but just
keep in mind that we will not be having a midweek service this
week. That'll give Frank a little bit more time to recover, give
everybody else time to travel to grandmother's house and get
ready for Thanksgiving. So hope everybody has a great
Thanksgiving and we'll see everybody in a week, Lord willing. I'm
going to read, open our service this morning with Psalm
53, if you'll want to turn there. Psalm 53. The fool has said in
his heart, there is no God. Corrupt are they and have done
abominable iniquity. There's none that doeth good.
God looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if
there were any that did understand. that did seek God. Every one
of them has gone back, and they are all together become filthy.
There is none that doeth good, no, not one. Have the workers
of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat
bread? They have not called upon God. There were they in the great
fear. There was no fear, there no fear
was. For God hath scattered the bones
of him that encampeth against thee, thou hast put them to shame,
because God hath despised them. Oh, that the salvation of Israel
were come out of Zion, when God bringeth back the captivity of
his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad. Chris is gonna go ahead and lead
us in our call to worship. All right, good morning. Take
your bulletin and turn to the call to worship, and we'll sing
it to the tune of Amazing Grace. And let's all be standing up
and sing. When oceans last, their depths
reveal The moons have ceased to wane. The Lamb who died and rose again
On Zion's hill shall reign. His name shall evermore endure,
when suns have ceased to shine, and through eternity the same
will sing His praise divine. As countless as the drops of
dew and sand upon the shore. On blessings which the ransomed
have been here forevermore. When every other name received
His name alone, and stole in Him reserve. ? There is a grace to satisfy
my soul ? All right, you can be seated now, and if you would,
take your hymnal and turn it to page 38, page 38. Joyful, joyful, we adore thee. Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee,
God of glory, Lord of love. Hearts unfold like flowers before
Thee, healthy as thy sun above. Melt the clouds of sin and sadness,
bright the dark of night. Give her of immortal gladness,
fill us with the light of day. All thy works with joy surroundeth,
earth and heaven afflict the wraith. Stars and angels sing
around thee, Center of unbroken praise. Fields and forests, vales
and mountains, Blossoming meadows, flashing seas, Fluttering birds
and flowing fountains, Call us to rejoice in thee. ? Thou art giving and forgiving
? Every blessing, every blessing ? Wellsprings of new joy of living
? Ocean depths of happy rest ? Thou the Father, Christ our
brother ? All who live in love are Thine ? Teach us how to Love
each other, lift up with the joy divine. Mortal, join the mighty chorus,
which the morning stars began. Father, love is reigning o'er
us, Brother, love bind man to man. Ever singing march we onward,
Victors in the midst of strife. Joyful music lift us onward,
In the triumph song of life. Turn in your Bibles if you will
to Kings chapter 10, 1st Kings chapter 10. Our brother Luke has asked that
we read 1st Kings chapter 10, 1 through 9. And when the king of Sheba heard
of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, She came
to prove him with hard questions. And she came to Jerusalem with
a very great train and camels that bear spices and very much
gold and precious stones. And when she was come to Solomon,
she communed with him of all that was in her heart. And Solomon
told her all her questions. There was not anything hid from
the king, which he told her not. And when the queen of Sheba had
seen all Solomon's wisdom, and house that he had built, and
the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and
the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers,
and his assent by which he went unto the house of the Lord, there
was no more spirit in her. And she said unto the king, it
was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts
and of thy wisdom. Howbeit, I believe not the words,
until I came and mine eyes had seen it, and behold, the half
was not told me. By wisdom and prosperity exceedeth
the fame which I heard. Happy are thy men. Happy are these thy servants,
which stand continually before thee, and they that bear thy
wisdom. Blessed is the Lord thy God,
which delighteth in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel,
because the Lord loved Israel forever. therefore made thee
king to do judgment and justice. May the Lord bless his word.
Let's bow in prayer. Our most high, heavenly, righteous,
holy father, we come before you this morning seeking a word from
thee. Lord, leave us not alone, but
grant us a word of salvation to your servant this morning.
I pray that you would give a word from thee that you might enable
Luke to recall his notes, give him liberty as he speaks. But Lord, more than anything,
we pray that you would send your spirit to be among us to anoint
those words to the hearts of your people. Lord, give us receiving
ears and receiving hearts, leave us not alone. Lord, we pray that
you would continue to guide this church, that the gospel might
go forth from here for many years to come. Lord, we are thankful
for all the many blessings that you've given us in our Lord Jesus
Christ. We're thankful for thy wisdom that allows you to remain
just, and yet justify sinners such as us, that you would put
away our filthy rags of self-righteousness and adorn us with the righteousness
of Christ, that we might come before thy throne of mercy, calling
thee Abba Father. Lord, what we ask for our congregation
here, our local assembly, Lord, we ask, for wherever men stand
to proclaim the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you would
feed your sheep, call them into your fold, reveal Christ in them. We pray for those who are going
through difficult times. Lord, we hold them up to thee.
We know that all things are for thy will and for thy glory. We
pray, Lord, that you would accomplish your will through what you have
appointed for those we love, and that it might be thy will
to restore them to us, that we might rejoice with them in our
Lord Jesus Christ. Once again, we give thanks and
praise All honor to our Lord Jesus Christ. And it's in his
name that we pray. Amen. All right. So Riley Cook is going to bless
us with a special this morning. It's been a while since we've
had a special music, so it's going to be very thankful to
see Riley here. And then after that, Luke's going
to come preach to us. I belong to the king I'm a child
of his love I shall dwell in his palace of air For he tells of his bliss in
yon heaven above, And his children its splendor shall share. I belong to the King, I'm a child
of his love, And he never forsaketh his own. will call me someday to his palace
above. I shall slare by his glorified
throne. I belong to the King, and he
loves me, I know, for his mercy and kindness so free. are unceasingly mine, wheresoever
I go, in my refuge unfailing is He. I belong to the King, I'm a child
of His love, and He never forsake it at all. He will call me someday to his
palace above, I shall dwell by his glorified throne. I belong to the King, and his
promise assured, That we all shall be gathered at last, in His kingdom above, my life's
water so pure, when this life with its trials is passed. I belong to the King, I'm a child
of His love, and He never forsaketh His Thank you, Raleigh. That was beautiful. All right. I don't think An introduction is needed for
Luke Coffey. I think everybody here knows
him well. But I am going to introduce you
because we love you. And so thankful that the Lord
has brought you here to preach to us this morning. It blesses me to see young men being
brought up that have a burden put on them to preach the word
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it just gives me hope that
there's still sheep out there that are going to be called.
And it's a blessing to hear. So Luke, without any further
ado, if you'll come up and give us what the Lord's put on your
heart. Good morning. It's good to be
with you all. What a blessed thought to belong
to the king, a child of his love. If you would open your Bibles
to 1 Kings chapter 10, where our brother read. 1 Kings chapter
10. This is a very familiar story,
one in which the name of the character sometimes even gets
more attention or understanding than even what the story is even
about, the Queen of Sheba. I remember her name always as
a child, hearing that, the Queen of Sheba. And I don't know if
I ever really even knew much about it. But this story, I remember
hearing it as a kid and thinking to myself that this is a rich
and powerful person who heard about another rich and powerful
person who went to go see them to see who was the richest and
the most powerful. That's kind of what that felt
like to me growing up. And I think she found her answer on who was,
but I think it's different than what people often analyze and
what people often think. And I'll come back to some more
lead up to this, but I think it's important we realize that
what actually was at stake with this journey. The Queen of Sheba
had heard of the fame of Solomon. She had heard something about
this king. Now this is a day and age where news did not travel
fast. Today, anything happens at any
place in the world in a matter of moments, depending on how
important or unique it is, everyone knows immediately. I can be going
about my day and my phone will buzz about something that has
happened halfway across the world that I didn't even know was going
on. But in this day and age, the only way to know something
was if someone else told you. Someone else had to either write
it down on a piece of paper and bring it to you, or they had
to come and tell you. It traveled just as fast as a
person could travel. And the queen of Sheba was a
long way away from Solomon. And it doesn't tell us exactly
how she heard this, but earlier in the book of Kings, it says
how she had heard something of this. So it was so, Solomon was
so impressive, or there was something so great about him that news
had traveled hundreds and hundreds and thousands and thousands of
miles. I'm not sure if one of her servants
had come across information. I'm not sure if a visitor had
come from where Solomon was. I'm not sure how this happened.
But it's important to realize it got to her. This news was
important enough to get to her. And it was such great news that
she had to take action. A lot of news, a lot of information
comes across our faces. We see a lot of things these
days. But almost all of it, what do we do? We dismiss it. It's
not important to us. But this was so important to
her, this impacted her so much that she decided to travel across
the known world to find out. Can you imagine someone telling
you something and you think to yourself, okay, I've got to risk
my life to travel across the world at great peril to see if
this is true. This journey would have taken
her at minimum months to travel it. She's a queen who is rich
and powerful. Why would she take that risk?
Well, look in verse one, and there's a phrase that I had never
noticed before, but changes everything. It says in verse 1, And when
the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the
name of the Lord, I imagine she had heard the fame
or of the riches or of the power of other kings or queens. But
this one, it was concerning the name of the Lord. There was something
different. There was something unique that
made her make the decision she had to go find out. It is quite
evident that the Queen of Sheba's visit to Solomon is a picture
of the sinner coming to Christ. For our Lord Himself referred
to it in Matthew when He said, 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. This says this woman traveled
across the world from the uttermost parts to hear of Solomon. But one that is much greater
than Solomon is here now. The Lord Jesus Christ. What was
it that she heard? What was unique about it? Well,
I think that three quick little things can summarize what the
difference was and what she had heard about Solomon. Because
she had heard many things, I'm sure. If she heard about him
from this far, she had heard many other things. But I think
she realized that this Solomon knew something that she didn't
know. This Solomon had something she didn't have, and he could
do things that she couldn't do. And that was enough for her to
travel across the world to find out, to see. Now, in this, verse
1, it says, And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of
Solomon, the fame of him, she'd heard great things about him.
So in this example that we're going to use, the Queen of Sheba
going to see Solomon as us sinners going to see Christ. So in this
example, we're the Queen of Sheba and Solomon is the Lord Jesus
Christ. In this example, she saw great things, heard of the
fame of him, and that's why she went. So what have we heard about
the fame of the Lord Jesus Christ? What things have we heard of
him? Because if we're going to use this illustration to risk
our life to go see somebody, there's got to be a reason, right?
I'm not risking my life to go see somebody unless there's something
in it for me or unless that person is great enough that it's worth
going to see, right? So let's just take a couple minutes
here. I know you know these things. I know you've had these different
things preached to you out of this Word, but let's just touch
a couple of them so that after a few minutes here, we can say
to ourself, yeah, there's no doubt that Lord Jesus Christ
is worth risking it all to go see. All right, turn with me
over to Isaiah chapter seven. Isaiah chapter seven. What have we heard considering
the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ? Isaiah chapter
7 verse 14 says, Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a
sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel. This man was
born of a virgin. It's the only time that's ever
happened. He's unique in that. Let me read you another verse
a couple pages over. For unto us a child is born, unto us a
son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders.
His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. And listen to this. In Galatians it says, 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. God Almighty was made
a man, made in the flesh. He became a man. You talk about
something amazing. God becoming a man? I mean, that's
worth going to see more about. Turn over to Hebrews chapter
1 with me. Hebrews chapter 1. Alright, how about the deity
and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ? Hebrews 1, look at verse 1. God,
who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto
the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken
unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things,
by whom also He made the worlds." Okay, so we find out that the
Lord Jesus Christ, He made the worlds. So He made everything.
Verse 3, "...who being the brightness of His glory, the express image
of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His
power, when He had by Himself purged our sins..." Okay, that
sounds pretty good. Does anybody want to go see someone
who can purge sins? The thing we can't get rid of?
The thing that's our death sentence hanging over us? The noose around
our neck? Our sins? This person purges
sins? He 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 under 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." The
deity and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. What about the
wisdom and power of Christ? I'll just read you a couple quick
verses. The wisdom and power of Christ. For by Him were all
things created that are in heaven, that are in earth. You know,
we hear this, the Lord Jesus Christ created all things. Well,
sometimes we have to be reassured that it really is all things.
I mean, how many times do we hear something? And this is,
so many people find fault with the scriptures because they like
to just pull threads. They like to try to, you know,
So it says He created all things that are in heaven, that are
in earth, things that are visible, things that are invisible, whether
they be thrones or dominions, principalities or powers, all
things were created by Him, and for Him. So not only did He just
create everything, but it was for Him. And He is before all
things, and by Him all things consist. Nothing can exist apart
from Him. 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. So everything dwells in Him.
Okay, so are we starting to maybe think this was a person we should
go and see? Is this a person that's worth
risking something to go and see? What about have we heard of the
death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ? Turn to 1
Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15. Alright, look at 1 Corinthians
15 verse 20. By now is Christ risen from the
dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. Well, let's
not skip over the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ rose from the
dead. Anybody able to do that? For
since by man came death, we're the reason for death, by man
came also the resurrection of the dead. He became a man so
that he could conquer death. Verse 22, For as in Adam all
die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every
man in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, afterward they
that are Christ's at his coming, Then cometh the end when he shall
have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when
he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power,
for he must reign, he must reign, till he hath put all enemies
under his feet. The last enemy that shall be
destroyed is death, for he hath put all things under his feet.
But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest
that he is accepted, which did put all things under him. And
when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son
also himself be subject unto him that put all things under
him, that God may be all in all. All his enemies will be made
a footstool. He rests his feet on the things
that bear against him. He's conquered over all things.
So we hear that the person and work of Christ, the deity, the
glory of Christ, the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus
Christ? What about His mercy that endureth forever? Are we
looking for grace? Well, it's sufficient for you.
All these things we could go on and on. We could spend for
eternity. And that's what we'll do in eternity.
Just look at all the things the Lord Jesus Christ has done for
his people, how amazing he is. But I say all of those things.
And Paul said this in Acts. He said, all these things, they
were not done in a corner. They were not hidden. All of
these things have been published in a book that is the most published
book ever. This book is everywhere. It's
harder to not find this book than it is to see the book. All
of this, it is known, all of these things. So we must realize,
isn't it worth going to the King? The title of this message is,
Come to the King. Come to Him. If the Queen of
Sheba went to see Solomon, what greater reason do we to have
to go see the Lord Jesus Christ? And this story is a great example.
You can turn back with me to 1 Kings 10. This is such a great
step-by-step process of what's going to happen. Of what happens
to the sinner when they come to the king. The queen here, having heard
of Solomon, came to him to see and hear for herself. This is
so important. We have to go to the king. We
want to go see. When he does a work in us, he
makes us to come see him. An overriding factor in everything
I'm going to say from here on out because I don't want to have
to repeat it. We cannot come to the Lord Jesus Christ unless
he makes us come. Okay, when I say come to the
King, this is not false religion saying, you just make a decision
and you do something for the Lord Jesus Christ. That's not
what this is. This is me saying, come to the
King because He will make you come. He'll have to make us come. So have that in the back of your
mind because it's always hard for me to say things to people
like, you've got to do this. This is not for your salvation.
We come to the King because He has saved us. That's why we do
it. But we have to come to Him. And
we've heard of the fame. She had heard of all these things.
Is this not what the sinner does? Comes to Christ? Let's go through
this. Look at the end of verse 1. It
says, She came to prove Him with hard questions. She came to prove
Him. I give everyone this same bit
of advice. Prove everything that you hear
from the pulpit. Prove it by this word. If someone
says something and you're not sure, look in the word. Look
in here. This book has the answers to
everything. Prove it. Prove that it's true.
You want someone to tell you what the word says. Prove it.
She came to prove it. She traveled all across the world.
And the first thing she had to do was she had to prove that
he was there, that he was real. Is this true? Now, how did she
do this? She did it with hard questions. Many old writers have some great
examples of these hard questions. But as I was thinking of this,
I thought, what makes something a hard question? What's a hard
question? Well, if I ask you right now,
out loud, what is three plus eight? Okay? Almost everyone
in this room thought to themselves of the answer immediately or
thought to themselves, well, that's so simple, I don't even
have to think about it. Well, there's someone in this
room sitting over here who thinks that's a really hard question.
So what's the definition of a hard question? One that we don't know
the answer to. There are a lot of questions
that you know the answer to that you didn't know the answer at
one time. So some of the simplest questions, who is the Lord Jesus
Christ, is a really hard question for a lot of people. I imagine
when she came to him, she did not start with an extremely complicated
question. She probably wasn't even sure
what question to ask. And that's us. Tell me you don't
have moments when you're praying and you have this silent moment
where you're thinking, I don't even know what to say. The Lord
has told me that if you ask, you will receive. And yet, I'm
thinking to myself, Lord, will you please, I don't even know
what to say. I don't know the answer. But
do you know what our Lord does? He will give us the questions.
Prove him with hard questions. The key to it is, ask the question. She asked the question. Verse
2 says, And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with
camels that bear spices, and very much gold, precious stones. And when she was come to Solomon,
she communed with him of all that was in her heart. She opened
up her heart. That's where we start when we
come to the Lord. We're not coming to Him for information. We're not coming to Him for facts.
We're not coming to him so that we can have something to say
or an example or a testimony. We're coming to him because our
heart needs him. He makes us to see our need of
him. We come to him with our heart
and it says all that was in her heart. Our Lord knows everything. His omnipotence means that he
doesn't just see what we do and he doesn't just hear what we
say. But He knows the inner workings of our heart and our mind. He
knows it all. But when we come to the King,
our heart is open. That's the true coming. We come
with our heart. It's open to Him. Look in verse
3. And Solomon told her all her
questions. Remember a second ago when I
said she came with hard questions? And what's a hard question? It
says Solomon told her all her questions. It is very comforting
to me to know that I don't have to come up with the right questions.
You know, that's a good way. Can you imagine a test at school?
If you went in there and the teacher said, we've got a test
today, and you sat down and the paper was blank, and she said,
now you have to figure out the questions before you answer them.
Anybody have a moment there where you think, well, I don't even
know where to start? Well, that's a sinner. before God, thinking,
I don't even know what to do. I'm dependent upon him to even
show me who he is. He gives us the questions. Now,
the margin for mine says, And Solomon told her all her words.
So not just he'll give us the questions, but he'll give us
the words, too. He'll give us everything. He will. Our God
provides for us everything. He'll give us the words, the
questions. And Solomon told her all her questions. There was
not anything hid from the king. There was not a single thing
that Solomon did not know about the queen of Sheba. It says nothing
was hid from her. Now, whether that means he understood
it or she told him everything in this exchange, he knew everything. Our Lord knows everything about
us, everything. But do you know what it doesn't
say? It doesn't say she knew everything about him. We do not
understand and see a clear picture of our God, of his providence,
of his plan, of his work, all of it. We don't see any of that.
The whole we see through a glass dimly, we see we're veiled and
all that, but he sees everything for us. And that's what matters,
right? In a relationship of our Savior and the one who's being
saved, the one who's being saved does not need to know anything
apart from the Savior is saving them. The Savior is the one who
needs to know everything. And thankfully, that's our relationship.
Things are hid from us, but nothing is hid from our God. Nothing.
And there was not anything hid from the king which he told her
not. Now, wait a minute. This says
here that nothing was hid from him and nothing that he didn't
tell her. Now, I did just say to you, right,
that we don't know everything when it says that he told her
there was nothing that he didn't tell her. This doesn't mean that
she had all the information. This means that he told her everything
she needed to know. It's a great thing that the Lord
just tells us what we need to know. Can you imagine if we knew
everything in this flesh and this sin, what that would do
to us? Thankfully, we know that our God is great, our Savior,
is perfect. He is in control. He can do everything. Leave it to him. That's why we
come to him. We come to him and I don't want
to get ahead of myself, but we come to him and he tells us he's
the one who does the work for 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, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel,
and his cupbearers, and his assent by which he went up into the
house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her." When
she got there and saw everything, she was amazed at it all. Can
you imagine the journey she took And this is a queen, okay? And we know from some of the
things she brought with her, we know that she had great wealth,
she had great power, she had a great kingdom, all these things.
And imagine the thing she says here, that when she saw the food
on his table, she saw the way his servants sat, the attendance,
the standing of his ministers, the way the people stood. their
clothing they wore, the people who bore his cups, and the way
that he went, the way that Solomon moved, there was no more spirit
in her. She was completely overcome by
it. She had never seen anything like
it. She had never thought of anything like it. I feel like
my imagination and dreams go a long way with certain things.
To think that when we see our Lord, Our imaginations cannot
approach that. She was so amazed that she couldn't
she was overcome. I'm sure she couldn't speak.
I'm sure she couldn't do anything. All because of these little things,
the little things, the attendance of her servants and to think. That the way those people were
standing, those people were sitting, all of those things, they were
worthy of her, they were worthy of him, I'm sorry. The way that
he, who he was, Solomon was, all of that portrayed based off
who Solomon was. The way his servants were, the
cupbearers and all those things. When we go to see the Lord, we
will be amazed at his glory and everything involved in it, all
of it. There was no more spirit in her. And this is also with
us coming to the Lord. When He draws us to us, He will
take this old flesh, this sin, this nature. He'll give us a
new nature, a new heart that we might be changed. We need
Him to do that for us. Look in verse 6. And she said
to the king, it was a true report that I heard in my own lands
of thy acts and thy wisdom." When she was finally able to
speak, all she could say was it was a true report. Those messengers
that had come to me, the people had told me about you, In the
way she says this, I totally see her saying this in a disbeliefful
way of being like, it was so amazing what I had heard that
I risked my life, my kingdom and everything to travel across
the world to come see about this. But I didn't think it was, there's
no way it was gonna live up to that. But it was, it was true. Now how many things have we heard,
rumors, stories, anything? Is there anything we hear nowadays
that's true? Now everything might have a hint
of truth, but there's no such thing as a true statement anymore. It just feels like everything's
exaggerated, everything's manipulated, everything's changed. Now I can't
even look at a picture without knowing if it's just totally
made up or not. Even if our eyes deceive us. But she came across
the world to see it was all true. Every single thing that we read
in this book, every single word, is true. All of it, every bit
of it, even the parts in here that we read one verse and we
read another verse and the two of them look and you're like,
I don't know. It's true. It is. It's all true. We don't
have the understanding, the comprehension. But one day this will fall into
the category of a hard question that the king will answer and
he will give us the answer to it. He will show us. So she said
all of it was true. And she said to the king, it
was a true report that I heard in mine own land of the accent
of thy wisdom. Verse seven, how be it I believe
not the words until I came and mine eyes had seen it. Lord,
I believe help my unbelief. I've told you at least five times
this morning already that everything in this book is true. Yet I doubt
it all the time. If I honestly believe in the
scriptures, When it says certain things and then I just act in
a way that shows I don't really believe it. How can I then say
that I believe it? If I read it, come unto me and
be ye saved. And then I think to myself, well,
if I come to him, does that really mean I'm saved? I mean, we just
do this constantly. But she said, I didn't believe
it until I came and my eyes had seen it. Until the Lord Jesus
Christ reveals himself. until He opens our eyes and reveals
Himself to us. We will not believe. No man or
woman can believe on the Lord Jesus Christ apart from Him making
them to believe. It just doesn't happen. That's
a hard question. I have no idea why we as sinners,
as horrible people who are in desperate need of someone to
save them, cannot believe on someone who says they will save
someone, and we have seen other people who believe it, and it
says it. What other option do we have? Yet we don't believe
it. We cannot believe apart from
him making us to believe. She said, I wouldn't believe
it until I'd seen it. And then it says, and behold,
I've seen it, I believe it now that my eyes have seen it. The
half was not told me. She said, I didn't believe that
there was any way this was true, but now I've seen it and I realize
that it is so much greater than has ever been advertised. The
most eloquent speaker, preacher that you've ever heard talk about
the wonderful grace of the Lord Jesus Christ has not done it
any justice at all. The moment we see him in his
glory, it will be the most overwhelming thing we could ever imagine.
And it goes one of two ways. It's the most overwhelming thing
in the world if you're in the Lord Jesus Christ and his countenance
upon you is love and he's your savior or the opposite in the
sense that you stand before a holy God in your sin or in what you
think is your own righteousness. Either way, it will be the most
overwhelming moment because when we see him, It will just be amazing. It will. It truly will. How be
it I believe not the words until I came and mine eyes had seen
it and behold, the half was not told me, by wisdom and prosperity
exceedeth the fame which I had heard." All these things, everyone
building it up, everyone talking about how great it is. That's
what I'm doing right now. I'm building this up. I keep saying
how amazing it is and all that stuff. And I'm sure that someone's
thinking to themselves, okay, it's okay, you don't have to
keep going on this. No, I promise you, what I'm saying right now
is nothing compared. There's no If I can have one
out of infinity, I'm not doing it justice. It's just that much
greater. She said, it exceeded the fame
which I had heard. And then she says, happy are
thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually
before thee, and that hear thy wisdom. She says, happy is everyone
around you. She goes, happy are these thy
servants. She said, this is amazing. She said, you're so wonderful
that everyone that's in your presence is just happy. I remember,
and I'm sure plenty of you have heard this phrase from the same
voice that I've heard it from as a child, when Henry and people
would say things about what a blessing it would be to be a street sweeper
in glory. And I remember thinking to myself, I don't like sweeping
and I sure don't want to be a street sweeper. What this says here,
these servants, these people whose job is to serve Solomon,
they didn't want to be anywhere else. They could have had any
job in the kingdom, they could have been anything, and they
just wanted to be next to the king. What can I do to be next
to the king? And that's the sinner, that's
the child of God before him. And we can't do it on our own,
he has to make us, he has to give us that. to be in the presence
of our God. Anything. Anything. Give me a
job. Do whatever it is. Just give
me whatever it is to do. I don't care what I hate to do.
Put me before the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it will be
like. It really will. And our sin gets
in the way. I said I don't like sweeping.
I don't like household chores. Whatever it is. It doesn't matter
what the example is. Our Lord is so great that everything
that has to do with Him is wonderful. It really is. Everything is wonderful. My pastor was preaching the other
day talking about these different things in glory, that there won't
be any sickness, there won't be any sadness, there won't be
any tears, like all these things that rule our lives and that
are always overbearing us and we're always worried, there won't
be any fear, there won't be all these things. Like, it will be
perfect. Everyone in His presence will
just be happy. truly happy. Verse 9 says, Blessed
be the Lord thy God which delighteth in thee to set thee on the throne
of Israel. I don't know how long it was
from when she got to him to she got to this place. I'm not sure
if they had a conversation with our Lord with the wisdom that
he gave Solomon. You know Solomon, he asked Solomon
anything he wanted and he asked to be able to rule over the people
and he gave him wisdom and he gave him everything. So Solomon
obviously had enough wisdom to answer these questions and to
bestow what he knew to her. He could have done that in a
matter of moments. It could have taken weeks. I'm not sure how
long it was. But the point being, at this point, she then says
this, blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee
to set thee on the throne of Israel. She knew that Solomon
was who he was because of the Lord Jesus Christ. She realized
that she gave him all the glory. It says, because the Lord loved
Israel forever, therefore made he the king to do judgment and
justice because God Almighty loved his chosen people because
he elected a people for the foundation of the earth. And he chose them
and he loves them. They're his children because
he did that. He set the Lord over them because
he loved them. and made him the king, Christ
the king. He is our king. And he did that
so that he would do judgment and justice for them. How great
it is to think that we have one who rules and reigns over us,
who loves us. We're the adopted son, we're
his children, we're his heir, his heir, meaning that we're
in the inheritance. Like, we get what He has. He's
righteous. We get that. We get His righteousness. And not just that He gives us
that, but that He took what we had. We've got a death sentence. Our sin, our nature, it must
be punished. It doesn't just say that He rules
over us. He says, judgment and justice. Sin must be punished. It has to be punished. Which
is why the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross. He took our
sin. and made it his very own. And
he died for that. He bore all our sin. And that's why we get his righteousness.
He took our place because of that. And she understood it.
Blessed be the Lord, thy God, which delighteth in thee. She
realized when she got there that the things that she the reason
she went, she thought he must know something that I don't know.
Well, he knew the Savior. And she thought, well, he has
something that I don't have. Well, he had a savior who had
the power to save. And then he does things. He does
things that I cannot do. He can impart the knowledge,
the wisdom. He can choose a people. He has
done this. The Lord Jesus Christ has done all things for us in
salvation. And let me close with this little
story. I don't know if you all have
ever had this happen, but I imagine every single person has been
victim to this at least once. As a child, I remember watching
TV and hearing something on the TV, a commercial, an advertisement. This time of year, it's very
popular. If you just call this number, You get this. And I remember as a kid just
jumping out of my seat, running through the house to my dad and
being like, if we call this number, I get this toy. I get it. And I remember my dad looking
at me and being like, it's it's too good to be true. And I'd
be like, no, it says it like I'm reading the words, like it
says it's free and whatever and stuff. And him being like, there's
nothing free, son. That's not how it is. And of
course, I did the same thing that my kids do. When they do
that, I just put my head down, walk back into the room thinking
to myself, well, he didn't know what he's talking about. You
know, if I just call, you know, if I could just get this. Well,
all of this that we heard, all of it, okay, it is too good. But it's true. This is true. It is. And the whole thing of,
you don't get anything for free. The Lord Jesus Christ has free
grace. It says it over and over again,
it is free. Salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ
is free. We must come to the King, beg
Him, Lord make me come. Drag me, kicking and screaming.
Make me come. If I throw a temper tantrum and
I'm on the floor of a store, grab me by the neck, yank me
out of there and take me where I need to go. Because that's
who I am. That's what I'm going to do.
I don't want to come. I don't want to do what he says. I want
to reign over myself. I'm in charge here. Break me.
Bend the knee, force me to go down. Save me, Lord. By your
free grace, save me. Lord, please, make us all come
to the King. Okay. Thank you, Lou. Okay, in closing, if you would
take your hymnal, and we'll turn it to page 67, and let's be closing
as we sing, How Can It Be. Let's be standing. O Savior, as my eyes behold the
wonder of Thy might untold, the heav'nly glory, the light of
ray, the best creation Thou hast made. And yet to think thou lovest
me, my heart cries out, how can it be? How can it be? How can it be that God should
love a soul like me? Oh, how can it be? As at the cross, I humbly bow
and gaze upon thy thorn-crowned brow, And view the precious bleeding
form By cruel nail so bruised and torn. Knowing thy suffering
was for me, in grief I cried, How can it be? How can it be? How can it be that God should
love a soul like me? Oh, how can it be? How can it be? How can it be? Was Evergreen so full and free? From heights of bliss to depths
of woe In loving kindness Thou didst go From sin and shame to
rescue me O love divine, how can it be? How can it be? How can it be that God should
love a soul like me? Oh, how can it be?