But a dear, dear friend of mine,
preacher brother of mine, I know him longer than I know anybody
else, Bruce Crabtree, his father died last year. Bruce would go
down and stay with him for days at a time, talk with him, take
care of him. And Bruce would always witness to him about the
righteousness of Christ, facing God only and the righteousness
of Christ. Well, the old man got ready to
die. He was in his 90s. And Bruce, you know, said, Dad,
you don't want to go into eternity with your own righteousness.
You've got to face God only in the righteousness of Christ.
And he preached the gospel to him over and over. And then he
got ready to die. And he said, Dad, can you trust
Christ? He said, I'd be scared to death
to face God with just Him without something of my own. And that's
the last thing. Scared to death to face God without
something of my own. I'm scared of death. I'd hate
to stand here and face God with anything I'm on right this moment.
Yeah. Some people say they've got a
weak spot. Well, I ain't got no strong spot. I'm weak on my
right, on my left, behind me, in front of me, on top of me,
in the bottom of me. There's no strength in me anywhere.
So, one fellow said, God take care of my blind spot. I'm blind
all the way around. He's got to take care of it all.
Don't he has to take care of it all? If he don't, what are
we going to do? What part did he leave undone
that we'd have to do? Don't want to do that. Well,
we'll read the first 10 verses here and talk about Solomon and
the Queen of Sheba. Make a few comments about it.
And when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning
the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions. And she came to Jerusalem with
a very great train, with camels that bear great 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 the house that he had built,
and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants,
and the attendant 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. And she said to the king, It
was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts
and of thy wisdom. Howbeit, I believed not the words
until I came, and mine eyes had seen. And behold, the half was
not told me. Thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth
the fame which I heard. Happy are thy men, happy are
these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, that
hear thy wisdom. Blessed be the Lord thy God,
which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel.
Because the Lord loved Israel forever, therefore made he thee
king to do judgment and justice. And she gave the king 120 talents
of gold, and spices of very great store, and precious stones. And
there came no more such abundance of spices as these, which the
queen of Sheba gave to Solomon." Well, it's obvious when I read
that, I'm sure that many of you all have seen the gospel, seen
our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, our Lord Jesus, one
day the fellows was looking at the lilies of the field, and
they said, oh, how pretty they are, how beautiful they are.
And our Lord says, they neither toil nor spend, they don't do
anything at all. And the Father addressed them,
and they got greater glory than Solomon ever had, and He said,
and behold, a greater than Solomon is here. And then He told about
the judgment. He said, the Queen of Sheba shall
arise, the Queen of the South shall arise, and condemn this
generation. The people he was preaching to,
the Jewish nation, said she'll condemn these people. Because
she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom
of Solomon. And behold, a greater than Solomon
is here. And that's what if we got to
see the greater Solomon right here. Now here's this Queen of
Sheba, this Queen of the South. She came to Solomon. And why
did she come for? Well, first of all, she came
because of what she heard. And that's what you come for.
You come because you're here. If you come to Solomon, if you
come to Christ, you come because you're here. And that's what
she heard. It says here, when the Queen
of Sheba, verse 1, when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of
Solomon. She heard of his fame. She heard
of his glory. She heard of his power. She heard
of his majesty. And beloved, that's what the
Scripture said. How then shall you call on him whom you have
not heard? How shall he hear of him without a preacher? You
know, so many people, they get folks to the front to accept
Jesus and they don't have no clue who He is. But here she
heard the fame of Him. What kind did she hear? Well,
first of all, she heard the fame of His power. And she said she
heard the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord. You see,
that's where the power comes from the name of the Lord, the
authority of Christ. That's where God, Christ, God
gave Christ all of His authority. All power in heaven and earth
has been given unto me. And it's the nearness to the
name, it's the nearness to God, it's the oneness with the Father
that gave Christ all of His power and all of His glory. He says,
you know, I do always those things which please my Father. And our Father said to him, said,
this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear Him.
And you know, I came down from heaven not to speak of myself,
but to speak of Him. And that's why she heard of Solomon
concerning the name of the Lord. He knows God. He knows God. I'm going to go over there because
He knows the Lord. And oh, that's what our Lord
Jesus. He's got His glory because God sent Him into this world.
God gave Him the authority. God gave Him the power. God gave
Him the glory. God said, if you're going to
do business with me, you're going to come to Him. And then look
here, not only that, but the fame of His wealth. Look down
at verse 21. She heard of the fame of His
wealth, the fame of His riches. And all of King Solomon's drinking
vessels were of gold, and all of the vessels of the house of
the forest of Lebanon were pure gold. None of it was silver.
And there was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon. Everything he had was made out
of gold. And oh my, the fame of his riches! And guess what
we get to talk about? Guess what we have? We have the
unsearchable riches of the Lord Jesus Christ. How rich is our
Lord Jesus Christ? I'll tell you how rich He is.
He has been supplying His people out of His storehouse. from Adam
all the way to the day until the day of the end of his coming
and he's got as much today as he had when he started and when
we get to eternity he'll have just as much as he did from the
day he made this earth till it comes to an end. He's wealthy,
keeps taking out of his store and he's just as wealthy as he
was when he started. He just gives out handfuls, handfuls,
handfuls, handfuls and he's as wealthy now as he was when he
started. I was at a funeral the other day and this The fellow
said, I thought this preacher and his wife would be there.
And I said, but you know, they got lots and lots of money now.
Their daddy left them. They're millionaires. He said,
I guess they're out taking care of their investments. And I said,
well, I've got a heapsot better inheritance than they got. All
their daddy could leave them was money. Christ has gave me,
God's gave me the riches of Christ in His glory. The wealth of His
power, the wealth of His love, the wealth of His grace, the
wealth of His justification. Everything that God has, He has
just blessed us abundantly, that's what He called, abundantly in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And over in Ephesians 2 it talks
about the exceeding riches of His grace. That means more than
enough. In Him, in Christ dwelleth the
fullness of the Godhead bodily. All that God is dwells in Him. No wonder that's all we need,
Milton. And then not only does she hear the fame, and you hear,
you got to hear, got to hear. You've got to hear the fame of
His power. Hear the fame of His wealth.
And oh beloved, the fame of His wisdom. Look down in verse 6. And she said to the king, It's
a true report that I heard in mine own land of the acts, of
thy acts, and of thy wisdom. The fame of His wisdom. And look
down in verse 24. And all the earth, sought to
Solomon to hear his wisdom which God put in his heart. And oh
beloved, listen. You know where the wisdom of
God dwells? In the Lord Jesus Christ. To them which are called,
Christ is the power and wisdom of God. In the Lord Jesus Christ
we see the wisdom of God and how God can be just. and justifier
of them that believe." Oh, the wisdom of God to make a world
and sustain it. But you read it this morning,
quoted it this morning. That everything that God, the
wisdom of this world and all how it's sustained and all that
it goes on. God made it by Christ. Christ
is the creator of this. And the wisdom that went into
creation. The wisdom that God made in this
world. And the wisdom that God made in saving sinners like us. How that the bar of justice called
us all to stand forth. Give an account of yourself.
Give an account of your sin. Give an account of your thoughts.
Give an account of your heart. And God in wisdom said, well
truth and justice must win out. I must damn that man. I must
punish that man. But love and mercy and grace
and wisdom stood up and said, I know a way. whereby I can stay
true to justice and truth and righteousness and save that sinner
and punish him and slay him for his sin. And it was Immanuel
himself shall stand up And I'll accept Him and I'll accept His
righteousness. I'll accept His power. I'll accept
His death. I'll accept everything He gives.
And I'll take Him and I'll slay Him in their place. And I'll
charge my sin to their account. And I'll take His righteousness
and put it on their account. And so they are punished. They
are slain. And they all have life at the
same time. and all the wisdom of God in
Christ. Oh, bless His holy name. I mean,
beloved, standing now in the very presence of God, because
of the Lord Jesus Christ in His infinite wisdom, that God can
stay true to Himself in His glory, stay true to His righteousness,
stay true to His truth, and yet at the same time magnify His
grace. magnifies justice, magnifies
love, magnifies power, magnifies glory in saving sinners like
us and making us stand before Him without any sin whatsoever. Oh, I thought, bless Him, I,
you know, I never get over this. I never get over this. I never
have got over this shit. How that I have not got by with
one sin I've committed. I have been punished for every
single one of them. I have suffered death for every
single one of them. God has poured out His wrath
on me for every single one of them. I have suffered separation
from God for every single one of them. Sins that I don't even know that
I've ever committed because I'm ignorant of them. Sins so part
and parcel of me that I don't even know I'm committing them
at times. But every one of them has been done. Where at? In Christ. Oh, the wisdom of God. The wisdom
of God. I ain't getting by. And now, I've got the very righteousness
of God Himself. Oh, you see, she heard of His
wisdom. Heard of His wisdom. And listen, God made Christ unto
us wisdom. You know what that... You fellas
tell me if I'm wrong. You preachers tell me if I'm
wrong. But when I see there that Christ is made unto us wisdom,
to me that means that how am I going to know God? How am I
going to know Him in His attributes? How am I going to understand
this Bible? How am I going to understand myself? How am I going
to understand the wisdom of God? How am I going to understand
the Scriptures. How am I going to understand
my own heart? And Christ has made unto me wisdom whereby I
can know something about God, have a spiritual grasp of God,
have a spiritual understanding of spiritual things. Christ has
made unto me wisdom where I can have some of the sense of God
and His Scriptures, and myself, and the nature and character
of God. If Christ hadn't been made wisdom to me, I wouldn't
know straight down falling out of a tree. And you wouldn't either. Ain't that right? Now, so while
she heard, let's look what she did. And it says there that when
the Queen of Sheba, verse 1, heard of the fame of Solomon
concerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard
questions. She came to Jerusalem, and with very great train bare
spices, and was prescient. And when she was come to Solomon,
she's come to Solomon, See, she heard about him. She said, I
want to go. I want to go see this man. I want to go hear this
man. I want to go sit at his feet. I want to go. And see,
she didn't make light of it. She said, well, I've heard about
him. He's no doubt a wonderful man. He's no doubt a powerful
man. He's no doubt a wise man. And she didn't make light of
it. She said, I'm going to get up and go. I want to go. I want to see for myself. I want
to hear for myself. I want to talk with him by myself.
I want to set at his feet myself. She wasn't like Felix. It wasn't
like Felix when Paul, Felix told Paul, said, you know, depart
from me and I'll bring you to more convenient seasons and listen
to what you got to say. She said, I want to go and hear
for myself. Huh? She didn't postpone it.
And then look what it says back up there in verse, she came to
prove Him with hard questions. Hard questions. There's some
hard questions to answer in this world. I'll tell you, there's
a lot of questions in the Bible. Lots of questions. And our God
asked the first one, Adam, where are you? And when God asks questions
and Christ asks questions, He does not ask for information.
He asks questions to give us information. to let us know something. But he asked a question in Job
chapter 9. He said, how can a man be just
with God? That's a good question. How can
a man be just with God? The heavens are not pure in his
sight. Behold, the moon and stars, they don't even shine. And oh,
here's another hard question. When a man dies, shall he live
again? Oh, that's a... Well, that's a good question,
ain't it? And when our Lord went to Nicodemus and said, you must
be born again, the first thing old Nicodemus said, how can a
man, when he's old, be born again? How can it be? My father's lost
75 years old. before he ever got converted.
How would he be born again? Is he going to be like Nicodemus?
I'll get in my mother's womb and start all over again. He
said, if you do that, you're going to be just like he was
the first time. Well, you come out with the wrong nature. So
you must have a new nature. You must be born again. You must
be made spiritual. And in the new birth, God takes
and brings into existence a person who never existed before. He
makes a new creature. He created in Christ Jesus. Only God can create. And you
must be born of the Spirit. And you know, beloved, that this
idea, you know, that a person's made... You know as well as I
do. Did you ever have a problem with sin till you got the new
nature? Did you ever have any problem
with sin? Now your thoughts become evil to you. Huh? Your eyes become
evil to you. Your feelings become evil to
you. I never had any problem with my thoughts and feelings
before I got converted. Oh, no! And all of a sudden he
brings it up, she came with this, how can a man be born? How can
I be born again? Oh, and then what about this
question? When the angel came to Mary and
says, you know, you're going to have a son. Holy Ghost don't
come on you and that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall
be called the Son of the Highest." She said, how can these things
be? I've never known a man. So, oh, they come with all these
hard questions. And oh, beloved, and she came
to Him. She didn't just think of Him. And you know why she
came to Him? And you know why if anybody else
comes to Him? All that the Father gives me. And they shall all
come to Me. Huh? In the day of His power. The day of what power? The day
that you hear of Him. In the day of His power. He makes
His people willing. And they come to Him, beloved.
Blessed is the man whom Thou choosest and causes to approach
unto Thee. Oh, come unto Me, our Savior
said. Come unto Me. You want to know
the Father? You've got to come to Me. And oh, listen. If any man is
thirsty, in that last day, that great day of the feast, if any
man is thirsty, let him come to Me. And then it says there
in verse 2, And she came to Jerusalem, in the last part of the verse,
when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him. She communed
with him. What did she do? She told him
all her heart. Told him all her heart. Ain't that what we do when we
come to Him? We just lay our hearts bare? Nothing's hid from
Him. We just lay our heart bare. She
poured out her heart to Him. She told her all that was in
her heart. Told her all that was in her soul. And beloved,
that's what we do. We come to Christ. And when we
come to Him, our hearts are just laid open before Him. Everything
about us is just open with Him. We just pour out our hearts.
And there's an old preacher who used to say, he says, God does
not send honest men to hell. And He doesn't. God makes you
honest. When she sat before Solomon,
she understood Solomon and all of his wisdom and all of his
power that he saw right into her heart. And that's what Christ
does. He sees into our heart and we lay it bare. We tell Him
all our heart. In fact, once we start ever telling
Him all that's in our heart, He's the only one we'll ever
tell Him all that's in our heart. I wouldn't think about telling
you what's in my heart. I wouldn't tell my wife what's
in my heart. But I tell Him everything that's
in my heart. And that's so assuring to me
that God knows me. I'm just as transparent to Him
as a clear glass sitting right up here right now. And you know,
there it is, Lord. Lay it out. Lay it out. And look what it says down here
now in verse 3. And Solomon told her all her
questions. He answers your questions. How
are you going to be just? He'll answer that question for
you. Will a man live again? He'll answer that question for
you. He that believeth in me shall never die. How can a man
be born again? You come to Him. And well, listen,
you won't come to Him till He gives you the new birth. He's
got to give you the faith. You won't ever call on Him till
He gives you that new birth. When a baby is born, first thing
it does is cry. Already had life, but the life,
the crying out is what gives evidence of its life. And when
Christ gives you life, you start crying out to Him. Have mercy
on me. Look at my heart. Oh God, it's
so wicked. Take my heart. Give me a new
heart. Give me a new spirit. Oh, and the king hid nothing
from her. And oh, our Lord Jesus Christ, He answers these questions
and He opens our heart and He keeps back nothing of Himself
concerning Himself. He lets us know Himself. Oh,
bless His holy name. Now, let me look at what she
did. Look what she saw when she got
there. She came to Him. She heard about Him. She came
to Him. All these questions. He told
her heart. He told her and answered all
of her heart. Look what she saw. First thing she saw in verse
4. And when the Queen of Sheba has
seen all Solomon's wisdom. It's always wisdom. It's always
wisdom. You know, a fellow told me years
and years ago, if you'll ever see Christ as the wisdom of God,
you'll understand the Gospel. You'll understand the Gospel.
She saw His wisdom. She saw the wisdom of God. She
saw the wisdom and glory of God in him. And she saw all of that
infinite wisdom. She saw the wisdom of God of
salvation that amazed her and it still amazes us today. I'm still utterly and absolutely
amazed. When God first taught me the
gospel years ago, the first two years, all I'd done was that's
all I preached on. How can we be just with God?
How can we be just with God? That's all I could think about.
How can I be just with God? I sit on my porch and all I can
see is my sinfulness. How can I be just with God? How
can God accept me? How can God have any dealings
with me? How can God look in my direction? How can God speak
to me? How can God have anything to do with me? And the only answer is Christ. That's the only answer. You know,
He chose me in Christ. Didn't he? Before the foundation
of the world. He loved me in Christ and in
love he predestinated me so that I'd be one of his children. And
why did he do it? Because it was according to his
own good pleasure. And he made me accepted in the
Beloved. Made me redeemed in his blessed
Son. And all this salvation amazes
us, those who have come to Christ, those who have sat at the Lord's
feet. It's just amazing. Never get
over it. Never get over it. The word grace. Have you ever
got over that word grace? Grace. Grace. Nothing in us. Grace. Nothing
we do. Grace. Nothing we think. Grace. Nothing we feel. Grace. Everything
is by grace. Grace is in Christ. We never
ever want to earn the first blessing from God Almighty. Not the first
time. We've never earned and never
will earn a blessing from God if God blesses us for Christ's
sake. You say, well, if you don't pray,
you won't be blessed. I'll tell you what, If there's
ever anything that keeps God from blessing you, that means
that there's something wrong with you or something right with
you. And there ain't nothing about you that causes God to
ever do anything for you or me. He does this strictly for Christ's
sake. One of the preachers preached
the last Sunday morning of our meeting, Greg Amquist, and he
was preaching out of Zephaniah, and he said he loved to sing
over you and rejoice over you and he loves you. He said, he
made this statement, he said, we sometimes feel like God just
puts up with us, endures us, for Christ's sake. But no, he
said, that's not the way it is. He said, God loves loving us. He loves loving us. He loves loving us. He's not just putting up with
us. He's not just endearing us. He's not holding his nose. You know, He said, there are
sins and iniquities I will remember no more. Why? Because they're
not there. You can't remember something
that ain't there. Something that has gone. Oh my, not only she's seeing
wisdom, look down here in verse 4. And she saw the house that
He had built. Oh, you mentioned it a minute
ago, the house. This is a church building. We're the house of
God. You know, Moses was a faithful
servant over his house. But he was just a servant in
the house. Christ is the Son over the house whose house we
are. And a house means everybody involved
in that house. The servants and the sons and
everybody. That means the genealogy. That
means the progeny. That means all the people that
come from that house. And we're the house of Christ.
Huh? Look with me over in Ephesians
2. Look at Ephesians 2. Oh, here's where we're at. This
is where we're at. Oh, we're a spiritual house. Spiritual house. Spiritual building. And we offer spiritual sacrifices
made acceptable to God in Christ. Don dealt with that soul so well
last night. Spiritual altar. Spiritual sacrifices. But here in verse 19, look what
it says, Ephesians 2, Now therefore you are no more strangers and
foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household
of God, and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, and that means on what they taught,
on what they preached, upon the doctrine that God gave them.
Jesus Christ Himself being the chief coroner, in whom all the
building in Christ fitly framed together groweth unto a holy
temple in the Lord, in whom also you are built together for a
habitation of God through the Spirit. All of us believers here
right now, we're just a building of God and God dwells in this
building. You know, it always amazes me when somebody's getting
ready to build a house or something, they'll bring three or four bundles
of 2x4s and 2x6s and lay them down there, three or four bundles
of wafer board and they'll lay it all down there. Somebody will
take all that stuff and they will take all that in those big
piles and in a little while, those piles will be gone and
there will be a house here. They took a pile of nothing there,
you know, something just, just a pile of lumber. Now how are
they going to take all that and turn it into something like this?
That's what God done. He took all that and built Him a house and me and
you in that house. We have that household. That
household. And oh beloved, let me show you
something else you saw back over here. I don't know how long I've
gone here. Not only did she see his house,
but she saw his table. Look down here in verse 5. And she saw the house that he
built and the meat of his table. Oh my, when he sets the table,
what a table he sets. He sets the table, you know he
sets this wonderful table, right in the middle of it. Right in
the middle of it sets Christ and all that's in Him. There's
His righteousness. There's His wisdom. There's His
glory. There's His love. There's His
justification. There's His forgiveness. There's
His long-suffering. There's His patience. There's
His election. There's His power. There's His
compassion. There's His mercy. And all the
tables sit with all of these wonderful things. And we just
sit and just enjoy them, eat them. And all night long until
she sees table and look what it says, she saw His provision.
That's His provision. And oh, God has blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Folks, you
know, in Pentecostalism and all that, they ask if you got the
second blessing yet. I got them all. Got them all. Got them all at one time. You
know, but he just doles them out to me as I need them. Oh, John Bunyan said he has bags
of mercy yet unbroken. And then look what else she saw. In the setting of His servants.
She saw His servants. Look how His servants are. They're
setting. Who ever heard of servants setting? The Master does everything in
this house. That's what you know when you
talk about resting in Christ. That's what it means. It means
reposing. It means reposing. Every one of you men's got an
easy chair, don't you? Every single one of you's got
one. Most of them's got a footstool in them. You just push a button
and a footstool comes out. And when you get in that thing,
you don't want to be bothered. When I get in mine, my wife says,
can I bring you anything? Because she knows I'm not getting
out. And here we are. This is what it means to do in
Christ. Repose yourself. He that has ceased from his labor
has entered into his rest. Christ ceased from His labor.
He sits at God's right hand. And if He finished the work,
then I'm going to sit down and rest in Him. That's why we're
preaching all the time, ain't we, Don? Quit working. Rest. Stop. Don't do nothing. Well, I need to come to the front.
No, you need to come to Christ. I need to get on an altar. Christ
is your altar. I need to have a feeling. You
need Christ. I need to do something. No, you
don't need to do nothing but in your heart and soul say, Oh,
I'm coming to Him who is everything. Them preachers told me that He
did it all. And I'm going to stop working
and Lord, here I go. I'm going to fall back. And if you don't catch me, I'm
going to perish. But just as the minute you fall,
He'll catch you. He'll never let you fall. And
that's what we do. We throw ourselves on Him. And
oh, we're setting. Oh, my. Oh, my. We're setting. Oh, she saw them setting. And
then look what else she said here. And she saw their apparel.
Saw how they was dressed. Oh, they did have on butler's
apparel. The king, you know, when Solomon
dresses his servants, they got the best clothes on. He's the
one with the king's robe, but oh my, we have got the best robe. Oh son, come here. Take the best
robe. And you know what it says there
when they're probably going to come home? Take the best robe and put it
on him. Put it on him. They didn't say stick your arms
out here and see if it's going to fit. Put it on Him. Put it on Him. Then it says,
put shoes on. He didn't have to do nothing
but stand there and be dressed. And that's what Solomon, but
dressed Him. And Christ dresses us. Where
God Himself can look at us. Listen. Who is He that condemneth? We can face angels. Face the
holiness of God. We can face the law. We can face
the devil, we can face our conscience, we can face the Word, and absolutely
nothing can find a spot or flaw in our dress. Huh? Can't do it. Can't do it. Oh my, not only that, but look
what it says down here in verse 8. They got to continually hear
His wisdom, and it says here in verse 8, Happy are thy men. Oh, ain't you happy? That word
happy means blessed. I'm happy as if I had good sense.
Happy are these thy servants. Watch this. Stanley continually
before thee, and oh, they get to hear your voice, get to hear
what you got to say. And over in 1 Kings 3, 9 it says
there that God gave him an understanding heart. And that means He gave
him a hearing heart. Oh, God give us a hearing heart.
Give us a hearing heart. And oh, in their pleasure, they
were so happy. It says, happy are you. And you know, happy is the people
that has the God of Jacob as their God. Who is the God of
Jacob? First of all, He's the God that lays hold on you. Jacob
was asleep that night, wasn't he? And a man, it said a man
came and laid hold on him. And they said, God of Jacob,
he's the one that comes to get you. He's the one that lays hold
on you. And he's the one, once he gets
a hold of you, he says, I'm not turning loose to you, bless me.
And then when he turns loose, he gives you a new name that
nobody knows but you and him. And then not only after he does
that, he changes the way you are. Ain't that right? He walked
different after that. He walked different. He walked,
you know, you could tell he wasn't a supplant or he wasn't a deceiver
anymore. He had a new name, Israel. Israel, Prince with God. These
people are happy. They're happy. And then look
what else you saw about him there in verse 5. Not only does she
see the attendance of his ministers, the setting of his service and
their apparel, but his ascent. by which He went up into the
house of the Lord. She saw the way that He ascended. She saw the way that He carried
Himself. And beloved, you know, when those
apostles stood outside Jerusalem that day, and the Lord Jesus
was standing there talking to them, and He started ascending,
started going up, and they just stood there looking. Christ lost gravity. He's going
back where He come from. And He started ascending. And
all of a sudden those two fell to Him and Simon said, You men
of Israel, why stand ye gazing up into the heaven? Said this
Jesus who went up like this, the same one, He's coming back
the same way. He went up in the clouds, He's
coming back just like He went. And where did He ascend to? sat
down, after He purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of
the Majesty on high. We seen Him ascend! We saw Him
go back up there with the victory! We saw Him with all the... He
went back up there, led captivity captive! And He said to God's
right hand, all power vested in Him right now. Oh my! And then look what happened after
that happened. After all she saw, and all she heard, and all
she did. Look what followed now. It says
in the last part of verse 4, she was humbled. There was no
more spirit in her. I ain't fighting no more. I'm
just giving up. There's no more spirit in her. Oh, she
was humbled. She was humbled. She was like
Paul on the Damascus road. He was put down. He got down
in the dust. Nothing else to do. And oh my,
it's like Daniel said, he'd come and it's turned into corruption.
And when John saw the Lord Jesus Christ, he fell as a dead man.
That's the way she was. After she'd heard and she'd saw.
Now all the questions in her heart was told. She just fell
down. She's just... And then she confessed that everything
she had heard was true. Everything that everybody told
me about you was exactly what the way it was. And she said
to the king in verse 6, it was a true report that I heard about
you. Everything I heard about you is right, it's true, it's
so. And look at this, of all your
acts, the things you did, the things you do, and of your wisdom. And watch this now, how be it
I believe not the words, Ain't that what it says? When that
woman left her water pot, she came running and said, come see
a man told me all things ever I did. And many believe because
of her testimony, but many believe because they saw for themselves.
And she said, I heard. But she said, and then I came,
my own eyes see me. And guess what? Everything I
heard was so, but listen, they didn't tell the half of it. And
we always feel, don't you fellas feel, that we just never told
the half of it? I wish I could tell, don't you
guys wish I could tell the way I feel it? I wish I could tell
it out the way I understand it. I'm like old Lloyd-Jones, he
said he preached twice. Twice in his whole life. And
he said, I was dreaming both times. And that's the way I feel. How
do you tell it? How do you tell it? We come short. How do you tell about Christ,
what He's really like to a believer's heart? How do you express what He's done for you? How do
you tell about His How do you tell about His grace? How do
you tell about the tenderness? And how do you tell about how
He opened your heart? How do you tell about how He
enlightened you? How do you tell about what He means to you and
what you understand about Him and the love that He has for
you? And how do you tell these things? How do you tell? I don't
know. But whatever we say, we're so far short of it that we just
barely touch the hem of the garment. But I tell you what, I'm going
to keep telling as long as he gives me breath. I'll tell my
little half. I'll give you half a report. I'll be like the Herb
said. I'll tell you half of it. I enjoy
telling you my half. And I love to hear these fellas
tell their half. You tell your half, you tell
your half, you tell your half. And after a while, Between your
half and my half and his half, we'll end up having a hole. Oh my. She confessed and she said,
I had to come see for myself. I had to come see for myself.
And then look what she done. Down there in verse 9, here's
what she said, Blessed be the Lord thy God. He delighted in
you. Oh, God delights in His Son.
And that's why we say, blessed be the Lord God, which delights
in you. What's this? He's the one that
set you on the throne of Israel. He's the one that made you come
up. Who is this that cometh? Open up your everlasting doors.
Open up your gates. The King of Glory is coming.
Who is this King of Glory? The Lord, mighty in battle. The
Lord, glorious in victory. He set you on the throne. God
set Him on His throne, and here's why He done it. Because the Lord
loved Israel forever. Don't that make you happy all
over? Why did He set Him on His throne?
Why did He delight in Him? Because He loved us. I loved
Israel. I'm going to give them hell.
How long have you loved them? With an everlasting love. Oh my, ain't that something? Look
what she done now, and I'm through. In verse 10, and she gave the
king 120 talents of gold and spices. Now what this tells us
is, and now we don't give him anything to add to him. She never
added to Solomon at all. And whatever we, you know, And
all we are to give to Christ is ourselves. I beseech you by
the mercies of God, Paul said, that you present your bodies
a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God. He don't
need anything we got, but beloved, we give Him all we are and all
we have. You know, if He saved you 90%,
you give 90%. If He saved you 50%, you give
Him 50%. If He saved you all over, give Him all you. Huh? Ain't that right? The Lord bless
you.