Turn to First Kings, Chapter
10, please. Let me remind you this Sunday,
we won't be having the Bible study and the service will begin
at 11 o'clock. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ referred
to this woman we're getting ready to read about, the Queen of Sheba. I'd like to read the first 13
verses. of 1 Kings 10. And I want you to look for the
gospel in this passage of scripture. 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 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 attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers,
and his ascent 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'd heard in my own land of thy acts and
of thy wisdom. Albeit, 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 exceeded
the fame which I heard. Happier thy men. Happier these
thy servants which stand continually before thee, and 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 an hundred
and twenty talents of gold, and spices of very great store, and
precious stones There came no more such abundance of spices
as these which the Queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. And the
navy also of Hiram that brought gold from Ophir brought in from
Ophir great plenty of almond trees and precious stones. And
the king made of the almond trees pillars for the house of the
Lord and for the king's house, harps also and psalteries for
singers. There came not such almond trees nor were seen unto
this day. And King Solomon gave unto the
Queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, beside
that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty. So she turned
and went to her own country, she and her servants. Who was the Queen of Sheba? There's
been all kinds of debate, people saying she wasn't even a historical
figure and they can't find any records of her in history. Perhaps
she was from Africa. I had no doubt that she was a
real person because the Lord Jesus refers to her as the Queen
of South. Well, Africa, south of Israel,
maybe she came up from Africa, but the Lord's hand was on her. And notice what it says in verse
one. And when the Queen of Sheba had
heard of the fame of Solomon, not just the fame of Solomon,
but the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord. Now, this
is what she was interested in. She wanted to know who the Lord
was. The name of the Lord is who he
is. It's the person behind the name,
and she knew that Solomon had been given unusual wisdom regarding
the Lord, and she wanted to know him. So she came to Solomon to
hear his wisdom regarding the name of the Lord. And she came
with some hard questions. Scripture points that out. She
came with some hard, some difficult questions. You know, the Bible,
the gospel deals with some very hard, some very difficult questions. Such as. What's the meaning of
all this? What's my purpose in life? How can a man, a sinful man,
be just with a holy God? How can God be just? Absolutely
just, punish sin, do what he said he's going to do. How can
God be just and yet justify someone who's ungodly, who's sinful,
who's unjust? How can that be just? How can
God be just and justify the ungodly? How can a man be born when he's
old? Remember Nicodemus' question?
How is it that faith is utterly without works, faith alone, and
yet a faith without works cannot save and is dead? How can both
of those statements be true? How can God who sees all, see
me, and see no sin. How can that be? How can a man not commit sin,
and yet all he does is sin? It's a paradox. How can that
be true? How can a man be sorrowful Yet
always rejoicing. How can Christ be David's son
and David's Lord? The Bible, the gospel deals with
some very hard questions. And only the gospel answers these
questions. Verse two. And she came to Jerusalem
with a great train. With camels that bear spices
and very much gold and precious stones, and when she was come
to Solomon, She communed with him of all that was in her heart. Now, she came a great distance
to hear the words of Solomon. The Lord said she came from the
uttermost parts of the earth in that passage in Matthew, chapter
12, verse 42, and she came with great wealth. Gifts for Solomon,
not to buy his favor. But she showed him great respect
and she communed to him all that was in her heart. She didn't
hide anything. She gave him all her hard questions,
all of her fears and misgivings, all of her doubts, all of her
desires. How can I know God? Who is God? Can I know Him? asked all these
questions with this great desire, and she was totally honest with
Solomon. She told him all that was in
her heart. And wouldn't a God you and I
can be that way tonight? To be totally honest before the
Lord and pour out before Him all that really is in our heart. Verse 3, And Solomon told her
All her questions, there was not anything hidden from the
king, which he told her not. Now, remember Solomon. Remember
in first Kings, chapter three, where the Lord asked him, what
do you want? And I'll give it to you. He didn't
ask for riches. He didn't ask for power over
his enemies. He didn't ask for health and long life. He asked
for one thing. What? Wisdom. Wisdom. Oh, with all thy giving, get
wisdom. You know, I know a whole lot of really intelligent people
who have no wisdom. I don't want to be one of those,
do you? I want to have some true wisdom. Well, Solomon had wisdom. He was the wisest man this world
has ever known as far as men go. What I think is so interesting
about him, though, as you go on reading in this next chapter,
the wisest man this world has ever known, Solomon, dies pretty
much in infamy. You can read about it, and he's
a reminder to us that man at his best state and Solomon's
man in his best state is altogether vanity. But he is the wisest
man and he pictures and typifies the Lord Jesus Christ. You know
that he's the son of David. And he in his wisdom, the wisdom
that God gave him, he answered all her hard questions. How can a man be just with God?
By God justifying him. This is something only God can
do. He justifies the ungodly. How can God be just and justify
the ungodly? Well, the only way he can do
it is through the gospel. He's just. He's going to punish sin.
My sin was placed upon Christ. It became his sin. He punished
it. He takes his righteousness and
places it upon me. I'm righteous before God and
God is just and justify me because I'm justified. I have no guilt.
Only the gospel answers that question. How can a man be born
when he's old by being born again, by being born from above, by
being born of the spirit of God? How can faith be without works,
and yet a faith without works doesn't say? How can both of
those be true? How is that? And you know, Solomon
was a very wise man, and I believe he would have gone to the same
place James went. He probably would have taken him back to
Abraham. Abraham believed God. Abraham believed God. God said
the Messiah is going to come through you. Abraham believed
God. And then he said, God said, Abraham,
you take your son, your only son whom you love, and you offer
him up as a burnt offering to me. Now, this is the one, this
is the boy that the Lord said the Messiah is going to come
through. Why would I kill him when God made this promise that
the Messiah is going to come through him? Now, he could have
said, I better not do it because then the Messiah would not come
through it. Now, what would he have done by that? He would prove
he didn't believe God. But Hebrews points out that he
believed God would raise him from the dead. So what proved
he really believed God? Not that he didn't offer his
son, but that he did offer up his son. That proved he really
believed God. He believed God would raise him
from the dead. It's his works that prove the reality of his
faith. I've heard, well, you're Faith
alone is before God and your works are for men, no. What you
do, what I do, proves the reality of my faith. Faith without works
is dead, being alone. How can God, who sees all, see
no sin in the believer? Because there's none there. That's
why, because it's been put away. There is no sin. There is therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. The precious
blood of Christ actually made my sin to not be. How can a man
not commit sin, yet do nothing but sin? Well, I can answer that
too. Two natures. One nature is nothing but sin.
The other nature is holy. They're both in the same man
at the same time. How can a man be sorrowful, yet
always rejoicing? Well, I believe in the gospel.
You're always rejoicing in Christ. You're always sorrowful in your
sin. You never feel comfortable in your sin. You cry for deliverance
from your sin, your trials, your troubles. You're sorrowful, but
you're always rejoicing as you're complete in the Lord Jesus Christ
and all God requires you have in Him. Now, he answered all
her hard questions. Verse four. And when the Queen of Sheba had
seen all of Solomon's wisdom. The wisdom of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, remember, Solomon is Christ. He's given to typify
the Lord Jesus Christ, that's his purpose. And oh, how wise
he is, his way of making a way of God to be just and justify
the ungodly, when the Queen of Sheba had seen all of Solomon's
wisdom and the house that he had built. Now, OK, on the surface,
you look at the temple, what a magnificent place that was.
But this is talking about the house the Lord Jesus Christ built.
Upon this rock will I build my church. Paid for by his own precious
blood, made of living stones, the church Every individual believer,
when she saw the house that he built, the church of the living
God, these stones perfectly righteous in Christ, when she saw the house
that he had built, verse five, and when she saw the meat of
his table. Now, I have no doubt that he
had great cooks and he served good food and everybody ate well.
This is the most prosperous kingdom that's ever known under Solomon.
But what about the meat of the table of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
you have no life in you. But we actually eat on, we feed
on the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I'm the bread of life.
He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth
on me shall never thirst. We actually feed on him. He is my nourishment. He is my
nutrition before God. What he says next, the sitting,
when she saw the sitting of his servants. Sitting at the feet
of Christ. Resting in Him. Not up and doing. Sitting. This is the place they
were at in the Lord Jesus Christ. Sitting. Resting in Him. Complete in Him. That's their
abiding place. And what it says next is verse
5. And the attendance of His ministers. And that word attendance, I thought,
what in the world does that mean? Because you usually think that
service or something like that, but the word actually means state.
And that's the way it's quite often translated, the state of
his ministers. Now, you think of the state of
his ministers, their state of grace. They're in a state of
forgiveness. They're in a state of complete
acceptance. They're in a state of justification.
They stand justified before God. They have no sin before God.
They stand in a state of sanctification. They're sanctified in Christ
Jesus. They stand in a state of acceptance. They're accepted in the blood.
When she saw the state of His servants, oh, the state of every
believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. I have every blessing. All blessings
I possess in Christ Jesus. When she saw the state of His
servants. And then next, it says. And their apparel, now you know
what their apparel is, their apparel is the righteousness
and merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, that's what we wear.
And you know, there's something different about this apparel.
If I if I have a dirty body and I put on a clean apparel, you
can't see that dirty body, can you? You can't see it, but it's
still there. It's still there. I might look
clean, But I'm still dirty. But when you have this apparel
on, you're clean on the inside, too. That's what his righteousness
does. It makes you righteous through
and through, altogether righteous. Well, does that mean you don't
sin anymore? No, it doesn't mean that for a second. I still have
my old nature, but this is the this is what makes us clean through
and through. What apparel we have in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And next, it says when he saw
their cupbearers and that's their Butlers is the word, a butler,
a servant, a willing servant, someone who's serving because
he wants to serve. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. And then next, it says when he
saw when she saw his ascent by which he went up into the house
of the Lord. I love thinking about this. The ascent, what's
that talking about? That's the ascension of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I love to think of Solomon standing
up in his royal garb and so on. But this is this is Christ Jesus,
the Lord in his ascension back into glory. And look what he
brought with him. Every one of his people. Oh, what an ascent
that is. And when she saw that, I love
what is said next. There was no more spirit in her. She was so overwhelmed, she couldn't
even respond. When she observed Solomon in
this glorious way, she couldn't even respond. And here's her
reply, verse six. And she said to the king. It
was a true report. That I heard in my own land of
thy acts and of thy wisdom, I don't know what all she heard in her
own land, but she said everything I heard, it was true. How be
it? I believe not the words. I heard,
but I didn't believe. You know what I've been talking
about? It's impossible to believe. It's impossible to believe. If
God doesn't give you faith, you can't believe. It's impossible
to believe that you're justified before God, that you actually
have no sin. That's impossible to believe.
Look at me. I couldn't be. It's impossible to believe all
these things that I've been talking about of the sitting of his servants
and the state of his servants. You can't believe. Can't do it. You can't believe unless God
gives you faith. Now, when God gives you faith,
you'll believe that you're completely dependent upon him to give you
that faith. You can't believe any of this.
She said, I heard all this and I couldn't believe it. It was
just too much. I couldn't believe this. How be it I believe not the words
until I came and mine eyes had seen. When God reveals himself,
you see for yourself. And what did she say when she
did see? Behold, the half was not even told me. Thy wisdom
and prosperity exceeded the fame which I heard. Now, this much
I know, when you do see, you see that you don't see very much.
You see, this is too big for you to see everything. If you
could see all this, there wouldn't be much to it. She said the half
was never told. I couldn't. I didn't see all
this, and one thing I know, if I ever see anything truly spiritually,
I see, I know just a glimpse. This is way bigger than me, way,
way bigger than this mind can comprehend. The half has never
been told me thy wisdom and thy prosperity exceedeth the fame
which I heard. Now I think of the wisdom of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The wisdom. He's called in the
book of Proverbs, wisdom. What is his wisdom all about?
Turn to first Corinthians chapter one. Beginning. In verse 17. For Christ sent me not to baptize. But to preach the gospel. Not with wisdom of words, not
with human plausible arguments explaining away the truth. Trying
to make it understandable. You know, listen real carefully. With regard to making the gospel
understandable, a preacher can't do that. That's the Holy Spirit
who does that. He's the one who, but we don't
try to make it understandable. We just proclaim the truth. And
we trust God, the Holy Spirit, to take care of making it effectual
in the hearts of his people. Not with wisdom of words, lest
the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the
preaching of the cross, the doctrine of the cross, the word of the
cross, what the cross tells us, who God is, how he saved sinners,
is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
it's the power of God. For it's written, I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding
of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Had not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For
after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew
not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require
a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ
crucified. Unto the Jews, a stumbling block,
a scandal. You mean your works count for
nothing, that you're saved totally by what somebody else did under
the Greeks? Foolishness. You expect me to believe that
God became a man? But unto them which are called. Who are they? The elect. Those
the Father gave him. Unto them which are called. Both Jews and Greeks. Christ. the power of God and
Christ, the wisdom of God. Christ, the power of God. Omnipotence. Only omnipotence
can create. And only omnipotence can make
matter be no longer. Only the power of God can do
that. Christ Jesus made me to be. He created me to be what
I was not. He made me perfect. He made me
righteous. And he made my sin to not be. It's left the universe. It's
gone. Christ is the power of God, and
only God is wise enough to do something like that. Man couldn't
come up with the gospel. And if he could come up with
the gospel, he couldn't execute it. But Christ is the wisdom
of God. He's made that way for God to
be just, to be totally just and righteous and not let any sin
go unpunished and yet justify a guilty, sinful, wicked man
like me and make me perfectly righteous in a way that honors
his justice. Only God can do that. Christ,
the wisdom of God. She says, when I saw your wisdom,
And when I saw your prosperity, your success, you see, everybody
the Lord Jesus Christ died for is saved. That's the success
of the blood of Christ. Everybody he died for, they must
be saved. They can't be anything but saved.
He shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. That's
the prosperity. When I saw that, it exceeded
the fame which I heard. Verse 8, happy. Happy are thy men. Well, who are thy men? Well,
he said, all that the Father giveth me. Those are his men. All that the Father giveth me.
Happier thy men, happier these thy servants that stand continually
before thee and hear thy wisdom. You know, in all my sorrow in
life, sorrow about myself, my sinfulness, all my sorrow and
disappointments in others, I'm happy. I'm happy. I'm happy because
I stand continually before Him. I'm happy because I'm accepted
in Him. And I'm happy because I know
that when he sees me, he really does see someone that is altogether
lovely to him through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm
happy. I'm happy that he's in control of everything, that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are called according to his purpose. I'm happy that he's
on the throne. I'm happy that salvation is by
grace. I'm happy that all God requires
of me, I have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Makes me happy. And you
know what makes me happy to behold his people? I love his people. I love people who he loves. I
love people who love him. Makes me happy. Makes me happy
to meet with his people. Happy are these thy people that
stand continually before thee and hear thy wisdom. Verse 9,
Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee. Now,
he's speaking to Solomon, a man, I realize that, that this is
really the greater son of David he's speaking to. 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. Now, I think of
the father's delight in the son. I want you to think about how
the father delights in the son. He looks at the Lord Jesus Christ.
He said, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. Oh, everything about him he delights
in. Blessed be the Lord, thy God,
which delighted in thee. And here's what he did in delighting
in him to set thee on the throne of Israel. He's king of kings
and Lord of lords. And he did this because the Lord
loved Israel. The Lord loved Israel, his people
forever. Therefore, made he the king to
do judgment and justice. Look down in verse 13. And King Solomon gave unto the
Queen of Sheba all her desire whatsoever she asked, beside
that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty. So she turned
and went to her own country, she and her servants. Now, I've
been given, every believer has been given out of his royal bounty. I love to think about that. Turn 1 Corinthians 1.30. Here's
what it is. I'm going to look at two passages from the New
Testament. Here's what I've been given out of his royal bounty.
1 Corinthians 1, verse 30. But of him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us. Now here's his royal bounty
that he's made unto us. Wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption. Now that's what every believer
possesses out of his royal bounty. I have the very wisdom of God.
You're looking at a wise man. I'm looking at some wise men
and women. Christ is my wisdom, and anybody who trusts Christ
is wise. Now, anybody who doesn't trust Him is a fool. Anybody
who believes salvation by works is a fool. But a truly wise person
knows Christ is their wisdom before God. I have that of His
royal bounty. He's made unto us righteousness.
I can't emphasize enough what a glorious thing it is to actually
be the righteousness of God. Every believer is the righteousness
of God, just as truly as he was made sin, we were made the righteousness
of God in him. What royal bounty, sanctification. Holiness. You know, I am so holy
that I am never going to get any more holy than I am right
now. That's hard to believe, isn't
it? That's hard to believe, and the reason it's hard to believe
is because we've got this thing called flesh. And that drags us down
so much. But my holiness is what I'll
have in heaven. I won't be any more holy in heaven. Christ is
made unto me complete holiness and sanctification so that that's
what I have the royal bounty and redemption, complete deliverance. And that's what I have from the
royal bounty. But then he said he gave her
the desires of his heart. Not only do I have his royal
bounty, He gives me what I desire. Now, what do I desire? Turn to
Philippians three. Verse seven. But what things were gained to
me, I counted them in the plus column, I thought them to be
advantageous to me. He was talking about his religion.
If you go on reading in the previous verses, he was talking about
how righteous he thought he was and zealous and so on. But what
things that were gained to me, those I counted loss, garbage. For Christ. Have you ever looked
upon your religion as garbage? Something that needs to be thrown
away. It's no good. Refuse. Yea, doubtless, I count
all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus,
my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of all things and do
count it but done that I, here's my first desire, that I may win
Christ and be found in him. Now, here is what I desire as
the Lord is my witness. I desire this more than anything
else. It's number one desire. My first desire is that when
God comes looking for me, I'm simply found in Christ. Is that
your desire? I mean, do you have a do you
have a hunger and a thirst for that, that when God sees you,
all you'll see is the Lord Jesus Christ? That's it. Now, I tell
you what, I have a strong desire for that. Remember, he gave Sheba
all her desires, but look what he says next. Verse 10. That I may know him. I want to know not just about
the Lord Jesus Christ, not just accurate data concerning him.
But I want to know him to where he knows my name. I am my beloved's
and he is mine. I know him. Oh, that's what I
want more. Paul, don't you know him? Yeah,
but oh, that I may know him. I want to know the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's my second desire. And
then next, he says, I want to know the power. Of his resurrection. Now, what does that mean? Somebody
says, well, I want more power in my life. Well, who doesn't?
That's not what that's talking about. The power of his resurrection. When he was raised from the dead. All my sin. Was done away with. And I was raised in him. And that is power. I want to
live being conscious of that power. power of his resurrection. And then next, he says, I want
to know the fellowship of his sufferings. I want to know that
what he did, he did for me. Now, understand. Faith in Christ
is not knowing he died for your sins. Faith in Christ is looking
to him as your own help. Knowing he died for your sins
is full assurance. I want to have that too, don't
you? I want to be fully assured that what he did, he did for
me. That's my desire. I don't want
to be doubting this issue. I want full assurance of faith,
knowing that what he did, he did for me and he actually put
away my sins and I don't have many more. You know, if you know
that, everything's great, isn't it? What else do you need? Oh,
I want to know that. And then he says next. I want to be made conformable
unto him being made. Now, I know the fellowship of
his sufferings being made conformable unto his death. Now, what's that
mean? His death. Was an act of obedience. What? He became obedient unto
death. Even the death of the cross. His death, preeminently, was
an act of obedience to His Father. He said to His Father, I'm going
to obey You even if it costs me my life. And it did. I want to be obedient to Him. Oh, may the Lord grant me this,
because I know I can't be apart from His grace, but I want to
be obedient to Him even if it kills me. It scares me to say
something like that, but I do. I want to be an obedient child. I want to hear, I know I'm going
to hear him say, well done, thou good and faithful servant, because
if Christ did well, I did too. But I want to hear him say to
me too, well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou
into the joy of thy Lord. And then he says in verse 11,
here's his next desire. If by any means, I might attain
unto the resurrection of the dead. That resurrection where
you're raised incorruptible, just like the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's not as though I'd already attained, either already perfect,
but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also
I'm apprehended of Christ Jesus. I want to attain to the resurrection
of the dead. Now, the Queen of Sheba comes
from the uttermost parts of the earth. She gives Solomon all
of her hard questions. He answers them. And then she
sees the meat of his table, the sitting of his servants, the
attendance of his ministers. Oh, she sees the greatness of
his salvation. There's no spirit left in her.
She said the half has never been told me. She said I'd heard.
I didn't believe, but I believe now. And then he granted her
this woman, this true living woman, of his bounty and the
very desires of her heart. Now let's go to Matthew chapter
12, what our Lord said about this woman. Verse 42. And this tells us that
she was a real woman. She's not just a literary figure.
She's a real woman who came to Solomon. Desiring her hard questions
answered. Boy, it's a blessing when someone
seeks the Lord. Nobody will seek the Lord unless the Lord causes
them to. You won't. You'll just be fine. I won't. Unless He causes
us to. But when He causes us to, we
seek Him. Just like she did. She sought Him from the uttermost
ends of the earth. But here's what our Lord says
about this woman. The Queen of the South shall rise up in the
judgment. Talking about Judgment Day. 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. If we do not believe, she will
rise up in judgment as a witness against us. And as she saw Solomon Remember
this, we've seen the greater Solomon. She saw the son of David. We've seen David's son and David's
Lord, the son of David. Let's pray.