morning. Pleasure to be with
you all this morning. If you would open your Bibles
to First Kings chapter 10. First Kings chapter 10. Our brother read this scripture
just a minute ago about how Solomon, the Lord asked Solomon, he was
going to give him a gift. And we saw Solomon's response. And this is years later. And let's look at what happens
in First Kings chapter 10, verse one. 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 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 it. And behold, the half
was not told me. Thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth
the fame which I have heard. Happy are thy men, happy are
these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and
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 The title of my message is Come
to the King. This story is very familiar,
and I heard it many times as a child. But if I'm being honest,
what I thought this story was about was about a rich and powerful
person who heard someone else might be richer and might be
more powerful, so they had to go see who was the most powerful
and who was the richest. That's what I thought it was.
Why else would she go? But as I've been shown something
and taught these things, you realize it's much more than that.
It's quite evident that the Queen of Sheba's visit to Solomon is
a picture of us, the sinner, coming to the Lord Jesus Christ.
For our Lord himself referred to it in Matthew. He said, the
queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this
generation and shall condemn it. For she came from the uttermost
parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and behold,
a greater than Solomon is here. Now why would this queen make
this journey? This is a great journey. They
estimate it somewhere around 1,500 miles. And this, at the
minimum, would have taken months to take it. It would have been
dangerous. She was powerful. She was rich. She had everything she needed.
Why? Why would you take all that risk to go see someone? Why would
you do that? Now, there are three things that
I felt like I could break this down and make it very simple.
The first thing is she realized that Solomon knew things that
she didn't know. She realized that Solomon had
things that she didn't have. And she realized that he did
things that she couldn't do. Now, on the surface, it seems
that so much of this is motivated by power, wealth, and all those
things. But look in verse one, and let
me look at this one phrase that will help us Kind of see the
angle of this, what light this is under. And when the Queen
of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of
the Lord. It doesn't say she heard of the
fame of Solomon and wanted to go see about it. It said she
heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord. That's what he knew. That's what
he had. And that's what he had got, those
things from the Lord. So we're gonna go through these
verses for a few minutes. And I want us to realize that
we need to be like her. We will hear things, we have
heard things. If you're sitting here, you have
heard things about the Lord Jesus Christ. We'll look at a few in
a minute. And those things are so much greater than what she
heard about Solomon. What we have to do We have to
come to Him. We have to come to the Lord.
Everything I'm gonna say for the next little bit is all gonna
come under this preface, and we have to realize this. We cannot
come to the Lord Jesus Christ unless He draws us to Him. We have no interest, we have
no desire, we will never know who He is or anything about Him
apart from Him opening our eyes, opening our hearts, and seeing
who He is. We're blind. He has to give us sight to see
Him. I don't want to say that a hundred
times because it'll take too long, but every single thing
I'm going to say the rest of the way, when I say, come to
the Lord or come to him, all of it is totally dependent on
him bringing us to him. Okay. But yet he tells us in
the scripture, come to me, come unto me, be ye saved. He tells
us that. So we must come. We have to beg
him to make us come. So remember that. I'll say it
a few more times, but we have to have him draw us to him. So
in verse one, let's start here. And when the queen of Sheba heard,
she heard something. No one will ever go see someone
unless they've heard something about him. This was not a stranger
to her. She heard about him. Now, I don't
know if she heard it, from someone in her court. I don't know if
she heard it from a stranger. I don't know if she heard it
from a messenger. I'm not sure where she heard it. But somehow, she
heard it. In a day of age where news did
not travel fast, someone had to literally walk the information
to you. This news was so great, she had
heard. She heard about him. And what she heard was the fame
of Solomon, the greatness of him. He was so great that everyone
wanted to tell other people. If you met Solomon, or you heard
stories about him, you passed him along. If you ever heard
something, someone tell you something, and you are so amazed by it that
you can't wait to tell someone else, you're so excited. It has nothing to do with you,
but you heard information that was so amazing, you thought,
I've got to go tell everybody about that. That's what she heard
from. She heard of the Lord. 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. She came to prove him. Now, before
we get into what these questions might be, what have we heard
about the Lord Jesus Christ? Let's take a couple minutes and
look at a few verses. There are so many things. We
don't have the words, the time, or anything to look at all the
things that we have heard or the truth about the Lord Jesus
Christ. But let's look at just a couple so we can emphasize
how amazing He is, how wonderful He is. First, turn over to Isaiah
7. Isaiah chapter 7. What about, have we heard of
the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ? Look at Isaiah
seven, chapter verse 14. Therefore, the Lord himself shall
give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. Turn over
two pages to Isaiah nine. Isaiah 9 verse 6 says, For unto
us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government
shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called
Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace. We just sang a song. The last
song we just sang, just quoted some of those. He's the Prince
of Peace. These are titles, just some of
his numerous in numerous titles, he has so many. In Galatians
it says this, 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 adoptions of son. If we wanna be a child of God,
it's what he's done. His birth, his work, that's how
you're saved. That's how the only way a man
can be saved. What about this? the person and work of Christ.
Have we heard of the deity, the God, the glory of Christ? Look with me in Hebrews chapter
one. Hebrews chapter one. Hebrews chapter one, verse one. God, who at sundry times and
in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these days spoken unto us by his Son, whom
he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made
the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory, and the express
image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his
power, when he had by himself purged our sins, 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 unto 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. Have you heard before
the Lord Jesus Christ who made the worlds? He made the world. It says, upholding all things
by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our
sins." Is that amazing? Someone who can purge our sins?
The thing we can't stop doing? The things that are a death sentence?
Our sinful nature? He purges sins. He puts them
away. In Colossians it says this, I
don't want you to turn to this one. It says, for by him were
all things created. that are in heaven and that are
in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by Him
and for Him. Everything was created by Him
and for Him, all of it. And He is before all things,
and by Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body,
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, in Christ, should all fullness dwell. The main reason I'm going through
a couple of these things, to say, have we heard these things
of the Lord? You know, she heard these things of Solomon that
made her drop everything she was doing, travel thousands of
miles, at peril of her life and everything, just to go see someone.
This man, one greater than Solomon, is here. Unfortunately, we have
also heard many things that are not true about the Lord Jesus
Christ. This very plainly states that
He created all things. He made the worlds. They were
made by Him and for Him. Yet for some reason, people seem
to think that He needs something from us, that in some way we
have some role to play. other than just being sinners
and be completely at his mercy. The Lord Jesus Christ is in control
of all things. If someone made everything, don't
you think they're in control of everything? One more. Have we not heard of the wisdom
and power of Christ? Have we not heard of the death
and resurrection of Christ? Turn with me to 1 Corinthians. First Corinthians 15. We hear who Christ is, we hear
of his glory, we hear of his wisdom, his power, and then we
hear of his death and resurrection. First Corinthians chapter 15,
look in verse 20. But now is Christ risen from
the dead and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since
by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the
dead. 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
till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy
shall be destroyed in 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. The Lord Jesus Christ had to
be made a man. He had to live perfectly and
provide us with righteousness. He was perfect. We have nothing
to offer. We're just sinners. And he did
all this for his chosen people. He did. That's who the Lord Jesus
Christ is. He is God made in flesh. So let's go back to the text,
go back to 1st Kings, and let's just take a few minutes to go
through these verses. And remember, this queen is us. This queen is us going to see
the Lord. We've heard of him. We've heard
about him, what he's done, what he has. We realize if you've
heard who Christ is, if the Lord has taught you something, has
just perked your interest, you realize very quickly that there
are things that you don't know that you need Him to teach you.
You realize that there are things that you don't have that He has
that you need from Him. And then you realize that He
has done something that you can't do for yourself. We have to go
to Him. We have to learn these things.
In verse, let's go to verse one at the end. She came to prove
him with hard questions. We must ask questions. There are a lot of people talking
about the Lord Jesus Christ or a lot of people talking about
Jesus. And it makes me shake to think
of people who use that name as if it's just saying, you know,
Jim or Sally or some name that doesn't have power and authority
behind it. But there's a lot of things said about him, so
we must ask questions. How can we ask questions? Well,
this is the place that we go with our questions. The Lord
has given us this book that gives us all the answers. And if he
so wills, in reading this and searching the scriptures, we
can answer those questions. And thankfully, the Lord has
given us men and pastors that can teach these things. Someone
who has been taught and can then teach them. The sentiment of
a preacher is just one beggar who told another beggar where
they found bread. That's what it is. I'm not telling you anything
I figured out. I'm just trying to tell you what
the Lord has shown me. And I pray that it's the truth.
But everything I say or anyone else says up here, you have to
prove it through this word. But let me ask this. It says,
she came to prove him with hard questions. There are a lot of
writers who proposed what some of these questions, these hard
questions might have been. And I kept thinking to myself,
what's the difference in a hard question or an easy question? What makes something a hard question?
Well, if I asked everyone in here a question and said, what
is 2 plus 2? I know some of the little ones
would be like, that's an easy question, that's 4. Well, if I go to my
little three-year-old and ask her what two plus two is, she's
gonna look at me with this face like, I don't know. That's a
hard question to her. The difference in an easy and
a hard question is if we know the answer. Every question is
a hard question until the Lord Jesus Christ gives us the answer.
We are desperate for anything. Everyone here, whether you're
in this moment right now or you've been in this moment, I mean anything. We don't, we spend all this time
talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't know anything
about him except things that aren't true. We just know the
wrong things. Every question is one we need
to ask. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
the only place for the answers. She went to Solomon to ask these
questions because she didn't know anybody else who knew the
answer. It appeared to her he was the only person alive who
had these answers, in the same way that the Lord Jesus Christ
is the only person who has these answers. You will not find answers
from anyone else. Now, it's okay to ask someone
for help and guidance. You know, it's okay for a young
person, for sure, to go to your parents to ask them. Ask them
a question. I don't understand this. Can
you explain this to me? But anything regarding the Lord Jesus Christ,
it must be proven in this book. Look in this book for it. Okay,
look at verse two. 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. She came
to him and told him everything that was in her heart. She thought
she had found someone, I can answer her questions. So do you
think she held back questions? Do you think she was before him
and thought to herself, I don't know, maybe this one's too tough.
Or she thought, maybe I'm too embarrassed to ask this question.
Ask everything. He will answer every question.
And you know what happens when he answers our question? He gives
us the next question. We can't even come up with the
questions we don't know. He'll give us a question and
we'll ask him. then he'll answer it, and he'll give us the next
question. If we come to him by his grace, he will keep giving
us questions, and that's how we grow. I grew up hearing that
term, you know, hopefully we'll grow in grace and all these things,
grow in the spirit, and we'll learn more. Well, that's how
we do it. He gives it to us. He keeps answering our questions.
And I think we'll all come to find the more we go to him, the
more we approach him in prayer, in service, in listening to messages,
the more we do that, He'll give us more answers. He teaches us
more. It's not a coincidence that some
of our pastors that spend hours a day searching the scriptures,
that they seem to know more. It's because they're in it, they're
asking constantly. Okay? Look at verse three. Let's remember, the Lord said,
come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. He'll give us rest. Okay? Verse
three. And Solomon told her all her
questions. Now in the margin it says words. There was not a single thing
that was hid from him. It seems to imply there that
he knew the questions before she asked him. Isn't that amazing? Our Lord knows everything. He
knows all our questions. Have you guys ever been with
one of your children or a small, a little person that you can
tell they want to ask a question? Like something happens and they
look at you and they're not sure if they should ask it. They're
not sure if they're allowed to ask it. They're not sure if you
know the answer. And you can see in their eyes, they're looking
at you like, I really want to know. That's how we are. Ask him. Ask him the question. He knows the answer. He knows
the question before you've asked it. Ask him. Solomon told her
all her questions. There was not anything hidden
from the king which he told her not. It's so amazing that he
knew all the questions, he knew all the answers, but he told
her all the answers. He didn't hide anything from
her. He didn't keep anything from her. He told her what she
wanted and needed to know. The truth of the gospel and the
truth of who we are and who he is, is a really frightening thing. When we first realize, when the
Lord opens our eyes and teaches us, I'm a sinner? Not just I've
done bad things, but I only do bad things? There's nothing I
can do about all these bad things I do? And I'm gonna die because
of it? That's a really scary thing.
We're hopeless. When we first see who we are,
we are hopeless. until we see who he is, and that gives us
hope. He's our hope. But nothing was
hid from her. The Lord will not hide anything
from us. He's done everything. He'll show
us everything. The Lord is great. He's so merciful. There was not anything hid from
the king which he told her not. Look at verse four. And when
the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom and the house
that he had built, What she saw, we'll see in a minute, but He
showed her everything. He showed her all that He had,
all that He'd done. He showed her everything. If
we come to the Lord, we will see what He's done, who He is,
and what He's done for us. It is an amazing thing to see
that the Lord Jesus Christ It's amazing. Look at verse five. He had shown her all that he
had built. Remember, I love it. Solomon showed her all that he
had built. What we see of the Lord Jesus Christ, he's done
it all. Everything we see, he built it. Everything that we
have, everything that we inherit, everything he gives us, he built
it. He gets the glory. We'll say that again in a minute.
But he gets the glory. Verse five. And she saw 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 unto the house of the Lord, there was
no more spirit in her." The things that she brings up here, the
things that cause her to have no more spirit, the things that
cause her to be overcome, are such wonderful things for the
sinner. Those that or sitting of his
servants, the attendants of his ministers, the cupbearers, the
people who all they wanted to do, they were so happy, and what
they were doing was serving the king. She saw these people and
she said, I've never seen anybody do this. I've never seen anybody
who wants to serve the king, who realizes they couldn't be
anywhere better, they couldn't be happier apart from being in
the room with the king. What do I have to do? I remember
hearing that I'd rather be a street sweeper in glory than... I remember
thinking, I don't want to sweep streets. But the child of God
understands anything, anything I have to do, anything to be
with Him, anything at all. She sees these people, and she
saw them all, and she just was totally overcome. It says there
was no more spirit in her. She didn't know what to do. She
was emotionally just spent. She didn't know what to do at
all. That's what we will be like if we ever truly get to see the
King. He is so amazing, so wonderful. Every part of him will completely
overcome us. Emotionally, in every way. We
won't know what to do. Well, I'll come to that, I don't
wanna give that line away yet. Look at verse six there. And
she said to the king, once she'd composed herself, once she was
able to speak again, she said, it was a true report that I heard
in my own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. She said to the
king, it was true. What I had heard was true. One day we will see every single
word in this book is pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ, and
it is all true, and it is magnificent. We're looking at nine verses
here, and there might be a couple little things in this that we
can see, and if the Lord blesses it, maybe we can have a couple
little things that are like, oh, that is so good. One day
we'll be able to see every single thing he's done. and it will
completely overcome us. So much so that for all eternity,
we'll never get over the amazement, the wondrousness of our God.
We'll never get over it at any moment. In verse six, she said
to the king, it was a true report. That word says word. It was the
true words. The true words that I heard in
mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. All the things
that were said about you All the things that you had done,
everything I read in this book, everything we see, He's done
them all. They're all the truth. I find it fascinating to see
the things written in the Old Testament and then how those
things came to pass. I think about all the times in
the Old Testament, things that were written hundreds of years
before the Lord was crucified. Yet those who were crucifying
did this really odd set of random seemingly things they did to
Him. whether they spit on him and put the thorns on him and
the way they mocked him and gave him vinegar, all these things
that you're like, how in the world were we told of every single
thing through hundreds of years? And they did it all anyway. Those
Pharisees, think about it, they would have done anything they
could to prove that he wasn't who he said he was. And yet they
couldn't help but do every single thing that he said they would
do. Hundreds of years later, they did every single thing.
Every single word, every single act, all of it in his wisdom,
it's all true. Verse seven, how be it, though
I know all these things are true, though I've seen all these things
of you, how be it, I believed not the words until I came and
my eyes had seen it. We say this all the time. Lord,
I believe, help my unbelief. I believe this book. I know every
single word in it is the truth. Every single word. The words
I don't understand, the words I can't pronounce, every single
word in this book, it's all true and I know it. Yet, constantly,
I read something and I think to myself, did that really happen?
Or I think, well maybe that's not exactly what they meant by
that. Every single word is true. And when we come face to face
with the King, know in the moment, in that, I mean, in the moment,
we will immediately know all of that is true. Everything was
true. And we will believe. The Lord
is very clear in it. Everyone will stand before the
king in judgment. And if, and it doesn't matter
who you are, everyone will experience that same moment. Some will be
in that moment and realize, oh my, they'll say that phrase that
people use so often, and they'll be in in truth. Oh my God. Then we'll realize this is the
truth. All my life I have not believed
this. And this is who you are. It's true what I haven't believed.
And those who the Lord has made come to Him, those will stand
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Having been shown this, but in
that moment we'll see He is the King, He is God. So we must go
to, we must see Him. We'll see that tonight. And verse
seven, 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. She saw him, and in that moment,
she realized, these people said things about Solomon that I'm
sure when she heard it the first time, she thought that is crazy.
No one, no one on the earth, no one has ever had what you're
saying he has. No one has ever been able to
do what he has. No one ever. And she saw him. And in that
moment, she thought, they didn't do it justice. They didn't say
nearly enough. They undersold it. The same thing
we'll experience. I said in that moment, we'll
realize he's God. And it will be greater than anything
we could have imagined. For those in the Lord Jesus Christ,
that will be the greatest moment to see him, our God. Howbeit I believed not the words
until I came, and mine eyes had seen it. And behold, the half
was not told me. Thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth
the fame which I heard." And this is what she says about it.
She goes, "'Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants,
which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom.'"
She goes, all of these people around here, the servants and
everybody else, they stand before you constantly. That's all they
do. Why do these people just stay
here with you all the time? Why do they not leave? Why do
they just keep here at your feet? Why are they in the same room
all the time? Because they know there's nowhere better to be.
They're with the King. The child of God realizes that
He is everything. He has everything I need. He's
done everything that I needed. He has all the things I could
ever ask for. Why would I go somewhere else?
I just want to be with Him. I just want to be there. She
says, I can't believe they're here. And they're there before
you and they hear your wisdom. Can you imagine standing before
the Lord, sitting before Him, kneeling before Him, whatever
we're gonna be doing, and listening to Him speak, to hear His wisdom,
to hear every single word that comes out of His mouth. It's
just glorious, all of it. And that's what she's experiencing
here. She's like, I can't even, I can't express how amazing this
is. And look in verse nine. Blessed be the Lord our God,
which delighted in me to set thee on the throne of Israel,
because the Lord loved Israel forever. Therefore made he thee
king to do judgment and justice. The queen then blessed the Lord
God, who delighted in Solomon, who put him on the throne of
Israel to do judgment and mercy. The Lord loved Israel forever
and made Solomon their king. It says in the scripture, this
is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. The father loves
the son and has given all things in his hand, all things. The
father delights in the son and gave him preeminence. The father
made Christ the surety. He made him the prophet. He made
him the priest and he made him the king of spiritual Israel
because he loved those people, because he loved them, all of
them. in Christ. He loved them in Christ
with an everlasting love. Christ came to the earth to honor
God's law. He came to satisfy God's justice,
to do judgment and justice that God may be just and justifier
of all who believe. All of them. As a child, I remember
this as I see my children do this now, when they hear something,
maybe it's a commercial, maybe it's someone say something, they
hear, They'd run into me and they'd say, Dad, they just said,
they just said on the TV that they're giving away this. You
know, it's free, you know, whatever. And I just felt like I'm a kid
again, because I give the same line as my dad would give. And
they would be like, you don't get anything for free. Or it's
just too good to be true. Don't, you know, just forget
about everything. Well, we got the Lord Jesus Christ and everything
he's given us for free, for nothing. We did absolutely nothing to
deserve it. And if we want to go more deeply
in it, we did everything we could not to get it. We don't want
it. We don't ask for it. We try to
run away from it, all of that. But he gave it to us in the bulletin. This Joe Terrell article, I love
it. It says, grace is not merely a doctrine, but an unstoppable
force of God. That's what he's given us. an
unstoppable grace, something that there's nothing we can do
about it. He's given it to us. He's blessed us with it. And
because of that, we have him. And then the other line, it's
too good to be true. This is too good, but it's true. All of it's true. And if you're
not sure, that's okay. Look in the book. Ask him. Ask
him to tell you. Say, Lord, bring me to you. I've
got all these questions. I don't have any answers. I don't
have any answers either. I'm just reading from this book.
Go to the Lord. Come to the king. Ask him for
these things. It says so plainly in the scriptures,
come to me and be ye saved. There's no qualifiers in that
at all. Just come to me and be ye saved. There are millions,
there are hundreds of millions of people who right now either
acting like it or sincerely think that they want to be saved. And
the Lord plainly states on multiple occasions, just come to me and
you will be saved. There's no qualifiers for it,
there's nothing on it. I've heard Todd Nyberg say this
before. If we announced that for a million dollars we could
give you salvation, there would be people lined up out the door
ready to write a check. But if we say it's free, nobody's
interested. That's because, as I said at
the beginning, we can't come to him unless he makes us, unless
he draws us. So beg him. When I say come to
the king, beg the king to make you to come. If we come to him,
we will be saved. Is there anything else we can
ask for? Come to the king.