What did he preach? Well, Luke
said, beginning at Moses, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and all the
prophets, 1st and 2nd Kings, Samuel, and the Psalms, he expounded
unto them in all the Scriptures Genesis through Malachi, the
Old Testament Scriptures, the things concerning himself. He took these Old Testament stories,
examples and pictures, and preached to his person and work, his redemptive
work. Example, turn to Matthew 12.
The Scripture that I have chosen for my text today, our Lord chose
it one day for His text to preach Himself. In Matthew 12, verse
38, then certain of the scribes and the Pharisees answered Him. They talked back to Him. When
you see that, answered, answered, answered. One day he said some
things to them and nobody answered. He said, how can the Messiah be David's son
and David's Lord? And no man answered them. Didn't
talk back to them. They didn't have an answer. But
they answered him, saying, Master, we would see a sign from you.
Show us a sign. Verse 38. But he answered and
said to them, an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. They're not satisfied with the
Word of God and the promises of God. They want to see some
physical sign. People who are satisfied with
the Word of God do not need a sign. People today say tongues are
a sign. Yes, they are. They were. Not
to believers. To unbelievers. Now what the
Bible says, tongues are a sign. Not to believers. Believers don't
need proof that the Word of God is true. They believe God. Abraham didn't need proof that
he had a son. The word of God was enough. Persuaded
that what God had promised he'd do. Now he said an evil adulterous
generation always seeking a sign, a sign, a sign. And there shall
no sign be given to it. But this sign of the prophet
Jonah, the word of God, what the word says, that's enough. Far, listen, as Jonah was three
days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son
of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
That's a picture crushed. And he says in verse 41, now
listen, the men of Nineveh, the men to whom Jonah went preaching, the people of Nineveh, that wicked
city to whom God sent Jonah preaching the Word, They're going to rise
up in judgment with this generation. They're going to condemn you
people, he said to these Pharisees, in the judgment. Because they
repented at the preaching of Jonah, a mere man, a vessel of
clay, preaching the Word of God. And they repented. And behold,
I say unto you, a greater than Jonah is here, the Son of God. And you will not come to me that
you might have life. Now listen to the next verse. And the queen of the south, I
just read you the account, 1 Kings 10, the queen of Sheba, shall
rise up in the judgment with this generation. For she
came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom
of Solomon, And behold, I say unto you, a
greater than Solomon is here. God, who at sundry times and
in diverse manners spake to our fathers with the prophets, hath
in these last days spoken to us by a greater than Jonah, a
greater than Moses, a greater than Solomon. Behold, a greater
than Solomon Let's go back to our text, 1
Kings 10, and see if we can learn. Shall
this woman go to such extreme, difficult ways to hear a man? And we count
it Not worth our while to hear the Son of God. Well, first thing I see about
this woman is in verse 1, and when the Queen of Sheba heard
of the fame of Solomon, now listen, concerning the name of the Lord.
Where did she hear it? Well, look at verse 6. She said
to the king, it's a true report I heard in my own land. She heard
it wherever she lived, where it was that she lived, that's
where she heard it. She heard of the wisdom of Solomon,
the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, his knowledge
of God, his message that he preached
and believed. For Solomon said, I Solomon the
preacher was a king over Israel. To him, his most important work
was what he preached, not what he did. Remember, I, Solomon,
the preacher, was king over Israel. And she heard, I'm sure she heard
of the wisdom of Solomon in matters of government. He was the most
brilliant man who ever lived. born of woman. He was wise, above
all the wisdom of all the kings of all the lands. He knew science
and government and architecture and material matters. He was
the wisest, richest, most powerful king in the world. But what touched
her heart and why she made this journey was because she heard
of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of God. Solomon knew
God. Solomon knew and believed God
as Abraham of old, and she heard of his wisdom concerning the
name of the Lord. And she came. And I ask you this,
have we not heard in our own land of the wisdom of our Lord
Jesus Christ concerning the name of the Father? The disciples said, well show
us the Father, and he said, have I been with you this long and
you don't know me? He that has seen me has seen
my Father. Christ said, if you don't believe
on Me, you don't believe on Him who sent Me. I and my Father
are one. That's our interest in Christ.
The man Jesus Christ was sent of God. Hebrews 1. Listen to this. Hebrews
chapter 1. I quoted this a moment ago. In verse 1, God, who at sundry
times and in diverse manners spake in time past to the fathers
with the prophets, listen, hath in these last days spoken to
us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom he
made the worlds, who, being the brightness of his glory and express
image of his person, upholding all things by the word of his
power, when he by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right
hand of the majesty on high. I come to Christ because I need
the Father, and He knows the Father. I come to Christ because I want
to come to God, and there's no way to God except through Christ. She heard of Solomon and his
knowledge of God. And the Father said, this is
my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. The Father said, this
is my Son, hear ye Him. Nicodemus said, we know you come
from God. No man could do the things you
do except God be with him. And Paul the Apostle, when he
preached to the king in Acts 26, he said, Agrippa, was that his name? He
said, Agrippa. These things weren't done in
the corner. You know about Jesus Christ. These things weren't
there in the corner. And how shall we escape if we
neglect so great things? First, spoken to us by our Lord
Jesus, and then by them who heard Him. God bearing them witness
with miracles and wonders. Great things she heard. And here's
the second thing. It says in verse 1, And when
she heard in her own country, of the name, the fame of Solomon
and his knowledge of the name of God, the will of God, the
gospel of God, the glory of God. She came. She came to prove him. She came to ask him. She came
to Solomon personally. Not to his spokesman, not to
his servants, not to his subjects. She came to him. She took the
time, made the sacrifice, endured the discomforts of a long journey
to come to Him and speak personally unto Him. Is not this the thing for the
sinner to do? Come to Christ. Come to Him and
His Word. Don't be satisfied with only
hearing from others, come to him. Be like Mary of old, sit
at his feet. Come unto me, he said, all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest. Take my yoke
upon you and learn of me. Learn of me, and you'll find
rest unto your soul. If any man thirsts, let him come
to me. All that my Father giveth me
shall come to me. Robert Howey, preacher, dead
many years, was asked this question by a man. Will you write down for me in
black and white what it is I'm to believe? There's so many texts so many
preachers, so many ways, give me on paper, in plain words,
what I am to believe, and I'll believe it." And Mr. Harry replied, it's not in believing
one text or a number of texts. It's not believing one doctrine
or a list of doctrines that saves a soul, any more than the manslayer
could be saved by reading the signposts on the way to the city
of refuge. He could stand and read those
signposts and memorize them and believe them and perish. He must get to the city. He must
go in the city. Salvation is not reading words,
memorizing words about Christ. Salvation is in Christ. It is
to receive Him, to believe Him, to come to Him, to be blessed
by God with a union with Christ, not in memorizing and believing
text about Him. When a man is thirsty, he'll
never be satisfied by studying whales. He must come to the water
and drink it. When a man is hungry, he will
not be satisfied by reading recipes for good food. He must eat and
drink. So she heard. She heard about
his knowledge of the name of God, and she came to him. And she asked him, what did it
say in verse 2? Verse 1 says, she came to prove
him with hard questions. She had some hard questions about
God. She didn't want to learn the
law of gravity, or the mechanics of this, that, or the other. She came to the one who knew
God, who had the answers. to prove Him, to ask Him questions
that she couldn't answer and no one else could answer. And it says in verse 2, the last
line, she communed with Him of all that was in her heart. This
is not a mind debate between her and Solomon. That's so many people perishing,
debating religion. perishing, debating religion,
instead of understanding that no man knoweth the things of
God, save Christ, and to whom he shall reveal them. That the
natural man receiveth not the things of God, neither can he
know them, a foolishness to him. That they have to be revealed,
that we come to Christ not with objections, not with answers,
not with debates. We come silent, our mouths closed
and our ears open to hear from Him the answers to hard questions. He's the wisdom of God. He's
the truth of God. What are some of the questions
that only He can answer? Job asked This question, how
can a man be just with God? Job with his long white beard
and white hair and under the judgment, chastisement of God,
his learned friends about him. What are they asking? They're
asking how can a frail, weak, dying diseased, depraved man
be just with God." How can he joke sitting there in the ashes
with the boils all over him? Didn't even look like a human
being. And he said, how can a man be
clean that's born of woman? Behold the moon that shined,
if not the stars are not pure in God's sight. How much more
abominable and filthy are we that drink aniquity like the
water? You got the answer? Who's going to stand in His presence?
He that hath clean hands and a pure heart. How can that be? Paul asks, how can man, how can
God be just and justify us? God who's immaculately, infinitely,
indescribably holy, and we who are From the sole of our feet
to the top of our head, wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. How can God be just and justify
us? Nicodemus asked a question. How can man be born when he's
old? Christ said, you must be born
again. He said, how can a man be born when he's old? Job asked another one, if a man
dies, shall he live again? He asked another one, he said
man dies and like the water spilled on the ground, can he live again? Does God open his eyes on such
a one? Will God bring him into his presence? How is it that God knows everything,
and yet He said to those people, I never knew you? Pretty good question, isn't it?
You find somebody's got some of these answers, it'd be a good
idea to go listen to them. Christ has them. How is it God
never forgets, and yet He said, I remember their sins no more?
Come on. Give me an answer. All these prophecies of the Old
Testament we've been studying in our children's Bible study
books in our Arminian days, all these, you folks that came from
those churches where they read about Daniel purposed in his
heart, and this, that, and the other, and Ruth, and all of them,
all of these Old Testament prophecies and promises and types point
to some person, a Messiah, a Christ, a Redeemer, a serpent,
yet a king, a lamb, yet a lion, a submissive serpent, and yet
a ruling reigning monarch. One who had died, yet lived.
One who would descend into hell, and yet ascend to the presence
of God. Who is he? Who is he? back every preacher in this world
against the wall and ask him these questions. Who is he? She came, she asked some questions. She didn't ask him about scientific
and government. She heard this man knew God. And she told him what was in
her heart. No, it was in her head, didn't she, Cecil? what was in her heart. I'm a
sinner. I'm a queen, but I'm a sinner. I'm a rich person,
but I'm poor and needy. Tell me about him. You know God. I don't know him. Tell me about
him. I need to know him. Well, she heard and she came
and she asked and then she saw. Verse 3, Solomon told her, They
answered all her questions. Our Solomon, our beloved, the
answer is Christ is the answer. The promises of God are not yea
and nay, but yea and amen in Christ. She saw, listen, verse, not anything
hid from the king, which he didn't tell her. He won't hide anything
from you. He'll tell you. You come to Him with the right
spirit and the right attitude and the right reason. He said,
if any man will to know God's will, he'll know it. You quit
playing games, people, not you, but people of this world, quit
playing games of religion and come and unbear their hearts
to Jehovah God. God have mercy on me. Show me your way. Show me your
glory. I don't know anything. Never
will. And when the Queen of Sheba,
what did she say? What did she say? Listen, let
me tell you. When the Queen of Sheba had seen all of Solomon's
wisdom in what? The things of God. Have you seen
the wisdom of Christ? How God can be just and justified? How man can be born with the
power of God and the Spirit of God, given life everlasting in
Christ who is our life? How that His blood cleanses us
from all sin? How that His righteousness gives
us a holiness before God? Oh, the preaching of the cross
is to them who are perishing foolishness, but to the saved
it's the wisdom of God. I came to Jesus, our Lord, And
I saw his wisdom. He's the wisdom of God. And she
didn't only see his wisdom, she saw the house he'd built. Our
Lord's building a house. It's called a temple. It's called
a living temple. It's called a temple of living
stones. It's called a church. He said, I'll build my church.
And the gates of hell will not prevail against him. I have a
people, my Father gave them to me. Of the sheep I have which
are not of this fold, them I must bring." Now hear my voice. And
I'll build a temple in which the presence of God will dwell,
a temple of living stone. And I've seen his wisdom, I've
seen his house. And listen, verse 5, she saw
the meat of his table. That's His. This is my body broken
for you. Eat of my flesh and drink of
my blood and never die. That's the meat of His table.
We come to His table. We feed not on deer and antelope and fruits and vegetables. We feed
on Christ. He prepares the meal, he serves
the meal, and he is the meal, feasting on him. And she saw
all these things she saw Solomon with the natural eye, but the
types of Christ. And she saw the sitting of his
servants and the attendance of his ministers. Where were his
servants sitting? In his presence. In his presence. And we are,
the Scripture says, raised and made to sit together with Christ. I've seen the sitting of His
servants, the weakest, the youngest, sitting at the
right hand of God. And I saw, she said, His apparel. Can you imagine how these fellows
were dressed? Can you imagine how Solomon,
King Solomon, the greatest king on earth, most powerful, richest,
he made things out of pure gold. And his servants, the people
who were his loyal, devoted friends and family, boy he dressed them
up. And she saw his table, she saw
the house he built, she heard his wisdom. She saw the sitting
of His servants in His presence at His right hand, and they were
dressed up in white robes. In His righteousness, we are
clothed in His righteousness. Oh, think about it. Listen, in
their cupbearers, my cup runs over, there wasn't any shortage
there. The cup just kept pouring. kept running over. Now watch
it. And she saw, here's a scent by
which he went up into the house of the Lord. She watched Solomon go into the
presence of his God. Oh, the reverence and the glory
and the majesty in that temple which he had built. And so the
reverence and the awe and how that all the subjects and Solomon
himself was subject to the King, to the Lord. She took note of
that. That he knew God and his countenance
and his conduct and his attitude in the presence of God confirmed what she believed,
he knew God. I've heard people preach and
I knew they don't know God. Their ascent into His presence,
their attitude in His house toward His Word, toward His worship. She took note of Solomon and
all these things, and she took note of his ascent into the presence
of God to worship. And let me tell you, our Lord
Jesus Christ, He ascended to the Father, submissive, I come
to do thy will, O God. Not my will, but thy will be
done. I come to do thy will, and the volume of the book is
written of me to do thy will, O God." And she noted that, and I note
that, that he obeyed everything, every jot and tittle that God
commanded, and the Lord said, sit at my right hand. And when
she saw this, listen, there was no life in her, there was no
breath left. She was just awed. I told somebody yesterday, when
people get religion, and even hear the gospel, the true gospel, if they talk too much and make
too much of a show, and have too much to say, it
worries me. Because people who get a glimpse
of what they are by nature, and who He is, and what this
matter of redemption from the depths of sin and depravity and
hell, it's like John just saying, who am I? And they really don't
have anything to say. They just don't have anything
to say. And when she, she heard, about Solomon. Said she didn't
believe it. Wonder what she said? Verse 7,
I didn't believe the words. I didn't expect her to. It's
too, too, too fantastic. She heard about Solomon the king
and all these things about him. She said, I don't believe that.
But she came to him. And she sat at his feet, and
she communed unto him everything in her heart, and she asked him
all of these hard questions, and he answered them. And when
she saw his wisdom, and his glory, and his house, and his servants,
and their blessed are his servants, and their apparel, and the way
that he approached God, she didn't have As the little fella said,
nothing to say. He got nothing to say. Take her about a year to get
her breath. Takes her about a year or two
to grasp it. And a lifetime to admire it. But tell you what she did do,
she confessed. She said in verse 7, How be it? I didn't believe the words until
I came and mine eyes had seen it. And behold, they didn't tell
me half the truth, half of it. And Bob and Ronnie and John and
Dan and Cecil and us elders. Somebody said, I didn't finish
my message. You never will. Didn't get a half of it told.
Isn't that right, Frank? Not even half of it. She said,
you didn't tell me the whole story. I didn't know it. I didn't
know. I hadn't seen all of it yet.
I'll see it one day. Come to me in about ten years.
You will. She said, you didn't tell me
half of it. Our wisdom and prosperity exceeded
the fame which I heard. And listen, here's her confession.
Happy. Blessed are thy men, blessed
are thy servants. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest to approach unto thee. Blessed is the man
to whom God will not impute sin. Blessed are your servants that
stand continually before you, those people that worship you
all the time and hear your wisdom, hear your gospel, how blessed
we are. to hear the Word, His wisdom. No, we're not, we don't have
any, but this is what He said. And listen, I close. Blessed
be the Lord thy God. Blessed be the Heavenly Father
who delighted in Christ. Now you tell, I'm telling you,
I'm telling you, He delights in Christ. The Father loveth
the Son. and give it all things into his
hand. The son is the heir. Blessed be the Lord God who loved
you, who loved Christ, delighted in Christ to set you on the throne
of Israel, to make you their king, to make Christ our king.
Blessed God who made Christ our king. I set my king on the holy
hill of Zion, true Israel. And I tell you why He made Christ
our King, because He loved Israel. Well, He loved His people. Nothing
can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ. Therefore,
He made Christ to be our King, and our King came to do judgment. He came to meet the law and obey
it. and justice. He came to satisfy
the justice of God on the cross of Calvary. Bless God. Bless God.