First of all, to the book of
1 Kings. I'm going to read two texts in
connection with this message. 1 Kings chapter 10 is the first
text. 1 Kings chapter 10. And then
we're going to turn to Matthew 12 again and read a verse that
we read a few moments ago. Now, 1 Kings, the tenth chapter. Note very carefully the wording
here, I Kings 10, verse 1. And when the queen of Sheba heard
of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord. Now that's
very important there. When the queen of Sheba heard
of the fame of Solomon, or the wisdom of Solomon, concerning
the name of the Lord. She came to prove him with hard
questions. She came to Jerusalem with a
very great train, with camels that bear spices, very much gold,
precious stone. 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. Now turn with me to Matthew 12.
I hear the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking, and He says in verse
42 of Matthew 12, the Queen of the South, and that's the Queen
of Sheba, shall rise up in the judgment, this Queen of Sheba,
who came from a great way off having heard of the wisdom of
Solomon concerning the things of the Lord, who came from a
great way off, a long ways from Jerusalem, to ask this man Solomon
many hard questions." Well, this woman is going to rise up in
the judgment. She's going to rise from the
dead, and she's going to stand in the judgment as a witness
and condemn this generation. For she came from the uttermost
parts of the earth, that is a great way off, a long ways from Jerusalem. She came from the uttermost parts
of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, a greater
than Solomon is here. A greater than Solomon is here.
This woman, the Queen of Sheba, famous in her own right, But
when she heard of the wisdom of Solomon concerning the things
of the Lord, she came from a great way off to ask him many difficult
questions, many hard questions concerning the things of the
Lord. And our Master says in the day of judgment she's going
to rise up as a witness against us, for by her example and practice
we are going to be condemned. She made a great effort. These
were the days of difficult travel. She made a great effort. She
came from a long ways to hear the wisdom of a man concerning
the things of the Lord. She spared no pains or effort
to get answers to her questions because she heard that Solomon
had the answers. She heard about his wisdom. And
our Master says a greater than Solomon is here. He is the wisdom
of God. He is the one in whom all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found. How much effort have
we put forth to hear Him? Have we brought our difficult
questions to Him? Have we sought to find in Him
the answers to these spiritual matters? She came from a great
way off. She spent many, many days, perhaps
weeks and maybe even months, riding camels and walking to
get to this man Solomon to hear what he had to say about the
things of the Lord. And we put forth so little effort. We have in our homes his word,
but we don't read it. We have in our town his churches
and preachers, but we don't put forth much effort to hear them.
And she's going to rise up in the judgment. And Christ says
she's going to be a witness against this generation. She's going
to 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 I've gone through the Word
of God and picked out several hard questions. I tremble to
give you the number of them. There are thirteen of them. But
I'm not going to spend a great deal of time on each one. But
these are hard questions. These are questions, an answer
for which you cannot find in me or in you. in organized religion,
in the books of men. These are questions only our
Lord can answer, and can only be answered in the light of Christ. Turn first of all to Job 25.
Here's the first question, Job 25. Now, I promise you I'm going
to be brief on each one of these, but these are difficult questions. These are the questions that
need to be asked. These are the questions that
you need to ask and the answer to these questions you need to
have. The first one is this, and Job asked this twice in his
writings. In Job 25, verse 4, listen to
it. How then, how then can man be
just with God? How can man be just with God? Now hold that right there just
a moment. When we consider the infinite holiness of God, that
even the cherubims and the seraphims shield their eyes and cover their
ears and cover their mouths in his presence and cry, Holy, holy,
holy Lord God of hosts. When the whole heavens are filled
with his glory, with the holiness of his presence, And Job says
in verse 5, look at the moon. In the presence of God it refuses
to shine. Look at the stars, even they
are not pure in God's sight. How much less man that is a worm. When we consider the sinfulness
of man, David cried, I was shapen in iniquity. I was conceived
in sin. I was brought forth from the
womb speaking lies. I have partaken in Adam's rebellion. I join with those who crucified
the Son of God. My heart is stained with sin. My very being is permeated with
iniquity. From the sole of my feet to the
top of my head there's no soundness in me, nothing but open running
sores that have not been bound up, neither mollified with ointment. How then can man be just with
God? Look at verse 4 again, Job 25.
How can he be clean? Clean with the cleanliness of
God, holy with the holiness of God, righteous with the righteousness
of God. justified with the justification
of God. How can that be? Well, the law can't do it. The law can't do it. By the deeds
of the law, the scripture says, shall no flesh be justified. The law can only condemn. The
law can only reveal sin. It cannot purify. By the law
is the knowledge of sin Paul said, I would not have known
sin had not the law said thou shalt not covet. So the law cannot
justify. Job, this is a hard question. How can man be just with God? And when we're talking about
just, we're talking about not only pardoned and forgiven, but
justified, but actually cleansed, but actually to be regarded as
holy. Good works can't do it. The scripture
says it's not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to his mercy he saved us. The scripture says that no man
is justified by works. It is evident. Religious ceremonies
won't do it. Turn to Isaiah. Here is a shocking
scripture. Isaiah chapter 1. Religious ceremonies
won't justify. When Solomon took the kingdom
from David, when David died and left the kingdom with his son
Solomon, he told Solomon to purge the kingdom, to purge out the
traitors and the rebels, to purge out those who were enemies of
the king, and Joab was one of them. Joab was a strange man,
but Joab's hands were dripping with the blood of many men. And David told Solomon to purge
the kingdom, to destroy Joab. And when Joab found out about
it, he ran down to the temple, hoping to find refuge in the
house of God. He not only ran down to the temple,
he ran in the temple, and he ran down to the front of the
temple and took hold of the horns of the altar of God Almighty.
And David's soldiers, or Solomon's soldiers, came down to the temple
and said, Joab, come on out. And he said, I'm not coming out.
He thought to find protection and security in the things of
religion. And they came and told Solomon
that he wouldn't come out, that he was hanging on the horns of
the altar. Solomon said, well, kill him
right there. And they did. And too many people today think
they can find a refuge from sin by fleeing to the minister, or
fleeing to the house of God, or fleeing to the ceremonies
of the church, or fleeing to the feast days, and the holy
days, and fleeing to the baptismal pool, or the large table, or
some other religious ordinance. But listen to what God says in
Isaiah chapter 1, verse 14. your new moons and your appointed
feast, my soul hateth. There are trouble unto me, I'm
weary to bear them. When you spread forth your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you. Yea, when you make many prayers,
I'll not hear you. Your hands are full of blood.
These religious ceremonies cannot justify. How's a man going to
be just with God? Well, we have the answer to that
here in the book of Romans, chapter 3. In Romans, chapter 3, verse
23, this is a hard question, but it's not without an answer.
If we bring it to the Lord, if we bring this question to the
Lord, that's what Christ says, the Queen of Sheba came to Solomon. And a greater than Solomon is
here. She brought him her hard questions, she communed with
him all that was in her heart, and he answered them. He didn't
keep back anything from her. And it says in Romans 3, 23,
"...all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." But
we're justified, listen, freely. We don't buy it, we don't earn
it. It's a free gift. We're justified freely by His
grace. That's how we're justified, by
His grace. It's not earned, it's not bought.
It's freely by His grace. through the redemption. The redemption
was that which was purchased by the death of Christ. It was
that ransom that was paid by the death of Christ. It was that
penalty inflicted upon Christ. It was that suffering endured
by Christ. Through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, whom God, verse 25, has set forth, or foreordained,
to be a propitiation, a mercy seat. Christ is the mercy seat,
through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness, his
holiness, for the forgiveness or passing over of sins that
are passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say, at
this time, his righteousness, that he might be just, and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. There's the answer.
How can a man be just with God in Christ? Now the second question,
John chapter 3, here's the second question that I think ought to
be asked. Now the Word of God tells us
we must be born again. That flesh and blood cannot inherit
the Kingdom of God. That when we're born the first
time of our parents, we're born without spiritual life, we're
born having received a natural life. And we're mere natural
men without spiritual life. The Scripture says that by nature
we're without Christ. We must be born again. By nature
we're without God. We must be born again. By nature
we're without life. We're without hope. We must be
born again. Man must receive a new life,
a new nature. You must be born again. Now here's
the question. Verse 4, John 3, Nicodemus saith
unto him, How can a man be born when he's old? Hmm? How? How can a man be born when
he's old? How can I be born again? I know how I was born the first
time. I know that I was conceived and
I was brought forth. And I receive from my father
and mother natural life, human life. I have flesh and bones
and blood and a natural mind and a natural heart and a natural
will. I'm flesh. That which is born
of the flesh is flesh. But how can I be born again?"
Well, turn to John chapter 1. Here's the answer here. This
is a difficult question. Now, the Scripture plainly says
we must be born again. If any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, that is, spiritual life, he's none of His. As many
as are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. There are sons of men, they're
sons of God. The sons of men have been born
of the flesh. The sons of God have been born
of the Spirit. But how can a man be born when
he's old? John 1, verse 12, listen. as
many as received him, to them gave he the right, the privilege,
to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name,
which were born." Now watch these next few lines. "...not of blood."
Now this is not talking about the blood of Christ, because
we are cleansed by the blood of Christ. We are purified by
the blood of Christ. Our atonement is through the
blood of Christ. Our acceptance is in the blood
of Christ. But this is talking about inheritance
from our parents. Now, I don't know a great deal
about what we call household salvation. I know that there
are many promises to the believer concerning our children. I know the scripture says that
Timothy from a child knew the holy scriptures that were able
to make him wise unto salvation. He didn't say he was saved from
a child or promised to be saved from a child. He said he knew
the scriptures which were able to give him spiritual wisdom. I know the Bible says train up
a child in the way that he shall go and he shall not depart from
it. I know that many times the apostles
of Christ said something like this, Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved in thy house. But this new birth
is not inherited from our parents. All men are of one blood, and
that's a sinful blood. That's a sinful blood. That goes
back to Adam's blood, the first father. All men, black, white,
red, or yellow, are of the same blood. And that's a sinful blood. So this new life, this spiritual
life, the natural life came down through the natural generation,
the natural birth. But this new life doesn't come
that way, this spiritual life. It doesn't come by blood. That's
what that's talking about there. Now watch the next line. Nor
are we born of the will of the flesh, that is, not of man's own free
will. Our will is a carnal. Christ
said, You will not come to me that you might have life. Men
will not come to Christ. Man's will is carnal, man's will
is natural, man's will is corrupt. Our natural wills cling to that
which appeals to our flesh. The lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eye, and the pride of life. That's the area in which
our natural wills are most at home. They're not at home in
spiritual things. So we're not born of the will
of the flesh. The flesh does not will to walk
in holiness. It bucks against it and despises
it. The flesh lusteth against the
Spirit. It's contrary to the Spirit.
Nor are we born, watch this, we're not born of the will of
man. Even the best men, Abraham, David,
Jacob, could pray for their friends and pray for their children,
but they couldn't save them. I can't will the salvation of
any man. Nor can you. We're not born of blood. We're not born of the will of
the flesh. We're not born of the will of
man. We're born of God. That's how a man is born again.
The Father wills it. The Son purchases it. The Holy
Spirit applies it. Turn back to John chapter 3.
Here's the answer. Christ said, verse 6, That which
is born of the flesh is flesh, Nicodemus. That which is born
of the Spirit is Spirit, supernaturally, heavenly, divinely, eternally
born of God. An example of that would be When
Mary heard the angel announce the fact that she would have
a son, and she said, how can these things be? I know not a
man. And that's what we're asking
here. How can How can life be conceived
apart from natural conception or begetting? And the Lord comes
back and says to Mary, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, the
power of the highest shall overshadow thee, and that which is born
in thy womb shall be called the Son of God. And that's what the
new birth is. It's the Holy Ghost coming upon
a person. It's the power of the highest
overshadowing a person. And that life which is quickened,
that life which is given, is the life of God. It's divine
life. And he that's born of God cannot
sin, because God's seed remaineth in him. Now here's the third
question, John 14. John chapter 14. Here's a hard
question. In John chapter 14, the Lord
Jesus Christ, in chapter 14, has been speaking of his Father's
house, Heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ has been
speaking of going there to prepare a place for us. He said, verse 2 of John 14,
In my Father's house are many mansions, O the Father's dwelling
above. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that
where I am, there ye may be also." This is what we want. But Thomas asked a good question
here, verse 5, and Thomas said unto him, We don't know where
heaven is. We don't know where you're going.
We've never been there. How can we know the way? How
can we know the way? Isn't that a good question? This
must not be left to guesswork. We must know. How can we know
the way, Thomas said? I don't want to guess. I want
to know the way. This afternoon I'm driving to
Danville. I don't remember ever being in
Danville. So I called the pastor last night.
I'm going to the church tonight to preach. And I called him last
night and I said, tell me how to get to the church from Ashland.
I don't want to guess at it. I want to be there. I'm such
a such a stickler for being on time. I want to be there in time
to preach tonight." And I said, you tell me how to get there.
And he told me exactly, from the time I leave here to the
time I get to the church, how to get there. And brother, I'm
telling you, it's important for me to get there tonight to preach,
but it's more important for me to get to heaven. I want to know
the way. I want to know the way. I don't
want to know what, I don't want to think about it. I want to
know the way. I don't want, I don't want some
fella telling me the way it's never been there, you know, doesn't
know anything about it. He doesn't even know where it
is. Now Christ knows where it is, and He knows the way. And I don't want Reverend Sound
and Brass or Dr. Tinklen Semble to tell me the
way. I want the Lord Jesus Christ to tell me the way. And He answers. He gives us the way. John 14,
verse 6, And He said unto him, I am the way. I'm the way. Now, I know the Lord Jesus Christ
made a way to heaven. There's a song. I don't think
I've ever heard it, but I've heard the title, The Lord Made
a Way Somehow. Well, He did make a way. I will
concede that. The Lord Jesus Christ provided
the way to heaven. But my friend, the way to heaven
is more than a provision. It's a person. He didn't say,
I made a way. He said, I am the way. He didn't
say, I provided you a way. He says, I am the way. There's
a lot of difference. A man came to Robert Howey, a
minister in England one time, and he said, Mr. Howey, I'm in
trouble about my soul. I'm not sure about my relationship
with God. Give me a verse of Scripture.
Give me any verse of Scripture. I don't care what it is, but
give me a verse of Scripture, one text, and I will receive
it, and I will believe it, and I'll hold to it. And Robert Howey
replied, It's not one verse nor a dozen verses of Scripture that
saves. It's a person who saves. Just
as the people who fled to the city of refuge were not delivered
by reading the signposts that pointed to the city, they were
not saved from the enemy by reading the signposts, reading the directions. They were saved by entering the
city. And you cannot be saved by reading the Bible. The Bible
is the signpost that points to a person, the city of refuge,
the Redeemer. You cannot be saved by memorizing
Scripture. You cannot be saved by learning
doctrine, or even holding to your doctrine, or even believing
your doctrine. A man is fleeing from the murder
and he comes to a sign that says, City of Refuge. four miles northeast
on this road. He says, I believe it. Bless
God, I believe it. And he dies right there. And
a man comes along, he's reading the Bible, all is sinned, I believe
it. The gift of God's eternal life,
I believe it. Jesus Christ died for sinners,
I believe it. He's not saved. Christ is not only the one who
provided the way by becoming a man, by obeying the law, by
dying for our sins. He is the way. It's not the truth
about Him that saves, it's Christ that saves. You see what I'm
saying? Paul prayed, I prevail till Christ
be formed in you. The Master said that you eat
my flesh and drink my blood, and my life dwelleth in you. We don't know the way, Lord.
We don't know where you're going. How can we know the way? I am the way. I am the way. Now the fourth question. Turn
to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 35. Now here's an interesting question. It's a hard question. 1 Corinthians
15, 35. Some man will say, but how are
the dead raised up? How are the dead raised up? We're
dying men. We're dying creatures. We can, man can take life, but
he can't, he cannot restore it. I can take a gun and blow my
brains out this morning, but I cannot raise my dead body. How are the dead raised? Men
can bury the dead, they can go out to the cemetery and they
can dig a hole and they can put their loved ones in that hole,
but they can't raise them. How are the dead raised? This is a hard question. The
physician doesn't have the answer. He can stand by the bedside of
a dying man or woman, putting his stethoscope down on the chest,
and he can tell when the soul has left, but he can't bring
it back. He can't bring it back. The philosophers can sit around
the circle and argue about what makes us act like we act, and
do what we do, and think like we think, and talk like we talk,
but the philosopher cannot He cannot define life, and He cannot bring it back.
How are the dead raised? Verse 35, And with what body
do they come? And the answer comes back, verse
36, Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not
quickened, except it die. In other words, when you take
a grain of corn and plant it in the ground, or a grain of
wheat, that grain of corn, that grain of wheat, does not give
birth to the stalk until it's put in the ground, until it germinates,
until it dies, until it rots. And then when it dies, when it
rots, it gives birth to a new stalk of corn or a new stalk
of wheat. And that which thou sowest When
you go out to plant corn or wheat, you don't sow the body that shall
be. You don't take a whole stalk
of corn. You don't go down to the market and get a whole stalk
of corn and take it and dig a trench and put the whole stalk of corn
in there. You just sow the bare grain. whether it be wheat or
whether it be some other grain. And God gives it a body as it
pleases Him. You put that little seed in the
ground, it germinates, it dies, and then a few days later, a
few weeks later, there's a whole stalk of corn with ears of corn,
or there's a grain of wheat. Beautiful, beautiful. Nothing
like that seed that was planted, although it came from it. And even so, when we take this
wrinkled, withered, old, decaying, dried up, dead body, and put
it in the ground. God Almighty, by the same power
that quickens that grain of wheat, that grain of corn, brings forth
that stalk so beautiful, so nourishing, so full of life, God Almighty
is going to let this body rot and go back to the dust from
whence it came, and then He'll bring forth a body just like
the Lord Jesus Christ by His own power. Now let's turn to Matthew 18.
This is an interesting question here. This is one that ought
to concern every one of us. Matthew 18, verse 21. Matthew 18, 21. And Peter came to him and said,
Lord, how often shall my brother sin
against me, and I forgive him? Seven times? Peter was being
very generous, wasn't he? Just think about that, going
to forgive a fellow seven whole times. Seven times. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy
times seven. How many times shall I forgive?
How many times shall I show mercy? How many days shall I go on loving?
Now, the answer to this question is the very essence of Christianity. It's the very essence of Christian
growth. It's the very essence of Christian
life, because it reveals love. Our faith determines our attitude,
and our attitude determines our actions. That's the reason it's
so important. People put a great deal of stock
in actions. The Lord puts more influence
or more importance upon attitude, because attitude influences action. Actions are the result of attitude,
and faith is the essence of attitude. The Lord Jesus said, cleanse
first that which is within. that the outside might be clean.
We forgive as we are forgiven. We love as we have been loved. We show mercy as we have received
mercy. Now, in closing, I want to ask
the other eight questions. And these are difficult questions,
but I think they're directed more to us. We'll find the answer
to them in Christ, but they're directed more to us than they
are to him. If you want to, you can jot down
these verses, but I'm just going to briefly run through the questions.
Paul asks in the book of Hebrews, chapter 2, verse 3, How shall
we escape if we neglect this great salvation? How are we going
to escape? In John 5, verse 44, the Master
asks this question, How can you believe who seek honor from men? If you seek worldly honor, there's
no way you can seek God's praise and God's honor. And then another question Paul
asks over in Romans 10, 14, How shall they call on him in whom
they have not believed? And then John asks in 1 John
4, 20, How can I love God and hate my brother? Jeremiah asks this question of
Israel in Jeremiah 2, 23, How can you say you are not polluted? And then our Lord asks this question
in Luke 6.42, How can you say to your brother, Let me pull
the moat out of your eye, and considers not the beam in your
own eye? And then our Lord asks this question
in Matthew 23, How shall ye escape the damnation of hell? But I like this question, Romans
8.32, If God spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Christ cannot fail. Christ cannot
fail. The Queen of Sheba, down there
in that far country, heard of the wisdom of Solomon concerning
the things of the Lord. And it took her a while to prepare
for that journey. It was an expensive journey.
It was a long, tiresome, weary journey. But she came from the
uttermost parts of the earth and sat at the feet of Solomon,
and she began to ask him these questions. Many hard questions. I want the answer. I want the
answer. I want the answer. I'm not leaving until I get the
answer. Jacob said, I will not let thee go except thou bless
me. I'm staying right here until
I get the answer. You got any answers? You're not even interested,
huh? She's going to rise up in the
judgment, Christ said, and condemn this generation because a greater
than Solomon is here. And we're not interested enough
in these questions that I've asked this morning. We're not
interested enough. We pay some preacher to study
for us. We pay some song leader to sing
for us. We pay some educational director
to teach us. We pay somebody else to pray
for us. We pay somebody else to do this,
that, and the other, and we're not interested. Well, oh, that
we had the concern of the Queen of Sheba. But she's going to
rise up as a witness against us. These questions need to be
answered. They need to be answered. And
I'm not satisfied with what Maul believed about them, or Paul
believed about them, or what our old pastor believed about
them. I'm interested in what Christ said about them, aren't
you? The Bereans search the scriptures
to see if these things be so. Your soul's too valuable to trust
it into somebody else's hands. That is a natural man. Trust
it in the hands of Christ, but don't leave it in the hands of
some preacher, some denomination, some church. Our Father in heaven, bless the
Word. The answers are here. They're
here in the words of our Master. Let us not be entangled so much
with the things of this world that we neglect these questions. Let us not be so entangled in
the systematic theologies and in the denominational tenets
and creeds and catechisms that we miss the answer. Let us not
be so entangled in our feelings and experiences And in our religious traditions
and customs that we miss Christ, let every one of us, like the
Queen of Sheba, be willing to journey, no matter how far, that
we might get the answers to these questions. In the name of Christ our Lord,
we pray. Amen.