0:00 Good morning. Are you alive? I'm barely alive, but I'm alive. So I praise God that we have another day to, be together. And, I'm excited to open God's word with you.
0:18 I want to pray one more time. So let's do that. Let's seek the Lord again. Lord, we thank you that your word says in Psalm three verse five that David slept and he awoke because the Lord sustained him. Thank you, Lord, that you've sustained us through our sleep, that we are able to be here attentive, energized, and ready to receive the manna that you have prepared for us today.
0:48 And so we come to glean from the dew of your word, and we pray that we would be nourished and strengthened from it. We give you glory, Lord, and honor, and thanks. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.
1:03 Do you have a Bible with you? If you don't have a Bible with you, why don't you have a Bible with you? I hope you have a Bible with you. I'm so thankful for the screen and the projection, but there's nothing like having a copy of God's word in your hand. I know that we have phones and tablets, whatever the means is, whatever you use to read God's word, make it a habit to bring it with you to church, to familiarize yourself with the sword of the spirit that you have.
1:29 It's very important. It's a testimony for others as well. And, I'm glad that we have God's word available. It's royalty to have God's word. You know that?
1:39 You know, in the Old Testament, it was the kings who were to have a copy of God's word. They were to write a copy of it approved by the Levitical priest, and it says there in Deuteronomy 17 that they were to have that copy of God's word with them at all times and read it all the time. So it was a royal thing to have a copy of God's word, and we are a royal priesthood. And we have been, by God's providence, given access to divine revelation. And so if you have a copy of God's word, go with me to Matthew chapter 12 again.
2:11 Matthew chapter 12 in verse 42, the verse that we have been addressing and dissecting together these past few sessions. When Jesus declared that something greater than Solomon is Solomon is here, he did not, he did not give an aimless assertion in one of his sermons. When you look at the context when Jesus said something greater than Solomon is here, it was actually a rebuke. It was a rebuke. And when you look here at 42, we know this verse, but you scale back to verse 38, and you realize that it was the scribes and the Pharisees who approached Jesus yet again and asked him to perform another spectacular sign.
2:59 And this was not an honest, sincere inquiry. This was a veneer. This was a facade of seemingly being interested in in investigating the evidence of who Jesus really is, but Christ saw pass through that. This was just a way of many ways of attempting to trap Jesus and to try to discredit Jesus. And you can't fool Jesus.
3:25 He can see through it all. And he did see it. And because he saw it, instead of giving them a supernatural sign on demand, despite all the signs that he had already done leading up to this point, the Pharisees were aware of the miracles. Instead of giving them a supernatural sign, he gives them a scathing rebuke. He gives them a rebuke.
3:47 And one of those rebukes is what we see here in Matthew twelve forty two. When Jesus says that he was greater than Solomon, he he did not only in that one breath declare his superiority to Solomon, he also linked himself to a person in the story of Solomon that we are going to look at in greater detail. So notice, let's read it again in verse 42 of chapter 12. The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it. For she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
4:30 The Lord assured this unbelieving generation that on judgment day, the queen of the South will rise and stand and testify against this generation and actually condemn it for their lack of faith. For failing to take heed to the opportunity that was before them in the person of Jesus Christ, there is a historic person that will be standing on trial and pointing her finger towards those who beheld the incarnate Christ and and actually reprimanding them and rebuking them, and will further and confirm the testimony of their worthiness to be judged for eternity. Who is this person? Who is the queen of the South? And why does the Lord highlight her as someone who will take the witness stand and bring about a report from her own testimony of why they deserve to be judged by God.
5:33 You don't have to guess why the Lord chose this woman. You don't have to guess who she is because there's an entire half chapter dedicated in the Old Testament concerning her in first Kings chapter 10. And not only is she found there in first Kings chapter 10, there was something about her attitude towards Solomon that Christ highly esteemed. There was something about how she approached Solomon that Christ highly esteemed. And not only did he highly esteemed it, he set it as an example before the Jews of his day, and he also sets it as an example for people of all generations of how we ought to respond to the reports that we hear about Jesus Christ.
6:24 Here is the main point of what Christ is getting at. If this queen, if this woman was so eager and so curious to go out of her way to discover the things that she merely heard about this great king, how much more should we pursue the one who is greater? This is the main argument that Christ is making. And it it sounds like an inspirational illustration, but it's actually a warning. Right?
6:56 It's not just, look at the Queen of the South and how she saw King Solomon, now do something similar with Jesus Christ. That's not really the whole point. The whole point is Christ is actually telling these people that to be apathetic and to be uninterested when you are presented an opportunity and an invitation to discover what Jesus Christ wants to make known to you is absolutely inexcusable. To remain apathetic or uninterested when you have been given an opportunity to investigate and discover more of what Christ wants to make known to you, it's absolutely inexcusable. This is what Jesus is saying.
7:43 And there are four notable things about the Queen of Sheba that I would like to bring to our attention. There are four notable things. The first thing is the position that she had. The second thing is the distance that she made. The third thing is the king that she sought.
8:02 And the last thing is that the reward she received. Let's turn to first Kings chapter 10 together. Let's turn to first Kings chapter 10 beginning in verse one. This is the same woman that Jesus refers to in Matthew chapter 12. It's such a beautiful story.
8:23 I'm gonna read the first five verses and just envision it. In first Kings chapter 10 verse one, we read, now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test them with hard questions. She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue with camels bearing spices and very much gold and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she told them all that was on her mind. And Solomon answered her all her hard all her questions rather.
8:57 There was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her. And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, their clothing, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the Lord, there was no more breath in her. Literally, her breath was taken from her. Breathless. Wow.
9:27 Four notable things. The first thing I want you to understand concerning Jesus's words of why she will stand at the judgment is because of the positions that she had. When he said the queen of the South, she was a queen. This was not somebody who was just a a curious woman from a foreign land. She was royalty.
9:48 She was a woman of great dignity. She was a woman of great power, affluence, influence, prestige. This was somebody very important at this time in history. And Jesus highlights this because most scholars believe that Sheba is modern day Yemen, South Of Saudi Arabia. And we're gonna talk about the location and how significant that is because Jesus highlights how far she came to meet with Solomon.
10:14 But before that, just consider her position. What what she did, who she was, the responsibility she had, the authority that she possessed. This is not just anybody. This is somebody who had status. This is somebody who is very significant.
10:28 Someone who is feared and revered, who herself was sought after to some degree. And so she had a responsibility over a nation, and yet with all the subjects that she had, all the servants, all the supplies, all the success, the impression that you get here from verse one is that this queen was longing for something more. She was longing for something more. How does she hear about Solomon? Well, surely traders came in and out of her land, And people who had visited Solomon or passed through Jerusalem and Israel also witnessed the majesty of this king and what he was able to do in such a short amount of time.
11:04 And so she heard from time to time about this King Solomon from Jerusalem. And she gathered the pieces together, and something sparked inside of her heart. I'm hearing about this Solomon all the time. Now she was not somebody who had nothing to do. She she was not a spoiled queen who lounged around and thought this will be a nice vacation, nor is she somebody who thought that this would be a good alliance to make with a brilliant man.
11:30 We can really work together and do something awesome together. That's not what's happening here. Read verse one carefully again, and you'll see the essence of her desire to discover who King Solomon is. First Kings ten one. Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, it stopped if it stopped there, then we would can say it's about Solomon.
11:49 But it says concerning the name of the lord. Concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test them with hard questions. It was more than Solomon's abilities. It was more than Solomon's achievements. There was some something about Solomon's knowledge of God.
12:09 And there was something about Solomon doing things in honor of God. There was something about people linked the favor Solomon had with God. And so the main here main thing here for this queen is the Lord. The Lord that Solomon represented, the Lord that Solomon served. This was the heartbeat of this trip that she's about to make.
12:34 And this is what we need to learn from this woman, and never forget it. You were created for more than positions of authority, than personal luxury, than extravagance, than achievements, than you accomplishing projects, whether they're small or great, than you crafting your gift or it's more than that. Your heart was created to know your maker, to walk with your God, to understand him and to experience him and to know who he is and to know who he is concerning yourself and how he relates to you. You see this woman here, she has this this longing that's been birthed. Maybe it was always there and and the lid was removed once everybody start talking about the Lord of Solomon, not just Solomon.
13:23 And so this woman here is testifying something about the human heart. That the human heart, though it is depraved and wicked and evil, it it is capable of understanding that there is something more. And I wonder if your heart today testifies to that reality, or are you still mesmerized by the little toys of this world? This woman had it all. And I wonder for those who have made their lives about the things that she enjoyed, the things that she probably pursued to arrive where she was at, are you not challenged this morning that there was a queen who left her throne to discover a truth about the true god.
14:06 She left her throne, and she desired to get answers. Not just answers about her life, but answers about God, I'm sure. She heard the fame of Solomon concerning the Lord. I gotta find out what this is all about. So you see that this woman had all these things, and guess what?
14:24 These things did not satisfy satisfy the cries of her heart. They didn't. And unfortunately, you have so many people today who, in the name of pursuing such things and enjoying such things, live all of their lives, if not most of their lives, neglecting the person of Jesus Christ, ignoring the rumors. They're not rumors. They're true reports about who he is for vanity, for transient things, for things that will disappear, for things that will rot, for things that can be taken from you.
14:58 And yet here's this woman who has her priorities right. And remember when Jesus gave this rebuke, he gave it to a specific audience. He gave it to the religious leaders of his time. These men who also wanted to protect their positions and their influence. Remember, when Jesus was on trial, Pilate discerned that these Pharisees were delivering up to this trial because of envy.
15:26 They saw the people that Christ was pulling away from them. They saw how there was a shift happening in the spiritual climate because of this one man. A new movement was arising and out of envy, they sought Christ to be put to death. But not only that, that's not the only mark of a Pharisee. We tend to we tend to summarize a Pharisee to be somebody who is legalistic or self righteous, and that is true.
15:48 That is the essence of being a Pharisee. But there are different ingredients that make a Pharisee a Pharisee, and there are different components that made the Pharisees unable to surrender to at least honestly inquire of the person of Jesus Christ instead of making him public enemy number one from the get go. Here's one of the marks of a Pharisee. In Luke sixteen fourteen, we are told that the Pharisees who heard Jesus just preach a certain sermon, and then we're given description about those Pharisees in Luke sixteen four who were lovers of money. They loved money.
16:25 They lived for money. They twisted the promises and the commands of God for the accumulation of personal gain. They were lovers of money. Now why is the Holy Spirit telling us that they are lovers of money? Why is that significant?
16:38 It's not telling us that they were very ambitious or they were manipulative. No. Because right before this in in verse 13, Jesus said something important in Luke sixteen thirteen. He says, you cannot serve two masters. You cannot serve God and money.
16:55 And then in verse 14, we're told the Pharisees who were lovers of money. If they were lovers of money then, do you think it's very easy to become lovers of money today, especially in the West? You'd be amazed to know how many people, even in churches, bear the name of Christianity, really serve money. Money is their god. Is it wrong to work?
17:21 No. Is it wrong to save? No. Is it wrong to enjoy things with your money? No.
17:27 But when you begin to make your life more about the acquiring of wealth, when that's your ambition, when that's where your affections lie, when that is what you talk about more, when that is what your meditations are on, whether you wanna acknowledge or not, Jesus is not your God. Money is your God. Money is your God. And there will be many, many people who will not have eternal life because they've lived their lives serving the dollar bill. The Pharisees, yes, they were self righteous, but there was another obstacle in their hearts, they loved money.
18:08 They loved money. And that is, I believe, one of the major idols in in the West. Be careful young person. I know you're ambitious. I know you have a lot to look forward to in life.
18:19 I know that you're looking out to the world and all the things that are being said and all the doom and gloom of these podcasts of all these these guys, these self motivation guys. You know those guys? I get bothered when I see what goes viral on the Internet. Be careful because there's a fine line between wanting to be responsible and, wanting to be safe and wanting to save up, and you end up serving money instead of serving Jesus. Very fine line.
18:55 The Pharisees, they loved money, and they couldn't love Christ. At least, that's one of the reasons. What about the rich young ruler? Remember the rich young ruler? He came to Jesus and he seemed to be desperate to be saved.
19:07 And Jesus says something incredible about the rich young ruler. Jesus is so discerning. He he sees through it all. And the words of Jesus to the rich young ruler in Mark, and so for us at Maranatha Bible Church, we're gonna see this in a in a couple of chapters, but it's good to see it now in light of this message. If you go to Mark, I want you to see this in your Bibles.
19:25 In Mark chapter 10 verse eighteen and nineteen. So many people then and so many people today will not know eternal life because they cherish and valued things that they shouldn't have more than Jesus. Mark ten eighteen. So here's this rich young ruler, and he he asked, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Good teacher, Jesus.
19:50 Why do you call me good? Verse 18. Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. The enemies of Jesus, the enemies of the gospel love to use this verse to try to say that he is not God, when in fact, he is probing the heart of this rich young ruler.
20:06 Hey, you're calling me good. You know God is good alone? Do the math. That's what Jesus is saying. Not I'm not God, only God is good.
20:14 That's that's not what he's saying at all. Look what he says in verse 19. You know the commandments. You know the commandments. Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear fault witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.
20:27 Where do you find those commandments? Where do you find those commandments? The Old Testament? Sure. But what where where are they?
20:37 The law. The law. Not just the law, but what? The 10 commandments. They're not all 10.
20:42 Right? The first few concerning our vertical relationship with God are omitted in Jesus's explanation here. He's dealing with the last few that deal with your horizontal relationship with those who are created in the image of God. Right? And so you see these things in the Decalogue, the the big 10 laws.
20:59 Right? Right? Yeah? Read it carefully. I'm so curious.
21:09 I I was very close of asking somebody to name all 10 commandments. I won't, but look at this. Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal.
21:20 Do not bear fault with this. Do not defraud. Honor your father and mother. 10 commandments? Who's who's the careful student?
21:30 What's standing out to you? Good. Do not defraud is not in the big 10. And you have all these academics and these scholars. Jesus didn't know the 10 Commandments.
21:43 Jesus slipped. Jesus forgot. Jesus added. Jesus no. Jesus knows what he's doing.
21:51 Why would he say do not defraud? That's in the law, by the way. There are laws in the old covenant that deal with paying people their dues and not cheating people. Do not defraud. Let's not make it complicated.
22:03 What Jesus is doing is discerning the main problem of this rich young ruler. He was rich. Could it be that Jesus knew how he accumulated his wealth? You defrauded people to get your money. You cheated people.
22:20 You manipulated. You played games with people. And so what Christ is doing by naming the commandments, he's not just listening to commandments, he's also dealing with the heart of the matter in this young man. You've defrauded people. And he's being so wise, he's not just calling it out right away, he wants the young man to acknowledge it for himself.
22:40 Now it makes more sense when Jesus go sell everything and give it to the poor. In other words, go give back what you defrauded people from. So here's here's here's Jesus saying, do not defraud. What? Did this young man get saved?
22:56 No. He walked away. Why? Because he loved money. He couldn't imagine giving what he was able to acquire over those short young years of his life.
23:04 He became so successful so soon, and here's this Jesus now asking me to surrender this. Oh, there's gonna be so many people. Unlike the Queen of Sheba who is willing to not just get up from her throne to meet King Solomon, but come with caravans of gold and spices to lay before this king and say, tell me what you know about the Lord. Consider the position that she had. She was a queen.
23:33 You know why some people don't wanna hear God's word? Consistently come to the house of God? Because they're busy. Do you know why some people don't wanna surrender their lives to Christ? Because they're young.
23:45 How do I know this? I know this because I grew up in the church and when I was in my late teens, I made a deal with God. Because I heard about God. I couldn't deny his existence, so I made somewhat of a deal with him. Lord, let me finish college.
23:55 Let me get married. Let me get myself established, and then I'll come to your house and I'll serve you, and I'll I'll do what you ask me to do. Isn't that cute? Making a deal with God. But we do that.
24:05 We don't say it to God, we say it to ourselves. Let me figure things out. God is worthy of honor in all seasons. Whether you have the money or not have the money. Whether you're prepared or not prepared, he's worthy to be worshiped today.
24:20 I mean, that's the call of discipleship. You had so many of those people saying, I'll follow you. Jesus is saying, follow me, and they try to come up with these deals. Let me just go bury my father first. Let the dead bury the dead.
24:32 Let the dead bury the dead. Now you have to follow. You heard it now, come follow me now. I'll take care of you. Watch.
24:37 Watch how I supply all your needs. Watch how I'll be good to you. Watch how I'll bless you. Here's this queen, she heard the reports and she says, Okay. We're going we're going to Jerusalem.
24:46 Which brings us to the notable point number two, the distance that she made. We read here in verse one, the queen of Sheba. You heard earlier that this is modern day Yemen. Most scholars believe some debate and say that it's Ethiopia, but we're not gonna get into the reasons why there is strong evidence for Yemen. And then we we see that she's she's willing to go, but we don't consider the great length.
25:09 And what's so significant is that in Jesus in Matthew twelve forty two, the thing that he highlights about the queen of the South is that he used the words, she came from the ends of the earth. So what moved the heart of Christ was what she was willing to do in terms of travel to sit before the wisdom of Solomon. It is believed that where she was from was 1,500 miles. She didn't catch a flight. She didn't ride first class.
25:38 It was several grueling weeks, dangerous terrain, frequent stops in order to just arrive to have a face to face encounter with this king. It was not an easy trip. As much as she was a queen, as she would have been assisted, It was still very difficult, and Jesus again emphasizes that point about this queen. She came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And I wonder if this queen because I was thinking about this message and I thought, well, she's gonna rise up at judgment.
26:12 What is she gonna say? That's what I was trying to imagine. What is that queen going to say to this generation and even to to all generations because the principles live on. What will she say? And I wonder if this is one of the things that she'll say.
26:28 When I heard about the reports of Solomon, who is inferior to King Jesus, I was willing to go pack up my bags, pause on everything else, and make it an absolute priority to meet with this king. I was willing to go to distance. I was willing to endure the desert nights, the desert heat, the robbers along the way, potential assassination. I was willing to do all of that just to hear the wisdom of Solomon, And yet, your God didn't ask you to go to heaven to speak to him. He came to you and you still didn't seek him.
27:03 I'm wondering, Lord are you Is that what she's gonna say? Your God left his throne. I left my throne. Your God left his throne and he came down to you. He took on flesh born among men.
27:19 He subjected himself to the things that we know as humans except for sin. And he walked among you, and he sat with you, and he ate with you, and he delivered many of you, and he healed many of you, and yet you still had this pompous, audacious attitude to not humbly and with holy curiosity ask of who Christ is, but to accuse him and reject him and to ignore him and to be apathetic towards him. How? How are you guys able to do it? Do you realize what I did for Solomon?
27:51 I wonder if she's gonna say something like that. And we see here that although this generation will be indicted specifically because the incarnate Christ came, that principle still is true for a post resurrected, post ascended Jesus Christ. Paul preached a very amazing sermon in Acts chapter 17, and he gave an insight to these Gentiles who had a had a shrine for something called the unknown God. They believed in so many gods, and most of the gods that they believed in were distant and indifferent and didn't care to interfere with the affairs of man. And Paul comes on the scene and he presents the true God in that sermon.
28:31 And when he speaks to these people, he presents a point that is so glorious even in light of this. We're thinking of the distance that she made, but I want to present you the distance that God that God made. Look at this in Acts 17. You can turn there in your Bibles in verse twenty six and twenty seven. Acts 17 reads in verse 26, and he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.
29:00 Isn't that an exciting verse? From one man, he made the whole world, the nations of every tribe and tongue of all mankind to live on all the face of the earth. And look at this, he having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place. Where were you born? Were you born here?
29:16 Were you born in The Middle East? Wherever you were born, God determined that you would be born there. Isn't that wonderful? I love to use this verse as well to to comfort my soul to know that God will determine where I will be. You don't know where you're gonna live.
29:30 You don't know what house you're gonna get. We were looking for a house for the past year in this crazy market. And I often would go to this verse, Lord, you determine the boundaries of my dwelling place. You're gonna tell me where you're gonna buy your providence, leave me where I'm supposed to be. But God, in creating the world, creating the nations, creating from one man, mankind, what's the purpose of him creating?
29:50 To distance himself? To put it in motion and just watch? No. We see here in verse 27 exactly what it is that he did it for. That they should seek God.
30:01 That they should seek God in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Here's what I take out of this. No matter where you are born, no matter where you were raised, no matter what culture you're from, no matter what ethnicity, you were created for one purpose, to know God. You were created to seek God, to feel your way toward him and find him, which means in order for you to find God, you gotta determine to seek God. Right?
30:31 Feel their way toward them and find them. And here's the one that here's the phrase that I wanna point out to, yet he is actually not far from each one of us. No matter where you are in all of the globe, god had made himself accessible. No matter where so where's the excuse? He's not far from each one of us.
30:52 So so god's not closer here than he is in your room or in your car. He's everywhere. You can seek him at any place at any time because we are assured here that he's not an unknown God. He's a God that's very noble. Very noble.
31:09 So so this even adds more seriousness to the reality of who God is. You can't make excuses concerning discovering him and realizing who he is and his realness and his love and his personal care for you because he's not far. If you just but seek him, he will make himself known. How does he make himself? He'll make himself known to the degree that he needs to make himself known to you for you to realize that he could be known.
31:34 It's wonderful. And we see that this woman here, she's willing to seek after Solomon. And when she seeks after Solomon, Christ is greater. You know why? You look at this verse in first Kings and you realize she didn't get an invitation from Solomon, did she?
31:54 That a royal delegation come with a nice envelope on a gold platter, Solomon is asking for you, oh, Queen of Sheba, to be his audience. None of that. No invitation not even no invitation. No guarantee that if she went that she would be received by Solomon. This is just all speculation.
32:16 This is just a hopeful desire. K. Christ is greater than Solomon. You know why? Think about all the invitations you have from him.
32:26 Not only all the invitations, think about all the guarantees and all the promises that he gives when you do come to him. What did he say in that brilliant sermon in John chapter six verse 37? All that the father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. I will never cast out. So you come to him.
32:47 You you know, I've met many people who feel this way. I can't come to him. I don't know if he'll receive me. Well, here's the word from Christ himself. I will never cast out.
32:54 I'll never push you away. I'll never reject you. I'll never deny you when you humbly come before me and inquire of me. I will never cast out. Queen Sheba didn't have that assurance.
33:05 Queen Sheba didn't have that guarantee. She was going with blind faith, really. She was willing to do all of that for someone who did not even extend the hand to her. And yet here's Christ who who didn't just make the distance very short, but he guarantees you, if you just make that small step of faith, I'm ready for you. I'm right here for you.
33:24 I'll receive you. And not only will I receive you, I will change you and transform you, and you'll never leave the same. I'll never cast you out. This is the distance that she was willing to make. I'm sure that this will be a part of the reason why she will indict this generation.
33:40 You know what's so fascinating about Queen Sheba? We read it in verse two. Right? She came to Jerusalem with with camels bearing spices, very much gold and precious stones. She felt that it was absolutely necessary that if she was to have an audience with Solomon, that she could not come empty handed.
33:55 That she had to bring these precious treasures and jewels and things that were unique to her country to to maybe persuade him, to please him, maybe just merely out of respect. Does your god ask you to bring things to him when you come to him? He does. He actually does. You know what it is?
34:14 Not gold, not spices, not jewels, not your righteousness, your burdens. That's why he's greater than Solomon. He asked you to come to him, and he asked you to come with all your sins to lay at his feet, with all your worries, cast all your anxieties and for he cares for you. Solomon naturally speaking from a political standpoint, it was it was it was it was protocol for you bring these things. King Jesus is different.
34:41 If If he wants you to bring anything, it's not your perfect record. It's not the best year you had in terms of your holiness. It's your brokenness. So think about how he's greater. The distance has been made very short.
34:54 What's the distance between you and the living God, the king of kings? Faith. Faith. The assurance that he'll never cast you out. She did not receive such assurance.
35:04 And she came with a caravan of treasures. You come with the load of your sin. Is he not greater? He is far greater. The distance that she made to meet with Solomon will be something.
35:19 But consider the king that she sought. The king that she sought. When the Lord said that the queen of Sheba, the queen of the South, went from the ends of the earth, we're told for why reason, the reason, the objection, the objective rather, to hear the wisdom of Solomon. To hear what this man had to say. Jesus highlights this because when she comes to meet with Solomon, we get her response.
35:44 You read it in verse five, but let's go back to first Kings 10 and verse six. And she said to the king, the report was true that I heard in my own land of your words and of your wisdom, but I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. I love these words. These are one of my favorite words from this whole story. And behold, the half was not told me.
36:09 The half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity surpassed the report that I heard. Surpasses what I heard. I heard so much about you. But now that my eyes have seen you, you exceeded my expectation.
36:24 Isn't it true for Christ too? You can hear from Spurgeon himself and what Spurgeon has to give concerning the person of Christ falls very short of his brilliance and beauty. You can hear so many testimonies from people, and those are wonderful testimonies. They can move you, but until you taste and see that the Lord is good for yourself. There's something about you coming to that knowledge of him one on one that is so absolutely necessary.
36:51 And so so many people are riding on the faith and the reports merely of their parents, of their siblings, of their pastor, and they're just taking their word for it. What about your story? What's your what have you seen concerning Christ? What what's your story? What's your testimony?
37:08 You, yourself. Queen of Sheba, she had her own testimony. She didn't she was not satisfied relying on the testimony of others. I need my own testimony here. I want to know this for myself.
37:23 And so she does, and she's breathless. She's moved to the core. And here's what's amazing. I love this. She says, when I heard the reports of you, I actually didn't believe them.
37:34 I didn't believe them. It's like many people who grew up in the church. They're saturated with reports, Sunday school reports, youth meeting reports. Then you go to the the main meeting reports and you hear the sermons and reports and reports and reports about Jesus Christ. And you're skeptic.
37:52 I've met people like that. They come to conferences and they're skeptics. They doubt. They don't have true saving faith and they even know it themselves. You know what's the difference between you and queen Sheba, though?
38:04 The queen of Sheba questioned her unbelief. You're content in it. There's a big difference. You're satisfied in your skepticism. She wasn't because she knew I could be wrong in my estimation here, and I'm not willing to live my life thinking what if.
38:21 I'm not willing to do that. And so I'm going to do my own homework, and I'm gonna make an ambition of mine to see if these reports are true. If if they're not true, then I was right all along. I had every reason not to believe. But if they are true and I didn't investigate, shame on me.
38:38 I will not live with that possibility. I will discover this for myself. And when she went on that journey to discover it for herself, she was never the same. She was never the same. We know testimonies of famous authors and writers who have done this.
38:52 They go to the Bible to try to disprove the resurrection and they end up getting resurrected. So when you come with that sincerity, that transparency, that humility and Christ sees your honest desire to know the truth, you will be changed by the truth. But but don't but don't cross your arms and look at God and say prove it to me. That's that wasn't the attitude of the Queen of Sheba. I will go.
39:15 I will do what I need to do. I will open this word. I will talk to people who say that they have met and seen this greater than Solomon for himself. I need to know this king. I wanna know if this is true.
39:25 Is this psychological tricks? Is this is this the the effects of brainwashing? Is this what happens when you grow up in a certain environment that you're just subject to believe these things because that's what you're just known for and that's what you know? I need to know. I need to know.
39:40 And the queen will look at this generation and say, you did not do that. You immediately had your guard up, you Pharisees. You try to disprove Christ instead of giving him the opportunity and listening carefully to see how he is the Christ. And so you did not have the humility that I had concerning King Solomon. Here you have a greater than Solomon in your midst, and you blew it.
40:03 I'm sure she'll say something along those lines. She sought this king, Solomon, for his wisdom. He did have wisdom. It was a wisdom given from God, but Christ has greater wisdom. Guess what?
40:14 Scripture says Christ is the wisdom of God. He doesn't just have wisdom. He is wisdom. Not only that, he is the wisdom for this life, and he is the wisdom of God unto the most important thing of your life, unto salvation. And he is the one who gave Solomon the wisdom that he was able to exercise and implement to begin with.
40:36 This is Christ. And she comes and she asks these hard questions and he answers and she's just blown away. I would love to see her eyes every time she present this riddle, or this concept, or this philosophical thing. This pretzel of thoughts. And here is Solomon just effortlessly saying, yeah, because of this.
40:56 Yeah, because of that. And just perhaps those one, like, proverb like statements, one after the next. And here's her just getting just moved after just eyes opening up. Wow. You know, the thing about Jesus is that when you come to him and you see his wisdom, when you see the wisdom of the cross, the wisdom of the gospel, the wisdom of his sayings, the wisdom of his parables, the wisdom in his dealings with people, it does move you, it does stir you.
41:19 But Christ goes beyond that. Christ is able to do something that Solomon could not give. And here's what he can do. He not only moves you with his wisdom, he not only displays the perfection of his wisdom, he's willing to impart his wisdom into you. He's willing to give you his wisdom.
41:35 Solomon couldn't do that. Yeah. You can learn from Solomon, but to supernaturally impart the wisdom of God into you, only Christ can do that. Here's an amazing verse. I mean, you can put this in your mouth and just let it sit there for the rest of it, and just enjoy the sweetness of this one verse in first Corinthians two sixteen.
41:55 Look what Paul says concerning this truth in first Corinthians two sixteen about what Christ can do, what Christ does do for the believer when he does come to him. For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. We have the mind of Christ. Ain't that fascinating?
42:16 You, believer. Yes. You have the mind of Christ. What does that mean? What does it mean to have the mind of Christ?
42:25 I think Paul gives another hint to what it does include. It includes many things. Remember when he says in Philippians two five to 11, when he talks about Jesus condescending, emptying himself, took on the form of a servant, and that he was willing to go to death even death on the cross. We love that verse. Right?
42:42 We love those verses. It just shouts the humility of Jesus Christ. But what he says in Philippians two five, to begin that awesome saying is have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. Which is yours in Christ Jesus. So what's Paul saying there?
43:01 You know, when Christ left his glory and he subjected himself and he served God and he was willing to serve God even to the point of an excruciating death. All of that is to communicate the great humility of Christ. And he says that humility that Jesus had is not just something you and I worship and adore and love about Christ. He says it's to be imitated and you can think the way Jesus thought because you can have this mind in yourselves. To have the mind of Christ.
43:30 That includes having the humility of Christ. The dedication and the devotion to serve the father. The willing to be humiliated for his name's sake. This is what is included in having the mind of Christ. You can do a whole conference on the mind of Christ.
43:44 Right? The mind of Christ. So when she came to King Solomon, she was able to be impressed by the mind of Solomon. When you come to King Jesus, he's able to take his mind and put it into your mind. Wow.
43:57 He is greater indeed. I went to King Solomon and I was impressed by him. You have a king who's willing to share his power and you didn't go to him? He's willing to impart his virtue to you. He's able to empower you to reflect his moral majesty.
44:16 And you didn't go to him? How? You're not moved to seek him? How? You're not moved to depend on how?
44:24 How are you guys able to? I just I'm wondering if we're gonna see the queen of Sheba speak on that day. Jesus said she's gonna be there. The king that she sought. Lastly, the reward that she received.
44:39 The reward that so you read it in verse two. She came with this this great banquet of lovely things. Right? But then you come here at the end of her story in verse 13 of chapter 10, and look what Solomon does for her. And King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all that she desired, whatever she asked besides what was given her by the bounty of King Solomon.
45:05 So she turned and went back to her own land with her servants. So she came impressed to give to Solomon and rightfully so. And then when Solomon, at the end of their encounter, was ready to send her off, when she was ready to return, he not only gave her something in return, he gave her more than what she gave. And when we talk about people coming to Christ, we often say surrender your life, empty yourself, give it all to him. That's all true.
45:32 But don't have the impression that when you come to Christ, you give your things up and then you leave empty. That's a wrong view of surrendering to Christ. You give those things up so that he can give you better and give you his will and give you that which your heart truly needs and longs for. And no matter what sacrifice you do make for Christ, you're always going to leave more rewarded and more blessed than if you had just held on to your life. Here's this woman that she goes the great distance, she gives all these things up.
46:02 In essence, she empties her bank account a little bit more than she could have. She could have kept those things. She could have kept and saved her energy. She could have just been in her own little world, but instead she goes and Solomon says, I recognize what you did. Here's more.
46:15 Here's more. And Jesus said similar words that whoever leaves land, whoever leaves family, mother, father, husband, wife, for my sake and the gospel sakes will receive a 100 times more in this life and in the life to come. It's amazing when somebody has to leave their family. This is this is so true for so many Muslims. They they are disowned by their family.
46:39 They lose their mother. They lose their father. But what do they get? They get 10,000 mothers in the church. They get thousands of siblings.
46:49 Isn't it not true that if your family is not in the faith, you feel closer to Christians in your own family? Because there's something deeper than blood, it's called spirit. So Christ's words are true. They are true. How he takes care of you.
47:02 He he does not overlook the sacrifice that you make. Though we are not worthy of to receive anything, he is worthy of our sacrifice with no return. And yet the goodness of this king is I want to reward you still. It just blows my mind every single time. Here's the thing.
47:18 So you get saved, he unveils and unpacks the gifts that he has for you in the spirit to serve him, and they are energized by him, they are empowered by him, he get receives all the glory for them, and then at the end of the day, he's gonna crown you for things that he gave you and he did through you. Oh. I think we're all gonna be broken on the judgment day. When we stand before the beam and seat of Christ, I think I think we're gonna be so overwhelmed, not just by his beauty, his holiness, but by the humility even as he is exalted today. We're gonna be blown away.
47:49 Like, what is this? We are to crown you and here he is crowning our brows. And then I realized why that's important. I had somebody once say to me, what if I just wanna serve the Lord? I don't want any crowns.
48:04 I don't I'm like, I don't know if you wanna say that. I I just wanna get in. I just wanna I just wanna serve. I don't want anything. I'm like, I that sounds humble and I get it.
48:11 I'm not trying to criticize you. But you realize what the one purpose of crowns are in heaven? Who knows? To lay them at his feet. And so my whole perspective on that chain is saying, Lord, crown me with as many crowns as you can so that I have something worthy to bring to your feet when I worship you.
48:28 The reward that she received, King Solomon bountifully blessed her. But King Solomon wasn't consistent with his rewards. He wasn't. In some cases like this, it's very moving to see him willing to do this, especially for a king, especially for somebody who was sought after. But King Solomon didn't always do the best.
48:49 And we we had the Bible quiz, we had one of the questions, and I want you to see it. It's in the chapter before this in in first Kings nine. In first Kings nine, you read something about King Hiram. And this king here, he helped Solomon build the temple of the Lord, and he helped Solomon build his own house. So let's do review.
49:10 How long did it take to build the temple of the Lord? I heard like six different answers. What happened? Seven years. Yes.
49:18 Seven years to build the temple of the Lord. How many years did it take to build his own house? Thirteen years. Very good. Make this a debate in your time at lunch.
49:29 Do you think it was a bad thing or a good thing that Solomon took more time to build his house than God's house? And here's another thing to add to the debate. Which house did he build first? Okay. So you have to go in your Bibles and figure that out and then debate it out.
49:44 Which house did he build first? And that might make it a little bit more of a complicated argument and debate. But for the sake here of this point, Solomon partners with the king of Tyre, and he was supplied with, with the timber from up north and the cypress trees from Lebanon, and he was able to build the house of the Lord. And so now, after twenty years, he longs to reward his friend, his partner in this great endeavor. And we're told what is one of the things that he was able to give to Hiram here in verse 10 of first Kings chapter nine.
50:22 Are you there with me? We see here that at the end of twenty years in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king's house, and Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress, timber, and gold. As much as he desired, king Solomon gave to Hiram 20 cities in the land of Galilee. Now pause there. 20 cities sounds pretty good.
50:45 Right? You give me one city, that's a big deal. 20 cities. Side note, as much as this is a noble thing for Solomon to do, was it the right thing to do? Can I tell you why it's not the right thing to do?
51:01 Because you're not supposed to give what the Lord gave you in the promised land to Gentiles. That's that's for the people of God. So giving parts of the inheritance of the Lord to other outsiders, that's not a that's not a good move, Solomon. Just a side note. So he gives 20 cities from the land of Galilee.
51:18 You would think, wow, 20 cities. So Hiram hears, our friend Solomon has rewarded us with 20 cities. And so they make their way to this region, this neighborhood of 20 cities. And look at the response in verse 12. But when Hiram came from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, they did not please him.
51:36 They did not please him, therefore, he said, what kind of cities are these that you have given me, my brother? So they are called the land of Kabul to this day. Some believe the word Kabul means good for nothing. The land of good for nothing. So Seer Solomon's attempt to reward a man who is willing to give so much and willing to serve the purposes of God and building a house for God.
52:04 And when it came to a time of of being recompensed, he comes to these cities and he goes, this place is a dump. This is the best that you can do? And he just kinda jokingly writes it up. He's like, he's a king. He's like, this is good for nothing.
52:20 Right? He didn't cause issues with Solomon. He was just disappointed. When Jesus rewards you, you will not be disappointed. When you surrender your life and choose to live for him and partner for the purposes of his kingdom being advanced in this life, if you truly serve him and walk with him and understand how he works in your life, there won't be a day in your life where you will say, what is this?
52:43 You might be tempted to do so, but you'll always be wrong. And when you endure the trials and those seasons where you feel like, what what where am I? You will come through and you will see God's beauty and brilliance even more. And one thing is for certain, at the end of the road when we do stand in glory, when we do stand in glory, I am confident that none of us will say, what is this? But we will be breathless and amazed.
53:12 And I'm sure we will be even more moved to say, oh, if I only sacrifice more, if I only dedicated my life more for the glory of God, I can't believe this is it. The half has not been told. All the reports, even the reports of the scripture as as divine, as infallible as they are, scripture tells us we see through a glass dimly. There's a time where that glass will be made clear and clean and we will see all that it is and we will be moved. Do you think it'll be you know, you go to these places, Niagara Falls, Grand Canyon.
53:47 And I remember the first time I saw Niagara Falls, I'm Canadian. It took my breath away. But then you you you take people there and after the eighth, tenth time, you're used to it. Right? You walk up to it and and it it doesn't move you like it first did.
54:00 And you you have some people who believe that that's what's heaven's gonna be like. Like for the first ten years, you're gonna be like, this is awesome. This is amazing. Wow. And then after year one hundred and fifty, you're gonna get used to it.
54:12 No. Think about this. The glory in that place is so intense, so inexhaustible that after a million years, you will still be in awe as you were when you step foot on the shore of eternity. And after another million years go by, you will be even more amazed than the first ten thousand years you were there basking in the absolute glory of Jesus Christ. You will be breathless for eternity.
54:42 For eternity. I can't wait to go home. I can't wait to go home. I hope you will go home. I hope you will find your home in heaven.
54:52 I hope that not one person in here will be on the guilty side when the Queen of Sheba stands up to speak. Your apathy and your indifference in seeking the greater than Solomon is inexcusable. He came to you. He'll never deny you. His rewards are beyond.
55:19 He promised that you will know a peace. He promised that you will know a joy. The wealth of Christ is far greater than the wealth of Solomon. There's spiritual riches. And yet, you were still willing to overlook all of that and choose to go your own way.
55:33 I left my throne. Your God left his throne. Instead, may we be on that side where we can look Christ in the face and thank him for saving us and showing us how awesome he is even when we didn't see all that he is. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for what you've spoken to us.
56:18 Thank you that you used one woman in a chapter of first Kings to encourage us, convict us, warn us. And so, lord, we just pray that if anyone feels these obstacles towards Jesus, may the Queen of Sheba stand as a testimony that no matter how great you are, no matter what greatness you are trying to achieve in this world, that they are not an excuse to come to Jesus and realize his greatness and be changed by that greatness. Thank you, Lord, that we can come to you and not just behold your wisdom, but receive your wisdom. Wisdom to be saved, wisdom to live as the saved. And so, Lord, we wanna leave here in awe of you this afternoon and give you glory.
57:11 Thank you that you are greater. Thank you, Lord, that you have opened our eyes so that we would not be faced with the judgment of this queen who will speak up with boldness against those who have failed to see the glamour and the splendor of the Lord Jesus Christ. Rescue us from such a crime and keep us in awe of you. In Jesus' name. Amen.
