[0:00] Now, as the Lord enables us this morning and seeking his help and his blessing, we shall meditate on the portion that we have read from 1 Kings and chapter 10, that portion regarding the Queen of Sheba.
[0:23] We'll just read one or two verses. Now, when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions.
[0:34] She came to Jerusalem with a very great ringite, with camels, very spices, and very much gold and precious stone. And when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind, and so on.
[0:50] There are many remarkable journeys brought before us in the Bible. In the Old Testament, we have the journey of Abraham, who by faith left Ur of the Chaldees.
[1:09] We read there in the New Testament, by faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place, which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed, and he went out, not knowing whether he went.
[1:23] A very remarkable journey indeed. Then we have the journey of Jacob, leaving his home, and then after many years, returning back.
[1:33] We have the journey of the children of Israel, which is probably one of the most famous journeys, or one of the journeys that we probably all know about.
[1:44] The journey of the children of Israel, who for 40 years went through the wilderness until they reached the land of Canaan. But here today, we have probably the next famous journey.
[1:58] The journey of the Queen of Sheba, which is now the country of Yemen. And she made this journey over thousands of miles to Jerusalem to meet with King Solomon.
[2:11] We are told now, when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions.
[2:22] The Queen of Sheba was a very wealthy woman. In verse 2, we are told that she came with camels, bearing spices, and very much gold and precious stones.
[2:36] And in verse 10, we read, Then she gave the king 120 talons of gold. A talon was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms.
[2:47] A very great quantity of spices and precious stones. Never again came such an abundance of spices as these that the Queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
[2:59] But not only was the Queen of Sheba a very wealthy woman, but she was also one of the most powerful and influential women in the world at this time.
[3:12] However, in her distant land, she heard about King Solomon and the fame of King Solomon concerning the name of the Lord.
[3:23] She had heard about King Solomon and his wisdom, and she wanted to see if all that she heard was true. So she came to test him with hard questions.
[3:38] Today we have Solomon's wisdom exhibited for us in the book of Proverbs, in the Song of Solomon, and in the book of Ecclesiastes.
[3:51] This famous visit is also mentioned to us in the New Testament. Jesus mentions this visit by the Queen of Sheba.
[4:01] And there in the Gospel of Luke in chapter 11, we have recorded for us where Jesus draws a comparison between the Queen of Sheba and those around him who were seeking a sign that he was the true Messiah.
[4:17] Jesus said, The Queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
[4:37] Therefore, in this event set before us today, we are given a pattern of how to respond to Jesus, how we ought to respond to Jesus.
[4:52] The first thing I want us to notice is that the Queen heard about Solomon and his wisdom. We are not told how she heard about him, but the word came to her ears.
[5:06] And when she heard about King Solomon, it aroused her curiosity, and she wanted to see and to know for herself if all that she heard about King Solomon, if it was true.
[5:20] At the beginning, she entertained some doubts about what she had heard, for she confesses herself, But I did not believe the reports until I came, and mine own eyes have seen it.
[5:32] If what the Queen heard about Solomon aroused her curiosity, what about yourself today, and what you have heard and been told about a greater king than King Solomon, that is, King Jesus?
[5:49] How many servants have you heard? You have heard that he came into this world to seek and to save the lost. You have heard about his life.
[6:00] You have heard about his sufferings, his death. You have heard about his resurrection. You have heard about his ascension. You have heard about his promise of coming again.
[6:17] Have your ears become dull of hearing? Have you ever felt aroused, or stirred up, or stimulated to know more about Jesus?
[6:29] Have you ever felt awakened to prove Jesus for yourself? To come to Jesus and to know him more?
[6:40] For we are told that that is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Can you say, as Simon Peter said, Lord, to whom shall we go?
[6:55] Thou hast the words of eternal life. She had heard about King Solomon. But you have heard about a greater than King Solomon.
[7:08] You have heard about King Jesus. Now that takes us to the second point. Her response to what she heard about Solomon.
[7:20] Once she heard about Solomon and his wisdom, she did not delay. She did not linger. But she took her journey. The Queen of Sheba left her palace and homeland and travelled thousands of miles to know more about King Solomon.
[7:40] Now today, the fact is that there are many in this congregation who will not leave their hearth and walk the short distance to gospel preaching to hear about Jesus and his salvation.
[7:56] But it is also true that there are many who do hear, and yet they remain where they are. not stirred up in their hearts or minds to come to Jesus.
[8:09] They forever remain just hearers of the word. Is that you? To you then, James in his epistle gives this warning.
[8:23] Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. The Queen of Sheba, she heard, she did not delay, or linger, or stop where she was, but she got up and travelled thousands of miles to come to King Solomon.
[8:48] And that takes us to the third point. The reason why she came. For we are told she came to prove him with hard questions.
[8:58] We are not told what the hard questions were. But whatever was on her mind, whatever hard questions she had, she brought them to King Solomon.
[9:12] Probably there were questions of a personal nature that she could not share with anyone. Maybe there were hidden questions of the heart, questions that nobody could answer.
[9:26] But after hearing about Solomon and the wisdom that was given to him by the Lord, she came to Solomon with her hard questions.
[9:37] She's a good example for me and you. I am sure you and I have our hard questions, but where do we take our hard questions?
[9:48] I am afraid that many hold them up and they become contentious and antagonistic. Although the Queen of Sheba was cynical or doubtful of what she had heard, she was always open to believing the truth.
[10:06] She came to Solomon with the right kind of attitude, not the kind that refuses to believe anything at all, but the kind of attitude that was committed to believe only what is really true.
[10:22] It is important for me and you that when we come to the Lord without hard questions, that we come to him in the right frame of mind, with the right attitude.
[10:34] The Queen of Sheba was convinced that nobody could answer her hard questions but Solomon alone. Maybe you are here today or you're listening today and you have your hard questions, those hidden questions of the heart, those questions that might today be leaving you restless, those questions that are stirring up your conscience today.
[11:05] I probably cannot answer them to your satisfaction, but you can bring them to the Lord who will answer them. And the thing is this, that not only is the Lord able to answer your hard questions, but he is the answer.
[11:25] Are you convinced of that? That the Lord is the answer. To your hard questions. Maybe your hard questions today is, who is Christ anyway?
[11:38] Who is Christ? Or it may be, what can I do to be saved? On one occasion, Jesus asked his disciples, who do men say that I am?
[11:52] And they answered, John the Baptist. Others say that you are Elijah. Others say that you are one of the prophets. Then Jesus asked, but who do you say that I am?
[12:06] And Peter answered and said to him, thou art the Christ. Peter and the other disciples were convinced that Jesus was the Messiah, that Jesus was the Christ.
[12:20] Jesus was the Anointed One. Jesus was the Savior. What about you? Jesus on another occasion said to the Jews that were ready to kill him, such the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are which testify of me.
[12:42] The testimony of Scripture is the most powerful evidence that we have regarding the person of Christ.
[12:55] Let me stress that again. The testimony of Scripture is the most powerful evidence that we have regarding the person of Christ.
[13:07] The religious elite in the day of Christ acknowledged that the scriptures has the highest authority. However, they came to the scripture with the wrong attitude.
[13:23] They did search the scriptures, but they thought that the mere possession of the scriptures gave them eternal life. While they searched the scriptures, they completely missed the central message of the scripture, which is Jesus Christ.
[13:40] That is the central message of the Bible. The Bible from Genesis to Revelation is all about Jesus Christ.
[13:52] He is the central message of the Bible. And as you come to read the Bible, make sure that you do not give yourself any rest until you arrive at the central message of the Bible, which is Jesus Christ.
[14:13] Remember after his resurrection that Jesus met two disciples on the way to Emmaus, who had been at the crucifixion. And now they were making their way back home, and they were very sad.
[14:25] They were really on the brink of despair. And Jesus came upon them, and he inquired us, why are your faces so sad? Why is your countenance so sad?
[14:36] And after they explained the situation, we'll read there in Luke chapter 24 that Jesus said to them, O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
[14:48] Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory. And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
[15:05] Beginning at Moses, that's beginning away back at Genesis. You know that the first five books are called the books of Moses. So beginning at Genesis and all through the Old Testament, because the New Testament had not yet been written, and all through the Old Testament, he told them about himself.
[15:27] He shows them that the chief message of the Old Testament is all about the person and work of Jesus Christ. And the testimony of those two disciples was, did not our heart burn within us when he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the scriptures.
[15:48] If you want to know who Jesus is, if you want to know the way of salvation, then come to the word of God.
[15:59] Come to the scriptures. Come with the right attitude. Just like the Queen of Sheba came to King Solomon with her hard questions. She came with the right kind of attitude.
[16:10] Not the kind that refuses to believe anything at all, but the kind of attitude that is committed to believe only what is really true. And that is what we find in the testimony of scripture.
[16:25] That which is true regarding Jesus Christ. That which is true regarding God who has revealed himself to us through his son, Jesus Christ.
[16:44] Though studying the scripture, many unbelievers have come to faith. One such was a man by the name of Rehu.
[16:56] He was one of the most famous classical scholars whose translation of Homer is well known. And he was asked to provide a translation of the gospel.
[17:09] It is said that when his son heard this that he commented, it is going to be interesting to see what father will make of the four gospels. But even more interesting, what the four gospels make of father.
[17:22] Though he had been a lifelong agnostic, his experience translating the gospels brought him to faith and he became a committed Christian.
[17:38] And this takes us to our fourth point. For we read that she came to Jerusalem with a great train with camels that bear spices and very much gold and precious stones.
[17:50] And when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. When she came to Jerusalem, now Jerusalem was that great city.
[18:03] And when she came to that great city with all its splendor, yet we find that the Queen of Sheba was not distracted with the majestic city, with the splendor of the city of Jerusalem.
[18:18] Great as it was, she was fully resolved to reach King Solomon. She had come a long distance with only one resolution, one resolve, and that was to meet with the king himself.
[18:36] Even the attractions of Jerusalem was not going to hold her back. They were not going to deter her from meeting with the king. Oh, here again, she's a great example to me and to you.
[18:50] How many, maybe yourself today, or maybe you recall a time in your life when you were convicted of your sin and became convinced that Jesus was the answer.
[19:02] you may have resolved that you were going to follow Jesus. You began your Bible reading. You began praying. You may have attended the prayer meeting.
[19:14] Your attendance upon the preaching of the gospel improved. And then, what happened is, you became distracted. And your resolve was weakened.
[19:25] And maybe, sadly, disappeared. The common distractions are always embedded in the thoughts. What will my family and friends think if I commit myself to Jesus?
[19:42] What about my sinful past? What about the future? I have heard of so many who began well and who fell away.
[19:54] I may be a demon who forsook all because he was attracted by the things of the world. Or maybe you're saying tonight, today, I have this particular sin in my life.
[20:10] I cannot set myself free from it. Well, no, you cannot. But the Lord can set you free. It might require discipline in your life, but the Lord is able to give you that sufficient grace.
[20:30] Paul was given the answer when the Lord said to him, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Then Paul replied, most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
[20:50] if we begin to seek Jesus as our saviour, do not be surprised by the amount of things that will come your way, the amount of things that will come your way in an attempt to distract you.
[21:10] Jerusalem was an immense source of distraction for the queen of sheep, but it was a great city, a city full of splendour and great things. But she was for him resolved to meet with the king.
[21:26] Her mind was not to stay in Jerusalem and be content that she had arrived at least in the city. No, she had to meet the king.
[21:38] Maybe yourself today, you are just resolved to meet with Jesus in the preaching of the gospel. But may you not give yourself rest until you meet with Jesus as your own personal saviour.
[22:00] May you be just as resolved as she was. Give yourself no rest until you meet with the king. Do not be content with your devotions.
[22:13] Do not be content with even your church attendance and so on. But strive to go as it were through Jerusalem to be fully resolved. What you want is to meet with the king himself, with a greater king than Solomon, with King Jesus.
[22:31] Many souls are lost, you know, because of the lack of resolve. For you resolve now to come to Jesus.
[22:42] no matter what others may say, no matter what others may think. Resolve today to get right with God. Resolve today to be at peace with God.
[22:54] Begin this year by this resolution to get right with God, to be at peace with God, to be reconciled to God.
[23:06] God. And that takes us to our fifth point. How she was received by King Solomon.
[23:17] How was she received by King Solomon? Well, we read, when she came to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. You see, she was graciously received by the king.
[23:32] She was not made to wait. The King Solomon did not say to her, wait another few days, wait another month, wait another year. No. She was graciously received by the king when she came to the king.
[23:48] She was not made to wait. There was no hesitation or unwillingness on the part of the king to accept and receive her. And if that be true of Solomon, how much more of King Jesus?
[24:03] He is asking you not to wait, for he is willing to graciously receive you now. The way to him is open. We have access to the king of kings.
[24:17] King Solomon did not invite the queen of Sheba, she simply came. But King Jesus invites me and you to come to him. He graciously invites us.
[24:29] Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. We have the guarantee, the assurance that if we come, he will receive us.
[24:43] For he says, him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Whatever your situation today, if you come to Jesus, he will not cast you out.
[24:58] It has never been heard because it has never happened that anyone who comes to Jesus has been cast out. Whatever has been in your past and whatever is in your life today, at this very moment, whether you are enslaved with a besetting sin, whether today you are beslaved with alcohol or with drugs or whatever, vice enslaves you.
[25:26] A vice of whatever description, if you come to Jesus, he will not cast you out, but he will graciously receive you.
[25:42] The hindrance is not on the part of Jesus. The unwillingness is not on the part of Jesus. The hindrance is you, yourself, and the unwillingness is you, yourself.
[25:59] Do not blame God. Do not blame Jesus. If you are lost, it is not because Jesus would not receive you. It is your unwillingness to come to him.
[26:17] And this takes us to our sixth point, that in coming to Solomon, Solomon, that she discovered what she discovered, what we are told, and Solomon told her all her questions, there was not anything hid from the king which he told her not.
[26:35] And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house that he had built, and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendants of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his assent by which he went up into the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her.
[26:55] She asked, and Solomon answered all her hard questions, and by what she heard, and by what she saw, she was left speechless. The queen of Sheba was overwhelmed by what she saw.
[27:12] As great as she was, she recognized that she was in the presence of someone who was far superior, for we are told that there was no spirit in her.
[27:24] It completely took her breath away. And when we come to Jesus, what we see is that in him, as Paul writes to the Colossians, are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
[27:40] There is nothing to be known that Jesus does not already know. On one occasion, after he had healed the man that was sick of the palsy, we read that there were certain of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts.
[27:54] Why did this man thus speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God only? They were saying this in their hearts, not openly, not publicly. And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, why reason ye these things in your heart?
[28:13] Why reason ye these things? You know, the Lord knows the thoughts of your heart today. I don't know that, but the Lord knows them. Jesus knows all our needs, and that is why he says to us not to be over anxious.
[28:30] The words of Jesus are recorded in Matthew chapter 6, therefore I say unto you, take no thought of your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor yet for your body, what you shall put on, is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment.
[28:45] Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither to the reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them, are ye not much better than them?
[28:55] You see, the Lord knows, even the very thoughts of our hearts, even the very imaginations, he knows. And when we consider what Jesus did for our salvation, we are unable to save ourselves, but Jesus came to do everything that he had done in order to save us.
[29:20] He came to do everything that he had to do in order to save us. Paul writes to the Corinthians, and he says that Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
[29:32] He lived the perfect life that we could not live, and he offered his life as a sacrifice for our sins, to give eternal life to everyone who trusts in him, to bring salvation to everyone who trusts in him.
[29:48] When we behold the wisdom of the cross of Golgotha, and when we believe in the wisdom of our king as shown forth in his life and work, we cannot look upon those things without being speechless, lost in wonder and amazement.
[30:09] For the person that comes to Jesus will rejoice with joy and speakable and full of glory. You will receive peace of God that passeth all understanding.
[30:23] You will receive peace with God, and the peace of heart, and the peace of mind, the peace of conscience. After learning about Solomon's wisdom, and after seeing his wealth and worship, which was so breathtaking, she spoke, and she said, it was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thine acts and thy wisdom.
[30:46] How be it I believe not the words until I came and my eyes had seen it, and behold, the half had not told me thy wisdom and prosperity exceeded the fame which I heard.
[30:59] In other words, she was saying that after hearing all these stories and listening to all these stories, she says, I did not believe. I did not believe.
[31:09] Is that you today? You have heard about Jesus Christ. You have been listening perhaps for many years and have been told about Jesus Christ, and today your confession may be, I do not believe.
[31:22] Well, that was how the Queen of Sheba was until she came to Solomon, and coming to Solomon changed everything. If she had remained in her own country, she might continue to hear the stories, but that would never have impacted her life.
[31:40] It would never have any effect upon her life. It all changed because she came to Solomon. Just like the prodigal son, what changed his life was the fact that he arose and came to his father.
[31:54] And what will change your life is that you come to a greater than King Solomon, that you come to King Jesus. Well, what are you going to do?
[32:06] Are you going to keep on sitting there listening to the stories? Or will you rise up and come to King Jesus? In coming to King Solomon, her whole life was changed.
[32:20] She came to know that it was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thine acts and of thy wisdom. How be it I believed not the words until I came and mine own eyes had seen it.
[32:33] And whatever has been your opinion about the stories that you have heard about Jesus, about the preaching of the gospel, you may have set them aside as fairy tales or a pie in the sky or perhaps you thought of them as an outdated story or an irrelevant story.
[32:51] That's the opinion of the gospel today. It's not relevant really for our age of scientific advancement and technological advancement. commitment. But when you come to Jesus, you will confess like the Queen of Sheba that the report that you heard was true.
[33:12] For not only did she hear, but her eyes had seen Solomon's acts and his wisdom. She experienced what she heard, and dear friends, it is so important for us to experience what we are told about for ourselves, to experience the gospel for ourselves, to experience salvation for ourselves, to experience Jesus for ourselves.
[33:34] And the only way we can experience it is by coming to Jesus. She confesses that her heart was stirred up by what she heard, so that she took this long journey to Jerusalem and to King Solomon, that behold, the half was not told me.
[33:51] Thy wisdom and prosperity exceeded the fame which I heard. And when you come to Jesus, you will discover that you'll find more in him. than you have ever been told.
[34:03] In the Gospel of John, it is recorded for us that when John the Baptist pointed Jesus out as the Lamb of God, that two of his disciples followed Jesus. And then Jesus turned and said to them, whom what seek ye?
[34:18] And they said to them, Rabbi, where dwellest thou? And Jesus said to them, come and see. And that is what I say to you today. Come and see. see for yourself.
[34:31] Do not take my word for it or the word of anyone else. You prove it for yourself. You come and see. And if you come to Jesus, your confession will be like that of the Queen of Sheba regarding Solomon.
[34:46] I have received in him more than any preacher or anyone ever has told me. Then she praised God.
[34:57] She recognized that Solomon was God's gift to the people. Happy are thy men. Happy are these thy servants which stand continually before thee and adhere thy wisdom.
[35:09] Blessed be the Lord thy God which delighteth in thee to set thee on the throne of Israel because the Lord loved Israel forever therefore made the king to do judgment and justice.
[35:20] by setting Solomon on the throne God was establishing justice and righteousness in Israel. She acknowledged that God delighted in Solomon and that God set him on the throne of Israel because he loved Israel.
[35:38] Oh how much more so is that true of the one who is greater than Solomon. In Isaiah chapter 42 which speaks of Jesus as the father saying we have these words recorded for us.
[35:52] Behold my servant to my uphold my elect in whom my soul delighted. In the gospel we have the father saying this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
[36:05] God has given Jesus to be our king and he has given him a kingdom of redeemed sinners because he loves us. Because he loves us.
[36:18] my final point today is this we are told in the new testament the queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them for she came from the yetmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and behold a greater than Solomon is here.
[36:38] There Jesus was speaking of himself. Behold a greater than Solomon is here and yet the queen of the south or the queen of Sheba came to hear the wisdom of Solomon and yet here today is a greater than Solomon.
[36:55] We are going to meet this queen one day but she will be at the judgment seat of Christ when Christ will finally judge us all. Where will the queen of Sheba rise up to condemn you on that day for she came a long distance to see Solomon.
[37:11] She came from Sheba which was outside the covenant community. She was outside Israel. She was a Gentile. She was outside the covenant community.
[37:23] She don't belong to Israel to the place of covenant blessing to the place of great spiritual privileges but she came to hear the wisdom of Solomon.
[37:34] She came to King Solomon and behold a greater than Solomon is here. Jesus Christ who is the king of kings. are you satisfied with just hearing of him?
[37:51] Are you satisfied with just listening to stories that are told about him? Or will you be like the queen of Sheba and come to prove that what you hear is truth?
[38:05] Will you come to King Jesus the way that the queen of Sheba came to King Solomon? She came to prove him. Well, will you not prove Jesus?
[38:18] Will you not come to him today? And like she said, half of it was not told me.
[38:29] She came to experience this herself. And for the sake of the young ones, I will close with just another wee story for you.
[38:40] there were once two little boys and one of them had a sweetie in his mouth and he was chewing away at the sweetie.
[38:51] And the other boy says to him, what is it like? What is it like, the sweetie that's in your mouth? And the little boy tried to explain to him what it was like.
[39:05] But the other little boy kept on saying, what is it like? Really, what is it like? And in the end, the boy took the sweetie out of his mouth and he said to the other boy, you taste it for yourself.
[39:17] And dear friends, I try my best to tell you about the sweetness of King Jesus. But you taste him for yourself.
[39:29] And you will experience far more than I or your minister can ever tell you or any other person can ever tell you.
[39:41] Taste Jesus for yourself and see that he is good and that the said of him is true. May the Lord bless our thoughts upon his word today.
[39:54] We shall conclude by singing in Psalm 72 from the Scottish Psalter on page 314. Psalm 72 verse 17.
[40:06] His name forever shall endure, last like the sun it shall. Men shall be blessed in him and blessed all nations shall him call. Now blessed be the Lord our God, the God of Israel, for he alone doth wondrous works in glory that excel.
[40:21] And blessed be his glorious name to all eternity. The whole earth let his glory fill. Amen. So let it be. We shall sing these three verses to the Lord's praise and conclusion.
[40:34] Psalm 72 at verse 17. His name forever shall endure, last like the sun it shall. His name forever shall endure, last like the sun and shall men shall be blessed in him the blessed for nations shall and fall.
[41:23] Now blessed our King's take he the Lord our Lord the God of Israel for he the God of Christ earth The glory thou best shall And blessed be this glorious day To all eternity The whole and grandest
[42:23] So we fill A place so ever to be The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all now and forevermore Amen Amen