[0:00] And chapter 10, 1 Kings and chapter 10. I'm going to read the whole chapter together. Let us hear the Word of God.
[0:20] And when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions.
[0:39] And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bear spices, with very much gold and precious stones. And when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart.
[0:57] And Solomon told her all her questions. There was not anything hid from the king which he told her not. And when the Queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house that he had built, and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cup-baders, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her.
[1:29] And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. Howbeit, I believed not the words until I came, and mine eyes had seen it.
[1:45] And behold, the half was not told me. Thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard. Happy are thy men.
[1:57] Happy are these, thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom. Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel.
[2:10] Because the Lord loved Israel forever. Therefore made he thee king, to do judgment and justice. And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices, very great store, and precious stones.
[2:27] There came no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to Solomon. And the navy also of Hiram that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of almug trees and precious stones.
[2:46] And the king made of the almug trees pillars for the house of the Lord, and for the king's house, harps also, and psalteries for singers.
[2:59] There came no such almug trees, nor were seen unto this day. And king Solomon gave unto the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she asked, beside that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty.
[3:17] So she turned and went to her own country, she and her servants. Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred three score and six talents of gold.
[3:31] Beside that he had of the merchant men, and of the traffic of the spice merchants, and of all the kings of Arabia, and of the governors of the country.
[3:43] And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold. Six hundred shekels of gold went to one target. And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold.
[3:57] Three pound of gold went to one shield. And the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon. Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the best gold.
[4:11] The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round behind. And there were stays on either side on the place of the seat.
[4:23] And two lions stood beside the stays. And twelve lions stood there on one side, and on the other upon the six steps. There was not the like made in any kingdom.
[4:37] And all king Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were of silver.
[4:48] It was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon. For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram.
[4:58] Once in three years came the navy of Tharshish bringing gold and silver, ivory and apes and peacocks. So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom.
[5:13] And all the earth sought to Solomon to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart. And they brought every man his present, presents of silver and vessels of gold, and garments and armour and spices, horses and mules, arrayed year by year.
[5:33] And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen. And he had a thousand and four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he bestowed in the cities for chariots and with the king at Jerusalem.
[5:48] And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycamore trees that are in the vale for abundance.
[6:00] And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt and linen yarn. The king's merchants received the linen yarn at a price, and a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver.
[6:16] And an horse for a hundred and fifty. And so for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria, did they bring them out by their means.
[6:32] Amen. And we pray God's blessing on that portion of his own most holy word. Well friends, we're going to join again, once again, singing to God's praise.
[6:43] This time from Psalm 125. Psalm 125. Psalm 125. We'll sing the whole psalm now to the praise of God.
[7:16] The Lord that firmly trust shall be like Zion Hill. Psalm 125. Psalm 125.
[7:27] The Lord that firmly trust shall be like Zion Hill.
[7:43] which shall not die, the nearer be like Zion, but stand ever still, a throne above Jerusalem.
[8:13] The mountain stand all we. The Lord is full, the compass roll, from heaven is forth and forth.
[8:40] the Lord. The Lord is full, the Lord is full, the Lord is full, upon the Lord, of just, the Lord is full, thanks, the grace of the God and of Jesus.
[9:08] You may share your faith in us and thy goodness, Lord, impart to the good, to those that are upright within their heart.
[10:02] But as for such as turn aside after their crooked way, God shall live forth with wicked men.
[10:34] On Israel peace shall stay. Amen.
[10:56] Well friends, we can just for a short time turn back to the chapter that we read together in 1 Kings and chapter 10.
[11:12] And I'd like us, just for a short time today, to either introduce you for the first time or reacquaint you with this woman that we have before us here.
[11:28] A woman that's referred to as being in places the Queen of the South. Or as perhaps you might know better, a woman who is known as the Queen of Sheba.
[11:46] And as we come alongside the Queen of Sheba today, I'd like us to reflect upon what she has to say to us. And ask ourselves the question, what today do I have in common with the Queen of Sheba?
[12:04] I would suggest that you have in common, or indeed it is my prayer, that you will have in common more with the Queen of Sheba than perhaps you first realise.
[12:18] And for us to really truly understand what it is we have in common, or what it is we are called to have in common with this woman, we need to look at this part of this narrative through a New Testament lens.
[12:35] And the beauty of Scripture is that it interprets Scripture. That from Genesis all the way through to Revelation, we see that golden redemptive thread woven through each and every page.
[12:51] And so there's no narrative in the Old Testament that is of no relevance to you and to me. And so for us to really understand the relevance of what we have before us, I'd like us to turn to the Gospel of Matthew.
[13:08] Matthew chapter 12, if you could in your Bibles turn to Matthew chapter 12.
[13:22] A chapter where we see that Jesus is having dialogue with the Pharisees. We know that the Pharisees of course were the religious leaders of the day.
[13:34] They were those who were particularly good at dotting their I's and crossing their T's when it came to the law. But not only that, they were those who added to the law.
[13:46] They of course put a fence around God's law. So we had God's law in the centre. And in order for men and women and boys and girls not to break God's law, they would add to God's law by making from their own perceived wisdom rules and regulations that God himself had never asked.
[14:11] And of course in doing so, what they were doing was they were binding the conscience of the people. They were making it so difficult to be a follower of the Lord because of their own man-made rules.
[14:26] Man-made rules that were completely void of something, or should I say someone, that should have been central and at the core of who they professed to be.
[14:37] Who was that? The Lord Jesus Christ. And to the contrary, they in fact were seeking to bring Jesus down. They had no time for this blasphemer.
[14:50] It was their desire to eliminate him at any and every cross. That's what brought him. Cost, I should say, that's what brought him to the cross.
[15:02] We're not going to think about this chapter as a whole, but that's the context that we have here. Jesus speaking to these Pharisees. So let's turn together to verse 42.
[15:19] Verse 42. The Queen of the South. This is Jesus speaking to the Pharisees. The Queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it.
[15:33] For she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, a greater of Solomon is here.
[15:49] In other words, you are these men who should know your scriptures inside out. You are these men who profess to be the leaders of the church.
[16:00] Yet as we reflect to scripture that you should know so well that tells us of this Queen of the South, of the Queen of Sheba, she in her actions condemns you.
[16:13] And it's this that we're going to think about for a short time today. We're going to think about the fact that the actions of the Queen of Sheba have much to teach us.
[16:27] First of all, we see as we go back to 1 Kings and chapter 10. It might be helpful for you to have your Bibles open at that chapter again.
[16:38] We see that the Queen of Sheba, she heard, she went, and then she saw.
[16:50] She heard, she went, and she saw. Now Sheba at this time was a wealthy place. It was a place that was considered to be highly civilized.
[17:01] It was a nation. It was located in the south west of Arabia. Yet like any nation, it was a nation that was continually seeking to better herself.
[17:14] A nation that sought to become stronger and stronger socially and economically, wanting to be the best that they possibly could.
[17:26] And so because of this, we see that the Queen of this nation, the Queen of Sheba, she was by no means inward looking. She was not content with the lot of her nation.
[17:38] And she wanted her nation to be the best that they possibly could be. She had her finger on the pulse.
[17:49] She knew exactly what was happening in every other nation. She was keeping a close eye. She had her ear to the ground.
[18:00] And she was listening carefully to find out exactly what the leaders of other nations were doing and how she herself could gain from that.
[18:11] She had that open mind. An open mind to look beyond her own four walls. An open mind that even we as the Lord's people are always called to have.
[18:24] That whether we're in North Tolstah or in Pathc or wherever we find ourselves as God's gathered people, we continually remind ourselves that we are part of a greater landscape of the Bride of Christ and that we can all learn from each other.
[18:42] That's what we're called to do as the Lord's people, to be continually reforming. A reformation never stops. It's ongoing as we seek to be more and more like our Saviour.
[18:57] So she had her finger on the pulse. And it was because of this that we read that she hears of King Solomon. The Queen of Sheba heard, we read, of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord.
[19:14] Now Solomon, you remember, was son of King David. When he succeeded his father, he inherited that great and wealthy kingdom.
[19:25] But as we see here, there was more to Solomon than mere riches. Because we see in 1 Kings in chapter 3, we see there that Solomon makes a request to God.
[19:38] He humbly comes before God and he asks God, not necessarily for increased wealth and riches, but he asks God for wisdom and understanding so that he can lead his people justly.
[19:57] That's always our starting point. For your elders, for me as a minister, for all of us gathered here, our starting point in everything that we do in terms of wisdom that we're trying to gain for ourselves and knowledge with it, our starting point has to be the Lord.
[20:17] He is the one who gives through wisdom. And so we see that God grants his request. And in granting Solomon his request of wisdom, we see that Solomon is left, yes, with great wealth, but also with so much wisdom that he's famous for penning through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, thousands upon thousands of biblical proverbs.
[20:49] Some of them are recorded, not all of them, some of them are recorded in the book of proverbs, a really helpful book for us to come to, you know, every day even just to pick one proverb and to read that and seek to apply it to our own lives and the knowledge that that proverb has come from God.
[21:09] That this is a nugget of wisdom that comes from heaven itself. So he was the one who penned these biblical proverbs.
[21:22] Now, the Queen of Sheba, she heard about all of this. She knew that he was an entrepreneurial leader, as it were, who made trade agreements with many other leaders.
[21:34] She knew that, as we read there, that he had built up his own navy, as it were, in order to secure the successful trading of goods.
[21:45] He was one who was leading his people. Well, we know that later on in his life things go awry. That is true. That is the picture of the sinner.
[21:57] That none of us are prone... Sorry, none of us are... We are all capable, rather, of falling, even Solomon himself.
[22:08] A lesson for us all. But the point is that we're looking at him at this point And we see him as a man who is leading his nation well. And when the Queen of Sheba sees this, she wants it for herself.
[22:27] Now, this is the first clue. This is the first clue as to how the Queen of Sheba is just, or could be, just like you and me.
[22:39] The Queen of Sheba has heard about Solomon and all of his wisdom. All of us gathered in here today, without exception, we have all heard.
[22:51] What have we heard? Well, we have heard time and time again of the wisdom of someone who is far greater than ourselves.
[23:02] You've heard countless times, I'm quite sure, from this pulpit or other pulpits like it, of the wisdom that is offered to you in the Lord Jesus Christ, in that great plan of redemption that is so, so valuable, that if you attain it, if you attain it, you will enjoy spiritual riches that this world can never hope to give you.
[23:30] You've heard. You've heard about this wisdom of the Lord that tells you not to live for the flimsy things of this world. It doesn't mean not to enjoy the things of this world. There's a difference.
[23:41] It doesn't mean that we're not to enjoy every good and perfect gift that God's given to us. The problem arises when we live for each gift that God's given for us, that we live for the created rather than the creator.
[23:55] That's where so many of us go wrong. Perhaps even that's where you yourself are going wrong. But you've all heard. You've heard about this King Jesus.
[24:09] But the question is this, friend. What do you do with what you hear and me with you? What do we do with what we hear about Jesus?
[24:24] From Lord's Day to Lord's Day, do we carry on in our daily routine in this world? And do we shelve it? It's for a Sunday only.
[24:37] We leave it in one place and we dust down our knowledge of the Lord again on the Lord's Day until the next Lord. Well, that's religion.
[24:48] But it's not only religion, friend. But it's dead religion. And not only is it dead religion, friends, but it's dangerous dead religion.
[25:01] You see, coming to know Christ is so much more than coming to church. Church is an expression of our worship to the living God.
[25:12] We have that desire and that joy in our hearts that we ought to come and to praise His name together with the saints, with God's people. It's a fruit of something greater that follows us every single day of the week.
[25:31] That's what it is to live for Christ, to have a living relationship with our living God. The Pharisees didn't have that. They had plenty of rules and regulations and dead works, but that was leading them to a lost eternity.
[25:46] So what do we do with what we hear? Perhaps I'm not speaking about anyone here today, and I hope that's true. And perhaps what you hear, it whets your appetite.
[25:59] It leads you to that place where you long for more. That as you leave here on the Lord's Day, you find your heart stirred and your mind engaged.
[26:10] So you want to seek after this King Jesus for yourself. But we see that the Queen of Sheba, she wanted to find out more.
[26:21] She hears about the King. She's not satisfied with only hearing about the King. And so she goes. Bringing us to our second point. She heard and then she went.
[26:35] She heard and she went. She's not satisfied. She wants to find out for herself. Let's read verse one again. Verses one and two in chapter 10.
[26:49] And when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions. And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train.
[27:02] That's just a lot of assistance, a lot of advisors. She came to Jerusalem with a very great train with camels that bear spices and very much gold and precious stones.
[27:15] And when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. She came to Jerusalem.
[27:28] These are hugely significant and telling words. Because Sheba was a thousand miles away from Jerusalem.
[27:41] It wasn't just like going from here to Stornoway. This was a journey that would have taken weeks, months, perhaps even the best part of a year depending how fast you were going or how often you were stopping.
[27:56] This was no mean feat. This was quite an undertaking. And not only that, but as the Queen of Sheba went with her entourage towards King Solomon to Jerusalem, she would have been denying herself all the usual comforts that she would have been so used to in her palace.
[28:22] But she heard and she went. Why? Because she had that longing and that desire deep within her to have some of the King's knowledge and wisdom that had been imparted to him by the Lord.
[28:44] To have this for herself. This was important. You know, she could have stayed, so easily stayed in Sheba. It could have appeared to her to have been too great a task.
[28:58] You know, when we see something in our path as being such a mountain individually, perhaps even as a congregation, as communities. We see things that are so, so big for us to overcome that we retreat.
[29:13] We maybe put it to one side. We prefer not to come to this mountain and just stay where we are. She could have done that. But she doesn't.
[29:25] She doesn't. She doesn't. And it's not so much that she had to go in terms of her worldly goods. Verse 2 tells us that she came to Jerusalem with a very great train with camels that bore spices, very much gold and precious stones.
[29:45] On the surface, she had it all. But still, but still she knew there was more to life than what she had.
[29:57] She knew there was more on offer in terms of wisdom and knowledge. Now, whether she worshipped the Lord, we don't exactly know here. It's not explicit. But what we know is that she's aware that this wisdom gained by Solomon is godly wisdom and she wants something of it herself.
[30:17] So she hears and she goes. She heard and she went. Yet Jesus is saying to the Pharisees and Jesus is saying to you and to me, dear friend, today, he's saying that a greater than Solomon is here.
[30:38] He's here with us. He promises to be here with two or three who gather in his name.
[30:49] I believe that's what we're doing. He's here by his Holy Spirit. A greater than Solomon is here. He's here in the hearts of every single believer.
[31:02] Christ in us, the hope of glory. He's here in his word, in his revelation that God would condescend to reveal himself to sinners like us through words.
[31:14] He's so beyond words. It shows something of his love to our frailties, our infirmities. To the fact that we have constraints.
[31:28] Yet he reveals to us himself in his word. He is here. A greater than Solomon is here. Not a thousand miles away.
[31:40] The question is, have you gone to him? Have you come to him? Or let me put it another way, friend.
[31:52] Would you call yourself a seeker of the Lord today? We might classify ourselves as seekers. We haven't been born again of the spirit.
[32:03] We're seeking after the Lord. But you know, friends, it's helpful for us to unpack that term. What does it mean to be a seeker after the Lord? Well, I suppose the clue is in the word.
[32:18] To be a seeker is to be one who is actively looking for something. When you've lost something, you go and you try and find it.
[32:30] And you don't give up until you find it. If you are a seeker after Jesus, you are not content until you can call him your father and your friend.
[32:41] You don't give up. You go on that journey of discovery yourself. And you don't just take my word for it. You don't take the word of your husband or your wife or anyone else.
[32:56] You go and find out for yourself. God has given us a mind and he has given us reason. And he desires for us to go and to find out something of his wisdom as it is revealed in the person and in the work of his son.
[33:14] You know, if Sheba hadn't gone, if she had stayed where she was in the comfort of her surroundings. And you might have a very comfortable life in this world. I don't know. But if she had stayed where she was, she would have been missing out on so much.
[33:29] So much. So much. So much. And so unconverted friend, please, please, please go and find out. Go and see for yourself.
[33:41] Go and search after this King Jesus. And I promise you, he will only to gladly reveal himself to you. Not through flashing lights in the sky.
[33:56] Through his word. What do we find in his word? His promises. What is faith? Believing his promises. Come to his word.
[34:08] Seek for yourself. And so the Queen, she hears about the King. She takes the journey. She goes. And then lastly, she sees for herself.
[34:23] She sees for herself. But before she sees for herself, we see that the Queen of Sheba, when she eventually arrives in the palace of kings, Solomon, we see that she's got her guard up.
[34:40] We see that she begins by asking Solomon, or as we read here, she came to prove him with hard questions.
[34:51] Or to test him, essentially, with hard questions. She wants to be sure. She wants to be sure that he was who she heard that he was.
[35:05] She wanted to investigate with an inquiring mind whether the claims about Solomon were true. And so she asks really difficult questions.
[35:16] Almost in the form of riddles. So that they're hard to decipher. Now, we could take this one of two ways. Because as we know in life, there are those, perhaps you've been in this position, perhaps you are in this position, I don't know.
[35:35] But there are those in life who might question God. And that's okay. They might have questions about the Bible. And that's okay.
[35:47] But what's not okay is this, when we're not really and truly interested in the answer. You know what it's like?
[35:59] When somebody asks a question, and they've already made up their mind to the answer. They've decided in themselves what the answer is.
[36:11] And so they come out with this question, and they're not really interested in what you have to say. They've got an answer in mind, and that's the answer. And if your answer doesn't come in line with their answer, it's not true.
[36:24] But of course, that's not genuine.
[36:36] We can ask difficult questions, but if we're trying to trip someone up, or to make someone, or even the gospel look foolish. If our sole desire is to prove someone wrong, we're not coming with an honest spirit of inquiry.
[36:55] And I wonder, is that your spirit towards the truth? And this is for Christians and non-Christians, myself included. We can have prejudices about scripture.
[37:09] Things that perhaps we have been led to believe to be true for one reason or another. And that's fine. But never ever be satisfied with that.
[37:21] Why do we do what we do? Where do we come? Yes, of course, to the leaders of our church, that is true. Why do we do what we do? Where is our true wisdom?
[37:37] In the word of God. In the word of God. Test the spirits to see if they're of the Lord. The Pharisees thought they were sincere, but they were sincerely wrong.
[37:51] Everything we do as Christians, especially just now I'm speaking, we must do it against the lens of scripture. Not tradition.
[38:03] Not even what our forefathers did, because they were sinners just like us. We have to do all that we do in the lens of scripture.
[38:14] Coming to scripture as a mirror to show us ourselves and to show us how we are to glorify God. And so it's not wrong to have an inquiring mind when we seek after the truth.
[38:28] When we long to know that what we're doing is glorifying to God. That we are giving our best to the Lord, not to the dregs. That what we are doing is done in a spirit that is born out of a heart of worship through a living relationship with a living God.
[38:47] That's not wrong. That's what I believe we see with the Queen of Sheba. She doesn't have that spirit that's seeking to necessarily trip him up.
[38:59] She just wants to know that what he has to offer is right. And so she communes with him. She speaks with him about all that is in her heart.
[39:14] We see there that sincere and humble desire, friends, to find out all that was in her heart.
[39:25] She could so easily have been filled with pride and jealousy. You only have to listen to the radio when we see the First Minister's questions or Prime Minister's questions.
[39:39] All they're trying to do is trip each other up. Half the time that's all they want to do. To somehow solidify their own position, even if that position isn't right.
[39:51] And sometimes that is not always, of course. Sometimes that's fuelled by pride. Sometimes that's fuelled by jealousy. And you know, she could have been like that. That all she wanted to do was to puff up herself and her own leadership in her own nation.
[40:06] And that she would show him a thing or two, but no. She comes and she speaks to him. And these are beautiful words of all that is in her heart.
[40:17] Friend, you may have many questions about the Gospel. And that's not a bad thing. That's a good thing. You might have many questions about the way of salvation. That's a good thing.
[40:28] You ask these questions. You ask other Christians. Or even better, go straight to the top. You ask the one who is greater than Solomon.
[40:41] You come to the Lord with a humble heart. Open ears and an open mind seeking and ready to hear. What does he have to say?
[40:53] What does James tell us in chapter 4 and verse 6? That God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. You know friends, that's often why we don't hear the voice of God.
[41:09] Because the heart of the matter is a matter of the heart. We might say that we're seeking him. But in our hearts of hearts, we're not really, truly willing to receive him.
[41:24] We're holding on. We're holding on to our self-righteousness. Ah, I'm not good enough.
[41:35] Of course you're not good enough. That's the whole point, that you're not good enough. But if we have this spirit of I am not good enough continually.
[41:46] As a means whereby we don't know the Lord Jesus as our Saviour. We are proud. What does the humble heart say?
[41:58] I am not good enough, Lord. But you are. Have mercy on me, a sinner.
[42:09] I can't, Lord. But you can. That's the humble heart. That's the seeking heart. That's the open heart.
[42:20] Ready and willing to receive. And we see something of this with the Jews in Berea. In Acts chapter 17, verse 10. We read there that the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea.
[42:34] When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica. In that they received the word with all readiness.
[42:48] And searched the scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. That is what you are called to do.
[43:10] To search the scriptures daily. To find out whether these things are so. To find out if this Saviour is for you.
[43:22] And I guarantee you that if you come to the word of God prayerfully and humbly. And you ask the Lord to reveal himself to you. He will.
[43:33] You will see that these things are so. Not because I say it. Or anybody else. But because the power of the Lord through his spirit will reveal himself to you.
[43:49] And of course this can be applied to the Lord's people as well. To all of us. Because isn't it true friends that we can ask the Lord for guidance.
[44:02] I suppose this is particularly true to you in a time of vacancy. You can ask the Lord for guidance. And not just as a congregation but also individually. You can ask the Lord for guidance.
[44:15] And we have all been here. But before we do so we have already made up our mind what the outcome is going to be. We have already formed an answer in our mind.
[44:27] So we can come to the Lord for guidance. And when we don't get what we are looking for we will go elsewhere in the world. We keep searching the scriptures until we get an answer that fits into what we believe should happen.
[44:42] That's not the way of the Christian. It is the way of the Christian because we've all been there. It ought not to be the way of the Christian. We too are to come.
[44:54] Perhaps you have something in your life that you are needing guidance on. We too are to come with a humble heart and a ready mind to receive the word of God.
[45:06] Sure that might take you on a path that you didn't expect. But as the hymn writer says. It's only in your will oh Lord.
[45:18] That I am free. Christian friend if you are kicking against the pricks as it were. The gourds. As you are fighting against the will of God in whatever way.
[45:29] You will never be free. Perhaps even as a believer who hasn't professed. In your disobedience. You will never be free. You will only be free in the will of God.
[45:43] How do we know the will of God? Well he has revealed it to us. His revealed will is here. He has a secret will. He has a secret will.
[45:54] And we might find ourselves delving into that. When we talk about the elect. And so on and so forth. That's not your business. Nor mine. The secret will of God is a secret will of God.
[46:07] We have here the revealed will of God. That tells us our part. To seek. To knock. To ask. To ask. As Christians.
[46:18] As non-Christians. That we come. And that we know. That grace. That he gives.
[46:29] To the humble. And you know we see the Queen of Sheba. She has a humble spirit. In that desire. That she has. And because of this.
[46:42] He answers. Verse 3. And Solomon told all her questions. There was not anything hid from the king. Which he did not tell her. So Solomon answered all her questions.
[46:54] There was nothing so difficult. For the king. That he could not. Explain it to her. That's what that means. He could. There's nothing too difficult.
[47:06] He could explain it all. Every last. Question. He was. Who she heard. He was.
[47:17] She could see this. For herself. She could see. That this was a wise man. She could see that this. Was a wealthy man. And of course we see that.
[47:29] In. In the way that. His surroundings are described. Such opulence. Such wealth. Such wealth. The word gold. I think. Is used 10 times.
[47:40] In these verses. And when. The queen of Sheba comes. She. She heard. She went. And she saw. When she sees. The wonder. Of.
[47:51] This king herself. What do we read? We read. There was no. No. Spirit. No more spirit. Rather. In her. What does this mean? Well.
[48:02] To you and me. To me. It means this. That what she saw. That what she saw. Took. Her breath away. It took her breath away. Just far more than she could ever have expected.
[48:16] Yes. She'd heard about this king. But it. It wasn't until she met. This king. That she could fully. Appreciate. The wonder. Of who he was. And all. That he had.
[48:27] And so she said to the king. Verse six. It was a true report. That I heard. In my own land. Of thy acts. And of thy wisdom. How be it. I believed.
[48:38] Not the words. Until I came. And mine eyes. Had seen it. And behold. The half. Was not told me. Thy wisdom.
[48:49] And prosperity. Exceedeth. The fame. Which I heard. You know friends. As you reflect. Week. By week.
[49:00] On the greater than solemn. On the Lord. Jesus Christ. Right here. North. The half. The half. Has not. Been. Told. It's only when you come.
[49:11] To see Jesus. For yourself. By faith. It's only then. That you will see. You might have. Your own perceptions. As to what Christianity is. And perhaps they're not positive. And perhaps that's our fault. As Christians.
[49:22] All too often. We find ourselves. Dragging our spiritual heels. Find out for yourself. And you will see. That the truth. Has. The half. Has not. Been told. You will understand.
[49:45] When you come to Jesus. That he is the wisest. Of all. That the beauty. Surrounding him. It's not a material beauty. The beauty. Surrounding him.
[49:56] His person. His work. His love. To sinners like us. It's truly. Breathtaking. As through faith. You've given. A glimpse. To a beauty.
[50:08] That is only. Accentuated. Accentuated. Where? On Calvary's hill. By that. Sacrificial. Act of love.
[50:19] That he showed. Not for people. Who were worthy. But for sinners. Like you. And me. Those who are in the depths. And in the mire. Of our own self-righteousness. That's.
[50:30] Who he came. To die for. No one. And nothing. Can ever. Compare. To the greater.
[50:42] Than Solomon. And you know. When you come to know this. When the Lord's people here. Came to know that. A response. Is required.
[50:54] We see that here. A reaction. Verse 10. The Queen of Sheba. She gave the king. Once she realized. Who he was. And what he had to offer. She gave the king.
[51:05] A hundred and twenty talents. Of gold. And of spices. Very great store. And precious stones. There came. No more such abundance. Of spices. As these.
[51:17] Which the queen. Of Sheba. Gave. To king. Solomon. In response. To all. That she heard. And all. That she saw. The queen.
[51:28] Desires. To do what? To return. Thanks. To the king. By giving. An abundance. Of good things. Things. And that's what happens. When we come.
[51:39] To know. The greater. Than Solomon. We desire. To give. Him. Our. All. And when we do. What happens. We're blessed.
[51:50] And king. Solomon. Verse 13. Whatever she asked. Beside that. Which Solomon. Gave her. Of his royal bounty. So she turned. And went.
[52:01] To her own country. She. And. Her. Servants. That's. What happens. When we come. To know. The greater. Than Solomon.
[52:12] Us. The spiritual. Desire. Of. Our hearts. He's the king. That just. Keeps. On giving. Not in terms. Of material possessions.
[52:23] Not in terms. Even. Of an easy passage. Through this life. Many of the lord's people. Here. Have had great difficulties. And continue. To do so. But he gives us.
[52:34] Spiritual blessings. He's not. Greedy. With them. He's not. Meager. He doesn't. Hold. Back.
[52:45] From giving them. The problem is. We don't come to him. For them. You know friends.
[52:56] Our duty today. With this. I'm nearly finished. Our duty today. Is to come. To the lord.
[53:09] To come. To the lord. The lord. Why is it. That perhaps. We find ourselves. And I include myself. In this. Why is it. That we find ourselves. Sometimes.
[53:20] So hesitant. To serve the lord. We hold back. We hold back. We retreat. We stay. We stay. In Sheba. Christian. And non-Christian. Why is it.
[53:33] Well I believe. Firmly. It's this. That we hear. But we don't go. And very little.
[53:46] Do we see. We take our eyes. Off. The cross. Do we have a spiritual spring. In our step today.
[53:58] Can we truly see. That the joy of the lord. Is our strength. Or do we find ourselves. Friends. Submerged.
[54:09] In a sea of self pity. Where all we do. From. Morning till night. Is say. Poor me.
[54:20] That is not. God glorifying. That is not. Why Jesus Christ. Came into this world. And dwelt. Amongst sinners.
[54:31] Like you and me. That is not. Why he took to himself. The pains. Of hell. That is not. Why he was forsaken. By the father. That is not.
[54:43] Why. He gave to you. And gives to you. Unconditional love. If you are his. His. So that we can. Mope around us. His people.
[54:54] How dare we. And how do we do this. And why do we do this. Because our eyes. Are not. On the cross.
[55:05] Yes. We do good things. But we neglect. The best thing. Dear Christian friends. And I say this in love.
[55:16] And I say it to myself. As much. As I say it to you. Please. Please. Please. Especially. As a congregation. Going forward. Keep the main thing. The main thing.
[55:28] Don't allow secondary issues. To overshadow. The cross. Because I guarantee you. When you do. You will lose. The joy of the Lord. As your strength. Come to Calvary.
[55:39] Gaze upon your beloved. Calvary. Gaze upon your beloved. Each. And every day. When you come. And you pray to him. Dear friend. Every morning. You say. Thank you Jesus.
[55:52] That you died. For me. I go forward this day. Not in my own strength. But in the strength. But in the strength. Of another. I go out into this world.
[56:04] Lord. Leaning on my own righteousness. But leaning on my beloved. Let that. Be your testimony. Friends. Every. Every.
[56:15] Single. Day. Why are we not seeing revival. And renewal. In the church. Because we're not at the cross. Come to the cross.
[56:29] She heard. She went. And she saw. Today you've heard again. You've heard about the great. And Solomon. But have you gone to him.
[56:41] For the first time. So that you might know him. As your saviour. Well if you haven't. Jesus has this to say to you. That the queen.
[56:52] Of the south. Shall rise up. In judgment. With this generation. And shall condemn it. For she came. From the uttermost parts. Of the earth. To hear.
[57:03] The wisdom of Solomon. And behold. A greater. Than Solomon is here. In other words. If. Having heard. All that you have heard.
[57:14] About this man. Jesus. And you do absolutely. Nothing about it. The actions. Of the queen. Of the south. They condemn you.
[57:25] Because she was. Willing to go. To such great. Length. To get. To know. A wise. Man. To. But still. A man.
[57:36] Who is a man. At best. Today friend. You are privileged. Can't you see that? Because you are not called. To put your trust. In a sinful man.
[57:47] But the Lord. Jesus. Christ. Would you come to him? Would you make the most. Of your privileges. Before it's too late.
[57:59] Would you. Would you. Cry out. To him. Even today. In your heart. Lord. Have mercy. Upon me. A sinner. That journey.
[58:10] To the king. No matter. How long. It takes. Or. How many. Difficulties. Are in your way. Do not rest. Until you find him. Do not rest.
[58:22] Until you find. An answer. To that question. What must I do. To be saved. What is the answer? You know. The greatest. Sin is unbelief. What is the answer.
[58:33] To that? Believe. In the Lord. Jesus Christ. Christ. And you will. Be saved. Humbly. Take him. At his word.
[58:45] And when you do. When you do. You will be saying. With the queen of Sheba. And with every other saint. Gathered in here. The half. Was not told.
[58:58] Amen. We pray the Lord. Will bless to us. These few thoughts. Let's pray. Lord. We give thanks. This day. Although we find ourselves.
[59:09] In the mire. Of our own self-righteousness. That. You have opened unto us. That new. And that living way. Whereby. We can come.
[59:20] And we can claim. Your promises. For ourselves. Promises. That are yea. And amen. Not in our own strength. But yea. And amen. In Christ.
[59:31] The one. Who never lies. The one. Whose truth. Has firmly stood. The one. Who will fulfill. His word. To. His people.
[59:42] And so help us. We pray. One and all. Gathered here today. To by faith. Lay hold. Of your promises. To take them. To ourselves. And to plead them.
[59:53] And to know. What it is. In a very real way. To have the light. Have the light. Of your countenance. Shining upon us. Be with our dear friends here. We pray. That your Holy Spirit.
[60:04] Would truly minister. To their needs. And if there are any here. Who are yet. To taste. And to see. That God is good. That as they have heard.
[60:15] The good news. Of the gospel. That they would go. And that they would seek. After Jesus. Themselves. And that they would see. The beauty. That is to be found.
[60:26] In his. Holiness. Go with us now. We pray. Part us with your blessing. And forgive us for Jesus sake. Amen.