Transcript

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Good morning. Are you alive?
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I'm barely alive, but I'm alive. So I praise God that we have
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another day to be together. And I'm excited to open God's
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word with you. I want to pray one more time, so
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let's do that. Let's seek the Lord again.
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Lord, we thank you that your word says in Psalm 3, the verse
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five, that David slept and he awoke because the Lord sustained
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him. Thank you, Lord, that you've
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sustained us through us sleep, that we are able to be here
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attentive, energized, and ready to receive the manner that you
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have prepared for us today. And so we come to glean from the
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do of your word and we pray that we would be nourished and
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strengthened from it. We give you glory, Lord, and
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honor and thanks. In Jesus name.
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Amen. Amen.
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Leave a Bible with you. If you don't have a Bible with
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you, why don't you have a Bible with you?
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I hope you have a Bible with you.
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I'm so thankful for the screen and the projection, but there's
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nothing like having a copy of God's Word in your hand.
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I know that we have phones and tablets.
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Whatever the means is, whatever you use to read God's Word, make
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it a habit to bring it with you to church, to familiarize
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yourself with the sword of the spirit that you have.
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It's very important. It's a testimony for others as
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well. And I'm glad that we have God's
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Word available. It's royalty to have God's Word.
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You know that. You know, in the Old Testament,
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it was the kings who were to have a copy of God's Word.
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They were to write a copy of it approved by the Levitical
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priest, and this says they're in Deuteronomy 17, that they were
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to have that copy of God's Word with them at all times and read
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it all the time. So it was a royal thing to have
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a copy of God's Word. And we are royal priesthood and
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we have been by God's Providence given access to divine
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revelation. And so if you have a copy of
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God's Word, go with me to Matthew chapter 12 again,
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Matthew chapter 12 in verse 42, the verse that we have been
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addressing and dissecting together these past few
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sessions, when Jesus declared that something greater than
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Solomon is Solomon is here. He did not.
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He did not give an aimless assertion in one of his sermons.
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When you look at the context, when Jesus said something
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greater than Solomon is here, it was actually a rebuke.
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It was a rebuke. And when you look here at 42, we
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know this verse. But you scale back to verse 38
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and you realize that it was the scribes and the Pharisees who
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approached Jesus yet again and asked him to perform another
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spectacular sign. And this was not an honest,
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sincere inquiry. This was a veneer.
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This was a facade of seemingly being interested in and
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investigating the evidence of who Jesus really is.
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But Christ saw pass through that.
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This was just a way of many ways of attempting to trap Jesus and
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to try to discredit Jesus. And you can't fool Jesus.
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He can see through it all. And he did see it.
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And because he saw it, instead of giving them a supernatural
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sign on demand, despite all the signs that he had already done
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leading up to this point, the Pharisees were aware of the
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miracles. Instead of giving them a
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supernatural sign, he gives them a scathing rebuke.
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He gives them a rebuke. And one of those rebukes is what
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we see here in Matthew 1242. When Jesus says that he was
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greater than Solomon, he he did not only in that one breath
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declare his superiority to Solomon.
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He also linked himself to a person in the story of Solomon
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that we are going to look at in greater detail.
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So notice let's read it again in verse 42 of chapter 12.
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The Queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this
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generation and condemn it. For she came from the ends of
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the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon.
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And behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
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The Lord assured this unbelieving generation that on
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Judgment Day the Queen of the South will rise and stand and
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testify against this generation and actually condemn it for
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their lack of faith for failing to take heed to the opportunity
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that was before them in the person of Jesus Christ.
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There is a historic person that will be standing on trial and
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pointing her finger towards those who beheld the Incarnate
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Christ and and actually reprimanding them and rebuking
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them and will further and confirm the testimony of their
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worthiness to be judged for eternity.
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Who is this person? Who is the Queen of the South
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and why does the Lord highlight her as someone who will take the
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witness stand and bring about a report from her own testimony of
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why they deserve to be judged by God?
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You don't have to guess why the Lord chose this woman.
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You don't have to guess who she is because there's an entire
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half chapter dedicated in the Old Testament concerning her in
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First Kings chapter 10. And not only is she found there
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First Kings chapter 10, there was something about her attitude
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towards Solomon that Christ highly esteemed.
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There was something about how she approached Solomon that
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Christ highly esteemed, and not only did he highly esteem it, he
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set it as an example before the Jews of his day, and he also
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sets it as an example for people of all generations.
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Of how we ought to respond to the reports that we hear about
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Jesus Christ. Here is the main point of what
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Christ is getting at if this queen, if this woman was so
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eager and so curious to go out of her way to discover the
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things that she merely heard about this great king, how much
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more should we pursue the one who is greater?
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This is the main argument that Christ is making, and it sounds
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like an inspirational illustration, but it's actually
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a warning, right? It's not Just look at the Queen
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of the South and how she sought King Solomon.
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Now do something similar with Jesus Christ.
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That's not really the whole point.
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The whole point is Christ is actually telling this people
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that to be apathetic and to be uninterested when you are
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presented an opportunity and an invitation to discover what
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Jesus Christ wants to make known to you is absolutely
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inexcusable. To remain apathetic or
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uninterested when you have been given an opportunity to
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investigate and discover more of what Christ wants to make known
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to you, it's absolutely inexcusable.
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This is what Jesus is saying and there are 4 notable things about
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the Queen of Sheba that I would like to bring to our attention.
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There are 4 notable things. The first thing is the position
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that she had. The second thing is the distance
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that she made. The third thing is the king that
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she sought. And the last thing is that the
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reward she received. Let's turn to 1st Kings chapter
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10 together. Let's turn to 1st Kings chapter
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10 beginning in verse one. This is the same woman that
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Jesus refers to in Matthew chapter 12.
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It's such a beautiful story. I'm going to read the 1st 5
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verses and just envision it. And 1st Kings chapter 10 verse
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one we read now when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of
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Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test them
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with hard questions. She came to Jerusalem with a
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very great retinue with camels bearing spices and very much
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gold and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon,
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she told them all that was on her mind, and Solomon answered
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her all her heart, all her questions.
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Rather, there was nothing hidden from the king that he could not
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explain to her. And when the Queen of Sheba had
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seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the
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food of his table, the seating of his officials and the
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attendance of his servants, their clothing, his cup bearers
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and his burn offerings that he offered at the House of the
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Lord, there was no more breath in her.
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Literally her breath was taken from her breathless.
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Wow. 4 notable things. The first thing I want you to
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understand concerning Jesus's words of why she will stand at
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the judgment is because of the positions that she had when he
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said the Queen of the South. She was a queen.
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This was not somebody who was just a curious woman from a
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foreign land. She was royalty.
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She was a woman of great dignity.
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She was a woman of great power, affluence, influence, prestige.
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This was somebody very important at this time in history.
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And Jesus highlights this because most scholars believe
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that Sheba is modern day Yemen, South of Saudi Arabia.
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And we're going to talk about the location and how significant
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that is because Jesus highlights how far she came to meet with
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Solomon. But before they just consider
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her position, What what she did, who she was, the
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responsibilities she had, the authority that she possessed.
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This is not just anybody. This is somebody who had status.
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This is somebody who was very significant, someone who was
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feared and revered, who herself was sought after to some degree.
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And so she had a responsibility over a nation.
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And yet with all the subjects that she had, all the servants,
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all the supplies, all the success, the impression that you
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get here from verse one is that this queen was longing for
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something more. She was longing for something
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more. How does she hear about Solomon?
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Well, Shirley, traitors came in and out of her land.
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And people who had visited Solomon or passed through
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Jerusalem and Israel also witnessed the majesty of this
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king, what he was able to do in such a short amount of time.
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And so she heard from time to time about this King Solomon
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from Jerusalem. And she gathered the pieces
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together, and something sparked inside of her heart.
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I'm hearing about the Solomon all the time now.
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She was not somebody who had nothing to do.
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She she was not a spoiled queen who lounged around and thought
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this will be a nice vacation. Nor is she somebody who thought
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that this would be a good alliance to make with a
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brilliant man. We can really work together and
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do something awesome together. That's not what's happening
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here. Read verse one carefully again
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and you'll see the essence of her desire to discover who King
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Solomon is. First kings, 10 one.
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Now when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, it
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stopped. If it stopped there, then we we
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can say it's about Solomon. But it says concerning the name
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of the Lord. Concerning the name of the Lord.
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She came to test them with hard questions.
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It was more than Solomon's abilities.
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It was more than Solomon's achievements.
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There was something about Solomon's knowledge of God, and
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there was something about Solomon doing things in honor of
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God. There was something about people
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linked the favor Solomon had with God.
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And so the main here, main thing here for this queen is the Lord,
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the Lord that Solomon represented, the the Lord that
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Solomon served. This was the heartbeat of this
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trip that she's about to make. And this is what we need to
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learn from this woman and never forget it.
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You were created for more than positions of authority, then
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personal luxury, then extravagance, then achievements,
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then you accomplishing projects, whether they're small or great,
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then you crafting your gift. Or it's more than that.
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Your heart was created to know your maker, to walk with your
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God, to understand him and to experience him and to know who
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he is and to know who he is concerning yourself and how he
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relates to you. You see this woman here, She has
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this, this longing that's been birthed.
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Maybe it was always there and and the lid was removed once
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everybody start talking about the Lord of Solomon, not just
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Solomon. And so this woman here is
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testifying something about the human heart, that the human
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heart, though it is depraved and wicked evil it is, it is capable
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of understanding that there is something more.
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And I wonder if your heart today testifies to that reality or are
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you still mesmerized by the little toys of this world?
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This woman had it all. And I wonder for those who have
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made their lives about the things that she enjoyed, the
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things that she probably pursued to arrive where she was at.
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Are you not challenged this morning that there was a queen
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who left her throne to discover a truth about the true God?
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She left her throne, and she desired to get answers.
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Not just answers about her life, but answers about God.
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I'm sure she heard the fame of Solomon concerning the Lord.
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I got to find out what this is all about.
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So you see that this woman had all these things.
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And guess what? These things did not satisfy,
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satisfy the cries of her heart. They didn't.
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And unfortunately, you have so many people today who, in the
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name of pursuing such things and enjoying such things, live all
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of their lives, if not most of their lives, neglecting the
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person of Jesus Christ, ignoring the rumors.
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They're not rumors. They're true reports about who
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he is. For vanity.
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For transient things. For things that will disappear.
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For things that will rot. For things that can be taken
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from you. And here's this woman who has
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her priorities right. And remember, when Jesus gave
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this rebuke, He gave it to a specific audience.
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He gave it to the religious leaders of his time, these men
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who also wanted to protect their positions and their influence.
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Remember when Jesus was on trial, Pilot discerned that
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these Pharisees were delivering up to this trial because of
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envy. They saw the people that Christ
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was pulling away from them. They saw how there was a shift
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happening in the spiritual climate because of this one man,
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a new movement was arising and out of envy they sought Christ
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to be put to death. But not only that, that's not
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the only mark of a Pharisee. We tend to we tend to summarize
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a Pharisee to be somebody who is legalistic or self-righteous.
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And that is true. That is the essence of being a
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Pharisee. But there are different
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ingredients that make a Pharisee A Pharisee, and there are
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different components that made the Pharisees unable to
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surrender to at least honestly inquire of the person of Jesus
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Christ instead of making a Public Enemy number one from the
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get go. Here's one of the marks of a
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Pharisee in Luke 1614. We are told that the Pharisees
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who heard Jesus just preached a certain sermon.
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And then we're given a description about those
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Pharisees in Luke 16, four who were lovers of money.
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They loved money. They live for money.
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They twisted the promises and the commands of God for the
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accumulation of personal gain. They were lovers of money.
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Now why is the Holy Spirit telling us that they are lovers
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of money? Why is that significant?
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It's not telling us that they were very ambitious or they were
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manipulative. No, because right before this,
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in in verse 13 Jesus says something important.
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In Luke 1613 he says you cannot serve 2 masters.
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You cannot serve God and money. And then in verse 14 we were
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told the Pharisees who were lovers of money.
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If they were lovers of money, then do you think it's very easy
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to become lovers of money today, especially in the West?
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You'd be amazed to know how many people, even in churches, bear
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the name of Christianity, really serve money.
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Money is their God. Is it wrong to work?
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No. Is it wrong to save?
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No. Is it wrong to enjoy things with
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your money? No.
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But when you begin to make your life more about the acquiring of
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wealth, when that's your ambition, when that's where your
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affections lie, when that is what you talk about more, When
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that is what your meditations are on whether you want to
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acknowledge or not. Jesus is not your God.
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Money is your God. Money is your God and there will
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be many, many people who will not have eternal life because
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they've lived their lives serving the dollar bill.
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The Pharisees. Yes, they were self-righteous,
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but there was another obstacle in their hearts.
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They loved money. They loved money.
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And that is I believe one of the major idols in in the West.
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Be careful young person. I know you're ambitious.
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I know you have a lot to look forward to in life.
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I know that you're looking out to the world and all the things
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that are being said and all the doom and gloom of these
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podcasts, of all these these guys, these selfmotivation guys.
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You know those guys. I get bothered when I see what
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goes viral on the Internet. Be careful, because there's a
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fine line between wanting to be responsible and wanting to be
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safe and wanting to save up, and you end up serving money instead
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of serving Jesus. Very fine line.
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The Pharisees. They love money and they
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couldn't love Christ. At least that's one of the
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reasons. What about the rich young ruler?
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Remember the rich? He came to Jesus and he seemed
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to be desperate to be saved. And Jesus says something
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incredible about the rich young ruler.
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And Jesus is so discerning. He he, he sees through it all
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and the words of Jesus to the rich young ruler and Mark.
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And so for us at America, the Bible church, we're going to see
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this in a in a couple of chapters, but it's good to see
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it. Now in light of this message, if
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you go to Mark, I want you to see this in your bibles and Mark
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chapter 10, verse 18 and 19. So many people then and so many
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people today will not know eternal life because they
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cherish and valued things that they shouldn't have more than
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Jesus. Mark 10/18.
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So here's this. Rich, young, grueling.
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He asked What must I do to inherit eternal life?
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Good teacher Jesus, why do you call me good?
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Verse 18 Jesus said to him, why do you call me good?
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No one is good except God alone. The enemies of Jesus, the
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enemies of the gospel, love to use his verse to try to say that
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he is not God, when in fact he is probing the heart of this
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rich, young, grueling. Hey, you're calling me good.
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You know God is good alone. Do the math.
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That's what Jesus is saying. Not.
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I'm not God. Only God is good.
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That's that's not what he's saying at all.
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Look what he says in verse 19. You know the commandments.
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You know the commandments. Do not murder.
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Do not commit adultery. Do not steal.
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Do not bear fault witness. Do not defraud.
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Honor your father and mother. Where do you find those
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commitments? Where do you find those
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commandments? The Old Testament, sure.
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But what? Where?
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Where are they? The law.
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The law. Not just the law, but what the
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10 commandments, they're not all 10, right?
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The first few concerning our vertical relationship with God
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are omitted in Jesus's explanation.
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Here He's dealing with the last few that deal with your
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horizontal relationship with those who are created in the
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image of God. Right.
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And so you see these things in the Decalogue that the big 10
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laws, right? Right.
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Yeah. Read it carefully.
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I'm so curious. I was very close of asking
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someone to name all 10 commandments.
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I won't. But look at this.
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Do not murder. Do not commit adultery.
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Do not steal. Do not bear fault witness.
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Do not defraud. Honor your father and mother 10
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commandments. Who's who's the careful student?
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What's standing out to you? Good.
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Do not defraud is not in the Big 10 and you have all these
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academics and these scholars. Jesus didn't know the 10
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commandments. Jesus slip Jesus for God.
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Jesus added Jesus. No Jesus knows what he's doing.
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Why would he say do not defraud, That's in the law.
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By the way, there are laws in the old covenant.
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I deal with paying people their dues and not cheating people.
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Do not defraud. Let's not make it complicated
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what Jesus is doing. He's discerning the main problem
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of this rich young ruler. He was rich.
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Could it be that Jesus knew how he accumulated his wealth?
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You defrauded people to get your money.
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You cheated people, You manipulated, you played games
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with people. And So what Christ is doing by
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naming the commitments, He's not just listening to commitments.
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He's also dealing with the heart of the matter.
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In this young man, you've defrauded people and he's being
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so wise. He's not just calling it out
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right away. He wants the young man to
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acknowledge it for himself. Now it makes more sense when
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Jesus goes sell everything and give it to the poor.
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In other words, go give back what you defrauded people from.
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So here's here's here's Jesus saying do not defraud.
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What Did this young man get saved?
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No, he walked away. Why?
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Because he loved money, he couldn't imagine giving what he
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was able to acquire over those short young years of his life.
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He became so successful so soon. And here's this Jesus now asking
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me to surrender this oh, there's going to be so many people.
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Unlike the Queen of Sheba, who is willing to not just get up
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from her throne to meet King Solomon, but come with caravans
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of gold and spices to lay before this king and say, tell me what
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you know about the Lord. Consider the position that she
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had. She was a queen.
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You know why some people don't want to hear God's word
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consistently come to the House of God?
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Because they're busy. You know why some people don't
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want to surrender their lives through Christ?
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Because they're young. How do I know this?
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I know this because I grew up in the church.
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And when I was in my late teens, I made a deal with God.
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Because I heard about God, I couldn't deny his existence.
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So I made somewhat of a deal with him.
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Lord, let me finish college. Let me get married.
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Let me get myself established and then I'll come to your house
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and I'll serve you And I'll. I'll do what you asked me to do.
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Isn't that cute? Making a deal with God.
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But we do that. We don't say it to God, we say
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it to ourselves. Let me figure things out.
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God is worthy of honor in all seasons, whether you have the
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money or not. Have the money whether you're
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prepared or not prepared. He's worthy to be worshiped
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today. I mean, that's the call of
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discipleship. You had so many of those people
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saying I'll follow you. Jesus saying follow me.
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And they try to come up with these deals.
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Let me just go bury my father. For let the dead bury the dead.
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Let the dead bury the dead. Now you have to follow.
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You heard it. Now come follow me now I'll take
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care of you. Watch.
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Watch how Supply all your needs. Watch how I'll be good to you.
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Watch how I'll bless you. Here's this queen.
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She heard the reports and she says, OK, we're going, we're
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going to Jerusalem, Which brings us to the notable point #2.
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The distance that she made, We read here in verse one, the
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Queen of Sheba. You heard earlier that this is
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modern day Yemen. Most scholars believe some
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debate and say that it's Ethiopia, but we're not going to
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get into the reasons why. There is strong evidence for
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Yemen. And then we we see that she's,
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she's willing to go, but we don't consider the great length.
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And what's so significant is that in Jesus and Matthew 1242,
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the thing that he highlights about the Queen of the South is
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that he used the words she came from the ends of the earth.
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So what moved the heart of Christ was what she was willing
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to do in terms of travel to sit before the wisdom of Solomon.
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It is believed that where she was from was 1500 miles.
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She didn't catch a flight, she didn't ride first class.
25:38
It was several grueling weeks, dangerous terrain, frequent
25:45
stops in order to just arrive, to have a face to face encounter
25:50
with this king. It was not an easy trip.
25:53
As much as she was a queen and she would have been assisted, it
25:56
was still very difficult. And Jesus again emphasizes that
25:59
point about this queen. She came from the ends of the
26:02
earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon.
26:06
And I wonder if this queen, because I was thinking about
26:10
this message and I thought, well, she's going to rise up at
26:12
judgment, what is she going to say?
26:15
That's what I was trying to imagine.
26:17
What is that queen going to say to this generation and even to
26:20
to all generations Because the principals live on.
26:23
What will she say? And I wonder if this is one of
26:26
the things that she'll say. When I heard about the reports
26:29
of Solomon, who is inferior to King Jesus, I was willing to go
26:34
pack up my bags, paws and everything else and make it an
26:37
absolute priority to meet with this king.
26:40
I was willing to go to distance. I was willing to endure the
26:42
desert nights, the desert heat, the robbers along the way,
26:48
potential assassination. I was willing to do all of that
26:51
just to hear the wisdom of Solomon.
26:53
And yet your God didn't ask you to go to heaven to speak to him.
26:57
He came to you, and you still didn't seek him.
27:03
I'm wondering, Lord, are you? Is that what she's going to say?
27:06
Your God left his throne. I left my throne.
27:10
Your God left his throne, and he came down to you.
27:14
He took on flesh born among men. He subjected himself to the
27:21
things that we know as humans except for sin.
27:26
And he walked among you, and he sat with you, and he ate with
27:30
you, and he delivered many of you, and he healed many of you.
27:33
And yet you still had this pompous, audacious attitude to
27:38
not humbly and with holy curiosity, ask of who Christ is,
27:42
but to accuse him and reject him, and to ignore him and to be
27:45
apathetic towards him. How?
27:47
How are you guys able to do it? Do you realize what I did for
27:49
Solomon? I wonder if she's going to say
27:53
something like that. And we see here that although
27:57
this generation will be indicted specifically because the
28:00
Incarnate Christ came, that principle still is true for a
28:05
post resurrected post ascended Jesus Christ.
28:08
Paul preach a very amazing sermon in Acts chapter 17 and he
28:11
gave an insight to these gentiles who had a had a shrine
28:16
for something called the unknown God.
28:18
They believed in so many gods and most of the gods that they
28:22
believed in were distant and indifferent and didn't care to
28:24
interfere with the affairs of man.
28:27
And Paul comes on the scene, and he presents the true God in that
28:30
sermon. And when he speaks to these
28:33
people, he presents a point that is so glorious even in light of
28:37
this. We're thinking of the distance
28:39
that she made. But I want to present to you the
28:41
distance that God that God made. Look at this in act 17.
28:45
You can turn there in your Bibles in verse 26 and 27.
28:48
Act 17 reads in verse 26. And he made from one man every
28:53
nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having
28:56
determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling
28:59
place. And not an exciting verse from
29:01
one man. He made the whole world, the
29:03
nations of every tribe and tongue of all mankind, to live
29:08
in all the face of the earth. And look at this he having
29:10
determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling
29:13
place. Where were you born?
29:15
Were you born here? Were you born in the Middle
29:17
East? Wherever you were born, God
29:18
determined that you would be born there.
29:20
Isn't that wonderful? I love to use this verse as well
29:23
to to comfort my soul, to know that God will determine where I
29:26
will be. You don't know where you're
29:30
going to live. You don't know what house you're
29:31
going to get. We were looking for a house for
29:32
the past year in this crazy market.
29:34
And I often would go to this risk.
29:35
Lord, you determine the boundaries of my dwelling place.
29:38
You're going to tell me where you're going to buy your
29:40
Providence. Leave me where I'm supposed to
29:41
be. But God, in creating the world,
29:44
creating the nation's, creating from one man, mankind.
29:48
What's the purpose of him creating to distance himself to
29:51
put it in motion and just watch. No.
29:54
We see here in verse 27 exactly what it is that he did it form
29:58
that they should seek God. That they should seek God in the
30:04
hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him.
30:08
Here's what I take out of this No matter where you were born,
30:10
no matter where you were raised, no matter what culture you're
30:13
from, no matter what ethnicity you were created for one
30:16
purpose, to know God. You were created to seek God, to
30:21
feel your way toward him and find him.
30:25
Which means in order for you to find God, you got to determine
30:28
to seek God, right? Feel their way toward him and
30:32
find him. And here's the one that, here's
30:34
the phrase that I want to point out to yet he is actually not
30:36
far from each one of us. No matter where you are in all
30:40
of the globe, God had made himself accessible matter where?
30:47
So where's the excuse? He's not far from each one of
30:50
us. So.
30:53
So God's not closer here than he is in your room or in your car.
30:58
He's everywhere. You can seek him at any place,
31:01
at any time because we are assured here that he's not an
31:03
unknown God. He's a God.
31:04
That's very noble, very noble. So, so this even adds more
31:11
seriousness to the reality of who God is.
31:14
You can't make excuses concerning discovering him and
31:17
realizing who he is in his realness and his love and his
31:22
personal care for you, because he's not far if you just but
31:25
seek him, he will make himself known.
31:26
How does he make himself? He'll make himself known to the
31:29
degree that he needs to make himself known to you for you to
31:31
realize that he could be known. It's wonderful.
31:36
And we see that this woman here, she's willing to seek after
31:40
Solomon, and when she seeks after Solomon, Christ is
31:46
greater. You know why?
31:48
You look at this verse in First Kings and you realize she didn't
31:50
get an invitation from Solomon? Did she?
31:55
Did a royal delegation come with a nice envelope on a gold
31:58
platter? Solomon is asking for you, oh
32:02
Queen of Sheba, to be his audience.
32:06
None of that. No invitation.
32:09
Not even no invitation. No guarantee that if she went
32:13
that she would be received by Solomon.
32:15
This is just all speculation. This is just a hopeful desire,
32:19
OK? Crisis greater than Solomon.
32:21
You know why? Think about all the invitations
32:23
you have from him. Not only all the invitations.
32:27
Think about all the guarantees and all the promises that he
32:30
gives when you do come to him. What are you saying?
32:34
That brilliant sermon? And John, Chapter 6, verse 37.
32:37
All that the Father gives me will come to me.
32:39
And whoever comes to me, I will never cast out.
32:43
I will never cast out. So you come to him.
32:47
You should. You know I've met many people
32:49
who feel this way. I can't come to him.
32:50
I don't know if he'll receive me.
32:51
Well, here's the word from Christ himself.
32:53
I will never cast out. I'll never push you away.
32:55
I'll never reject you. I'll never deny you.
32:57
When you humbly come before me and inquire of me.
33:01
I will never cast out. Queen Sheba didn't have that
33:04
assurance. Queen Sheba didn't have that
33:06
guarantee. She was going with blind faith.
33:10
Really. She was willing to do all of
33:12
that for someone who did not even extend the hand to her.
33:15
And yet, here's Christ, who didn't just make the distance
33:17
very short, but he guarantees you if you just make that small
33:20
step of faith. I'm ready for you.
33:22
I'm right here for you. I will receive you.
33:25
And not only will I receive you, I will change you and transform
33:29
you. And you'll never leave the same.
33:31
I'll never cast you out. This is the distance that she
33:34
was willing to make. I'm sure that this will be a
33:36
part of the reason why she will indict this generation.
33:40
You know what's so fascinating about Queen Sheba?
33:41
We read it in verse two, right? She came to Jerusalem with with
33:45
camels bearing spices, very much gold and precious stones.
33:48
She felt that it was absolutely necessary that if she was to
33:52
have an audience with Solomon, that she could not come empty
33:54
handed. That she had to bring these
33:56
precious treasures and jewels and things that were unique to
33:59
her country to to maybe persuade him to please him.
34:04
Maybe just merely out of respect, does your God ask you
34:07
to bring things to him when you come to him?
34:11
He does. He actually does.
34:13
You know what it is. Not gold, not spices, not
34:16
jewels, not your righteousness, your burdens.
34:20
That's why he's greater than Solomon.
34:22
He asked you to come to him, and he asked you to come with all
34:24
your sins, to lay at his feet with all your worries, cast all
34:28
your anxieties, and for he cares for you.
34:33
Solomon, naturally, speaking from a political standpoint, it
34:36
was. It was.
34:37
It was protocol for you. Bring these things.
34:39
King Jesus is different. If he wants you to bring
34:42
anything, it's not your perfect record.
34:45
It's not the best year you had in terms of your holiness.
34:49
It's your brokenness. So think about how he's greater.
34:53
The distance has been made very short.
34:54
What's the distance between you and the living God, The King of
34:57
Kings? Faith.
34:59
Faith. The assurance that he'll never
35:01
cast you out. She did not receive such
35:03
assurance. And she came with a caravan of
35:07
treasures. You come with the load of your
35:10
sin. Is he not greater?
35:13
He is far greater. The distance that she made to
35:16
meet with Solomon will be something.
35:19
But consider the king that she sought, the king that she
35:22
sought. When the Lord said that the
35:24
Queen of Sheba, the queen of the South, went from the ends of the
35:27
earth, we're told for why? Reason.
35:29
The reason, the objection, the objective rather to hear the
35:33
wisdom of Solomon, to hear what this man had to say.
35:39
Jesus highlights this because when she comes to meet with
35:43
Solomon, we get her response. You read in verse 5, but let's
35:46
go back to First Kings 10 in verse 6.
35:48
And she said to the king, the report was true, that I heard in
35:53
my own land of your words and of your wisdom, but I did not
35:57
believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it.
36:02
I love these words. These are one of my favorite
36:04
words from this whole story. And behold, the half was not
36:07
told me. The half was not told me.
36:10
Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report that I heard
36:16
surpasses what I heard. I heard so much about you, but
36:21
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
36:28
himself, and what Spurgeon has to give concerning the person of
36:30
Christ falls very short of his brilliance and beauty.
36:35
You can hear so many testimonies from people, and those are
36:37
wonderful testimonies. They can move you.
36:38
But until you taste and see that the Lord is good for yourself,
36:43
there's something about you coming to that knowledge of him,
36:46
one-on-one that is so absolutely necessary.
36:51
And so, so many people are riding on the faith in the
36:53
reports merely of their parents, of their siblings, of their
36:56
pastor, and they're just taking their word for it.
37:00
What about your story? What's your what have you seen
37:04
concerning Christ? What?
37:05
What's your story? What's your testimony?
37:08
You yourself, Queen of Sheba. She had her own testimony.
37:13
She didn't. She was not satisfied relying on
37:16
the testimony of others. I need my own testimony here.
37:20
I want to know this for myself. And so she does.
37:24
And she's breathless. She's moved to the core.
37:28
And here's what's amazing. I love this, she says.
37:29
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
37:38
up in the church. They're saturated with reports,
37:41
Sunday school reports, youth meeting reports.
37:44
Then you go to the the main meeting reports and you hear the
37:47
sermons and reports of reports of reports about Jesus Christ,
37:51
and you're a skeptic. I've met people like that.
37:53
They come to conferences and they're skeptics.
37:57
They doubt they don't have true saving faith, and they even know
37:59
it themselves. You know, what's the difference
38:03
between you and Queen Sheba? Though the Queen of Sheba
38:05
questioned her unbelief. You're content in it.
38:09
There's a big difference. You're satisfied in your
38:12
skepticism. She wasn't because she knew I
38:15
could be wrong in my estimation here.
38:18
And I'm not willing to live my life thinking, what if I'm not
38:22
willing to do that? And so I'm going to do my own
38:24
homework, and I'm going to make an ambition of mine to see these
38:28
reports of true. If if they're not true, then I
38:30
was right all along. I had every reason not to
38:33
believe. But if they are true and I
38:36
didn't investigate, shame on me. I will not live with that
38:40
possibility. I will discover this for myself.
38:42
And when she went on that journey to discover it for
38:45
herself, she was never the same. She was never the same.
38:50
We know testimonies of famous authors and writers who have
38:52
done this. They go to the Bible to try to
38:53
disprove the resurrection and they have getting resurrected.
39:00
So when you come with that sincerity, that transparency,
39:02
that humility, and Christ sees your honest desire to know the
39:05
truth, you will be changed by the truth.
39:08
But but don't. But don't cross your arms and
39:10
look at God and say prove it to me.
39:11
That's that wasn't the attitude of the Queen of Sheba.
39:14
I will go, I will do what I need to do.
39:16
I will open this word. I will talk to people who say
39:19
that they have met and seen this greater than Solomon for
39:21
himself. I need to know this king.
39:23
I want to know if this is true. Is this psychological tricks?
39:27
Is this, is this the the effects of brainwashing?
39:29
Is this what happens when you grow up in a certain environment
39:32
that you're just subject to believe these things?
39:33
Because that's what you're just known for and that's what you
39:35
know. I need to know.
39:37
I need to know. And the queen will look at this
39:41
generation, say you did not do that.
39:44
You immediately had your guard up.
39:45
You Pharisees, you try to disprove Christ instead of
39:49
giving him the opportunity and listening carefully to see how
39:53
he is the Christ. And so you did not have the
39:56
humility that I had concerning King Solomon.
39:58
Here. You have a greater than Solomon
40:00
in your midst, and you blew it. I'm sure she'll say something
40:04
along those lines. She sought this King Solomon for
40:08
his wisdom. He did have wisdom.
40:09
It was a wisdom given from God. But Christ has greater wisdom.
40:13
Guess what Scripture says. Christ is the wisdom of God.
40:17
He didn't just have wisdom. He is wisdom.
40:21
Not only that, he is the wisdom for this life.
40:25
And he is the wisdom of God unto the most important thing of your
40:27
life, unto salvation. And he is the one who gave
40:32
Solomon the wisdom that he was able to exercise and implement
40:34
to begin with. This is Christ.
40:38
And she comes, and she asks these hard questions, and he
40:41
answers, and she's just blown away.
40:44
I would love to see her eyes every time she present this
40:47
Riddle or this concept or this philosophical thing, this
40:51
pretzel of thoughts. And here's Solomon just
40:53
effortlessly saying, yeah, because of this, yeah, because
40:56
of that. And just perhaps those one,
40:59
like, proverb like statements, one after the next.
41:01
And here's they're just getting just moved, just eyes opening
41:05
up. Wow.
41:08
You know, the thing about Jesus is that when you come to me and
41:10
you see His wisdom, when you see the wisdom of the cross, the
41:12
wisdom of the gospel, the wisdom of his sayings, the wisdom of
41:15
his parables, the wisdom and his dealings with people, it does
41:18
move you, does stir you. But Christ goes beyond that.
41:20
Christ is able to do something that Solomon could not give, and
41:22
here's what He can do. He not only moves you with his
41:25
wisdom, he not only displays the perfection of his wisdom, he's
41:28
willing to impart his wisdom into you.
41:32
He's willing to give you his wisdom.
41:35
Solomon couldn't do that. Yeah, you can learn from
41:37
Solomon, but the supernaturally impart the wisdom of God into
41:43
you. Only Christ can do that.
41:47
Here's an amazing verse. I mean, you can put this in your
41:50
mouth and just let it sit there for the rest of it and just
41:52
enjoy the sweetness of this one verse in First Corinthians 216.
41:55
Look what Paul says concerning this truth and 1st Corinthians
41:59
216 about what Christ can do. What Christ does do for the
42:02
believer when he does come to him.
42:05
For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct
42:09
him? But we have the mind of Christ.
42:12
We have the mind of Christ. Isn't that fascinating, You
42:16
believer? Yes, you have the mind of
42:19
Christ. What does that mean?
42:22
What does it mean to have the mind of Christ?
42:25
I think Paul gives another hint to what it does include.
42:28
Includes many things. Remember when he says in
42:31
Philippians 2/5 to 11 when he talks about Jesus condescending,
42:35
emptying himself, took on the form of a servant and that he
42:38
was willing to go to death, even death on the cross?
42:41
We love that verse, right? We love those verses.
42:43
It just shouts the humility of Jesus Christ.
42:46
But what he says in Philippians 2/5 to begin that awesome saying
42:52
is have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in
42:54
Christ Jesus, which is yours in Christ Jesus.
43:00
So what's Paul saying there? You know when Christ left his
43:02
glory and he subjected himself and he served God, and he was
43:06
willing to serve God, even to the point of an excruciating
43:09
death. All of that is to communicate
43:12
the great humility of Christ. And he says that humility that
43:15
Jesus had is not just something you and I worship and adore and
43:20
love about Christ. He says it's to be imitated.
43:22
And you can think the way Jesus thought because you can have
43:25
this mind in yourselves to have the mind of Christ.
43:30
That includes having the humility of Christ, the
43:33
dedication and the devotion to serve the Father.
43:36
They're willing to be humiliated for his name's sake.
43:39
This is what is included having the mind of Christ.
43:42
You can do a whole conference on the mind of Christ, right?
43:45
The mind of Christ. So when she came to King
43:48
Solomon, she was able to be impressed by the mind of
43:51
Solomon. When you come to King Jesus,
43:53
he's able to take his mind and put it into your mind.
43:56
Wow. He is greater indeed.
44:01
I went to King Solomon, and I was impressed by him.
44:03
You have a king who's willing to share his power, and you didn't
44:07
go to him. He's willing to impart his
44:10
virtue to you. He's able to empower you to
44:14
reflect his moral majesty. And you didn't go to him.
44:18
How you're not moved to seek him.
44:22
How you're not moved to depend on how.
44:24
How are you guys able to? I just.
44:26
I'm wondering if we're going to see the Queen of Sheba speak on
44:28
that day. She just said she's going to be
44:31
there, the king that she sought. Lastly, the reward that she
44:38
received, the reward that. So you read an inverse too.
44:41
She came with this, this great banquet of lovely things, right?
44:46
But then you come here at the end of her story in verse 13 of
44:49
chapter 10, and look what Solomon does for her.
44:55
And King Solomon gave to the Queen of Sheba all that she
44:58
desired, whatever she asked, besides what was given her by
45:03
the bounty of King Solomon. So she turned and went back to
45:07
her own land with her servants. So she came impressed to give to
45:13
Solomon, and rightfully so. And when Solomon, at the end of
45:16
their encounter, was ready to send her off when we she was
45:19
ready to return, he not only gave her something in return, he
45:22
gave her more than what she gave.
45:23
And when we talked about people coming to Christ, we often say
45:27
surrender your life, empty yourself, give it all to him.
45:31
That's all true. But don't have the impression
45:34
that when you come to Christ, you give your things up and then
45:37
you leave empty. That's a wrong view of
45:39
surrendering to Christ. You give those things up so that
45:41
he can give you better and give you His will and give you that
45:45
what your heart truly needs and longs for.
45:49
And no matter what sacrifice you do make for Christ, you are
45:53
always going to leave more rewarded and more blessed than
45:55
if you had just held on to your life.
45:58
Here's this woman that she goes the great distance.
46:00
She gives all these things up. In essence, she empties her bank
46:03
account a little bit more than she could have.
46:06
She could have kept those things.
46:07
She could have kept and saved her energy.
46:08
She could have just been in her own little world.
46:10
But instead she goes, and Solomon says, I recognize what
46:12
you did. Here's more, here's more.
46:17
And Jesus said similar words that whoever leaves land,
46:20
whoever leaves family, mother, father, husband, wife, for my
46:24
sake. And the gospel sakes will
46:25
receive 100 times more in this life and in the life to come.
46:29
It's amazing when somebody has to leave their family.
46:33
This is, this is so true for so many Muslims.
46:36
They they are disowned by their family, they lose their mother,
46:40
they lose their father. But what do they get?
46:42
They get 10,000 mothers in the church, they get thousands of
46:47
siblings. Isn't it not true that if your
46:51
family is not in the faith, you feel closer to Christians in
46:53
your own family because there's something deeper than blood.
46:56
It's called spirit. So Christ's words are true.
47:00
They are true. How He takes care of you, He He
47:03
does not overlook the sacrifice that you make.
47:05
Though we are not worthy of to receive anything, He is worthy
47:09
of our sacrifice with no return. And yet the goodness of this
47:13
king is I want to reward you still.
47:16
It just blows my mind every single time.
47:18
Here's the thing. So you get safe.
47:20
He unveils and unpacks the gifts that he has for you in the
47:23
Spirit to serve him, and they are energized by him.
47:27
They are empowered by him. He receives all the glory for
47:30
them. And then at the end of the day,
47:31
he's going to crown you for things that He gave you needed
47:33
through you. I think we're all going to be
47:38
broken on the Judgment day when we stand before the beam, a seed
47:41
of Christ, I think. I think we're going to be so
47:43
overwhelmed, not just by his beauty, His Holiness, but by the
47:46
humility, even as he is exalted today, we're going to be blown
47:49
away. Like, what is this?
47:53
We are to crown you. And here he is crowning our
47:56
brows. And then I realized why that's
48:01
important. I had somebody once say to me,
48:02
what if I just want to serve the I don't want any crowns.
48:04
I don't. I'm like, I don't know if you
48:05
want to say that. I just want to get in.
48:08
I just want to. I just want to serve.
48:09
I don't want anything. I'm like, guys that sounds
48:10
humble and I get it. I'm not trying to criticize you,
48:12
but you realize what the one purpose of crowns are in heaven.
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Who knows to lay them at his feet.
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So my whole perspective on that change saying, Lord, crown me
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with as many crowns as you can so that I have something worthy
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to bring to your feet when I worship you.
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The reward that she received, King Solomon bountifully blessed
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her. But King Solomon wasn't
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consistent with his rewards. He wasn't in some cases like
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this. It's very moving to see him
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willing to do this, especially for a king, especially for
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somebody who was sought after. But King Solomon didn't always
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do the best, and we we had it at the Bible quiz.
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We had one of the questions, and I want you to see it.
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It's in the chapter before this in in First Kings nine and First
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Kings Nine. You read something about King
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Hiram and this king here. He helps Solomon build the
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temple of the Lord and he helps Solomon build his own house.
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So let's do review. How long did it take to build
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the temple of the Lord? I heard like 6 different
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answers. What happened?
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Seven years? Yes.
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Seven years to build the temple of the Lord.
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How many years did it take to build his own house?
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13 years. Very good.
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Make this a debate in your time at lunch, do you think it was a
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bad thing or a good thing that Solomon took more time to build
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his house than God's house? And here's another thing to add
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to the debate. Which house did he build first?
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OK, so you have to go in your Bibles and figure that out and
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then debate it out. Which house did he build 1st?
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And that might make it a little bit more of a complicated
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argument and debate. But for the sake here of this
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point, Solomon partners with the king of tire and he was supplied
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with the with the timber from up north and the Cypress trees from
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Lebanon. And he was able to build the
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House of the Lord. And so now after 20 years, he
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longs to reward his friend, his partner in this great endeavor.
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And we're told what is one of the things that he was able to
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give to Hiram here in verse 10 at First Kings Chapter 9.
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Are you there with me? We see here that at the end of
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20 years in which Solomon had built the two houses, the House
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of the Lord and the King's house.
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And Hiram, king of tire, had supplied Solomon with cedar and
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Cypress, timber and gold as much as he desired.
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King Solomon gave to Hiram 20 cities in the land of Galilee.
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Now pause there. 20 cities. Sounds pretty good, right?
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You give me one city, that's a big deal. 20 cities.
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Side note, as much as this is a noble thing for Solomon to do,
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was it the right thing to do? Can I tell you why it's not the
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right thing to do? Because you're not supposed to
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give what the Lord gave you in the promised land to Gentiles.
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That's, that's for the people of God.
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So giving parts of the inheritance of the Lord to other
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outsiders, that's not a that's not a good move.
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Solomon, just a side note. So he gives 20 cities from the
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land of Galilee. He would think, wow, 20 cities.
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So Hiram, here's our friend Solomon has rewarded us with 20
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cities. And so they make their way to
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this region, this neighborhood of 20 cities.
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And look at the response in verse 12.
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But when Hiram came from tire to see the cities that Psalm had
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given him, they did not please him.
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They did not please him. Therefore, he said, what kind of
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cities are these that you have given me, my brother.
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So they are called the land of Kabul.
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To this day, some believe the word Kabul means good for
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nothing, the land of good for nothing.
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So Sears Solomon's attempt to reward a man who was willing to
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give so much and willing to serve the purposes of God and
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building a house for God. And when it came to a time of
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being recompensed, he comes to these cities and he goes, this
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place is a dump. This is the best that you can
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do. And he just kind of jokingly
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writes it up. He's like, he's a king.
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He's like, this is good for nothing, right?
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He didn't cause issues with Solomon.
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He was just disappointed. When Jesus rewards you, you will
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not be disappointed when you surrender your life and choose
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to live for Him and partner for the purposes of His Kingdom
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being advanced in this life. If you truly serve him and walk
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with Him and understand how He works in your life, there won't
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be a day in your life where you say, what is this?
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You might be tempted to do so, but you'll always be wrong.
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And when you endure the trials and those seasons where you feel
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like what what, where am I, you will come through and you will
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see God's beauty and brilliance even more.
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And one thing is for certain, at the end of the road, when we do
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stand in glory. When we do stand in glory, I am
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confident that none of us will say what is this?
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But we will be breathless and amazed.
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And I'm sure we will be even more moved to say, oh, if I only
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sacrifice more, if I only dedicated my life more for the
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glory of God. I can't believe this is it.
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The half has not been told me all the reports, even the
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reports of the scripture as as divine, as infalible as they
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are. Scripture tells us we see
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through a glass dimly. There's a time where that glass
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will be made clear and clean and we will see all that it is and
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we will be moved. Do you think you'll be.
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You know you go to these places Niagara Falls, Grand Canyon.
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And I remember the first time I saw Niagara Falls.
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I'm Canadian. It took my breath away.
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But then you you, you take people there and after the 8th,
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10th time you're used to it, right.
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You walk up to it and and it it doesn't move you like it first
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did. And you know, you have some
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people who believe that that's what's heaven's going to be
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like. Like for the 1st 10 years you're
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going to be like, this is awesome.
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It's amazing. Wow.
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And then after year 150, you're going to get used to it.
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No, think about this. The glory in that place is so
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intense, so inexhaustible, that after a million years you will
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still be in awe as you were when you stepped foot on the shore of
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eternity. And after another million years
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go by, you will be even more amazed than the 1st 10,000 years
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you were there, basking in the absolute glory of Jesus Christ.
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You will be breathless for eternity, for eternity.
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I can't wait to go home. I can't wait to go home.
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I hope you will go home. I hope you will find your home
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in heaven. I hope that not one person in
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here will be on the guilty side when the Queen of Sheba stands
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up to speak. Your apathy and your
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indifference in seeking the greater than Solomon is
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inexcusable. He came to you.
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He'll never deny you. His rewards are beyond.
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He promised that you will know a piece.
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He promised that you will know a joy.
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The wealth of Christ is far greater than the wealth of
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Solomon. There's spiritual riches.
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And yeah, you were still willing to overlook all of that and
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choose to go your own way. I left my throne.
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Your God left his throne instead.
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May we be on that side where we can look Christ in the face and
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thank Him for saving us and showing us how awesome He is,
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even when we didn't see all that he is.
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Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for what
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you've spoken to us. Thank you that you use one woman
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in a chapter of First Kings to encourage us, convict us, warn
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us. And so Lord, we just pray that
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if anyone feels these obstacles towards Jesus, may the Queen of
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Sheba stand as a testimony that no matter how great you are, no
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matter what greatness you were trying to achieve in this world,
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they are not an excuse to come to Jesus and realize his
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greatness and be changed by that greatness.
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Thank you, Lord, that we can come to you and not just behold
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your wisdom, but receive your wisdom.
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Wisdom to be saved, wisdom to live as of the saved.
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And so, Lord, we want to leave here in awe of you this
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afternoon and give you glory. Thank you that you are greater.
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Thank you Lord, that you have opened our eyes so that we would
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not be faced with the judgment of this Queen who will speak up
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with boldness against those who have failed to see the glamour
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and the splendor of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Rescue us from such a crime and keep us in all of you in Jesus
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name. Amen.
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Amen.