Two Buildings, Two destinies

 

COLERAINE EVANGELICAL CHURCH

SERMON NOTES SUNDAY 8 JUNE 2026 – PASTOR HENRY CASKEY

Matthew chapter 7 verses 24 to 29

Matthew's gospel chapters 5, 6 and 7 are commonly known as the Sermon on the Mount. It tells us in in chapter 5 verse one “and seeing the multitudes he went up onto the mountain and when he was set his disciples came onto him.” Now these would be the multitude no doubt that were following on from chapter 4 of Matthew's gospel. You'll read there in chapter 4 at the end of it about the multitudes following after the Lord. They came because they wanted their loved ones healed. They came to hear him. They had witnessed his miracles and now they come to listen to him, to preach, and to teach. In verse one of chapter 5, it says, "And when he was set.”  In other words, he was just as in that particular occasion like the rabbis of old, they would sit down to teach the word of God. The Lord Jesus Christ went up onto the hill and he began to teach the word of God. The people had gathered and Jesus wanted to reach and teach them. He was going to teach them things that would bring a stability in their life. He was going to speak about building on the right foundation. In 1 Corinthians chapter 3, the Apostle Paul, that great preacher of the New Testament scriptures likened himself to a master builder. “The master builder lays a good foundation. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Then the Lord Jesus Christ finishes up his teachings. He brings it all to a closure just with this little portion of scripture from verse 24 on. It starts with the word "Therefore”. He stops them in their tracks. They've been listening so well. “Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine.”

The desire to hear. The Lord picks out two men. He points who are setting out to build their houses. Now the reality is the meaning is spiritually deeper than that. He's only taking this illustration of them building their houses, but he wants to point men and women to the stability of building a life upon the Lord Jesus Christ. It's important tonight that our lives are built upon him. The importance of a good foundation. If the house is set upon a good foundation, it will end well. There's no question about it. When time is taken and patience is taken just to get that right foundation the house shall finish well. If your life is built on the foundation of Christ, thank God you'll end well. Why? Whenever you came and you put your trust and your faith in the Lord Jesus, Christ when you came to that the foot of that old rugged cross and you realized that you had sinned, you realized that you came short of the glory of God and you realized that this man, this one hanging upon the middle cross was the one that God sent to be the sacrifice for your sin and for mine. Whenever you realized you had sinned and this is your Saviour and you took him and you built your life upon him, you are building for eternity. Whenever it comes to that time when you close your eyes and death it will be absent from the body and present even with the Lord. It's a wonderful, wonderful confidence to have. The apostle Paul tell us that “faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God?” Do you remember how the people were drawn to the master and his word? Do you remember how those soldiers that were sent out to arrest the Lord Jesus Christ and they came back to the Pharisees. The Pharisees asked them why they hadn’t brought him. They said, "No man spake like this man spake." So you can imagine this multitude sitting around the the hillside on that particular day. They are just sitting wrapped in every word that the Lord Jesus Christ speaks. Then he says, "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine.” He is going to get to the crux of the matter. In Mark chapter 2 in Capernaum, you remember the Lord Jesus Christ came to that little village and there he went into a little house and he wasn't that long in the house until the news got around. The crowds were gathered so thick that particular day that he barely had room to preach the word of God. Do you remember Lydia in Acts chapter 16? My what an example that girl was. She was in Philippi. She was a seller of purple. She set up her stall in Philippi and she was selling her wares but then came the Sabbath day. She folded all up that day because there was a little meeting that was taking place just outside Philippi. It was just down beside the riverside. The word of God was going forth and she had a desire to go and hear the word of God. She wasn't even saved but she had a desire for the things of God. She had a desire for the word of God. She went down to the riverside and as she listened to the word of God, it says God opened her heart. When the apostle Paul opened up the word of God, when he began to preach the word of God, God began to move in a mighty way. Here were two men and Jesus pointed to him. They had a desire to hear the word of God. Do you remember Nicodemus in John's gospel chapter 3? He was a a Pharisee, a leader of the Jewish people. He was a man who would have read and studied the word of God. He was a man who would have preached the word of God. A man who prayed, a man who led the worship in the synagogue. And there he was sitting one evening in his own home. He would have been a very wealthy man, a very rich man. There was more things going through his mind that evening. He was pondering this name of Jesus. He had been hearing about the things that were happening in the community, how he had preached and how he had healed. Maybe he thought it was time that he should be hearing this man for himself. He made his way through the streets of Jerusalem to where the Lord Jesus Christ was. And there he began to ask him questions. He said, "Rabbi we know that thou art a teacher come from God for no man can do these miracles except God be with him.” Then the Lord Jesus Christ started to speak to him. There was a desire in his heart to go and hear what the Lord Jesus Christ had to say. Do you have a desire for the word of God? Jesus said one man went out and he did what he was supposed to do. He applied the word of God to his life. He's like a man who built his house upon the rock. Everything was good. But then the other man listened to the words of God and he went out and he just set them aside. His life was a disaster. Maybe you have heard so much about the Lord Jesus Christ. You've heard so much preaching about him. You've heard how he left the splendours of heaven. How he left the praise of angels, and he stepped forth into this old world. He was born of the Virgin Mary, and there he suffered at the hands of the religious leaders. There he bled, and suffered, and he died upon that old rugged cross. Maybe you know all that. You have heard it time and time again. There's a desire in your heart this evening. Why? Whenever we come to sit in the word of God and we turn there to Genesis chapter 3 and we see the creation of God and we see a stamp upon the whole creation. He says everything he made, he says it was very good. Then we come to Isaiah chapter 53. We see the suffering servant. The Lord Jesus Christ suffering and bleeding and dying for a lost mankind. Maybe it is time just to stop at that stage and to ponder through it and to read it. Just like the Ethiopian eunuch as he travelled up from Jerusalem. He was sitting with the word of God open. He was pondering through the word of God. He was taking time. He was taking patience to go through the word of God. He had a desire for it and God showed him his great need of salvation and Philip had the joy of stepping up into that carriage and pointing him to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Notice now Jesus changes to something of the directions that he's given here. Jesus is speaking now about hearing and doing. It is one thing to hear the word of God, but then we've got to apply the word of God, and we've got to do the word of God. One man hears, but he does nothing about what he hears. It just falls upon deaf ears. He hears the teachings of God but he just simply turns his back and he walks away. James says that is like a man who beholds his natural face in a glass. He takes a look at himself in the mirror and he sees what alterations needs to be made to his appearance before he goes out, but he doesn't do anything about it." This is a man looking into the word of God. He sees himself in the mirror of God's word. He sees that he's a sinner. He sees that he needs to come to Christ. He sees that he needs forgiveness of sins, that he's needs to be reconciled to God because at that moment in time he's separated from God. To die in that state will mean he will be separated for all eternity. He sees that in the word of God. He hears it from the teachings of God, but he just turns his back and he walks away. Jesus likens such a man to a foolish man. He paints that wonderful, wonderful picture of this man going out to build his house, but neglects to seek out the best foundation. That's what the Lord brings it down to. He says, "That man that hears my word and doesn't do it, he's like a man that goes out to build a house and he wants to get that house up as quickly as he can and so he just builds upon the sand. It's going to come to ruin." We need to follow the directions. Did you ever set out to build something that's bought as a flat pack? Well, it is a great trial. You will open up the box and there's about a hundred sections and about 10,000 screws and nuts and bolts and all these directions. A fits ito B and C then goes into D and all this sort of thing. You know, it's all very well to see it sitting on the floor but if you hadn't the directions, even with the directions, it's quite difficult. If you hadn't those directions, you could get nowhere. Do you remember Thomas? He asked the Lord "We don't know where you're going. How do we know the way?” And Jesus looked at him. He said "Thomas, I am the way, the truth and the life no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." If we miss the Lord Jesus Christ tonight, if we miss the cross of Calvary tonight, we will miss a presence with God throughout the ages of eternity. That's how serious it is tonight. Multitudes tonight, good, well-meaning people are trying to find heaven their own way. They have their ministers who tell them, "You're okay." There'll be ministers today who stand behind the sacred desk and they'll tell their congregations, "You're okay. You just do the best you can. You come to your church, you take your communion, and you have nothing to worry about." And sadly, souls are being lost even as we speak tonight with such teachings. You see, there's directions tonight. Do you remember in Acts chapter 16? Do you remember that man that we read about there - the Philippian jailer? Do you remember how he Paul and Silas was put in his charge. He put them in stocks and closed the cell door. He fell soundly asleep. He had no conscience whatsoever. Didn't worry about it. These were two children of God. He maybe heard them preach in the street. He maybe heard about Lydia getting saved. He maybe heard about the little damsel that was demon possessed and how she was delivered and now she lived a different life. He maybe knew all that, but he put his head on the pillow and he went to sleep. And then you remember how that evening, his whole life began to fall apart at midnight. He ran into where Paul and Silas were, he got down before them and said "Sirs what must I do to be saved?" Remember the direction that the apostle Paul gave him. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." It is believing in him tonight. It's not believing in a church. It's not believing on a communion table. It's not believing in the best things that we can do. It's believing in him tonight. Your salvation is in a person. That person is the Lord Jesus Christ suffering and dying on the middle cross just for you. Whenever the Lord Jesus Christ died upon that cross, he was dying alone. He was dying to atone for your sin and for my sin.  

Then I want you to see something about the difficulties that appear. The Lord Jesus Christ says, "Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine." How important hearing these sayings are. Then he isolates these two men. He says, "I want to give you an example of hearing my word." He says they are like two men going out just to build two houses. It's as simple as that. He says one man hears and he goes out and he does what I tell him and he builds his house. He builds on a good foundation and things are safe. The other man goes out, he neglects and his life's a disaster. Notice the difficulties that appear. The one man goes out and he digs down deep onto the solid rock and he brings his stones and his bricks and he begins to build. The other man, he didn't go to all that bother. He just went over across to a sandy place and he began to build upon the sand. I am sure for those two houses, one was just as good as the other. Maybe the same contours, maybe the same doors, maybe the same windows, maybe the same shape, maybe the same size. Everything was okay at that stage. But then we see the difficulties came. Verse 27 "The rain descended, and whenever the rain descended, the little streams began to fill up. And when the little streams began to fill up, the rivers began to fill up. And when the rivers began to fill up, there was an overflow. And my, they just come in around those two houses. And the winds were blowing at their strongest. And the house that was built upon the sand, it just fell flat. And great was the fall off it. I'm sure that man was very disappointed. For the man or for the woman not trusting in Jesus Christ for salvation, the message is so very, very simple. When life is okay, you're okay. But when things turn aside, I'll tell you, it's so difficult. It's so difficult. Whenever sickness comes, maybe whenever unemployment comes, maybe whenever family divisions come, or maybe when the waves of death begin to flood over your soul, that's a time of trial. What will you do then? If you haven't built upon this sure foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll be lost and lost for all eternity.

I read the story of a an atheist recently. The man had no time for God whatsoever and often denied God at every opportunity. He was a fairly outspoken man, quick to condemn Christianity but he was on his deathbed and his friends had gathered around him. As he lay there he began to get very agitated. His friends were trying to encourage him. They laid their hands upon him and said "John, hold on. Hold on, John." The man lying upon the bed, he looked up into the face of his friends and he said, "Hold on to what?" You see, he had nothing at the end. 

When those difficult times come, we need that sure foundation.

There is the destruction that falls. This man can only now stand and watch his house fall apart. He is helpless. He can do nothing. He didn't build upon the foundation and now the house is beginning to fall around about him. It is crumbling around about him and he steps to watch it falling. There is nothing that he can do about it. He can't retrace his steps. Jesus says, "That's the man  who has heard my word. That's the man who knew what he should have done. That's the man that turned his back and walked away and his life has fallen apart. This is the picture of a man's life without Christ. coming to that last moment, that last breath. His life is in ruins and past, and a lost and Christless hell looms out before him. The last great enemy to be fought is the enemy of death and it overtakes us. And now we must go all the way of the earth. That's what the Lord is getting at here. That is what the Lord's speaking about tonight. Sadly, you remember in the Old Testament scriptures that young man Achan for whom destruction came. It was the battle of Jericho, the first battle as they entered into the promised land. God took Joshua to the one side and he told him that Jericho is going to be his victory. He gave him the pattern of how these walls of Jericho would fall. He told them about walking around it every day for six days. On the seventh day the walls fell down flat. But God told Joshua “this is my victory and the spoils of this victory are mine and you're not to be taking any of the spoils.” I'm sure Joshua rehearsed that time and time again to his army. One of the soldiers was a young man called Achan. No doubt he listened to what God had to say. When they went into Jericho and the walls fell flat, you remember what Achan did? He saw the silver and the gold. He saw the Babylonian garment that was so beautiful and why he could not just lift his eyes off it. He could not get away from the fact that it was there ready for the taking. He knew God's word. God's word says the spoil is mine. But that young man, he gathered all up and he took them and hid them in his tent. But you remember the destruction that came to him and to his family because of that one act and the destruction that came to the whole nation because in the very next battle, they were defeated. That's what sin does. That's what the disobedience to God's word does. Jesus says, "The man that goes out and doesn't do my way, he hears my sayings, but he doesn't follow them through. He doesn't apply to his heart. He says he's a foolish man.” Paul could say in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 12 that at that time he was speaking to those Ephesian believers, but he was taking them back to a time when they weren't saved. "At that time, ye were without Christ and ye were without God and you had no hope." What an awful state. Can I take you back to that moment before you were saved? That you were without God and eternity was looming. You had no hope. What a terrible state to be in. On the cross of Calvary, he atoned. He reconciled you back to his God but you've got to claim it. You've got to come now and claim that atonement even for yourself. Will you be like the foolish man? You will forget about them and you will build your house as it were on the sand and one day it'll collapse around you. Or will you be like that wise man tonight and build upon the solid rock?

There was a young man during the awakening of the 59 revival. He came under the hand of conviction. Neighbours of his were getting saved. Men and women were getting saved around about him and he come under conviction. He had been to a few of the meetings and God had really spoken to him. He was a young man, a young farmer, but he had his eye on a bigger farm. His uncle had promised him that when he would pass away, the farm would be his. But the young man had come under conviction at the preaching of the gospel of saving grace. And he showed signs of getting saved. And one night the old uncle came to him and he he says, "Now listen," he says, "If you get saved, you can say goodbye to the farm. The farm's not yours." because he said, "I will not have that in my family." He says, "I don't want you to get saved." He said "The farm will go. It will go to someone else." So the young man couldn't get past that. It was a stumbling block. And so he chose the farm. Many years later, that man, a much elderly man was lying on a deathbed. A young pastor went to see him. He started to speak to him about the things of God. Asked him if he was saved. The man now lying on his bed, said "No. I made a bad bargain in the 59 revival." He had missed his opportunity.

Don't miss your opportunity of salvation. Don't miss it. Come to Christ when you have the opportunity and trust him as your Saviour and trust him as your Lord.

 

The Faith of the Centurion

COLERAINE EVANGELICAL CHURCH

SERMON NOTES SUNDAY 7 JUNE 2026 - PASTOR HENRY CASKEY

MATTHEW 8 VERSES 5 TO 13 

In this portion of scripture we see a man coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's a Roman centurion and whenever you go through the scriptures you'll find that there was seven centurions that came to the Lord and each one of them had that mark of respectability about them. This centurion finds himself in a situation that he can do absolutely nothing about. And in seeing this situation, he wants to bring it to the Lord Jesus Christ. This man has a servant and he's lying at home. This servant has no doubt been very faithful to him. He was not only a servant, but he must have been a great friend as well. This centurion looks at him every so often. He maybe passes by his room every day. He maybe calls in to see him two or three times a day. And he's in such pain. He's grievously tormented. He's got palsy and there's nothing that he can do for him. No doubt he's tried every physician for him. He's tried every person that he could think of, but none could help him. Then he turns to the Lord Jesus Christ. The heading just over this passage in my Bible this morning says “the faith of a centurion.” In Hebrews 11 verse 6 we read “but without faith it is impossible to please God.” This man’s coming is very pleasing to the Lord Jesus Christ himself. “For he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that will diligently search and seek for him.” This man is not named in scripture and nothing more is said about him after these verses. We only have a picture of him standing before the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a lonely picture. This man’s heart is burdened down because he has this servant that he can do nothing for. He comes and finds the Lord Jesus Christ. He is looking into the face of the Lord and he's pleading with him. Sometimes it can be like that for us. We have a burden, we have a difficulty, we have got a pain and we are taking it to the Lord Jesus Christ and there's not another person knows about it. You find yourself sitting before the Lord, you are praying and you're pleading. In Hebrews chapter 11, there's a catalogue of mighty men and women and their great exploits of faith. But you know this morning, we don't want to compare our faith with theirs this morning. We have to be very very careful about that because if we did that, we might maybe fall far short as we fail. Instead, we want to look at the faith here that this man comes with just for a moment or two because don't forget what the Lord said about this man "I have not seen so great a faith. No, Not in all Israel." I want you to take encouragement from this man.

I want you to notice first of all the exercise of his faith. His faith was rooted in the Lord Jesus Christ. For this man, his surroundings affected him. He knew there was nothing he could do for himself. There was nobody who could help him so he takes it to the Lord Jesus Christ. This man comes with the burden of this slave upon his shoulders to the Lord Jesus Christ. The vision that he has affected him. Are we affected by what is around us? Are we affected by those in our family circles, those under our roof? Are we affected about those maybe in the estates around about us? Maybe in the neighbourhood where we live. We see them out and about this morning and they are doing all sorts of things. Church is the last thing on their mind. Are we affected by that? Perhaps you are saying "Well, there's nothing I can do about it." Do we have a vision to reach them? This man went to the Lord Jesus Christ. He realized Jesus was able to heal his servant. He wouldn't have gone if he didn't believe that. It's important to have the assurance of faith. To know that we are safe in the arms of Jesus. Quite often perhaps at a funeral we hear the words “he came to faith” or maybe  "Well, you know, he or she had a great faith." You can have a great faith in anything. Some today are depending upon their church. Is that where your faith is? You attend your church and you never miss it. You are there on a Sunday morning and you are around the Lord's table if need be as well and you pay into that church and the minister visits you every six weeks or every six months or whatever the case may be and you feel that's enough and that one day you'll be at heaven and home. That is a falsehood. There is no dogma in the church that will give you access into God's presence. It is good to know where our faith is. Our faith this morning is not in a creed. It is not in a church building. It's not in a clergy man. Our faith this morning is in the Lord Jesus Christ and the finished work of Calvary. Whenever he came into this world, he came in with a purpose on his mind and on his heart. He came to fulfil his father's will - that each and every one of us might be saved. And he died on the cross of Calvary just to give that opportunity for men and women to be saved. He loved them with an everlasting love and he still reaches out to this very day. He says, "Him that cometh to me says I will in no wise cast out." Some today will make their way up the aisle and they will bow at the altar rail and they will seek the Lord Jesus Christ and they have that promise upon them. Many have their faith today in a clergyman or pastor today. And maybe they are waiting on a little word said over them at the open grave and they feel that's all they need. This centurion left his home on this particular occasion. He had his eyes and his heart and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. No doubt he had heard much about the Lord. He must have heard about his great miracles, how he gives sight back to the blind, healed the sick and gave life back to those who were dead. He realized all this and he looked into the face of his servant and told him, "If I could find the Lord Jesus Christ you would be healed.” He was the only one who could help him and he believed it. That's the most important thing. He knew that if he got to the Lord, he would see his prayers answered. Never lose sight of the vision of what God can do and never lose sight of being in front of him with prayer. This man believed in what God could do. 

Someone told the story about George Witfield preaching in the open air one day when a man was seen running to hear him. But the man was an atheist. Another man was coming up the street who knew he was an atheist. He said to him, “Where are you running to?" The man replied "I'm running down to hear Whitfield." The man thought this was strange because he knew he's a an atheist so he said to him, "But you don't believe what Whitfield believes." “No but he does."

This man had a servant who was sick. There was nothing that he could do. This man had tried every doctor he possibly could get. But now we see him at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says he is beseeching him. He's pleading with him. He is exercising his faith in Christ and takes this problem to him. We have the same access to God as this man had. Whenever we come to him, he has promised to answer prayer. Remember Jairus - how he exercised his faith as well. He had a daughter of 12 years of age and she was sick. She was at the very point of death and he exercised his faith because he went out through the front door one morning to find the Lord Jesus Christ. He got down before him and pleaded with him. He said, "Lord my little daughter is sick, would you come and heal her?" He exercised his faith. Are we exercising our faith in the Lord Jesus? Do you remember the man with a demon possessed son? Day after day, week after week, month after month, the demon spirit took hold of him. If he went down to the river the demon would have cast him in. In his own home the demon would have thrown him into the fire just to destroy him. There is nothing that man could do. He took him to the Lord asking for his help.  Maybe we need to get back to that stage again where we are pleading and praying and expecting God to move in a mighty way again just amongst our family, just amongst our loved ones. The exercise of this man's faith. He simply went to the Lord Jesus Christ.

But I want you to see his expression of his faith. He opens up his heart. Notice his honesty and humility. Verse number six "My servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented." This man is expecting something great from the Lord. William Carey said “We should attempt great things for God and that we should expect great things from God.” Do we expect those things? Do we expect God to really move? Are we attempting those great things again for God? He's pleading here. He says, "Lord my servant." He's really spelling it out for the Lord. He goes on “he's lying at home, sick of the palsy, gravely tormented.” He is pouring out his real soul to the Lord. Isn't that what prayer is really? It's really pouring out our soul, isn't it? Isn't that what Hannah was accused of whenever she prayed for a child? She went up into the temple and she prayed and pleaded with the Lord. Old Eli was there and he thought she was drunk. She told him she wasn’t but that she was pouring out her soul to the Lord. This centurion comes and he says, "Lord, you know that I'm helpless. You know that I can do nothing about it.” The Lord says, "I'll come and I'll heal him. Jesus at this point was prepared to enter into a Gentile home. That was something unheard of in the Jewish community. A Jew would never have went into a Gentile home in any shape, form or fashion. But the Lord was prepared to do it. Maybe this centurion knew that because notice his expression of faith in verse eight. The centurion knew perhaps that this was going to put the Lord under a great deal of pressure to come into his home. “I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof, but speak the word only and my servant shall be healed.” He knew he had soldiers who he could say "Go," and he went and to another he could say "Come," and he came. When Jesus heard it, he marvelled and said to them that followed. “Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no not in all Israel.” This man knew the authority that Jesus had. He knew Jesus can do something special here. He said to Jesus "All you have to do is speak the word. You don't have to come under my roof. You don't have to come in and see my servant." Wasn't that a tremendous expression of faith from a Gentile man coming to the Lord Jesus Christ? The apostle Paul put it this way. “Now unto him that was able to do exceeding abundantly over all that we ask or think.” This man came and he knew the Lord was well able to do far more exceeding abundantly than ever he could ask or think. He knew there was nothing he could do for this servant, but he knew the Lord could. Do you remember whenever the Lord met the young man, the demon-possessed young man who had his living out amongst the tombs. He cut himself. He had a violent temper. He shouted but nobody could tame him. Nobody could do anything. And you remember the Lord, he spoke one word to the demons - "Go." One word. This man says, "Speak the word only.” Will we get back to praying and pleading more ”Lord, I want to see my children saved this morning.” Remember when the disciples were caught up in the little boat in the storm. Jesus got up and quelled the storms. The disciples looked at him and they marvelled saying “what manner of man is this that even the very waves and the winds obey him?” This centurion knew the manner of man he was talking to. He knew the authority that he had. You remember the three Hebrew children who wouldn't bow down to the image of Nebuchadnezzar. They were told that they would be cast into the furnace as a result. They still wouldn't bow their heads or their hearts to this image and so they were cast into the fiery furnace. Before going in they said “Our God is able to deliver us.” That was an expression of faith but then they said “well if he doesn't deliver us we have nothing to lose.”

Then we see the examination of his faith. This man's simple childlike faith came under the scrutiny and the eye of Jesus because he says in verse 10 "I have not found so great a faith. No, not in all Israel." The Lord was examining this faith. The Lord was looking at this man in the eye. He heard what he said. He knew all about it. And he says, “I haven't seen faith like this. No, not in all Israel.” Do you remember the four men in Mark's gospel chapter 2? They had a friend that wasn't well, that couldn't walk. They put him on a stretcher and they carried him to where the Lord was? And as they approached where the Lord was, they realized there was such a crowd around that house on that particular day that they could not get in. But that wasn't going to turn them away. They went around the back of the house and they got onto the staircase. They went up onto the roof and they made a hole in the roof and they lowered their friend down to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing was going to deter them. Not even the criticism of those Pharisees that were sitting in the same room as the Lord Jesus Christ. The Pharisees claimed that no man has power to forgive sins, only God. And no doubt they were criticizing these men for even bringing their friend to the Lord Jesus Christ. But that didn't deter them. And the Bible says “the Lord looked up and he saw their faith.” Isn't it wonderful this morning, that the Lord looks into our hearts and he sees our faith this morning. This was faith that was acknowledged by the Lord. They weren't going to let anything hinder them. And the Lord turned to the man that was on the bed and he raised him up. That man got up to his feet. He hadn't walked. He rolled up the little bed. He threw it across his shoulder and off he went. The Lord saw their faith. What size of faith is it? It's the faith the size of a mustard seed. And the mustard seed is the smallest of all the seeds. That's all the Lord expects this morning.

Lastly see the evidence of this man's faith. Verse 13, “Jesus said unto the centurion, ‘Go thy way, and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee.’" And his servant was healed in the self same hour.”  Maybe he had doubt in his mind but he had enough faith to overcome the doubt and come to the feet of Christ. He had enough faith that morning just to get down before the Lord Jesus Christ and say, "Lord, you can heal him just speak the word.” Maybe that's all the Lord's looking from you or me this morning. Just that little nugget of faith to say, "Lord, I believe you this morning. I believe you. I'm waiting on you this morning." It was the very self same hour that this servant was healed. Do you remember whenever the Lord met Bartimaeus, that blind man? Do you remember how that day the Lord said to him "What will you have me to do unto you?" He says, "That I might receive my sight." That was some expression of faith. And then we see the evidence of it. The Lord says, "Thy faith has saved thee."

The Lord's cursing of the fig tree

COLERAINE EVANGELICAL CHURCH

SERMON NOTES SUNDAY 31 MAY 2026 – MR CRAIG DENNISON

READING: MARK 11 VERSES 1 TO 26

The Lord’s cursing of the fig tree

Our story is set in the last week of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ which is often referred to as the Passion Week. Now, the word ‘passion’ is not a reference to emotion. Rather, it comes from the Latin word ‘passio’ which means suffering.  It is the week of his suffering or the week that leads up to his suffering. And on the first day of this week of the Passion Week, it is the day that we refer to as our Lord's day but for the Jews was the first day of a new week, day one.  the first day, the Sunday is a day of activity. It's a day when the Lord descended down the Mount of Olives and he beheld the city of Jerusalem and he wept over that city. He wept over the people. He wept over the place. On that day he made his triumphant entry into Jerusalem. He sits on the colt as people put their garments on the ground. They cut down branches to welcome him into Jerusalem. and how quickly that is going to change. The people, are full of praise, saying, "Hosanna, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." And if you didn't know what happened after that, you would think after the first day, this is going to be a glorious week. This is going to be a week when Jerusalem embraces Christ. This is going to be a week when even the religious people fall down and adore him. If you were told after day one what would happen on day seven, you would scarcely believe it. As that day draws to a close, the Lord Jesus Christ retreats to Bethany with the 12 disciples. And it appears for most of that week that the Lord stayed in Bethany with Mary and Martha and Lazarus. In fact, whenever the Lord was in the area, that is generally where he stayed. Bethany was about 2 miles from Jerusalem and it would have taken them an hour to walk there. After all the events in Jerusalem, the Lord and his disciples make the journey out to Bethany. And then we move on to day two. And day two is where we are focusing this morning.  Verse 12 says, "And on the tomorrow when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry." Notice it doesn't say “they were hungry.” It only mentions Christ as being hungry. It is very unlikely that he was not offered breakfast at the house of Martha. We know that Martha had quite the reputation for hospitality. You will remember a previous occasion whenever the Lord was teaching in their house and Martha was cumbered about with much service. And where was Mary? She wasn't helping her sister. She was sat at the feet of Jesus listening. And Martha complained thinking the Lord would tell Mary off. But the Lord praised Mary saying she has chosen the better thing. Why did the Lord leave her house hungry? It is most likely that Christ rose early to pray. We often read about this in the life of the Savior. He got up early in the morning to pray. He went up into mountains late at night to pray. Before everybody else had rose, the Savior was away to pray, seeking the face of his Father early in the morning. And then the disciples meet him. They begin the journey to Jerusalem. And as they journeyed to Jerusalem, the Lord sees a fig tree. As he approaches this tree for fruit he finds no figs. He does something that many people think is strange. He curses the fig tree. He speaks to a tree and he curses it. He pronounces judgment upon it. This miracle stands alone in all the miracles of Christ. Verse 20 tells us, "The next day they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots." The Lord cursed the fig tree and it was cursed. The next day it was dead. It didn't just begin to die, it was fully withered, dried up from the roots. Obviously now a dead tree in the space of 24 hours. What should have taken effectively months to happen the Lord has quickened so that it's obvious even to the disciples that this tree is cursed. Now this miracle is very different. It stands actually in contrast to all the other miracles because all the other miracles of Christ were miracles of mercy. He gives sight to the blind. That's mercy. He made the lame to walk. That is mercy. He fed the 5,000 when they were hungry. That is mercy. He brought the dead to life. That's mercy. But this miracle, it's not a miracle of mercy. This is a miracle of judgment. And it is the only miracle of judgment. The only other miracle that comes close is whenever Christ healed the demoniac of Gedara and then sent the legion of demons into the herd of swine and they ran down into the sea and the swine were drowned. But even that was a miracle of mercy and judgment. But the cursing of the fig tree is the only miracle of judgment in the life of our Saviour. What is so significant about this miracle? Here we see the Lord Jesus Christ displaying his authority over all of creation. He's not just the Lord over the souls of men. He's not just able to physically touch the bodies of men. He's showing that he can even control nature. That if he orders a tree to be cursed, it's cursed. If he orders it to be dried up from the roots, it will come to pass. All things we are told were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. That is John 1:3 and Colossians 1:16. We are told, "For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, dominions, principalities, or powers. All things were created by him and for him." The fig tree was created by Christ and it was created for Christ. You and I, we were made by Christ and we were made for Christ. Your life is not your own. You were made by him for him. The very purpose of your existence is to live for Christ. But Christ did not curse this fig tree without a cause. The gospels do not record this event to fill paper. The Holy Spirit moved the writers to write this down. Christ has a purpose in cursing this fig tree. He had lessons to teach his disciples and because it's in the Bible, there are lessons that you and I are to draw from this here today. Let's think of the miracle of Christ cursing the fig tree.

Number one, notice the appearance of the fig tree.  Most of us are unfamiliar with the design of fig trees. We don't have an awful lot of them here in our beautiful sunny climate. They're more likely to be found over in the Mediterranean and in the hot climate over there. But the fig trees are very resilient. They can live for decades. Some have even been reported to live for over a hundred years. Normally a fig tree will produce two crops every year. But there's something unique about the fig tree. The fruit often comes before or at the same time as the leaves. Now if you think of an apple tree the leaves come before the fruit. Normally the fruit is the end result of the tree flourishing. But the fig tree is different. The figs come before or with the leaves. The leaves very rarely appear before the fruit.  In verse 13 it says, "Seeing a fig tree a far off having leaves." If the leaves are there, that means the fruit is there because the fruit comes first.  This gives the impression or at least an expectation that there's fruit upon this tree. If the tree has leaves it is likely to have fruit.  The profession is that this tree, this fig tree is a fruitbearing tree. But sadly, it is a tree that is giving a false profession. It is a tree that is deceiving people. It has leaves and people come to it expecting to find fruit and they find none. In fact, verse 13 says he found nothing but leaves. Christ came, he searched the tree, he found no figs, he only found leaves. He had been led to believe that this tree had fruit. But as he got closer, as he examined, as he lifted every leaf, looking behind for figs, he found none. This tree was given its moment of inspection. What are we to draw from this? There are great parallels in the life of the fig tree and those who profess to be the Lord's people. Some will call themselves Christians. They will say, "I have the leaves of Christianity. I have the leaves of a profession of faith. I have the leaves of church attendance. I have the leaves of baptism. I have the leaves of living a righteous life.” But they can lack the real fruit of Christianity. They might have the outward leaves showing themselves to be a Christian, but they can lack the fruit. They can lack saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They can lack the fruit of repentance of sin. They can lack the fruit of regeneration. We can have that outward appearance, the leaves, but we can lack the fruit. We have one opportunity to be fruitful in this lifetime. God gives you your whole life to be fruitful. Not to gather leaves, but to have real fruit. One day the Lord will come and make that final searching of us. And he's not looking for leaves. He's looking for fruit.  Have I the real fruit of genuine Christianity? Do I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Do I know him as my Lord and my Savior? Have I repented of sin? Am I daily repenting of sin and living by faith in him?  

Secondly notice the desire of Christ. Verse 13 “if happily he might find anything thereon.” The desire of Christ was to find figs on this tree. He wasn't coming there making some sort of gesture saying, "Well, I will go here, but I hope there's nothing here so that I can curse it." No, he went to the tree genuinely seeking, genuinely desiring figs upon the tree. And just as he desires to find the fruit upon the tree, so he desires to find fruit of real genuine Christianity in my life and your life. The Lord isn't hoping that you fail to produce fruit in your life. The Lord isn't desiring that there would be no faith in your heart. No. The Bible says “he is not willing that any should perish but that all would come to repentance.” The Lord wants there to be in your life and my life real fruit of Christian conversion. Figs are a picture of regeneration. But what is regeneration? It is the change wrought in us by God the Holy Spirit. The Bible paints a picture of us - that we are those who are “dead in trespasses and in sins.” We need new life in Jesus Christ and only the Holy Ghost can work this in us. The Lord Jesus Christ refers to Nicodemus as being “born again.” That is your current life. It is a life of deadness and sins. You need a new life. You need to be born again of the Holy Ghost. Ezekiel speaks of God taking away the old heart, the stony heart, and giving us a new heart, a heart of flesh. This is what Christ desires to find when he searches our life. That change, that regeneration within us. In Luke chapter 13 verse 6 to 9 we have the parable of the vineyard dresser. In that parable we read that for three years the owner came and searched the fig tree for fruit and he found none. The vineyard dresser pleaded for one more year and if there was no more fruit in that last year it would be cut down. We are not actually told what happened at the end of that parable, whether it produced fruit or not but the point isn't the outcome of the tree. The point of that parable is God's patience with the sinner. He gave them one year and there was no fruit. He gave them another year and there was no fruit. He gave them a third year, but this was going to be their last year. There was no fruit that year. The tree will be cut down. As each year passes with us, if we're not saved, if we're not converted, if we don't have the true fruit of Christianity, God one day will decide this is your last chance. This will be the last year that you have upon the earth. It will be the last day. It will be the last minute. It will be the last second. The important thing is that we are prepared to meet our God. That we have the fruit of real Christianity within our lives. The Lord wants to find fruit in the lives of those who profess to be his. He wants to save sinners. That is the whole purpose of his mission, “to come into this world to seek and to save that which was lost.” He freely offers himself in the gospel to sinners to be believed upon. That's what he wants to do. He wants to save lost souls. Christ is desiring fruit in the lives of sinners. He's not setting us up to fail. Christ came to the tree hungry, desiring fruit. Christ is sincere in granting salvation to the whosoever will come to him.  What fruit is Christ looking at in our lives? This is where we go a little bit deeper this morning. If you turn to Galatians 5 verse 22, we see the fruit that Christ wants from us. The Lord doesn't say, "I want fruit in your life, but I'm not going to tell you what it is." No, it is spelt out for us in the word of God, the exact fruit Christ is desiring. “But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lust. If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit.” Let us start with the first one. The fruit of the spirit is love. God wants us to have love. Not just to love those who love us, not just to love our family. He wants us to love him. He wants our affections to be directed towards God. He wants our emotions to be in tune with his. He wants us to love him for giving us the gift of life. He wants us to love him for sending his son into this world to be our Saviour. He wants us to love him for his mercies that he extends to us day by day, for all the benefits we receive from his hand. He doesn't want us to be cold towards him. He doesn't want us to hate him. He wants us to love him. As you love your spouse, as you love your children, as you love your family, as you love your country, God wants you to love him. And he wants you to love him more than anything else. That is a fruit that God desires in our heart. In fact, it's the very first fruit that God wants. The greatest commandment is this: “to love the Lord thy God with all thy body, soul, mind, and heart.” That is what he wants us to do. He wants the fruit of repentance, the fruit of faith, the fruit of holiness. He wants the fruit of prayer, a fruit of a love for the word of God, a desire to worship him. And we could go on. These are the fruits that Christ is desiring in our lives. He came into the world to be a Saviour. As Saviour, he saves sinners. He gave the Holy Ghost to do that act of regeneration and the work of sanctification. That is holiness within us. It is often a slow work but it will lead to genuine fruitbearing in the life of the Christian. That work should certainly be happening within us. The day we are converted is only the first step. Every day thereafter is another step on the journey to God. We might look in our hearts and realise we are not what we should be but by the grace of God we are not where we started from.

The third heading is the examination of Christ. In verse 13 we read that he found nothing but leaves. Nothing but leaves. There was a false impression given here to the world. Anybody who passed by said “that is a fig tree.” But only when you went to examine it closely you found nothing. We can be guilty of the same. The whole world might look at us and say, "Well, there's a Christian. They go to church. They never miss a meeting. They carry their Bible. They're never seen without it. They're able to quote the Bible. They're able to maybe talk about spiritual things and have a Christian conversation.” We can give that appearance of having leaves. Many people have leaves in the world today. We can think of our Saviour’s day. There were the religious leaders, the scribes and the Pharisees. If you lived 2,000 years ago, you would say, "Well, that's a religious person." But they hated Christ. They put him to death. They had the leaves, but they had no fruit.  Dead religion is only leaves. The sad thing is, we could love our leaves. We could be very proud of our leaves of false profession. And we could be careless, but there's no fruit within us. Like Adam and Eve, we could hide behind our leaves to cover our nakedness and our shame, to try and hide from God the fact that we have no fruit. But God can see the heart. He could see Adam and Eve, but they were naked and ashamed. And he can see us as well. The story of the fig tree is in two parts. You have the cursing of the fig tree and then you have the temple cleansing and finally the last part of the story of the fig tree.  The story of the cleansing of the temple is sandwiched in between this story of the fig tree. It is there for a reason. Just as the leafy fig tree promised fruit but had none, the temple system looked impressive. The temple was just a temple of leaves. It had no fruit, no possession at all. Jews were going in and out of the temple looking religious, sounding religious, acting religious, but it was all leaves. There is no fruit. Picture your spiritual life as a fig tree. Christ is coming to you and searching your life for fruit. If he was here today to go through your life, would he just find the leaves of a false profession? Or would he find true genuine fruit of faith and repentance, love for God? The priority for you and I is to have fruit.

Which leads me to my fourth and final point here today, the judgment of Christ. Some people don’t like this miracle because of its nature. They struggle to think that the lips that spoke words of healing, peace, and love would also speak words of judgment. They like to focus upon the mercy of Christ, the love of Christ, and they reject any thoughts of judgment. Yet Jesus spoke of judgment and condemnation more than 60 times in the 4 gospels.  Why do some people take issue with Christ cursing the tree? Some people don't like to think of being judged by Christ because they don't want to think of the consequences that come with judgment. But to ignore, minimize, or reject this miracle is to basically get a black pen and mark through these verses. The Bible clearly presents Christ as the judge of all the earth. The apostle says that “he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath appointed heir of all things.” The Bible also says we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.  Christ is the judge of all the earth. He has the power to judge, but he also has the power to curse and to pronounce judgment as well.

There are some solemn lessons for us to draw from this miracle. There's some soul searching to do in our own hearts. Do we have the fruit that the Lord is looking for? Has that salvation truly been wrought within us? Are we genuinely converted? Are we the Lord's people? Do we belong to him? Have we a seat in his kingdom and around his table? Do we know with assurance that whenever we leave this world and we enter into the next life that we will hear the words, "Come, ye blessed of my father."

Notice the pronouncement of judgment here in verse 14, "No man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever." The Lord has immediately pronounced a judgment. No second chance, no purgatory. You had your opportunity. The judgment has been pronounced. In Matthew 21 we read the same story.  Matthew records a little bit more of what the Savior said. “Let no fruit grow on thee henceforth forever. And presently the fig tree withered away.” Right before their eyes, Matthew said, the fig tree started to wither. The sentence of death wasn't coming. It came the moment Christ spoke. This is a solemn reminder of the power of Christ. Verse 20. “And in the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots completely dead.” Christ is a judge with power. Some judges in this world have no power. They maybe make a ruling, but then the police don't enforce it. They have no appetite to enforce it. But Christ, he is a judge with power. This fig tree began to wither the next day. It was dried up from the roots. It's obviously a dead tree. Christ has the power to save, but he also has the power to punish. And then in verse 14, we see the purpose of his judgment. “And his disciples heard it.” Christ did this before his disciples as a lesson.  Matthew Henry said, "Christ made an example of this tree, not to other trees." He made an example of this tree to men. Christ was warning men. Judas was there. Judas was warned. Peter was warned. James and John were warned. Peter was amazed at the act of this tree. Verse 21. “And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold the fig tree which thou cursest is withered.” We should not be amazed at the judgment of Christ. His judgment is a righteous judgment. We should tremble at the thought that he would search us, find nothing, and curse us. There's nothing worse in this life than to be cursed by God. To be separated from God for all eternity. It's an awful judgment. You might think it's a terrible affliction to have pain, to have sorrows, to have depressions, and those things are trials in their own right. But it's far worse to be found with no fruit and to be judged by God.

What was the whole purpose of this lesson? Let’s read what Christ says in verse 22. This is the whole purpose of the cursing of the tree. “Have faith in God.” That is the lesson that Christ is teaching from the cursing of this tree fig tree. Not gather more leaves, a false profession. Not clean up your life a little bit more by yourself. No, that's just adding more leaves. The conclusion that Christ wants you to have from the cursing of this fig tree is to have faith in God. And having faith, bear the marks of a child of God. Live like a child of God. Have the true and genuine fruit within your life. The leaves do come with the fruit. We're not despising church attendance. We're not despising Bible reading. Those things are true, but they're part of the fruit. Don't just take the leaves without the fruit. Have the fruit and the leaves going together. It's sometimes the case that those who are the most anxious about the lack of fruit are those who are maybe bearing fruit, although perhaps not as much as they would like. But it's also true that there are some who comfort themselves that they are the Lord's but without any self-examination for fruit in their lives. Peter says, "Brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure.” Be sure that you are the Lord's. Paul said, "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith. Prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be reprobate."  This is the repeated message of scripture from Jesus, from Peter, from Paul. Examine yourselves whether you are the Lord's. We thought of the curse of Christ. And the curse is to be judged by Christ in your sin. The curse is to be separated from God for all eternity. The curse is to face the wrath of God for your sin. The Bible tells us what's going to happen on that day of judgment. There will be a separation of the believers and the unbelievers. Those who bore fruit and those who had no fruit. Why be cursed by the king when you could be blessed by him? Have faith in God and live a life of faith. It is possible for you and I to have fruit because as Paul said in Galatians 3 verse 13 “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us.” We can be spared the curse because Christ was cursed in our place on the cross. And he doesn't tell you to start a life of good works. He tells you to have faith in him. That's where it all begins. If that's not where you've begun, may you begin there today by looking to Christ, believing in him, trusting in him, knowing that it's not of you that you are saved. It's all of him and his grace. May there be that fruit of faith, repentance, love to God found in all of our hearts here today.

Forgotten but not forsaken

 

COLERAINE EVANGELICAL CHURCH

SUNDAY 24 MAY 2026 – MR PHILIP GRAHAM

GENESIS 40 - FORGOTTEN BUT NOT FORSAKEN

 

We all know the story of Joseph, of how he grew up at his father's house, how he had dreams as a boy, how his brothers had tried to kill him, but then they sold him into slavery. He had been wronged. He had been sold as a slave. Then he went to Potiphar’s house, and there he was accused wrongly. And then he was thrown into prison. And here we find Joseph in prison. Joseph's been mistreated, misrepresented, misunderstood and now He is imprisoned. And in the midst of it all, I think you'll agree with me that Joseph remained patient. He remained calm. And he kept his testimony intact. You see, Joseph never seen himself as a victim, but as a victor waiting for his liberty. A brief glimpse of Joseph's life here reveals the trials he was called to endure. As I say, his brothers rejected him. He became a slave in a foreign land. Think about it. He had been sold into a foreign land, didn't even know the language, had been thrown out and expected to perform a job. Then he was falsely accused. If it wasn't bad enough that he was a slave, he was accused wrongly. Now he is in prison. And through it all, he refused to be a victim. Joseph knew what the writer of Genesis records for us in chapter 39 and verse number 21 “But the Lord was with Joseph.” Joseph knew the Lord was with him. I wonder this morning, do you know that the Lord is with you? Joseph was able to claim this promise. Joseph knew in his heart that the Lord was with him. And that truth alone made this prison spell a bit more bearable for Joseph. As we take a look at this man, Joseph, I want you to remember this one truth this morning - that the Lord was with him. The Lord was with him. If you're saved this morning, you can claim that promise every single day. The Lord is with me. I want you to join Joseph in prison today. His experiences there have many lessons for us this morning. This passage finds Joseph shut up, shut off, and shut down, but still, he serves the Lord. Still, he is faithful. And sometimes the path of life leads us into prison circumstances. We all face hardships and trials, and we too can feel shut in. We can feel shut down. And sometimes in that time we feel forgotten. We feel neglected. And many times, we are forgotten. And you'll see as we go on here with all the best intentions here, Joseph was still forgotten. And maybe that's where you feel this morning. You feel in your Christian walk that I am forgotten. But even though man can let us down, man may forget us in the prisons of our life, the Lord never forgets.

 

Firstly, I want you to look this morning at Joseph and his prison duties. Look at verses 1 to 4. “The captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them and they continued the season.” While Joseph waits in the prison, he receives some company. Two men are thrown into prison with Joseph. They're former highly placed servants of Pharaoh - Pharaoh's butler and his baker. The butler was Pharaoh's cup bearer. It says here when anything was to eat or drink, this man would have been in charge of that and he would have brought the drink or the food before Pharaoh and the cup bearer would taste it first just so if anybody was trying to poison the Pharaoh the cup bearer would take the hit. So this was a highly trusted individual. And the baker was the same. He was in charge of the king's food. He was in charge of making sure that everything was right and perfect for the king. So these two men would have held very high positions in the king's court. They would have been in charge of his welfare, of his food, of looking after the king. But for some reason, there was a problem with Pharaoh's food. And these two men end up in trouble. They're cast into prison. And when these men get to prison, they received preferential treatment. They weren't thrown into the darkest part of the dungeon. That just shows you how important these men were. These men, if you like, were treated like celebrities of their day. And when they were put into prison, they were given Joseph. And Joseph's job was to look after them and to make sure they were all okay. And of course, the prison guard picked Joseph. Why did he pick Joseph? Because he knew there was something different about Joseph. He knew that Joseph would give these men the best treatment because Joseph was different than all the rest of the prisoners that were there. He was handpicked by his seniors. And on the on the surface, this seemed to be just another assignment given to Joseph. This was just another job that Joseph would have to do. But in reality here, we see God's providence. We see God starting to move. We see God's sovereignty working in Joseph life once again. God had just brought Joseph face to face with the man God would later use to secure his release from prison. We should never discount this morning those seemingly small twists, those turns, those insignificant encounters. Some people would say, "Oh, that was just a chance meeting." Some people would say, "Oh, that was just another job for Joseph." But what no one could see was how God was moving, how God was working behind the scenes, bringing everything together for Joseph's greater good. And the same is true in our lives. Never discount those small moves. Never discount those chance encounters. Those chance encounters that may turn out to be the meeting of a lifetime. You know what we sometimes would say? Oh, that was just an accident. That was just a coincidence. It is really God working in our lives in a great way. Psalm 37:23 says, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord." God orders those minute details. Don't take them for granted. I don't know where you're at this morning, but you are feeling your prison condition at the minute, but God's working things in the background. God is bringing things into place. Maybe not in your time, but He is bringing things into place in his time to work all things for his glory. And What is Joseph doing in that time? He is just doing something very simple. He has been faithful. Joseph has been faithful in his duties. He has been called. He is stuck in prison. He has been given a job. He could have said, "I am not doing that.” No, Joseph was faithful. You see, I believe Joseph wanted others to see that in the middle of his drama, in the middle of his circumstances, that Joseph was worshiping and following a person far greater than the than the prison guard. Joseph was following God. Joseph was worshiping God. When we get to circumstances like that, it is so easy for us to throw up our arms and say, “you know what, I am giving up. I've had enough.” But Joseph's prison duties were to look after these men. We too need to be faithful to God, to trust him, to just sit back and wait for God to move.

 

Secondly, I want you to look at prison demeanours. Verses six and seven. As Joseph went about his duties, he saw these two men. In verse number six, “and Joseph came in onto them in the morning and looked upon them. Behold, they were sad.” Do you ever wonder why that verse is there for? “Behold, they were sad.” Who cares? They're in prison. They're sad. You can understand their sadness. They didn't want to be there. They were prestigious men. I am sure they were well paid. They were well looked after. And in verse six, it records, "Behold, they were sad.” After all, they have been removed from their position, but they are only going to be there for a short time. But why? Why are they sad? They'll be getting out soon. But there's Joseph on the other hand is there to stay. He doesn't know when He is going to get out. He hasn't done anything wrong, but He is stuck there. He is a stranger in a foreign land in prison. He is no chance of getting out. But is Joseph sad? No. Joseph is concerned about their welfare. He reaches out to help them through their prison experience. How easy it would have been to have put the focus back on himself. We would have been worried about ourselves and how we are going to get out of our prison. But not Joseph. Joseph's demeanour was completely different. Joseph wanted to see these men. He wanted to check in on them. He wanted to make sure they were okay. You see, life isn't fair sometimes. But Joseph didn't look at himself. He looked at these men and he wanted to sort them out. He wanted to help them. And what a lesson that is for us this morning. When we come across people who are sad, what do we do? Do we stay away from them or do we go over to them and say, "Brother, sister, is everything all right? You look sad this morning. " You know, Joseph didn't look at it himself, but he looked at others and how we must do that as well. These men did not know the Lord Jehovah. The Egyptians would have their own religions. But yet, Joseph had concern for these unsaved men. He was concerned for these people who were sad. Joseph was going to be able to draw alongside them. These men who were unsaved, they were unlearned. They had their own religion. They followed their own idols. But Joseph was able to draw alongside them and say, "What is wrong?" and through his experience Joseph was able to bring the Lord into the situation. We must use our circumstances and our situations to draw alongside those people in our own neighbourhoods, in our own streets, in our own town. We are so disconnected, aren't we, from our neighbours? We are so disconnected from those around us. We are so connected with our phones and everything else and technology. But do we know our neighbours? Do we know those around us in this estate? Do they know us? Do they say “oh there's your man. He is going to church again.” “There's your woman and she is heading to the prayer meeting again.” Do they watch us? Or do we just sort of keep ourselves to ourselves? Here was Joseph. Now, he had no choice in the matter. He was in prison with them. But in our walk in life, we'll come across these people all the time. There are people out there and they are sad. And the reason they are sad is because they are searching. And in their search, they are looking at you and they are reading you. And these prison guards and prisoners would have been looking at Joseph and as they studied Joseph and the way he conducted himself, they would have realized there's something different about that man and why He is in prison. Maybe he has told them the story about what happened to him in Potiphar's house. Maybe they are probably thinking to themselves “this is terrible, this man is in here and he didn't do anything wrong but look at him, look at the way he conducts himself. They trusted Joseph. This wasn't some chance meeting that these men come in and said, "Here, I've had a dream here. Joseph, can you tell us what this means?" These men would have been watching Joseph. These men would have been studying Joseph and they'd have realized that there's something different about Joseph. I wonder this morning, is there something different about us? I wonder as people watch us what do they see? Joseph didn't call for a pity party. He did not lash out. Joseph was trusting in God. People were able to distinguish by Joseph's demeanour, the Lord was with him. I wonder this morning as people look at us do they say “the Lord is with that person. I can trust that person to talk to them because the Lord's with them and there's something different about them.” These men, they were sad. And Joseph drew alongside them. As Joseph drew alongside them, I am sure he was able to share with them who his God was. The God Jehovah, Yahweh, the covenant keeping God, I am sure Joseph was able to explain to them, “you know what? I don't know why I am here, but I trust God.” When we get to those seasons in life when we feel trapped in that what does God want us to do? Philippians 2 verse 4 “Let not every man look in his own things, but every man also in the things of others.” We are to look out for other people. And Joseph was looking out even in the middle of his prison experience. He was looking out for other people. We are called to bear one another's burdens. It is not easy because everybody likes to focus on their own issues, but it is biblical to care for one another. It is biblical to look out for those around us. You see, the fact is that when we get our eyes off our pains and our prison and get on to the needs and the problems of others, that will take your mind, take your heart off your own circumstance. Joseph may be in a prison and his dreams may seem to have been shattered. Remember, he had all his own dreams years ago. I am sure many a night he would have thought about them. They seem shattered and it may seem that he is here to stay, but Joseph still has joy. I wonder do you have joy this morning? Most people have no problem being joyous when they've no burden. Most folks can praise the Lord and they can laugh and they can smile when they're on the mountain top, but takes someone filled with genuine faith to praise the Lord. To be happy when the bottom falls out of life. Why is Joseph happy? Because He is serving the Lord where He is at. And the Lord is blessing him. Anybody can praise the Lord when they are filled with joy. When everything is going their way, When health is in their favour and they have no problems, but how hard it is, how difficult it is to praise the Lord when working through a challenge, that circumstance that you feel is going to be the end of you. When your heart is broken, most of us will be like the butler and the baker. We will. And we wear that sad face, that gloomy countenance. Can I encourage you to be have the demeanour of Joseph, that positive attitude? Remember that the Lord is with you. The Lord is in control.

 

Look at the prison dreams here in this chapter this morning. As Joseph checks in on these men, he asked them, "What is wrong?" One says, "Well, we dreamed a dream." I wonder what Joseph's thought was at that very moment. Did Joseph remember the dreams he had? He had dreamt about the sheaves, his brothers, and his father. He had dreamt about the sun and the moon bowing down to him. Joseph encourages him to tell him his dream. Deep down I believe Joseph knew that God would help him interpret those dreams. Joseph knew that it was only God who can give the interpretation. And by this example, Joseph was going to show them once again that the Lord was with him. That the Lord Jehovah was in control. Joseph could have got angry. He could have said, "You know what, Lord, you give me a dream and it never came true. Lord, you promised me this and look where I am at now.” He could have got bitter. That wouldn't have done Joseph any good. Joseph asked these men and he engages with them. He wants to know. He is concerned about their welfare. He is concerned the condition they're in in prison. She said, "Tell me about your dream." What a lesson for us today, for us when it seems like God has forgotten us. There will be times when it seems that those dreams we have had seem as if they have been derailed. What you do in those trying difficult seasons has a great deal to do with the Lord and how you view the Lord. Joseph never took his eyes off the Lord. Even in those prison experiences, Joseph never took his eyes off the Lord. Our duty in all the prisons of life is to actively seek ways to glorify God. Joseph was looking for the next thing to glorify God. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, "Do all to the glory of God." That was Joseph's attitude here in prison. What is your job this morning?  So that as others watching you going down the street will say "That's a child of God." These men knew that Joseph was different. They would have known that the Lord was with him. And the reason we do everything to the glory of God is because God is good. God is faithful. God is perfect. He is just. And you might think that your circumstances are not good but our God hasn't changed. He is still good. He is still faithful. And we need to learn to glorify him when the sun is shining. And we need to glorify him when the rain is falling. And we need to look at ways to point others to him. Even though our hearts are breaking, we still should glorify God. Look at ways to bring glory to his name. If God is the God of the mountain, He is also the God of the valley. We must get that concept into our head. God is in control whether you feel like it or not. Our feelings are terrible. They fool us. They trick us into believing all is OK when they are not. Joseph had realized that God was in control through this whole thing. Do you know God personally? Do you know him as a God who loves you? If you don't know him this morning, can I encourage you to get to know him? God is in control of your life. You say, "But I haven't had a good life." God sent his son to save you from your sin. If you're still in your sin this morning, you are lost. And God in his mercy and in his goodness gave us a way where we could be right with him.

 

Look at the prison disappointments that Joseph faced. The dreams of the butler and the baker were fulfilled just as Joseph had said. The butler was restored to his office. The baker was executed by Pharaoh. Joseph had asked the butler to remember him - verse number 14 ”but think on me when it shall be well with thee.” Joseph asked the cup bearer to remember him whenever he went into Pharaoh.” In verse number 23 we read "Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgot him. He forgot all about him." How often it is that you help somebody out and whenever they get on the road again and they are back to where they were that they forget all about you? Here's Joseph sitting in prison. I wonder did Joseph after the butler and the baker left did Joseph go and pack his bags and say, "Right, this man will tell Pharaoh and I'll be out of here in no time." I am sure every time that prison door opened, maybe Joseph thought, "Maybe now's my time. Maybe he has told Pharaoh about me and they're coming to set me free." But those weeks turned into months and those months turned into two long years. And all the while, Joseph is still in that prison experience. He is disappointed, but He is waiting. He is waiting on God. He is trusting in God. It is God saying, "It is not yet. It is not your time yet." And this prison disappointment served to teach Joseph two valuable lessons as he waited. See, Joseph, you can't fault him for it. He tried to take matters into his own hand. He says, "Well, I'll find a way out of here. Would you tell Pharaoh about me?" But God said, "No, it is not your time yet." We need to realize this morning that our help doesn't come from man. Our help comes from the Lord. Psalm 121 reminds us to lift up our eyes because our help comes from the Lord. Joseph learned once again that God’s unseen hand moves on God's time scale, not on our time scale. And how sometimes we can get frustrated. Sometimes we want to go a bit quicker. God's timing is perfect every single time. Our God is never late. As we go through the Old Testament, we see time and time again how God's timing is always perfect. We think about Elijah. When did God feed Elijah? When Elijah needed it. Morning and evening, he brought the ravens down to feed him. When did he rescue the three Hebrew boys, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? They had to go into the fire, but they didn't experience the heat. God rescued them just right on time. When did God rescue Daniel from the lion's den? God did it in his time. God had a bigger plan. God has a bigger plan for our lives. No matter the circumstance, no matter the present experience, no matter that disappointment that you're experiencing right here, right now, God has a bigger plan. And how often we try to reach out, and we try to fix it ourselves and we just make a mess of it, don't we? But God's saying, "trust me." Don't be discouraged in those disappointments or those trials. We can either get discouraged and look for a place to quit or we can be like Joseph and be faithful. Trust in God this morning. Even though you may feel forgotten, even though you may feel forsaken, trust in the Lord. As we conclude this morning, this is a very bad place to leave Joseph, isn't it? He is still in prison. He hasn't got out. He has done the right thing every time. Every time he had the chance to, Joseph done what was right and honourable. And he still suffers for righteousness sake. And that may be you this morning. Joseph still stood falsely accused, wrongly imprisoned, and He is still forgotten. Joseph cannot see it here yet, but the wheels of providence are in place. They're in motion. Things are starting to move, and God is slowly but surely lining everything up for God's glory, not for Joseph's glory. The same thing is true in our lives. Some of you may be looking at disappointments and discouragements and you do not know how to handle them. And the best thing you can do this morning is to bring them to the Lord. Pour out your heart to him and learn to leave them in his capable hand. Can I remind you just as we close this morning, the Lord is with you. No matter that prison experience, whether you are disappointed, whether you think your dreams are shattered, whether your demeanour is low, the Lord is in it. Will you trust him? Will you let him take control? Will you let him lead?

 

The Queen of Sheba's visit to the king

 

COLERAINE EVANGELICAL CHURCH

SERMON NOTES SUNDAY 3 MAY 2026 pm – PASTOR HENRY CASKEY

THE QUEEN OF SHEBA’S VISIT TO THE KING

1 Kings chapter 10

 

In this reading we have the visit from Queen of Sheba to Solomon. And that's what we want to look at just for a moment or two this evening.

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 with camels that bear spices and very much gold and precious stones. And when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. And Solomon told her all her questions. 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 cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her. And she said to the king, "It is it was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. How be it, I believe not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. Thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard. Happy are thy men. Happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that bear thy wisdom. Blessed and be the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel. Behold, the Lord loved Israel forever. Therefore made he the king to do judgment and justice.”

And then verse number 13.

“And the king Solomon gave unto the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked besides that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty. So she turned and went to her own country, she and her servants.

 

I want us this evening just to turn to this portion of scripture and to consider here this visit of the Queen of Sheba. I want to consider that tonight in the light of the glorious gospel of course, in the light of a sinner coming to the Lord Jesus Christ because in Solomon we have a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the woman coming we can see a sinner likewise coming. I suppose as we look tonight, there is no greater iconic figure than this particular woman with all of her riches, with all of her wealth. It is to her and this visit tonight that we want to hear the wisdom of Solomon. As a matter of fact, the Lord Jesus Christ in his day when he was preaching, he pointed to this woman, the Queen of Sheba in Matthew 12. Here's what he had to say. "The queen 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 the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, a greater than Solomon is here." Imagine that there's coming a day when this woman will rise up and be presented as a living judgment to those who rejected and turned away from the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Now I want to take a look at this tonight and I want to take a simple picture of the sinner coming to Christ this evening and the lessons that we learn from this woman.

I want you to notice first of all that this woman was informed. It tells us that right away in verse number one, it says, "And when the Queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon concerning the Lord, and she came to prove him with hard questions.” She came to prove for herself all things that she had heard about this man. Oh yes, she had listened to the stories. She had heard about the stories of his great wisdom, of his great riches, of his great wealth, of his great kingdom. But somehow she couldn't take in the half of it until she came herself and proved. And you know, we can preach the gospel from morning to night but until men and women come and prove for themselves the “delights of the Lord until all in the altar we lay.” The psalmist said "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good." Why? We cannot prove the Lord until we come and put our trust and faith in him. Whenever we think of him who loved us with an everlasting love, that he would leave the splendours of heaven, that he would leave the praise of angels that he would turn aside from his Father and would come down into this sin cursed world and be rejected of the religious leaders and men and be beaten and tortured in Pilot's judgment hall that he might save you and me. We can hardly more than take it in what it means to him, “the holy one, to take away our sin.” And yet we sit and we reject that wonderful, wonderful love this evening. This woman was informed. She heard news had come about the exploits of this man to her ears. She had heard also of the things that God had done for him in verse number nine. And how God had blessed them. Isn't that what the psalmist could say? Her mouth was filled with laughter and her tongue with singing. Then said they among the heathen, the Lord hath done great things for them. Here was a situation with this heathen woman. She realized that God had done some great things for Solomon and she wanted to see for herself.  There was something special about the work of God and there still is. My whenever God comes to a life and changes that life,whenever God saves a man or saves a woman, it's just a real trophy of grace. We were looking at that this morning in the story of the woman at the well. The Bible says that she had five husbands and the man that she was living with wasn't her husband at all. She went out with her little water pot and she went to the well to fill water and to bring it back into the house. The Lord saved her at the water well. Isn't that an amazing thing? And just totally transformed her life. Totally changed her. Isn't that what the scriptures tell us tonight? That if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature and the old things they have passed away and all things have become new. That's what the gospel does. Is any wonder the apostle Paul could say, "I'm not ashamed of the gospel." Why? He was going to that great intellectual city. He was going to Rome. He was taking the gospel there. He knew that he would be slandered. He knew that he'd be ridiculed. Bringing such a message to this great city of Rome of this one who came into the world and died upon a cross. The cross was a criminals death and you are coming here to preach that? Paul says I am because “I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God unto salvation.” The Apostle Paul could testify “he loved me and he gave himself for me.“ We are nothing tonight but just sinners saved by grace. Naaman was a man who was informed, wasn't he? He had so many great things going for him. A great soldier, a great military leader. The applause of the world was upon him. But he was a leper. And that leprosy would take his life.  But there was a made in Naaman's house. And she came one day to Naaman's wife and said, "You know, if my master Naaman was down with the prophet in Samaria, he would be healed." Naaman's wife went told Naaman. When he was  informed, he went down. And you know the story from there on, he was totally cleansed. Isn't that what the woman at the well said this morning? Whenever her life was totally transformed, she went into the city and she started to speak to the men of the city. She said to them "Will you not come out to the well? Will you not come to where I met the Saviour? Will you not come to the one who told me all things that ever I did, is this not the Christ?" She pleaded with the men of that city. And some of them believed her word and they came and others came and believed the Lord for themselves. She informed others. Are we informing others? Are we telling men and women about the wonderful works of Christ? Isn't that what the hymnwriter said?

“Is your life a channel of blessing?

Is the love of God flowing through you?

Are you telling the lost of the Savior?

Are you ready his service to do?”

Do you remember whenever the apostle Paul was writing to that church at Colasse how he spoke about Epaphras? He says “it was through Epaphras that you believed.” He was the one that brought the gospel to them and told them about the love of the Savior and told them about how Christ died for them and those people believed the message of salvation. You see, Epaphras informed them and we need to be informing people this evening. Informing sinners, about their condemnation, informing about the uncleanness, informing that we have no hope without Christ in this world. We are blinded by the God of this world. That we are without God. We are without Christ and we are without hope. Imagine coming to the end of life and spending your final hours lying on a bed somewhere about to close your eyes in death realizing that you have no hope in this world, that you are going out into a lost and Christless eternity. It must be an awful thing. Like that man in Luke 16.  The Bible says that he died and he was buried and in hell he lifted up his eyes being in torment. What a day that would be. Have you been informed tonight? Maybe someone has handed you a gospel tract and in that little gospel tract, it tells you all things that Christ has done for you. It speaks about your lost state. It speaks about your sinful state. It speaks about the only remedy for sin and that of the cross. It speaks about the love of the Lord Jesus Christ who took your place and my place upon the cross of Calvary. Maybe you are ready to bow your knee tonight. Why not come to Christ and trust him as your own and personal Saviour this evening? This woman was informed.

But then notice something else. She was interested. She developed a keen interest to know more and to prove the message she was hearing. And so she came. You can be informed about the gospel. You can be informed about how Jesus Christ took your place on the cross. You can be informed that you are lost in your sin and going out into a lost and Christless hell. You can be informed about that. And it stops there. But this woman didn't. She had heard about Solomon. She had heard about everything that was happening in his life and how God was blessing him in a tremendous way and how he had this great wisdom and how he had these great riches and she wanted to know more. So she came. She came to where he was. The very reason that Christ used her visit when he preached to the people, was to condemn those who were so privileged and heard so much and how they just simply let it all slip by them. That's what he was doing. He was speaking to a people who had heard so much, who had such a great privilege. Imagine having the Lord Jesus Christ preaching on the very streets of Jerusalem and in that surrounding area, giving to men and to women a great opportunity of being saved and being in heaven. But yet they spurned their opportunity. He said this woman is going to rise up in judgment against you because of your neglect of what you should do. This woman will stand in judgment. She will be called against you for she heard and she acted. Isn't that what the writer in the book of Hebrews says? "How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?" Philip Morrow way back in the late 1800s was a New York barrister. He was very very successful and very very highly educated. He was well sought after. But he was also a man of the world. He loved the limelight. He loved the parties and he was a sceptic. He didn't believe in anything about God. He didn't believe in anything spiritually whatsoever. One day he was standing in a line of people. He was going to the theatre and he was waiting for the doors to open up and to get his ticket to go in. But somehow he was compelled. He couldn't understand where that came from but he was compelled to step out of that line and to make his way down the street. And as he was making his way down the street, there was some singing that was going on in a little hall just down the way from the theatre. And somehow he couldn't get over it. It was just lovely to his ears. And as he approached that door, the door was opened up and there's a man standing who welcomed him in and shook his hand and gave him a little leaflet. This great barrister who didn't believe in anything. That night he was informed about the love of God. The preacher that night preached about “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life.” He preached about the love of God. And this great barrister was sitting just in the midst of all the number that were gathered in that evening. He was informed of what his life was like. He was really counting the cost because he realized that every word that he was saying was absolutely right as to what he was. He had everything that this old world could have. Jesus says, "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" He was a young barrister. The world was before him. The money that he was earning was great. He had everything that he could ever ask for. But he didn't have God's salvation. And that night, he was informed that he was a sinner, lost, and undone. And as he sat in the midst of that little congregation, he cried out to the God of heaven that he would come to him and save his precious soul. He trusted in God that night. He was informed. He was interested and he came. And that's how we are saved tonight. We're not saved tonight just because we attend a church. We are not saved tonight just because we switch on YouTube and listen to a gospel service. We are saved tonight whenever we come and trust the Lord Jesus Christ as our own and personal Saviour and forget about everything else that we were trusting in. We might have trusted in our church. We might have trusted in our good works. We might have trusted in the money that we pay into the church. We may even have trusted in the good things of sitting around the Lord's table on a Sunday morning. But that doesn't save us. Only Christ upon the cross, shedding his precious blood, being that once for all sacrifice for sin. This woman was interested and she came. There were those in Jesus’ day who saw many great acts but they never came, they never trusted him. Remember the young man that was possessed of the demons. He couldn't even live in his own home. He couldn't live in his own village. There was a place for him just out amongst the tombs. And there he would cut himself and there he would cry out in the night and no one would pass by. He was such a violent young man. And they tried to contain him. They tried to put straps on him but somehow the enemy within him would just snap the straps. And then one day the Lord Jesus Christ came by and the Lord spoke to the demons that were in him. There was a herd of swine feeding on the on the hillside. The demons asked permission to leave the body and go into the herd of swine. With one word Jesus told them to go. They entered into the swine and they ran down the hill, into the sea and they were drowned. Someone went back and told the owners of the pigs what had happened and they came out to see for themselves. They were informed about it. They were interested enough to come out to see what was happening. And they saw this young man, this young man that couldn't be settled. But when the leaders of that city and the owners of these swine come out, they saw this young man and he was sitting at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and he was clothed and in his right mind. What did they do? They turned to the Lord Jesus Christ and said, "We don't want you. We don't want you in this part of the world. We want you to leave." They saw the young man and they saw what God did for that young man but they didn't want anything to do with it. They would rather had their swine. They would rather had their money. They didn't want the things of God. They didn't want the Lord Jesus Christ. So, Jesus had to go. We can be interested but we need to come. Remember in Paul's day whenever he was preaching on Mars Hill. It's recorded for us in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 17. He informed them of God who created the world, of a coming judgment day and that they needed to repent of their sins and turn away. They were informed and some of them were interested. They were interested enough to stand and to listen. But you know, the Bible tells us that some actually believed. And then there were some who said, "Well, we'll hear you another day." And there were those who just walked away into the darkness. Interested enough to listen, but not to come. There will be those who will walk out of meetings tonight rejecting the message. Just like Felix of old. Paul informed him of judgment to come, of the life that he should be living, of what he needed to do. The Bible says that he trembled. He said to Paul, “Paul, go thy way." When I have a convenient season I will call for you." He had an interest to listen to him in the first place, but no interest to come to Christ to be saved.

Then we notice here that she inquired. In verse number one we read that she came to prove him with hard questions. She inquired. Notice where she's at now. Yes, there was a time whenever she was informed and yes, there was a time whenever she was interested. But now, where's she at? She's right beside him asking these hard questions. She wants to know all about it. She was informed. She was interested. But now she's inquiring further. She comes in verse number three and she asks questions. Remember whenever Paul had to leave Thessalonica. There was a riot there when he preached the word of God. There were those who believed the gospel and were saved. There were those who rejected and caused a riot. Paul had to leave and go down to Berea. When he got to Berea and preached the word of God, he found that the men of Berea were more noble than those of Thessalonica because they listened to the word of God with all readiness of mind. What did they do whenever they went home? They searched the scriptures. They inquired and they heard. They were informed and they were interested. But whenever they went home, they got down the word of God and they began to search the scriptures to see if these things be so. You know, it's one thing to sit in a gospel meeting. It's one thing to listen to what the preacher has to say, but you know we need to be careful. We need to go home and search the scriptures for ourselves. We need to look and see if what was said tonight is according to the word of God. John said in reference to the false preachers that we are to try the spirits and see if they be of God. This this woman inquired.

I love the funny story of the wee boy sitting one night doing his homework

and he said to his dad who was reading the newspaper "Dad what's the capital of Russia?" The dad said "I don't know, son." So that was okay. A minute or two later, the wee boy says, "Dad, what's the population of Russia?" His father responded "Son, I don't know, son." A moment or two later the wee boy says, "Dad, what's the longest river in Russia?” The dad looked at him again and said "Son I don't know." Some time later the wee boy says, "Dad do you mind me asking you all these questions?" And the dad says, "Not at all, son because how else are you going to learn if you don't ask questions?" You see, he was asking the questions but the person didn't know the answers.

There is only one tonight who knows you and me, who knows what I need. Thank God tonight we find the answers in the word of God because he has given them to us. This woman heard about the wisdom of Solomon and so she came to ask these hard questions. Think about Nicodemus. He was one of the wealthiest men at that time. He is a religious man and he has been informed about the Lord Jesus Christ. He tells Jesus that when he meets him “Lord we know that thou art a teacher come from God for no man can do these miracles except God be with him.” Maybe he heard the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. Maybe he was there whenever he saw some of these great miracles performed. He was informed about them and he is interested about them. But here he is sitting now in his own home. And all these things are going through his mind. And what does he do? He gets up, gets dressed and says, "I'm going to find the Messiah."  And so he comes to where Jesus was, sits down and has a face-to-face chat with the Lord Jesus Christ. He gets his answers to the questions that he has. It is possible tonight that you have questions and it is possible to ask questions. How does Jesus save? How does his death upon the cross save me? How does this precious blood that you speak about cleanse me from my sin? How does that secure me a place in heaven? How does that change my life? You know, the preacher doesn't know all the answers, but they are here in God’s word. Remember the old Philippian jailer and how he came one night asking the question "What must I do to be saved?" Thank God tonight we can be saved. This woman was impressed. Verse number seven, "The half has not been told." Isn't that the testimony of any sinner? Many people who testify will say ”you know, I wish I'd come earlier. I wish I'd given my life to Christ 20 years before.” Why? Because they have proved Christ to do so much for them and to have so much for us.

She was invited. Solomon just opened up his heart and his home. He says, "Take a look around you and see what is here." Before she went away he sent her away with even more riches than she had previously. That's what you find tonight. Whenever you come to Christ he blesses us with “every spiritual blessing in high places in Christ Jesus.” He takes away your sin, he gives you new life. Would you accept it? Would you accept that as the gift of God this evening? Because he has done so much for you. This woman found that he had done so much for Solomon and Christ can do so much for you.