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.