Todd's Real Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. I'm going to be preaching from
Matthew chapter 2, and I've entitled this message, What Wise Men Do. Now, I'm going to state a fact. You and I would either be considered
by God himself wise or foolish. Now, I'm talking about before
God. The world may call me a wise
man when God would call me a fool. There are two kinds of people
in this world, the wise and the foolish, whom God would call
wise and whom God would call a fool. Now, we're going to consider
what wise men do. In Matthew 2, verse 1, now, when
Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the
king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
saying, where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in
the east and are come to worship him. Now that's what wise men
do. They see who He is and they have
come to worship Him. Now, the greatest event in the
history of the universe has just taken place. The birth of Jesus
Christ. From creation up to this point,
nothing had happened of this significance. The birth of Jesus
Christ. Now, every second he lived upon
this earth is of equal importance when he worked out that perfect
righteousness, obeying his father perfectly. I love to think of
the 30 years he lived in obscurity, working out a perfect righteousness. And there is no greater event
than his death. That's the reason the universe
was created, for him to come and die, the Son of God dying. And then the greatness of the
event of his resurrection. He was raised from the dead.
And he was raised from the dead because he had finished what
the father gave him to do and satisfied the father. The father
was satisfied with what he did and who he did it for. Therefore
he raised him from the dead. And then his ascension back into
glory. Oh, the greatness of these things. Well, these wise men came from
the east to Jerusalem. I know the nativity scene says
there were three, but there's nothing in the scripture to support
that. There may have been 20 or 30. There might have just
been two, I don't know. But they came from the East. The wise men, the Magi, the name
for the wise men, the philosophers, the astrologists from the East,
Babylon. were not given their names. We just do not know exactly
who they were. It could be that they were some
of the Israelites that were in the Babylonian captivity and
never came back home. And I know this. This is a fair
speculation. They were studying the book of
Daniel Daniel was a prophet in Babylon. You can read his book. It's got 14 chapters, 12 chapters. I can't remember, but it's in
the Old Testament. And Daniel prophesied that the
Messiah would be born 490 years from that time. And these people
had studied the book of Daniel. I'm sure it was still there in
Babylon. And they thought, this is the
time the Messiah is to come. So they came to Jerusalem to
find out where he would be born. Verse two, saying, where is he
that is born king of the Jews? He was born king. He wasn't elected
king. Men didn't make him king. He
was born king because he is king of kings and lord of lords. Where is he that is born king
of the Jews? For we have seen his star in
the east and are come to worship him." Now, these men had some
understanding, these wise men from the east. They understood
that the one they were seeking was the one who was born King
of the Jews. Now, there were many passages
of Scripture in the book of Daniel speaking of his kingship and
his lordship and his dominion and the nature of his kingdom.
But I would like to read a passage of Scripture from the book of
Isaiah. Maybe they had read this verse of Scripture. Isaiah says
in Isaiah 9, 6, for unto us a child is born and to us a son is given. Now that son is not born. He's the eternal son. When he
became flesh, the child was born. And listen to this description
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The government shall be upon
his shoulder. He controls everything. And my dear friend, he controls
me and you right now. The government will be upon his
shoulder. His name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor. And this word counselor does
not mean he's somebody to go to to get advice from and try
to learn how to live like a counselor in our day. This is he who counsels,
who decrees. His counsel is always done. The mighty God the everlasting
father, the prince of peace. And of the increase of his government
and peace, there should be no end upon the throne of David
and upon his kingdom to order and to establish it with judgment
and with justice from henceforth, even forever. Now this is the
king that they were seeking he who was born king of the Jews. We have seen his star in the
east and are come to worship him. Now this star they saw,
I believe was a star in our atmosphere. I don't believe it was a star
up in outer space, but it was something they could watch move
and follow, very much like the burning lamp that Abraham saw
in Genesis chapter 15. There was a star in the atmosphere
that came, they followed it, and it stopped and stood over
the manger where the Lord Jesus Christ was born. Its purpose
was done at that time. Now they say to Herod, Where is he that's born King
of the Jews? For we have seen his star in
the East and are come to worship him." Now, here is the issue
that must be settled with me and with you. That is the issue
of worship. We are come to worship. They understood that He was the
King of kings and Lord of lords, and we are come to worship Him. You will only worship a sovereign. If you think you can manipulate
God, if you think you can get Him to do this or get Him to
do that, and if you think you can move Him, You're not worshiping
him. You only worship an absolute
sovereign where you're in his hands and he can do with you
whatever he's pleased to do. Only that God will you bow down
and worship. Let me give you a couple of scriptures
with regard to this. We read in Matthew chapter eight
of a leper. Behold, a leper came and worshipped
him. Somebody says, we really had
a worship service. Well, I don't know whether you
did, but I know this leper worshipped him because the Bible says he
did. Behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord,
if you will, You can make me clean. Now, what I want us to
notice about this leper who came and worshipped, he worshipped
the Lord before the Lord had done anything for him. Lord, if you will, here I am
in my uncleanness. He didn't say, Lord, I will that
you make me clean. He said, Lord, if you will, you
can make me clean. I'm in your sovereign hands. Whatever you do is right. But if you will, If it's your
sovereign will and pleasure to do this, you can, you have the
ability to make me clean. That's what I need before God.
I need to be clean. I don't need to be healthy, I
don't need to be wealthy, but I need to be clean. I can't come
into his presence and be in heaven if I'm not made clean. Now, this
leper understood worship. Now, the Lord had not yet made
him clean, and he didn't know if he would make him clean, but
he worshiped him for who he is. Now, that's worship, my friend.
You worship him for who he is, not for what you think he will
or will not do for you. You worship him for who he is. Now, let me ask you a question.
If Christ did not have mercy on you and left you to yourself
and let you go to hell, would he still be worthy of worship? Well, if you know who he is,
you say, yes, he would. I think of the Syrophoenician
woman who comes to the Lord. We can read about her in Matthew
chapter 15. She says, Jesus, thou son of
David, have mercy upon me for my daughter is grievously vexed
with a devil. Now she came with great respect
to the Lord. She knew who he was and she had a great need. Her daughter was vexed, was grievously
vexed with a demon. She was demon possessed. Can
you imagine how you would feel if your child was demon possessed?
And the scripture says, he answered her, not a word. He ignored her when she came
with this request. It didn't stop her though, she
continued to cry. And the disciples said, Lord,
send her away, she crieth after us. And then the Lord said, I'm
not sent, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. I did
not come to save everybody. I came only to save the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. Now that's a reference to the
elect, those the father gave him. I didn't come to save everybody.
I came to save the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And the
scripture says, then came she and worshiped him. She didn't say, well, that's
not fair. It's not right for you to ignore me. It's not right
for you to only come for certain people. I'm coming to you. No,
the scripture says, then came she and worshiped him saying,
Lord, help me. If you don't help me, I will
not be helped. Lord, help me. And then he said, it's not right
to take the children's bread and to throw it to the dogs.
And she said, truth, Lord. I may be a dog, but I'm your
dog. And even the dogs eat the crumbs
that fall from the master's table. I'm not looking for a place setting,
but I would be grateful for any crumbs of your mercy that fall
my way." And the Lord said, oh woman, great is thy faith. Be it to thee even as thou wilt. Now, let me say this about worship.
Worship is a response to revelation. If you and I ever see who he
is, we will worship him. Somebody that doesn't worship
him has never seen who he is. Now, these wise men, where is
he that is born King of the Jews? They're seeking the Lord. That's
what wise men do. They seek the Lord. Where is
he that's born King of the Jews? They know who he is. He's the
king of the Jews. Here's what they come to do.
We are come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard
these things, he was troubled. And all in Jerusalem, this did
not come to them as good news. You see, Herod understood that
if Jesus Christ is king, that means he was not. That's what
troubled him. He viewed this as competition
with himself. You know, men are always troubled
when they hear of the sovereign kingship of Christ. Men are not
troubled by a weak Jesus who can't do things unless we let
him, a Jesus who can be manipulated, a Jesus who has to have his will
submit to our free will. He may will something, but he
can't have it unless we will to let him have it. Nobody's
afraid of that Jesus. The problem is that Jesus is
non-existent. He is a figment of men's imagination. The Jesus
Christ of the Bible is the sovereign King of kings and Lord of lords. This is the one men are troubled
by. King Jesus, he that's born King
of the Jews. Now there are two kinds of people
in this world. I introduced this message like
this. There are wise men and they're foolish men. Wise men
are glad that he is King of Kings, the absolute sovereign of the
universe. Foolish men do not like this.
Let me tell you why. Foolish men are hoping that their
works will save them. That's to be a fool. It is showing
such a disrespect for the character of God to think that he can accept
your works. It's showing such a high opinion
of yourself that you think your works have any bearing with God. That's a fool. When it's declared
in gospel preaching that the Bible is God's infallible word,
human opinions and thoughts do not count, human objections do
not have a voice. The only authority is the Word
of God. And the Word of God declares
a God who is God, a God who is absolutely sovereign. The Word
of God declares man as he is, dead in sins, unable to save
himself. The Bible declares a Trinitarian
salvation. Salvation by God the Father in
choosing a people in election before time began. The salvation
of God the Son in redeeming those people, working out a perfect
righteousness for them, putting away their sins. The work of
God the Holy Spirit in giving them life. They were dead, and
now they live, partakers of the divine nature, and these people
will persevere to the end. Now, Thule will hate this, because
it's saying his works do not count. He doesn't like this. But a wise man sees the only
way he'll be saved is if this is so. Now, Herod, the king,
when he'd heard these things, he was troubled. and all of Jerusalem
with him. Verse four, and when he had gathered
all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded
of them where Christ should be born. He wanted to find out,
where's he supposed to be born? Because in his mind, he wanted
to wipe him out. He wasn't gonna let them know
that, but he was going to have every child under two years old
slain. If he could find out where he
would be born, all those children would be put to death. Now, in
Jeremiah, it said he would do this. He didn't realize this,
but it was what God determined for him to do. You see, God is
sovereign over the free and uncoerced actions of men. Even the evil
actions, he's going to use for his glory and the glory of his
son and the good of his people. But Jeremiah said that he would
do this. But he asked the chief priests and the scribes when
or where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, and this
is a quotation from Micah 5, verse 2, and they said unto him
in Bethlehem of Judea, For thus it is written by the prophet,
And thou, Bethlehem, in the land of Judea, art not the least among
the princes of Judah. For out of thee shall come a
governor that shall rule my people, Israel." This was prophesied
in Micah 5, verse 2, that Jesus Christ would be born in Bethlehem. Now, you'll remember he was living
in Nazareth, or his parents were living in
Nazareth, and Caesar had decreed that all the world would be taxed,
so you'd have to go back to the place of your birth to be taxed.
Mary and Joseph go back to Bethlehem. That's where he's born, according
to God's purpose. Verse 7, Then Herod, when he had privileged
all the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the
star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem.
They said the Christ will be born in Bethlehem, the Messiah,
He that's born King of the Jews. He'll be born in Bethlehem. And
he sent them to Bethlehem and said, go and search diligently
for the young child. And when you have found him,
bring me word again that I may also come and worship him. Now this was spoken out of the
deceitfulness of his heart. He planned on murdering him if
he could, because he didn't want him to be king. Because if he
was king, that would mean that he's no longer king. And so he
was going to order the execution of all males under two years
of age in that place. Verse nine, when they had heard
the king, they didn't realize that this was his intention.
When they heard the king, they departed. And lo, the star which
they saw in the east went before them, till it came and stood
over where the young child was." Now, what was the purpose of
this star? To bring these men to where the
young child was. to bring these men to the Lord
Jesus Christ. And it stood over the manger. It quit moving. Now, if the light you have does
not bring you to Christ and stop there, It's not a supernatural
light. But if the light you have brings
you to Christ, and it stops there, you go no further. It is the
light of the Holy Spirit. Now, evidently, not everybody
could see this light. Only the wise man and the only
men who see Christ are those God reveals him to. They're the
only ones who really see. You see, you and I can't figure
this out. We're completely dependent upon Him for revelation. And
this star stopped at Christ. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believeth. The star made
no attempt to go beyond Christ, but simply to show Him and stop. Now listen real carefully to
this. If the light you have does not
stop at Christ, leaving you to looking to him only and resting
in him only as all in your salvation, you have a false light, a wandering
star. Do you know what it is to look
to Christ and rest? Knowing that all God requires
of you, you have in His Son. You understand that God is satisfied
with Jesus Christ. And you're satisfied with Jesus
Christ too. You're satisfied to be saved
only by him, knowing that he is all in salvation. Have you ever been there? Do
you know what it is to rest? Do you know what it is to quit
doing and rest in what has been done? That star stopped at Christ. When they saw the star, they
rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were coming
to the house, this is verse 11 of this same passage of scripture.
When they were coming to the house, they saw the young child
with Mary, his mother. And what did they do? They fell
down. And they worshiped him. And when
they'd opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts,
gold and frankincense and myrrh. Now here we have the elements
of the worship of the wise man when they saw him. And this is
where worship begins. You find out who he is. This
is where worship begins. You find out who He is. When they saw Him, when they
perceived, this is He. This is the Son of God. This
is the Creator of the universe. This is the only Savior of sinners.
When they saw Him, God, manifest in the flesh, they perceived
who He was. What did they do? They fell down. They hit the dirt. Whenever I
see who he is, all my lofty, grandiose thoughts of myself
disappears. Self-righteousness, self-confidence,
self-sufficiency are slain in his presence. When they saw him,
they fell down. Like Daniel, I'm sure they read
this when they were studying Daniel. Daniel said, when I saw
him, my comeliness turned to corruption. That which I thought
so highly of myself turned out to be nothing more than corruption.
And he didn't see that till he saw him. If you and I ever see
who he is, we will fall down and we will worship. Why? Because we believe who He
is. You see, you can't believe on
Him and not worship Him. You can't see who He is and not
worship Him. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Now when you believe on the Lord,
He's the Lord. He's everybody's Lord. Somebody says, he's not
my Lord. Yeah, he is. Yeah, he is. He's everybody's
Lord. Whether you know it or not, he's your Lord. He's Jesus,
the Savior. He's the Christ, God's prophet,
God's priest, and God's king. When you believe on him, you
will be saved. And I'll tell you what else you'll
be doing. You will be worshiping him for who he is. They fell down and worshiped. And like I said, you only worship
the sovereign. One where you're in His hands.
He's on your hands. You're in His hands and He can
do with you whatsoever He's pleased to do. Now look what it says
next. It says in verse 11, and when
they had opened their treasures, They presented unto him gifts,
gold and frankincense and myrrh. Now, when they worshiped him,
they opened up their treasures. Now, what the significance of
gold and frankincense and myrrh are, I'm not sure. I'm sure there
is a significance to it. But I know this, when God saves
somebody, they open up their treasures. They give themselves
to him. They give to Him themselves. They give to Him their time. They give to Him their money.
It's all His. And this is what these men did.
They opened up their treasures. And if God opens my heart, He'll
open my treasures. Wise men worship Him.