Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Matthew chapter 2 and verse
2. The wise men, they'd come 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. Especially these words,
we are come to worship him, or are come to worship him. Very often it is said as we gather
on occasion in the house of God that we have got a service, a
church service, a chapel service that we are going to. But may
we always have in mind that as we are gathering, we are coming
to worship our God. We are coming to worship the
Lord. And yes, we know that the Lord
gave Peter the commission, feed my lambs, feed my sheep, we come
to be fed with the Word of God. We would remember also that Peter
was told that when they are converted or restored, after he denied
his Lord and Master, that he was to strengthen his brethren. In the house of God we are strengthened
and through the washing of the water by the word we are also
sanctified. We also have a strength in our
faith because faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word
of God. But in all of this we would remember
that there is worship. We think of the Syrophoenician
woman who came to our Lord and worshipped Him, saying, Lord,
help me. So may we remember, though, and
may we always have it in our minds, that as we gather, we
gather for worship of Almighty God. In this portion, we have,
as in many parts of the Word of God, most solemn contrasts
regarding worship, we have a contrast right at the beginning with Abel
and Cain. It's not actually said that they
were gathering for worship, but they came before God to offer
a sacrifice. A lot later, the first time,
where the word worship is actually mentioned in the Word of God,
but it's not the first instance where there is worship. But with Cain and with Abel,
we find how they are worshipping, with what they are worshipping,
is of great importance. And one was worshipping in a
right way with the blood, Abel, as taught, a lamb slain, whereas
Cain brought of the fruit of the field of his own work, of
that which had been cursed. And God had not respect unto
Cain and his offering, and it resulted in Cain being angry
and slaying his brother. And so immediately right at the
very start of the Word of God, we have two, two brothers coming
to worship. And the Lord is saying, this
is the right way. This is the wrong way. Here in
this portion, we have these wise men coming to worship sincerely,
uprightly, in a right way. Then we have the most solemn
words of Herod, because Herod also made out that he was going
to worship as well. And he said in verse eight, bring
me when you found the child, bring me word again that I may
come and worship him also. What a solemn thing to realize
that his design was not worship, but was to destroy them, and
instead he destroyed all of the young children that were in those
coves. And so what a solemn warning
we have of all that would seek to say outwardly that they're
coming to worship, but not really as in a sincere way at all. And may we remember who are the
Lord's people that not everyone who professes to worship are
worshipping at all. Using the contrast of Abel and
Cain, of Herod and these wise men, of the two that came up
to pray in the temple, the Pharisee and the Publican, Again and again
we have the warning, and may we ask ourselves, how do we come? How do we worship? What is our
motive? What is our motive for coming
amongst the people of God? Now we're not told how many of
these wise men were coming. We're not told that they were
kings. We're told there were three gifts, and we're told what
those gifts were, but we are not told, actually, that there
was three. There's many things that are
portrayed in picture books, or even in hymns sometimes, or carols,
that give the impression that there are kings, and that they
were meeting at a stable, not a house as is set forth here.
And we can easily read wrong things in. Now I know some have
studied secular works or what men think, but maybe always remember
this. The word of God is inspired word
of God. If God meant us to know those
facts, he would have put them in the word of God. He hasn't,
and so really to dwell a lot on them is really distraction
from the main message. I've felt of late a real reminder,
especially as a minister of the Gospel, of that which is written
in Deuteronomy and at the end of our Bibles, that we are not
to add to the Word of God, and we're not to subtract from it.
And we can do that when we read into text things that are not
there, or when we consult secular writings as if, well, we need
to have that to be able to bring the message of God. But maybe
always remember our commission is preach the word, not preach
the word and add to it all from other history books and other
writings of men and thoughts of other men, it is to be focused
on what the Holy Spirit has chosen should be our matter. And may
we be held in the ministry and held as hearers to desire the
pure Word of God. Sometimes we have taken up with
things that we thought have come from the Bible and maybe have
never really checked and then realized that it has never been
from the Word of God at all. So these shepherds when they,
or these wise men when they came, it would have been a couple of
years perhaps after the shepherds. In one sense we have the shepherds
maybe representing the Jews, they would have been Jews, they're
in Palestine. And then after, when our Lord
is in the house there, still at Bethlehem, then they come from the East, Gentiles. Right through the scripture,
there is a joining together of Jew and Gentile. We have it with
our Lord in John, other sheep I have which are not of this
fold, them also I must bring. We have it when the Holy Spirit
was poured out on the day of Pentecost and 10 years later
on Cornelius and his household on the Gentiles afterwards. And so you have right at the
birth of our Lord a representation of those that were brought to
see Him, acknowledge Him, worship Him, of Jew and also of Gentile. So I want to look this evening,
firstly, they came to worship, these wise men, they came to
worship. Secondly, who they worship, which
is the Lord Jesus Christ, saying, where is he born, King of the
Jews? For we have seen his star in
the east and are come to worship him. And then how they worship,
which in their case, we read in verse 11. And I want to lead
that on to how we also are to worship. But firstly, they came up to
worship. In looking at this verse, I do want to highlight that this is before, of course,
our Lord has ever spoken anything like he did when he was 12, that
he's recorded. His life, his miracles, his death,
his resurrection, none of that is coming in here. The details of what is to be
done by the coming of our Lord, and still they come up to worship. I feel it's good to To notice
these differences, the Apostle Paul, he says, that I determined
to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. That could not have been the
message of the 70 and those that preached the word when our Lord
was on the earth before he was crucified. They were preaching
the kingdom of God was at hand. God was on his way, the work
was being done, he had appeared. In this case with our Lord being
born, it is again the message, the fullness of time has come. Emmanuel, God with us, he is
here, he has come. He has been born. He is on this
earth. He is beginning his earthly sojourn. Our Lord says, for this cause
came I into this world. And those of faith, they knew
for the purpose, the reason, through all the types and the
shadows. But worship, worship of God, what is worship? Worship is an act. of religious
devotion directed towards a deity or God. It is about recognition
of a God. And when you think of that, and
you think of the children of Israel, when they had departed
from the true and living God and were serving Baal in the
days of Ahab and Elijah, Then Elijah called them after the
Lord had sent three and a half years of famine up onto Mount
Carmel, and it was to put to a trial who was God. If Baal be God, then worship
him. If the God of Israel, the Lord
be God, then worship him. Maybe think of this, what a solemn
thing for God's ancient people to be turning away from the true
and living God that made heaven and earth and all things that
are therein. And they were worshipping Baal,
in effect saying, we acknowledge Baal as a deity and recognizing
him as a God or the God. Whenever we gather together for
worship, we are making a statement as to who we believe is the true
and living God. And we always remember that,
especially with public worship. Solemnly today, even amongst
our national church, While it may be said that they are worshipping
the Lord Jesus, they also speak of other faiths and none, as
if those other gods had some value as well. Well, the Apostle
Paul, when he comes to the men at Athens on Mars Hill, and he
says that he perceives that they are altogether superstitious,
He's seen their devotions, he's seen their worship, that they
are worshipping all sorts of gods, they had altars to all
sorts, and just in case they left a god out, then they had
the altar to an unknown god. Well, Paul is very clear when
he speaks to them, and he sets before them that there is only
one true god. He says, Whom therefore ye ignorantly
worship, Him declare I unto you. Of course, it was a solemn thing
that they were professing to worship not one, but many gods. And really, that's a picture
of today, isn't it? Don't offend anybody. Don't say
to anybody that their god is not a god, and no gods. The Word of God is clear that
the gods that May not the heavens and earth, they shall perish
from under the heavens and the earth. And so Paul, he begins
with them and says in Acts 17 verse 24, God that made the world
and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and
earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is worshipped
with men's hands, as though he needed anything. seeing he giveth
to all life and breath and all things and hath made of one blood
all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth
and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds
of their habitation that they should seek the lord and he's
very clear that in him we live and move and have our being and
he finishes with the truth that God now commandeth all men everywhere
to repent, to turn from these idols and from these other gods
and to the true and to the living God. And so when we have these
wise men coming to worship, they are coming in effect to give
a statement that this baby that they are coming to see, they
are acknowledging Him as God. They are lifting Him up, they
are bearing testimony as to who He was. They came to worship
and may that be what, when we gather, we gather for worship,
and in our worship we are making a very clear statement. We are lifting him up, we are
setting forth his name as the only name given among men whereby
we must be saved. We are setting forth the Lord
Jesus Christ as the true and living God. But then we read
here that they came They came and worshipped, they came to
worship. They didn't just stay in their
land where they were, they came. Faith in coming. We read the Queen of Sheba, and
our Lord made reference to her, saying that she came from the
ends of the earth to hear of the wisdom of Solomon. And behold,
there is a greater than Solomon Here and here are these wise
men also coming, and coming no doubt from a distance. They didn't
just stay, they came, and they beheld. You might say, how? How could we? How could we do
that in our day? Well, one way is to come. Forsake not the assembling of
yourselves together, if you're able. to gather in the house
of God, then do so, come. Another way is to come before
the Lord in prayer. In bowing before the Lord in
prayer, when it is in private or public, we're coming before
the Lord in an attitude of worship. So there are those ways that
we also will come. We come before the word of God,
we think of Those that gathered round our Lord, and it was to
hear the Word of God. Those that gathered in Ezra's
day was to hear the Word of God opened up and clearly taught
so that they'd understand it. We think then of Abraham, and
this is where I referred to before, of the first time that worship
is mentioned in the Word of God as being worshipped, and it is
Abraham in Genesis 22, as God said to him that he was to go
to the land of Moriah and offer up Isaac as a burnt offering,
one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. He didn't tell
him which way, he had a venture, as he did when he came out of
Ur of the Chaldees. And it was a test, it was a trial. And Paul, he speaks of Abraham
justified by faith in believing that God was able to raise him
up. But James, he speaks of Abraham
justified by works in that he went, he obeyed God. He didn't just stay in his own
land and say, I believe that God will be able to raise up
Isaac. He went. And James' message is,
be ye doers of the word and not hearers only. With these wise
men, they are doers. They are like the Queen of Sheba. She heard of his wisdom. She
went to see and went to hear. They saw the star and they went
to see. And that word that Abraham says
to the young men when they came to the place, in Genesis 22 verse
5, Abraham said unto his young men, abide ye here with the ass
and I and the lad will go yonder and worship and come again to
you. They were going up that mountain
to worship. They were going up to give that. reverence, to give that act of
worship to the true and living God, and it was in the act of
a sacrifice, an offering. Abraham, says our Lord, saw my
day, and he rejoiced at it. And so, our first point here,
they came to worship. And I hope this leaves a sweet
savour, a savour with us of those times that we come to the house
of God. And you might say, well, I didn't
have a blessing. I didn't feel the answer to my
prayer. I didn't receive the answer to
my request. I didn't receive the help that
I felt. But you came up to worship. Came
up to worship. And there'll be those times you
might think, well, there's been no benefit to me, what I have
received. But may it be a joy to us and
a delight and gladsome to us. that the Lord has chosen us,
this people, have I formed for myself, they shall show forth
my praise and worship. There is praise, there is adoration,
there is acknowledging of God as a true and living God. But
it comes closer than that, because on to look at our second point.
They worship. They worship him that had been
shown them that was born King of the Jews. We have seen his
star in the east and I come to worship him. When they came, they didn't worship
Mary. There's no mention at all of
Joseph where he was. but they came to worship Him,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's vital for us that we
also worship Him as the true and living God. This was the
thing, the reason why the Jews crucified our Lord, that Thou,
being a man, makest Thyself God. This is what so many cults and
false religions will say, that Jesus is created, he began his
sonship at birth, he is not equal with God, he is not truly God. We believe in the Trinity, Father,
Son and Holy Ghost. Let us make man in our own image. We have throughout scripture
again and again regarding worship. Three, in heaven, holy, holy,
holy, Lord God Almighty. Three, when Balaam comes, called
to curse but turned to bless the children of Israel, it is
in three places, seven altars, that he blesses the children
of Israel, a thrice blessing, the same as the blessing that
we bless and give the benediction after Paul's direction to the
Corinthians to Father, Son and Holy Ghost. And we have here
these three gifts that are given. We cannot say, but again, we
see the three right the way through scripture. Our Lord is very clear,
speaking that I and my Father are one, and He speaks of the
Holy Spirit. When He, the Spirit of Truth,
is come, He will not speak of Himself. Whatsoever He shall
hear, that shall He speak. He shall glorify me. He shall
receive of mine and show it unto you. And with the resurrection
of our Lord Jesus Christ, in Scripture, it's spoken of an
act performed from the Father, which raiseth the dead. And our
Lord, with power to lay down his life and to take it again,
and the Holy Spirit that quickeneth the dead. The Lord Jesus Christ is truly
God. If you've seen me, you've seen
my Father also, and we have In the epistles of John, at the
end of 1 John 5, this is the true God and eternal life. We know that the Son of God is
come, and our text is right at the start when He is come, when
He is first come. We know that the Son of God is
come and hath given us an understanding that we may know Him that is
true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son, Jesus
Christ. This is the true God and eternal
life. I and my Father are one. And worship. You know, when Peter
came into Cornelius and Cornelius bowed down to him, Peter immediately
bade him Lift up, he says, I am a man like thou art. Worship God. John was the same
before the angel. I am of thy, the same as thou,
created. Worship God. Right the way through
the scripture, where one is worshipped that should not be worshipped,
that one has very clearly said Do not worship me, worship God. Now you might say here, the babe
can't say that, can he? Not now. But our Lord, when the
Lord opened the eyes to the man that was born blind, then that
dear man, when he revealed himself to him, he worshipped the Lord. When They had seen the Lord risen
from the dead, the disciples they worshipped. The Lord Jesus
Christ was worshipped here on earth. Acts of devotion and here
right at the very beginning there is given this and the seal of
God upon it. Who they worshipped, how vital. You know John When he writes
in his epistles, the second epistle, he makes this a very deciding
point. Who so transgresseth and abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. The doctrine of
Christ. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any
unto you and bring not this doctrine, Receive him not into your house,
neither bid him Godspeed. For he that biddeth him Godspeed
is but a taker of his evil deeds. It's very, very important that
when we worship, we worship the Lord, Jesus Christ, truly believing
He is the true and living God. Whom say ye that I the Son of
Man am? Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the Living God. It is absolutely vital that we
have Emmanuel, God with us, God manifest in the flesh, God and
man, two natures, one person, one person in a triune God, and
that is the foundation of our salvation and of our hope. and the uniqueness of Christ. There is none other name given
among men. And that is a message we so need
in our country here, because it is a fashionable thing to
want to allow any, any God, other gods, a multitude of gods, and
not the uniqueness of the Lord. this season of the year much
lip service is given, but it's hardly veiled at all, not veiled
by a king, not veiled by his utterances, but openly stated
an equality with other faiths. It should never be, never be
from those who truly know and love the Lord. If we worship,
then we're not to be like Israel. Israel, they at one time worshipped
the Lord, and then they turned their backs and they worshipped
the gods of heaven. Our Lord was very clear, you
cannot worship God and mammon the same as Elijah was. If Baal
be God, worship him. If the Lord be God, worship him. And here it centres in a person,
the person of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, a man I worked
with many years ago, who's a deacon in an Armenian church, he's an
engineer with me. And I found out that he was part
of the Masonic Lodge. And I said, how can you do that?
How can you join with them from that ungodly group? And he said, but I had to believe
in God. I had to be a believer in God. And I said to him, yes, in a
God. But if you define who your God
is, that it is exclusively the Lord Jesus Christ, they will
not want to know you. He said, oh. He said, that explains. He said, I tried to give them
my experience and my faith, and they didn't want to hear. All
they wanted to know was, do you believe in God? A God that was
not to be defined. And that is what causes offense
today. We've known this firsthand many
times. You can talk to someone, and
you think, well, they're a believer. But as soon as you make the Lord
Jesus Christ the only true God, and that there is no other salvation
but in Him, Then we have much anger, much opposition. They
came to worship Him, and may we also be worshippers of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And especially where something
is, it is very much the error of our day. May we be very clear
to state who we worship. Well, how do we worship? How
did they worship? You might say, is this really
a pattern as to how we should worship? We read, didn't we,
with Paul, speaking to those at Athens, that God is not worship. He doesn't need anything. He
doesn't need us to bring him gifts, as if he had need of these
things. But what is to be really noticed
here is that they came with such reverence and such worship. They came bearing gifts, bearing
it in a way like when the Queen of Sheba came. She didn't come
empty. The very gifts were portraying
the high esteem that she had for Solomon. And these very gifts
here, they are treating him as a king, as a deity, as true to
worship him. And so in that sense, what is
to be highlighted here is how they come and the attitude of
real worship and bowing down. And when you think of this, these
are grown men, these are wise men, and this is a baby. This is a young child, this is
a one, two year old child. And they're coming in an attitude
of worship. Our Lord himself tells of how we should worship. When he spoke
to the woman at the well, of Samaria. In John chapter 4 and
verse 22, while the woman had said in verse 21 that, or verse 20, verse 20, our fathers
worshipped in this mountain and ye say that in Jerusalem is the
place where men ought to worship. That is the Samaritan speaking
to a Jew. Jesus saith unto her, Woman,
believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this
mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship
ye know not what. We know what we worship, for
salvation is of the Jews. In other words, through the Jews
shall come the Messiah. But the hour cometh, and now
is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to
worship Him. God is a spirit, and they that
worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." What
a definition of true worship. Reason why the disciples had
to tarry at Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on
high. Absolutely vital that the Holy
Spirit, the third person in the Trinity, that He it is that reveals
the Lord Jesus Christ. The woman, she says, I know that
Messiah's cometh which is called Christ when He has come. He will
tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that
speak unto thee, am he. Clearly setting forth who he
was. The Lord spoke also concerning the
law of God and the law points as to the ingredients of worship. As one came to Him and asked
Him which was the first commandment of all, Jesus answered him, the
first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord
our God is one Lord. Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first commandment. The second is lying, namely this,
thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other
commandment greater than these. And so our Lord is speaking,
going back to the law of God, setting forth the worship of
God with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our soul. We think of David when They came
to worship the Lord in bringing up the ark to Jerusalem. And Uzzah was smitten because
he steadied the ark which was on a cart. And the ark was turned aside to the
house of Obed-Edom. God blessed the house of Obed-Edom
and later it was brought up David charged the Levites and said,
you bring it on your shoulders. We did not at the first as was
ordered by God. It's vital that worship is as
ordered by God. Now I know as we gather for worship,
as we do tonight, the ingredients of worship, we take from the
word of God, that is the, reading of the Word of God distinctly
and giving the sense, the preaching of the Word, as the Apostle says,
we preach Christ crucified, the seeing of worthy praise with
the understanding, not just emptiness, but the understanding also in
the Spirit and the understanding and offering up prayer to God
each time of worship, then there was prayer that was joined. And we hope, we believe that
we have the right mix, not an overbalance of singing or music,
not an overbalance of any one part, but predominantly the preaching
of the word of God. But especially regarding our
gathering together, the Lord at one time says, think that
I am altogether such as thou art. And when we come to worship,
we come to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We read in
the Psalms that God is greatly to be feared in the assembly
of the saints, to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.
Not long ago I saw a instance or a clip of a judge reproving
one standing before her that was inappropriately dressed in
a court of law. And she said, normally I would
say, dress in this court as you would to the house of God, but
I cannot say that anymore. Most solemnly, many assemblies
of God's people, that they would come from dressing very well
for secular work, a suit, a tie, but then change into jeans or
something very casual to come into the house of God, even taking
leading worship. This, though God looks at the
heart, God also sees that outwardly. Would we appear to an earthly
king, an earthly queen, dress casually, Whenever Jacob, whenever
Israel had to appear before God, they had to wash their garments,
they had to put on their best, they had to take notice of how
they appeared. And it is all indicative of how
we truly view the Lord whom we're coming before. It is to be as
none other assembly No other person is such worthy of praise,
and just because our Lord was made man, just because the gospel
is for sinners and to be preached to all, and all are welcome,
then it doesn't mean that we treat him with a familiarity
in speech, in actions, in the house of God, solemnly in some
places as well. the services started or carried
on flippantly and with jokes and with lightness, so inappropriate
to be before the true and the living God. It's not all. The solemnity takes away joy. The people of God, especially
in David's day, but right through with our Lord Jesus Christ, you
think of when he came into Jerusalem, and there was much joy, there
was much gladness. They were praising Him, coming
in the name of the Lord. If these should hold their peace,
the very stones should cry out. To have joy and peace in believing,
we may do that reverently, with worthy praise, not worldly praise,
not bringing the world's music, the world's lyrics, all the that
drumbeats the wise of the world into the Church of God. The worthy
hymns that we sing, and the carols as this evening, should reflect
the true and living, eternal God. Not be empty words, but
words that speak of his majesty, his goodness, and speak something
of what we view in him. as the true eternal God, the
one upon who our hopes depend. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who was
to live a perfect life, who was then to lay down his life for
sacrifice, putting away the sins of his people with the shedding
of his own precious blood, and then rising again, proving that
that sacrifice was accepted, and that God had set his seal,
that those sins were put away. He had given assurance unto all
men in that he had raised him from the dead. God commendeth
his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us, the Lamb slain. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. And this is remembered in the
ordinance of the Lord's Supper, This do ye in remembrance of
me, remembering Christ's sufferings and death, and the blood that
he shed on Calvary's tree. And what he said, for this cause
came I into this world. If you and I are saved, it is
by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, in his blood, sacrifice alone,
not trusting and not giving any credence to any other God whatsoever. but to worshipping the Lord Jesus
Christ alone. May we be then like these that
came. They came and they worshipped,
and they worshipped him. And each time we gather to the
house of God, we say to one another, let us go and worship the Lord. Amen.