I'd like us in this first little
section to go to the book of Micah for a little bit. You might
recall in verse... The wise man asked the best question,
one of the best questions, isn't it? Where is he? Where is he? Where is he that is born king? Where is this one that was a
king from all eternity? Where is this one that was born
king of the Jews? Where will he be born? And the
scribes and the chief priests in verse two have no problem
at all. telling these wise men from the East, and we're only
speculating where that is, but the East is always pagan country
in the scriptures. And they said unto him in Bethlehem
of Judea, for it is written by the prophet, O thou Bethlehem
in the land of Judah, art thou the least among the princes of
Judah, for out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule
my people Israel. So if you turn in your scriptures,
it's on page 855 of your pure Bibles there. It is in the middle
of all of those minor prophets, you go Ezekiel, Daniel, and then go to Joel and Amos
and then you're getting close to Micah. It's just after the
book of Jonah. Now the quote, three scripture
passages are quoted here in this opening passage of Matthew and
all through Matthew's Gospel. He's quoting the Old Testament
and one of the glorious things about the Old Testament scriptures
is that all of them speak of the Lord Jesus Christ all the
time and when we read them, when we read a verse in the Old Testament
God has designed it for us, as it was for those people in those
days, that when they read a verse, they immediately had a context
of it because they knew these stories and they knew these verses
off by heart. And so when you come across an
Old Testament verse in the New Testament, it's always good to
go back and have a look at the context of it. have a look around
the verse and you will find the reason why we have just a summary
in the New Testament of something which is very glorious in the
Old Testament. And I'd just like us to see some of that in the
context of it. It's verse 2 of Micah, chapter
5, and it says, and it's interesting that these men misquote it here
in Matthew, chapter 2, verse 6. Just read it, just listen
to it with me. But thou, Bethlehem Ephrata,
though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of
thee shall he come forth unto me,
that is, to be the ruler of Israel, whose going forth have been from
of old, from everlasting. What a great description of the
Lord Jesus Christ. out of this insignificant little
place called Bethlehem, although it's not insignificant in the
scriptures. You might recall that David came from Bethlehem.
You might also recall that Ruth and Naomi left Bethlehem. The
word Bethlehem, of course, means house of bread. They left Bethlehem
and they went into a desert place and they came back to Bethlehem
and found it to be a place where God had brought great blessings
and King David was born there as a result. Yet out of these
shall come forth unto me." He will be God's child and he will
be one who brings God's glory into this world in a way which
is the manifestation of all the promises of the Old Testament
wrapped up in one small child, one baby, whose goings forth,
whose origins have been of old. He had no beginning is what that
means. You see, when the wise man said,
where is he that is born king of the Jews? We're about to have
a king. When the Queen Elizabeth dies,
we'll have a king. Charles has been waiting for
at least 70 years now, and Lord willing, he might wait some considerable
time longer. He was born to be a king, but
he wasn't born king. Kings of men are born to be king. This one is born king of the
Jews. And this is what it is to be
a king, isn't it? Whose goings forth have been from of old. from everlasting. His origins
have no beginning. There never was a time when the
Lord Jesus Christ was not King. There never was a time when the
Lord Jesus Christ was not God. There never is a time and there
never will be a time when the Lord Jesus Christ is not God. I love to think of the fact that
in everything that ever happens, in all the events of all of this
world, in all of the events of all of your lives, God is sovereign. It's lovely to think of his sovereignty.
It's lovely to think of the fact that he never learns anything. Nothing ever takes him by surprise. Nothing ever troubles our God. What's He doing right now? Where
is the King of the Jews? Where is this one that's born
King of the Jews? The New Testament Scriptures make it absolutely
abundantly clear, brothers and sisters, He's sitting on a throne. He's sitting on a throne. He's
sitting on the throne of glory. And He sits there as a man. And
He sits there in His Father's presence with the only thing
of humanity that ever gets into heaven. The only thing of humanity's
works on this earth that ever gets into heaven are the marks,
the marks of our sin. And when we get to see him, we'll
see a marked saviour, but a glorious saviour. His marks are his glory. His marks are the sign that he
is this king, he was born a king. And he's a king that reigns and
rules over his people. I'd like us just to go back and
have a look at some passages in Micah chapter. And I'd like
it to be a stimulation for you to go back and read all of Micah
and read it through the lens of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ and find him here. Find him here in every verse
and every passage and find him ruling and find him This one
born King of the Jews, as he was, this one who came to Bethlehem,
this one who brought these wise men by a light from heaven from
the east to Jerusalem, and then that light from heaven moved
and took them to Bethlehem. Chapter 3. This is the context
that these people in Jerusalem need. You might have noticed
that Herod sent the wise men down to Bethlehem, but he wouldn't
go himself. The chief priests and the scribes
in Jerusalem, they all sent the wise men down to Bethlehem, but
they didn't go themselves. And we'll see why in Micah chapter
3, verse 5. Thus saith the Lord concerning
the prophets that make my people err, that bite them with their
teeth and cry peace. And he that putteth not into
their mouths, they even prepare war against him. Therefore night shall be unto
you, that ye shall not have a vision, and it shall be dark unto you,
that ye shall not divine. And the sun shall go down over
the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them. Then shall
the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded. Yea, they
shall cover their lips, for there is no answer from God." They
speak peace to people. When they have no peace, And
do you see what it says in verse 5? They make my people to err. The Lord Jesus Christ came. He
came in His incarnation. He came as a 12-year-old boy
to Jerusalem. He came for those three years. And these people who made the
people to err by their lies caused that nation. to be turned from
Him who was the born King of the Jews. Verse 8, but, one of
the great buts in Scripture, but truly I am full of power
by the Spirit of the Lord and of judgment and of might to declare
unto Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin. It's a
glorious thing when the Lord God reveals that we are sinners,
that we've done nothing but sin. Sin is what we are. Transgression
is the breaking of all of God's laws. It's a blessing from God. Hear this, I pray you, ye heads
of the house of Jacob and the princes of the house of Israel,
that abhor judgment and pervert all equity. They build up Zion
with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge
for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire." These are the
priests that would have known these verses off by heart and
knew where Bethlehem was and where the king was to be born.
They teach for hire. They teach for hire. And the
prophets thereof divine for money. Yet will they lean upon the Lord
and say, is not the Lord amongst us? They're saying that God's
with us. The question these wise men,
where is he? They would have said, well, he's amongst us. And none evil can come upon us. They're speaking peace to themselves
and peace to the people of of Jerusalem. Therefore shall Zion
for your sake be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall
become heaps." You might recall that that happened twice in Israel's
history. It happened once when Nebuchadnezzar
came and completely destroyed Jerusalem in the 6th century
BC, and it happened again in 70 AD when the Romans came. And
the mountains of the house of the high places of the forest,
as of the high places of the forest. And here's another glorious
but. This is what they're doing. This
is what God's doing. But in the last days it shall
come to pass that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall
be established in the top of the mountains and it shall be
exalted above the hills and people shall flow into it and many nations
shall come. These men had come from the east. We don't know how far, but they'd
come a long way, like the Queen of Sheba. And many nations shall
come and say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord
and to the house of the God of Jacob. And what will the God
of Jacob do? What will this king, this one
born king of the Jews? He will teach us of his ways. He'll teach us of his ways. And
we will walk. When he teaches, we'll walk.
We'll walk in faith. We'll walk trusting him. We'll
walk looking to him. For the law shall go forth out
of Zion. The law is going to be magnified
and honoured by this king, this one born king of the Jews. And
he alone, he alone of all of Adam's children is the only one
that ever kept one single jot and tittle of God's laws. You
have never kept it, nor will you ever, but you're looking
at someone that's kept it perfectly. Because when he kept God's law,
I kept it, and brothers and sisters in Christ, so did all of you. You kept it perfectly. You loved God, imagine it, you
loved God in the Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart, all your
soul, all your mind, and all your strength. Can you rest in
that? That's what God says. That's
what God says about his children. And you loved your neighbor as
yourself. And we did in Him. We do in Him. The law shall go forth out of
Zion. It will be honoured and magnified
by this one born King of the Jews. And the word of the Lord
from Jerusalem. from Jerusalem, this word of
the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, the word of God, will go out
from Jerusalem. It will go out to the ends of
the earth. It will reach to Australia. It will go to Bega, of all places. It will go to Nauru. It'll go wherever he sends it,
and it'll always go with his power and his mind. This is the
king, isn't it? This is the king. Where is he?
And he shall judge among many people and rebuke strong nations
afar off, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift
up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. And he brings, when he brings
his gospel, it's a gospel of peace. We lay down our weapons
of war against our sovereign God. And we raise up the white
flag. and say, here I am. Those men
came, and when they met that young child, what did they do?
They fell down. They were wealthy men. They were
men extremely privileged, and when they met him as a boy, just
a boy, they fell down. But they shall sit every man
under his vine and under his fig tree, and none shall make
them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it." When
he speaks, when he speaks it is done. When he speaks it is
done. You can put a tick after every
shall and will in the scriptures and you know that it's been done
right now. For all people will walk Everyone
in the name of his God. See, everyone is religious. Even
the atheists are religious. They've got a remarkable faith
system, and they work like little slaves trying to prop up their
faith system all the time. Everyone has a God. Whether that
God is humanism and evolution, or whether that God is Buddha,
or Muhammad, or... Anyway. We will walk We will walk in
the name of the Lord our God forever and ever. In that day, saith the Lord,
I will assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is
driven out. Have you been lame? Have you been weary? He says, Come to me, all you
who are weary and heavy laden. have the trials of this world
and the sin that so easily entangles, the sin that engulfs us all,
has it made you weary? I will assemble her that halteth,
I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted. Has God made you to see that
in all of your afflictions He was there? He was there solemnly. He says, I make your bed in your
afflictions. A lovely picture. When you lay
down your head on your pillow, he's made the bed. And the Lord. And I will make her the Halditha
remnant, and her that was cast far off, a strong nation. And
the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion from henceforth,
even forever. And thou, O Tower of the Flock,
the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come,
even the first dominion in the kingdom shall come to the daughter
of Jerusalem. Now why dost thou cry aloud?
Is there no king in thee? Is thy counsellor perished? for
pains have taken thee as a woman in travail. Be in pain and labour
to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail. For now shalt thou go forth out
of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field. Thou shalt go even
to Babylon, and there thou shalt be delivered." He's talking about
the destruction of Jerusalem. in the days of Nebuchadnezzar. But what's the promise of God
in the midst of this banishment? There shalt thou be delivered,
there the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies. Now also many nations are gathered
against thee that say, look, let her be defiled, and let our
eye look upon Zion. But they know not the thoughts
of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel. For he shall
gather them as the sheaves unto the floor. Remember what it was
said of the Lord Jesus Christ, you gather his wheat into his
barn, you gather them. Arise and thresh, O daughter
of Zion, for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy
hoofs brass, and thou shalt beat in pieces many people, and I
will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their substance
unto the Lord of the whole earth. Now gather thyself in troops,
daughter of the troops, for he hath laid siege against us, and
they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek. But thou, Bethlehem, this is
a verse they quoted in Matthew 2, thou, Bethlehem, Ephratah,
though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of
thee shall he come forth unto me. That is to be the ruler of
Israel whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. If you go on reading you will find
that the Lord humbles his people and lifts them up. He brings
them, as he did to Jerusalem, to a place where it seemed desolate,
desolate of the glory of God, and then he comes in glory and
reigns. One of Simon's favourite verses
is in chapter 7, isn't it? Verse 7, Chapter 7, Therefore
will I look unto the Lord, and I will wait for the God of my
salvation. My God will hear me. Rejoice
not against me, O mine enemy. When I fall, I shall arise. When I sit in darkness, the Lord
shall be a light unto me. This can only be a reference
to the Lord Jesus Christ. I will bear the indignation of
the Lord, because I have sinned against Him, until He plead my
cause and execute judgment for me. He will bring me forth to
the light. This is talking about the Lord
Jesus being judged by God. God cannot save you and will
not save you without anything other than His perfect holy justice
being satisfied. He must be just. He's a just
God and a Saviour. He will bring me forth to the
light on that resurrection day after he'd been in that darkness
for those time. He will bring me forth to light
and I shall behold his righteousness. Then she that is mine enemy shall
see it and shame shall cover her which said unto me, where
is the Lord my God? Mine eyes shall behold her, now
she shall be trodden down as mire in the streets. Let's finish with the last three
verses of Micah, which I just rejoice in. The question that's asked is,
where is your God? Where is your God? Where is he? David was asked that question
and he answered very quickly. He said, my God's in the heavens.
He does whatever he wishes. My God rules. Who is a God like
unto thee that pardoneth iniquity? that passeth by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage. Remember what it says, isn't
it? He's going forth and being from
of old. And he's the one that rules Israel.
This is our king, isn't it? The remnant of his heritage. His heritage is the glory of
God. The glory of God revealed in
the salvation of his people. Him being with them as a God
and they being to him a people. The remnant of his people. He
retaineth not his anger forever because he delighteth in mercy. He delighteth in mercy. It rejoices
his heart to be merciful. You don't have to extract mercy
from God, as if you're straining Him to be merciful. He delights
in mercy. He will turn again. He will have
compassion upon us. He will subdue our iniquities. And thou will cast all their
sins into the depths of the sea. The picture is that God can't
see them any longer. He says that he puts them behind
his back. He puts them as far away from
him as the east is from the west. See, if you go north, you reach
north, you reach the North Pole. And everywhere you step from
the North Pole, you go south until you reach the South Pole.
And everywhere you go, you just go from north to south, you go
from east Keep going east, where do you go? You never go anywhere,
you don't meet them. Gone, brothers and sisters. The
Lord Jesus Christ has put his sins away. They are no longer. What a glorious Saviour. Now it will perform the truth
to Jacob. and the mercy to Abraham, which
thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old. He's a
promise-making, promise-keeping, promise-providing, promise-promising God. He's done it from all of old.
When did he save his people, brothers and sisters? When did
he save you? If you're a child of God, you
were saved from the foundation of the world. He was the lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. I love that. And if he did it from the foundation
of the world, did he know what you were going to be like on
December the 21st, 2019? He did. The sins that I am committing
now, the sins that all of his people are committing now, are
gone from his presence forever. Our lives are hidden with Christ
in God. Where is the King of the Jews?
Where is he? He's on the throne. What's he
doing? How does he feel at this very
moment? For the joy set before him, for
the joy. He's rejoicing over his people. He's finished the work. Why don't we sing and then have
a break. We're gonna sing number 28.