Well, as you will see on the
hymn sheet, the next item is the address. It won't be a long
address, a short address. And we'll speak on the last two,
sorry, the first two verses of the second chapter of the Gospel
of Matthew. We've already read it together,
but I'll just read the two verses again. That's Matthew chapter
two and verses one and two. 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. We can easily read these few
words. And yet, as we read them, we
should realize that it actually encompasses an amazing fact and
a wonderful truth to think that there were wise men who came
from the East. We don't know exactly where it
was. We know it was quite somewhere away. And they traveled all the
way to find the King Jesus. We can compare it, as we have
read all together this evening in the Gospel of Luke, the occasion
when the angels appeared to the shepherds. And that was a wonderful
occasion. Of course, they were Jewish shepherds
of Israel, and they, of course, appeared to the Jewish people. Sorry, the angels weren't Jewish,
but the angels appeared to the Jewish shepherds. when they were
washing over their sheep. And this, of course, is very
different because these were not Jews. It would appear these
were, therefore, Gentiles. And we see the wonderful bringing
together in the New Testament when the Gospel was preached
gloriously to, of course, the Gentiles. Well, we don't know
the names of the wise men. We don't know really how many
there were. We know they came from the east
and we know they came because they saw a star. This must have
been a very wonderful thing. We see stars, don't we today?
Millions of stars. And yet here was a very special
star, and obviously at a level or an elevation where they could
observe what it was standing over. And therefore, they followed
this star. Now again, we don't know how
long it took them to follow the star, or how long the star stayed
there. But anyway, they did follow the
star, and they did come to Jerusalem, and that's where it was. And
then they came, and they desired then, in this little town of
Bethlehem, to come and find the king. And they've asked the question,
Where is he that is born King of the Jews? And if you think
about that, that's the most amazing question, really, because why
should they want to come and find the King that was born King
of the Jews? Clearly, we see the wonderful
outworking of the Holy Spirit in their lives that directed
them to come and find the king of the Jews. And so they journeyed
all this way and came and then having asked the question, they
said, we have seen his star in the east and I come to worship
him. And that really is the wonderful
truth that they'd come to worship the king of the Jews. Well, it's
a great blessing, isn't it? And what a mercy it is if we
today also come to worship the King of the Jews. We might ask
ourselves, what is worship? Well, worship is really to adore
and to do reverence. And here they'd come to adore
and to do reverence to a child which they did not know, had
not seen, did not know where he was. But we are told in this
reading that he was a child. Obviously it was a little older
than what we would term a babe. So we don't know any more detail
than that. But anyway, they came and we're
told they presented their gifts when they came and they found
the babe. And then they returned to their own country. We don't
read anything more of them, but clearly this was in the way of
Almighty God to demonstrate His goodness and His mercy to the
Jews through the shepherds, the angels coming to the shepherds
and then to the people through these wise men bringing the Gentiles
together. So what a blessing it is to realise
we have a great God and to think that these things of course were
planned Years and years before, indeed, in eternity past, this
was appointed. This time was appointed. And
we should be thankful today to realise the glory and the grandeur
of these things. Often today, of course, the birth
of the Lord Jesus Christ is mocked and ridiculed. And many people,
of course, don't count it as anything. And yet in reality,
it is a very, very important occasion. If there had been no
birth, no Jesus, there would have been no salvation. So what
a great mercy for us today to realize the Lord Jesus, who was
very God. Nonetheless, the God came down
into this world for this one purpose, to save his people from
their sins, to pay the price required for their redemption. Well, these wise men, they came
to worship this child, the Lord Jesus Christ. And may we indeed
be found worshipping the Lord Jesus Christ. We look ahead,
we realise all of us are passing through time. One day we shall
be no longer found in time, but to be found in eternity. And
we shall then go to that place where we will either be worshipping
this great and glorious Saviour or we shall be alienated from
Him forever. So it's a very real consideration
that we are blessed to read about such a situation where these
wise men came to worship the Lord God and how blessed it is
if we today worship the Lord God. And why will we worship
Him? Surely we will only worship the
Lord Jesus Christ if we have that blessed understanding, spiritual
understanding, that he did indeed come into this world to redeem
us, to take away all our sins, to realise they are washed away
in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a mercy
it is to know that there is a Saviour, a Saviour who lives forevermore,
a Saviour who now is seated on the right hand of the throne
of the Father in heaven. And as we're told one day, that
great and glorious Saviour, this one who we read indeed was born
King of the Jews and indeed will come again. and every eye will
see him." That's a very solemn consideration, isn't it? No one
will be able to escape seeing the return of the Lord Jesus
Christ. All those who have died will
be resurrected and every eye will see him. What a mercy then
if we are amongst those to realise that the Lord Jesus Christ came
then to save us, to redeem our souls and therefore we have that
good hope through his grace his mercy, his favour, to one day
be found with him in glory. And then that will be for eternity,
for ever and ever and ever, when we should have finished our little
life and there will be in heaven no sin, no sorrow, no sadness,
but eternal happiness. And of course that would never
have been unless the Lord Jesus had come and was born in Bethlehem
so many years ago. So, as we have this, what we
term the Christmas season, we should not pass it over and think
it's something irrelevant. And some people, of course, don't
believe in it and think it's irrelevant. Well, I think it's
a wonderful occasion. It's a wonderful time to truly
worship the Lord. There's many things to distract
us from worship. But it's a good thing if over
this Christmas period we are able to come aside and to worship
the Lord. We've sung some beautiful carols
together, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. And may we remember
the privilege it is, especially in our country today, we have
this opportunity to come together to worship. Many in the world
do not have this wonderful privilege. Many do not desire it. But what
a blessing if God has put in our hearts that real desire to
come, like these wise men, to worship the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, let's rejoice in what they
came and said, 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. Well, may we all be found
not only during this Christmas period, but throughout our life,
worshipping the Lord of life and glory. Be assured of this,
every true believer will be a true worshipper. If we do not worship
the Lord Jesus Christ, then there's no evidence that we are a true
believer and a child of God. But may we have the evidence
in our own hearts that we really desire to bow down and worship
the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, we'll leave these few comments
there. You can think upon them. They're
well worth thinking upon. It's a wonderful theme. A thief
which never