Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. I would like for us to look at
Matthew chapter 2 this morning. Matthew chapter 2, the first
12 verses in Matthew chapter two, tell us of our Lord's birth
from the point of view of some wise men, some wise men that
came to see him. And I'd like for us to look at
their story. There are some amazing things about their story that
I'd like for us to enter into, but ultimately I'd like for us
to find out the answer to this question. What made these men
wise? Why were they wise? What makes a man or a woman wise?
And ultimately, here's what I want to find the answer to. Am I wise? Are we wise men and women? So let's look at their story
and see if we can find the answer. Matthew chapter 2 verse 1 says,
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judah, 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 this is how their story begins.
These wise men, it doesn't say how many there were. We, I believe,
naturally assume three because they brought three gifts. But
it doesn't say how many there were. It does say that they were
from the east. They were from a far country.
They came a long way. And these men, in the course
of their daily lives, all of them, Every single one of them,
however many there were, all of them saw something they'd
never seen before. All of a sudden, something happened,
a happening happened to them. They saw something they'd never
seen before. They saw a star that was different
from every other star they'd ever seen. They'd seen a lot
of stars. But all of a sudden, something was different about
this one. So different and it was so captivating. And the reason is because this
star was pointing to something. This particular star was adamantly
pointing to something. And this star moved like it was
alive. Living. And they just couldn't
help it. They had to lay down everything
they were doing. These men had lives and they
had families and jobs and responsibilities. But they couldn't help it. They
had to lay all of that down and follow this star. Every bit of
it. They left everything. These men
left everything. And they followed this star all
the way to Jerusalem. Now, these wise men were not
just in the next country over. They weren't just across the
border. It was truly a far country, a very far country. Most of the
commentaries, you have men over the years throughout history
who have written commentaries on the scripture, and I thank
the Lord for those men. And most of the commentaries
say these men traveled following that star for two years. It wasn't just all night long
or a few days, two years. For two years they followed the
star. And the reason that these commentary writers say that is
because verse 16 says, then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked
of the wise men, was exceeding wrath and sent forth and slew
all the children that were in Bethlehem and in all the coasts
thereof from two years old and under, according to the time
which he had diligently inquired of the wise men." Two years.
Two years old and under. According to the time that he
had inquired of them. He interrogated these men and
he asked them, how long have you been traveling? You saw a
star, how long have you been following it? And they said,
we saw the star about two years ago. And when it moved, we moved. We've been following this star. So this was a long journey. very
long. This star is mentioned quite
a few times in the story, and I want to go ahead and tell us
what it means spiritually. Anytime we read a story in the
Word of God, we need to understand that this word is a parable,
just like our Lord spoke parables. The Word of God has earthly stories
with spiritual meaning, heavenly meaning, and everything in here
represents something spiritually. All right, let me show you what
this star represents. If you have your Bible there,
turn with me to Revelation chapter 1. In Revelation 1, it says in
verse 12, To see the voice that spake with
me, and being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks, and in the
midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son of Man,
one like Christ, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and
gird about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs
were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were as
a flame of fire. And his feet like undefined brass,
as if they burned in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of
many waters. And he had in his right hand
seven stars. And out of his mouth went a sharp
two-edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his
strength. And when I saw him, I fell at
his feet as dead." Remember that. John on the Isle of Patmos is
writing this. He said, I fell at his feet as
dead. And he said unto me, fear not,
I'm the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead,
and behold, I'm alive forevermore. Amen, and have the keys of hell
and death. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things
which are, and the things which shall be hereafter. Now he said,
the mystery Of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right
hand and the seven golden candlesticks, the seven stars are the angels."
And the word angel means messenger, heralder, preacher. That's what it means, preacher.
He said the seven stars are the angels, the messengers, the preachers
of the seven churches, the perfect number. and the seven candlesticks
which thou saw are the seven churches. And then he went on
to say in chapter two, unto the angel of the church of Ephesus,
to the pastor, to the preacher, to the heralder, to the messenger. So this star represents the gospel. It represents the message and
the messenger of the gospel. God came to every one of these
men with the message of the gospel. He sent a heralder. He sent a
preacher with the message of the gospel. And it was a message
like they'd never heard before. Something was different. Never
heard anything like this before. I've never seen anything like
this before. I'm seeing things I've never
seen before. Different. It was a message that
adamantly pointed to something. It wasn't just a general message.
It was an adamant message that pointed to something, Christ
himself. Adamantly, adamantly pointing.
It was a living message. It wasn't just dead doctrine.
It was a living message and they couldn't help but follow it.
They just had to follow it. Well, back in Matthew chapter
two, they came all that way. They came to Jerusalem and when
they got there, they asked the question in verse two saying,
where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen
his star, not V star, his, his star, his message, his gospel,
his messenger. They said, we know this is of
God. We've come knowing this is of God. Verse 2, 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. When Herod the king had
heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Herod
and all Jerusalem, they were troubled because they knew that
this day was coming. Back in Genesis 49, it says,
the scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from
between his feet until Shiloh come. Shiloh representing the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, that was come. And what that
means is the scepter is not gonna depart from a king sitting on
the throne in Judah until Christ comes. There will be king after
king after king until Christ comes. But when Christ comes,
that's it. He's the ever reigning king. And the same thing can be said
today. The same thing can be said about
men today. They can go on believing that
they're reigning over their own lives, having their own day until
Shiloh comes. But when he comes, it's all over.
It's all over. Men will not bow to the ever
reigning king. Not naturally. But he's going
to have to. He's going to have to. Herod
and all the Jews knew this. They had been told this from
the word of God. So they were his enemy. They
wanted him dead. Back in Matthew 2, it says in
verse 3, when Herod the king had heard these things, he was
troubled and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered
all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded
of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him,
In Bethlehem of Judah, for thus it is written by the prophet.
They said, we know exactly where he's going to be born. We know
without any hesitation. Bethlehem of Judah. Everybody
knows that. It's written in the word of God.
It's written in the prophets. And this is what is written right
there. He's quoting Micah chapter five. And thou Bethlehem in the
land of Judah are not the least among the princes of Judah for
out of these shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel. The governor's coming. He's coming
and he's going to rule my people Israel. Well, Herod, in verse 7, interrogated
these men. He called these wise men in and
it says, Then Herod, when he had privately called the wise
men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.
He interrogated them and he tried to get everything he could get
out of them against the Christ. Everything he could get out of
them. The commentator said he sifted them, just like the adversary
does. He sifted them. And he inquired
of them diligently what time the star appeared. Verse eight
says, 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 come and worship him also. Now verse 12
tells us that they were warned of God in a dream that they should
not return to Herod. He deceivingly said, you go find
this child and then you come tell me where he is so I can
worship him too. And that's how the adversary
works. He works through the lies of religion. I want to worship
him too. The lies of religion. He's a
wolf in sheep's clothing. And that's the thing for us to
understand. He's a wolf in sheep's clothing, in sheep's clothing.
So he told them the same thing that religion tells men and women,
I want you to go out and you start door knocking, you start
really working on this, you go to work for the Lord Jesus, and
you know, they didn't have to do any of that. They didn't have
to do any of that. Verse nine says, when they had
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, the star, the messenger, the message that
was provided for them, it sent them directly to the place where
the child was, and it stayed right there. And that's the gospel. That's the gospel. All of them,
every man that was called, all of them came to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Not one was left behind. And
when that star got to Christ, the star stood still. It didn't
move an inch more. That God sent star, that God
sent message, that God sent messenger became fixed on Christ. That's how you'll know a God
sent message and a God sent messenger. That star said, here he is. This is him, this is the one,
this is the redeemer. This is the Savior of His people,
the Savior of sinners. They didn't have to inquire in
one house. Not one house. Not one work was done. They came
seeking Him, but they never conducted a search. Never. They went right
to Him. You know what our Lord said in
Isaiah 65? He said, I am sought of them
that asked not for me. I am found of them that sought
me not. I said, behold me. Behold me unto a nation that
was not called by my name. A far country. I said, behold
me. They never sought him. Never. They were in the east and one
day he said to each one of them, he came to them where they were.
That's what he did for me. And if he's called you, that's
what he's done for you. He came to us where we were, out in the
east. Aliens, strangers, foreigners. Those of us who weren't even
seeking him, and he said, behold me. Through his message, he said,
behold me. These men, they were led right
to him, drawn to him. Verse 10 says, and when they
saw that star, Right there, when they saw that that star stopped.
They'd been following the star for two years. But when they
saw that it got to Christ and it stopped right there. When
they saw that the God sent messenger was not going to go any further
than that right there. Their hearts became so full of
joy. Their hearts became so fully
blessed. Verse 10 says, when they saw
the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. Have you
ever rejoiced with exceeding great joy? We will if we ever
see the Christ. We will if we ever see the star.
God's message bring us directly to him. If we ever see the Savior
of our souls, if we ever see the one who came to die so that
we could live, and if God ever impresses on our heart what that
means. I thought about this. It's possible
that just before that star stopped, these men might have been pretty
depressed. They might have been pretty down,
pretty discouraged. They'd been traveling for two
years. headed toward Jerusalem. They
could tell that they were headed toward Jerusalem. And then they
finally made it to Jerusalem and they thought, surely the
Christ is in this big city. Surely He's here. And when they
got there, they didn't find Him. And they were gruelingly interrogated
by Herod, persecuted for Christ's sake. And the priests and the
scribes had no news of Him. They came to all these priests
and all these scribes, all these religious leaders, and they had
no news of Him. Nobody offered to go with them
when they started heading back out of town. Nobody said, we'll
go with you. And Bethlehem was about six miles
down the road. And I would imagine that those
were the hardest six miles of the whole trip. Hardest six miles of the whole
two years. But all of a sudden, that star
stopped. It stopped. All of a sudden,
that messenger that was pointing them and pointing them and pointing
them cried, behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin
of the world. Here he is. Here he is. And their hearts started burning
within them. And what they did next is what
made them wise. All right, what they did next,
this is what made them wise. And if God will ever open our
eyes to this, I pray God will open my eyes to this right now.
And I pray God will open your eyes to this right now. I pray
he might make us wise men and women, just like he made these
men wise. That's what we need. We need
wisdom. We need wisdom. It brings the fear of the Lord.
Solomon said, with all you're getting, get wisdom. That brings
the fear of this Lord, and the fear of the Lord is what leads
a sinner to cry out for mercy. And crying out for mercy is what
leads sinners to the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is what leads men and women to
life, eternal life. So let's see what true wisdom
is. All right, we're going to recall just a couple of things
briefly. It started the moment That star appeared. If you look
with me at verse 1, it says, Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem
of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came. There came. Now here's the first
thing that made him wise. These men saw that star, but
they were not content with just seeing his star. They had to
see Him. Some people hear the message
of truth, the message of the Word, and they're intrigued by
it. But that's all. They're just intrigued by it.
They just stay where they are. They weren't content with that.
They were following that star for one reason only. They had
to see Him. They had to see Him. If they
were just looking to the star, if they were just enamored with
the star, with the messenger, They could have stopped a long
time ago. They'd seen the star. They could have turned around
and went right back home, but they didn't stop. They had to see
the one the star was pointing to. They had to see him. They were wise because it was
all about him. The gospel is all about Christ. The message is all about Christ,
the true message, the living message. They came to him and
they kept coming. They kept coming, they kept coming.
Coming to Christ is a continual thing. It's not, oh yeah, 20
years ago I came to Christ. I'm coming to him right now.
It's a continual coming. A wise man will not stop until
he sees Christ. Here's the next thing that made
him wise. Verse two says, saying, where is he that is born king? Born king. They acknowledged
him as their king. They didn't go around saying,
we've come to make him king. Won't you make him your king?
No, they said, he is king. He is King. This is not just
a sweet, innocent little baby in a manger. They didn't come
saying, where's little baby Jesus? No way. This is not just a moral
person on earth, the most moral person on earth. This is not just a great example.
This is not just a martyr for his cause. They said, where is
the King? Where is the king? Where is our
king? They said, we acknowledge that
God has made him king. King of kings. Where is he that
is born king? That's the only way to come to
Christ. Christ is the king. And we bow, we bow. All right,
now here's the next thing. Verse 11 says, when they were
come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary, his
mother, and fell down. They fell down. Oh, how wise
this is. When they saw him, they fell
down. One of the most foolish things
I've ever heard in my life. This is one of the most foolish
things I've ever heard in my life. This is one of the most
unwise things I've ever heard in my life. It's when men and
women make a statement similar to this. Well now, when I get
to heaven, I'm gonna walk straight up to God and I'm gonna ask Him,
mm-mm, mm-mm, we're not gonna get haughty with
God. Jacob saw God. You know what
he did? He fell down. Isaiah saw God,
you know what he did? He fell down. Peter saw God and
he fell down. Saul of Tarsus saw God and he
fell down. We just read what John did on
the Isle of Patmos. He fell down. The difference
in a fool and a wise man is this. Wise men fall down. They fall
down to the God who holds life and death in His hands. Well,
these men were so wise because they came to Him. They acknowledged
Him to be the King that He is. They fell down before Him. And
verse 11 says, they worshiped Him. Oh, they worshiped Him. The Lord told that woman in Samaria,
He said, you don't know what you worship. You don't know what
you worship. And I believe that's the case
for many people. I believe many people have no
idea that they're worshipping their own selves. They're worshipping
some decision that they made for God, some decision to be
saved. They're worshipping their own
works that they go around doing, their good deeds. They're worshipping
their baptism. They're worshipping their morality.
Some people foolishly worship Buddha or Mary. These men weren't
worshipping Mary. These men were wise. They worshipped
Him. They worshipped His decision. They worshipped His will, His
purpose. They worshipped His works. Every
work that He was born into this world to accomplish, all the
way to the grave. Call His name Jesus, for He shall
save through His birth into life. through His baptism into death,
through His immersion into our sins and immersion into God's
wrath and our immersion into Him. Through all of that, He's
going to save His people from their sins. That's what a wise
man will worship. He'll worship Him, Him, everything. It's all about Him, who He is,
what He's done. Well, verse 11 says, they were
coming to the house and they saw the young child marry his
mother and they fell down and worshiped him. And when they'd
opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts, gold,
frankincense, and myrrh. What that means is they cast
their all on him. They cast it all on him. And
that's what makes a man wise. And that's what I'm gonna say
right now to myself and say to you, cast your all on him. Cast it all on him. Everything
you have, all of your hope, all your hope of eternal life, cast
it all on him. And then here's the final thing
that made him wise. Verse 12 says, being warned in a dream,
they didn't go back to Herod. They hated God's word. God said,
don't go back that way. They probably went the shortest
way. God said, go this other way, the longest way, the hardest
way. they heeded God's Word. A wise man will hear the Word
of the Lord and heed it. May God make us wise, wise unto
Christ. Until next week, may the Lord
bless His Word to our hearts. You have been listening to a
message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign Grace
Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message or to hear other messages of Sovereign Grace, log on to
our website at ksgctn.org. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 10.45 a.m. and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next week for
another message of God's free and sovereign grace.