All in all, the Lord your hope
of evermore shall reign. He is all, all in all, to earth
and heaven one song shall ring from grateful hearts. This anthem's spring, arise ye
saints, silent thy king. Go back with me to Matthew 2. Matthew 2. We go through books
of the Bible for a reason, many reasons actually. We've been
through, I don't know, something like 39 or 40 books together,
verse by verse over the years, some of them more than once.
This is the second time through Matthew, but the reason being
is it's fitting. This is God's Word, and the way
that God wrote it is the way we should look at it and study
it, the way in which He recorded it. And also, if we all know
ahead of time what we're going to be looking at, we can all
prepare for it. We can all read it ahead of time. I like to know
what I'm going to be preaching on next. I like it assigned to
me. I hope it's of the Lord. I'm
sure it is. And also, how many times certain
words have arisen, have come at the exact time when you need
it, going through certain things, and it just so happens to be
that very passage dealing with that. That's how we know it's
God's Word and how He speaks to us. So that's a few reasons
why we do this. Matthew 2. Let's read verses
1 through 11. Matthew 2. Now, when Jesus was
born in Bethlehem. I'm sorry. Can you hear it now?
Can you hear it? 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? But we have seen his star in
the east and are come to worship him. And 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 Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet
Micah, And thou, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art not the
least among the princes of Judah, For out of thee shall come a
governor that shall rule my people Israel." Then Herod, when he
had privately called the wise men, inquired of them diligently
what time the star appeared. 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. And 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
walked. And when they saw the star, they
rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come
into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother,
and fell down and worshipped him." And when they had opened
their treasures, they presented unto him gifts, gold, frankincense,
and myrrh. This is the story of these wise
men seeking Christ. But it's a gospel story of how
the Spirit of God reveals Christ to all of his people. and causes
them to seek the Lord and to find Him and see His glory and
worship Him. This is everyone's story. The
Lord reveals Himself to His people. God the Father reveals the Son. No man knows the Son, but the
Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father
save the Son, and He to whom He will reveal Him, the Scripture
says. So He must be revealed. The Lord
must reveal Himself to us. We went to dinner with some neighbors
not long ago, about three different of our neighbors, one of whom
is a very demanding person. You just don't say no to her.
If she says, go to dinner with me, you just kind of say okay.
And then two others. And while sitting around, we
were talking about the Scriptures and all. I got up to use the
restroom. When I got back, Mindy, I overheard
her say this. She said, when the Lord revealed
Himself to Paul, and then so on and so forth. And I could
see by the looks on their faces that they did not understand
what she was talking about. What do you mean the Lord revealed
Himself? See, this is something unknown
to people in the world, even in religion, but all of God's
people know. You see, these wise men weren't
wise because they were from the East. Someone said that they were as
far East as India or maybe even what is now China. No one really
knows. They came a long way. But because
they were from the East, it didn't make them wise. Look at 1 Corinthians
2. You know these verses. But being
from the East doesn't make one wise. In fact, no one is wise,
naturally speaking. Everyone is born a fool. That's
right. This is what God's Word says. In 1 Corinthians 2, it says in
verse 14, the natural man, Receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, they are foolishness unto him. The fool hath said, Know God. Men and women aren't born wise. Wisdom is to know God. The fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, isn't it? Men don't
fear God. David wrote in Psalm 36, the
transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, there's no fear
of God before their eyes. What men do and say and young
people, what they do and say today and how they use God's
name, tell me there's no fear of God. What religion does in
the name of God tells me they don't know God. So God has to
reveal himself to everyone. Look at verse 10. He says, but
God hath revealed these things unto us by His Spirit. Who's us? His people. His people. His chosen people.
True wisdom comes from above. True wisdom must come from Him
who is wisdom. And this wisdom starts by making
a person seek the Lord. So these men weren't wise in
themselves. God made them wise. The Spirit
of God made them wise. And how you know was they began
to seek the Lord. That's how you know. I never
quote modern religion, though what they say may sound pretty
good. Wise men still seek Him. I don't want us to be associated
in any way with modern religion, so we don't quote them. They
may say that, but they don't tell you why people seek the
Lord. They won't give God the glory
for people seeking the Lord. In Isaiah 65, it says, I'm found
of them that sought me not. Saul of Tarsus wasn't seeking
the Lord. The Lord sought him, and then
he sought the Lord. Everyone does seek the Lord.
They must. They must. But why? Everyone doesn't love
the Lord. Some people do. Why? Because
he first loved them. That's why. He must get the glory.
That's what religion is leaving out. So these men were made wise
by the Spirit of God. Who were these fellows? It says
they were from the east. Look at it. Wise men from the
east. And I already told you they came
perhaps as far as India or even further east than that. That's
a long ways, isn't it? Spurgeon estimated that they
traveled over a year to get here. Long way. In other words, these
men were strangers to the hope and the promise and the covenant
of Israel. They were total strangers and
heathen from a far-off country. This is another picture of the
sovereign mercy and electing grace of God, how He chooses
whom He will. We don't see any scribes or Pharisees
seeking Him right now. We don't see any people in Israel
seeking Him. Nobody. But God chose these men
from 2,000 miles away to seek the Lord. And a few shepherds
on the side of the hill there in Bethlehem. No, there's not
many wise men at the plant, not many mightier, Kyle. But God
chose these men because the Lord will have mercy on whom He will,
and He will reveal Himself to whom He will. picture of God's
sovereign mercy to them that are far off. Look how far we
are away from the so-called holy land. My, my. Jew and Gentile. Well, what made
these men leave their home and seek Christ? They left their
homes, their families, their jobs. like Simon Peter and James
and John dropping their nets and their father. What made these
men leave their home and family and come so far to seek Christ? What made them do that? Look
at verse 2. They said, We have seen his star. And this star kept leading them
and guiding them and pointing them to the Lord Jesus Christ.
What is this star? It's heavenly light. Well, that's
the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God. Look at John
14 with me. John chapter 14. There's much
talk today about the Holy Spirit, isn't there? John 14. Our Lord
tells us what the Holy Spirit does. You see, the Father bears witness of the Son. The Son bears witness of the
Father. The Father bears witness of the Son, and the Holy Spirit
bears witness of the Son. This is the office of the Holy
Spirit, to take the things of Jesus Christ and show them to
people, to God's people. John 14, look at verse 16. Our Lord is talking about the
Holy Spirit. He says, I'll pray the Father,
and he shall give you another Comforter that is beside himself,
the Comforter, that he may abide with you forever. That star was
with those wise men for two years, leading them all the way. Look
at it, verse 17. Even the spirit of truth whom
the world cannot receive but you, that it seeth him not, neither
knoweth him, but you know him, he dwelleth with you and shall
be in you. Why didn't other people see the
start? Huh? Why didn't other people
see the start? Why didn't other people follow
the start? God blinded their eyes. John 16, go over there quickly.
John, well, verse, I'm sorry, 26 in John 14, the comforter,
the Lord says, is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in
my name. He will teach you all things
and bring all things to remembrance, what? Whatever I have said unto
you. Now look at John 16. John 16,
this is what the Holy Spirit does. John 16. This is who the
Holy Spirit bears witness of. Verse 8. John 16, 8. When He
has come, the Holy Spirit, that is, He will reprove the world
of sin. Not everybody in the world, but
a people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation.
He will reprove of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin, because
they believe not on Me. That's right. Of righteousness,
because I go to my Father. And you see me no more of judgment,
because the prince of this world is judged, that is, by Christ.
Verse 13, when he's come, the spirit of truth has come. He'll
guide you into all truth. What's truth? Didn't Pilate ask
that? What is truth? What is truth? Christ said, I am the truth.
Verse 13, it says he'll not speak of himself. whatsoever he shall
hear, that shall he speak, he'll show you things to come, he shall
glorify me." Verse 15, he'll take the things of mine and show
them unto you. That's who this star represents,
the Spirit of God. Remember when our Lord was being
baptized, John said, I knew him not. But the Father said, when
you see the Holy Spirit descending like a dove and landing on one
person, you'll know that's Him. That's Him. All of God's people
know Christ because the Spirit of God points them to Christ. He's that star. Also, in the
Revelation are mentioned seven stars. Remember? Seven stars
that Christ had in His right hand. He said that's the angels
of the churches, the preachers. A true preacher sent by God does
what? One thing, points men to Christ. So do the prophets, apostles,
evangelists, pastors, and teachers, and our Lord even said, you all
shine as lights. Every one of God's people are
witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what we endeavor to do is
not point men and women to our church, not point men and women
to our preacher, not point men and women to the law, but point
men and women to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how you do it. Point them to Christ. What were
these men seeking? What were these wise men seeking?
Look at it. Verse 2. They said, verse 2, where is
he? Where is he? We've come a long
way. What are you looking for? Him.
Him. Most folks seek the wrong things. And I've heard this, I've heard
it a hundred times anyway. We're looking for a church. meaning that most people are
looking for social activities, most people are looking for family
programs, most people are looking for musical programs, most people
are looking for inspiring sermons. But when the Spirit of God begins
to move on someone, first of all, he will make a person tired
of those things, become dissatisfied with religion and the cusps of
religion. which people are feeding on,
the husks and not the meat, which is crap. He'll make people dissatisfied
with religion, see through it for what it really is, a money-making,
head-counting, man-glorifying social organization full of silly,
silly-talking preachers, and make them start searching for
the truth. That's what the Spirit of God
will do. Every time. I told you about my father-in-law.
You've heard it so many times. I don't tire of it. I marvel
in it. But there came a point when he said to his so-called
preacher of some first Christian church or something like that,
he said, I don't know what I'm not hearing, but I'm not hearing
something. Meaning somebody is working on
him. Making him dissatisfied. That's
the first thing that the Spirit of God does to a person, make
them dissatisfied with false religion, and make them start
looking for the truth. What is the truth? It's a not
of what, it's a who, it's a person. And they said, where is he? Where
can we find the Christ? I've never had anybody say that
to me. Do you preach Christ there? We hunger and thirst for the
truth as it is in the Lord Jesus Christ. We want to hear Christ's
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. Is that what you
all preached there? These men did. Where is he? Where is Christ? Now, as we said, the reason these
men were seeking was the Lord caused them to seek. But they
did seek, didn't they? They were seeking wholeheartedly.
Our Lord said this, You will find me when you search for me
with all your heart. Seeking me, you shall find me
when you search for me with all your heart. These men weren't
given a half-hearted attempt at seeking Him. They came a long
way, didn't they? like the Queen of Sheba. Remember,
our Lord said the Queen of Sheba will rise up in the judgment
against this generation. She came a long way to hear the
wisdom of a man, and he said, greater than Solomon is here,
and people in Israel weren't even getting up. There's a man
sitting right here next door to us that has lived here ever
since this building's been up. And as far as I know, he's never
come in the store, has he? You'll seek me when you search
for me with all your heart." They left their home, as we said,
their jobs, their family, and what happened? They found him. And it says they rejoiced, in
verse 10, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. Now, this
must be so every time we come here. It's not a one-time thing. Every time we come, If we want
to see Christ, if we want to get peace and comfort and joy,
and if we want to worship Him, we're going to have to seek Him
with all our heart. Spurgeon said then, he said,
it's always the case, if Christ is not found, if we do not see
His glory, if we do not worship, it's because we did not diligently
seek Him. Like the importunate widow, she
says, I won't go away. Like Jacob who said, I won't
let you go until you bless me. That's what we need to do every
time if we need to worship. Where is he? Now they could have asked some
people on the street, couldn't they? I bet you they did. They're
looking for Christ and they were asking people. They could have
come up to a Roman soldier and they said, where is he? And the soldier, I bet, said
this. And they said, where is he that is born king? The soldier
said, we have no king but Caesar. Not interested in your Christ.
That happens all the time, doesn't it? Not interested. They may
have come up to a merchant on the street and said, where is
he? We seek the Christ. Where is
he? And the merchant may have said, I don't know and I don't
care. You want to buy some fish or
something? Man, his God was his belly. Come up to a mother. Where is
he? We're looking for the cry. These
are the men, the only ones. And she said, I don't know. I
don't have time for that. I got to get home to my children. And this goes on all the time. Goes on all the time. Where is
he? My, my. They found him. How was Christ first revealed
to him? How did they seek him? Who was
it? What was the office of the Christ
they were looking for? He says, where is he that is
born king? They're looking for a king. They're
not looking for a baby in a manger. They're not looking for a mere
man. They're looking for the king. The first way that God,
the Spirit of God, reveals Christ to every child of God, every
sinner, the first way that He reveals Himself to every single
human being is as King. Before we ever know Him as a
Savior, we're going to bow to Him as a King. Sovereign. Brother Mack read it there in
Psalm 2. God said, I have declared the decree. I have set my king
on my holy hill of Zion." And he goes on to say, now, be wise
now, O ye kings, rulers of the earth. Solomon was a wise king. Why? He had the whole kingdom
worshiping God, worshiping Christ. Be wise now, O ye kings, because
the king's heart is in the hands of the Lord, like the rivers
of water, he turneth it with us wherever he will. He's the
king of kings. I mean, he really is. Obama would
be a wise man to seek Jesus Christ. If he does not, he's a fool. Be wise now, O King, our Lord
said, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. So to be wise unto salvation
is to fear God, fear the King, ask for mercy. Ask for mercy. Why should we
fear God? Because God is holy. How did
Isaiah see the Lord in Isaiah 6? What caused him to cry out,
I am undone? What did he see when he saw the
Lord high and lifted up? He didn't say, love, love, love,
God is love. He said, holy, holy, holy. And
even the holy angels covered their faces and their feet in
modesty and in humility, in fear. And the doorposts of the house
trembled. And Isaiah said, woe is me. I'm
undone. I'm cut off. That's how everybody sees the
Lord Jesus Christ, the true Christ of Scripture. Not a mere man,
but the God-man. Not a baby, but a King who assumed
the body of a child. King. King by birth, king by
right, king by inheritance. King. Thank God he's a merciful
king. And all who ask for mercy get
it. Look at verse 3. It says, When Herod the king
had heard these things, he was troubled. Jerusalem was troubled. Everybody was troubled when they
heard about this. And they should be. When all the prophecies of Christ
began to come forth, prophecies of Christ, the King, the Lord,
the God, God coming down, it troubled the whole earth for
thousands of years since the first prophet Abel. It evidently troubled his brother
Cain. And on and on it went. Men have
been troubled by the talk of the Christ coming. When He came,
when the Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth, It says a multitude
of heavenly hosts met in the sky. And then it thundered at
various occasions when our Lord spoke. And when God spoke concerning
His Son, it thundered and men shook. And then when He hung
on the cross, it says the whole earth trembled, didn't it? Oh,
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of sin of men. And he's coming again, and everyone
has heard of it, and people still hear of it today, and are troubled
by it, whether they admit it or not. You know that? People are troubled by it. As
they should be. You see, if he is God, and we don't worship him, then we're
in real trouble, aren't we? If his word is true, absolute
truth, that makes every man a liar, doesn't it? That means we'd better
do exactly what he says if he's God, if he's the truth, the only
one that is. If not, it doesn't matter, does
it? If he's the reigning Lord of
the universe, He is the God who giveth all things, who provideth
all things, who doeth all things, by whose grace we are what we
are and have what we have and know what we know and can do
what we can do. By the grace of God, and this is God, and
we are sharing, stealing that glory if we're taking some of
that glory, We're in trouble, my dear, because the King is
coming. And Isaiah said this time and
again, didn't he? I'm going to put down all glory. I'm going to put it all down. All religion that is a sham is
coming down when the Christ comes. All impostors, all usurpers will
be brought down. All pride, glory, worth, majesty,
but His is coming down. Yeah, there ought to be trouble.
All priests and popes better start trembling. Tell you what,
take those hats off and cast them down and cast yourself at
the mercy of this Lord Jesus Christ. And he's so merciful,
he'll have mercy to a pope. Ask Saul of Tarsus. You know that story of Manassas?
I just read that again. Manassas, there was never a more
evil man on the face of the earth. You know, he repented and the
Lord had mercy on him. Pray it for yourself. I don't
think he was saved, but the Lord did show. You ask for mercy and
I'll show it. The chief of sinners. He did. Manassas. But they were troubled. Herod
the king, when he heard about a king, capital
K, Oh, my. If all the people bow to him,
I'm an imposter. I'm an imposter. And so he pretended
to worship, and so did these priests and scribes. Look at
verse 4. It says he gathered them together, chief priests
and scribes, and he demanded of them. You see, false preachers are
in the pocket of government and leaders. They're Balaam. They're prophets like Balaam
for reward. And he gathered these fellas
together. You'd think John and Peter and James would come running
up here and say, y'all come here. I'm demanding, are you kidding?
One time, they did. Time and again, they took Peter
and James and John and cast them into prison for preaching the
truth. And then they threatened them, didn't they, with bodily
harm and said, if you don't preach this name anymore, what do they
do, mate? Just as soon as they were let
loose, they went straight to the temple and started preaching. And they
said to those leaders, they said, Do we, is it, ought we to obey
God rather than, or men rather than God? No. We can't help but
speak the things we've seen there. And our Lord said, don't be,
don't be ashamed. I'm going to send you before
kings to bear my name and they can't touch you. Well, he gathered
these fellas together. They were in his hip pocket.
They were on the take like religion today. Why do you think these
big evangelists, come running when presidents call them to
booster their re-election campaign. Huh? The servant of the Lord is not
involved in these things. Never had been, never will. In
verse 5 and 6, these scribes and Pharisees,
they told him, they knew the Scriptures. They said, in Bethlehem
of Judea, and they quoted Micah 2. They could quote the Scriptures.
They knew where it was. They searched the Scriptures. But they didn't know Christ.
They searched the Scripture, but they weren't seeking Christ.
I thought about this. I believe Satan is leading a
lot of Bible studies all over this place. He used the Scripture on the
first woman that twisted it. That's what you read tonight. We don't corrupt the Word of
God. But he does. He's leading. Brother Joe Terrell
one time said, the spirit of Antichrist is leading the search
for the Antichrist. Like a thief would say, he went
over there. He's over there. That's wisdom in it. Think about
that. That's right. The Antichrist is false religion.
False religion. Not a person. It's a system. There are many Antichrists. Well,
Herod said, you find him, you go search for him for me. That's
not how it's done, is it? He was drawn near with his lips.
He was pretending to worship. That's not how it's done. You
search the Lord. Seeking the Lord, you will find
him when you search for him with all your heart. Nobody can seek
the Lord for you. You must seek the Lord yourself.
We must seek the Lord. All right? Did they find him?
Verse 9, when they heard the king, they departed. And lo,
the star which they saw in the east, in the beginning, the same
star, there it was again. And it came and stood over where
the young child was. And they saw the star and they
rejoiced with exceeding great joy. It's still there. It's still
pointing me to Christ. And after so many years, you
are still being pointed to Christ, rejoice. Rejoice. If you have not been sidetracked,
if nobody has led you astray, if you have not fallen for another
man's voice, But you're still being pointed to Christ, you
rejoice with exceeding great joy. You must be one of the Lord's
elect. It's so of all His people. He'll not leave them to others.
A stranger's voice they won't hear. And that's what He said
there in John 16, didn't He? He said, My Spirit will abide
with you. That's the earnest of the Spirit.
The earnest of the Spirit. star abode right over where the
child was, like those cherubs and those seraphs over the ark
of the covenant. Remember that? The cherubs and
the seraphims, they hung over that ark, which Peter said, speaking
of Christ, which things the angels desire to look into. and pointed them to Christ. And
it says in verse 11, look at it, when they were coming to
the house, there was one house where Christ was. Remember this? A house for his
name, a place for the ark. How many houses were there all
over Bethlehem at that time? But there was one house that
the Lord had chosen to put his name there. This was then, there were two
or three people there. This was the house of the Lord.
And these fellows, it sounded like they came with boldness.
It sounded like they didn't even knock, Brother Gabe. It sounded
like they just came right on in. It wasn't a house anyway.
It was a manger. It was a cow stall. There was no door. The door was
in there. But they came in freely, boldly.
They came into the house. They came, they looked for the
Christ, and the star of God, the Spirit of God, led them to
where Christ was. And they saw the young child
with Mary, his mother, and fell down and worshiped who? Not her. Him. It doesn't even sound like they
said hello to her. It doesn't even sound like they looked to
her, like Simeon. Do you remember Simeon in the
temple? As soon as Mary the young maiden came in with the baby,
it doesn't sound like he even asked her. He took the child
up in his arms, didn't he? He paid no attention to her.
He said, Now, let thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes
have seen thy salvation. Mary is not their salvation.
The Christ is. That's who they were looking
for and that's who they found. And it says they worshipped Him.
That's what God says all through His Scriptures. He says it to
the angels. Let all the angels of God worship
Him. Let the stars of the sun of the moon worship Him. Let
everything that hath breath worship Him. Him. They worshiped Him. Now look at this. And it says,
When they had opened their treasures, they presented unto Him gifts. Gold. One of them had a chest
full of gold. Gold, mind you. Gold. How much was in it? It didn't
matter. It wasn't enough as far as this man was concerned. Right there is the treasure.
He's looking at the treasure. This is nothing but trinkets. Gold. And it wasn't enough compared
to that unspeakable gift. One man brought frankincense.
The other, myrrh, precious ointment like I remember a woman, don't
you, with an alabaster balm. It's about all she had. About
all of her earthly belongings. Saving it up for maybe her children's,
I don't know, education or something. Maybe her retirement. That's
all she had. But when she met Christ, she
just busted it and poured it out on His head. And our Lord
said, this is a memorial. This is how the people of God,
in seeking me and finding me, this is what they think of me.
Far above treasures. Far above earthly treasures.
They're nothing. Nothing. But He's all and in
all. He's that pearl of great price like Saul of Tarsus who
was a very rich, probably that rich young ruler. He said, I
had great gain in religion, but that, to me, is dung for the
pearl of great pride. So the Lord drew them. The Lord
made them wise. The Lord drew them. The Lord
caused them to come, and they came, and they saw, and they
worshiped, and they gave. They gave. And that's what all
of God's people do by the Spirit of God. True seekers made wise
from above, seeking Christ alone, worshiping Christ alone, giving
all that they owned back to Him. Back to Him. May the Lord make
us all wise unto salvation. I hope so. Stand with me. Our Heavenly Father, thank You,
thank You, thank You for Your Word. It is a great treasure,
Thy Word, able to make us wise unto salvation, us and our children,
if the Spirit that bloweth where He listeth, that goeth where
You send Him, if He is pleased to make us wise, it is able Thy
Word to make us wise, if You cause it to sink down in our
ears and open our hearts to receive it. If You give us new birth
from above. If You quicken us by Your Word.
Begat us with the Word of truth. And that is our prayer, Lord,
for us and our children. That You would take these words
and make them more than mere words, the very voice of the
Son of God, and let him not rest, let us not rest until we have
sought the Lord with all our heart and found him. Make us
wise, O Lord, unto salvation. But seek the Lord every day,
every hour. We need him. We need him. And it is in Christ's name we
have met here tonight. And as he sang, give him thanks. Amen. Okay.