Matthew chapter two. I titled
our lesson this morning, Wise Men Seek Christ. The wisdom that
we're talking about here, these wise men is God given wisdom. James calls it wisdom that cometh
from above. And the only people who are wise
who come and seek the Lord Jesus Christ are people to whom God
has given this wisdom. It has to be God given wisdom
because by nature we're all fools. I want us to see this morning
four marks of God given wisdom that are found in this story
of the wise men. I was telling Janet yesterday,
she already knew this. You know, there's not three wise
men. We all think that, but nowhere in scripture, I don't know where
that came from. There's not three wise men. So we're just looking
at these four marks of wisdom in the story of the wise men.
And the first thing is this wise men seek Christ where he's found.
Verse one, Matthew chapter 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. Now this event takes place
two full years after the birth of Christ. I think about his
birth at his birth. Shepherds came, following the
instructions that the angels gave them, and they found the
Savior, didn't they? And when they left, they told
everybody about it. Eight days later, Mary and Joseph
bring the Lord Jesus to the temple to have him circumcised on the
eighth day. And Simeon got excited. Simeon saw the Lord. Now everybody
knew Simeon. He's a highly respected man,
I'm sure. Highly respected old man. And
he told everybody, this baby is God's salvation. And that
same day, Anna the prophetess saw him, and she told about Christ. Scripture says in the book of
Luke, she spake of Christ to all them that look for redemption
in Jerusalem. Everybody who's looking for redemption
in Jerusalem, she told them, here he is. We don't read of
one person from the nation Israel seeking. We don't read about
anybody anywhere seeking the Savior for two full years until
we read about these men coming from the East. Now these men
are heathen Gentiles. Most likely they're Persians
from the area of Iran and Iraq today. And these wise men, the
word properly translated is Magi. Now, usually being a magi, that's
a bad thing. It means that you're a heathen
astrologer or soothsayer, magician or wizard or of some kind. But
somehow these men knew about the Savior. Somehow they knew
the Savior had been born. Now they saw a star. But somehow
they knew what that star meant. Somehow, I don't know how for
sure, but somehow they knew that star meant the Savior had been
born. Now how'd that happen? How is it that these men knew
the Savior had been born? Well, this is just for what it's
worth what I think. I think they had copies of some
of those Old Testament scrolls. Every time the Jews were carried
off into captivity, they went to the East, often to Persia,
where these men we think are from, And it just wouldn't surprise
me that they had scrolls left over. You know, they come in
and ransack the place. They'd ransack Israel and Jerusalem
and the temple, and they take everything of any worth, you
know, value back, back home. Well, they took those scrolls
and they had them. And it wouldn't surprise me that
they had some of the writings of Daniel. Well, Daniel was there.
Daniel was a respected man in that area of the world. And the
Lord gave them some understanding about those writings. Maybe they
read about those 70 weeks that Daniel prophesied about the coming
of the Messiah. And the Lord gave them some understanding
about what that meant. And they knew the Lord had been
born and they went seeking him. The wise men seek the Lord where
he's found. If you would seek the Lord, tell
you where you find him. You're going to find him right
here. You're going to find him nowhere else. He's not in our
feelings. He's not in our emotions. He's not in books written about
this book. to build in this book, through
the preaching of this book. Wise men seek the Lord where
he's found among his people who ought to know him. Those ought
to be the people preaching him. If somebody's seeking the Savior,
they ought to be able to ask you about him, and you ought
to be able to tell them where he's found. God's people should be
preaching him. That's where Christ is. He said
where two or three are gathered together in my name, preaching
the gospel, preaching Christ, there I am in the midst of them.
Well, if you'd seek the Lord, seek the Lord among people who
already know him, they'll tell you about him. These wise men,
they were seeking the Lord. So you know what they did? They
went to Israel because the Jews ought to know about the Savior. These are the people that ought
to know who he is. They should be able to tell them. And here's
the thing about seeking Christ where he's found. Everybody who
truly seeks the Lord is going to find him. These wise men ended
up finding the Lord. Look at verse 9. 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. They came and they found him. They found him who they
were looking for. And the Holy Spirit will lead
every true seeker to Christ, just like that star led the wise
men to Christ. Wise men seek Christ where he's found. Now
here's the second thing about this God-given wisdom. There
is a big, big difference between wisdom and knowledge. Let me
show you what I'm talking about here in verse three. 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,
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 in Israel. Then Herod, when he
had privily 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 found him, bring me word again that I may come and worship
him also. Now there is a big difference
between wisdom and knowledge. Wisdom and saving faith are a
whole lot more than knowledge about facts of scripture. Our
young children here know a lot of facts about scripture. You
and I can teach them those things. But wisdom and saving faith are
a whole lot more than knowledge of the scriptures, knowledge
of the right doctrine. Wisdom and saving faith is knowing
Christ. It's believing Christ, who is
the message of scripture. Now, all of scripture points
to Christ. All the Old Testament scripture,
and that's all the scriptures that these people had at this
time. All those Old Testament scriptures point to Christ. The
Old Testament tells us someone's coming. That's what you told
your class over and over. Someone's coming. Someone's coming.
Someone's coming. But you know, Scripture also
describes to us clearly the person who's coming so that when he
comes, we'll be able to recognize him. It tells us who is coming. And the only person that fits
all those descriptions, the only person that those Old Testament
scriptures could be talking about is Jesus of Nazareth. He's the
only one who fits every description of the Messiah and of the Savior.
He was born in Bethlehem, just exactly like the scribes and
Pharisees said he would. Now, how in the world is he going
to get to Bethlehem to fulfill the scripture? Well, God's going
to put it in the heart of Caesar to tax the people, and in order
to be taxed, they got to go to their hometown. And Mary went
to Bethlehem. She didn't live in Bethlehem,
but she went to Bethlehem and gave birth to the Savior to fulfill
the scripture. And these scribes and these Pharisees,
they had the right knowledge. Christ is going to be born in
Bethlehem. But when someone came and told him he's been born,
they didn't go look for him. No. And after all this is done
to fulfill the scripture, after the wise men left, Joseph and
Mary, they will read this in a minute, they took the Lord
Jesus down to Egypt. Now, why on earth would these
Jews take this baby boy down to Egypt of all places, the picture
of sin? to fulfill the scripture. Verse
14. And when he arose, he took the
young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt
and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled,
which was spoken by the Lord, by the prophet saying out of
Egypt, have I called my son that was done to fulfill the scriptures.
Price was coming from there. And then when Herod couldn't
find the child, he killed every boy, baby, two years old and
younger. in and around Bethlehem. Now,
why on earth would God permit that? Why would he do such a
horrible thing? It's to fulfill the scripture.
Verse 17. The end was fulfilled, that which
was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying in Ramah was their voice
heard, lamentation and weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping
for her children and would not be comforted because they're
not. That happened to fulfill the
scripture concerning the birth of the Savior. And then after
the death of Herod, Joseph brings his family back to Israel. They didn't live in Nazareth
before. But for some odd reason, Joseph decided, we're going to
go to Nazareth. I'm going to start me up a business
there, a carpentry shop. We're going to go live in Nazareth.
And Mary said, OK. Well, why on earth? I mean, you
can move anywhere. Why would you go to Nazareth?
No good thing can come out of Nazareth. He did that to fulfill
the scripture. Verse 23, and he came and dwelt
in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled, which
was spoken by the prophets. He should be called a Nazarene. See, that was done to fulfill
the scripture. All those things were the exact
description of the one who's come. So when he comes, we'll
know who he is and we'll believe him and we'll worship him. Now,
The scribes and the Pharisees knew all that scripture. They
watched it being laid out right before their eyes. They had all
the right facts. They had them down cold, but
they didn't know Christ. And you know why they didn't
know Christ? Because they didn't seek him. They were troubled
to hear about him, but they didn't seek him. They never went to
Bethlehem to find out, can we find out who this child is? This
is the Savior. This is God's Messiah. They never
went to see if they could find him. And I tell you why they
didn't seek him. They didn't think they needed
him. See, they thought that their salvation was in their knowledge
of the scripture. They were wrong. They were wrong. Now, please understand. I don't think it's a bad thing
at all to know the scripture. I mean, that's what we do here.
We go verse by verse teaching the scriptures that were taught
the scriptures. It's a good thing to know the scriptures. But if
we would be saved, I'm telling you what, we got to know Christ.
We must know him. We must seek him. Not more knowledge
of facts about him. We've got to know him. Salvation
is not knowledge in the head. I'm all for it. That's why we
have these classes for our children. We can teach them up here. That's
our responsibility. And by God's grace, we're going
to do the best we can to do it. But salvation is not knowledge
in hell. Salvation is grace in the heart. And God's got to put
it there. See, they didn't seek the Savior because they didn't
think they needed it. They thought they were saved
because we're the elect, they said. Now, I tell you what, you
won't find a Jew anywhere that doesn't believe in election.
Every Jew believes in election. Absolutely, they do. They believe
it just as strongly as we do. But they believe in an election
that caused the Jews national Israel and they're wrong. Salvation has got nothing to
do with the flesh, who we're related to or who we're not related
to. Salvation's in Christ, in Him. Wise men seek Him, seek
to know Him. All the people there that dwelt
in Jerusalem, they were troubled when they heard of the Savior.
The scribes and Pharisees were troubled and nobody went to seek
Him because they didn't think they needed Him. They thought
they were saved because they had the right form and ceremony
of religion. None of the heathen nations did,
but they did. And they thought that was their salvation and
they were wrong. They were wrong. Salvation is
in Christ and wise men seek him, seek him, seek him. Salvation
is not in the right form and ceremony of religion. Salvation
is in Christ. And if we know Him, we'll worship
Him right. I promise you we will. If we
know Him, we'll worship Him right. So all these Jews, the scribes
and the Pharisees, the leaders of them, all that dwelt in Jerusalem,
who were so steeped in the Jewish religion, didn't seek Christ. Oh, they're religious, but they
didn't seek Christ. Well, Herod the heathen had the
same problem. He heard where Christ was born too, didn't he?
But rather than seek the Savior, to worship him, to seek forgiveness
of sin in him, to bow to him, you know what Herod did? He tried
to have him killed. Because he thought this king
is going to take my title, my throne here on earth. Verse 16. 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 all
the coast thereof from two years old and under, according to the
time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men." I simply cannot imagine how horrible
that was. How horrible that was for the
mothers. How horrible that was for the families. How horrible
it was for that entire region that, I don't know if it was
boys or every child, probably just the boys, but all these
babies, babies, babies, two years old and younger, were killed. These Roman soldiers came in
and killed them. I just can't imagine how horrible
that is. I'm telling you what this is.
It's a display of man's hatred of God. That's exactly what it
is. This is the extent man will go
to to get rid of God. And what's the issue? The issue
is not, oh, will he forgive The issue is not, oh, you know, will
he save me? The issue is not, oh, will he
bless me and heal me and do all these wonderful things for me?
We'll take that. We'll take that. But I won't
have him as king. He's going to be king. I'm going
to do everything I can to put him on the throne. This is man's
hatred of the sovereignty of God on full display. And that
exact same desire caused men to put God's Son to death in
the worst possible way they knew how to do it 33 years ago. And
what was the issue then? Is it King of the Jews? That's
the issue. And that's just the tip of the
iceberg of how ugly and how damaging it is to our souls to not seek
Christ, not bow down. It's deadly. And all that was
done to fulfill the scripture too. All that was done to fulfill
the prophecy we read earlier from Jeremiah. Now, what does
this mean to you and me? Those religious Jews didn't seek
him and they were destroyed, weren't they? Herod the heathen
didn't seek him and he was destroyed. Well, what does that mean to
you and me? It means this, don't be a rebel. Just surrender. Don't be a religious rebel and
don't be a heathen rebel. Don't be a rebel. Because there's
no difference between the two. Whether it's a religious rebel
or a heathen rebel, there's no difference between the two. Both
of them are going to go to hell without Christ. That's just so. Then make it your business to
know Christ. Seek Him. Don't seek more knowledge
about things about Him. Seek Him and you'll have salvation. All right, here's the third thing.
Wise men, men with God-given wisdom, worship Christ the King. king. These wise men were very
clear who they were looking for. Where is he who's born king of
the Jews? We're looking for the king. You
know, I despise it when I hear soul winners say, and I hear
religious people say, oh, make Jesus the king of your life.
I've made Jesus the king of my life. Brother, let me tell you
something. You can't do it. You cannot do
it. Christ is king because he's king
by nature. You can't make Christ king anymore
than you make water wet. Water's wet by nature, isn't
it? That's just what it is, it's wet. Christ is king by nature. That's just who he is. He's the
king. And when wise men find him, they
bow and they worship him. Verse 11. And when they were
coming to the house, they saw the young child with Mary, his
mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. And when they
had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts, gold
and frankincense and myrrh. Now you can only worship Christ
if you know who he really is. They bowed and they worshiped
the king. Knowing Christ and believing Christ, listen to me,
it begins with knowing that Christ is king and bowing to him as
king. And when I say that he's king,
I mean that he's king over you. over you. Knowing Christ doesn't
start with knowing his love. Knowing Christ doesn't begin
with knowing his mercy and his grace. Knowing Christ doesn't
begin with knowing that Christ saves sinners. Knowing Christ
and believing Christ begins with this fact, Christ is king over
me. That's exactly where it begins.
Because when we know that, we know this, salvation is not up
to me. It's up to him. He's the sovereign. He's not
in my hand to decide what I'll do with him. I'm in his hand
to decide what he'll do with me. Salvation is not my decision. It's his because he's king over
me. Salvation is knowing Christ,
knowing that the king shows mercy to people who don't deserve it.
I can't earn it. If I'm going to have it, he's
going to give it to me as a free gift. Not because I earn it,
just because he will, not because I've done anything to deserve
it. Christ is the king. And I tell you when we'll worship
him. We worship the king when we know we are powerless to get
him to do anything. I can't make him do something
for me. I can't bribe him. I can't be good enough to get
him to do something for me. I can't do good enough that he
said, OK, well, I'll do the rest. I can't get him to do anything
for me. I can't be a good little boy
and get him to do something for me. He's king. And if he's going
to do something for me, I'm going to have to wait on his will to
do it. Now, where does that leave me? That leaves me begging him
to do it. And when I beg at the feet of
the sovereign, who can either save me or damn me, and he'll
be right either way, Now I've started to worship. That's what
worship is. Nobody ever worships until they
worship the king. He can save me or he can ban
me and either way he's right and either way I'll have to agree
with him and say he's right. That's worship. Now let me show
you that just from a few examples in the book of Matthew. Look
over to Matthew chapter eight. I was looking at these this week
and that has, whetted my appetite for some of these scriptures
that we'll look at in our lessons here, Matthew, Matthew chapter
eight, verse two. And behold, there came a leper
and worshiped him. Now we know this man truly worshiped. He worshiped him saying, here's
how he worshiped. Here's what he said in worship.
Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. Now this leper
worshiped. It's recognizing the sovereign
power of Christ. Worship is acknowledging that
Christ has both the power and the right to either save me or
damn me. See, worship doesn't come from
why I worship because God blessed me or because God healed me of
this leprosy. The leper worshiped him before
he knew if the Lord ever did anything for him. Because worship
is saying, Lord, I'm in your hand. Do with as you will. You can do whatever you want,
but I'm begging you for mercy. See that? True worship doesn't
come from what the Lord does for me. True worship comes from
bowing before the Lord, acknowledging who he is. That's worship. I
look across the page of Matthew chapter nine, verse 18. And while you spake these things
unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler and worshiped
him. Now here's what he said in true
worship. My daughter is even now dead,
but come and lay thy hand upon her and she shall live. Now this
ruler worshiped the Lord by acknowledging his sovereign power to give life
even to the dead. See, this is, he's not even,
he's not like the leper asking for healing, is he? He's asking
life from the dead and it can only come from you. That's worship. We worship God by acknowledging
he has the sovereign power to give spiritual life to the dead. It's all up to him to give it.
That's worship. Then Lord, would you give it
to me? All right, Matthew chapter 14. Verse 32. You know the story here, Peter
going out walking on the water to the Lord, he walked to them,
you know, in this horrible storm, I thought the boat was going
down. And then when they were coming to the ship, the wind
ceased. Then they that were in the ship
came and worshipped him, saying of a truth, thou art the son
of God. They came and worshipped by acknowledging
that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus, this baby who the
wise men saw, is God Almighty. And since He's God, He has the
power over the wind and the waves. Now, who can make the water be
still? Janet and I, Lord willing, will
arrive at the beach tomorrow afternoon, and I'll already tell
you what it looks like. Waves are constantly churning.
I've never seen it be still. Never. Never. They were on an
ocean, a sea, and the water became like fire. We're going to go
down, walk down the beach tomorrow. I already tell you the wind's
going to be blowing. It just constantly blows. I've never seen it not
blow. Only God can make that wind not blow. Acknowledged he's God. Now this
is more than just saying he's the God over all nature. He has
the power over all creation and he has the power over us. give life or to withhold it,
and he's God. He does not need you and me.
We need him because he's God. That's worship. Now one more,
Matthew chapter 15, verse 22. I quote this often. This is one
of my favorite stories in the whole Bible. Verse 22. And behold, a woman of Canaan
came out of the same coast and cried unto him saying, have mercy
on me, O Lord, thou son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil, but he answered her not a word. And his disciples
came and besought him saying, send her away for she crieth
after us. But he answered and said, I'm
not sent, but into the lost sheep of the house of Israel. This
woman needed help. She needed healing. She was begging.
And the Lord confronted her with the truth of election, with the
truth of his sovereignty and salvation. He said, I'm only
sent to save the elect. of worship. She didn't argue
against it one bit, not one bit. She just cried out for help,
for the one who could help her. Lord, help me, help me. Verse
25. And she came and worshiped him,
saying, Lord, help me. Now that's worship. I don't know
everything there is to know, but I know I need help. Lord,
help me. You're the only one who can.
That is the heart of worship. And verse 26, but he answered
and said, it's not me. It's not right to take the children's
bread and to cast it to dogs. And she said, truth, Lord. Yet
the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table. And 2018, if you heard a woman
say that, you know what you'd think? We've got to get that
woman a pill. We've got to get her to some
therapy or something for, you know, we've got to pump up her
self-esteem. And what did the Lord say about that? The Lord
said, this is true faith. This is true worship. Verse 28.
And Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith.
Be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made
whole from that very hour. See Christ, the King, he's the
King. And if we're going to worship
him, we're going to worship him first as the King. This King
always, always accomplishes his purpose. man's will doesn't even
slow down God's purpose. It happens always right on time. And that delights wise men. Your
Herod wanted to put Christ to death, didn't he? But you know,
he couldn't do it. He could not do it. Nobody could
until God's purpose was fulfilled. Nobody could touch him until
his hour had come. Nobody could touch him until
he had accomplished everything the father gave him to do. And
then he had to give himself to them to be sacrificed for the
sin of his people. Even Herod, with all his power,
couldn't make it happen. Verse 12. And being warned of
God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed
into their own country another way. They just took a big wide
loop to get around. Because God's purpose cannot
be delayed, can't be changed in any way. And here's something
else about wise men. Men with God-given wisdom as
part of worship, they give. These wise men worshiped. Nobody
had to tell them to do it. They just automatically opened
up their bags and they gave the Lord expensive, expensive gifts
that were fit for a king. And those gifts were used to
help the body of Christ. They were used to help the family
of Christ. It was those gifts that financed, how's Joseph going
to get to Egypt? I got no idea how I'm going to
get to Egypt. Well, God's going to send some wise men from a
far country to give you all these gifts. And that financed their
trip to Egypt and back. And that is exactly what your
gifts do today. They are used to help the body
of Christ, to help the family of Christ. Now, I want you to
understand why it's in scripture, why I'm saying this. doing anything
to try to pull money out of any of y'all. Our business is to
preach Christ. Just preach Christ. And this
is what I know. God's going to provide. Well,
how's God going to provide? Well, he's going to give his
people a view of Christ the King. And when he does that, they are
going to give everything that God will enable them to give.
Nobody's going to have to beg him for money. They're going
to do it willingly with a generous heart because God's given them
wisdom from above. All right, here's the last thing.
Wise men have great joy in finding Christ. Verse nine. When they
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. And when they saw the star, they
rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And notice the difference
between the wise men in Herod and the people of Jerusalem.
They were troubled at hearing about Christ because the flesh
always is. The flesh is always troubled
to hear God's holding. He won't accept the best I can
do. It's got to be perfection. The flesh is always troubled
to hear God's offering. I can't get him to do anything
for me. I'm completely dependent upon him. I got to beg him. The
flesh is always troubled by that. But wisdom that is from above
rejoices. Rejoices in seeing Christ, rejoices
in hearing who he really is. These wise men came and saw that
two year old. A two-year-old. And they bowed
and worshiped him. Rejoicing, happy to do it. Why
did they do that? They had the same wisdom Simeon
had. They saw the same Savior that Simeon saw. And they worshipped
him. And there's joy in that. What joy there is in seeing Christ. That He has become all my salvation. That He is all my hope. He is
all my consolation. He is all my comfort. He is all
the surety of my salvation. If God ever shows me that, oh,
I'll have joy. Joy and the wisdom of seeing
who Christ is and worshiping him. All right, the Lord bless
you.