Go back to Matthew Chapter 2. Matthew Chapter 2. Title of the
message, Wise Men Seek the Lord. Wise Men Seek the Lord. Very few, very few took notice
of our Lord's birth when He came into this world. There were probably
more people that took notice of your birth than when he was
born and those that took notice of his birth. Isn't that amazing?
The God of creation. One of the greatest events to
have ever happened. And I think it was two great
events that surpassed all others on this earth. That's when God
became man. The Son of God was incarnate.
And then when the Son of God was put to death. And here's
one of them. He was born into this world. The Word was made flesh, as I
read to you out of John chapter 1. The Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. And it went almost unnoticed,
except for just a few. I think it's still the same today.
Very few truly worship Truly worship the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank God there are a few.
There are a few. There's a few here. There's a
few down in Wheelerburg and Lexington and some other places. There
are a few who worship Him. And I thank God for that. There
are a few who have been chosen to see Him. Called to Him, just
like these wise men. Called to Him. Directed to Him.
Brought to Him. And they worshiped Him. Now the first to take notice
of Him were the shepherds over there in Luke chapter 2. The
angels proclaimed His birth to these shepherds out in the field.
Then Simeon and Anna, when He was brought to the temple after
He was eight days old, they took notice of Him. And they spoke
to Israel, all that would hear. They spoke to them of Him. But
very few believed it. Very few believed it. Two years
went by. Approximately two years went
by. These wise men came from the
east to see him who was born king. He was born king. But two years went by virtually
unnoticed. Now it says here that he was
born in verse 1. He was born in Bethlehem. And
that's important. Why is it important? Because
it fulfills the Scriptures. That's why it's important. Bethlehem
and that place was really just a small place. It was just dwindled
down to nothing. The city of David, you wouldn't
have known it. You would have not known it by looking at it.
Not at that time. But it's real important here
because it was the fulfilling of the Scriptures. It was foretold
over in Micah chapter 5 that he would be born in the city
of David in Bethlehem. And what God says, it comes to
pass. You can bank on it. You can stake
your life on it. It's going to happen. Every prophecy
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ was fulfilled to the letter.
Fulfilled to the letter by Him. Everything about Him was foretold. No surprises. There were no surprises. The Pharisees, the scribes, all
the religious people that day, they read about this. They read
all these prophecies. They read all these things. This
should not have been a surprise. God said this was going to happen.
The virgin is going to conceive and bear a son. He's going to
be born in Bethlehem. God said that. And the Jews expected
him to be born there. They expected him to be born.
Because they even told Herod there where he would be born. But now Joseph and Mary lived
in Galilee. They lived in Galilee, not Bethlehem. Joseph's from Bethlehem, but
how's he going to go to Bethlehem? They live in Galilee. She's about
to have her first child. Here's the providence of God.
Caesar Augustus decides one day We're going to tax everybody.
I'm going to have to lay a tax on some people here. We need
some money. And so he decides we are going
to tax every man, and he's going to go to his own city, and he's
going to pay taxes where he lived, where he was born, where he was
brought up. That's where he's going to go and pay taxes. And
you know that made everybody mad. It's like taxes always do.
Taxes just upset us. They upset me. I mean, I get
tired of paying in business, especially you get hit with tax
after tax. And so, you know, everybody's
mad and upset. But if everyone knew what this
was fulfilling and what this was going to bring about, my
soul would rejoice. We wouldn't care to pay that
tax, would we? Because the Scriptures, who would have thought? Who would
have thought that this tax that Caesar Augustus is going to lay
on the people is going to fulfill the Word of God and the purpose
of God. Everything does. Oh, if we could just realize
that. If I could just realize that, my day would be a lot better. I would get along a whole lot
better during the day. If I would realize, not just
say it, but realize it in the heart, in my heart, realize that
everything serves God's purpose. Everything does. That's the providence
of God. It's amazing. It's amazing. It
says over in, I believe it's Proverbs 21, the king's heart
is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water. He turns
it, whithersoever he will. All things were ruled and overruled
by God to accomplish His purpose for His people. Everything. You're
going to see that in Romans here next week, it looks like. All
things work together for good. Even what doesn't look good,
even what does not taste good, even what does not feel good
is working together for our good. It does. Now we have these wise
men from the East. You know, God has a people. God
Almighty has a people scattered throughout this earth. He has
a people in every country, every tongue, every language, every
nation, on this earth. God has a people. We're not alone. And here we have some Gentiles,
the firstfruits. Here we have the firstfruits,
some Gentiles, some pagans, pagans, who have been called out of darkness
from the east. He has people in the east and
north, south and the west, all over this world. And he calls
these pagans out of darkness into his marvelous light. Somewhere
along the way, God taught these men the gospel. Somewhere along
the way, these men heard of the king of kings. And they believed. God either sent them a prophet
or somehow, but they heard. We don't know how because we
don't need to know how, do we? I know how I heard. I heard through
the preaching of the gospel. And they did too. God saved those men. I don't know how they heard about
him, but they did. And they believed. They were brought to faith. Now
it says here, wise men. Now, when we read that, if you
don't do any research, you naturally think these men were wise. You
know what that really means? They were magicians. They were
sorcerers. That's what they're referring to. They're not talking
about wise as far as their intellect. They're talking about wise as
far as They were sorcerers, magicians, they were in the soothsaying,
they were astrologers. That's what God saved them from. That's what He saved them from.
You know, God saves sinners from all walks of life, doesn't He?
Everyone in here has a story. Everyone in here has a life,
a past life, and you have a story, and God saved you from it. But
the one thing we all have in common, it doesn't matter what
part we come from, where we come from, there's one thing. Everyone
whom God saved has in common. They were all lost. We were all
lost. It doesn't matter if it was in
this sin or that sin. We were all lost. Spiritually
dead. In sovereign mercy, Sovereign
mercy sought us out. Sovereign mercy. Sought them
out, sought us out. Sovereign mercy. I tell you what,
they were saved by the grace of God, and we are saved by the
grace of God. Paul said we shall be saved even
as they, only by the grace of God. We
were made nigh by the blood of Christ, just as they were made
nigh by the blood of Christ. And they asked a wise question.
Now these were called wise men, magicians. That's what they were
referred to here. But now they were made wise.
They were truly made wise. God made them wise. They had
some wisdom here. And they asked a wise question. Where is He that is born King
of the Jews? Where is He? You notice how they
spoke with such full assurance? Where is He that was born, who
is supposed to be born? No. Where is He born King? They came with absolute assurance
that they were going to see the King of glory. They were going
to see the one who was born king. They spoke with absolute assurance. They did not travel all that
way out of curiosity. They didn't travel all that way
and bring those gifts just out of curiosity to see if this might
be so. They believed God. When they
heard the message, they believed God and acted on it. And they
traveled all that way to see Him who was born King of the
Jews. They were full of persuasion
that the King of Kings had arrived. King of Kings. How'd they know
this? They said, for we have seen His
star in the east. God gave them a heavenly sign
to guide them, to direct them, from where they were to where
He is. He gave them a sign. I want you to listen to their
wisdom. And we are come to worship Him. What did we come here this morning
for? That's the first thought that hit my mind when I read
this. They said, for we are come to see Him To satisfy our curiosity, they said, we've come to worship
Him. You know what it is to worship something. You're just absolutely
consumed with it. You're consumed with it. We have
come to worship Him. They came to honor and to own
Him as their King. This is our King. The King of
the Jews. Here's some Gentiles. Gentile
Papers, whom God has saved. They came to own this King of
the Jews as their King, as our King. We've come to worship Him. And they were not disappointed.
When they saw that child, when they saw the child, the Lord
Jesus, they saw Him as a child. There was no halo over his head.
There was no crown on his head. There was no purple robe. And
the house he entered was not a palace. It was a poor man's
house. Didn't have luxurious furniture
and all the garbs that go along with that. He saw a poor woman
in a poor situation. And you know what? They were
not disappointed. Because they were not looking
at the things, they were looking at Him. This is the King. This is God's King. This is our
King. And they were not disappointed. But upon their arrival, and upon
their questioning, where is He that's born King? They came into
town, they said, where is He that's born King? They figured
people ought to know this. A King is born, the people here
ought to know this. No one could tell him. No one
there could tell him. When they came into town and
they asked, where is he that is born king? Trouble. Trouble
came. Trouble. Trouble always follows
the announcement of the good news of the gospel. Isn't that
amazing? That is amazing. But it's also
a witness against human depravity. You want to talk about depravity?
We announce the good news of the gospel and men are troubled
by it, stirred, angered by the good news that the Savior has
come, the King is born. Instead of rejoicing, there's
trouble. Trouble. How sad it is when good
news troubles people. That's a sad, sad day. Now Herod the king heard of the
king of kings being born, and it troubled him, and he troubled
all of Jerusalem. He infected all of Jerusalem
with his troubled heart over the king of kings being born.
Rebels just cannot be troubled alone, can they? They can't just
be troubled alone. They've got to trouble everybody
else around. They got in fact everyone else around them. Rebels for you. But here's what
troubled Herod. Here's what troubled him. And
this is what troubles all men who are lost and hate God. They saw him as a threat. They didn't see him as salvation.
They didn't see him as God's glory. They didn't see the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Like Herod, they see him as a
threat. Herod saw him as a threat to his power and glory. Herod
is the king. When he heard of the king of
kings, it troubled him. He said, this guy is going to
dethrone me. He's going to dethrone me. And I believe to a great
degree this is the way rebels see Christ. They see Him as a
threat to their own glory and way of life. That's the way they
see. They see Christ to be against
all that they love. I truly remember a time when
that's the way I saw it. I saw religion, the gospel, as
against everything I wanted to do. It was just against everything. You see, the self-righteous man
sees it as a threat against his own righteousness. The sexual
pervert sees it as a threat against his perversion. The drunk sees
it as a threat against his drunkness. They look at what appears to
be the negative side of this whole thing. They see it as a
negative. Everything they see about salvation and Christ is
a negative. And that's because they're lost.
That's because they're in darkness. That's because they're in spiritual
ignorance. This is what Christ has to save us from. Spiritual
darkness, spiritual ignorance, and love of sin and self. Not until He saves us, not until
He saves us by His grace, do we see the positive side of salvation. We see it as life. Freedom. Whom the Son sets free
is free indeed. To be free from these things.
It's not until we have life that we see we were in bondage. Not
until we have life do we see that we were dead. Dead people
don't see they're dead. It's not until God gives a man
life that he sees he was dead in trespasses and sins. That
he sees the wretchedness of that which he loved. And he doesn't
glory in his shame anymore. He's ashamed of his shame. Not until the Lord saves us do
we see the possibility of salvation. But then, look at Herod here
again. And when Herod, he heard these
things. He heard about the about the king of kings. When he had
heard these things, he went and gathered all the priests and
the scribes of the people together. He got the religious people together.
He had a meeting with them. He demanded of them where Christ
should be born. Tell me where this Christ should
be born. They said unto him, In Bethlehem
of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet, 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." Like the politician he was, he
uses the religious leaders, sides up with them, to try and fulfill
his evil intentions. He had no good intentions here.
But God knows the heart. God knows the heart. Spurgeon
said this, Herod in religion is still Herod. Herod in religion
is still Herod. He's still wicked, still evil.
He didn't change him a bit. And I noticed here in verse 6,
he called these scribes in, and they quoted the Scripture to
him. They quoted the Scripture to him. They knew what the Scripture
said. They were well-versed in the Word of God. Well-versed
in the Word of God. They said, geographically, they
knew where he was going to be born. They made an A in geography. They made an A. They even had some of the theology
down right. But know this, knowledge in the
head does not mean grace in the heart. There's a whole lot of
people who can quote scripture to you. There's a whole lot of
people who can quote scripture to you more than I can. But they know nothing of the
grace of God. They know nothing of the King
of Glory. They don't know Him at all. Full heads and empty
hearts. That's what Herod was talking
to there. He was talking to full heads
but empty hearts. They knew where he was to be
born, but they didn't seek him. Now, you know, the shepherds
went about and told the story. After they had heard, they went
out and told it. And then Simeon and Anna. But you know, they
showed no interest. These scribes and Pharisees,
no, that's not him. That's not the one. That's not
it. They showed no interest. They
knew where he was going to be born and everything. Then when
it was announced, the king was born. These wise men came in
and said, where is he, this born king? They didn't seek him. They didn't seek him at all. I think like most today, they
know the story of the Gospel. They've talked to you about Jesus
Christ coming into the world, being crucified and dying. He
was risen. Going to return? They don't look
for Him. Really, they're not looking for
Him. They're having such a good time, they're not looking for
Him. They're having such a good time in their souped-up meetings,
they're not looking for Him. Not at all. No more than these
Jews were. So Herod calls these wise men,
and he calls them privately. He calls them privately. They're
the ones who started all this. They're the ones who came into
town and said, where's he, this born king? So he calls them, and he
calls them in privately. And he acts like he's going to
worship the king. He acts like he wants to worship
the king. He acts like he's really interested in this king. Murder
was in his heart. We'll see this later on. Murder
was in his heart while pretending to want to see the king. so that
he could worship. I'm so glad that God sees the
heart and stops evil intentions and evil men. Those wise men
couldn't see his heart, but God did. He pretended like he wanted
to worship the king, but God knew his heart. That's why he
sent those men another way when they went home. They didn't go
back there. And then when they left there,
these wise men were guided by a star. God gave them this star. I don't know what it was, a meteor
or whatever it was. God gave them a star. And when they saw
the star, it says there in verse 9, when they had heard the king,
they departed. And lo, the star which they saw
in the east, the same one, it went before them, till it came
and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the
star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. God gave those wise men a star
to guide them to His Son, to the King of Glory. And they followed
Him. They were obedient. They followed
Him. They followed what God gave them. You know, God gave Israel
a cloudy pillar. And when the cloud moved, they
moved. They moved. Why do we have to follow the Gospel? The Gospel. I have been asked more than one
time, why did you move to Ashland? I was living in Milton. I don't
know how many times I've been asked that over the years. People
I've worked with, when they find out I lived in Milton, ask me
why I moved to Ashland. And to tell them the truth, it
wasn't for a job. I moved here for the gospel.
I moved my family here for the gospel. Because the gospel was here.
What do we have to follow? The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I wrote down here, if it
ever moves, we'll follow it. If it ever moves, we'll follow
it. We have the Gospel to follow. We have His Word to follow. We
have His ministers to follow. I had a man say to me, you're just
following Henry Mahan. You're right. You're right. What Paul said,
follow us as we follow Christ. You find a man that preaches
the Gospel. You follow Him. You follow Him as He follows
Christ. We're not to follow a man. I
follow a man, the man Christ Jesus. And I follow the men He
sent to preach the gospel. So we have the gospel to follow,
His Word, which is the gospel, to follow, and we have His true
ministers that are the sin of God to follow. And they followed that star.
God gave them a star to follow. And that star stood over where
he was. Christ is the sum of substance
of all our preaching, isn't he? And that star, when it came
to that place where he was, in that house, it didn't move. It didn't move from house to
house, to this, to that. It stayed right there over that
house. And that's what preachers are
to do. Stay right there on Christ. You know, that's what they're
called over here in Revelation chapter 1. Look over here in
Revelation chapter 1. Here's the duty, responsibility
of those who preach the gospel. In verse 20 of chapter 1, the
mystery of the seven stars. which thou sawest in my right
hand, and the seven golden candlesticks, the seven stars, are the what?
Angels. You know who the angels are right
there? Pastors. Pastors. And that's the pastor's
duty, responsibility, is to rest right over Christ. Don't move. Don't move from Him. Any star
that does not stand over him, leave it. Leave it. And when they saw the star, they
rejoiced with exceeding great joy. They didn't just say they
rejoiced. There's just not enough words
here. They rejoiced with exceeding great joy. They had just been
in the presence of evil. And boy, don't you know they
felt it. They felt it. When they left there, I bet they
looked at each other and said, They knew. They had suspected. I have no doubt these wise men
suspected that Herod had evil intentions. That star did not
shine over Heaven. But when they left him, it appeared,
God didn't leave them. He didn't leave them. There are
some places where the star of the Gospel does not shine. And
here's what I say to you. Stay out of those places. those
places where the star doesn't shine. But when they saw it, it says,
they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. This is the effect
the gospel has on all of his people. When you hear the gospel,
it doesn't matter how feeble the man is that preaches it.
The clay pot may be cracked in several places, but when you
hear the gospel, You rejoice. You know it. You know it and
it makes you rejoice. You can't help it. You can't
help it. And then in verse 11, when they saw the young child,
what did they do? They fell down. They fell down for this young
child and worshipped him. They didn't say hail Mary. They
didn't say none of those things. They worshipped Him. And I know they were not disrespectful
to Mary and those others, but they came to worship Him. They
came to see Him. When sinners see Him, that's
when they'll fall at His feet and worship Him. Oh, they worshipped
Him. And they presented gifts. Grace
in the heart makes one thankful and generous. It does. If it's
there, if it's really there, it'll make a person so thankful
and generous. Because you sure can't out-give
God. And look what He's done for us. And here's another evidence of
God's providence. They brought these gifts. gold,
frankincense, and myrrh. God had them to bring these gifts.
You know why? Because Joseph, Mary, and our
Lord is going to have to run. They're going to have to go into
Egypt. They're going to have to go hide from Herod the king,
who's after his life. Satan's behind all of it. But
he's after him. And so what does God do? He says
some Gentile pagans, some sorcerers, sends them up there to see the
king of glory. This is your king. And they bring
gifts. Gold. A thousand dollars an ounce
nowadays. I just watched that on TV this
morning. People have meetings selling their rings and now they're
melting them down so they can sell them. Sell them. A thousand
dollars an hour. Brought gold. They brought everything they
needed for that journey. God provides for His own. He
always provides for His own. He provided for their journey
into Egypt. They didn't have to wring their
hands and say, I've got to quit my job. I don't know what I'm going
to do. How are we going to make it?
God provided. God provided. God always provides for His own. And then here in verse 12, I
quit. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not
return to Herod. See, they didn't make a pact
with Herod. They didn't say when we find the king, we'll be back.
I think these guys said nothing. That's a show of wisdom, isn't
it? Sometimes the biggest show of wisdom is shut up. They didn't
say a word. Herod said, you find a king,
you come back and tell me. I'm going to come and worship
him too. See you later. They didn't make
a pact with Herod. God warned them in a dream. They
departed into their own country. I guarantee you when they went
into their own country, They reported the good news.
We have seen the King of Glory. We have seen the King. The King
is born. They went into their own country
another way. God sent them another way. Wise men seek the Lord. They
do. All right, Mike.