12/24/22 Pastor Harlow The Wise Men

God's word says this now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king behold wise men from the East came to Jerusalem saying where is he who was has been born King of the Jews for we saw his star when it Rose and have come to worship him when Herod the king heard this he was troubled in all Jerusalem with him and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the peoples he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born they told him in Bethlehem of Judea for it is written by the prophet and you owe Bethlehem and the land of Judah are by no means least among the rulers of Judah for from you shall come a ruler who will Shepherd My People Israel when Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared and he sent to them to Bethlehem saying go and search

Diligently for the child and when you have found him bring me word that I too may come and worship him after listening to the king they were went on their way and behold the star that they had seen when it Rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was when they saw the star they were rejoiced exceedingly with great joy and going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother and they fell down and worshiped him then opening their Treasures they offered him gifts gold and frankincense and myrrh let's pray so God we do thank you so much for this day we thank you for each and every single family that's here we thank you for your word and the examples and the truths that are contained in it Lord I pray that you would help us God to conform to your word when it speaks it speaks authoritatively and so help us God as your children to live lives according to what your word says by faith with Grace with love with truth Lord and help us do so fearlessly we love you Lord and we thank you for the Christmas season in Jesus name amen well Jesus was born in the city of Bethlehem and just who can tell me what this Bethlehem means does anybody know means House of what bread means House of Bread and Jesus he is of course the bread of life he's the Savior of the world and one of the reasons why he came was to satisfy the spiritual hunger that mankind naturally fill feels and so Jesus he was born so that man he would be filled with righteousness not be satisfied any more with sin it's one of the purposes as to why Christ came now Christ as the bread of life he was born while this man Herod he was a wicked King and he was a ruler

Over Judea Herod he was he was part Jewish part Gentile and that's even debated in history when I say that he was part Jewish what I mean is that he professed faith in the Lord Yahweh the God right the one Creator God he professed Faith there but when you examine his life there was Zero fruit of any kind of Faith whatsoever he was a murderer he was a tyrant he was paranoid he was controlling he was manipulative he was all those things and so he claimed to follow the Lord in order to be able to keep the peace among his subjects because the Romans liked him he was able to put down any kind of revolts and things like that and so for all intents and purposes as we look at his life his confession of belief was only from his lying lips because there was nothing in his life that indicated that he was truly a believer in God now wise men to contrast this they came from the East to the city of Jerusalem to meet this Christ The Promised Messiah the one who would deliver them foretold from way back in Genesis chapter 3 verse 15. They were looking for the one that would bring peace and reconcile men to God and so they were searching this one who would be the bread of life now this past year we went through the Book of Daniel and we saw a lot about wise men from the city of Babylon this city of Babylon it was a it was renowned for their astronomy renowned for their mathematics tremendous in their architecture and one of the most Godly men in the Old Testament was the leader of those wise men his name was Daniel and you can tell even right here just the kind of spiritual Legacy that must have remained even at the time of Christ simply because of his faith in God never underestimate the impact that you might have in the culture that's around you when you stand upon the faith

That we find in the word of God Amen It's a Wonderful foundation for us to stand on now these men they were looking for the Savior of the world to be born and these men they were also looking for the king of the Jews to be born and so where would they logically go if they were looking for the king of the Jews they would go to probably the palace right they'd go and they'd talk to the one that they know is the king hey where is he who has been born the king of the Jews if anyone would know it ought to be Herod in the Book of Numbers chapter 24 verse 17 we don't talk about numbers like the Book of Numbers very often but we read this prophecy it says this I see him talking about Christ but not now I Behold Him but not near a star shall come out of Jacob and a scepter shall rise out of Israel and in that same way Christ's star arose in the sky and no one noticed it except for the ones who are looking for it and I want you to notice in that passage that there's only a few words that are recorded from the wise men they ask where is he who has been born the king of the Jews for we saw his star when it Rose and have come to worship Him the words that the wise men use mean born King not born to be king he is simply because he is he is the I am he is the one eternally begotten from the father he is the one who created the world and created each every single one of you and he loves you and he is the king and these men they explained that they saw his star Rising and Herod hears this and this doesn't encourage his soul this doesn't bring hope to him for reconciliation to God what is herod's reaction herod's reaction is to be

Terrified to be discouraged to wonder what on Earth is happening to my kingdom now it doesn't cause him to love God more it troubles him he had been made King by the Romans and the news that the Magi were bringing him it sounded an awfully lot like a viable like heir to the throne of David which totally threatens his position in society and the world it totally threatens him and he is troubled by a genuine descendant of the royal line of David you see Herod he is more interested in Saving his throne than he is in Saving his own soul and if Herod is troubled then the whole city is troubled alongside of him if Harry were a true follower of the Lord he would have rejoiced greatly but he doesn't instead he views the child as a mortal threat troubled is actually too weak of a word if we look at any of our English translations that it would be better understood as terrified or in turmoil with his soul see you and I we can claim to love Jesus but if our lives our response to his word and his work does not match our confession than our confession may be in vain turn to Christ that great gift of God that He gave to the world he gave to reconcile you to the father I mean we talk about gifts all the time at Christmas time right I mean we probably talk more about gifts this time of year than any other and God gave his son as a gift for you so don't just leave without opening that gift that God has given to you without receiving it by faith that's why we celebrate Christmas that's why we celebrate Advent that's why we light the candles it's to point us to the Savior of the world who desires a relationship with you

And in the midst of all this I think that's important to emphasize The Wonder of everything that God is doing while these men are visiting you have you have the star in the sky you have the terror of the people we talked about the Shepherds that were out in the field we talked about Angelic visitors Gabriel and we talked about Zachariah and Elizabeth over the past several weeks we talked about all these different people don't lose the Wonder of all that God is doing and you look at herod's reaction to the message and it's all very intriguing Herod he decides I'm going to get my religious experts together the chief priests the scribes and he says where are they where is the Savior of the world to be born he says well Micah 5 2. Micah 5 2 that's where he points them that the Messiah was to be born in the city of David now Bethlehem Bethlehem is about a two-hour walk from Jerusalem and instead of Herod getting off of his throne to go see the baby or going to the city or sending other people he sends the people that we're already looking for him he sent the wise men now apparently it had been about two years ago since the star had appeared in the sky we learned about that it's discussed later on in the chapter but Herod he tells wise men to go and search diligently for the child and when you have found him bring him bring me word that I too may come and worship Him secondly I want you to note the worship the Wonder and the worship the wise men were eager to find Christ and as they left God he caused the this the star that they had seen to rise again out of the sky to lead them and this star is a gift of God's grace to these wise men the star teaches us that if man if man is willing to seek the Lord that

God will be found by that man that's why he invites us to seek him remember the promise in Isaiah chapter 29 verses 12-13 then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will hear you will seek me and find me when you seek with me with all your heart I will be found by you declares the Lord and so I encourage you to lean upon that word lean upon that promise and stand upon it if you want to find him he will be found by you and when God leads us our direct our reaction ought to be like the wise men look at their reaction here it says that they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy when is the last time that you participate in worship with exceedingly great joy where you're excited to Bow before God there's a song All That Thrills my soul is Jesus Jesus thrill your soul make your heart glad does he encourage you do you feel that love and that warmth and sometimes the sorrow of the sin ask the Lord to fill you to the brim with joy say Lord Rejoice restore to me the joy of my salvation let me be exceedingly joyful just like these wise men the text said they got to the house they got to the house where Jesus was and they bowed down and they worshiped him that word worship means that they got down on their hands and knees and laid down now these wise men they were very costly garments purple navy blue kind of an emerald color it was just a gold all tassels they would get they would they were very wealthy men and they got down in the dirt with all their wisdom and all their dignity they laid down before the king of kings you and I were not too fine not too wonderful to Bow before the king and so they bowed low

And they spent time on their face before Jesus this is the promised one whom Isaiah said would be a light to the Nations see Christ he came not only to fulfill the Old Covenant promises but he also came to ratify a New Covenant by his blood whereby he invites Gentiles lost people like me and like you to come and enter into the throne room of Heaven by his blood by faith in his work on the cross he invites you to come into worship and the wise men they bowed and they gave gifts to the Lord they gave gold and they gave frankincense they gave myrrh they gave gold to acknowledge that Christ is the king of kings you see gold it's Unique gold it conducts heat it conducts electricity it never tarnishes it's a ductile which means that it can be stretched really thin it can be three microns thick to give you an idea like your hair is I think that's tender let me write 30 to 100 microns thick and gold can be stretched three microns thick and never break and you can get 50 miles of watt wire out of one ounce of gold that way it's reflective of light and heat you can beat it down into thin leafing the Gold Room it's a room that's just absolutely covered in gold and it only takes about three ounces to cover an entire room and yet it's very precious it's kingly and Christ is the king Wiseman also gave frankincense frankincense to acknowledge that he is the priest the Son of God the great high and it's an incense that's made from balsam trees it was used in the worship of God for grain offerings it cost around 500 for 10 ounces of it very expensive and myrrh it was used in anointing

Priests and also embalming bodies and this was used to acknowledge his Humanity murder cost about four thousand dollars for 10 ounces and so they brought these these three gifts to the king to emphasize his threefold office of prophet priest and King even as an infant and just as the wise men sought Christ and found him and offered him gifts you can still seek Christ today and we may not have a star in the sky but we do have an empty cross and we do have an empty grave he has left his testimony as that are left as a testimony of his work and you can find him in this message I'm talking about tonight that Christ has indeed been born of a virgin he did indeed live a perfect sinless life that he was betrayed beaten crucified dead and buried and on the third day he really did Rise Again from the dead and he is available to you right now and now is the time of Salvation now is the day seek the Lord when he may be found call upon him while he is near let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts let him return to the Lord that he may have compassion on him into our God for he will abundantly pardon even you and he fight of what we've done and just like the wise men brought gifts the gift that we bring to the holy Throne of God is ourselves he deserves nothing less than our whole self and so when we come to him we bring ourselves and he makes us new he restores our soul and he cleans us up and when that happens that bread of life he satisfies the soul and what happens is that bread of life he puts his light inside of you what we're going to do is we're going to dim our lights now and I want to encourage you that if you have received Christ

Praise the Lord that light when we when we received the Lord he puts that heart that his light inside of us and we're also commanded to go and share that same light with our neighbors with our friends with our family now I'd encourage you that tonight maybe tonight would be the night that you receive Christ know how he satisfies and how he illuminates let's all stand and worship together [Music] join me in scene silent night holy night Silent Night oh all is calm all is bright Beyond virgin mother and child holy infant so tender my sleep in Heavenly peace [Music] sleeping in his eyes [Music] share Shepherd's Quake at the sight Glory stream from [Music] Hallelujah [Music] Christ the Savior is born Silent Night [Music] holy nights [Music] radiant

Beings from thy holy face with the dawn of reading Grace Jesus Lord at thy birth Jesus Lord at thy birth thank you let's pray together dear Lord as we go from this place remind us of This Little Child in the manger Lord remind us of the Wonder and awe that filled the hearts and the minds of the wise men as they came to present him costly gifts because he was and is a king in fact the King of Kings Lord help us to remember God help us to be filled with awe and wonder help us to worship and Lord we also pray for those of in this room that may not know you Lord we pray that you would you would reveal yourself to them that you would tug on their hearts Lord that you would make yourself known make it known that you are worthy of our worship of all that we could ever give it's in Jesus name we pray amen foreign