 Let's open our Bibles together to Matthew chapter 2 very basic instruction related to Jesus obviously as we look at this. I'll be sharing some things with you Many of you if not most of you have already heard this before this is a very famous passage beginning at verse 1 reading to verse 12 Matthew chapter 2 Matthew writes 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 has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him When Herod the king 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 inquired of them where the Christ was to be born So they said to him in Bethlehem of Judea For thus it is written by the prophet, but you Bethlehem in the land of Judah are Not the least among the rulers of Judah for out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel Then Herod when he had secretly called the wise men Determined from them 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 back word to me so that I may come and worship him also When they heard the king they departed and behold the star which they had seen in the east went before them till he came And stood over where the young child was When they saw the star they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy and When they had come into the house they saw the young child with Mary his mother and fell down and worshiped him and When they had opened the treasures they presented gifts to him gold frankincense and myrrh Then being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod they departed for their own country another way in These verses in front of us. We're gonna have an opportunity of seeing three basic responses that people will give to the Lord Jesus Christ Some people like the Magi worship him Some people like Herod are hostile toward him and Some people like the scribes and the priests are indifferent towards him And we're gonna look at that in just a moment as I bring this to a conclusion I'll be trying to make application for those three points, but we'll be looking at that. You see As we begin I should say it this way and it's interesting We just sang a song that gives to me opportunity to to make this basic small point For many people This particular portion of scripture is normally associated with with Christmas And I believe that a good reason for that is because there was a song that was written in 1857 by a man known as Reverend John Henry Hopkins John Henry Hopkins wrote a song called we a we three Kings of Orient are and He actually wrote that for the General Theological Seminary New York City Christmas pageant. We all know that song We've all sung it we three Kings of Orient are bearing gifts We traverse afar field and fountain more and mountain following yonder star And so we've all heard that song and all thought of it as being a song that is representative of this particular portion of scripture but as interesting is The reason it's called we three Kings is because of the three gifts that are presented But when you look at this passage you actually see that these are Magi and not Kings and There's no specific number of magi mentioned The reason that they come up with the three gifts or three Kings rather is because of the three gifts that were offered gold frankincense and myrrh and so what we really have is a tradition that's related to this passage that for many years many people have held fast to We're going to be looking at that passage and looking for certain things in it I want to point out some things and I'm going to lay an introduction and I'm going to move it into application But let's begin by just looking at an introduction here in verse 1 how that Matthew begins and says after Jesus was born in Bethlehem and Judea In the days of Herod the king So what we know as we begin here and as you take the 12 verses into its context We know that this is an event that actually took place sometime after Jesus was born This is not an event that took place on the night that Jesus was born It actually took place sometime later and we know why well one in verse 8 Jesus is referred to there as a young child not an infant Secondly in verse 11 the child is now residing in a house not in a manger and then later on in the same Chapter in verse 16 Herod commands children two years old and under to die So this is an event that took place probably within two years of the birth of Jesus Christ And so what we're doing is we're basically looking at it because it's a traditional passage But it gives to us some insight especially in the response that people would have towards Jesus Christ And that's why I've chosen this passage for us today You see the Bible tells us here in chapter 2 that wise men from the east came to Jerusalem saying whereas he who has been born king Now when we look at this I want to spend a moment developing this with you these wise men when it says in verse 1 Wise men came from the east the word wise men what we translate wise men is actually Where we get the word magi from the magi the magi my dad used to call them the three wise guys, but they're magi and the magi were a class of priests that were from the nation of media and they first appear in history right around 700 before Christ and They originated in Ur the Caldees just like Abraham did when you study the magi and you see them in history You discovered that they were skilled. They were skilled in astronomy They were skilled in agriculture and science and mathematics and history But they also practiced astrology. They practiced sorcery and they were known to be interpreters of dreams and So these individuals were individuals who are of a high order within another culture They were not Jewish. They were people from Ur the Caldees or in that general area and They were not Jewish at all But they were people who undoubtedly had been influenced by a Jewish man because we know that The prophet Daniel had been taken to Babylon as a youth and we know that when you study the book of Daniel that Daniel had become a great man in Daniel chapter 2 verse 48 it says that Daniel was made chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon So Daniel was actually the overseer of the magi when he was there And there's no doubt that he influenced them concerning the God of Israel And there's no doubt that he communicated to them things that would help them to understand something of the coming Messiah He may have acquainted them with a prophecy that they would have been familiar with in terms of the prophet They would have known Balaam and he may have acquainted them with that prophecy that was made by Balaam When it says in numbers 24 17 Balaam said I see him, but not now. I behold him, but not near a Star will come out of Jacob A scepter will rise out of Israel He will crush the foreheads of Moab the skulls of the sons of Sheth And so they may have been familiar with a messianic prophecy and being interested in the stars and students of the stars They noticed something that was very different and the Lord used that They were waiting for a sign of a coming ruler It would seem they were acquainted with the Old Testament. They were acquainted with messianic prophecies so as students of astronomy the sign of a star would be significant in Conjunction with an unusual star in the heavens They began to make their journey to Israel and they began to follow this particular star Now it's evident in verse 2 that the star that they saw didn't lead them all the way to Jerusalem Because they had to go and they had to begin to inquire. Where is this king? It says in verse 2 where is he who has been born king of the Jews? We have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him. Where is he they're asking Now the sign was for the wise men alone. It wasn't a sign for everybody They were being led And they were having spiritual truth that was to be revealed to them But it wasn't being revealed to everybody at the same time One of the things you discover when you study the bible concerning spiritual truth His spiritual truth needs to be revealed by god Because men naturally are not seeking him The bible makes it very clear it's found in 1 Corinthians 2 14 that the natural man doesn't receive the things of the spirit of god They're foolishness to him nor can he know them because they're spiritually discerned God has to reveal himself And god does that he does that by his spirit. He does that by his word He has done that through signs that drew attention from people so that he could point them to himself Because man does not naturally pursue god You can educate an individual in religious things you can send them to religious school From the time they're able to go to a preschool They can go to christian preschool. They can go to a christian church They can go to christian school all the way through their elementary They're they're into high school And you can give them information concerning the things of god But it takes god to reveal himself to man God has to reveal himself to man And he normally does that through the power of the holy spirit who brings Conviction to a person's heart An awakening that there's something wrong with me. There's something wrong inside of me I'm not all that I'd like to be I fail at the things they try to be successful at and especially when it comes to Being the kind of person I would like to be it takes the holy spirit to awaken us to that It takes the spirits conviction of sin righteousness and judgment to awaken us to the need for god And and god is revealed to us through his word So when the word of god is rightly divided and presented to people People can hear the message called the gospel That message that speaks about a child who was born in bethlehem who grew to become a man who died on a cross Was buried and the third day rose from the dead They hear this message that speaks of a god who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son And when they hear that message it begins to register within them They may have heard that message many times in their life, but never yielded to it But one day the holy spirit speaks in a very specific way to their heart and and as he speaks to their heart They realize that this message that's being spoken is a message that's directed to me. It's not directed to somebody else It's not just a myth. It's not a fantasy. It's not a fable It's not a feel-good story It's not something that is used uh to to try and bring people under control to another man This is a message that speaks about god who loves us and gave his son for us And it takes the holy spirit to awaken us to that You can hear this message over and over again all the days of your life You can hear about christmas And you can know the story and you can speak about it to people and You can even get upset when you go to a store and they say happy holidays instead of merry christmas and you can have this kind of Attitude and not even know the lord I've given invitations here Where people have come forward who some of them have been in this church for for years and i've recognized them and And as they're standing up there i'm saying they've been in this church for years And and you have to be saved to stay in this church for years and hear me And i'd look at them but lo and behold They weren't right with the lord They thought they were right with the lord But the lord finally through his word Spoke to them in such a way that it awakened them that they in reality were lost One of the most interesting invitations i ever gave it just came to mind as i was sharing that Was many years ago now when we were in ontario high school And i gave an invitation after a sunday morning You can't imagine how i felt when when one of the members of our worship team came forward to get saved Because you're supposed to be saved to lead worship here and i thought Whoa, you know, what's that all about? And and they were able that they were able to say the things the right things they were able to fill out You know their their ministry application. They were able to give the right answers But in reality This guitar player can any guitar player be saved this guitar player Was listening And the holy spirit spoke to his heart And he he said you know what i'm not right with god. I need to get right with jesus christ. I'm telling you Self-deception is the worst deception You can think you're doing well Because you you use other people as your measuring rod I'm better than this person most of us have some funky friend that we hang around with every once in a while We can point to him saying i'm better than that But the lord has a way of revealing our hearts to us The holy spirit is like a heart surgeon and what he does is he can actually show us a glimpse of what we really are all about And when he does that through the conviction of the spirit Then what we are to do is to say oh what a wretched person i am god. I need you forgive me I need you it takes the holy spirit to awaken us to have a relationship with the lord jesus christ Spiritual truth needs to be revealed by god In matthew chapter 11 verses 25 through 27 Matthew writes at that time jesus said i praise you father lord of heaven and earth Because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little children Yes, father For this was your good pleasure All things have been committed to me by my father. No one knows the son except the father And no one knows the father except the son and those to whom the son chooses to reveal him And so these wise men were being led in a very special way In order that they might come to worship the one who was born king of israel The other people around were not being ministered to in such a special way And so when they come and they begin to ask where is he they're not able to get the answer So they came to worship They came to worship a king And because they came to worship a king. I want you to notice how it says here And i'll read it again Verses one and two after jesus was born in bethlehem of judaea in the days of herod the king Behold wise men from the east came to jerusalem saying Whereas he who has been born king of the jews. We have seen a star in the east have come to worship him They actually came to a palace to speak to herod Because they knew that kings would occupy a palace So the question they're asking here in verse two, where is he who has been born king of the jews We have come to worship him We can assume That they were truly seeking him This would be a response to the light that had been offered to them. Jeremiah 29 13 says you will seek me and find me When you search for me with all your heart Luke 11 9 and 10 says So i say to you ask it will be given to you seek you will find knock it will be open to you For everyone who asks receives a hue seeks finds and to him who knocks it will be opened So they came seeking they came seeking with a desire to offer worship and as they did so god met them They came to worship And god met them but not all people have that kind of heart Because you have another response in verses three through eight and that's a response of herod His response is hostility Verse three says herod the king heard these things. He was troubled and all jerusalem with him When he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together He inquired of them where the christ was to be warned So they said to him in bethlehem of judaea for thus it is written by the prophet But you bethlehem in the land of juda Are not the least among the rulers of judaea for out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people israel Inherit when he had secretly called the wise men determined from them 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 back word to me that I may come and worship him also This man was not interested in worshiping He was completely hostile to such an idea He didn't want to worship the lord jesus christ because he had hostility towards him and he had hostility towards jesus ruling over him And there are people who actually have a very hostile attitude Towards the things of god, we all know that we have friends and family members or co-workers or neighbors Who are very antagonistic towards the things of god and sometimes they're openly hostile Sometimes they're angry and they show it Years ago in this fellowship I was teaching a sunday night bible study and uh gave an invitation and A young man came forward and gave his heart to the lord And it was brought up to me concerning this young man how that He was um Kind of um while he was a real rough real rough guy He is a member of a of a gang And very violent very angry towards the things of god And he had a friend Who was trying to win him to christ, but this young man was very hostile to the idea and so This young man who is trying to win him to the lord said to him Well, why don't you come to my church and listen to the pastor there? See if you can find something to fault him for And so This angry young man took him at his challenge and came to church and he came to church driving I believe he brought a van load of kids with him young people And he came in order that he might listen to the bible study and then He'd challenged me he wanted to to to argue his point at all So when he was there in church and he was listening to the message the holy spirit began to work on his heart And when the holy spirit began to work on his heart When the invitation was given He gave up all his hostility and came forward This man's name is david true heal. He's a pastor now of calvary chapel in south los angeles But I remember when he came to church with that attitude With that i'm going to you know, I'll show him and now God is using him in a tremendous way just because you're hostile Doesn't mean that god can't break you god has a way of reaching the ones whom he wants and he will do that And he can do that In the case of hered Hered was troubled and the bible says and all drew uslam with with him and a reason would be because hered was Insanely power hungry The people had seen him murder. He had even murdered his own In his reign he had murdered the high priest aristobulus by drowning him He had killed his wife He killed her mother and he killed two of his own sons This man was not about to give up his throne to somebody or anybody So he was hostile towards him But something we need to remember is christ is king And he's to be crowned king over our lives When people hear that when they hear that jesus christ is lord and they're not Sometimes they become hostile because they want to rule themselves. They want to be in control In romans the bible tells us in the book of romans chapter 8 verses 6 through 8 The mind of a sinful man is death But the mind controlled by the spirit is life and peace The sinful mind is hostile to god It does not submit to god's law nor can it do so Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please god jesus spoke about that very clearly In luke 19 12 through 14 he gave an illustration He said a certain noble man went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return He called his 10 servants delivered them 10 pounds and said to them occupy till i come But his citizens hated him and sent a message after him saying we will not have this man to reign over us And that's the way a lot of people are they would rather rule themselves They don't rule themselves because they have no control really over themselves But they would rather believe that they're in charge rather than allow god to be in charge And there are quite a number of people who were hostile to the things of god and continue to rebel against him But then you have another response and that's the response of the scribes who were the theologians and the priests I think their response is the worst kind to have because they're indifferent It's interesting how they knew where messiah was to be born. They were able to quote the scripture that said it Micah chapter five verse two It is written you Bethlehem in the land of juda are not the least among the rulers of juda For out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people israel when asked. Where is he who's going to be born king? They said he'll be there. He'll be in Bethlehem. We know where he's going to be They knew where messiah would be born, but they didn't care knowledge knowledge of facts knowledge of facts Will not save you you have to apply those facts through faith again remembering an invitation A young lady came forward when I said would you give your heart to christ? And she came and stood up in the front and prayed and afterwards I went down and I was speaking to some people and she came back in And she walked up to me and she said i'm a pastor's daughter She said my pastor my father passes a church in another city I was invited to come here today She said and during The time of worship and the message I came to realize something I came to realize that i've been raised in a christian home But i've never committed my heart personally to jesus christ In essence what she was doing is she was trying to live off the faith of her father But she realized that she had to have personal saving faith herself Just because somebody has a lot of information does not automatically mean that they're christians Before I got saved Before I got saved Because I had been raised going to catechism Going to religious instruction And I had memorized certain facts certain church doctrines certain teachings I had memorized the 10 commandments as a youth I knew a lot of things That pertain to to jesus and all so if you'd have spoken to me And you'd have witnessed to me and shared christ with me I would say to you I already know him If you said who is who is jesus christ i'd say he's the second person of the holy trinity If you said do you believe that there's a heaven i would say yes If you said do you believe that god gave a book called the bible and that's inspired by him i would have said yes I would have I would have agreed with most everything that you would have said and I had the ability to explain the things that I believed But I was missing heaven By 18 inches the distance between my head and my heart I didn't have a relationship with god, but I could argue with you I could discuss things I've shared this many times with you most of you have heard this before I had a cousin his name is carly carlos And carlos was jahovah's witness And he and I would argue I argued my faith. I came from the roman catholic church I would argue what I was taught he would argue jahovah's witness doctrine with me While we were smoking pot Talk about the blind arguing with the blind But I still remember arguing with him What kind of god do you serve? That's the truth Let's get a twinkie, man. No, I We would argue we would argue and I still remember doing that I knew things about god I knew things because it had been given to me. I had received those things intellectually The priests were able to say When asked where is messiah to be born? He will be born in bethlehem because mica tells us They were able to point it. They were able to point the scripture out There are people today who can quote john 3 16 god so loved the world that he gave us only begotten son That whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. They can quote that it's a very famous scripture They know that but they have not received it personally Just because we know a scripture doesn't mean that we have received and understood it spiritually You see and that's what's taking place here So you have one Group of people the magi who said we have come to worship him You have another individual named hered who responds with hostility towards jesus christ I will not worship him And then you have others who are indifferent who are able to say well, we know where it's going to be This is where it is. But as far as they were concerned it didn't matter to them whatsoever And that's the general response people have to jesus Either they come to worship him They're hostile towards him Or they're indifferent Now the ones who worship in verse nine When they heard the king they departed and behold the star which they had seen in the east went before them Till they came and stood over where the young child was When they saw the star they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy And when they had come into the house, they saw the young child with mary his mother and fell down and worshiped him And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to him gold frankincense and myrrh Being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to hered. They departed for their own country another way rejoicing They rejoiced they located him and rejoiced when they found him Christmas day I was telling my wife On the way here Christmas day in and of itself Is not the most exciting day in december for me. I have to be honest with you December 25th is not the most exciting day in december That may sound sacrilegious to some The most important day to me that I get excited about is december 27th Because that's the day I got saved december 27th and so for me When I think in terms of december and dates in december that are special december 27th has made december 25th important Because december 27th is when I learned to rejoice It's when I learned that gahd who is no longer angry at me It's when I learned that he actually Wonder of wonders that he actually knew my name And he actually Loved me And I don't know how you responded the first time you heard such a story That there is a god Who is so immense and so amazing So powerful But he loves you He knows your name He calls his sheep by name and they follow him And out of eternity One day Through an invitation given by an evangelist by the name of arthur blessed I heard my name being called by god When he said come on to me all you who are Are burdened heavy laden He said i'll give you rest And I was surprised by the joy that came When I finally realized That god loved me and forgave me of all my sins That the blood of jesus christ cleansed me And that I no longer was the same person In church tonight without wanting to embarrass her We have a visitor who knew me in high school remembers my reputation in high school And she's a facebook friend And I have to tell you That I was not known for being a very nice person in high school I was known for being an alcoholic and a and a and a druggy and in you name it And uh What a joy it is for me to stand up 42 years Of following jesus christ to be able to share with you How deeply god loves you and how god can change your life and make you brand new And you can worship him And your life can be changed That blesses me to be able to say it because that's the god that we serve A god who forgives us of all our sins Cleanses us from all unrighteousness and indeed we have come to worship him And we give to him his gifts of gold which is for a king of frankincense Which is for a priest of mur which is for embalming the one who was to die and even in those gifts Jesus's messiah ship was being revealed. He is our king. He is our priest He is our savior and we can rejoice in that We have come to worship him because he is worth worship And perhaps Perhaps we have some tonight Who have gone through more than one christmas thinking how empty it is That's because you haven't had A relationship with the one Whose birthday we celebrate You can have that tonight You can be like these magi Led by god To worship jesus You can allow the holy spirit to speak to your heart and say to you you've been pretending all along. It's time to get real It's time to get right I'm not asking anybody in here To join this church What i'm asking is For you to get right with jesus christ And to become his church To become his temple That he might dwell in you That he might give you power That he might change your life That he might forgive you of your sins That he might cleanse you That he might give you the ability to go home tonight and to put your head on the pillow for the first time and to sleep with peace No longer afraid No longer concerned with the habits that you have because it can be broken through him You know when I got saved I was an alcoholic and when I got saved I loved the drugs I never had to take a 12 step program I never had to take a 10 step program I took a one step program. I came to jesus christ and he changed my life And he can change yours And he can change yours He can give you the power of the spirit And he can transform you make you unrecognizable make you entirely different He does that because you become a new creation and all things are passed away And that comes through confessing god be merciful to me. I'm a sinner That comes through turning away repenting. I don't want to live that life anymore. I want a life that has joy One that is fulfilled one that is decent one that is right And god can do that he can do it in an instant. He can transform you in a moment It just takes a step of faith And it can happen it can happen tonight