Theological Status: Doctrinally Sound / Spiritually Cold
Biblical Parallel(Archetype): Ephesus
❓ What do these grades mean?
🔍 Biblical Discernment: The 7 Church Parallels
The Cold Orthodox Parallel
Ephesus
Teaching that upholds doctrinal precision yet parallels the loss of the "first love"—the vital, motivating power of the Gospel (Rev 2:4).
🧐 Overview
Sermon Summary: This sermon explores the story of the wise men to ask a critical question: What is the proper response to the birth of a King? It reveals that true worship involves recognizing His authority, seeking Him above all else, and joyfully submitting your entire life to Him, while exposing the subtle ways our hearts can rebel through indifference or disguised hostility.
Big Idea: Matthew invites you on me to worship the Incarnate King and to submit to the Incarnate King. [00:04:22 ▶️ 📄]
Pastoral Analysis: This is a robustly expository and Christ-centered sermon on Matthew 2:1-12. The speaker faithfully unpacks the text, structuring the message around the twin themes of worship and submission. He effectively contrasts the genuine worship of the Magi with the hostile insubordination of Herod and the culpable indifference of the religious leaders. The sermon is theologically sound, well-researched, and pastorally applied, calling the congregation to examine their own heart's posture toward King Jesus.
Biblical Parallel(Archetype): Ephesus — The sermon is doctrinally precise and exegetically rigorous, but its structure is dominated by imperatives, motivating primarily through duty rather than affection for Christ.
🧭 Biblical Alignment Dashboard
Overall Verdict: Biblically Sound
| Category | Status | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Soteriology | ✅ PASS | The sermon consistently presents salvation as a monergistic work of God's grace, citing the conversions of Lydia and Saul as examples of divine intervention. It rightly frames repentance and faith as necessary responses to God's initiative. |
| Bibliology | ✅ PASS | The sermon demonstrates a high view of Scripture, treating it as the inerrant and final authority. The message is built directly from the biblical text, with extensive cross-referencing to establish a cohesive biblical theology. |
| Hermeneutic | ✅ PASS | The hermeneutic is exemplary, employing a redemptive-historical approach that connects the narrative in Matthew to Old Testament prophecies (Numbers 24, Micah 5, Isaiah 60), correctly identifying Christ as their fulfillment. |
| Theology Proper | ✅ PASS | The sermon presents an orthodox understanding of the person and work of Christ, affirming His divine kingship, His role as the promised Messiah, and the necessity of submission to His authority. |
| Sacramentology | ⚪ N/A | Neither Communion nor Baptism were observed or discussed in the provided transcript. |
📖 How they Handle Scripture & Jesus
Primary Text: Matthew 2:1-12 (Expository (Deep))
Scripture Saturation: Verses Read: 12 | Referenced: 15 | Alluded: 3
Passages Read Aloud:
Key References: Micah 5:4, Numbers 24:17, Revelation 22:16, Isaiah 2:4, Isaiah 60:6, Psalm 63, Psalm 110:3, Luke 2:10-11, Matthew 13:44, Philippians 3:7-8, and 5 more...
Christological Connection: Redemptive Trajectory: The sermon effectively connects the Magi's journey to Old Testament messianic expectations (Numbers 24:17, Micah 5:4, Isaiah 60:6), establishing Christ's kingship as the fulfillment of prophecy and the central theme of redemptive history.
🧱 Sermon Outline
- The Invitation to Worship the Incarnate King [00:05:18 ▶️ 📄] : Five aspects of worship shown through the Magi's example.
- Worship includes Recognizing Him as King [00:05:50 ▶️ 📄] : Acknowledging Jesus as King of the Jews and King of the whole world.
- Worship includes Seeking Jesus as the very source of your life [00:11:45 ▶️ 📄] : Coming to Him, typifying the nations streaming to Jerusalem.
- Worship includes Rejoicing in this King [00:16:31 ▶️ 📄] : Worship must be marked by exceeding joy, not done kicking and screaming.
- Worship includes Offering Him our best [00:18:58 ▶️ 📄] : Leveraging all treasures, talents, and gifts for His glory.
- Worship includes Obeying God rather than man [00:22:21 ▶️ 📄] : The Magi's obedience to the dream over Herod's command.
- The Invitation to Submit to this King [00:25:37 ▶️ 📄] : Contrasting the Magi's worship with the rejection shown by Herod and Jerusalem.
- Manifestation of Rejection: A Troubled City and a Troubled King [00:26:34 ▶️ 📄] : Herod and Jerusalem were troubled because they did not want to submit to the King.
- Manifestation of Rejection: Indifference [00:28:28 ▶️ 📄] : The Chief Priests and Scribes knew the prophecy but stayed in Jerusalem, showing culpable indifference.
- Manifestation of Rejection: Hostility Disguised as Submission [00:31:07 ▶️ 📄] : Herod pretended to want to worship the King while planning a targeted strike.
🗝️ Key Topics & Themes
- Worship : The proper response to the Incarnate King, involving recognition, seeking, joy, giving, and obedience.
- Submission : The necessary posture toward Christ's kingship, contrasted with agitation, indifference, and disguised hostility.
- Kingship of Christ : Jesus is King of the Jews and King of the whole world, whose arrival was prophesied by a star.
✅ Commendations
Hermeneutics | Excellent Redemptive-Historical Connection
The sermon's greatest strength is its connection of the Magi's star to the 'Star out of Jacob' prophecy in Numbers 24:17. This demonstrates deep exegetical work and teaches the congregation to see Christ as the fulfillment of the entire Old Testament.
Homiletics | Clear and Memorable Structure
The sermon is logically structured around the two core themes of 'Worship' and 'Submission,' with clear sub-points. This makes the message easy to follow and retain.
Pastoral Application | Incisive Diagnosis of Heart Attitudes
The contrast between the Magi's worship and the various forms of rebellion (Herod's hostility, the scribes' indifference, Jerusalem's agitation) provides a powerful diagnostic tool for listeners to examine their own hearts.
🧠 Questions for Reflection
Use these questions for personal study or small group discussion:
- The sermon described three negative responses to Jesus: being troubled, being indifferent, and pretending to submit while being hostile. Which of these, if any, best describes your current feelings about the claims of Jesus Christ?
- The speaker stated that the destiny of every person is based on their relationship to King Jesus. Do you believe this is true? Why or why not, and what does the possibility of it mean for your life?
📜 Full Sermon Transcript (Audit)
Use the 📄 icons next to quotes above to automatically jump to their location in this raw transcript.
[00:00:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Good morning, beloved.
[00:00:03] I invite you to turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 2, verses 1 to 12.
[00:00:13] Matthew 2, 1 to 12, you can find that on page 807 in the Pew Bibles.
[00:00:32] Matthew 2, 1-12 Hear the word of the Lord.
[00:00:39] 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?
[00:00:54] For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.
[00:01:00] When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
[00:01:07] And assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
[00:01:15] They told him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet, And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah.
[00:01:30] For from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.
[00:01:37] Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared.
[00:01:46] And he sent 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.
[00:02:00] After listening to the king, they went on their way.
[00:02:03] 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.
[00:02:14] When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
[00:02:20] And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him.
[00:02:28] Then
[00:02:29] Opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.
[00:02:35] And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.
[00:02:45] Let us pray.
[00:02:48] Our Father in heaven, we thank you that what the law could not do because it was weakened by the flesh, you did by sending your Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.
[00:02:59] We thank you for the blessing and privilege to know that truth, to celebrate that truth, and to bank our whole lives on that truth.
[00:03:10] We pray now that as we look at this very familiar account of the wonder of the coming of God in the flesh, we pray that you would cause our hearts to pay attention to what you say here.
[00:03:24] You would make us better disciples of this King born of the Virgin.
[00:03:32] I ask in Jesus' name.
[00:03:34] Amen.
[00:03:39] This morning we will conclude the short Advent series that we began last week.
[00:03:45] And that brings us to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 2 that we just read.
[00:03:50] And in this passage in Matthew chapter 2,
[00:03:55] We have two interwoven themes related to the birth of Jesus Christ the King.
[00:04:02] Two interwoven themes related to the birth of the Messiah.
[00:04:09] These themes are worship and submission.
[00:04:13] Worship and submission.
[00:04:15] Worship of the newborn King.
[00:04:18] Submission to the newborn King.
[00:04:22] Matthew invites you on me to worship the Incarnate King and to submit to the Incarnate King.
[00:04:34] And obviously you cannot worship this King if you are not in submission to Him.
[00:04:42] But it is possible to fake submission to this King when you are not worshiping Him.
[00:04:49] So worship and submission in relation to Christ are related realities but they can be very distinct depending on who you're talking about.
[00:04:59] Somebody who is a worshipper of King Jesus is definitely one who is submitted to the kingship of Jesus, but it's possible to find someone who is faking submission to Jesus, who is not truly worshipping Him.
[00:05:13] And I think we will see that as we go into this passage this morning.
[00:05:18] So let's look first at the invitation to you and to me to worship the Incarnate King.
[00:05:28] Matthew shows us five aspects of the worship of King Jesus through and in the example of the Magi, the wise men
[00:05:40] From the East.
[00:05:41] They show us five aspects of worshiping King Jesus.
[00:05:47] Let me point these out to us quickly here.
[00:05:50] First, worshiping this King who was born of the Virgin includes recognizing Him as King.
[00:05:57] That can go without saying, but the text is very emphatic about that.
[00:06:03] Recognizing Him as King.
[00:06:05] Look at verse 1.
[00:06:06] Matthew says, 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?
[00:06:24] You see, they recognize Jesus as the king.
[00:06:29] They do not think his kingship is up for debate.
[00:06:35] Their inquiry about his whereabouts is premised on the fact that this baby who has been born is king of the Jews.
[00:06:44] Where is he who has been born king of the Jews, they ask.
[00:06:49] But here's something interesting.
[00:06:51] They know he is king of the Jews, but they come to see him.
[00:06:56] They do not say, let the Jews see about their king.
[00:07:00] They come all the way from the East to worship this King of the Jews.
[00:07:05] So you want to ask, what do these non-Jewish, genetically Gentile individuals have to do with the King of the Jews?
[00:07:14] Why do they care to come?
[00:07:18] Well, it's because this king is king not only of the Jews but of the whole world.
[00:07:25] He's not only king of the Jews.
[00:07:27] One of the things that Micah the prophet that we looked at last week said about this king in Micah chapter 5 verse 4 goes like this.
[00:07:35] And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
[00:07:47] And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth.
[00:07:55] He shall be their peace.
[00:07:57] That's the king.
[00:07:58] He's king of the Jews, yes.
[00:08:00] But he shall be great to the ends of the earth.
[00:08:03] And therefore people came from the ends of the earth to worship this king.
[00:08:07] So these wise men, totally non-Jewish, gentile as can be, recognize in Jesus the king of the Jews, who is not only king of the Jews, but also will be great to the ends of the earth, will be their king too.
[00:08:24] It's remarkable how they find out about the fact that this king has been born, isn't it?
[00:08:30] They say in verse 2, We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.
[00:08:39] They saw the star of this king.
[00:08:42] When it rose and they came to worship this king.
[00:08:46] It's remarkable because that language links the birth of this king to Old Testament messianic expectations.
[00:08:55] The expectations of the coming of the anointed of the Lord.
[00:09:00] And this one is quite striking because it comes in a unique context.
[00:09:05] So it comes from Numbers 24, 17.
[00:09:09] If you remember in Numbers chapter 24, the Israelites have just been delivered from Egypt.
[00:09:15] They are on their sojourn to the promised land.
[00:09:18] They come to the plains of Moab.
[00:09:20] The king of Moab, a man by the name of Balak, is so threatened and paranoid because of the Israelites.
[00:09:27] So he invites a pagan prophet.
[00:09:30] A magician, basically, to come and put a curse on the Israelites so that he can defeat them.
[00:09:36] But when Balaam, the false prophet, comes to put a curse on the Israelites, God would not let him do it.
[00:09:42] Every time he opens his mouth, only blessings come out.
[00:09:45] And here is one of the blessings that Balaam, unselfconsciously, uttered about the Israelites.
[00:09:53] Numbers 24, 17.
[00:09:54] See him, but not now.
[00:10:01] I behold him, but not near.
[00:10:04] A star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel.
[00:10:11] It shall crush the forehead of Moab, and break down all the sons of Sheath.
[00:10:17] So this is Balaam declaring that a star will arise from Jacob and a scepter will rise from Israel and crush the forehead of Moab.
[00:10:27] So in other words, these wise men who came from the east recognized the skull-crushing king rising from Jacob had been born in Bethlehem and so they came to worship him.
[00:10:40] And this is not made up.
[00:10:42] Go to Revelation 22 verse 16.
[00:10:45] Jesus identifies himself
[00:10:47] As the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.
[00:10:54] So God showed to these wise men from the east that this star that had risen was a proclamation of the arrival of the king who was to be born, of the one who was to rise from Jacob, of the one who was to crush the skull.
[00:11:08] of the one who was crushed the head of the serpent.
[00:11:12] That's who has been born.
[00:11:14] In other words, to worship this king acceptably, you have to recognize his kingship.
[00:11:20] You have to agree with heaven.
[00:11:21] He is the king.
[00:11:23] He sits on the throne beyond which there is no other throne.
[00:11:26] You cannot worship Jesus acceptably unless you acknowledge him as this king.
[00:11:33] He is the promised deliverer that God has sent into the world.
[00:11:38] But there is more that these wise men show us.
[00:11:42] It's not just about recognizing the kingship of Jesus.
[00:11:45] It's also about seeking Jesus as the very source of your life.
[00:11:50] Coming to Him.
[00:11:52] Recognizing Him is one thing.
[00:11:53] Seeking Him out and coming to Him is another thing.
[00:11:58] So the Magi, the wise men, did not only recognize Jesus as king, they sought him.
[00:12:03] They came all the way from the east.
[00:12:06] They typify the nations that are spoken of in the prophet Isaiah as those who will be streaming to Jerusalem, streaming to this king to see the king.
[00:12:18] Just listen to Isaiah chapter 2 verse 4.
[00:12:21] We are told this.
[00:12:22] It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains and shall be lifted up above the hills and all the nations shall flow to it and many people shall come and say come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob that he may teach us his way that we may walk in his paths.
[00:12:47] chapter 60 of Isaiah verse 6 a multitude of camels shall cover you the young camels of Midian and Ephah all those from Sheba shall come they shall bring gold and frankincense do those gifts ring a bell gold and frankincense
[00:13:04] and shall bring good news the praise of the Lord so God is walking through Isaiah and declaring nations will come to the king to be born and they will bring gifts to the king to be born nations will seek this king so worshiping Jesus is more than just recognizing him as king it's also about coming to this king if you remember
[00:13:30] When Solomon was reigning in Jerusalem, his glory and wisdom and wealth and power and dominion was so vast and so glorious, it prompted an Ethiopian queen, Sheba, to come all the way to Jerusalem to meet Solomon.
[00:13:51] But when Jesus is born, the reality of what Solomon was pointing forward to
[00:13:57] So what the wise men are doing is typifying the nations coming to Jesus and reigniting what the Queen of Sheba had done in coming to Solomon.
[00:14:13] Is it a big deal to you that Jesus is coming?
[00:14:17] As you think about Jesus as King, is it a big deal to you?
[00:14:22] Does that dominate your thinking?
[00:14:24] Do you seek Him in your heart?
[00:14:28] It is certainly a big deal to God that Jesus is King.
[00:14:33] The history of the world turns on the fact that Jesus is King.
[00:14:37] The destiny of the universe turns on the fact that Jesus is King.
[00:14:42] Every single individual's eternal destiny is exclusively based on their relationship to King Jesus.
[00:14:51] it is a big deal that Jesus is king and you cannot worship this king acceptably and adore him and love him and be dominated by thought of his kingship without seeking him without looking out for him and coming to him and seeking to adore him I mean think about the words of David in Psalm 63 oh God you are my God earnestly I seek you
[00:15:21] My soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
[00:15:33] Worshiping King Jesus includes saying, He is my very life.
[00:15:39] I will seek Him with my whole heart.
[00:15:43] So this is both an exhortation to you and an encouragement to you.
[00:15:47] You should be seeking Jesus.
[00:15:49] That's an exhortation.
[00:15:51] And if your heart is hungering for Him and thirsting for Him, you should rejoice in that because it's God moving your heart to desire Jesus, to seek Jesus.
[00:16:00] No one seeks after God apart from the intervention of the sovereign grace of the God of the universe.
[00:16:07] These wise men came from the East because they had been helped to come from the East.
[00:16:13] They could have had other business to go about.
[00:16:16] So, worshipping Jesus includes recognizing Him as King.
[00:16:20] It includes seeking Him as the very source of your life.
[00:16:28] Third aspect of worshiping him.
[00:16:31] It includes rejoicing in this king.
[00:16:35] Rejoicing in this king.
[00:16:38] Matthew tells us that the wise men came from the east.
[00:16:41] They came all the way to Jerusalem and then they made their way onwards to Bethlehem.
[00:16:45] And he tells us in verse 9, if you look at your text, that the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.
[00:16:56] And look at verse 10.
[00:16:58] When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
[00:17:04] It's almost as if Matthew can't find the words that will capture the joy that marked the wise men when the star came and rested in that house.
[00:17:14] He uses one verb and uses the cognate nouns as the direct object and then he adds the adverb exceedingly.
[00:17:22] They rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
[00:17:29] You can't worship this king kicking and screaming.
[00:17:35] He so satisfies your heart and so frees you from the enticement of the world and so frees you from the enslavement of the world that all you want to do is worship Him and do so joyfully.
[00:17:49] He does not force you to worship Him.
[00:17:51] He is the one who is at work in believers to will and to do according to His good pleasure.
[00:17:58] In Psalm 110 verse 3 we are told, Your people, speaking about this King, Your people will offer themselves faithfully
[00:18:04] We live in the day of the power of this king.
[00:18:10] And so he moves our hearts to offer ourselves freely.
[00:18:15] So worshipping this king is marked by exceeding joy.
[00:18:21] And isn't that consistent with what Gabriel said to the shepherds when he announced the birth of this king?
[00:18:30] Fear not for behold I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people why for unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior who is Christ the Lord good of great joy that will be for all the people so worshiping this king includes having him as the exceeding joy of your life
[00:18:58] is that which sums up the very reason the source and the substance of your joy but it also includes offering him our best so you recognize him as king you seek him as the source of your life you rejoice in him but you also offer him your best remember verse 11
[00:19:22] We are told, And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him.
[00:19:29] Then opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.
[00:19:40] Do you realize that any treasure in your life, any talent in your life, any gift in your life that is not deliberately being leveraged
[00:19:52] For the worship of this king is being wasted.
[00:19:56] Like what we have that's been given to us when we are not thoughtful about how to apply those things in such a way that the kingship and glory and majesty of this king is extolled and lifted up.
[00:20:09] We are wasting that thing, whatever it may be.
[00:20:13] For these wise men the kingdom of heaven is like the treasure hidden in a field which a man found and covered up.
[00:20:21] Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
[00:20:26] They couldn't have anything that they think they should keep from this king.
[00:20:30] Giving Him their all.
[00:20:33] Or like Paul says, Whatever gain I had, I count it as loss for the sake of Christ.
[00:20:40] Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
[00:20:49] So God prophesied nations will come and bring their best to the worship of this king.
[00:20:55] They will bring gold and frankincense and myrrh and these wise men are showing us exactly that.
[00:21:04] Beloved, seekers of Jesus, no matter how long they have been in church, seekers of Jesus who never get to the point of saying all that I am and all that I have is for the glory of this king are not true seekers of Jesus.
[00:21:19] If you seek Jesus but you never get to the point of saying, my whole life and everything about me is for the glory of this king and I rejoice in that, then you're really not a true seeker of Jesus Christ.
[00:21:34] He is the treasure that makes it so that no other treasure is more desirable than Jesus himself.
[00:21:42] Remember what he said, no one can serve two masters.
[00:21:49] For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
[00:21:54] You cannot serve God and money.
[00:21:57] Is there something in your life that is competing secretly for prominence and preeminence with Jesus?
[00:22:05] Money, pleasure, career, whatever it may be.
[00:22:12] Worshiping Jesus acceptably includes offering Him our best.
[00:22:17] Here's the last element of worship that the wise men show us.
[00:22:21] Worshiping Jesus acceptably includes obeying God rather than man.
[00:22:27] Look at verse 12.
[00:22:29] And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.
[00:22:37] You have opposing instructions.
[00:22:40] What they are hearing from God in the dream that came to them is diametrically opposed to what Herod told them.
[00:22:50] Because we are told that after Herod received a confirmation that the Messiah, the Christ was to be born in Bethlehem,
[00:22:59] He called the wise men secretly and ascertained from them when the star had arisen and then he told them to go to Bethlehem and search carefully and when they find a child they should come and tell him so that he too can go and worship so they are in Jerusalem the Bible says they heard that and then they went on their way to Bethlehem then they get to Bethlehem they worship the king and then a dream comes to them from God not to return to Pharaoh to Herod
[00:23:28] And they do not return to Herod.
[00:23:30] Now this was a significant risk to themselves.
[00:23:34] Herod was not an inconsequential individual.
[00:23:38] He wielded great power in the Roman province of Judea.
[00:23:43] And history tells us he was known for his jealousy and paranoia.
[00:23:48] He was jealous and paranoid about losing power enough that he murdered a wife of his and murdered two children.
[00:23:57] He couldn't stand any threat to his throne.
[00:24:03] but for these wise men they had come to know the true king so it did not matter how much power herod wielded they would obey god they would obey the instructions of god to the glory of this king so worshiping this king includes obeying god rather than man regardless of the pressures under which you live now one important question that christ
[00:24:32] If there are areas of disobedience in our lives, is to hear this king say, why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not do what I say?
[00:24:42] Because the worship of this king includes obeying him unquestioningly, unconditionally, having an unqualified commitment to do whatever he says.
[00:24:55] And when you do, he says your life is like a house that is built on the rock that the waves and the rains and every vicissitude of this life will never bring it down.
[00:25:08] So in the birth of Jesus Christ, beloved, God extends to you and to me the life-giving invitation to worship His King, the Messiah.
[00:25:19] And worshiping Him includes recognizing Him as King, worshiping Him includes seeking Him, rejoicing in Him, giving Him our best, and also obeying God rather than man.
[00:25:31] But that's not the only theme.
[00:25:33] That's not the only invitation.
[00:25:34] Here's the second that I mentioned.
[00:25:37] It's an invitation to submit to this king.
[00:25:40] So you worship him, yes, but you submit to him as well.
[00:25:45] As I said at the beginning, worshiping King Jesus and submitting to him are related, but they can be very distinct depending on who you are talking to.
[00:25:55] Those who are truly worshiping this king are always in submission to him, but some can fake submission.
[00:26:00] Submission to him when they are not worshiping him.
[00:26:03] This text we just read confronts us with dramatic contrasts.
[00:26:08] On the one hand, we see people coming from the ends of the earth to worship this king that has been born.
[00:26:15] On the other hand, we see people closest to the epicenter of this world-changing event.
[00:26:21] Standing in rejection of the king.
[00:26:24] Standing in hostility to the king.
[00:26:27] And their hostility and rejection of the king works itself out in different ways.
[00:26:32] Let's just look at some of the details.
[00:26:34] First, you have a troubled city and a troubled king.
[00:26:38] Here we are told that when news of the birth of Jesus reached the ears of Herod and those in Jerusalem, they were troubled.
[00:26:46] Look at verse 3.
[00:26:47] Herod the king heard this.
[00:26:49] He was troubled and all Jerusalem with him.
[00:26:52] So Herod is plunged into turmoil.
[00:26:55] He is deeply, mentally shaken up because he's heard of the birth of the king, Jesus.
[00:27:02] The same thing with the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
[00:27:05] And we should ask, why...
[00:27:08] Would the birth of one who is the Prince of Peace be trouble to someone?
[00:27:15] Why would the coming of a king whose name is Prince of Peace plunge a king and a whole city into turmoil?
[00:27:25] There's a one-word answer to that question.
[00:27:29] Submission.
[00:27:31] Herod and those who lived in Jerusalem did not want to submit to this king the specifics of their insubordination look different as you you consider every individual but the bottom line the common denominator for faith for herod and those who lived in jerusalem was they wanted to be god over their own life they wanted to be kings over their own life and so the birth of this king troubles them and of course for those who lived in jerusalem the trouble finally boils over into cries of
[00:28:01] crucify him crucify him so again you see it's not just agitation it's a rejection of his kingship and the more he exercises his kingship the more intense their hostility and rejection becomes until it's ominous in deciding a robber instead of with the king of the universe the same thing is true for the chief priests and the scribes
[00:28:28] They are marked by an indifference, which is another manifestation of the rejection of the king.
[00:28:34] So Herod regards the chief priests and the scribes as the subject matter experts on Old Testament prophecy.
[00:28:42] When he hears that the king has been born, he invites them in, he asks them about where the king was to be born, they confirm to him that Micah had proclaimed many hundred years ago that he would be born in Bethlehem, and then they just stay there.
[00:28:58] One would hope that these chief priests and scribes would say, what a tragedy that the Messiah has been born and we are oblivious to it.
[00:29:09] But we thank God that somehow we have found out.
[00:29:11] Let's go to Bethlehem and worship the King.
[00:29:14] They don't do that.
[00:29:14] They don't do what the shepherds did.
[00:29:16] They stayed in Jerusalem.
[00:29:19] In other words, they knew the text about the birth of the Messiah.
[00:29:23] The text did not know them.
[00:29:25] The text had not changed their heart.
[00:29:27] They were not in tune with the program of God.
[00:29:30] They wanted to do their own thing.
[00:29:32] So there is a culpable indifference.
[00:29:35] To the kingship of Jesus here on the part of the scribes and the chief priests.
[00:29:41] It's almost as if they are saying, we don't care that he is born as long as he leaves us alone to decide what we want to believe and how we want to live our lives.
[00:29:50] If he just leaves us alone, we are fine with him being born.
[00:29:54] And of course we know that that's the case because
[00:29:57] These are the same chief priests and scribes who wind up just opposing Jesus at every turn when he begins his public ministry and ultimately striking a deal with Judas Iscariot that he might betray Jesus to them and when Jesus is ultimately hanging on the cross and bleeding and fighting for his life they join the rest of the nation to say
[00:30:19] He saved others.
[00:30:20] He cannot save himself.
[00:30:22] He is the king of Israel.
[00:30:23] Let him come down from the cross and we will believe him.
[00:30:26] He trusts God.
[00:30:27] Let God deliver him.
[00:30:29] If he desires him, for he said, I am the son of God.
[00:30:33] These are the words of Jesus and the scribes.
[00:30:36] In other words, beloved, there is no such thing as an indifference to the kingship of Jesus.
[00:30:41] Every indifference to King Jesus is hostility to King.
[00:30:47] He's such a king, you can't be indifferent to him.
[00:30:51] The scribes and the chief priests were really not indifferent.
[00:30:54] They were rejecting his kingship.
[00:30:56] They were opposed.
[00:30:57] They were in an adversarial position to his kingship.
[00:31:03] Here's the third manifestation of that insubordination.
[00:31:07] It's the case of Herod.
[00:31:10] His hostility is disguised as submission to the king.
[00:31:14] He pretends to be submitting to the king.
[00:31:19] So we saw in the text he is troubled alongside the inhabitants of Jerusalem and then he feels threatened that this king has been born.
[00:31:27] And you know when a group of people feels threatened, the most threatened in the midst of the group is going to do the most desperate thing.
[00:31:38] So Herod is the most threatened immediately because he's the one wielding the most power on everyone in Jerusalem.
[00:31:46] So what does he do?
[00:31:47] He summons the wise men.
[00:31:48] He summons the chief priests and the scribes, ascertains from them that yes, the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem.
[00:31:58] He calls the wise men and tells them to go find out and see if the king is indeed in Bethlehem.
[00:32:07] But you would have hoped that when Herod discovers that from the scriptures, from the word of the God of Israel, the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, he would have said something like, okay, this is a God thing.
[00:32:21] I should not set myself in a position to the God of the universe.
[00:32:27] But that's not what he does.
[00:32:29] He couches his opposition in terms of, I also want to go and worship Him.
[00:32:34] Now that is a classic antichrist strategy.
[00:32:39] Pretending to worship Christ when they are actually animated by the spirit of the antichrists.
[00:32:46] They hope they would derail the kingdom of Christ by pretending to belong to Him.
[00:32:54] But of course, God is not mocked because when the wise men get to Bethlehem, God warns them and they heed God's warning and return to their home country by another way.
[00:33:10] And the next story in this account shows us what spirit was truly animating Herod.
[00:33:17] because he was not wanting to go to Bethlehem and worship he was hoping he could pinpoint the baby the new king that has been born and just carry out a targeted strike against that king and eliminate that king when he saw that that plan has been derailed what does he do he didn't waste a time in a heartbeat he chooses to become a mass murderer
[00:33:40] To kill all the babies, all the male babies born in the region, two years and younger, in hope that that baby will be killed in the midst of the rampage and carnage.
[00:33:51] That's how opposed Herod was.
[00:33:54] But the striking thing is, he says, in the midst of all that hostility, so that I may go and worship Him.
[00:34:04] That's as anti-Christ as it gets.
[00:34:08] so here's the question for you beloved what's the posture of your heart towards king jesus what what kind of posture what person are you in the inside towards king jesus agitated indifferent hostile and disguising your hostility as submission to him or you are one who says this is the king this is my life
[00:34:37] My life has no meaning if it is not invested for the worship of this king.
[00:34:42] I think one of the most stunning stories of redemption in the New Testament is the story, the redemption of a young rabbi and a rising star in Judaism.
[00:34:57] Who decided that the mission of his life will be to stamp out Christianity and to stamp out the preaching of this king as the king of the Jews and the king of the world.
[00:35:07] I'm talking about Saul of Tarsus.
[00:35:11] If his whole life to that and fought for it with unparalleled zeal.
[00:35:18] But one day, in astonishing mercy, this king broke into the life of this violent persecutor of the church, knocked him off his horse.
[00:35:27] He falls to the ground and says, Who are you, Lord?
[00:35:31] And his life was changed dramatically.
[00:35:34] He's brought into the kingdom that he fought with every drop of his blood to overthrow.
[00:35:39] And he was given a privilege to serve and have his life count for this kingdom that will never be shaken.
[00:35:47] And this is the way he testifies about it.
[00:35:49] I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent.
[00:36:06] But I received mercy, not belief.
[00:36:13] and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
[00:36:22] That can be you today.
[00:36:24] If you feel an agitation because Jesus is making specific demands of you, if you feel an indifference to Jesus, if you feel a hidden hostility to Jesus, you can know this kind of redemption that He applied and accomplished in the life of
[00:36:43] Saul of Tarsus making him the foremost apostle of the New Testament you remember when Paul experiences when Saul experiences Jesus like this his life's mission changes dramatically so much so that he would define himself like this I have been crucified with Christ it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me
[00:37:12] and gave himself for me.
[00:37:14] He can do this in your life too.
[00:37:19] People are listening to me.
[00:37:21] There is something more precious than the toys and the gifts that you receive at Christmas.
[00:37:26] He can make you live for him as Paul speaks of himself.
[00:37:31] If you turn to him today in repentance and faith.
[00:37:36] And if you are a believer, you have been walking with this Jesus for 50 years or just even just for one week.
[00:37:42] Do not ever grow weary in saying like Paul, I have been crucified with Christ.
[00:37:49] It's no longer I who live.
[00:37:51] Christ who lives in me and the life I live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me that beloved is the loving submission that God invites you and me to have in relation to Jesus to worship him and to submit to him when we see Jesus face to face
[00:38:19] No one of us will say, I submitted too much to him.
[00:38:23] It will not happen.
[00:38:25] He will be too much.
[00:38:26] The only thing that can happen will be that we will regret we did not submit enough.
[00:38:32] God invites you to worship this king and to submit to him.
[00:38:42] A friend of mine sent me these words that I want to close with this morning because I think they are very well written out.
[00:38:50] They were written in the third century by Cyril of Jerusalem.
[00:38:55] This is what he says, We preach not one advent only of Christ, but a second also, far more glorious than the former.
[00:39:06] For the former gave a view of his patience, but the latter brings with it the crown of a divine kingdom.
[00:39:15] For all things, for the most part, are twofold in our Lord Jesus Christ, a twofold generation, one of God before the ages and one of a virgin at the close of the ages.
[00:39:28] His descent twofold.
[00:39:30] One, the unobserved like rain on a fleece, and a second, His open coming, which is to be.
[00:39:37] In His former advent, He was wrapped in swaddling clothes in the manger.
[00:39:43] In His second, He will cover Himself with light as with a garment.
[00:39:48] In his first coming, he endured the cross, despising shame.
[00:39:52] In his second, he comes attended by a host of angels, receiving glory.
[00:39:59] We rest not only upon his first advent only, but look also for his second.
[00:40:06] And as at his first coming we said, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, so will we repeat the same at his second coming.
[00:40:15] When with angels we meet our master, we may worship him and say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
[00:40:26] That's the good news of Christ.
[00:40:29] That's the hope gospel.
[00:40:32] Christian, brother and sister, continue to worship this King.
[00:40:37] Continue to submit to this King.
[00:40:39] And if you are agitated against His kingship, if you are indifferent to His kingship, if there is a hidden hostility in your heart against His kingship, I plead with you to repent
[00:40:52] Because by so doing, you will save yourself from the wrath to come.
[00:40:57] Let us pray.
[00:41:02] Lord Jesus, you are such a King, attended by such transcendental glory and majesty that no words can truly express, no mind can truly comprehend, and we rejoice in that reality.
[00:41:20] because it means you will be the joy of our souls and the food of our souls for all eternity and never run out and never be boring to us.
[00:41:30] I pray that you would fan the flame of white-hot worship for you in each of our hearts and deepen our joyful submission to your kingship.
[00:41:42] And please win over any and every indifferent or agitated or hostile heart here
[00:41:49] You tell us in your word that when Paul spoke your word on the banks of a river in Philippi, you opened the heart of Lydia and she paid attention to what Paul said.
[00:42:01] Would you do some of that even this morning here today?
[00:42:05] In Jesus' name, Amen.
Good morning, beloved.
[00:00:03] I invite you to turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 2, verses 1 to 12.
[00:00:13] Matthew 2, 1 to 12, you can find that on page 807 in the Pew Bibles.
[00:00:32] Matthew 2, 1-12 Hear the word of the Lord.
[00:00:39] 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?
[00:00:54] For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.
[00:01:00] When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
[00:01:07] And assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
[00:01:15] They told him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet, And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah.
[00:01:30] For from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.
[00:01:37] Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared.
[00:01:46] And he sent 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.
[00:02:00] After listening to the king, they went on their way.
[00:02:03] 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.
[00:02:14] When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
[00:02:20] And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him.
[00:02:28] Then
[00:02:29] Opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.
[00:02:35] And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.
[00:02:45] Let us pray.
[00:02:48] Our Father in heaven, we thank you that what the law could not do because it was weakened by the flesh, you did by sending your Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.
[00:02:59] We thank you for the blessing and privilege to know that truth, to celebrate that truth, and to bank our whole lives on that truth.
[00:03:10] We pray now that as we look at this very familiar account of the wonder of the coming of God in the flesh, we pray that you would cause our hearts to pay attention to what you say here.
[00:03:24] You would make us better disciples of this King born of the Virgin.
[00:03:32] I ask in Jesus' name.
[00:03:34] Amen.
[00:03:39] This morning we will conclude the short Advent series that we began last week.
[00:03:45] And that brings us to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 2 that we just read.
[00:03:50] And in this passage in Matthew chapter 2,
[00:03:55] We have two interwoven themes related to the birth of Jesus Christ the King.
[00:04:02] Two interwoven themes related to the birth of the Messiah.
[00:04:09] These themes are worship and submission.
[00:04:13] Worship and submission.
[00:04:15] Worship of the newborn King.
[00:04:18] Submission to the newborn King.
[00:04:22] Matthew invites you on me to worship the Incarnate King and to submit to the Incarnate King.
[00:04:34] And obviously you cannot worship this King if you are not in submission to Him.
[00:04:42] But it is possible to fake submission to this King when you are not worshiping Him.
[00:04:49] So worship and submission in relation to Christ are related realities but they can be very distinct depending on who you're talking about.
[00:04:59] Somebody who is a worshipper of King Jesus is definitely one who is submitted to the kingship of Jesus, but it's possible to find someone who is faking submission to Jesus, who is not truly worshipping Him.
[00:05:13] And I think we will see that as we go into this passage this morning.
[00:05:18] So let's look first at the invitation to you and to me to worship the Incarnate King.
[00:05:28] Matthew shows us five aspects of the worship of King Jesus through and in the example of the Magi, the wise men
[00:05:40] From the East.
[00:05:41] They show us five aspects of worshiping King Jesus.
[00:05:47] Let me point these out to us quickly here.
[00:05:50] First, worshiping this King who was born of the Virgin includes recognizing Him as King.
[00:05:57] That can go without saying, but the text is very emphatic about that.
[00:06:03] Recognizing Him as King.
[00:06:05] Look at verse 1.
[00:06:06] Matthew says, 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?
[00:06:24] You see, they recognize Jesus as the king.
[00:06:29] They do not think his kingship is up for debate.
[00:06:35] Their inquiry about his whereabouts is premised on the fact that this baby who has been born is king of the Jews.
[00:06:44] Where is he who has been born king of the Jews, they ask.
[00:06:49] But here's something interesting.
[00:06:51] They know he is king of the Jews, but they come to see him.
[00:06:56] They do not say, let the Jews see about their king.
[00:07:00] They come all the way from the East to worship this King of the Jews.
[00:07:05] So you want to ask, what do these non-Jewish, genetically Gentile individuals have to do with the King of the Jews?
[00:07:14] Why do they care to come?
[00:07:18] Well, it's because this king is king not only of the Jews but of the whole world.
[00:07:25] He's not only king of the Jews.
[00:07:27] One of the things that Micah the prophet that we looked at last week said about this king in Micah chapter 5 verse 4 goes like this.
[00:07:35] And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
[00:07:47] And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth.
[00:07:55] He shall be their peace.
[00:07:57] That's the king.
[00:07:58] He's king of the Jews, yes.
[00:08:00] But he shall be great to the ends of the earth.
[00:08:03] And therefore people came from the ends of the earth to worship this king.
[00:08:07] So these wise men, totally non-Jewish, gentile as can be, recognize in Jesus the king of the Jews, who is not only king of the Jews, but also will be great to the ends of the earth, will be their king too.
[00:08:24] It's remarkable how they find out about the fact that this king has been born, isn't it?
[00:08:30] They say in verse 2, We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.
[00:08:39] They saw the star of this king.
[00:08:42] When it rose and they came to worship this king.
[00:08:46] It's remarkable because that language links the birth of this king to Old Testament messianic expectations.
[00:08:55] The expectations of the coming of the anointed of the Lord.
[00:09:00] And this one is quite striking because it comes in a unique context.
[00:09:05] So it comes from Numbers 24, 17.
[00:09:09] If you remember in Numbers chapter 24, the Israelites have just been delivered from Egypt.
[00:09:15] They are on their sojourn to the promised land.
[00:09:18] They come to the plains of Moab.
[00:09:20] The king of Moab, a man by the name of Balak, is so threatened and paranoid because of the Israelites.
[00:09:27] So he invites a pagan prophet.
[00:09:30] A magician, basically, to come and put a curse on the Israelites so that he can defeat them.
[00:09:36] But when Balaam, the false prophet, comes to put a curse on the Israelites, God would not let him do it.
[00:09:42] Every time he opens his mouth, only blessings come out.
[00:09:45] And here is one of the blessings that Balaam, unselfconsciously, uttered about the Israelites.
[00:09:53] Numbers 24, 17.
[00:09:54] See him, but not now.
[00:10:01] I behold him, but not near.
[00:10:04] A star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel.
[00:10:11] It shall crush the forehead of Moab, and break down all the sons of Sheath.
[00:10:17] So this is Balaam declaring that a star will arise from Jacob and a scepter will rise from Israel and crush the forehead of Moab.
[00:10:27] So in other words, these wise men who came from the east recognized the skull-crushing king rising from Jacob had been born in Bethlehem and so they came to worship him.
[00:10:40] And this is not made up.
[00:10:42] Go to Revelation 22 verse 16.
[00:10:45] Jesus identifies himself
[00:10:47] As the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.
[00:10:54] So God showed to these wise men from the east that this star that had risen was a proclamation of the arrival of the king who was to be born, of the one who was to rise from Jacob, of the one who was to crush the skull.
[00:11:08] of the one who was crushed the head of the serpent.
[00:11:12] That's who has been born.
[00:11:14] In other words, to worship this king acceptably, you have to recognize his kingship.
[00:11:20] You have to agree with heaven.
[00:11:21] He is the king.
[00:11:23] He sits on the throne beyond which there is no other throne.
[00:11:26] You cannot worship Jesus acceptably unless you acknowledge him as this king.
[00:11:33] He is the promised deliverer that God has sent into the world.
[00:11:38] But there is more that these wise men show us.
[00:11:42] It's not just about recognizing the kingship of Jesus.
[00:11:45] It's also about seeking Jesus as the very source of your life.
[00:11:50] Coming to Him.
[00:11:52] Recognizing Him is one thing.
[00:11:53] Seeking Him out and coming to Him is another thing.
[00:11:58] So the Magi, the wise men, did not only recognize Jesus as king, they sought him.
[00:12:03] They came all the way from the east.
[00:12:06] They typify the nations that are spoken of in the prophet Isaiah as those who will be streaming to Jerusalem, streaming to this king to see the king.
[00:12:18] Just listen to Isaiah chapter 2 verse 4.
[00:12:21] We are told this.
[00:12:22] It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains and shall be lifted up above the hills and all the nations shall flow to it and many people shall come and say come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob that he may teach us his way that we may walk in his paths.
[00:12:47] chapter 60 of Isaiah verse 6 a multitude of camels shall cover you the young camels of Midian and Ephah all those from Sheba shall come they shall bring gold and frankincense do those gifts ring a bell gold and frankincense
[00:13:04] and shall bring good news the praise of the Lord so God is walking through Isaiah and declaring nations will come to the king to be born and they will bring gifts to the king to be born nations will seek this king so worshiping Jesus is more than just recognizing him as king it's also about coming to this king if you remember
[00:13:30] When Solomon was reigning in Jerusalem, his glory and wisdom and wealth and power and dominion was so vast and so glorious, it prompted an Ethiopian queen, Sheba, to come all the way to Jerusalem to meet Solomon.
[00:13:51] But when Jesus is born, the reality of what Solomon was pointing forward to
[00:13:57] So what the wise men are doing is typifying the nations coming to Jesus and reigniting what the Queen of Sheba had done in coming to Solomon.
[00:14:13] Is it a big deal to you that Jesus is coming?
[00:14:17] As you think about Jesus as King, is it a big deal to you?
[00:14:22] Does that dominate your thinking?
[00:14:24] Do you seek Him in your heart?
[00:14:28] It is certainly a big deal to God that Jesus is King.
[00:14:33] The history of the world turns on the fact that Jesus is King.
[00:14:37] The destiny of the universe turns on the fact that Jesus is King.
[00:14:42] Every single individual's eternal destiny is exclusively based on their relationship to King Jesus.
[00:14:51] it is a big deal that Jesus is king and you cannot worship this king acceptably and adore him and love him and be dominated by thought of his kingship without seeking him without looking out for him and coming to him and seeking to adore him I mean think about the words of David in Psalm 63 oh God you are my God earnestly I seek you
[00:15:21] My soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
[00:15:33] Worshiping King Jesus includes saying, He is my very life.
[00:15:39] I will seek Him with my whole heart.
[00:15:43] So this is both an exhortation to you and an encouragement to you.
[00:15:47] You should be seeking Jesus.
[00:15:49] That's an exhortation.
[00:15:51] And if your heart is hungering for Him and thirsting for Him, you should rejoice in that because it's God moving your heart to desire Jesus, to seek Jesus.
[00:16:00] No one seeks after God apart from the intervention of the sovereign grace of the God of the universe.
[00:16:07] These wise men came from the East because they had been helped to come from the East.
[00:16:13] They could have had other business to go about.
[00:16:16] So, worshipping Jesus includes recognizing Him as King.
[00:16:20] It includes seeking Him as the very source of your life.
[00:16:28] Third aspect of worshiping him.
[00:16:31] It includes rejoicing in this king.
[00:16:35] Rejoicing in this king.
[00:16:38] Matthew tells us that the wise men came from the east.
[00:16:41] They came all the way to Jerusalem and then they made their way onwards to Bethlehem.
[00:16:45] And he tells us in verse 9, if you look at your text, that the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.
[00:16:56] And look at verse 10.
[00:16:58] When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
[00:17:04] It's almost as if Matthew can't find the words that will capture the joy that marked the wise men when the star came and rested in that house.
[00:17:14] He uses one verb and uses the cognate nouns as the direct object and then he adds the adverb exceedingly.
[00:17:22] They rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
[00:17:29] You can't worship this king kicking and screaming.
[00:17:35] He so satisfies your heart and so frees you from the enticement of the world and so frees you from the enslavement of the world that all you want to do is worship Him and do so joyfully.
[00:17:49] He does not force you to worship Him.
[00:17:51] He is the one who is at work in believers to will and to do according to His good pleasure.
[00:17:58] In Psalm 110 verse 3 we are told, Your people, speaking about this King, Your people will offer themselves faithfully
[00:18:04] We live in the day of the power of this king.
[00:18:10] And so he moves our hearts to offer ourselves freely.
[00:18:15] So worshipping this king is marked by exceeding joy.
[00:18:21] And isn't that consistent with what Gabriel said to the shepherds when he announced the birth of this king?
[00:18:30] Fear not for behold I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people why for unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior who is Christ the Lord good of great joy that will be for all the people so worshiping this king includes having him as the exceeding joy of your life
[00:18:58] is that which sums up the very reason the source and the substance of your joy but it also includes offering him our best so you recognize him as king you seek him as the source of your life you rejoice in him but you also offer him your best remember verse 11
[00:19:22] We are told, And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him.
[00:19:29] Then opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.
[00:19:40] Do you realize that any treasure in your life, any talent in your life, any gift in your life that is not deliberately being leveraged
[00:19:52] For the worship of this king is being wasted.
[00:19:56] Like what we have that's been given to us when we are not thoughtful about how to apply those things in such a way that the kingship and glory and majesty of this king is extolled and lifted up.
[00:20:09] We are wasting that thing, whatever it may be.
[00:20:13] For these wise men the kingdom of heaven is like the treasure hidden in a field which a man found and covered up.
[00:20:21] Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
[00:20:26] They couldn't have anything that they think they should keep from this king.
[00:20:30] Giving Him their all.
[00:20:33] Or like Paul says, Whatever gain I had, I count it as loss for the sake of Christ.
[00:20:40] Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
[00:20:49] So God prophesied nations will come and bring their best to the worship of this king.
[00:20:55] They will bring gold and frankincense and myrrh and these wise men are showing us exactly that.
[00:21:04] Beloved, seekers of Jesus, no matter how long they have been in church, seekers of Jesus who never get to the point of saying all that I am and all that I have is for the glory of this king are not true seekers of Jesus.
[00:21:19] If you seek Jesus but you never get to the point of saying, my whole life and everything about me is for the glory of this king and I rejoice in that, then you're really not a true seeker of Jesus Christ.
[00:21:34] He is the treasure that makes it so that no other treasure is more desirable than Jesus himself.
[00:21:42] Remember what he said, no one can serve two masters.
[00:21:49] For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
[00:21:54] You cannot serve God and money.
[00:21:57] Is there something in your life that is competing secretly for prominence and preeminence with Jesus?
[00:22:05] Money, pleasure, career, whatever it may be.
[00:22:12] Worshiping Jesus acceptably includes offering Him our best.
[00:22:17] Here's the last element of worship that the wise men show us.
[00:22:21] Worshiping Jesus acceptably includes obeying God rather than man.
[00:22:27] Look at verse 12.
[00:22:29] And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.
[00:22:37] You have opposing instructions.
[00:22:40] What they are hearing from God in the dream that came to them is diametrically opposed to what Herod told them.
[00:22:50] Because we are told that after Herod received a confirmation that the Messiah, the Christ was to be born in Bethlehem,
[00:22:59] He called the wise men secretly and ascertained from them when the star had arisen and then he told them to go to Bethlehem and search carefully and when they find a child they should come and tell him so that he too can go and worship so they are in Jerusalem the Bible says they heard that and then they went on their way to Bethlehem then they get to Bethlehem they worship the king and then a dream comes to them from God not to return to Pharaoh to Herod
[00:23:28] And they do not return to Herod.
[00:23:30] Now this was a significant risk to themselves.
[00:23:34] Herod was not an inconsequential individual.
[00:23:38] He wielded great power in the Roman province of Judea.
[00:23:43] And history tells us he was known for his jealousy and paranoia.
[00:23:48] He was jealous and paranoid about losing power enough that he murdered a wife of his and murdered two children.
[00:23:57] He couldn't stand any threat to his throne.
[00:24:03] but for these wise men they had come to know the true king so it did not matter how much power herod wielded they would obey god they would obey the instructions of god to the glory of this king so worshiping this king includes obeying god rather than man regardless of the pressures under which you live now one important question that christ
[00:24:32] If there are areas of disobedience in our lives, is to hear this king say, why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not do what I say?
[00:24:42] Because the worship of this king includes obeying him unquestioningly, unconditionally, having an unqualified commitment to do whatever he says.
[00:24:55] And when you do, he says your life is like a house that is built on the rock that the waves and the rains and every vicissitude of this life will never bring it down.
[00:25:08] So in the birth of Jesus Christ, beloved, God extends to you and to me the life-giving invitation to worship His King, the Messiah.
[00:25:19] And worshiping Him includes recognizing Him as King, worshiping Him includes seeking Him, rejoicing in Him, giving Him our best, and also obeying God rather than man.
[00:25:31] But that's not the only theme.
[00:25:33] That's not the only invitation.
[00:25:34] Here's the second that I mentioned.
[00:25:37] It's an invitation to submit to this king.
[00:25:40] So you worship him, yes, but you submit to him as well.
[00:25:45] As I said at the beginning, worshiping King Jesus and submitting to him are related, but they can be very distinct depending on who you are talking to.
[00:25:55] Those who are truly worshiping this king are always in submission to him, but some can fake submission.
[00:26:00] Submission to him when they are not worshiping him.
[00:26:03] This text we just read confronts us with dramatic contrasts.
[00:26:08] On the one hand, we see people coming from the ends of the earth to worship this king that has been born.
[00:26:15] On the other hand, we see people closest to the epicenter of this world-changing event.
[00:26:21] Standing in rejection of the king.
[00:26:24] Standing in hostility to the king.
[00:26:27] And their hostility and rejection of the king works itself out in different ways.
[00:26:32] Let's just look at some of the details.
[00:26:34] First, you have a troubled city and a troubled king.
[00:26:38] Here we are told that when news of the birth of Jesus reached the ears of Herod and those in Jerusalem, they were troubled.
[00:26:46] Look at verse 3.
[00:26:47] Herod the king heard this.
[00:26:49] He was troubled and all Jerusalem with him.
[00:26:52] So Herod is plunged into turmoil.
[00:26:55] He is deeply, mentally shaken up because he's heard of the birth of the king, Jesus.
[00:27:02] The same thing with the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
[00:27:05] And we should ask, why...
[00:27:08] Would the birth of one who is the Prince of Peace be trouble to someone?
[00:27:15] Why would the coming of a king whose name is Prince of Peace plunge a king and a whole city into turmoil?
[00:27:25] There's a one-word answer to that question.
[00:27:29] Submission.
[00:27:31] Herod and those who lived in Jerusalem did not want to submit to this king the specifics of their insubordination look different as you you consider every individual but the bottom line the common denominator for faith for herod and those who lived in jerusalem was they wanted to be god over their own life they wanted to be kings over their own life and so the birth of this king troubles them and of course for those who lived in jerusalem the trouble finally boils over into cries of
[00:28:01] crucify him crucify him so again you see it's not just agitation it's a rejection of his kingship and the more he exercises his kingship the more intense their hostility and rejection becomes until it's ominous in deciding a robber instead of with the king of the universe the same thing is true for the chief priests and the scribes
[00:28:28] They are marked by an indifference, which is another manifestation of the rejection of the king.
[00:28:34] So Herod regards the chief priests and the scribes as the subject matter experts on Old Testament prophecy.
[00:28:42] When he hears that the king has been born, he invites them in, he asks them about where the king was to be born, they confirm to him that Micah had proclaimed many hundred years ago that he would be born in Bethlehem, and then they just stay there.
[00:28:58] One would hope that these chief priests and scribes would say, what a tragedy that the Messiah has been born and we are oblivious to it.
[00:29:09] But we thank God that somehow we have found out.
[00:29:11] Let's go to Bethlehem and worship the King.
[00:29:14] They don't do that.
[00:29:14] They don't do what the shepherds did.
[00:29:16] They stayed in Jerusalem.
[00:29:19] In other words, they knew the text about the birth of the Messiah.
[00:29:23] The text did not know them.
[00:29:25] The text had not changed their heart.
[00:29:27] They were not in tune with the program of God.
[00:29:30] They wanted to do their own thing.
[00:29:32] So there is a culpable indifference.
[00:29:35] To the kingship of Jesus here on the part of the scribes and the chief priests.
[00:29:41] It's almost as if they are saying, we don't care that he is born as long as he leaves us alone to decide what we want to believe and how we want to live our lives.
[00:29:50] If he just leaves us alone, we are fine with him being born.
[00:29:54] And of course we know that that's the case because
[00:29:57] These are the same chief priests and scribes who wind up just opposing Jesus at every turn when he begins his public ministry and ultimately striking a deal with Judas Iscariot that he might betray Jesus to them and when Jesus is ultimately hanging on the cross and bleeding and fighting for his life they join the rest of the nation to say
[00:30:19] He saved others.
[00:30:20] He cannot save himself.
[00:30:22] He is the king of Israel.
[00:30:23] Let him come down from the cross and we will believe him.
[00:30:26] He trusts God.
[00:30:27] Let God deliver him.
[00:30:29] If he desires him, for he said, I am the son of God.
[00:30:33] These are the words of Jesus and the scribes.
[00:30:36] In other words, beloved, there is no such thing as an indifference to the kingship of Jesus.
[00:30:41] Every indifference to King Jesus is hostility to King.
[00:30:47] He's such a king, you can't be indifferent to him.
[00:30:51] The scribes and the chief priests were really not indifferent.
[00:30:54] They were rejecting his kingship.
[00:30:56] They were opposed.
[00:30:57] They were in an adversarial position to his kingship.
[00:31:03] Here's the third manifestation of that insubordination.
[00:31:07] It's the case of Herod.
[00:31:10] His hostility is disguised as submission to the king.
[00:31:14] He pretends to be submitting to the king.
[00:31:19] So we saw in the text he is troubled alongside the inhabitants of Jerusalem and then he feels threatened that this king has been born.
[00:31:27] And you know when a group of people feels threatened, the most threatened in the midst of the group is going to do the most desperate thing.
[00:31:38] So Herod is the most threatened immediately because he's the one wielding the most power on everyone in Jerusalem.
[00:31:46] So what does he do?
[00:31:47] He summons the wise men.
[00:31:48] He summons the chief priests and the scribes, ascertains from them that yes, the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem.
[00:31:58] He calls the wise men and tells them to go find out and see if the king is indeed in Bethlehem.
[00:32:07] But you would have hoped that when Herod discovers that from the scriptures, from the word of the God of Israel, the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, he would have said something like, okay, this is a God thing.
[00:32:21] I should not set myself in a position to the God of the universe.
[00:32:27] But that's not what he does.
[00:32:29] He couches his opposition in terms of, I also want to go and worship Him.
[00:32:34] Now that is a classic antichrist strategy.
[00:32:39] Pretending to worship Christ when they are actually animated by the spirit of the antichrists.
[00:32:46] They hope they would derail the kingdom of Christ by pretending to belong to Him.
[00:32:54] But of course, God is not mocked because when the wise men get to Bethlehem, God warns them and they heed God's warning and return to their home country by another way.
[00:33:10] And the next story in this account shows us what spirit was truly animating Herod.
[00:33:17] because he was not wanting to go to Bethlehem and worship he was hoping he could pinpoint the baby the new king that has been born and just carry out a targeted strike against that king and eliminate that king when he saw that that plan has been derailed what does he do he didn't waste a time in a heartbeat he chooses to become a mass murderer
[00:33:40] To kill all the babies, all the male babies born in the region, two years and younger, in hope that that baby will be killed in the midst of the rampage and carnage.
[00:33:51] That's how opposed Herod was.
[00:33:54] But the striking thing is, he says, in the midst of all that hostility, so that I may go and worship Him.
[00:34:04] That's as anti-Christ as it gets.
[00:34:08] so here's the question for you beloved what's the posture of your heart towards king jesus what what kind of posture what person are you in the inside towards king jesus agitated indifferent hostile and disguising your hostility as submission to him or you are one who says this is the king this is my life
[00:34:37] My life has no meaning if it is not invested for the worship of this king.
[00:34:42] I think one of the most stunning stories of redemption in the New Testament is the story, the redemption of a young rabbi and a rising star in Judaism.
[00:34:57] Who decided that the mission of his life will be to stamp out Christianity and to stamp out the preaching of this king as the king of the Jews and the king of the world.
[00:35:07] I'm talking about Saul of Tarsus.
[00:35:11] If his whole life to that and fought for it with unparalleled zeal.
[00:35:18] But one day, in astonishing mercy, this king broke into the life of this violent persecutor of the church, knocked him off his horse.
[00:35:27] He falls to the ground and says, Who are you, Lord?
[00:35:31] And his life was changed dramatically.
[00:35:34] He's brought into the kingdom that he fought with every drop of his blood to overthrow.
[00:35:39] And he was given a privilege to serve and have his life count for this kingdom that will never be shaken.
[00:35:47] And this is the way he testifies about it.
[00:35:49] I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent.
[00:36:06] But I received mercy, not belief.
[00:36:13] and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
[00:36:22] That can be you today.
[00:36:24] If you feel an agitation because Jesus is making specific demands of you, if you feel an indifference to Jesus, if you feel a hidden hostility to Jesus, you can know this kind of redemption that He applied and accomplished in the life of
[00:36:43] Saul of Tarsus making him the foremost apostle of the New Testament you remember when Paul experiences when Saul experiences Jesus like this his life's mission changes dramatically so much so that he would define himself like this I have been crucified with Christ it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me
[00:37:12] and gave himself for me.
[00:37:14] He can do this in your life too.
[00:37:19] People are listening to me.
[00:37:21] There is something more precious than the toys and the gifts that you receive at Christmas.
[00:37:26] He can make you live for him as Paul speaks of himself.
[00:37:31] If you turn to him today in repentance and faith.
[00:37:36] And if you are a believer, you have been walking with this Jesus for 50 years or just even just for one week.
[00:37:42] Do not ever grow weary in saying like Paul, I have been crucified with Christ.
[00:37:49] It's no longer I who live.
[00:37:51] Christ who lives in me and the life I live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me that beloved is the loving submission that God invites you and me to have in relation to Jesus to worship him and to submit to him when we see Jesus face to face
[00:38:19] No one of us will say, I submitted too much to him.
[00:38:23] It will not happen.
[00:38:25] He will be too much.
[00:38:26] The only thing that can happen will be that we will regret we did not submit enough.
[00:38:32] God invites you to worship this king and to submit to him.
[00:38:42] A friend of mine sent me these words that I want to close with this morning because I think they are very well written out.
[00:38:50] They were written in the third century by Cyril of Jerusalem.
[00:38:55] This is what he says, We preach not one advent only of Christ, but a second also, far more glorious than the former.
[00:39:06] For the former gave a view of his patience, but the latter brings with it the crown of a divine kingdom.
[00:39:15] For all things, for the most part, are twofold in our Lord Jesus Christ, a twofold generation, one of God before the ages and one of a virgin at the close of the ages.
[00:39:28] His descent twofold.
[00:39:30] One, the unobserved like rain on a fleece, and a second, His open coming, which is to be.
[00:39:37] In His former advent, He was wrapped in swaddling clothes in the manger.
[00:39:43] In His second, He will cover Himself with light as with a garment.
[00:39:48] In his first coming, he endured the cross, despising shame.
[00:39:52] In his second, he comes attended by a host of angels, receiving glory.
[00:39:59] We rest not only upon his first advent only, but look also for his second.
[00:40:06] And as at his first coming we said, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, so will we repeat the same at his second coming.
[00:40:15] When with angels we meet our master, we may worship him and say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
[00:40:26] That's the good news of Christ.
[00:40:29] That's the hope gospel.
[00:40:32] Christian, brother and sister, continue to worship this King.
[00:40:37] Continue to submit to this King.
[00:40:39] And if you are agitated against His kingship, if you are indifferent to His kingship, if there is a hidden hostility in your heart against His kingship, I plead with you to repent
[00:40:52] Because by so doing, you will save yourself from the wrath to come.
[00:40:57] Let us pray.
[00:41:02] Lord Jesus, you are such a King, attended by such transcendental glory and majesty that no words can truly express, no mind can truly comprehend, and we rejoice in that reality.
[00:41:20] because it means you will be the joy of our souls and the food of our souls for all eternity and never run out and never be boring to us.
[00:41:30] I pray that you would fan the flame of white-hot worship for you in each of our hearts and deepen our joyful submission to your kingship.
[00:41:42] And please win over any and every indifferent or agitated or hostile heart here
[00:41:49] You tell us in your word that when Paul spoke your word on the banks of a river in Philippi, you opened the heart of Lydia and she paid attention to what Paul said.
[00:42:01] Would you do some of that even this morning here today?
[00:42:05] In Jesus' name, Amen.
