Jesus, The Protected Seed

As you take your seats, if you have your Bibles with you, open them. Please to the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew Chapter two. Matthew Chapter two, well, continue where we left off on last week. On last week we looked at Matthew chapter one and how the birth of Jesus is connected to this one big story, how it is really the epicenter, the folcrum point, the center of this one big story. And when we get to Matthew, we're not so much starting something new and different as we are actually continuing the same redemptive work that began all the way back in Genesis. We saw how the genealogy at the beginning of Matthew connects Jesus to the genealogy that we find in Genesis, how the genealogy points us to the fact that he is the Promised Seed. What we'll see today is that Jesus is also the preserved and the protected Seed. And as I've said before, in these opening chapters of Matthew, what we see is really a retelling of the history of Israel, but with Christ as true Israel. In chapter one, we looked and we saw this promised Seed. We saw this genealogy, the same thing that we saw in Israel's early history after the Fall and beginning in the Work of Redemption. Now in chapter two we see the protected seed, and this protected seed actually goes to Egypt in order to be preserved and to be protected, like Israel did when he comes out of Egypt. In chapter three, he goes through the waters of baptism in the Jordan, just like Egypt did when door, just like Israel did when they left Egypt. And chapter four we're going to see him as the true lawgiver, or in chapter four, actually we're going to see him as the one who overcomes the temptation of Satan to the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life. Where Adam experienced the same temptation in the garden Adam and Eve and the first atom fell. The second Atom will experience that temptation, and he will not fall, because he is the last Atom. Then he goes to the mount and he begins to say, you have heard that it was said of old so and so and so, But I tell you and here he's the greater Moses. So we're continuing to see this recapitulation of the history of Israel with Christ at the center of it, pointing to the fact that all of Israel's history was pointing us forward to the coming of the person and work of Jesus Christ. So let's look here in Matthew chapter two, and let's see him as this preserved seed by the providence of God. Let's look at the first eighteen verses. 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 saw his star when it rose, and have come to worship him. When Herod the King heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him, and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people. He inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him in Bethlehem of Judea. For so it is written by the Prophet. And you o Bethlehem, in the land of Judea. And by no means least among the rulers of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah. For from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. Then Herod some of the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared, and he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, go and searched diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word that I too may come and worship him. After listening to the king, they went on their way, and behold the star that they had seen when it rose, went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy, and going into the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts gold and frankincense and myrrh, and, being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. Now, when they had departed, behold an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, rise, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt. And remained there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him and he rose and took the child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. Out of Egypt, I called my son. Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah. A voice was heard in Rama, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children. She refused to be comforted because they are no more Amen. It's quite ironic how that is one of the most hopeful and one of the most disheartening stories in the Bible. On the one hand, the idea of the Christ Child being born, wise men coming from the east seeing and following a star, coming to worship the one who was born King of the Jews, And on the other hand, the mass murder of probably thousands of infants. Isn't it interesting how when this season comes around and we think about the birth of the Christ Child. We rarely remember the fact that these occasions come to us in scripture alongside one of the greatest injustices that we'll ever read, the slaughter of innocent babies, cruelty the likes of which we have rarely seen at any time in the world. Yes, there have been people who have murdered thousands, even millions, but the idea of specifically targeting babies, and yet this is absolutely part of the narrative, and it is as important as anything else that we read. There are temptations in this text. We're tempted when we read this to get bogged down in a number of things, and we could, and I don't want us to, but there are some of these that we need to address because otherwise the questions just sort of ring in our minds. For example, the reign of Herod the Great and the year of jesus birth. Well, what's so significant about that? Well, Great reigned from about thirty seven b C to about four BC. I just let that sink in for a moment. So what does that mean. That means that Jesus was actually born somewhere around four b C. Well, wait a minute, how could Jesus be born for BC. If BC means you know, before Christ and then AD and on Domini year of our Lord, then Jesus what Just relax. The Bible does not give us the time when Jesus was born. In fact, one of the great controversies about Christmas is that nothing in the Bible tells us when in the year Jesus was born. December twenty fifth. Nowhere in the text, nor are we told what year Jesus was born, but the years were tabulating it much later in terms of BC and AD. And it has nothing to do with the validity of the Bible, and it has everything to do with the setting of calendars. The second thing we could get bogged down in is the nature of the star. Is this a star star or is it a star? Is it a star that was always there but that was aligned a certain way at a certain time, or was it a star that was never there and that just appeared, or was it not a star at all but something else that looked like a star to We can get bogged down in that, and the answer is the text doesn't tell us exactly. We have a pretty good idea. We'll get to that. The timing of the wise men's arrival. Much has been made to the fact that Jesus, and we read in Luke, you know that he's born in a manger, and here the wise men come, and the wise men come, and they visit him in a house and not in a manger. And there are two issues at work there. One issue has to do with timing, and in our minds, we have this picture in our mind because we've heard it so often and seen it so often that you know there is you know, the wise men are coming, and the shepherds are coming, and everybody's arriving, and they're all there at the manger together with Jesus. But there's no mention of shepherds here. The coming of the shepherds at his birth and the coming of the wise men not at the same time. In fact, the wise men came much later. How much later, we don't know, but they came much later. Give you a little hint. When the male children are killed, they are killed from two years old downward, and that is because of the timing of the appearance of the star. So Jesus could have been a couple of years old by now. We don't know. Not necessarily the case but there was no movement where Jesus is born. The wise men are there, the shepherds are there. We don't find that in scripture, we find that in folklore. It's not Bible. The second issue is not just a timing issue, but it's also an issue of the words that we use and pouring our understanding into their biblical meaning. Listen to this. As one commentator puts it, the mention of a house is often supposed either to contradict Luke's account of Jesus birth in a stable, or to indicate a sufficient time lapse to allow the family to relocate to better quarters in Bethlehem. It is, however, becoming increasingly recognized that the stable owes more to Western misunderstanding than to Luke, who speaks only of a manger. In a normal Palestinian home of the period, the manger would be found not in a separate building, but on the edge of the raised family living area, where the animals who were brought into the lower section of the one room house at night could conveniently reach them. The point of Luke's mention of the manger is not, therefore, that jesus birth took place outside a normal house. Did you hear that jesus birth didn't take place outside of a normal house, but that in this particular house, the guest room was already occupied by other census visitors, family members, perhaps so that the baby was placed in the most comfortable remaining area, a manger on the living room floor. They were at their relative's house, not in some farm somewhere. They were at their relative's house, and their relatives, like most people who lived in Palestine during the time, had an area right off their living room where their animals would have been brought in and protected. And this is where Jesus was born. So again, we have folklore that creeps into our thinking. We have stories, and we have manger scenes that we've all seen before, have we not? And these scenes all look the same. It's always in some stall that doesn't look like a stall an ancient Palestine, but somewhere else, at some other time. You always have the wise men over here, and the shepherds over here, and the little drummer boy. I don't know where we find him. But this just reminds us that what we need to do when we read the scriptures is read the scriptures. Amen, we read the scriptures. Let God be true in every man a liar. There's also the idea of the symbolic meaning if any of the wise men's gift, and from as early as the early Church Fathers, there has been meaning given to the gifts. We don't have meaning given to the gifts here in the text, for example, the idea that gold is for royalty, Frankinson's for worship, and murrs reparation for burial. It sounds great, but it's not in the text, and it's not necessary to derive that from the text. So what do we have in the text and what is important about what we have in the text? I think the main importance comes when we see the three main actors in the text, and I want us to look at those three main actors in the text at Herod, the King, the wise men, and God, the three main actors in this text. First, let's look at Herod because this is important. It's critical to understand who Herod is in order to understand how he responds and verse one. Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the King. It's interesting Herod is the king, and oftentimes we assume that Herod being the king means that Herod is the king of the Jews. Newsflash, Herod is not a Jew. He is Idemian, and he's from the Hasmonian dynasty. And yet he rules here in Israel, which is under Roman rule. So he wasn't liked by the Jews. This is important to remember, so that now when wise men come to Herod, who is the king at least in part because he's allegiance to the Romans and not his allegiance to the Jews. Herod, who is not liked by the Jews because he is not Jewish but a foreigner who has been imposed on them. Hears from these wise men that they came from Afar, because the king of the Jews has been born. Ah. Now we see why there's a problem. Herod is not an individual as much as a family title. There are many herods in the Bible. Herod the Great is the one that we read about here and again. He ruled from about thirty seven BC to about four BC. Herod Antipas, Herod Philip, Herod Archelaus. And then there's Herod Agrippa. But there are two Herod Agrippas. Herod Agrippa the first and Herod Agrippa the second. And it's important to understand all these individuals because there are some people who try to argue that the Bible contradicts itself because you hear about Herod after Herod is dead. The fact of the matter is there are many who go by that title in the Bible, particularly six. The legacy of this family of rulers is important, and it helps us to understand the actions of this man. Some have argued that this cannot be real, because what man would respond in this way. Well, first of all, remember that we saw another man respond this way in Egypt during the time of Moses Amen, So Jesus is experiencing the same thing here. But secondly, hear this about the legacy of this family. The history of the Herodian family is not lacking in elements of greatness. But whatever these elements were, and in whomsoever found, they were in every case dimmed by the insufferable egotism which disfigured the family root branch. Some of the Herodian princes were undeniably talented, including Herod the Great, I'll say more about that, But these talents, wrongly used, left no marks for the good of the people of Israel. Of nearly all the kings of the House of Herod, it may truly be said that at their death they went without being desired, unmissed, unmourned. The entire family history is one of incessant brawls, suspicion, intrigue, and shocking immorality. These are the rulers who have been placed over Israel. Think about this not only in the context of who Herod is and we see this great and terrible thing that he did, but think about this in the context of the Jews who were waiting for the Messiah. Rome is here and we are under Roman rule. Our land is no longer ours. We have this great history. They come out of Egypt, and after they come out of Egypt, they are given a law, and then they are given a land, and then they are given a king, and they are this mighty kingdom under David. Solomon builds this incredible temple that people come from miles around to see. And then all of a sudden, immediately the kingdom is divided ten tribes in the north, two tribes in the south. The northern kingdom is taken off into Assyrian captivity because of their incessant disobedience to God and their idolatry, and then eventually the Southern Kingdom falls to Babylon. Finally they come back. Finally Ezra and the e Maayahs are rubbable. Finally they come back. The things are never the same. The walls are rebuilt and the temple is rebuilt, but those who see the rebuilt temple weep if they had seen the one before. Israel is never again who they used to be. And now the Romans are in charge, and there is a king on the throne who is not only not from the line of David, he's not even a Jew. And it is in this dark moment that the king of kings that the heir of David is born. Amen, let me say a word about some of these herods that we find in scripture. Heard the Great. They call him Heird the Great for a number of reasons, partly because it's a title he gave to himself, but partly because he was a great builder. And there are things there in Israel today that you can see, including the temple mount that point back to this period of herod and the things that he built. It is amazing what he accomplished during his lifetime. With the technology that he had available in the things that he built. He also assassinated his wife, his mother in law, and his brother in law, and killed many other relatives and rivals. So the mass murder of the children and Judea was absolutely in character for him. Herod antipas we read about him in Luke twenty three, he's the tetrarch of Galilee, not a drop of Jewish blood, just like the rest of his family. He's the one who took his break Philip's wife and was confronted by John the Baptist. He's the one who had arrested John the Baptist and ultimately would behead John the Baptist because of another immoral encounter that he had with a young lady. He was also part of the judgment of Jesus. So when Jesus is brought before Herod, it is this Herod because the first Herod was dead and we read about we read about that in our text that they didn't return until Herod was dead. And so this is why people say, wait a minute, if they didn't return from Egypt until Herod was dead, how is Jesus brought before Herod at the end of his life. Some thirty odd years later. It's because it was a different Herod, Herod Philip. We spoke about him moments ago. Herod Archelaus. He's the son of Herod the Great, and he's mentioned only once in Matthew chapter two and verse twenty two. Let's look at that quickly. Go down to verse twenty two. Beak verse nineteen. But when Herod died, behold an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead. And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee. So there's another Herod that we read about here. That's the only place that we read about this Herod, Herod Agrippa the first. He's the grandson of Herod the Great. We read about him and we remember him because of his death. In Acts chapter twelve. He is the one who allowed people to say of him that this is the voice of a God and not a man. And he died on the spot. God killed him right there on the spot, in front of those who committed the idolatry. And and finally there is Herod Agrippa. He is the son of Agrippa the First, the great grandson of Herod the Great. He had a scandalous, incestuous relationship with his sister Bernice. And this was scandalous not only to the Jewish community and the Christian community, but even the Pagans. And Josephus writes about this relationship. So when we read in the Book of Acts about him arriving with Bernice, no, that's his sister. These are the herods. These are the men who ruled in Israel. These are the men under whose thumb God's people lived. These are the men who directly exerted the power and the force of Rome against the people of Israel. They are groaning, they are weary, they are tired, and they desire that Messiah would come. And that is exactly what happened. Amen. Can you imagine, is there something in your life that makes you feel this way? Is there something in your life that may you feel as though God has forgotten his promises to you. Is there something in your life that causes you to look out and say, certainly, if God was concerned about me, I would not have to endure this, because that's exactly how God's people felt right before the Savior was born and even during his life. It's amazing when you go to the Book of Acts. What's the question that's asked of him? Lord? Is it now that you will restore the kingdom to Israel? Even at the end of Jesus's life, even after the Messiah has already come, those who recognize that he's the Messiah look to him, and what they expect is that he will crush people like Herod, that he will end the reign of individuals Herod and yet Herod, Agrippa, the first and the second we read about them in the Book of Acts. After Jesus has died, risen and descended to his father, and still the reign of these evil men persist. Don't forget that because we often do, and we often think that God must not be watching, God must not be in control, because if God was in control, certainly this evil wouldn't be happening. Certainly that evil wouldn't be happening. And while God walked the earth in the person of Jesus Christ, the herods and their wickedness reigned it rained. That's the first player. The second player players. Actually it's the wise men. Beginning at the second half of verse one, Behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, where is he who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose, and have come to worship him. They came from the east, They traveled far. That's all we know. There is speculation as to where they came from, but the text doesn't give us that because apparently that's not the important part of the story. They came to worship, though we know that. Look at verses ten and eleven. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy, and going into the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, no shepherds, no drummer boy, and they fell down and worshiped him. This is important throughout the Bible. We see this, for example, on a number of occasions. One of my favorite sayings, you know, is that when we see the angels in the Bible. The two most common phrases. When angels show up in the Bible and encounter men, the two most common phrases are fear not and get up. Why the angels refuse to receive worship that belongs to God alone? When these men come to worship the Christ Child, the proper response from Jewish parents, who know that this is not the son of God is to forbid it and condemn it as blasphemy. But they do not. They allow it. Why because this child whom Mary carried was born of the Holy Spirit. This is Emmanuel, this is God with us. He is worthy of worship, and so they allow him to be worshiped by the wise men. There's no way they allow this if they don't understand who this is. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. Are we told of the symbolism of these gifts? No, we're not. But remember, if we understand Matthew's gospel, and we understand what Matthew is doing and why Matthew is doing it, and we understand that Matthew is connecting Jesus to the Old Testament, we understand that Jesus that Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience, and he is saying, this is the Messiah, this is the son of David, this is the one that God promised would sit on the throne forever. It doesn't take a theology degree to realize that he's pointing to something familiar. In One Kings, Chapter ten, the Queen of Sheba visited another son of David, who was a king, and in verses one and two, here's what we read. Now, when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions. She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices, and very much gold and precious stones. What did she come with gold and spices? When the wise men come see this son of David, what do they come with gold and spices? Because he is a king just like Solomon. Not only that, but in Psalm seventy two ten and eleven and verse fifteen, we read, may the kings of Tarsius and of the coastlands render him tribute. May the kings of Sheba and Siba bring gifts. May all kings fall down before him, All nations serve him. Long may he live, May gold of Sheba be given to him. May prayer be made for him continually, and blessings invoked for him all the day. Isaiah Chapter sixty, Verses five and six. Then you shall see and be radiant. Your heart shall thrill and exult, because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you. The wealth of the nations shall come to you. A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels Emidian and Epha, all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news the praise of the Lord. Do we have to assign some mysterious meaning to each of these gifts? No, we just have to read the Old Testament. What do these gifts tell us? That Jesus is the king. He's the son of David, who has been promised to sit on the throne forever. Jesus is the king. And when David's son the King shows up, people come from Afar and they bring him gold, and they bring him spice, and they worship him because he's the king of kings and the Lord of lords. And so the second player in this drama. These wise men point us to another truth. But there's a third player, and the third player is God. And how do we see God's hand in this first the star that led the way? Remember, one possibility is this is a star that's always there. And these guys are astrologers, astronomers that something. You know that they study the stars, and there is this alignment of the stars that comes only every so often, and they know because they study the stars. But if you study the stars and you know that there are alignments of the stars that happens all the time, you hear it on the news. So and so planet is going to be lined up with so and so planet. This is the first time that's happened in a thousand years. It won't happen for another thousand years. Ah, it's great, very important, But how do you get from that that it's going to point to a particular place and the birth of a particular person. The stars can't tell you that by themselves. You have to have information from somewhere else. Amen, you have to have information from somewhere else so that you know what to look for. And when these men knew specifically that there was a King of the Jews going to be born, and they knew specifically that they should look for. So we don't know how do how did they know? We don't know, We have no idea. However, we know that there was a prophet who prophesied about some of these things who was carried off to the east, and his name was Daniel, and he wrote a book. And it's not at all far fetched that these men would have been exposed to Daniel's teaching. What did Daniel do? Daniel was, in essence a wise man in Babylon, the wisest of the wise men in Babylon, and he was there for generations and would have influenced many. The text doesn't tell us this, but we do know that they didn't just come following the star saying, hey, we've been looking at the stars. We knew this was going to happen. We have no idea what it means. Can you help us. No, they came and they said specifically, we're looking for the one who was born, king of the Jews. And this star doesn't act like an ordinary star. Apparently, this star comes and goes. They went out to search, and they saw the star again, and the star rested over the place. This is not an ordinary star. An angel we don't know, but not an ordinary star. It stopped to mark the spot. This is God at work leading these men. The prophets foretold it all. There are three prophecies mentioned in this passage of scripture. One the prophecy of the place of Jesus birth in Bethlehem. Secondly the prophecy of the flight to Egypt. Out of Egypt, I call my son, and thirdly the prophecy of the massacred children. All three of these prophecies, by the way, there are many other prophecies that are fulfilled here in this text. We looked at a couple of them just a few moments ago. But these are three that are pointed to specifically by Matthew, who is writing to a Jewish audience, trying to communicate to them that this is the one whom the prophets foretold. And then, of course we have the angelic intervention in the dreams, the dreams of the wise men, the dreams of Joseph. This is God at work and why is this important? What does all of this mean? Let me draw a number of conclusions from this for us. Number one, when we look at these three actors. It points to the fact that God is sovereign. That God is sovereign, He is in control of history. The only way that you can make predictive prophecies is if the one who is giving the prophecy is in control of all of the factors that have to come to pass in order for the prophecy to be fulfilled. Amen. God is sovereign, and this is important to remember. God is sovereign. When Israel was suffering under Rome and when they were suffering under the Herods, God was sovereign. And God is still sovereign today. Amen. And this sovereign God protected the Promised Seed, and this sovereign God protects his people. Folks, if you don't believe in the sovereignty of God, how how do you go through every day? Because if you don't believe in the sovereignty of God, if you don't believe that God is in control of everything, if you believe that things happen to you and that somehow they happen because God missed it, then how do you believe that this God is going to get you to heaven? Huh? If our God is so powerless that terrible things happening to you can happen outside of his control. Then how is it that he can keep you from hell? How is it that he can keep his word? How is it that he can keep it promises? If he is not sovereign, and if he is not in control of everything that comes to pass in your life, God is sovereign, and we're reminded of that here. Secondly, Jesus is worthy of worship. Amen. Inherently and intrinsically, he's worthy of worship. Here's what's important. We come to the end of the Bible and we come to Revelation and we see Jesus being worshiped there around the throne, and he's worshiped because of the redemption that he has purchased. He has died, he has won victory over death, hell in the grave, he rose again, and he's being worshiped as the Redeemer. Jesus hasn't done anything here except leave heaven, and he was already worthy of worship. Amen. And he's worthy of worship because he's God. Because he's God. We worship God because of who he is and because of what he's done. And before this baby had done anything, he was still God in the flesh and therefore worthy of worship. Jesus is worthy of worship. Even when the boot of the Romans is on your neck. He's worthy of worship. Even when there are immoral leaders doing immoral things, He's worthy of worship. He is not worthy of worship. When he answers all of your prayers, he's worthy of worship. If he doesn't answer another one. He's worthy. He always has been, and he always will be. On your best day, he's worthy. On your worst day, he's worthy. And if you don't understand this, your life will be a roller coaster, because good moments will come and you'll run to church and fall on your face and worship the God who brought you the good job, who brought you the new love of your life, who raised you up from your sick bed. You worship him, and then a few weeks later you won't show up. Why Because you lost the job, you lost the love, and you're not healthy anymore, And all of a sudden, you don't believe that God is worthy of worship. If you can't say amen, you ought to say ouch. As a baby in the manger, long before the cross, he was worthy of worship because He's the Lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world. He is our redeemer. Amen. Thirdly, God protected his son and the other baby still died. Think about that God protected his son, but the other babies still died. How many times? How many times do we look at horrible tragedies and we ask the question where was God? Certainly God wouldn't allow this, and all at once, Matthew says, God is at work because Herod would have destroyed Jesus, but God wouldn't allow it. God is at work. He promised that the Messiah would come. He promised he'd come to Bethlehem, and he came exactly where he was supposed to. God is at work. God is in charge. Thousands of babies were slaughtered and God still in control. Listen, the sovereignty of God, hear me. The sovereignty of God does not mean that you will not face tragedy, trial, or injustice. That is not what the sovereignty of God means. And you be careful with that because oftentimes here's what we do. We want God's justice. How could you, God, how could you allow that your justice should have done something? Listen, if justice had visited us last night, none of us would be in church this morning, huh, Because you thoughts things and said things and did things on yesterday for which you deserved God's judgment, God's justice and death and hell. And yet in his mercy he allowed you to live. So before you run out blaming God for not exacting justice swiftly every time, remember two things. Number one, nobody gets away with injustice, nobody. God will make all things right. And number two, you remember that you didn't get what you deserved. You didn't get what you deserved. Oh God, how could you let herod kill my baby? Do you know what God's response could be? You wait a few years, and I'm gonna let another herod kill my baby. And if I don't, then your baby's only hope is hell. But because I'm going to allow my baby to be killed, there is hope beyond this life. But if my baby doesn't die, if my son is not slaughtered by wicked, evil men, then hell is the only thing that anyone has to look forward to. So don't you dare judge God by a moment. God is sovereign and every injustice will be dealt with. It will either have been nailed to the cross, or it will be paid for for an eternity in hell. But no injustice will stand, not one do you hear me? Not one whatever has been done to you, not one thing, whatever you've had to endure, Not one thing, Not one thing. Finally, Herod had the exact same opportunity as the Wise Man. Do you realize this? He even says it. It's so ironic. You go find him, and then you come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him. He had the exact same opportunity, the same star. He could have followed the same prophets, he could have listened to, and yet he didn't. And listen to me, hear me, Herod believes in Christmas? Do you hear me? Herod the Great believed in Christmas, and he went to hell. You can believe that this baby was born and die and go to hell. Harod believed that this baby. You do not slaughter thousands of innocent children unless you believe. If he doesn't believe that this King of the Jews was born, if he doesn't believe that the words of the prophets had come to pass, if he doesn't believe that this star was a supernatural intervention. And if he doesn't believe that somewhere in Bethlehem this boy is there, then he doesn't slaughter babies, that he kills them because he believes. Listen to me. You believe in Christmas, But do you believe in the Cross? You believe he was born, But do you believe he died to redeem sinners? Do you believe he came? But do you believe that he's God in the flesh. Do you believe that he is the only hope of sinful men? Or do you merely believe that he is a threat to your role on the throne of your own life. Because if you do, then you're as guilty as any of those who drove the nails into his hands. And the only thing you have to look forward to is the fires of judgment as you face the real king of kings and the real Lord of lords. Herod believed, as did the wise men. The wise man believed, and they found him, and they rejoiced and they worshiped. Herod believed, and he was willing to commit murder in order to get Jesus out of his way. Don't just tell me you believe. Don't just tell me you believe in the coming of the Christ Child. Here's what I want to know. In light of that belief. Have you come to worship him or does everything in you want to get rid of him so that you can continue to rule and reign in your own life. One of those leads you to redemption, the other to a lake of fire. One of those brings you face to face with your savior eternity. The other one brings you face to face with your judge. So now there are four players in this drama. There is herod, there are other wise men, There is God, and then there's us. How will the end of this be written in your life? Let's pray, Oh, our great and glorious God, how we worship and dodor you. Oh, how grateful we are for your goodness and kindness and mercy toward us, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, the perfect, spotless, sinless lamb of God were left heaven to clothe himself, and the weakness and frailty of humanity to die at the hands of sinful men, to pay a penalty that he did not owe, in order to redeem those who were enemies, so that you might be glued horrified among the nations. Grant by your grace that we might embrace this truth, that we might enter into it, that we might rejoice in it. Father, I licked up those under the sound of my voice who have yet to come to the end of themselves, who are still trusting in their own ability, who are still trusting in their own righteousness. Grant by your grace that that would be broken, that their eyes would be open, that they might flee to Christ. For He is indeed our only hope, and we desire this not just so that we might have better friends and neighbors, but so that Christ might have the fullness of the reward for which he died. Thank you for the gift of this day and the gift of worship, this opportunity that you've given us to gather together and set our minds, attention, and heart's affection on you, and to praise you for who you are and for what you've done. Grant by your grace that we might continue to be marked by this, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.