The following sermon was uploaded to Sermon Audio by Bible Baptist Church in McMinnville, Oregon. And now with a gospel Christmas message, here's Pastor Sean McGinn. Our Father, we thank you that we can come. We thank you for your sovereignty over all of our lives, every aspect and all of us comprehensively and exhaustively. We thank you that we have freedom. to worship you. May we make good use of it while we have it. And Father, may you open our eyes to see what you're wanting us to know, to believe, and to love, and to live. And may you then get all the glory from this sermon. May you show us your Son, show us yourself through your Son, show us ourselves that we might see where you want to make us more like him. and speak to us now that we might give you all the glory, all the praise for what you have done, what you are doing, what you shall do through your son. And we ask it in his name. And everybody said? Amen. All right. The dark side of Christmas, I don't usually do this. We hear it's the most wonderful time of the year. But Christmas is often the most depressing time of year. Would you agree with that? You say, well, of course, Sean, you just talked about the weather. No. No time of the year other than this amplifies the pain of the human heart like the Christmas season. For example, families will gather without parents, sons, or daughters who were taken away too early in life. I think Billy Joel sung about only the good die young. Was it Billy Joel? Yeah, okay. And many families won't gather because of painful rifts and feuds dividing them. How about this? How do you greet a friend who just lost someone to cancer? I think it's a good question. What about families torn apart by separation, divorce, or imprisonment? And so the Christmas season, of course, brings with it the cultural battles of those who want to take Christ out of Christmas, right? cultural battles we say, you know, the whole battle between the left and right and all that. What does all this have to do with the mission of Jesus? Well, the first Christmas was also a battlefield and it wasn't the popular cultural Christmas of merrymaking. It wasn't the commercial Christmas of making and spending lots of money. I think about the lady who went into the elevator at Christmas time, and it was overcrowded. You know, people say things, do things in elevators. And then she's thinking out loud, and she says, whoever thought up this stuff should be taken out and shot. And someone in the elevator said, don't worry, lady, we already crucified him. So it's not the cultural Christmas of merrymaking or the commercial Christmas of making and spending lots of what? bucks, yeah, it was the Christ Christmas, Christ coming into the world to save his people from their sins. That's what Matthew tells us in chapter one, verse 21. She will bear a son, you will call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. So Satan knew he would soon be defeated if he didn't put an end to the child. And so he tried to use King Herod to destroy the son of God. The parallel passage for this is in Revelation 12, we did a whole sermon on it a couple years ago, where the dragon is waiting for the child to be born from the woman so he can destroy the child. And why? He's defeated though, because God's plan to save his people by the life and death and resurrection of his son cannot be defeated. So we could sum this text up and say the gospel is God's plan, which is why it cannot fail. But Matthew, you remember Matthew's a what? A tax collector, but he's also a what, tell me? A Jew. And he would have had access to the scriptures. And he sees Jesus, Matthew does, in the same way Jesus saw himself, as the fulfillment of all the old covenant promises to Israel. So everything that's predicted in the OT, Old Testament, And everything that was pictured and pointed to Jesus must be, what? Fulfilled. And so the Christmas massacre shows us that we can trust our sovereign God even when evil seems to prevail. Seems. It's pretty practical. This sermon's very practical, by the way. Three fulfillment passages is really what he's got. I could have done that, I did three Fs instead. First though, he's got the flight to Egypt in verses 13 through 15. Al did the text, read the text, did a great job. Now when they had departed, in other words the wise men, behold an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him, rise and take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you for here it is about to search for the child to destroy him. And Joseph, what? He arose and took the child and his mother by night and departed." So he's obedient. Departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod, okay? And he says, this was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. In other words, Hosea, out of Egypt I called my son. So while the wise men depart, an angel warns Joseph in a dream, flee to Egypt because a wicked King Herod wanted to kill baby Jesus. What we find in Matthew 1 and 2 is Matthew repeatedly mentions how God used dreams to direct people. Through a dream, he directed Joseph not to divorce the pregnant Virgin Mary, but to take her as wife, chapter 1, verse 20 and 21. Secondly, he used a dream to warn the Magi not to return to Herod, verse 12. chapter 2. He used dreams to direct Joseph to flee to Egypt, verse 13, and to return to Israel, verse 19, and not to settle in Judea, verse 22. So application, what's the question? Does God use dreams to direct us today? Some people will say no, some people will say yes. Here's what we find. What's the Bible say? I always do this. I have fun. I'm telling you, I'm learning to have fun, to enjoy what I'm doing. What do you mean? Well, what about this, Sean? So, you know, down in Redding, California, they're wanting, praying for this baby to be raised after two years of dying. Yeah, you can Google it. It's sad when I think of it. But will that baby be raised after two years of being dead? Can God? Yes. Will He? Again, this is crazy stuff, but I'll just say, when people ask me, what about this? I'll say, what's the Bible say? Well, I gotta read that book. That's God's revelation to us. That's his mind, his heart. Amen? Here's what we find. Except for the birth narrative, the only other reference to dreams in Matthew is Pilate's wife dream regarding Jesus, Matthew 27, 19. There's only one other New Testament reference to dreams, and that's when Peter on the day of Pentecost cites Joel, the book of Joel. In Acts 2, verse 17, your old men shall dream dreams. I've been having more dreams lately. Okay, I get it, I'm getting older. There are a few Old Testament references to God using dreams, mostly with Joseph in Egypt, the old Joseph, and Daniel, okay, in the book of Daniel. But God warns his people again and again about false prophets who use their dreams to entice his people to go after other gods, idols, and forget God's name. Deuteronomy 13 is one of those places, and Jeremiah 23 is another place. What will happen is people will tell you, but yes, Sean, but isn't God using dreams and visions to bring many Muslim people to faith in Christ in our day? And we would say, okay, so that would tell us that we should not deny that God can, keyword, God can use dreams. Yet we would say, who are holding to the Bible, God's normal means of directing us is through the wisdom found in his word. and through prayer as well as godly counsel of mature believers, not someone who thinks you can raise a child from the dead two years after it's dead. Are you with me? Okay, much more could be said on that. I really, Benny Hinn's nephew, Kosti Hinn or whatever, they have a really good thing on it where he replies because he's come out of that prosperity healing movement and he had really good things to say and his pastor said really good things. I watched it, was it Friday? All I'm saying is, look, if you're in a time of confusion or fear and you're seeking the Lord, don't seek him through dreams. Seek him through his word properly interpreted, okay? People get desperate and they go to these means that they shouldn't. And often God's going to impress a verse or a passage on your heart that provides the wisdom that you need. So I would counsel against using dreams alone, notice what I said, as your main source for guidance in a major decision. And if a dream goes against God's word, it is not from God. Jeremiah 23 verse 28. So here's the bottom line. Be open to God, but don't be led astray by your or anyone else's dreams. Okay? Now you say, what about this hair guy? Well, we'll deal with him under our second point. But why were they told to flee to Egypt? Some Bible students think it meets a practical need because it was a big place, it had a Jewish colony there, where Joseph and Mary could find refuge and lodging and even fellowship with like-minded believers. Remember, they're the remnant, they're God's remnant. Israel at this time but Matthew says that's not the reason it was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet out of Egypt I called my son he's quoting Hosea 11 and verse 1 which referred to God's act of delivering Israel out of their bondage of captivity one author William Barclay said that Matthew in his eagerness is finding a prophecy where no prophecy is willy-nilly You know, William Barclay, I will warn you, he's great on historical background, really bad on theology. Matthew is not thumbing his way through the Bible for random proof texts that Jesus might somehow fulfill. No. Rather, Matthew is reading through the whole story of Israel and nothing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He's noticing how under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, how it all points to who? Jesus. Okay. Now you say, well, I get that. So Jesus is like Moses in the Old Testament, right? He's a new and better deliverer. The answer is what? No. Go to Hebrews. What's that? Hebrews 3.3. Moses was a servant in the house of God. Jesus is the son. He's not just a new, better Moses. He is, you shall call his name Jesus, for he shall deliver people out of Egypt. No, he'll save them from their what? Sins. Chapter one, verse 21 here. Rather, Jesus is the embodiment of Israel itself. He's a new and better son. In a sense then, he's the second what? Adam. You heard of the Adam bomb? Adam bombed out in the garden? Jesus is the Adam that didn't bomb. He's the God man. who fulfilled what Adam failed to do. And Israel is to be a light to the nations. Jesus fulfilled what Israel failed to do. This is the way John stopped it. I love it. As Israel was oppressed in Egypt under the despotic rule of Pharaoh, so the infant Jesus became a refugee in Egypt under the despotic rule of Herod. As Israel passed through the waters of the Red Sea, so Jesus passed through the waters of John's baptism in the river Jordan. As Israel was tested in the wilderness of Zin, that's Z-I-N, for 40 years, so Jesus was tested in the wilderness of Judea for 40 days. As Moses from Mount Sinai gave Israel the law, so Jesus from the Mount of Beatitudes gave his disciples the true interpretation and amplification of the law. End quote. Do you see it? So Matthew is really using Exodus. Do you see it? He's using that pattern of scripture. If we read scripture like that, we're reading it rightly. Would you agree with that? Okay. Matthew is saying that the Exodus was an advanced picture, like a movie trailer, of what Jesus would do in his death and resurrection. as God called Israel my son in Hosea 11 1 at the start of his plan of salvation okay so God called Jesus my beloved son in Matthew 3 17 and Matthew 17 5 and so just as Israel went down to Egypt and then came out of Egypt into the promised land So God's son would make the same journey. And God's salvation history then moves people from the people of Israel to the faithful remnant, to the servant of God, Jesus, and Nathrezim. So what you really have is Israel is being, what, funneled down to that remnant that's going to come. The Messiah comes through the remnant. Then it's the Messiah. God's no longer dealing with a nation. He's dealing with all nations through his son. It's not that the church replaces Israel, it's that Jesus fulfills the promises that were given to Israel. Are you with me? That's how we gotta look at it. So Jesus has begun the new and final exodus. He sets his people free from what? Well, economic oppression. No, spiritual bondage to what? sin that's the Matthew looks at the Old Testament and he sees Jesus where we do not okay you say so what big deal well how do you read the Old Testament I'm really struggling because I'm looking at I'm reading a lot by the way these days I'm looking at Ecclesiastes and do you see Jesus where he's not meant to be I know if he's not in the text let's put him in there You know what it reminds me of? Sinclair Ferguson said, where's Waldo? Remember those books, Where's Waldo? You're looking for Waldo all over the page. He's got to be here somewhere. I know he's here. And you look here, and you look there, and isn't he got something red on? Where's Waldo? And you're trying to find, look, what if Jesus is speaking through those writers, speaking through those prophets, and sometimes it refers to his first coming, sometimes his second coming, and we're trying to, well, which one is it? And it can go right from one to the other in the same verse. You know what I'm talking about? And we get confused. Well, here's the point. Shouldn't we look more carefully for Jesus in the Old Testament? Shouldn't we expect to find him more often than we do? Matthew does. Without reading him what? Into it. To see him prefigured there in the types and shadows, in other words, bottom line, to understand the Old Testament, we need to look for who? For who? Jesus. Amen. and listen to the text and let the Holy Spirit, what? Take of the Son and glorify the Son who's gonna show us what the Father's like and listen to the Spirit of God as He's speaking to us through the text. So Jesus is the overarching theme and purpose and goal of all what? History. It all points to Him. And so Jesus proved faithful where the nation of Israel was faithless. He's the true Israel, that's the point. And his faithfulness is credited to us when we trust in him. And now we're called, 1 Peter 2.21, to follow in his steps. That's the gospel. When you do that, when you read that, the Old Testament will come alive. Well, we don't read books like Leviticus. I mean, you get to chapter 13 and we're scraping walls with leprosy. Pastor, we don't preach through that. Really? Really? I will tell you, the book will come alive to you. I could give you illustrations, but I don't have time. And notice the immediacy of Joseph's obedience. He arose and took the child and his mother. Notice those two words, by night. Did he depart that very night? He's having a dream that very night? I would think he did. We're not wasting any time. Herod's sending his soldiers. Let's get out of Dodge. Amen? Right? Listen, it was 75 miles to the provincial border. It was another 100 miles to Egypt. 175 miles. When you read the Bible, you need to do this. Geographic. How'd they travel? Was it on donkey? Was it on horse? Was it walking? Foot? Yeah. And she's pregnant? Think about it. No, baby Jesus is already born. She's not pregnant. OK. I'm thinking back in Luke. But the point of it is, it's like, how did they travel? How did they get there? Right? There's no planes, there's no cars for that matter, no buses, there's no Greyhound, right? Uber! We call it Uber driver. Take us to Egypt, will ya? Listen, here's the point. Obeying God is neither comfortable nor easy. I want the easy button. Let's push the easy button and I'll get to Egypt like that. Right? Joseph's been called the forgotten man of Christmas. You know why? Mary gets a lot of press, and not just from Catholics, by the way. Mary, did you know, that's your baby boy, the song, right? Great song, but without Joseph's conviction and compassion and courage, there would have been no Christmas story to tell. You say, that's not true, Pastor. God wasn't limited to Joseph. True. And yet every time God gave Joseph a command in these first two chapters, he responded with instant unquestioning obedience. You see it in chapter 1 verse 24, in chapter 2 verse 13 and 14, verse 20 and 21, and verse 22. Joseph is a great example for you and I of instant obedience. You say, well, Delayed? I can have delayed obedience. Delayed obedience is disobedience. Yeah, but I still did it eventually. Yeah, do kids ever do that? I got around to it, Dad. Yeah, you did. And were you pleased with that? Just answer the question. No. Here's my question. Can God count on you to do what he says to you? What's he telling me to do? I don't know. What is he telling you to do? How about Genesis through Revelation? Do you read a book? You might be tempted to think this morning, hey, if I don't do it, Sean, someone else will. So that's okay. That's willful disobedience, which brings God's discipline. Here's the truth of the text. Nobody can obey God for you. Isn't that right? Besides, have you ever considered that another Christian may be thinking the same thing to justify his or her own disobedience? If I don't do it, Sean will do it. I can think if I don't do it, Jerry will do it. Jericho think well if I don't do it Sean will do it and then it doesn't get what it doesn't get done Al can think the same thing look here's the here's the point a husband and a wife were discussing the possibility of taking a trip to the Holy Land husband said wouldn't it be great to go to the Holy Land and stand and shout the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai his wife replied no be better stayed home and kept him Listen, he needed to listen to his wife, amen? It wasn't a case like Adam and Eve, okay, get it. Nate Saint, one of the five missionaries who were killed by the Akka Indians with Jim Elliot, he once said that his life did not change until he came to grips with the idea that, quote, obedience is not a momentary option, it is a die-cast decision made beforehand. Would you make that decision today? Would you make the decision, Lord? The 4A commitment this morning? What's that? Anything, anytime, anywhere, anyhow. Now, anyhow would be according to Scripture. We can't go against Scripture to obey Scripture. But would you make that commitment this morning? No, I'm not going to do that. Anywhere, I might end up in Australia, or Alaska, or the South Pole. LA, even worse, anything, anytime, anywhere, any, no, you gotta make it or you don't make it, okay? So first then we've got, looking back on my outline, we've got the flight to Egypt. But secondly though, notice with me the failure of Herod in verses 16 through 18. Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, was he tricked by the wise men? Who warned the wise men? God did, so God was really foiling his plan, wasn't he? Right? By warning the wise men. Okay, he became furious and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or younger, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled, again, this fulfillment of prophecy, what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah. A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping in loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children. Notice that word, she refused to be comforted. And why? Because they are no more. Herod was one of the most despicable characters in history. He was ruthless, both in consolidating power and in keeping it. And over the course of his life, he had, count them, 10 wives. By the way, that wasn't as bad as Solomon. We'll see you next week. Okay. He murdered one wife, and he had an ongoing conflict with his sons, of who was going to basically take his place, putting them into prison and executing two of his sons. When the Magi came to Jerusalem, he was nearly 70 years old. He was sick, and the disease from which he would shortly die of. And as he faced death, he rounded up, notice this, 2,000 Jewish leaders, and he ordered that they all be slaughtered at the moment of his death, so there would be national mourning rather than rejoicing at his death. And by the way, they wisely did not kill those people, they let them go. So this guy was what? He was. He was a madman. Five days before he died, he executed another son who had threatened his rule, and so the slaughter of all these young boys in Bethlehem was in line with his pattern of murdering anyone who was a threat to his throne. He resembles Pharaoh of long ago in Egypt. So first he's frightened by the news of a king of the Jews had been born. And then he becomes furious when he can't locate the child in order to kill him. And so the hairs of this world begin by hating the child, Jesus, but end up hurting and murdering children. You ever heard of abortion? It's wrong. You know, I don't wanna go into politics. If I do, you'll probably hate me or love me. Okay, I'm just saying, Sodom Hussein was called the butcher of Baghdad. Herod was the butcher of Bethlehem. Okay, now, how are we to make sense of this, of tragedy? Who was really behind the malice of Herod? Satan. So Revelation tells us it was Satan's goal to abort the work of Christ. And you can trace it, if I was doing a sermon on this today, we would begin in Genesis 3.15, right? He shall bruise your heel or you shall crush his what? Head, right? And so you got the idea that the sun's coming to defeat the serpent. the cross but he's going to be put to death but he's going to rise from the dead right Satan's head gets crushed Jesus heel gets bruised right by his death and we trace it all the way through and what you see then as you have Pharaoh trying to kill all the babies why because the Messiah is coming through Israel's line as a baby and then you have at the time of Haman member of the book of Esther he wants to kill all the Jews, exactly. And now it brings us up to Herod, and you can trace it all the way through Athaliah, Queen Athaliah. There are other places in the Old Testament I challenge you to trace it, okay? Satan repeatedly tried to destroy the seed of the woman through whom the Savior would come into the world. But Matthew, he not only sees the human criminality motivated by Satan, he also sees the conquering sovereignty of who? God, Herod fails in his attempt to destroy the baby Jesus Christ. And why? Because Christ can never be destroyed. And so Herod should have known that. His own wise men who had the scriptures, in the Jewish, he asked them, you know, what's the scripture say about where he's gonna be born? And they tell him Micah 5.2 in Bethlehem in verse six is what they're talking about. And when he asked the scribes, he asked the priest, chief priest and scribes, and they would have told him Ready? Even the Magi probably would have told him from the East, they could have told him about Daniel 7. They could have been passed on from Daniel all the way back up to the Magi, in the Greek, the Magi, Magi is plural, but it's used in the Septuagint in Daniel for these wise men. And this is what it says in Daniel 7. This is verse 13 and 14. Listen to this. I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man. And he came to the ancient days. Son of man is Jesus. Ancient of days is who? God the Father. And so the one like the son of man comes to the ancient of days and is presented before him. And to this son, to this one like the son of man, is given dominion. and glory, and the kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom is one that shall not be destroyed." Talking about Jesus. So here's the thing, how tragic when someone Herod-like attempts to preserve his life, or his or her little kingdom or empire, rather than release all of the ultimately insecure possessions and his or her whole life into the hands of such a gracious savior and king. See, a lot of times we don't see Jesus for who he really is. He's a good, he's a kind, loving king, but he's also who? The son of? With ultimate authority. So he's not just the savior, he's also the judge. And I'm not talking about Judge Judy, who's trying to be nice and kind and sarcastic and funny. It will not be funny when people who don't receive him stand before him in the end. It will be horrifying. And I can tell you the only worst thing I could think of that was standing in front of Samuel Davies and Jonathan Edwards' grave there in Princeton where he died. And they were reading Samuel Davies' sermons to us. I just get the chills thinking about it. And he was describing when unbelievers' bodies are resurrected. The people who have died and their bodies are resurrected and their spirits come together with their body for judgment to be thrown in the lake of fire forever. What a horrifying thing. And you know that's coming? Well, I don't believe that. That's your choice now, but it will be true then. And so the whole point of it here in the providence of God, Herod ended up fulfilling what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah. Notice what he says. A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation. Rachel's weeping for her children. She refused to be comforted. Why? Because there are no more. Jeremiah's referring to the women in Judah that were weeping over the death of their children when Nebuchadnezzar's army came and wiped out Jerusalem and took the poorest captive. All right? They killed a lot of the babies and stuff, but what they did is they took the brightest and the best back to where? Back to Babylon. Daniel and his three friends, remember that? They took the brightest and the best to become like wise men and study and make them what? Babylonian. Change their names, change their diet, give them the worldly education. See? But what they did is they left the poorest people there, so they wouldn't really try to rebel or anything. They didn't know any better, right? And so what he's saying is Matthew sees the prophecy as having a double fulfillment back then, first in the Babylonian captivity, and now again in Herod's massacre of the children. But the point is, and get this, neither tragedy back then nor with Jesus could thwart God's plan. Rather, it's fulfilling it. Everything people do against God today is fulfilling his plan. He makes the wrath of man to praise Him. I'll tell you, that's why I sleep at night. When my head hits the pillow, I'm able to go off and sleep because I know God is working it all together for my good. He's gathering His saints, His bride out of the world. The Holy Spirit is what? Collecting a bride for who? Christ. It's all about Christ. The church, you say, no, it's all about Christ. Yes, but the church is in Christ. The bride is one with her husband, the two shall become one what? Flesh. And Jeremiah 31 goes on to say that the exiles would return from captivity and that God would fulfill his promise of the new covenant, amen, when God would abundantly bless his chosen people. You say, Israel? Not all Israel is Israel. Those who trust in? Christ are God's people, okay? If an Israelite gets saved, he immediately becomes part of the church. Yeah, he becomes Christ's body, exactly, part of the church. God doesn't have two plans. He's got one plan, and he's got one people. But what's he saying, Matthew? Their sorrow will be turned to what? Joy, and how so? Those babies being under the age of accountability, they don't know their left hand from their what? They don't know left and from right. You can see it in Deuteronomy 1. It says that. They died before the age of accountability. They died and they would be saved or unsaved. Let me ask you. They would be saved. We know that from 2 Samuel where David's child dies and he says, he cannot come to me, but I can go to. He's talking about what, just in death? He's talking about, no, yeah, heaven, exactly. He's gonna be with that baby, not, you know, you think about Luke 16, he's not gonna be in Hades, he's gonna be in Abraham's what? Bosom. Now listen to me. Jesus escaped, you ready? Jesus escaped and was protected for his mission that he might die on the cross. Those babies died that they might live forever before the age of accountability. So that, here's the point, if Jesus had died at Bethlehem, he couldn't have saved anybody at Calvary. God, the Father, preserved his son for the cross. We sung it, O little town of Bethlehem. It should read, how deep we hear thee cry, not how still we see thee lie. But God was still at work fulfilling his perfect plan and purpose. Illustrations, you gotta have illustrations in your sermon, Sean. But I found one that was really good. During World War II, check it out, six Navy pilots left their aircraft carrier on a mission. But after searching the seas for enemy submarines, they tried to return to the ship shortly after dark. And yet the captain had ordered a blackout of all lights on the ship because, you know, if the German submarines saw the ship, torpedo the ship was done for he turned off all the lights over and over again the frantic pilots radioed asking for just one light so they could see the land but the pilots were told the blackout could not be lifted after several appeals and keep circling denials of their request the ship's operator turned the switch off to break radio contact and the pilots were forced to ditch in the ocean Why? You ready? The mission took priority over their lives. Question, do you see the gospel as more important than your own life? Most Christians don't even want to go there. We don't go there, pastor. I'm not going to give up my life. Oh, Jesus died for you, but you're not willing to die for, really? Let me ask you this question. And I know the answer, but I'm going to ask it. Have you been traumatized by tragedy? What do I mean? You try to make sense of evil, but you can't. Listen, including death, we're gonna talk about it next week, Lord willing. How can a good God include evil in his overall plan? I think it's a valid question. And what we do often in the church is, oh, shut up! Don't ask things like that, just trust the Lord. Really? we tell the young people that they shouldn't ask the questions when they should be asking those kind of questions and we should say well this is what the Bible says and honestly say look I mean if we don't know we don't know we know that God is not the author of evil James 1 13 he doesn't tempt anyone neither is he tempted right but let me go down this road Because someone's going to say, yeah, but if he's all powerful and he's all loving, why doesn't he stop evil? Ever ask that question? My answer is, I don't know. I don't want to say it's above my pay grade. He just hasn't revealed it. He will reveal it in the end. But I will tell you this. God took his own medicine, and the person of his son died on the cross. Talk about suffering. The cross is what makes sense of suffering. But here's what I'm going to ask this. Have you ever noticed that when everything is going well in an unbeliever's life, God never gets the credit? But have you noticed this? When something bad happens, God always gets the blame. Why blame God if you don't believe that he even exists? You laugh, but you get it. Listen to this quote. I just got this new book, Confronting Christianity, 12 Hard Questions. This is what it says from Rebecca McLaughlin. She says, from an atheist perspective, not only is there no hope of a better end to the story, there's no ultimate story. There's nothing blind, pitiless indifference. From a Christian perspective, there is not only hope for a better end, there is intimacy now with the one whose resurrected hands still bear the scars of the nails that pinned him to the cross." That's a good quote. You're going to choose which story you're going to believe. Are you with me? The atheist narrative where there is no God or the deist? narrative where, yeah, he fronted everything into existence and now he's gone, he's on vacation, we don't know where he is, he's not really involved in anything. Really? That's not biblical Christianity. Let me ask you this, have you ever done logic? Some people don't like logic. We had a book on logic. The kids had to learn logic, and I had never learned it, and we were looking through the book, and they learned it. It's really bad when your kids are using logic. Dad, that's not a logical statement. Oh, your kids are smarter than you are in logic. I would just say this. Let me give you a bit of logic. You may not like it, but here's some for you. A, there's evil in the world. Would you agree with that? Okay, well, how can you deny that unless you're a Christian scientist? There's no such thing as evil. you know, or a Buddhist or, you know, the Hindu. It's all an illusion. If I punch you in the nose and it bleeds, is that an illusion too? Okay, yeah. You're laughing. A, there's evil in the world. B, God's not the author of evil. Would you agree with that? Therefore, C, God must be able to use evil to bring about a greater good, otherwise he would not have allowed it or included it in his plan. I'll say it again. A, there is evil in the world. B, God is not the author of evil. Therefore, C, God must be able to use evil to bring about a greater good, otherwise he would not have allowed or included it in his plan. God's thoughts are not our thoughts. nor our ways His ways." Okay? Isaiah 55. God is so wise that He can use what He hates to accomplish what He loves. So when you can't know why, Christian, you can still know who is orchestrating all things for His glory and for your good. Romans 8 28. So here's the application. Now you notice I'm really dealing with this intellectually, because if you get it intellectually, it will help you emotionally. It will go from your head to your heart and it'll make a difference in how you live with your hands and your feet. I'm answering the hard questions. You say, not completely. Because I'm giving the answer as much as scripture does and I can't go any beyond that, I don't want to. Whatever your tragedy might be today, evil will fail and right will prevail because Jesus escaped, died and rose from the dead. And listen, every story with a happy ending has to borrow from the gospel from that story. Every time Hollyweird has a happy ending at the end of their story, they had to borrow from the gospel. Let me read to you. I read this, Daniel Darling. You may be left, you may be right, okay? But listen to this, the Christmas story is a subversive tale about a new start for a corrupt world. Listen to what he said. This is the quote in his article. Today, every possible movement claims Jesus as a mascot. I love that. But if you read the Christmas story carefully, you can't find conservative or liberal talking points. The one who was both a vulnerable unborn baby and a refugee who preaches both individual repentance and cosmic renewal won't fit nicely into any political party is what he's saying. That's because his is a kingdom not of this world. Yeah. This part of Christmas brings hope and thus our singing and gift giving and merriment. And yet Jesus coming doesn't mean our mediation on Advent, our meditation on Advent, our thinking on Advent, requires us to pretend away the darkness. I love that. Let's just pretend that darkness doesn't exist while we have Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning. No. Listen to what he said, you ready? God didn't look away from our sadness, but entered into it in Jesus. And today that same Jesus still rages at violence and weeps at despair. And one day he will return in power to finish what he began. So the message of Christmas, it's not that you have to hide your pain and stash away your sorrow in some imaginary retelling of your story. Bring your pain to the one who offers rest. Advent, Christmas, is full of joy and sorrow, light and darkness. And the child, Jesus, who we say now not a child, beckons whether you think this is the most wonderful time of the year or you are just trying to make it through December. I love that end quote. Isn't that good? It's just powerful. I thought, what a really good point the guy's getting at. Okay, so the flight to Egypt. I don't know, what was the second point? I don't know. Sometimes I forget these things. The flight to Egypt, the failure of Herod, and finally then, we've got the fulfillment of the prophets. Look at verses 19 through 23. Herod dies, an angel of the Lord appears in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and tells him to rise. take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel. When why? For those who sought the child's life are dead. So it was more than just Herod, those plural. And he arose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But notice contrast. When he heard that Archelaus, one of Herod's sons, in other words, was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Well, I guess so. We're going to tell you why. And being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee. But it wasn't happenstance, no. He went there and he lived in a city called Nazareth, so that, this is the purpose, what was spoken by the prophets, plural notice, might be fulfilled, that he, Jesus, would be called a Nazarene. The historian Josephus, in his Antiquities, tells us that Herod was seized with a disease which burned inwardly with inexpressible torture. so that those who murder others cannot keep themselves alive. J.C. Ryle wrote this, he said, death is a mighty leveler and can take any mountain out of the way of Christ's church. Let me say this simple, the worst of men are only what? They're only men. I love that, J.C. Ryle. He says, the truth shall always prevail, end quote. So Christ's church lives and grows while herds rot and die. And so, what did he say? What's the application of that? We're not on the wrong side of history. We're on the what? The winning side. Now, if you do cross-referencing, verse 20 is almost exactly parallel with Exodus 4.19. When God appeared to Moses in the burning bush and he said, go back to Egypt because the men who are seeking your life are what? So Matthew is identifying Jesus with the prophet who would be like Moses promised in Deuteronomy 18 verses 15 through 19. And again we see Joseph is obedient to the Lord's message through the angel, but he hears that Archaeus is reigning in Judea and he's afraid. And why? Because when Archelaus, check this out, when he began his reign, he tried to outdo his father Herod, not by slaughtering 2,000 of the popular Jews, but 3,000 of the most influential people in the country. And he did. And notice that Joseph's fear was confirmed by God's warning to him in another dream. And Joseph's fear didn't keep him from obeying God, but God used it to guide him more specifically. What's the application? Are you seeking safety? You say, who isn't? Listen to God's warnings and be what? safe yeah now where did he end up where did Joseph Mary and baby Jesus end up in a city called Nazareth and why well not because the tyranny of tyrants nor because the fear of a stepfather in other words Joseph but ultimately so it might be fulfilled that he Jesus would be called a Nazarene the problem here biblically is there's no Old Testament text declaring that the Messiah would be called a Nazarene. And so the scholars suggest one, two, three explanations. Let me mention them quickly. First, Matthew may be alluding to Judges 13, 7, where the Lord tells Samson's mother that her son will be called a Nazarite. But since Jesus never took a Nazirite vow, that's not a very likely view. Second, Matthew may be making a play on words between Nazarene and the Hebrew word for branch, which is netzer, used in Isaiah 11.1, which reads, There shall come a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. So we know that Jesus is from the royal line of David, but he arises from the stump as a lowly scorned one. The third view, Matthew may be using Nazarene as a derogatory slang term to refer to someone from the insignificant town of Nazareth in Galilee. Remember that in John 1 46, when Philip found Nathanael, he told him, we found a Messiah. Remember what he said? Found a Messiah who's from what? Galilee from Nazareth and and and then Nathanael says can any good thing come out of Nazareth and so and then we also find this too in John 7 when the crowd heard Jesus teaching in the temple at the Feast of Booths They were divided and some said This really is the prophet. Others said, no, is the Christ to come from Galilee? And then they asked us, has not scripture said that Christ comes from the offspring of David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was? Well, he was born in Bethlehem. But he grew up where? In Nazareth. So they were getting their wires crossed. But Matthew's summing up a theme he finds in several prophets predicted that the Messiah would be despised. We see it in Isaiah 49, 7. We see it in Isaiah 50, verse 6. We see it in Daniel 9, 27. But most importantly, in Isaiah 53, the suffering servant chapter, in verse 3, Isaiah says, he, Jesus, was despised and rejected by men. a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not." Someone said, our Lord was considered a hick from the sticks. We might say from across the tracks where I came from. But Paul tells us he was a stumbling block to the Jews. That even Nazareth, when Jesus read from the prophet Isaiah in the synagogue saying that the scripture had to be fulfilled, they said, is this not Joseph's son? We know who he is. We know where he's from. He can't be the Messiah. And then he tells them how God bypassed all the Jewish widows in Elijah's day. And how God bypassed all the Jewish lepers in Elisha's day. And they were filled with? rage and they took him to the edge of the cliff to throw him off I love that text because it says but he passed through him he just walked right what through him because it wasn't his time to die on the it was all part of God's plan to save his people from their sins Matthew 121 if we had planned the life of the Son of God we would have put him through universities how many degrees can you have we would have made him a world traveler you mean world traveler well traveling expands the mind you can be cultural with it you know we would have put him into earthly power position wealth we would have never chosen 30 quiet years at Nazareth God's ways are not our ways we know so little about those 30 years right downstairs I'm coming up and the ladies that are always down there from the church below, I got a question for you, preacher. That's what she asked me this morning. What was Jesus doing at age three or four or five? What about those mischievous years? I said, that's cat food. Curiosity killed your cat. Problem is your cat's got nine lives. God tells us all we need to know, not all we want to know. And when you get there, you can ask him about when he was three or four or five, if you want. Listen, it's highly probable that he worked in the carpenter shop with Joseph. It was a simple lie. You remember that old country song? Lord, it's hard to be humble when you're perfect in every way. Do you find it hard to be humble? Jesus was humble, wasn't he? No one was humble like him. J.C. Ryle wrote this on it. We only know that almost five-sixths of the time the Savior of the world was on earth was passed among the poor of this world and passed in complete retirement. Truly, this was humility. And then he went on. Let us learn wisdom from our Savior's example. Most of us are far too ready to seek great things in this world. Let us seek them not, Jeremiah 45, 5. What I'm getting ready to say here is very controversial, but I hope you get it. To have a place, a title, and a position in society is not so nearly important as people think. It is a great sin to be covetous and worldly and proud, but it is no sin to be poor. Do you get that? It matters not so much what money we have and where we live as what we are in the sight of God. Where are we going when we die?" asked Ryle. What a great question. Shall we live forever in heaven? These are the main things to which we should attend. End quote. Now, you say, can't we better our lot in life? Amen. But if you go after idol, the money, and make it your idol, or the career position, or whatever, just wait till Ecclesiastes. It's a cul-de-sac, we're going to see. I'm gonna go back to Ryle. Above all, let us daily strive to copy our Savior's humility. And then he says, pride is the oldest and commonest of sins. Humility is the rarest and most beautiful of graces. For humility, let us labor. For humility, let us pray. Our knowledge may be scanty, in other words, little. Our faith may be weak. Our strength may be small. But if we are disciples of him, Jesus, who dwelt at Nazareth, let us at any rate be humble. They asked Augustine, what's the greatest thing about a Christian? What's the greatest aspiration for the Christian? What's the way to be a good Christian? He got three steps. Humility, humility, humility. How can we be proud? One last question and a story and we're done. Are you having trouble trusting the Lord these days? Now, I know what you're going to say if you're like me. Well, not with such and such and such and such and such and such and such. But think about where you're struggling trusting God. Maybe to accept something that's happened in life. Maybe with relationships. Maybe with Bible Baptist, I don't know. Maybe with America. Maybe with politics. Maybe with work. Maybe with your health. Maybe with your finances. Anything, responsibility, relationship. Listen to this. If you're in trouble trusting the Lord, listen to this example and we're done. There were times that Raven's book, which is, was, one of the concentration camps of Germany, Ravensbruck, when Corrie ten Boom experienced great despair. And one of those times was a night when she and her sister Betsy were walking to roll call outside the barracks. Seeing the beautiful stars, Corrie prayed aloud dejectedly. Dejectedly means what? Despairingly, depressedly, right? This is what she prayed. Lord, you guide all those stars. You have not forgotten them, but you have forgotten Betsy and me. Has your circumstance ever been so low and terrible that you thought God had forgotten you? Think of that. Betsy spoke up. No, Cory, he has not forgotten us. I know that from the Bible. The Lord Jesus said, I am with you always until the end of the world. And Cory, he is here with us. We must believe that. And listen to what she said, it is not what we are feeling that counts, but what we believe. Years later, Corrie Ten Boone wrote, I slowly learned not to trust in myself, or my faith, or my feelings, but to trust in Him. And then she said, feelings come and go, they are deceitful. In all that hell around us, the promises from the Bible kept us sane. Is Christianity really the only way to keep your sanity? And I would say, the Christianity of the Bible, because it points us to the Savior, who came to save His people from their sins. And that concludes this week's message. We pray you were encouraged by it, and thanks for listening.