Thank you. And would you please turn in your scriptures to Matthew's Gospel, chapter two. Matthew, chapter two. I want to read a particular story in Matthew's account of the birth narrative of Jesus. Now, it's one of those stories we don't often hear during the Christmas season. It doesn't fit in very well. We like to read and talk about the visit of the angels, of Mary and Joseph and the baby, the whole nativity scene in Bethlehem. We like to hear and talk about the shepherds abiding in their fields at night, keeping watch over their flocks by night. We like to read about the wise men bringing their gifts to the newborn King. What we don't hear about so much is the horrific actions of Herod the Great when he ordered the slaughter of all the male children who were in Bethlehem in his districts from two years old and under. It's found here in Matthew chapter 2, verses 16 through 18. Would you please follow along as I read? Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry, and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its districts from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning. Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted because they are no more. There must be more, but I've only come across one sermon on this passage in my reading, and that was by one of my favorite authors, Charles Simeon. He entitled this sermon, The Slaughter of the Infants. Not a very pleasant title, not a snappy title. It goes right to the point. The slaughter of the infants. When the wise men from the east came to Jerusalem looking for him who was born king of the Jews, it appears they didn't go immediately to Herod. But when Herod heard that that's what they were doing in Jerusalem, he was troubled. And it says in all Jerusalem with him. In verse 7 we read, Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, Go and search carefully for the young child. And when you have found him, bring back word to me that I may come and worship him also. The ancient historian Josephus describes Herod as capable, crafty and cruel. He was crafty, all right. Even in this particular episode, he pretends to be genuinely interested in the wise men's search for the newborn king. Now, it's interesting that when he finds out that they had deceived him, he assumes that, that they deceived him. When he finds out, he hears this and he's outraged. He's outraged that these wise men tricked him, the very thing that he tried to do to them. Isn't that amazing? Here's someone who's deceitful, and yet if anyone tries to deceive him, he's outraged. But that's what men do. They will get angry with someone for the very sins they themselves commit. But we read that God, who knows all things and sees all things, he warns these wise men in a dream not to return to Herod as he ordered them. And God also sent an angel of the Lord to Joseph in a dream, instructing him to take Mary and the child to Egypt. We read that in verse 13. And now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream saying, Arise, take the young child and his mother, flee to Egypt and stay there until I bring you word for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. And so God was protecting the child, but we see that wicked men do what they do, thinking that God doesn't see. And how could you? order something to be done, something so wicked, and not be afraid that God is seeing what's going on. But as we read of wicked men, there is no fear of God before their eyes. But we also see that godly men and women can become discouraged thinking the very same thing that God doesn't see. But we see in this passage that God is observing everything. There's nothing that escapes his notice. There's nothing that's going to surprise him. No, God is a God who sees. The eyes of the Lord, Proverbs says in Proverbs 15, the eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. And he's certainly doing that in this case. So Herod was crafty, but he was also great in his cruelty. I read somewhere that Herod always feared potential rivals. He had his wife's brother, Aristobulus, the high priest, drowned in the swimming pool in his palace. He put to death 46 members of the Sanhedrin. He killed his mother-in-law. He also had his wife murdered along with two of their sons as he considered them potential rivals with legitimate claim to the throne. because of their certain lineage. Herod had ten wives and all of them and many other children who did not have this blood. Well, they were he was concerned about this. And Herod or Augustus Caesar reported to have said, it's better to be Herod's dog than one of his children. That's how wicked this man was. Well, we see that he was great, but great in his wickedness, and we see in this very episode in one of the birth narratives, the great wickedness of man. It is astounding to think that such power is given to man, that he might have his own whim order a massacre of innocent lives. And yet that's what we see throughout human history, don't we? Men like Pilate, who boasted that he had power to release Christ or to kill Him. That he could decide, he could make the decision, and it was done. It's an unquestionable abuse of power. And yet they continue on. And they continue to have their minions carry out their bloody orders. It's unbelievable that a man could be so wicked as to make to give an order like this to kill all the infants, all the male infants, two years old and under. What an order. But then he's actually got soldiers who will carry it out. He has the population who will even turn in their friends or their family who are not obeying the edict of the king. This kind of barbarianism took place 2000 years ago. And yet, has man improved beyond this cruelty? Not really. Less than 80 years ago, Adolf Hitler orders the slaughter of millions of Jews. What wicked people there are in this world. Charles Simeon said, happy would it have been for the world if such dispositions and conduct had been altogether banished by the gospel of Christ. But the human heart is the very same in every age and place. We still see that the love of power is a predominant principle in the mind of man. And where it is suffered to gain an ascendancy, it will leave no means untried to accomplish its ends. And that if the more lenient methods of deceit and treachery will not succeed, it will wade through bloody seas to attain its object. The cries of thousands and ten thousands will not divert it from its purpose, nor will anything but the utter extinction of arrival satisfy its bloodthirsty appetite. When people think that their power might be taken away or their money or their things taken away, they can go into an outrage, a fit. And then he reminds us, we must not forget that the same evil principles are in our own hearts. And if we only call to mind the irritation which we have felt on some occasions, we shall see reasons to be thankful to God who has kept us from carrying out into execution all that our offended pride might have prompted us to affect. And you see, he was filled with envy. He didn't want anyone to arise and take power. Here's born the king of the Jews. I'm the king of the Jews, he says. And he would not suffer God to send a king to sit upon the throne. And then he's angry with the wise men, for they had deceived him. He thought they hadn't deceived him. God gave them other orders and they had to obey God rather than man. And yet he's outraged and his pride is wounded and he goes to a fit of rage and orders the execution of these infants. But we must also remember that it was into this wicked world that God sent His only begotten Son. He could have just as easily poured out His wrath as He did in the days of Noah. There was violence covering the earth, and every intention in man's heart was to evil. And so God said, I will destroy man whom I have created. The world was no less wicked when He sent His Son into the world to save the world. We must learn, though, to trust God to accomplish his purposes, even in the darkest of hours. So often, it's very difficult to understand the ways of God, isn't it? You say, well, God could have stopped Herod from killing them. He could have killed Herod before he killed the infants. So we don't understand God's ways. God could have done many things to stop it. And yet he let it carry out. But he protected his son in Mary and Joseph. It's difficult to understand the ways of God. But what we do see is that God's purposes and His counsel stand. God's purposes and counsel shall stand. He will accomplish all His holy will. The wicked king, Herod, was doing his wicked worst to thwart God's plans. But he was, after all, fighting against God. And he couldn't. He couldn't stop what God was doing. And we need to take heart with this. That God has a plan. That God's purposes will be fulfilled. And no one in heaven or on earth can stop Him. He does according to His will. in the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth, and no one can say to him, what doest thou? No one can stop his hand or say, what are you doing? Proverbs 19.21 says, there are many plans in a man's heart. Nevertheless, the Lord's counsel that will stand. But also, in fighting against God, Herod was unwittingly fulfilling no less than three of the ancient prophecies about the coming of the Messiah. The Scriptures, the promises of God, were fulfilled even though there was evil in them. We see that when, in verse 17, then was fulfilled, that was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, saying, a voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning. This was all taking place. And you could hear the cries throughout the land as these babies were being slaughtered. And yet, God had promised this long ago. And then, he was also, because of Herod's edict, God told Joseph to take the child and to take the mother and flee to Egypt. Another prophecy was fulfilled. Out of Egypt, I have called my son He says in verse 15. So God was accomplishing His purposes, wasn't He? God is doing His holy will. The last thing I want to point out here in this passage is that we should be thankful for all that the Lord suffered for us. He's been called in the Scriptures a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And He suffered. He suffered even from His infancy. The Bible tells us that he endured such a contradiction of sinners against himself, hostility of sinners against himself, from the very moment he was born. And yet, coming to the earth, knowing all of this would happen, he came. God the Father sent him, and the Son willingly came to this earth, this wicked world, who would reject him, who would despise him, who would try to kill him. and who would eventually put Him to death on the cross. And yet, He suffered it all. He suffered every bit of it for our sake. This was only the beginning of sorrows. He would be rejected everywhere He went. The religious leaders would despise Him. They would speak all kinds of evil against Him falsely. They would accuse Him of blasphemy. And yet He came. They would take Him and arrest Him and beat Him and mock Him. and eventually crucify Him. And yet He came. He came to this world knowing what was going to happen. But He did this for our sake. At the very beginning, He is a man of sorrows. All the way through His life, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. And yet He came. This is the Savior we have. This is the Christmas we rejoice in. That our Savior didn't come into a flowery, pleasant world that would sing great Christmas songs about Him and decorate trees and give presents and smile at each other during this season. No, this was a grievous time for the Lord. And yet He came. He came. He suffered. He died. And He calls upon us to do the same. Men, He says, will persecute you for My sake. They will speak all manner of evil against you. They will persecute you Because of me, he said. And he tells us that we're to willingly do it. We're to follow his example, follow his steps. And people want to do what Jesus did. Well, Jesus suffered. And He suffered greatly. And He calls upon us to be ready and willing to suffer for His sake. But we suffer knowing that these things are not out of God's control. And that's the thing we think. God doesn't see. And yet God does see. And He has promised that not one hair of our head will perish apart from our Father's will. Even the sparrow that falls, God knows all about it. And He says, aren't you worth much more than many sparrows? He looks upon you. He looks upon your suffering. And He takes note. And He has promised that He will judge the world for doing what they did to Christ and what they do to His people. It's right. Paul says in 2 Thessalonians, for God to do this and He will and He's coming back and He's going to recompense your enemies and His for the very things they did. Oh, you think of Herod standing before the very Jesus that he tried to kill. And yet he suffered the wrath of God for that. But even those who persecuted Christians and spoken evil against him, oh, he's even ready to receive them to himself. Look what he did with the Apostle Paul, Saul of Tarsus, breathing out murderous threats against the disciples of Christ. He wanted to drag them off, both men and women, to prison to put them to death. He was there heartily approving of the death of Stephen. God saved him. Oh, what a merciful God He is. He would have saved Herod as well. He could have saved Herod as well. But this is the merciful God He is. He's a God who does judge the world, but He's also the God who saves the world. The God who offers Himself and all that He has and all that He has done for sinners. He offers them eternal life. And so this is A very dark scene, isn't it? It's unimaginable. And yet God was in control. Some people say, oh, I can't believe in a God like that. Why would he allow such evil? Would you rather a God to see such evil and do nothing about it, can't do anything about it? Or something about a God who didn't know this was going to happen? I'd rather believe in the God who works all things after the counsel of his will. And it was promised that this, too, will be for good. We mean it for evil, Herod meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. And God used it. I was reading, I believe it was Spurgeon I was reading that talked about the infants, that there would be no time at all before they would be rejoicing in the presence of God. And so there they were taken away from this world of sin and shame to be found in the presence of God. God meant it for good. So here, even in a dark, dark scene, we can learn valuable lessons. And may we learn to trust God to accomplish all of his purposes. He has and he will. He's still working. He's still doing. everything according to his will. May God help us and may strengthen us even as we pray to him this evening and cry out to the Lord, the Lord of heaven and earth, the Lord who is overseeing every aspect of Christ coming into the world, even his sufferings. God was there and he's here with us and he's here to bring us through it all just as he brought Christ through it all and Christ learned obedience through suffering. And may we learn the same. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you. Thank you for this episode, though ever so dark and wretched. And yet, Lord, we know that this is what you came to save us from. You sent your son into this wicked world, a world that despised him, rejected him, but you have determined to call out a people for your own possession who would be zealous for good works, not evil. We once were foolish and disobedient, deceived, just like Herod. But after that, the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us. And we thank you for that. And Lord, may we ever look to your hand to deliver us in all things. In Jesus name, Amen. Would you take your hymnals and we're going to sing together before we come to pray. We're going to sing together 559. 559 cast