So Matthew 2, and we will start here at verse 1. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, where is he that is born, king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, in Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet, and thou, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah, for out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel. Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently, what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, go and search diligently for the young child. And when ye have found him, bring me word again that I may come and worship him also. When they had heard the king, they departed. And lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them. till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshipped him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh, and being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way. So far. Let us pray and ask for the Spirit's illumination. Holy God, indeed, as we turn to your word, these are words of truth, words of life, inspired words. not just written by men, but men that were carried along by the Holy Ghost. And we pray, Lord, that we would have a high reverence for what is written, that we would have faith to see. Lord, I pray for any here that do not know Christ, that you would turn them to you, that you would take away the scales from their eyes, that they would behold Christ, the Savior, And I pray, Lord, for your church this morning, that we would worship more, that we would love you more and seek you more intensely. Lord, truly, you are Lord of heaven and earth. We pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, so I'm going to just this morning do a little bit of a different way. I won't have any points. I'm just going to walk through the text implications and applications from there, just exposit it as we go this morning. So, starting here at verse 1, when it says, Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, we've got to realize Jesus was already born at this time. This whole account, Matthew 2, takes place after Jesus was born. And notice as well, it says, In Bethlehem of Judea, this is a little town just five miles south of Jerusalem. Matthew, I think here really wants his readers to know it's not the Bethlehem that is in Galilee. Now, the reality is that many people thought that Jesus was of Galilee, and they did not link him with the royal town of Bethlehem, David's birthplace. There is a Bethlehem in Galilee. If you read Joshua chapter 19, verse 15, you can see it mentioned there. So this is Bethlehem of Judea. And then it says, and it goes on, and it says, in the days of Herod the king, That's important information because there's later Herods, Herod Antipas. This is Herod the Great. He was alive, obviously, and he died either in 4 BC or in 1 BC. They're not quite sure. Scholars differ as to the date. We'll talk about that a little bit later again. And then it says, Behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem. The word in the Greek, magos, where we get magi from, is the same word we get magician from. You might hear that in there, magos, magician. So then the question is, so are there a bunch of magicians that made their way from the east into Jerusalem trying to find this king of the Jews? And it's a good question to ask. Who were these Magi? Were they actually magicians? There's a lot of theories about who the Magi were. We do know, obviously from the text, they were men of the stars. They studied the heavens and the movement of the stars. Are they astrologers? People that look to times in the stars and cultic people? Or are they more like astronomers, watching the movement of the stars and watching what that might indicate? Many modern commentaries would call them pagan astrologers. I don't know if that's true, though. In Job 38, verse 31, we see God actually referencing the constellations that have names. Now, obviously, the people gave them names. Astronomers named them as they saw patterns in the stars. And God references that with respect to Job. And he says this, canst thou bind the sweet influences Pleiades or Luz, the bands of Orion. And so God is taking these names, these constellations, that he ordered there and he's applying that to Job's situation. So God is referring to these names and then therefore there is a non-cultic way of looking at the stars and not reading the future by the stars. We know that these men came from the east. In the days of the New Testament, the Magi were a special priestly political class in the east from Parthia, which is not Roman territory. So these are outside of the empire, east of Israel. And these Magi had very high expertise in science, agriculture, math, history, and for some, the occult. They were very influential men in Parthia, and therefore were often called the wise men, the Magi, as we know them to be called. In fact, no Persian was ever allowed to become a king if he was not first of the Magi. He had to be a master Magi, and they were kind of a super influential group in the Eastern Empire. The interesting thing is they knew that what they saw in the heavens was to be linked Not with Rome, but with a king of the Jews. That's really interesting. They're looking at the heavens, and they can link what's happening in the stars, not with what's most obvious next door to them, but with Israel, with the Jews. Now, why would that be? How could they get there? How could they link this with the messianic hope of Israel? It's an important question to ask. I think for to answer that, we need to go back into the Old Testament. and to find out what happened in the Eastern Empire. Let's go here to Daniel, if you want to take your Bibles and go to the book of Daniel chapter 2. I'm just going to highlight a few things that took place there. So in Daniel 2, we know that Judah has been taken captive into the nation in the Empire of Babylon, and Nebuchadnezzar is ruling, and he gets this dream. He's troubled by it. So chapter 2 verse 2 says this, Then the king commanded and called the magicians and the astrologers and the sorcerers and the Chaldeans for to show the king his dream. So they came and stood before the king. That's verse 2. Then in verses 10 through 13, after he's explained or he says you guys should know the dream and give me an interpretation here, The Chaldeans answer in verse 10 for the interpretation and say, they answer, there is not a man upon earth that can show the king's manner. Therefore, there is no king, lord, nor ruler that asks such things at any magician or astrologer or Chaldean. And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can show it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh. For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. Take that and remember that. He commanded the destruction of the wise men. And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain, and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain. So Daniel and the wise men would be wiped out at this point. However, if you know the story, in verses 27 and 28, Daniel appeals on their behalf, and he answers the king in verse 27, and he says, the secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers show unto the king. So at this point, he points to the entire class, and he says, they have a massive deficit, This is beyond them. This is above their pay grade. These guys are absolutely not able to do this. But then he says, there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. That's what he says there. And he shows that God alone reveals secrets. And then from verses 31 to 45, he interprets the dream. And then lastly, in verse 48, when he's given the interpretation, The king says this in verse 47, The king answered Daniel and said, Of a truth it is that your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings, and revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret. Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon. He had just saved their hides. Their lives were spared because of Daniel and the God of Daniel. And now he's set as ruler over these Magi. You better believe they were thankful to him and they wanted to listen to him and know the God of Daniel. And in this prophecy, You see that Daniel speaks of a kingdom that would come, that would destroy Babylon, that would destroy the Medo-Persian kingdom thereafter, and the Greek one, and the Roman one, and it speaks of a king whose kingdom is forever. And even later on, when the Medo-Persian kingdom comes under Darius, Daniel again is exalted, right? He was kind of dismissed for a while, and he's again exalted. And in Daniel 6, verse 18, or 28, it says, and Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian. It is in those later times that Daniel would have all sorts of visions of the great Son of Man who would go up to the Ancient of Days in the clouds. And all this time, Daniel is ruler over the Magi. So with this respect and position, Daniel would have taught the Magi and spoken to them about the one true God, about his coming kingdom, and the Mashiach, the Messiah, the King of the Jews. So even after the captivity, when Cyrus issued the decree that they could go back to Jerusalem, even then, many Jews actually stayed in the empire in Persia, intermarried potentially, but they definitely would have kept messianic hopes strong. Now, back to Matthew chapter 2. That's the background as to why, potentially, these magi were looking for this Messiah, for this Savior. I think it goes all the way back to the days of Daniel. So in Matthew 2, it talks about wise men. Now we sang, even to rhyme, it talked about three wise men. That's patently wrong. It is not in the scriptures. The only reason we talk about three wise men is because there's three gifts, three types of gifts. And somehow this tradition came that there was three wise men, most likely It would not have been impressive if three guys showed up into Jerusalem and King Herod is like, whoa, three guys just showed up, unless a whole entourage with most likely soldiers and scribes and all kinds of people came with them. It was probably a very impressive entourage from the East. Coming into Roman territory, it would have been very discomforting to Herod. So verse 2, saying, where is he that is born king of the Jews? Whatever these men saw in the star, they knew it signified the birth of the Messiah. And their simple desire is this. Where is he? Where is this king? And they came, interestingly, not to Bethlehem, but to Jerusalem. But they didn't come for an audience with Herod the Great. But they were looking for this newborn king. Now we'd think, OK, it makes sense that they'd go to Jerusalem. That is the city of the great king. It is the place where the kings of Israel ruled. And it would be expected that that is where you would find the king. Now the question that should concern each of us sitting here this morning is the same question that they asked. Where is the Messiah? Where is the King of the Jews? Have you asked that question yourself? Who is he and where is he? They say, we have seen his star. Now, the question of the star has puzzled many people. What is this star? What exactly did they see? Did they see a comet? Did they see a shooting star? Was it the kind of glory of the Old Testament that they saw? Now, I don't want to focus this morning on the astronomy of it all. I highly encourage you to go on YouTube and to watch a video called The Star of Bethlehem by Rick Larson. I find it very impressive. And he makes a really compelling case as to what the star was and the dating of the star. I think it's a fantastic video and very well researched. So I just leave that for you. Rick Larson, the Star of Bethlehem. The more important question I want to ask this morning is why they would be looking for a star. Why would they be looking for a star in the heavens? In the Old Testament, again going back, this is the time when Israel is trekking through the wilderness, and they pass through the land of Moab, and the king of Moab wants Balaam, a soothsayer, to curse Israel. And in the sovereignty of God, he is unable to curse Israel, and instead, what does he do? He blesses them. Now Balak, the king of Moab, is completely beside himself when this blessing happens to Israel. Part of the blessing is this phrase or this verse. It says, there shall come a star out of Jacob and a scepter. It's an instrument of rule. shall rise out of Israel and shall smite the corners of Moab and destroy all the children of Sheth. And so in Israel's heritage there's this prophecy of a star who is a king that would come. And you better believe that Daniel, who was a man of the scriptures, was tying these things together and teaching the Magi about this. And here is a foreign prophet, Balaam, prophesying about a star that is symbolic of this great king who will destroy the enemies of Israel. Now here, we see these foreigners, these foreign wise men, just like Balaam, who was also a foreigner, have knowledge of the stars and that they had knowledge of this great king that would come. One commentator, he says this. He says, in this very event, we see the Magi replacing Balaam as unlikely Gentile witnesses to God's redemption. Isn't it striking? We've had shepherds who were the scum of Israel. and we get wise men who are the height of the gentile nations and the knowledge of the gentiles. And they come to worship the king. And that's who God would use to testify to Israel and to the world that the Messiah has come. Now, in the remaining time, I want to look at the three parties, the three groups that we have left. And I want to use these three groups to apply to ourselves, which of the three am I? Am I Herod? Am I like a Herod? Am I like the religious leaders of Israel Or am I like the wise men? And I want to address the rest of the text with that question in mind. Which of the three am I? Which of the three are you? So the wise men say, we have come to worship him. They hadn't even seen the king, but they knew he was worthy of their worship. That is super interesting. They knew that he was worth traveling hundreds of miles for, bringing lavish gifts, diligently seeking after, and ultimately bowing down before him. Is this your view of the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you willing to give up everything to worship King Jesus? Your time, your possessions, your inquiry, your all, to worship Jesus Christ? Today you are confronted once again with the news that the Messiah has come. History had waited for him. He has come and will you worship King Jesus? Maybe you're sitting here this morning and you're okay. You came to church. Sure, he's worthy of my trip to church this morning. I was going to watch the hockey game or do something else with my time, spend time with my family, but I gave up something, I sacrificed something. Is that all Jesus is worth to you? Something? A little bit of your time? Or is he worth your everything? Jesus is not interested in competitors for his worship. It's all or nothing with Jesus. That which compels you Oh, sorry, that which you value most will compel you to do the greatest things. What do you value most in your life? Maybe if there's anything we need to learn from the wise men, it is to remember that the greatest ruler ever had come in the Lord Jesus Christ, and they yielded everything to him. Will you do that? Verse 3, when Herod the King had heard these things, he was troubled. He was troubled. Herod, why would he be troubled? What's the big deal that would make him so restless? Herod the King was also Herod the Great, and he was rightly so named. He was an accomplished military leader and politician. At around the age of 25, he already ruled Galilee, and he ruled for about 42 years, which is an impressive rule. He served Rome well. But Herod the Great was an Edomite of Esau. And the Jews couldn't stand this guy to be over him. They hated him. And so Herod in his earlier years did kind of nice things for the Jews to try to appease them, to try to win them over. He made impressive buildings. He's actually the guy that expanded the second temple and made it enlarged and beautiful to the point that in Matthew 24, the Jews would look at the temple and the disciples of Jesus and say, Look at this gorgeous temple, and Jesus predicts the destruction of it in 70 AD. That is all because Herod the Great just magnificently beautified the temple. But this Herod was a man that was ruthless and would have no competitors. He was a man who lusted for power. There were innumerable attempts on the life of Herod the Great. He overcame them all with great cunning and cleverness. That's the kind of guy he was. He was paranoid of competition. And so when these wise men, these impressive wise men, come and speak of the King of the Jews, Herod sees competition. And that bothers him greatly. I would venture to say that that is how many people have looked at the news of Jesus Christ. You do evangelism, you speak to your neighbors, your friends, your family about Jesus Christ and they see him as a threat to their way of life. Is that how you've seen him? As a threat to you, a competitor to your rule over your life, over your time. We see a culture that wants to slay babies instead of seeing the sanctity of life in the womb that God has given. So it wants autonomy over the body. We see a sexual revolution. We see the new critical theory. We see philosophical naturalism. All these ways to push aside God and his divine rule over every aspect of our life. We hear this morning. And you're actually that individual that believes, I am in charge of my destiny. I want to call the shots. Really, the question is, are you a Herod the Great? Maybe for some of you, you've got a lot of accomplishments. You don't want to lose them. Your status, your wealth, your popularity, your intellect, your looks. Jesus demands all. Remember the rich young ruler, we talked about him. Give up all things for Jesus. Are you troubled? Within or even right now, is this troubling news to you? That there is a king to whom you must bow the knee. Are you disturbed? with the news that there is one king and he has come into this world and you are not in charge. Notice in the text it says that not only is Herod disturbed but all Jerusalem is disturbed with him. That's interesting, why would Jerusalem be so disturbed and troubled when Herod was troubled. It is because of who Herod was. Herod was a ruthless man. When Herod wasn't happy, blood would flow. That's the kind of guy he was. And so everybody kept the pulse on what Herod was thinking. Herod had a rash temper. He ordered the execution of his own son. Before Herod died, he ordered this. He said, when I die, I want you to go around Jerusalem and die a whole bunch of, kill, sorry, die a whole bunch, kill a whole bunch of noble people so that there will be mourning when I die. That's the kind of guy he was. He knew no one liked him, so he would make sure there was mourning. So if Herod was troubled, Jerusalem is holding its breath. What is this guy going to do? What rash thing will he do next? So verse four, he gathers all the chief priests and the scribes. Here's the next group getting introduced. He wastes no time. What is interesting is Herod knows he needs to go to the experts of the law. The Jewish hope of Israel was in the scriptures, and so he calls together the scribes and the chief rulers. Notice it says in the text, he's not just asking one or two, he says he gathers all the chief priests and scribes of the people together. The whole caboodle is in front of Herod because he needs to know where is this king. It's a massive religious gathering at this point. Strikingly, what's interesting in the text, and look at verse four, it says, he demanded of them where the Christ should be born. That's how it is in the Greek. Ha Christos. The Messiah. That's what he's asking. He has linked what so many people have not linked. Jesus is not just another king of Israel. He is the Messiah. And he knows it. That's why the question is so important to him. In utter arrogance. This Herod thinks he has the power to take down the one he has just labeled the Messiah. That's amazing. And it speaks of the depth of the depravity of the human heart that mankind thinks they can take out God's chosen anointed king. Do you think that? Is that you this morning that thinks, I can get rid of this guy? You know, history is replete with examples of man shaking his fist at God Almighty and saying, I will tear down Christianity and eviscerate it from this earth. Rome tried. Diocletian, the emperor. had royal edicts that were published throughout the empire, commanding that churches be leveled to the ground and the scriptures destroyed by fire. That is why all of a sudden in church history, there is a complete falling away of scrolls and manuscripts. It is because of the Diocletian persecution. In 1778, the French philosopher, Voltaire, you've maybe heard of this guy in high school, he boldly predicted that within a hundred years Christianity would be swept from existence. Because of the Enlightenment. Because man is the measure of all things. The more we reason, we will reason Christ out of society, out of life. Nobody will want him anymore. He said within a hundred years. Well, within a hundred years, the very printing press from which Voltaire had printed his wicked books would be used to print copies of the Bible. Afterwards, the very house in which Voltaire lived was literally stacked to the ceiling with Bibles prepared by the Geneva Bible Society. Voltaire was wrong, terribly wrong, because he took on the Messiah. That's encouraging. That's very encouraging news. I like stories like that. I really do. In the midst of a world that's constantly seeking to destroy Christianity, to persecute the followers of the Messiah, that's passing laws even in our own nation the last few weeks that are undermining the truth of what it means to be a man or a woman and will incriminate pastors and counselors who speak against this. We see a king who will dominate the world. And that is why back to Daniel chapter 2, when Daniel is doing this prophecy with King Nebuchadnezzar, who had a massive empire, way bigger than Canada. He says this, and in the days, Daniel says, these kings, in these days, the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom, that's in the time of the Roman Empire, which shall never be destroyed. If you're here this morning discouraged, hopeless, wondering what will happen to our nation, what will happen to the church, remember those words, it shall never be destroyed. Instead, it says, and this kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever, forever. The kingdom of Christ stands. So have hope this morning. Have hope like the wise men. Be a people of encouragement, of hope. Bring this hope to the nations. The victorious Messiah has come. Verse 5. And so the scribes get there and they instantly get the answer. Well, they say, in Bethlehem of Judea. And they go on to quote the prophecy that we had the sermon about yesterday, Micah 5.2. And they know the prophecy with pinpoint precision in Bethlehem of Judea. And they know this prophecy refers to the Messiah. You've got to think about this for a second. Here you have the wise men, or the scribes, sorry, that know the Scriptures, know the promises of the Messiah, tell Herod he's there, and what do they do? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. That's the interesting thing. They do nothing. It's five miles. Israel had been waiting for the Messiah. They were the teachers of Israel. They were the ones telling them about this Messiah will bring up a kingdom that will rule the nations. And they know where He is, and they don't go there. That's amazing. Even with the visit from the foreign dignitaries, Herod's angst, and their own admission, they cannot get off of their pompous high horses and take the five-mile journey to Bethlehem. In fact, Matthew, in the same gospel later on, will say this about the religious rulers. He says it will be the same religious rulers that will, instead of seeking Jesus, seek to destroy Jesus. That's what they want to do with the Messiah. They like their religious traditions, their comfort in the little establishment they have. They're the top dogs in church, as it were. And they kind of think, don't mess with the good thing, even if it's the real thing. Maybe that's you this morning. you're very comfortable in your life. Is that you? You go to church every week. It's part of your life. You do your Bible reading at home. You read it before your meals. You maybe do your devotions in the evenings. You say you believe in God and in Jesus Christ, but it is not a faith that will excite you to respond. It is completely like the religious leaders. What you know from Scripture and hear even today does not excite you to move into action. It doesn't phase you that this is real, that the Messiah has come. And so my challenge to you this morning is this, am I like one of the religious leaders? Am I among those who is religious but not a worshiper? Even as Christians, For those who are worshippers, how often doesn't our flesh make us to crave the things of the world, our comfort, our selfish ambitions? And we have a religion so often without surrender. We draw lines in the sand and say, so far, God, you can have my life. And we even sing, take my life and let it be. But we don't really mean it. Are we like the religious rulers that won't get off of our high horses and humbly come to worship the king? Now, Herod gets word of that, and so when he hears that, verse 7, he privily calls the wise men and inquires of them diligently what time the star had appeared. You know, in his scheming, he's smart. He privily calls the wise men. to secret chamber, right? Away from the public eye, from the religious rulers, just him and the wise men at this point. And that is exactly what so many enemies of Christ have done. They have schemed against Christianity away from public. They have a good face. Oh, I respect all religions. I allow freedom of religion. And I'm for everybody believing what they want to believe. And they are scheming. behind closed doors, scheming against Christianity, trying to save face with public, and trying to destroy Christianity behind the door. That's conniving. And all the while, I had to think this morning as I was reading over this again, It popped into my head from Revelation chapter 5 when we get the whole incident of the seals, that who is worthy to open the seals, and it says, I saw a lamb slain who has seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, the seven horns, representing that this Messiah has all power, because the horn is a symbol of power. But the other one, the seven eyes, what are they? Representative of the all-seeing, the omniscient knowledge of the Lamb. And so if you are scheming behind closed doors this morning, if you're thinking to hide in your heart's unbelief, the Lamb knows you through and through. You cannot hide anything from Him. You cannot be like Herod the Great. And if you are, you will be destroyed like Herod the Great. There are no private meetings away from the presence of the Almighty. So he's asking here, what time did the star appear? He's really asking, how old is my competitor? I need to know. It's kind of crazy. He's a child, right? Jesus is a child. He's less than two years old and he is scaring this battle-hardened warrior. Harold is the embodiment of the seed of the serpent. The devil knows that the child, the man-child, will crush him. Read Revelation 12 when it talks about the man-child and he's trying to destroy him right then and there. Herod, again, is a devil in many ways. He is of the seed of the serpent. It's like so many professing atheists who say, I don't believe in God. I'm an atheist. I don't believe in any of this stuff. And you say, maybe, well, Jesus is just a fairy tale, a Santa Claus. Then I always ask this question, then why do you go out of your way to debunk him? Why do you take so much time in trying to get rid of Christianity if he's just Santa Claus? Who's writing books against Santa Claus? I've never seen one. But I've seen plenty of books against Jesus Christ. Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, one example. Why is our government increasingly hostile to God Almighty? Why? It is because they are of the seed of the serpent, and they know they are accountable. That's why. And they think they can legislate Christ out of this country. They're like Herod, and they'll stop at nothing to destroy him. They will scheme like Herod. So Herod finds out, verse 8, And he says, go and search diligently and bring word that I may come and worship him also. You see that word, also? He knows they're going to worship. And he says, I'll do it too. He's a liar, a liar professing to worship. This is all the lies of those who pretend to worship God. It's easy to hide in the pretense, isn't it? He uses the same language. I will come and worship him. How many of you have sung the hymn we sang it this morning, Come and Worship, Come and Worship the Newborn King? Did you sing it this morning? Did you mean it? Don't live a lie when you sing your songs. Don't be a Herod conniving behind the doors. So often, I think, when we worship, we're just doing the words. We're just letting our lips move, and our hearts are not there. That is one of the reasons the Puritans would talk about preparing themselves on Saturday for the Lord's Day. Do you come to the Lord's Day prepared? Do you come Sunday morning ready to worship as a corporate people? Do you realize that you are the one that is going to be singing the praises of the King of Kings? Do you realize that this morning? Verse 9, it says, and when they had heard the king, they departed. And lo, the star shows up again. And now the star is over where the child was. Rick Larson says it is in retrograde motion there, and that's why it pauses right over. It's really amazing to think about that, which leads me to wonder, why did the Magi have to go to Jerusalem and to Herod? Couldn't the star just right away have done that loop right over Bethlehem? It is to fulfill all prophecy, to accomplish God's sovereign plan, and to expose the hardness of the human heart. I believe that is why they went first to Jerusalem, to show the religious hardened hearts, the secular hardened hearts, the heart of mankind that the Messiah would seek to save. Verse 10. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy." The Greek here is emphatic. It is just loading on words of joy. And this is the heart of true worship, joy, not joviality. Joy. Joy in Christ. Exceeding joy. And that is what happens when the believer's heart is transplanted from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh, and they behold Christ by faith. What happens? Joy. Tears of joy streaming down your face because of who Jesus Christ is. These foreigners had that kind of joy. Even though they knew He was the King of the Jews. They had the joy. That makes no sense. They're not Jews. Why would they rejoice? It is because they knew that this Messiah was the Messiah of all nations. And that is why we are gathered here this morning. Because He's our Messiah too. Joy to the world, the Lord has come. Romans 15, 12 says, there shall be a root of Jesse and he that shall reign over the Gentiles in him shall the Gentiles trust. Dear people, Christians. We have every reason to be a joyful people, every reason to know that our deepest guilt because of our own sin, the condemnation that we deserve in hell, the struggles we have with temptations, the disappointments we've had because of failures, the pains because of cancer, the sting of death itself, the curse of thorns and thistles, all these will soon be gone because of King Jesus. All of our struggles, all of our sorrows, gone because of this Messiah. No more let sin and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground. He comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found. Far as the curse is found. And what does it say next? Repeat, repeat the sounding joy. Verse 11, they come into the house and they see the young child with Mary, his mother. You know, if you've seen pictures of the wise men with the shepherds, that's wrong. They weren't there together. This is later. The Greek word here, paidon, means young child. He was under two. But this was definitely not at the time when the shepherds went to the manger. Jesus would no longer have been in a manger. That just is not right. This is much later. Notice Joseph isn't even mentioned right here. And Mary is kind of a side note, because the real focus of worship is Jesus Christ. They saw the child. We behold Him. Take your gaze away from your church. Take your gaze away from your pastors, your elders, your parents. Take your gaze away from the feelings, the ecstasy. Look to Jesus Christ. Jesus is the worship, the joy, the love of the church. And that is why Rome has it so wrong when it adores Mary. What a side note that is. And they fall down, it says, and worshiped him. A fulfillment of Psalm 72, 11, when it says, yea, all kings shall fall down before him, all nations shall serve him. Philippians 2 says that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow in worship. And here we see these foreigners as a foretaste of the great harvest that is to come. The great harvest as the gospel has been heralded into the nations. These foreigners are the first ones that will show and demonstrate in their worship what God is about to do through this Jesus. They present unto him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. Throughout the Old Testament, we see the three unfolding offices that the Lord Jesus Christ would assume. Prophet, priest, and king. Gold speaks of royalty. It is the most precious of metals. The Christ is the king. Frankincense. It was the perfume that would fill the temple. Christ is the great high priest. Myrrh. was part of the anointing oil for prophets and kings. Christ is the great prophet that was to come. He is prophet, priest, and king. And in this, they symbolically laden with gifts who Jesus is. This Jesus is no ordinary king. Myrrh. Myrrh would be also placed on people at their burial. And remember, when Jesus died, they put an inscription over him, the king of the Jews, who would in that priestly act be the mediator to bring reconciliation between sinners and a holy God. And he would be anointed in his death with myrrh. This king would suffer and die for the people. Dear people, you cannot think too highly of King Jesus. We must be like the wise men and join in with the Apostle Paul who says, when in the fullness of time, when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son. That is what we celebrate at Christmas. Lastly, verse 12, and being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way. The church father, Gregory the Great, who lived from 540 to 604, he said this about this very phrase. I thought it was so powerful. He says this. Our country is heaven. And when we have once known Jesus, once you know him, we can never reach it by returning to the way wherein we walked before, knowing him. We now have a new life. We are now pilgrims. We have a new country. We seek a better country. Our lives are no longer the same once we know Jesus. We must be willing to give it all up for Jesus and go on a new way, a new life. Are you willing to do that? Is that what you need in your life today? Are you that individual that has been living for himself or herself all these years? Young children, are you the ones that are just aspiring to make a kingdom here on this earth without Jesus? Is that you? Has the world disappointed you? Are you frustrated with the way you're being treated? Are you realizing that you are broken inside, that you are a sinner in need of grace? Do you know that? Then you need Jesus. You need to be like the wise men. Look to Jesus. Bow down before him because he is the great giver of life. He's the one that atoned for our sins and justifies sinners before a holy God. Christians. Do not return to the world. We seek a better country, an eternal country. Worship him, love him, be willing to give it all up for King Jesus. Amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for Christ Jesus, that great shepherd that has bled and died for sinners. I just pray that we would be worshipers. Lord, that we would not take our cue from Herod or from the religious scribes, but from the wise men and seek diligently after you. Oh God, please give us faith and hope and love in you, in Jesus' name.