I've enjoyed the service already today, and I've been blessed. Turn in your Bibles, if you would, to Matthew chapter number 2. Matthew chapter 2. Very familiar portion of Scripture. We've been looking at the miracles of Christmas, and we're going to see one this morning. One of my favorite passages to preach on during the Christmas season. Matthew chapter number 2. I don't necessarily like it when it rains on Sunday, but anyway, we've been needing the rain. Amen? I'm thankful for that. Look, if you would, chapter 2, verse 1, the Bible says, Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, so Jesus has already been born. He's already come out of the stable. He's no longer in the manger. He's actually in a house. The Lord Jesus by this time may be a toddler, what we would say one to two years of age, and you can see that later on in the passage. And the Bible said, In the days of Herod the king, a very wicked man, 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, Messiah, should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet, this is Micah 5, 7, 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, a ruler, that shall rule shall shepherd my people Israel.' Then Herod, when he had privileged, secretly called the wise men, inquired of them diligently, questioned them up and down, what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem. and said, Go and search diligently for the young child, and when you have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also. We know that wasn't really his plan. Look at verse 9, When they had heard the king, they departed, and lo, the star Now, one of my favorite Christmas songs is We Three Kings of Ori and Ar. And they're following yonder star. Now listen, that's a myth. They didn't follow the star. The star appeared and then it disappeared. And then it's going to reappear and then it's going to guide them to the house where Jesus is. And notice if you would again, please, in verse number nine, when they had heard the king, they departed and lo, the star which they saw in the east, they had saw it, went before them till it came and stood over where the young child was. Verse 10, when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were coming to the house, they saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and fell down and worshiped him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented in 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. Now, I want you to look back, if you would, please, in the middle part of verse 2. I want you to underline two words that will fit into our series during this Christmas, The Miracles of Christmas. Underline the two words, Star. Did you see that? His star. I want to preach to you on the miracle of His star. Let's pray together. Lord, thank You for a sweet Spirit. Lord, wonderful music, a time of worship. in adoration of our God. Lord, it's now time to open Your Word and hear from heaven. And I pray, Lord, that we would have attentive hearts. That, Lord, not just attentive hearts, but receptive hearts. Lord, these wise men received You. I pray, Lord, that we would receive what You have for us today. There may be someone here today that needs to receive Your forgiveness. Lord, they've never been saved. They don't know what it is to have their sins forgiven, to receive the greatest of all gifts, the gift of salvation. I pray, Lord, that today would be that day. Others, Lord, their wayward or cold or not where they should be in their own spiritual lives. And Lord, we'd be drawn afresh to you. Others, Lord, that we would adore you afresh in you, that there would be a greater depth of surrender and giving of ourselves to you, Lord. I pray that we'll, as the wise men left a different way geographically, Lord, I pray we'll leave here different spiritually. And I'll sure thank you for what you do in our hearts and lives. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Well, the Bible said that there came wise men from the east, literally from the rising of the sun. If you were to place your finger on a map of the Bible lands and trace a line east from the land of Israel, you're going to come to modern-day Iraq. What we would understand is that area known as ancient Persia, Parthia, Babylon. These wise men saw the star in the east. That means it appeared in the west. Had the star appeared in the east, then they would have went in the wrong direction. So they're in the east and they see the star appear in the western sky and they travel from east to west in search of the one that star represented. Now when you and I see this word wise men in the Bible, many times we sing the song, we think of them as kings. They actually weren't kings. We're going to talk about that here in just a moment. There were more than three of them. I believe really the reason why through tradition we've ascribed three wise men, you see three wise men at the manger scene. They really weren't at the manger scene. They're going to come to us. house where Joseph had moved Mary and the Christ child to a more suitable location there in Jerusalem. And they're going to come there. Now you say, preacher, do I need to take my wise men and throw them away? Absolutely not. Okay? You can keep your wise men of the Nativity. We're just going to understand what the Bible says because it represents a part of the birth of the Lord Jesus. And these men may have numbered into the hundreds. into the hundreds. And you say, preacher, why? Because three men is not going to cause much of a stir, and three men wouldn't travel 1,200 miles alone. There would be large caravans for safety that would travel. As these men would come to Jerusalem, and they would start saying, where is he? Questioning everybody on the street because they thought that everyone had seen his star, and everyone knew that the king had been born, and they wanted to know where he was. and thought that anybody and everybody would know that the king would be born and where he was. And they were saying, where is he that is born king of the Jews? And a great stir was created there in Jerusalem. Now these wise men were actually what we would understand an elite group of scholars. They were magi. History teaches us about these men. We get our English word magician. Now these men weren't magicians in the way we think. Alright? They didn't travel around putting on shows and doing magic tricks. The word magi meant great ones. They were men of position and prestige. They were philosophers. They were students of mathematics and science of astronomy and astrology. They were experts in the study of the stars and the heavenly bodies and the movements of the planets. They were known as great ones. They weren't kings, but they were king makers. What do you mean by that, preacher? They were men of great power, great authority. In the eastern lands, you could not be a king unless you were a part of this elite group. And they would then make you a king when Nebuchadnezzar came against Jerusalem, there was a man with him by the name of Rabmag. He was a part of this group, these magi that were part of these kingmakers. Now it's interesting that as the wise men, these kingmakers, came to Jerusalem, They traveled over a thousand miles. They overcame great difficulty and danger, not in search of a king, but the king. They weren't coming to make Him king. They were looking for the One who was king. They were going to worship the king. They said, where is he that is born king of the Jews? Now, listen, this is very important. Nobody is born a king. Did you know that? You might be born the son of a king. You might be a prince and one day will become king. But there's only one individual that's ever been born king and his name is Jesus because he's king of kings and Lord of lords. Amen? What would prompt these magi, these men of prestige and power? What would move them to travel this great distance and encounter this hardship in search of the newborn King? What was it that motivated them? We saw that. Notice they said that in verse number 2. We've come. He said, 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." They didn't see a star. They saw His star. Did you see the difference? You see, that star that they saw was not a natural phenomenon. shining in the sky. It wasn't some kind of special alignment of planets as you'll see in the liberal theological books that try to explain away the miracles of the Bible. It wasn't some comet that coincidentally came around on its thousandth year journey, so to speak, through the space or some large meteor burning through Earth's atmosphere that they happened to see that would lead them to Jerusalem. No, it wasn't any of those things. This was not an ordinary star. It was an extraordinary star. It was a supernatural star. It was a miraculous star. This star would appear. It would disappear. It would reappear. And then it would guide them until it was stationary over the house where Jesus was, leading them to the Son of God, the One who was born King. The word star in Hebrew can mean a star in the sense of what you and I understand looking up into the skies and seeing them twinkle in their brilliance. And it can mean a literal star or any shining brilliance in the stellar heavens. I believe this star was none other than the Shekinah glory of God. It was the glory of God, a shining brilliance, that led the children of Israel in their journey to the promised land. It appeared as a cloud by day and warmed them as a pillar of fire by night. It was that same glory that Moses beheld from the cleft of the rock when he said to God, Show me thy glory. And God said, You can't see my glory. No man can see my glory and live. But I tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to put you up in a cleft of the rock, and I'm going to put my hand over it, and I'm going to pass by, and I'm going to proclaim the name of the Lord. And then God passed by, and then He removed His hand, and Moses saw the afterglow of His glory, the Shekinah glory of God. It was that same glory that the disciples saw on the Mount of Transfiguration when the Lord Jesus was transfigured before them and His face shone as the brightness of the noonday sun. There was a brilliance of glory and outshining of the inherent glory of the Son of God that they saw. They said, it's so good, let's just stay here on the mountaintop. And I believe it was that glory that prompted the wise men and led them to Jesus. He's the Son of Righteousness with healing in His wings. It was His glory and it was for Him they sought. Can I tell you, friend, it was the miracle of His star. And I want us to learn some lessons that the wise men learned from the miracle of His star. Are you ready for it? Number one, I want you to get this. Here's what they learned. Number one, God always keeps His Word. God always keeps His Word. Look again at verse number 2. He said, For we have seen His star. How did they know it was His star? How did they know that? Did they just guess it? Was it some kind of brilliance written out in their language? Or they probably knew Hebrew. They were probably versed in many languages that would say He's been born, or this is the star of the Son of God, or the King has been born. No, it wasn't any of that at all. Can I tell you, whenever God gives some kind of miraculous phenomenon, listen, you never rest your faith in the spectacular. You always rest your faith in the Scriptures. And the Scriptures validated the star. Faith ought never be founded in sensationalism. It ought to be founded in the Word of God and the God who always keeps His Word. Notice these magi, this ancient sect descended from the Chaldeans. Nearly 600 years earlier there was a group of Jews that had been carried away captives into Babylon during the days of Nebuchadnezzar. Among them was a young man by the name of Daniel. Daniel is there in Babylon and he's known as Daniel the prophet. Daniel is trained up as a magi. Did you know that? That's what they were doing when they brought all of these young men in and they began to teach them the learning of the Chaldeans. They were being trained in the sect of the magi. They would stand before the king. They would be a part of this elite group. And Daniel there, God used him and blessed him and through a series of events elevated him over the entire province of Babylon and he was head over all of the magi or the wise men of Babylon. Daniel was a godly man. You know he's one of three men in the Bible that never blemished their life. Did you know that? Had a testimony of the Lord Jesus in his life, looking for the Messiah. And he wrote a prophecy that these men were versed in, and no doubt he had witnessed to this elite group of men, had shared with them the knowledge of the true and the living God, and no doubt some of them, if not many of them, became believers in Jehovah God. They were versed in the Hebrew Scriptures, and they held in their hearts the hope of the promised Messiah. They knew from Daniel 9, verse number 25, the prophecy of the 70 weeks of Daniel, the precise time when Messiah would be born. They knew from Jeremiah 23, verse number 5, that this One who would be King would not just be King of the Jews, although that would be His title, but He would be King of the entire world. Listen to Jeremiah 23, verse 5. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth." Not just in Jerusalem, not just in Israel, but in the earth. By the way, can I tell you, Jesus came the first time that He might save us. He's coming the second time that He'll bring justice to this world. And they learn from an ancient prophecy in Numbers 24 and verse 17 that a star would be God's sign that the King had come. Listen to Numbers 24 verse 17. Balaam said, I shall see Him through the Holy Spirit giving Him this Word. I shall see Him, but not now. I shall behold Him, but not nigh, not near. It's a future event. There shall come a star. capital S, out of Jacob, and a scepter, capital S, shall rise out of Israel. A star and a scepter, a king would come, and they knew from the word of God that there would be a king who would come. And even amongst the people of that day, there was a word, there was a hope within their heart that a king would be born and would bring hope and peace to a world. that so desperately needed it. And these wise men who were experts in the study of the stars, they knew the movements of them, the constellations, the planets, and suddenly amongst that myriad of stars in the sky appeared another star different from all the other stars. I can hear them right now. That's it. He's come. The King's been born. God has kept His Word. Dear child of God, you listen to me this morning. God always keeps His Word. Amen? I'm so thankful for that today. I'm so glad that God can be trusted. I tell you, we live in such a day of uncertainty. We don't know what lay on the horizon politically, economically, socially. We live in a world filled with unrest, much like the world that Jesus came to. A world that's getting darker and darker spiritually. We don't know what's around the next bend. We don't know what the next phone call might bring. We don't know what the next medical test might reveal. There's a whole lot of things we're not certain about, but I can tell you what you can be certain about. That there's one constant in an ever-changing world, and you say, Preacher, what is it? Our God doesn't change. Malachi 3 verse 6, he said, For I am the Lord, I change not. Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever. Can I tell you, God's mercy hasn't changed, and His love hasn't changed, and His grace hasn't changed, and His goodness hasn't changed. Hey, God is always God and He never changes. And because God never changes, His Word never changes. Listen to Psalm 119 verse 89. Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. Friend, can I tell you, men may try to destroy it down here, but it's forever settled up there. Fear and anxiety, uncertainty grips our hearts and our minds. Listen, dear child of God, anchor yourself to the unchanging promises of an unchanging God. Friend, listen, if you need to be saved today, I've got a word from God for you. Romans 10, 13, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. He didn't say they might be saved. He didn't say they could be saved. He said they shall be saved. Listen, you can bank on that. Philippians 1.6, listen to this, security of the believer. He that hath begun a good work in you, being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. You say, preacher, what does that say to you? That tells me the day I stepped on the glory road when I trusted Jesus as salvation means I'm going to step off safely on the other side. That's what that means. I am secure in Him. Hey, I may not be certain about a lot of things, but I'm certain about this thing. One day I'm going to see Him. Heaven's my home, hurting Christian. You can anchor yourself to Romans 8.28. And we know that all things, the good, the bad, the bitter, the sweet, the up, the down, the hard, the difficult, all things work together for good. God didn't say everything that came into your life is good. God didn't say that everything that came into your life was desirable and acceptable and what we wanted. He didn't say that. But here's what He did say. That I'm going to take all of those things in life and I'm going to work them together for good. I'm going to bring good in your life. to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. God is at work in our lives this morning, Christians. God will never leave us. He'll never forsake us. Hebrews 13 verse 5, For He has said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Hey, can I tell you, when you roll back there into that surgery room and your family is sitting out in the waiting room, there's somebody in there with you and His name is Jesus. Friend, listen, you'll never go anywhere this side of heaven that He's not there. I'll never leave thee. II Corinthians chapter 12 verse 9, in those moments where we don't think we can make it, when life has pierced us and our hearts feel like it's going to burst. You know what He said? My grace is sufficient for thee. My strength. My help. My hope, I'll see you through, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Friend, can I tell you this morning, when you're at your weakest, God's at His strongest. God is able to see you through. The Lord is my helper. Hebrews 13, verse 6. I will not fear what man shall do unto me. I'm just here to tell you, dear child of God, here's what I learned from His star. I learned what the wise men learned. God always keeps His Word. Number two, real quickly, I want you to jot it down. God wants everyone to know His Son. Did you notice something in verse number two? It wasn't their star. It was His star. It wasn't exclusively for the wise men. It wasn't exclusively for the Jews. It wasn't for a select few people. No, that star shined for everybody. That star was God's blazing announcement to the world that His Son had been born. It was God keeping His Word that He had promised all the way back at the very beginning, inception of the nation of Israel and the promise of the Messiah in Numbers chapter 24 and verse number 17. God was saying, listen, He's come. That's what He's saying. I don't think we'd be out of bounds if we said it's a whosoever will star. That's what I think. I think anybody and everybody who saw that star and cared enough to understand what it was about, to understand its significance and wanted to come to Jesus could come to Jesus. Hey, it wasn't just exclusively for that group of wise men that arrived at His house. Anybody and everybody could have saw the star and came to Jesus. God doesn't limit His love. Let me tell you what that star was. It was an expression of God's deep, deep love for a lost, sin-darkened world that desperately needed Him. John 3.16, for God so loved the world. That means He loved you and me. That whosoever believeth in... that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. That star was an expression of God's love for the world that He had sent His Son to save the world. I love John 6, 37. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Everybody that comes to Jesus, friend, nobody's ever turned away. Isn't that a blessing? God wants you to know His Son. Can you imagine if these wise men had saw that star and they gazed at it? They tried to measure it. Maybe they tried to admire it and counted how many times it twinkled in the sky. But could you imagine if they never responded to the message? It wasn't about seeing the star. It was about coming to Jesus, searching for Jesus. They set out in search for the one that star represented. They recognized the star couldn't save them, but the one who that star represented could save them. Listen to Jeremiah 29 verse 13, And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. You know what that verse tells me? Anybody and everybody that wants to know the Lord can know the Lord. You say, Prince, what about those people in the deepest, darkest jungles of Africa? Friend, can I tell you this? Anybody, anybody that wants to know the Lord can know the Lord. God will get the truth to them. God always keeps His Word. God wants everybody to know His Son. And joy comes to those who receive God's Son. Look at verse number 10. You remember they come to Jerusalem. We have seen His star. So they set out in search. That means it appeared, then it disappeared, and they said He's come, and they set out on their journey. They come to Jerusalem. Why didn't they go to Bethlehem? Well, because the star disappeared. And if a king was born, where would you think the king would live? He'd live in the capital city of that country, right? And so they went to Jerusalem. They figured that's where he would be. And they arrived there, and I believe God designed it that way. And here they begin to arrive, and they're asking everybody, where is he that is born king of the Jews? And from top to bottom, everybody is in an uproar. I mean, they stir up the entire city. They have their interview with Herod. They come out of that and the Bible said, verse 9, Lo, the star that they saw in the east went before them. Now the star has reappeared. It assures them of their journey, assures them of their search, and then it guides them to where Jesus is until it came and stood over where the young child was. Look at verse 10. When they saw the star, that means they saw it when it reappeared, when it stops over the house of Jesus, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. You say, preacher, what did that tell you? That there's joy in knowing Jesus. That's what it tells me. We live in a world searching for happiness. They believe that people and places and stuff can make them happy. Can I tell you, none of those things can ever fill the emptiness of a human soul. Even Christmas. I love Christmas time. I have to. I'm married to Miss Christmas. And anyway, I mean, so I'm not going to get hung up right there. I'm going to move on, okay? I'm just going to move on because that's where it's safe. I'm going to go to a safe place, okay? And so we move from there. But I love decorations. I love lights. I love all of it. I think it's wonderful. Does it bring us a moment of happiness? Yes. The giving of gifts, the receiving of... There's moments of happiness. The gathering of family. All of those things are good. Not any of that is wrong and it makes people happy. But do you ever notice that when it's over, the happiness leaves? You ever heard people talk about the Christmas blues? December 26 we wake up or whatever day. It's going to extend a little beyond 26 for me with the lights and all that kind of stuff. But anyway, we might move on into February. I have no idea. I'm just kidding. I'm just being facetious. But anyway, now I'm in trouble. No, I'm kidding. But one day at some point you wake up and it's all over. And the happiness, the temporary happiness that it brought is gone. Because let me tell you something, things may make you happy, but only Jesus can give you joy. Out of His belly shall float rivers of living water. Therefore with joy shall you draw water out of the wells of salvation. When you come to Him, you don't have to look anywhere else to find joy. Happiness is fleeting. Joy is abiding. It's constant. out of His belly flows rivers, listen, rivers of joy. He's the answer to the emptiness of the human soul. Maybe you're here today and you feel empty inside. I know somebody that can fill your emptiness, that can satisfy your heart, and His name is Jesus. Christian, listen to me. The joy of the Lord is your strength. That's why the Bible says rejoice in the Lord always in every circumstance, every situation. And again I say rejoice. Why? Because God can give you songs in the night. Somebody said that joy can swim in the stormy waves of suffering long after happiness has drowned. This world will drown your happiness, but Jesus said your joy no man can take from you. I like that, don't you? Number four, Jesus God's Son deserves our worship. Look if you would please down in verse number 11. And when they were coming to the house, aren't you glad they didn't stay outside looking at the star? I'm glad they went inside and saw the Son. The Bible said they saw the young child with Mary his mother and fell down and worshipped Him. You ought to underline that. They worshipped Him, not them. There's people that have been led astray that will worship Mary this Christmas. We don't worship Mary. We may be thankful for Mary, her willingness to be the Lord's servant, but they worship Jesus. Did you see that? They fell down. Here these great and mighty magi fell on their face before a child. And they worshipped Him. They recognized He was more than a babe. He was more than a child. He was God in flesh. He's the Messiah. He's the one that God had promised and He's now come. Worship means worth-ship. How we worship today shows God's worth in our life. If we come lackadaisical, if we come out of a sense of duty, if it's what we have to do but not what we get to do, we just go through the motions. Friend, we're not worshiping. It's a heart matter. Let me tell you what worship does. Worship connects your heart to the Lord. It brings me in contact because it's bringing me into the presence of God. In church this morning, we didn't come here to meet with each other. Thank God we get to do that. I love you. You love me. I hope you do anyway. And we love each other and we fellowship and we draw strength from one another. But we don't come to meet with each other. We come to meet with Him. All is in vain except the Holy One come down. I told God in my office before I ever stepped out here, I said, Lord, everything that's going to take place today, every song, every lesson, every sermon, every prayer, all of it is in vain if Your presence isn't here today. Lord, we need You. And they bowed in His presence. Did you bow in His presence this morning? When you sang the songs, did you mouth the words or was there heart behind it and you were lifting up an anthem of praise to the God of glory who deserves our worship? Do you know what they're doing in heaven this morning? They're doing what these wise men did. They're worshiping the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb, they're saying. And that's what we're going to be doing here this morning because He's worthy. It begins with giving ourselves to God. These men bowed. They were giving humble recognition to the One who was their King. That's what they're doing. They're saying, King of my life, I crown Thee now. That's what they're doing. And nobody comes to God empty handed. Oh no. They opened their treasures of gold and frankincense and myrrh gold that pictures His sovereign deity, a gift fit for a king. They gave Him frankincense, significance to their God, moving these men as they give frankincense that was used in the tabernacle that was pure and holy and it represented this one sinless purity because this Son, this One that was born, this Word made flesh God that would take away the sin of the world. And that's why they brought Myrrh. Because Myrrh was associated with preparing bodies for burial. It speaks to us of His sacrificial death. And they knew this baby was born to die. We lace our Christmas tree, our evergreens, with twinkling lights and ornaments and shiny things, but God's Christmas tree and old rugged cross was stained red with the blood of His Son. Can I tell you it's interesting when you study the Bible, God never tells us to remember His birth, but He does tell us to remember His death. He said, as often as you do this when we take the Lord's Supper, you do remember the Lord's death till He come. Friend, it's not the cradle that saves, it's the cross that God's chosen to save them that believe. Can I give you the fifth thing and I'm done? Not everyone will receive God's offer of salvation. That's the sad point. They're going to learn that. You say, Preacher, how did they learn that? Because there are three groups of people in our text, and I'm just going to give them to you real quickly. I'm not going to preach long on them. There was Herod. King Herod they met that was opposed to Jesus. The Bible said that he was troubled. Do you know why he was troubled? Because he thought he was supposed to be king. And now there's an announcement of one that he knew the prophecies of the one that was born king, the rightful king. He's not even a Jew. He's an Itamian. He's a usurper. He has no right to that throne and he knows it. He's troubled. And he's opposed to Him and he's going to try to kill Him. To destroy the One that would take away His name and His family's right to rule in Jerusalem. And He was even a puppet king. He wasn't even a powerful king. I mean, He was a powerful man in that region, but He served by right of Rome. But He was going to destroy Him. Do you know there's people in our day, maybe even in this room, you're opposed to Jesus. There's people that will say, get that manger scene away from public view. Hide those stars. Don't you sing those religious Christmas carols. Don't you talk to us about Jesus. They're opposed to Him. I despise going to the store and they give me this Happy Holidays. And I know they're just told to say those things. I say Merry Christmas. When I talk to them about Jesus, I'm going to be kind. I'm not going to be ugly. They're not all who say that opposed. They're just doing what they've been told to do. But some, it comes from their heart because they don't want to be reminded they're opposed to Jesus like Herod. There's the religious leaders that are there. Have you ever noticed that it was the wise men that went on the journey, but the religious leaders, the chief priests and all of them, they never went with the scribes. They didn't go with them. They didn't say, listen, guys, thank you for telling us about his star. We didn't realize it. We didn't recognize it. We see it here in the Scriptures. Hey, listen, we're ready to go with you. We're packed up. Hey, let's go. No, no. They just said, here's where He's born. You can go check Him out if you want to. And they stayed right there in Jerusalem. They were indifferent to Jesus. Do you know there's week in and week out people that'll walk in this door, in this building, and they'll hear me preach about the love of Christ, and they'll sense the love of Christ in our service, and it has no effect on them. They're not opposed. They're just indifferent. That's good. You know what's interesting? There's going to be people that are going to put a star on top of their tree. They're going to celebrate everything you celebrate. They're even going to sing the songs around the piano while they sip their wine that you sing. And they're indifferent to it all. You know, I've never saw a person that's opposed to Jesus give up their Christmas bonus. You think they ought to give that back? But you know what? There are those that are like the wise men that you know what they're going to do this Christmas? They're going to worship Him. And let it not be said of God's people that we're indifferent to the Savior. That we just go through the motions of Christmas because it's all about family and gifts and trees and twinkling and this and that, and we miss Him. He ought to be at the center of it all because it's all about Him. It is. Because see, you wouldn't have Christmas without Christ. Did you know that? And you say, well, I don't know if He was born on December 25th. And you know what? I don't know that either. And I don't know that it really matters. The fact is He came. That's what matters. And if you never even had a name for the season to celebrate that God sent His Son into the world to save sinners like you and me, the Bible said, but as many as received Him, to them gave you power, the right, the authority to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. Are you opposed to Jesus? You say, oh no, preacher, I'm not opposed to Jesus. But are you indifferent to Him? You know He loves you and He died for you. and He wants to save you. But what we'll do is this. We won't follow through. If we're not careful, we'll be more like the chief priests and Sadducees and scribes than we will the wise men, the Magi, who would bow before Him. And maybe this Christmas, you need to bow before the Son of God. Maybe you need to receive Him into your heart and trust Him as your Savior and let Him forgive your sins and save you. Because can I be honest with you? You can give all the gifts you want to give and you can get all the gifts you want to get, but you've really not received a true gift till you've received God's gift of His Son, the Lord Jesus. Isn't that true? I would agree with that too. And let me just stop and say this. Have you crowned Him King in your life, Christian? Have you bowed as the wise men and said, King of my life, I crown thee now, not my will, not what I want, but God, all that I am, all that I have. I give it to you. I give it to you. Because that's really what God wants. He doesn't want our trinkets. He wants us. Would you make Him your King today? Would you bow here? Oh, He's already King. But it's a bowing before Him and saying, Lord, I bow to Your allegiance and I make You my King. Oh, Christian, if you've never done that, you should. You should. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Heads are bowed and eyes are closed all over the building. Are you saved?