We welcome you to the Tabernacle Podcast brought to you by the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Hickory, North Carolina. If you'd like to learn more about Tabernacle, you can visit our website, tabernaclebaptistchurch.com. You can find other sermons like this one on Apple Podcast, YouTube, and Sermon Audio. It is our prayer that God has used this message to be an encouragement to your heart. We're in the Gospel according to Matthew, Matthew chapter number 2. We'll begin reading in verse number 1, Matthew chapter number 2 and verse number 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. 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. And 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 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. I want you to notice what we find in verse number one. The Bible said that when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, he was born in the days of Herod the king. And in those days there came, the Bible says, wise men from the east. They came to Jerusalem. And they ask a question in verse two, 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. I want to speak to you on this subject, wise men come to worship. Wise men come to worship. And here we find that these wise men, well, they came. They came to Jerusalem and really disrupted the king and disrupted the religious leaders with their question, where is he that is born king of the Jews? And then they proclaimed, we've seen his star. Haven't you seen it? Well, no, they had not seen it. But they, the Magi, the wise men, they had seen it. But at some point, they no longer were able to see it. So they entered into Jerusalem, the place where they thought surely everyone would be celebrating the birth of the king because he was the king of the Jews. Not only was he the king of the Jews, but he's the king of kings and the Lord of lords. And so certainly they expected to find all Jerusalem in celebration of the birth of their king, but they were astonished to find that nobody really knew about it. And once they had announced it, nobody really seemed to care, with the exception of Herod, who was at that time the king. And Herod wanted to know about this new king, not because he was interested in worshiping him, but because he wanted to destroy him. And so in the midst of this hustle and bustle in the time of Jerusalem, we find that wise men come to worship Jesus. And today in our day, we find that wise men, truly wise men, are those who worship Jesus. We're going to note three characteristics concerning these wise men, and we'll learn some valuable lessons from them this morning. First of all, I want you to see that wise men are discerning men. Wise men are discerning men. The Bible tells us that after Jesus was born, in the days in which he was born, There was a king who was ruling, his name was Herod. Herod was not a Jew, he was an Edomite. He was a descendant of Esau. We know that Esau and Jacob wrestled in their mother's womb and we know that the Bible said that the Lord has rejected, he has hated Esau and he has received and loved Jacob. We struggle with that passage sometimes to understand what that means. What we find is that Esau was a profane person. He was a person of the flesh. He had no appetite for spiritual things. He had no desire. to honor God. And here we find now an Edomite descendant of Esau ruling in Jerusalem as king. Nothing could have been more of a reproach and a mockery to the religion of the Jews than to have an Edomite king. He had been appointed by the Caesar He had married a Jewish girl in order to curry the favor of the Jewish people. But he had no appetite nor desire for the things of God. His only desire was to protect his power and his position as king. And while he is ruling and while he is reigning in the latter days really of his life, these wise men come onto the scene. The Bible really doesn't tell us much about these wise men in particular, but we have a record of wise men or magi as they were known. We find them throughout the Old Testament. For example, we read about these magicians, these wise men that were servants of Pharaoh and they helped the Pharaoh and advised the Pharaoh. They were able to replicate some of the early miracles of Moses in order to deceive the Pharaoh and to keep him in a condition of bondage and hatred toward God and God's people. We read about this group of people, these magi, in the period of the captivity when Daniel was in Babylon. They interpreted or they sought to interpret the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar just as they had sought to interpret the dreams of Pharaoh years before and were unable to do that. Only Joseph was able to do that. And the only reason Joseph was able to do that is because God enabled him to do it. And in Daniel chapter 2, we read that Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had a dream, and it was a very troublesome dream, and he woke up from that dream, and he was upset by it. It had escaped him. He'd had a dream, a significant dream, he thought, and it turned out that it was. But he couldn't remember the dream. So he brought in his wise men. And he said, fellows, I've had a dream. It's a significant dream. I can't remember what I dreamed, but if you guys can do what you say you can do, then you'll help me. You'll tell me what I dreamed and you'll tell me the interpretation thereof. Well, the wise men said to Nebuchadnezzar, there's nobody on earth who can do what you want done. And so Nebuchadnezzar said, look, I'm over your con game. I'm using today's English, okay? I'm over your con game. And if you don't give me an answer, I'm going to kill all the wise men in Babylon." Well, Daniel heard about it. And so Daniel said to Ariok, one of the king's servants, he said, will you talk to the king and tell him I need a little time? And in fact, I'd like to see the king. And so eventually Daniel got before the king and he told the king, he said, King, I understand you've had a dream, you don't remember the dream, and you need the dream remembered, rehearsed back to you, and you need the interpretation of the dream. If you will give me some time, I will seek the Lord, and I believe God will tell me what the dream was, and I'll tell you, as God leads me, I'll give you the meaning and significance of the dream. And so Nebuchadnezzar agreed to do that, and David prayed, and his friends prayed, the people of God prayed, and God opened the dream to Daniel and the interpretation of the dream. Daniel went back to Nebuchadnezzar, said, here's what you dreamed, and here's what it means. And of course, it was a great vision that God had given his plan for the world until Jesus came. It's all unveiled in that image that Nebuchadnezzar saw. And Nebuchadnezzar rejoiced in the dream and the interpretation of the dream, and he said to Daniel, all right, you're going to live, all the wise men are going to live, and I'm going to put you in charge of all the wise men. So Daniel in Babylon, some 500 years before Jesus was born, is in charge now of all the wise men in Babylon, all the wise men in the east. This group of people who were astrologers and who were magicians, they were interpreters of dreams and were largely pagan are now being influenced by Daniel who's receiving prophecy from the Lord. And what do you think Daniel taught them? He taught them the Word of God and he taught them the promises of God. And here, 500 years later, this group of men, we don't know how many there were, we often sing the song about the three kings, but we really don't know that there were three kings. We know they offered three gifts, but we imagine this was a large party, a big group of people who came into Jerusalem. And it was an impressive group. And they came because when they saw the star. Now, the Bible doesn't tell us of the significance of the star. In other words, we know, well, excuse me, we know its significance. Its significance is it led them to Jesus. But we don't know what happened to generate the star. Scientists tell us that there was some movement of the planets and a star appeared that had not previously appeared before two years prior to the birth of Christ. But the Bible doesn't tell us that. But what we do know is that God supernaturally gave them a light in the sky to direct them. And when they saw that light, which could easily have been just the glory of God. Remember, when Jesus was born, the glory of God appeared to those shepherds, right? In the fields. and the glory of God shone round about them. We know that when the people of Israel left Egypt, they went out and they had a light by night. It was a pillar of fire at night to lead them, to give them light. So it's not a difficult thing for God to put a star in the sky. Not a difficult thing at all for God to do. By the way, he put every one of them there. He spoke this universe into existence. And if he wants to put one there tomorrow, he can certainly do that, but we know he put one there then. And when they saw that star, they knew what that star meant. And so they came following that star. You see, these men were given light, the light of the Scriptures from the teaching of Daniel. and the light of a star to lead them. And they followed the light they had. When the light was no longer visible to them, what did they do? Well, they went to Jerusalem. Now, why would you go to Jerusalem if you're seeking the King of the Jews? It's an obvious question, isn't it? You go to Jerusalem because that's where the Jews are. That's where the house of David was. That's where the throne is. That's where the temple is. So you go to Jerusalem. But when they got to Jerusalem, what did they discover? The people of Jerusalem did not even know about the birth of Christ. Now remember, as I said a moment ago, the angel had appeared to the shepherds in the fields. In fact, the host of heaven appeared. And so the angels had appeared, and the glory of God had appeared, and Joseph and Mary had later taken the Lord Jesus to the temple to dedicate him, and the servants of God who were there rejoiced and celebrated. and praised God that the Messiah had been born, but apparently it didn't make much of an impression in Jerusalem. I think these guys were shocked that they were looking for the Savior and the people in Jerusalem weren't. They expected a celebration. They expected that the people were rejoicing. And by the way, there are people in this world who come to those who they would expect to know Jesus, and serve Jesus, and be filled with joy, and have hope in their hearts, and oftentimes find them as professing Christians distracted by the things of this world, living as if they've forgotten that Jesus is king. But not these men, they were discerning men. Wise men are discerning men and discerning men seek Jesus and discerning men worship Jesus. They know that He is alive, that He is present and that He is working in this world. They follow the light they've been given. and they follow the light of the Scriptures, which Paul said to Timothy, are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith that is in Christ Jesus. You see, there's a wisdom of this world and there's the wisdom of God. And the Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 18, that the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. You see, man is ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. With all of our technology and all of our scientific discoveries, our world is spinning more and more on a daily basis out of control. Men who have more knowledge than they've ever had are as lost and blinded by sin and deception as they've ever been. You see, after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, but it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. If we want wisdom, where are we gonna find it? We're gonna find it in the word of God. And wise men are discerning men who come to worship the Lord Jesus. Secondly, I want you to note that wise men not only are discerning men, but wise men are determined men. Determined men. The Bible tells us here in verse number 3 that they came and they told the people of Jerusalem the news concerning the birth of Jesus. And when Herod the king, verse number 3, had heard these things, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. And when he'd gathered 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. Now, these men had come a great distance. In fact, the Bible tells us that they had come from the east. Most likely, they had come from Persia. They had traveled a great distance. I wonder if you and I recognize the great distance that Jesus traveled in order to redeem us from our sins. He left heaven and became a man without ceasing to be God. He took upon himself this human flesh and he became a servant. He took upon himself the form of a servant. He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, so that you and I who were dead might have eternal life. The Lord Jesus traveled a great distance for us, but oftentimes in the busyness of our lives and in our demand for comfort and convenience, we're not willing to go out of our way for Him. These men traveled hundreds and hundreds of miles. No interstate highways, no cars, no trains, no planes, just camels and donkeys. Why did they come? They came to see Jesus. They traveled the distance of unbelief from their paganism to the truth. They traveled the distance of time. It had been some 500 years since Daniel had taught them the truths of God's word. They came the distance of their travel through the inconvenience. They received great comfort because they finally saw the king. And through the interruption in their lives, they received the security of eternity. They were determined to travel a great distance. They were determined to follow even when the light was unseen. They said, we saw a star, we don't see it now, can you tell us where the king is? And so Herod consulted with the religious leaders and they said, in Micah chapter five and verse number two, the prophet said, it's going to happen in Bethlehem, Judah. And so no longer seeing the light of the star, they followed the light of the scriptures until ultimately again, the star appeared in verse number nine, and they followed it to the place where the Lord Jesus was. And then I want you to see that they were determined to follow when others did not. They determined to follow when others did not. Now, the first real significant meeting they had was with Herod. And Herod said, okay, I hear these Magi are in town, bring them in, I want to see them. No doubt, Herod thought, they're here to see me. But they weren't there to see Herod at all. And it really upset him. Because not only were they not there to see Herod, Herod found out they were there to see a king, but he wasn't the king they were there to see. You see, Herod, as I said a moment ago, was an Edomite king, he wasn't a Jewish king, he was appointed by The Caesar, Herod was a usurper on the throne. He didn't belong on the throne. And Herod was a maniac, a wicked man, a man who killed anybody who he perceived to be a threat to his kingdom. In fact, Herod was responsible for the death of at least 8,000 citizens of Jerusalem, including his wife, two of his sons, his advisors. In fact, Herod was a hated man and he knew this to be true. And as it came to the end of his life, Herod ordered the arrest of many prominent people in Jerusalem. And he told his soldiers and his lieutenants, when I die, put them to death because the people will mourn for them. And when I die, I want people to mourn. He was an insecure, paranoid, sinful man, a usurper who didn't belong on the throne, who despised God. By the way, do you know there's a usurper in this world who doesn't belong on the throne? His name is Satan. He's a deceiver, he's a murderer, and he's a liar, and he wants to occupy the throne of your heart. And friend, unless Jesus is sitting on that throne, Satan is on that throne. There's only two kings that can sit on that throne. And I want to encourage you this morning to oppose Satan and trust Jesus and put him in his rightful place. And so, Herod was not glad to hear the news. But still, they were determined to follow on. And when Herod wanted to know the news, he got the religious leaders together. Now, you would expect they would have already known, right? I mean, it was their job to know the Bible and speak to God's people concerning the Bible. And they were looking for the Messiah. They'd been looking for him throughout the beginning of human history when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, and God gave the promise that through the seed of the woman, he would send someone who would crush the head. of the serpent. Then he said to Abraham, it will be through your seed that the Messiah will come. And then in the end of the book of Genesis, he says to the tribe of Judah or to Judah himself, it will be through your descendants Judah that the Messiah will come. And then he made the promise that through David, who was of the tribe of Judah, who was of the seed of Abraham, it will be through your lineage, David, that the king will come. But David's son is a poor carpenter and an Edomite sits on the throne. And the religious leaders had no desire to follow the Lord. They knew the answer, Bethlehem, Judah, but notice this, that once they left, nobody went with them. Can you imagine that? We've heard the king of the Jews has been born. Can you tell us where he's been born?" Well, let's get together. We'll have a meeting. Well, we found out in Micah 5 and verse 2 that he'll be born in Bethlehem of Judah. Wonderful. We're going to go look for him. Great. Have a nice day. See you later. You see, Herod despised him, but the religious people were disinterested. Isn't that a characteristic of our day today? our Christian culture. We've become so busy and preoccupied with ourselves, we really don't have any time for Jesus. We've got time for everything else, but not for him. We're willing to go out of our way to have a good time, but we're not willing to go out of our way to worship him. And so they left. And when they left, verse 9, When they'd heard the king, they departed, and lo, the star which they saw in the east went before them." Here's the star again. You see, as you follow light, God gives more light. And these men were determined men. They were determined to follow Jesus. So what are we learning about wise men? We know that wise men come to worship. They're discerning men. They're determined men. And then lastly, wise men are devoted men. They're devoted. And verse number 11, following the star, they had come to the house where Jesus and his mother were living. That was at least who was in the house as was depicted for us in verse 11. And when they were coming to the house, they saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and fell down and worshiped him. When they'd 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 they come to the house, and they come into the house, and when they come into the house, they see the Lord Jesus, the King of kings, with Mary, his mother. And how do they respond to him? They fall down. They get down on their face just as Mary did when she took her hair and wiped that oil, that spikenard off of the feet of Jesus. When she wiped it with her hair, she got down in a position of reverence and submission, of gratitude and humility in reverence of the Lord. You know, if there's one thing we've lost in modern day American Christianity, it is reverence for God. Worship has become an event, a concert. God is no longer viewed as holy and set apart. Instead of a posture of prayer and humility, We're popping our gum and popping around as if he's impressed that we've taken the time from our busy schedule to come and say hello. Well, these kings fell to their face in the presence of the king. And in their act of worship, they opened their treasures and they presented him with gifts, gold, which is the gift of kings. William Barclay wrote of Seneca, who was a distinguished Roman orator and writer, and he wrote, he said, it was the custom in Persia that no one could approach a king without a gift and that gold, the king of metals, was the proper gift for a king of men. So when they gave this gold to the Lord Jesus, they were acknowledging that He was the King. Not simply just the Savior or the Messiah, but He was the King, one who was their Lord and their sovereign. They weren't just looking to get their sins forgiven and get a ticket punched to heaven. They recognized that He was their Lord. and master and sovereign. Have you recognized that? Have you recognized that He is the Lord of your life and that what He says goes? Are you obedient to Him? Who is on the throne of your life? You see, we're really good at compartmentalizing, aren't we? Well, we have our church life, and then we have our business life, and then we have our family life, and we have our leisure life. No, no, we don't. If we have our Lord, then He is in charge of all our life and all of those categories. It affects every day and every part of our being. They said, he's sovereign, he's king. They presented their gold. Then they presented frankincense. Frankincense was a costly, sweet-smelling incense that was used in worship. It was used in the offerings, the meal offerings of the tabernacle and for the consecration of the priest's garments. It testified then of the deity of the Lord Jesus, that frankincense. Do you know who he is? He's not just simply a king, he is God. He's the Son of God. And then the third gift they gave was myrrh, another ointment. James Montgomery Boyce tells us that myrrh was used in embalming bodies because of the trappings of death were important then as it is today. Myrrh was an important item of commerce in the ancient world. We know that when Jesus died, Nicodemus came and got his body and he was placed in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea and they took the myrrh and they anointed the body of the Lord Jesus. And so myrrh spoke of his suffering and of his death. Because not only was myrrh used to anoint the bodies of the dead, myrrh was used as an anesthetic to relieve the pain of those who were suffering. In fact, when Jesus was dying on the cross, they gave him myrrh and wine mingled together, but he refused to take it. He refused to take it because it was upon him to suffer our sin and our suffering and death. There are more than 20 references to the suffering and death of Jesus in Isaiah 53. What were these wise men saying? They were saying that Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, that he is the Son of God. and that He is the suffering Savior who would suffer and die for them and for us to give us eternal life. They were devoted. And because of that love and devotion that they had for Him, they opened their gifts and they gave them freely to Jesus. Now, you and I are acquainted with kings who take our gold. But Jesus doesn't take it. He gives it. And then we, in turn, when we love him and are devoted to him, give back to him. James Montgomery Boyce really has a wonderful application of how we, like those kings, can worship. He said, begin with your myrrh. It is not only a symbol of Christ's death, but it should be a symbol of the spiritual death that should come to you for your sin. Lay it, your sin, at Christ's feet and say, Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner. I know that I should receive the consequence of my sin, but I know that you took my sin and died in my place. I believe that and rejoice in that, and now I ask you to make me your child forever. As a symbol, I now die to myself so that I might live for you." Are you willing to do that? Yield your life to him? To acknowledge that he's the son of God who suffered and bled and died for you, are you willing to repent of your sin and turn to Jesus? Will you bring your myrrh to him? Bring your sin, bring your death to Jesus? Then he said, next, come to Jesus with your incense. It symbolizes your worship. And you need to worship Him as your Savior and Lord. It symbolizes the offering of your life. Paul said, "'I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice.'" Will you yield your life to Him? Will you honor Him? Will you worship Him today? When Jesus comes to live in you, he will do a good work in you so that the deeds produced in your life will become a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice that pleases God. Have you done that? Are you willing to come to the Lord and bring your frankincense to him? How about your gold? When you offer your gold, you acknowledge the right of Christ to rule in your life. Say to the Lord, I'm your servant, direct my life and make me strong to serve you and others for your sake. Thank you for listening. We pray that God has used his word to speak to you today. If you'd like to learn more about Tabernacle, you can visit us online at tabernaclebaptistchurch.com. There, you'll find additional information about our church, opportunities to partner with us financially, as well as other resources that we hope can be a help to you. May God bless you and thank you once again for listening.