And in your Bibles, turn with me again once to once again to Matthew chapter two. This morning, I I read a passage that has been on many, many hearts since the tragedies unfolded a Friday. And. Our thoughts turn to the little children and. The sadness, and of course, The adults also who gave their life in trying to protect the children remembering them and of course all the families just can't begin to fathom. Dr. Moller spoke Friday afternoon on his podcast to to a pastor in the town there who I didn't understand if his children attended the school but they're deeply involved in ministry there. and shared a few moments with with that pastor and and promised him that we would that folk would be praying for him. And I'm sure he represents many, many others who are trying to help even today with. With grief, counseling and and preaching the gospel, which is our only hope, so we lift them up today in Matthew, Chapter two. I'll begin reading In verse number 13, And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt. and was there until the death of Herod that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son. You have a a good reference Bible or a center column reference. Verse 15 will direct you back to Hosea chapter 11. One of the minor prophets, if you turn back there, If you probably read out of Daniel more and Hosea follows Daniel chapter 11, Hosea chapter 11. Verse number one says. When Israel was a child. Then I loved him and called my son out of Egypt. When Israel was a child and I loved him and call my son out of Egypt, Matthew says that the sojourn in Egypt by Mary and Joseph and Jesus, Jesus fulfills this prophecy. Verse 15 of Matthew again says there was until the death of Herod that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying out of Egypt. Have I called my So. The number of. Great truth, some right on the surface and some just below the surface about this fulfillment of prophecy, number one, the gospel, according to Matthew, as do the others, is careful to identify the continuity of revelation between the Old Testament and the New Testament. They're not two separate books. Now, they're separate in the sense of of being the old covenant and the books given by the Holy Spirit before the 400 silent years and then the arrival of John the Baptist. In those 400 years, there were no there were no prophets. There was no voice from God there. Hence, the silent centuries and a lot of history unfolds there, some of which is helpful to understand why the terrain has changed The after the end of the Old Testament at the end of the Old Testament it's Persia and Esther and the Persian Empire is dominating the Middle Eastern world and and Cyrus is allowing the Jews to go back to their homeland. When the New Testament opens the Persians are long gone and they they've been conquered by Alexander the Great and Then Alexander, the great empire has divided into four parts and then that kingdom has those kingdoms have been conquered by the Romans. And when you open the first pages of the New Testament, it's the Pax Romana selling my Sunday school class about today. Just the perfect time for Jesus to come. Just absolutely the perfect time. Not only to fulfill the genealogical family tree of Jesus and to corroborate that he really is the seed of David that he's the descendant of the royal tribe of Judah. But but also to to give a wonderful time for the gospel to have access to the Mediterranean world and hence to the the ancient world that we know. I told my class, the methodologies that we have today, or I should say the equipment that we have, is marvelous. I mean, from airplanes to automobiles to the Internet to radio to television, it's indisputable, hands down, we're the generation. And boy, don't we know it. We're the people. We've got the stuff. But do you know what? Those first century Christians reached their world for Christ. They reached their generation for Christ without any of those things, without any of those modern conveniences. And the only advantage they have, and I think God did arrange this advantage for them. I think God's sovereign and providential. He arranged that the Mediterranean world would be at relative peace so that a Roman citizen or Someone who lived there could travel throughout that empire, have access to the Roman roads and the Roman postal system and to some security. The Jews despised the Romans basically over taxes and things like that. But there was a lot of security that Rome brought to the air. It was just the perfect time for Jesus to come. Galatians says it was the fullness of time. It was just the right time for Jesus to come. We look and think, why if Jesus could come and appear on the television or the news or if people could see him and broadcast it, no generation could have done a better, more faithful work of getting the gospel out, of preaching the gospel to every creature of baptizing believers and organizing New Testament churches than that first generation did. So that by the end of the first century, I mean, there are churches across North Africa, there are churches in Spain, probably there are churches in England, I think probably throughout what we know of as Europe. History tells us that perhaps Thomas went all the way to India with the gospel. There's even evidence that perhaps the gospel reached the Chinese early on, back centuries ago. some of the influence on their their alphabet. I don't I don't know if that's apocryphal or not but I wouldn't be at all surprised that those first and second century Christians actually did what Jesus told him to do going to all the world preach the gospel to every creature. And they were very very faithful to it. The point is that the Old Testament New Testament are one continuous narrative. You might think, well, we don't need the Old Testament. We've got the New Testament. But isn't it interesting when they're presenting the birth of Christ, the birth of the Son of God, the writer says, now this happened, all this disastrous destruction of these innocents, this happened was part of a providential appointment that would cause Jesus to go to Egypt and And then that would fulfill a prophecy. What? And I'm preaching this to you because I think you understand what I'm saying. You might think, well, is there a point to that? What? How does that help me in my daily life? I'm about to tell you, I'm going to tell you. So hold on. You think, well, what does it matter that Jesus Again, he was born in Bethlehem. That's important. He was of the tribe lineage of David, the royal city. And Caesar Augustus orders this census and all, and they have to travel. And that's part of it. Everybody knows they had to travel to Bethlehem, even though they lived in Nazareth. And the baby was born in Bethlehem, the city of David. But what is this escape to Egypt? And even if we understand it practically, OK, here's Herod, his jurisdiction extends so far and Jesus was taken out of Herod's jurisdiction. They go to Egypt. But Matthew says, now, you know, this whole trip fulfills a prophecy that Hosea says, which he's one of the minor prophets and not a lot of people go around quoting things from Hosea. I mean, Micah gets a lot of quotation time at Christmas, Micah five to Hosea, not so much. But Matthew says, you know, this is important because the Bible says the prophet said the Lord by the prophet said out of Egypt, have I called my son? There's a continuity to Old Testament revelation and New Testament interpretation. I point out also You always explain the Old Testament in the light of the New Testament. If you want to know what the Old Testament means, you find the explanation of it in the New Testament. The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed. The New Testament is the Old Testament revealed, someone said. And that's very true. If you were just reading Hosea, going through the Bible, you might not think that Hosea 11.1 was talking about Jesus, would you? Your first thought might be why this is obviously a clear reference to the nation of Israel. You know, Jacob and 70 souls went down into Egypt during the time of famine. Joseph was the prime minister and there they spared from the famine. And then a pharaoh rises up, you know, about the the bondage there, the terrible ordeal of the Israelites eventually. And then Moses comes. And Moses is use of God. In an event called the Exodus, if you read Hosea 11 one, you would have thought, well, that's probably talking about God taking Israel out of Egypt. But you know what Matthew says? He says, and I'm not saying it can't have a double fulfillment, a lot of prophecies to have double fulfillment, they can reference more than one event. But Matthew says, you see, Hosea said, or the prophet, we know it's Hosea 11.1, out of Egypt have I called my son. Just as the nation of Israel had sojourned there, Jesus himself would sojourn there, not for 400 years, not for any great length of time, but until the death of Herod. And then he would make his way, his family would make his way back to Nazareth. Verse 23 says he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth that he might be that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophets. Here we are again. Another prophet says he shall be called a Nazarene. Now, Jesus was not a Nazarite. not according to the order of the Nazarite. He was a Nazarene and Nazarene means he was from Nazareth. There's some fulfillment here of him being the branch. An extension of David's family, but. The continuity between the Old and New Testament matters to us because the gospel we preach has been the same gospel from Genesis chapter three. to John chapter 3 that God would send the seed of the woman and the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent's head and The serpent would bruise the the Savior's heel But there would be salvation bought paid for by that seed by that one descendant Galatians Paul says that seed of Abraham that one descendant Not the nation of Israel, but the person of Christ. You see, some Jews, even to this day, want to say they are the suffering. Identified in Isaiah 53, what we know refers to Christ, some Jews say, well, that's just a picture or type of of the Jews. We're we're the son of God. We're the people of God. And to some extent, Historically and ethnically and providentially, they have been the people of God. But the Bible says salvation has come through this Christ child coming through this Christ child. That's how you understand the Old Testament. You understand the Old Testament by looking and seeing what is the New Testament make of this? Who is this Christ? Who is this Messiah? Who is this promised one? That would be born of a virgin, Isaiah 714 says. And then Matthew makes it clear that we know this virgin birth is a fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah. And he says back in chapter one. That the verse 23, behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel. My point being tonight that Matthew says all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet. The Old Testament prophesies Christ, the Old Testament pictures Christ, and we have to interpret the Old Testament in light of what the Bible says about Jesus and what Jesus says about the Old Testament. I don't say that. I know no one here would think, well, that just means the Old Testament is some sort of storybook or metaphors. And it's just sort of a picture book. And we just take it and make it teach us lessons. Look, God really did call Israel out of Egypt. There really was a historical exodus. God really did speak the worlds into existence. And the Bible says that Jesus is the one who spoke those words by him were all things made Without him was not anything made. Jesus is the creator. And when Jesus talks about Adam and Eve, he expects his audience to understand they're historical people. There really wasn't Adam and Eve. They really were the first two people. They really were created by God. And they really did commit sin. And they really did experience the judgment of God and thrust all of us into condemnation. So the Old Testament is connected to the New Testament. But you can understand the Old Testament. In the light of the New Testament. It's important today that you not abandon the Old Testament, that you not, as it were, just live devotionally and study wise and and reading wise, just in the New Testament, you need to be reading the Old Testament because all scripture is given. You need you need to be reading all of the Bible. All the Bible. You need to have a plan that takes you through the whole Bible. New Year's coming up. You need to be making plans, systematically be reading in the scriptures. If you've never read through the Bible in one year, challenge yourself to do that. If you say, I've done that many, many years, I've read through the Bible. How about you step up and say, I'm going to read through the Bible twice this year. So I don't think it can be done. Oh, it's much more manageable than than you might. You might think the Bible is not. It's not 26 volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica. For one thing, it's a lot more interesting than the Encyclopedia. And it's all one message, all one history. So get in the Bible and read it. Two thousand thirteen. What I would do is I would get started now. I wouldn't wait till January the first. I would get started right now. You say, well, I'm finishing up this year's reading. Well, then finish it up. But if you didn't have a plan this year, don't say, well, you know, January the 1st. Well, January 1st is a busy day. I'll probably start January. Well, January 2nd is back to work. So January the 3rd. Probably start. If you do that, you won't ever start ever. I'm afraid. So probably what you ought to do. No, probably you ought to just start now. I want to start reading now. And be banking it and then you'll be done before next year before before Christmas. You see how that works. And you'll have all that free time. You don't even have to read the Bible next Christmas. No, you'll want to start again. I hope I hope you want to read the Bible, but get into the book and read the Old Testament. Don't be a New Testament only Bible reader or a Bible student or a Bible scholar. Understand the Old Testament. Notice next also that the Bible is very careful to say that in the fulfillment of prophecy. That it would be. Looking here, verse 15, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying out of Egypt, have I called my son? There is a reverence and a respect that the New Testament authors give the Old Testament that we owe to all the scriptures. God speaks spoken of the Lord. You know how important that is. Do you know how important it is that we believe that God has spoken now? A lot of people say, well, you know, God speaks. He speaks in diverse manners and diverse ways, Hebrews says, and some people today. And I know what we mean by this and we say, well, you know, God, God told me to do this or God spoke to me now. I do believe in the internal witness of the Holy Spirit, by the way, I believe we're indwelt by the Holy Spirit. I believe the Holy Spirit does lead us. I believe he's our comforter. I believe he's called alongside to to help us. I do believe the Lord directs our path. This is the way walk in it. But I got to tell you, the fundamental foundational way that God directs us is through his written word, not through. Urgings or feelings or or senses that, well, you know, I just have this feeling that. God leads through his word. God's Holy Spirit, who wrote the Bible, leads us through the word. And we must be very careful here that we don't become mystics to the point of that we're waiting for some kind of audible voice from God. Now, you say, does God not have an audible voice? Well, of course he has an audible voice, but in these days he has spoken to us through his son in this book. Did you know there's nothing that you need to know about Jesus that you can't find in this book? There isn't anything about God's truth or God's revelation that you think, well, I need to I need to know what Jesus would do. Well, look in the Bible and find out what Jesus has done. Instead of saying, well, you know, I just feel like Jesus. I've had people, I've probably thought this myself, been in situations that maybe you thought were difficult situations and you think, well, you know, I just think Jesus here would do thus and such. Someone in light of the tragedy, and it's very dangerous when people start making observations and tying things together. But they simply made the observation that how tragic it was that the nation could become so upset about the death of 20 children. And I understand what I'm saying. I'm glad our nation still is tender hearted enough to weep over that. I would shudder to think that we would be so callous that we would not not be moved by that. But someone said, well, you know, I wish our nation would grieve over the 50 million babies that have been put to death. What? There's a slaughter of the innocents. But you can't talk about that in politically correct terms. And somebody took offense and said, how dare you bring up some political statement in the light of this tragedy? And that's the risk you run, you see. And they might think you're being flippant or trying to make points. I happen to know the person who said it. I think they were sincere. I think they were saying, oh, I wish we all we loved all the little children. I wish you see really believe life begins at conception. I do. I believe the Bible says that life begins at conception and that we should. I mean, the right to life that ought to be fundamental and that ought to be ground zero, as it were, for for civil rights and constitutional rights. And one of my pastor friends in Florida, Dr. Tom Askell, wrote a letter to the president saying, would you consider once again your position on right to life in the light of this kind of... And some people were offended by that. I get it. I know Tom Askell. His heart is right. You might disagree with his timing. You might disagree with his terminology. But I'm telling you, his heart is right. He loves the little children of the world. He he really does. But some say, well, you shouldn't say that you shouldn't bring up that political issue in the light of this. Catastrophe, but, you know. Jesus brought up. Gospel issues in the light of tragedies, they came to him one day and they said, ask him a question, and you know what Jesus said, you know, You know those people that Pilate slew in their sacrifices? Those people that, I don't know the entire context of it or what they were doing, but Pilate had some people put to death and mixed their blood with their sacrifices. Jesus said, did you read about that in the paper? Oh yeah, that was a shocking thing. People were upset about that. And what about that tower? You hear about that tower that fell on those people? Siloam, wasn't it? Yeah, that was that was in the news, too. And you know what? I wonder, I wonder, it's like. Nobody asked Jesus. Why do good things happen to bad people or why do bad things happen to good people right then? Wouldn't that have been a good time to ask Jesus that question? That's probably why I wasn't around there. I probably would have been asking the wrong questions. You know, it's like, by the way, Jesus, so why do bad things happen to good people sometimes? The real question, John Piper says, is why good things happen to bad people. And I tell you, the gospel is a good thing that happened to bad people. But I understand the context. And you know what Jesus did? He didn't explain to them The providential he didn't pull back the curtains of heaven and say, let me tell you, let me tell you how God providentially deals in your world. Let me tell you how God sovereignly works in the machinations and the mechanisms of political power and economic power. And it's all this big maze to you. But God sovereignly oversees and superintends it all. He controls it all. He doesn't talk about that at all. You know what Jesus says? You need to repent or you'll perish. Now, someone said, you know, you've got to be careful and you just need to comfort people when they're hurting. I agree. Jesus wasn't that day talking to the families of the victims of the Tower of Siloam. He wasn't that day being asked to do a funeral for those that were martyred by Pilate. But people come out and say, you know, what about this? And he says, Let me tell you, you better be ready to die. If if you don't repent before you die, you'll perish. In other words, he sort of cuts through the vagaries of their, you know, events and they what about this and what about that? And he uses it as a catalyst, as an illustration to say you need to repent and be saved. I wouldn't begin to presume. the reactions of the families to such a tragedy as we've witnessed from afar. I can't I can't fathom it. At one level I understand that the loss of a child under any circumstances is it's just horrific. Whether that is one child dying alone in a hospital bed or two children killed in an automobile accident or some horrific kidnapping and disappearance of a child. There are literally thousands of cases of children who go missing almost on a weekly, if not a daily basis in this country, children who were taken. Some are killed. Some are taken by parents who are feuding over custody rights and so forth, and the tragedies that come into homes like that. We tend to dramatize, and the media does this, just the horrific scenario of this many dying in one place at such a senseless and such a senseless way. It's just staggering to us. It's just breathtaking to us. There's there's no rhyme or reason to it. There's anything. And I don't know if the psychologists will make anything of it or the counselors or the police will someday put some pieces together. But I can tell you there's nobody's ever going to say, well, here you see why this happened. I don't think they're ever going to reach a point with this. where you're going to say, well, clearly, you know, he he was upset with this or he didn't like that. It's like there is nothing you're going to tell me about this alleged assailant. And I'll say, well, that explains it. It's never going to explain it to me. It's just not. And I'm not being flippant here. I'm not saying, well, you know what we need to find out is what was was his mother too strict? Was his father absentee? What about this? Or what did he like? His friends at school is like on and on and on and on. And I'm not saying there isn't a case studies in that. I'm not saying there isn't there isn't anything you're going to find in that boy's life that's going to make me say, well, that explains it. It's not going to explain it. But there is one thing in that boy. That I know is there. And here's what makes me shudder, it's in me, too, and that's a sin nature. A sin nature, you think, well, there's more factors, you know, he had this problem, that problem, this happened and this had all these things shaping his life and really. Now, here's here's the one common denominator here, he's a sinner. He was a sinner. He's already ushered himself into eternity. And I'm a sinner, too. Do I abhor the sin that I find in my heart and soul like I abhor the sin in his life? He said, well, it's it's apples and oranges, you see, he look what he did. What I'm asking us to do today, and I want us to be honest about this sin problem. One of the terrible byproducts of this kind of thing and again I wouldn't preach this to the immediate family. One of the terrible byproducts is that observers have this sort of smug self-righteousness sort of welling up inside of them. This righteous indignation saying why that's what's wrong with our world. No you and I is what is what's wrong with our world. So no, no, not not me. You see, I'm I'm on the I'm the good guy. Now, look, if you're a child of God, if you've been born again, the Holy Spirit dwells in you. Yes, there is a new nature in you. I have great hope for you and for me if God works in us. But I got to tell you, the sin nature that's in us. Gives me nothing but whatever that say, not worry, godly concern, we were We're kind of joking about that. You know, we don't worry about things. We have godly concern about things. But that old nature in me and read Romans seven. We're about there. And Wednesday nights, Paul said, who will deliver me from the body of this death? And he wasn't talking about some serial killer. He wasn't talking about some child molester. He wasn't talking about some man who horrifically killed 20 little children. He was talking about himself. One of the greatest tragedies of this kind of event. But in the lives and the eyes and the minds of observers. It's not that we don't care. I thought I talked to people on the phone about this. They couldn't make they were weeping. I mean genuinely don't even know anybody personally. They were so gripped by the The side of it or the sound of it, it just rung them out. I mean, that's that's how horrific this is. And we're going to have to relive this for four days to come, and you have, as I said this morning, be careful with that. You're going to have to step away from it. You're going to have to. If you need to do something or contribute in some way, yes, but don't just sit and be mesmerized by 24 hours of this kind of coverage seven days a week. Check back in in three or four days, and when they've got the story a little straighter, you can catch up then. In the meantime, you don't have to know every five minutes what speculation just came came through. So be careful, because this can be very, very discouraging. And you say, well, it should be. And we need to wade through this. I'm just saying guard your soul about this, because you can only take so much grief. You can only take so much trouble like that. And it overwhelms you. So be careful with that. My point being this, we watch this, we hear this. And our reactions become, well, you know what needs to be done. And X needs to be fixed, and Y needs to be tweaked, and Z needs to be analyzed, and they needed to do that, and the next time this will, and we become these sort of these connect the dot peoples, like, you know, here's how we need to fix this. And I'm not saying there shouldn't be an after action report, or Changes or I'm not saying I'm just saying the real problem that the real lesson will be missed in this is that most Americans will look at this. And come away satisfied with himself. Satisfied with himself. Why? Number one, because they are outraged. Who isn't outraged? Who? Who is not outraged by this? If we're not careful, we take that outrage and we say, you see, I'm a good person, I care, I'm compassionate, I'm tender hearted, I must be, you know, on the right side of things. And beloved, don't don't misunderstand what I'm saying. You if you're a child of God, you are on the right side of things and you should be tender hearted and you should care. But if you're caring and compassion and your tender heartedness somehow puff you up and say, oh, I don't know about these sinners. You know, first and foremost, you and I need to realize what is this evil walking among us, the the the authorities and they say this is evil walking among us. Yes, evil walks in a person. Evil doesn't have any legs unless we give it legs. Evil doesn't have any hands unless we yield up, what does Romans 6 say? Yield up our members to it. Evil doesn't get anything done in this world unless somebody does it. You say, but that's just those people. No. We're all sinners, Romans 3, 23 says, for all have sinned and come short. Have you memorized that verse? All have sinned. It doesn't say all have sinned and came short. That would be all in the past. Yeah, all of us were sinners and once upon a time we all came short of the. No, what it says is for all have sinned and come present tense. Come short of the glory of God. We are coming short of the glory of God right now. You have a picture. I'm in church. Look at all the people that aren't in church. Well, you're coming short, less short than they are, but let's not kid ourselves, we're still coming short of the glory of God. We're still coming short. What is this to do with the Old Testament prophets and God's eternal purposes and fulfilling the prophets and. Well, just this, you know what you know what God is doing? In Matthew chapter two, he is bringing his son into the world. To be a sinless savior for sinners, you know what God is doing in you. If you're a child of God, he has brought his son to take up residence in your soul. In the down payment in the earnest money of the Holy Spirit, God himself has Come to dwell. In you, you are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Now, I don't I don't want you to be overly mystical and miss the incarnation, God manifest in the flesh that literally historically happened, but I do want you to know when you get saved. The Holy Spirit does come to indwell you. You are a dwelling place, a habitation of the Holy Spirit. And God is forming you in the image of his son. That's why he's using suffering. That's why he's using hardship. That's why he's using difficulty, because he can't make you and me into the image of Jesus Christ without using suffering. Let's bow our heads. Egypt represented all that was hard for the children of Israel. What had once been the promise of bread became a land of burden to them. They went to Egypt as heirs of Prince Joseph. By the time the exodus rolls around, the children of Israel are just chattel. So much property. Slaves. To be murdered at the whim of the Pharaoh, to be offered on building projects as so much flotsam and jetsam, to matter nothing. And God. God used those 400 years to make them a nation. Oh, they were a nation in trouble, they were a nation crying out, they were a nation in bondage. But once they had been 70 people, a family, A good crowd for a family reunion. By the time the exodus rolls around, they are two, perhaps three million people. God made them a nation. In the most difficult incubator imaginable. A place of suffering. Christ is being formed in you. Most effectively, And most biblically, when we see the struggles we face, the sorrows we face, the sadness we face, the reverses, the obstacles as forming us in the image of Christ. Why do the righteous suffer? Because as I understand the Bible, there is no other way for God to do some of the work that must be done. To shape us, mold us, transform us into the image of his son. Father, bless the scripture we've read, the scripture we've heard. I would not want anyone to think that I belittle or make light of the sorrows in that little town. I would not begin to presume to know what grief that could be. I know what my children mean to me, I know my grandchildren mean to me, but I can't imagine what those people are experiencing right now. But I am glad I know and love and serve all knowing, all loving, all powerful God who works all things after the counsel of his will. And that his purpose is to redeem this creation. This world can't go on like it is. It's not our final home. It's not our eternal destiny. It has to be. Glorified, it has to be transformed, as do each of us. And I pray that every child of God tonight would sense that willing and working hand of God upon them, sometimes with joy, sometimes with blessing. Sometimes with the white. Hot heat of trouble. We don't want that. We don't long for that. But Father, You work things after Your will and form Christ in us. Call Your Son once again out of Egypt in us. We ask it in His name. Amen.