Our Gospel reading and the passage of Scripture from which our teaching is taken this morning is found in Matthew chapter 2. I'm going to read the first 15 verses. This is God's word. Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem saying, where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it arose and have come to worship him. When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled in all Jerusalem with him. And then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem saying, go and search diligently for the child. And when you have found him, bring me word that I too may come and worship him. After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. Meeting all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. And they told him, in Bethlehem of Judea, for it is written by the prophet, and you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. I've read those out of order for some reason. Now when they departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. Rise and take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you. For Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him. And he arose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet out of Egypt. I called my son. Let's pray. Father, as we come to your word, open our hearts and minds. In Jesus' name, amen. First thing I want us to notice is that God reveals himself to us so that we can see him. So that we can seek him. It's revealing that God revealed himself to the Gentile Wise Men, or Magi. The Magi want to know where the king is. They want to worship him. But how does everyone else react? Verse 3 says, when Herod the king heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. Now think about that. All of Jerusalem with him were troubled along with the king Herod. All these people should have been looking for the Messiah. Certainly they knew the Scriptures. After all, they'd been taught in the synagogues by the priests and the scribes. Everyone grew up learning from their parents God's word. When they heard the news from the Wise Men, they should have been overjoyed. But instead they're troubled. The people who should know the Scripture and be overjoyed at this wonderful news are instead siding with the ruthless, murderous, barbaric King Herod. Why is that? Why is the news of the Messiah so troubling to them that they're troubled along with Herod? When Herod wants to know about this newborn king, where does he go to find out? In verse 4 it says, he assembled all the chief priests and scribes of the people. He inquired of them where the Christ was to be born, and they told him, in Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet. And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. So they knew, they knew that the Messiah was supposed to come from Bethlehem. And yet they're troubled. They didn't go with the Magi to see Jesus and worship him. They stayed in Jerusalem with Herod. My old theology professor and now the head of Reformed Theological Seminary, Ligon Duncan, makes this point. He said, Herod is not preparing a pilgrimage to Bethlehem. He knows about the prophecy of the Messiah. He immediately knows he needs to ask the religious leaders where to find out about this prophecy and where it says that Christ, the Messiah, will be born. But he's not making any preparation to go there and worship. Oh, he lies to tell them he will go later to worship, but that's not his intention. His intention, as the rest of Matthew chapter 2 tells us, is that he will try to have the child killed. And the religious leaders know where to look in their Bibles. To find out about the prophecy of the Messiah. But they clearly don't understand it, or they too would want to go to Bethlehem to worship him. They know their Bibles. They know the prophecy of Messiah. But they're not preparing to worship him. And then the people, the people of Jerusalem, they're troubled with Herod. They think, oh no, the Messiah, that means trouble with the Romans. That could mean war. That could mean strife. That could mean people will be killed. That could mean children dying. That could mean a disruption to our way of life. They have the Scriptures. They have the rabbis teaching them every Saturday. But they're not preparing to worship the Messiah, King. So what are we to learn from them? It's possible to be outwardly part of God's people and still be spiritually blind. It's possible to be part of God's people and still have a hard heart. I should say it's possible to appear to be part of God's people. Remember what the Gospel of John says, chapter 1, verse 11. He came to his own and his own people did not receive him. And that's what's happening here. All of Jerusalem is troubled. The religious leaders know where to look in the Bible to find out about the Messiah. Herod knows, Herod even knows about the prophecy of the Messiah, King. Yet none of them were planning to go and worship him. Why? Was it they didn't know the Bible? No. They were hard-hearted and spiritually blind. I became a Christian at 25 years old, which is over 40 years ago. Now my parents took me to church every Sunday from the time I can remember until I graduated from high school. Once I graduated from high school and went to college and then took a few years off of college to work and then went back to Eastern Michigan University, several people witnessed to me. And finally, on October 21, 1981, the Holy Spirit revealed himself to me. And I understood the Gospel and the consequence of not believing, which is an eternity separated from God and hell. I had gone to church all my life, up till 18 years old. I'm sure I had heard the Gospel numerous times. I went to a Lutheran church mostly from about the time I was 10 years old. Before that we were in a Baptist church, before that we were in a Methodist church. And then I even went through confirmation classes. Confirmation classes in the Lutheran church are where you go for a couple of years to – for us it was two and a half years – and you learn all about the faith. And then at the end you have to take an exam and it's public. So they put all the 13, 14, 14 year olds in front of the church and then they are asked questions. We're asked questions and we have to answer them. Now I was able to answer all the questions. We had the public exam. Sue Trojan and I sat next to each other and we were able to answer all the questions that were asked of us. And when they asked other kids questions and they weren't able to answer, they looked to either Sue or me and we were able to answer. And it wasn't because the gospel was in my heart. I mean from outward appearances everybody would have said, well those are really spiritual kids. From outward appearances I was a spiritual guy. But I wasn't. I wasn't. And it wasn't because the gospel hadn't been explained to me. It wasn't the fault of the Lutheran church. It wasn't the pastors or the Sunday school teachers fault. It was because I was spiritually blind and hard hearted. What does that mean? It means you can go to church all of your life, a church like Bedford Presbyterian Church, where the gospel has been faithfully preached for decades and still be blind spiritually. How is that possible? John chapter 6 explains, Jesus said to them, I'm the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger. And whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me. And whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day. And four verses later in verse 44 it says, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. In verse 65 he reiterates, and he said, this is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted to him by the Father. So how can you tell? Quoting Dr. Duncan again, it's possible you see to be religious people in possession of divine revelation and yet be spiritually blind. We need God by his Spirit to open our eyes that we would see the Messiah, and we would trust in the Messiah, and that we would believe in this Messiah, and that we would respond in worship and love and faith to the Messiah. One thing I want us to see is that Jesus Christ is Savior of the world. Herod is unaware that the king has been born until the wise men show up. The religious leaders are unaware that the king has been born. The people are unaware that the king of the Jews has been born. Bring it to modern day, recently Hamas has attacked Israel. Nations like Iran and Iraq want the Jews to be wiped out or leave their country. But look what's going on here. The wise men, wise men from the east, are the ones who let the people in Jerusalem know that the king of the Jews have been born. Where are the wise men from? Most likely they are from what was called Persia, which is now Iran. They were coming to worship the king of the Jews because he's the Savior of the whole world, not just Israel. Back in Roman times, they didn't mind if you believed in your own God. They didn't mind if you believed that Jesus was the Son of God. They didn't mind if you believed any of that, as long as you just added Jesus to the pantheon of gods so he was one among many. That's how people are today. They don't like exclusivity. They don't mind if you believe in Jesus, especially baby Jesus. Baby Jesus is harmless. As long as you don't say he's the only way to God. That's the one thing that you're not supposed to say. I shared this story with you once before. Tracy and I, after we got married, we went on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ. We had to raise our own support. That was a test of faith all by itself. And we were assigned to Kent State University in Ohio. And one of the evangelism strategies there was we would do what were called team meetings. In this case, it was in a dormitory where we would advertise free pizza and coke in exchange for listening to a 20-minute presentation of the gospel and a discussion following. Well, back then, free pizza and coke, I mean, this is the 80s, was a really big deal. Probably not so much now. But it was a big deal then. So we usually had a pretty good turnout. On this particular occasion, in this particular dorm, there were 30 or 40 people showed up. And I made my presentation along with another staff person. And we were fielding questions. And it seemed to be going pretty well. I was pretty pleased with the outcome. I was pretty pleased with how it was going. I was thinking that some of these people might even be willing to consider becoming Christian. I thought it was going pretty well. But then there was a girl who raised her hand and said, I don't think it's right for you to say that Jesus is the only way. I said, OK, why not? She said, I don't think it's right for anyone to say that their religion is the only one that's right. I said, well, what do you believe? She said, well, I am a Janist. I'd never heard of this. Didn't know what a Janist was. Well, it turns out Janist is an ancient religion from India. And one of the three pillars of Janism is non-absolutism. Non-absolutism. So you see, to say that Jesus is the only way is an absolute statement. And that goes against what Janists believe. So she said, I think it's wrong for you to say that Jesus is the only way. I think it's wrong for you to say that my religion is wrong. Now, up till now, I had thought all the students, or most of them anyway, were sort of getting it. They were kind of on my side of the discussion. Well, all of a sudden, whoosh, now they're on her side. And I thought, oh, boy, we're kind of losing it here. They all think she's right. I don't know why I thought of this. I'm going to give the Holy Spirit credit. But I said, so you're saying it's wrong for me to say that Jesus is the only way to God? She said, yes. I said, so you're saying it's wrong for me to say that someone else's religion is wrong? She said, yes. I said, well, what if Jesus is the only way to God is my religion? Are you saying it's wrong? Whoosh. They all came back because they could see that she was setting up a false dichotomy. She was saying that it's wrong for me to say that my religion is the only way and that it's wrong to criticize somebody's religion. But she was criticizing my religion while she was saying that. After that, I said, so, OK, now we see that we're saying the same thing. So what it comes down to is what is the evidence for yours versus the evidence for mine. But today, people say the same things. They say Jesus can be a way, but he can't be the way. It's no different than when Jesus was born. The Roman government didn't mind if you worship Jesus as long as Jesus was just one in the pantheon. But Jesus is the Son of God, and he is the only way. But Jesus is the Son of God, and he is the only way. John 14, 6, I am the way and the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father, but through me. So Jesus is being exclusive. I'm the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father, but through me. And the only ones that can come to the Father are the ones that he's growing up with. Are the ones that he's granted to come to the Father. So what do you do? You ask God to open your eyes. You ask God to show you if you're spiritually blind. You ask God to soften your hard heart. Eternity is in the balance. I know it's Christmas, and we're supposed to only talk about happy things. Well, it is a happy thing to go to heaven. But it's a very unhappy thing if you've gone to church your whole life and you are still blind and hard hearted. Finally, what I want to say about this passage is that Jesus is to be worshiped. When the wise men came, they said, where is he who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and we have come to worship him. What does worship mean? Well, it comes from the combination of a couple of words, worth ship, to see him and treat him as worthy. Revelation chapter four, worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and by your will they existed and were created. So God is worthy of our worship. But what about Jesus? The next chapter, Revelation five, verse 11, then I looked and I heard around the throne on the living creatures and the elders of the voice of many angels, numbering myriads and myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. I heard every creature in heaven and earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb, be blessing, honor, glory and might forever and ever. And the four creatures said, amen, and the elders fell down and worshiped. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for the gospel. Thank you that you are worthy in Jesus name. Amen. Please stand. Oh, God and Son of man, he will not cherish. He will lie on the earth, though my soul's glory, joy and crown.