The Wise Men & The Star of Bethlehem

grace and peace in the name of the lord jesus christ we'll begin our messages for the month of christmas with a familial passage and a fresh look at what it means today it is from matthew chapter 2 verses 1 all the way to 12 and it concerns what what we know as a familia's christmas carol we three kings of orient are and we'll find out there were not three kings they were not kings and they were not three so as we go through this beautiful passage here from antiquity we will also discover that has meaning to us here in these last days so let us start reading now from matthew chapter 2 verse 1 all the way to 12. and we're going to stop right in the middle to jump over to the old testament to confirm what we have read and get back into our passage now after jesus was born in bethlehem of judea in the days of herald the king behold wise men from the east came to jerusalem saying where is he who was born the king of the jews for we have seen his star when it rose and have come to worship him when herod the king heard this he was troubled in all jerusalem with him now keen on that that's really important right there all jerusalem with him and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people he king herod inquired of them where the christ was to be born they told him in bethlehem of judea for so it was written by the prophet and that prophet is micah and verse 6 of matthew says and you o bethlehem in the land of judah but are by no means least among the rulers about the rulers of judah for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people israel and here is where that passage is from in micah chapter 2. and the original prophecy that was a paraphrase here in matthew chapter 2 it says this but you bethlehem ephrathah empathize the province of where bethlehem is bethlehem is five miles south of jerusalem and ephrathah is like a county where it is in but you o bethlehem ephrathah who are too little to be among the clans of judah for you shall from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in israel whose coming forth is from old from ancient days whose going forth is from old from ancient days in philippians chapter 2 tells us who this was jesus christ now let's go to numbers chapter 24 verse 17 because it also expands on who this is going to be and rising out of judah and there's also a star involved balaam of all people prophesied this in 17 verse 17 of numbers i see him but not now i behold him but not near a star shall come out of jacob or israel the land of israel and a scepter shall rise out of israel it shall crush the head of uh forehead of moab and break down all the sons of sheth so let's get back now to meto those are two uh supporting prophecies from the old uh testament to support the prophecy that matthew was writing here to the jews about the birth of the lord jesus christ so we get back to matthew chapter two and read now from verse 7 all the way to 12. now so remember now the magi had come to the king herod and they said where is where is he who is to be born king of the jews or we have seen the star and then herod uh to herod when he heard this he was troubled in all jerusalem with him and he called all the priests all the religious types all the scribes and the pharisees and the sanhedrin all the high court of israel who's supposed to know the scriptures and they're supposed to teach the people and they knew where the savior and the messiah was going to be born and then you were the old testament prophecies micah 5 2 and numbers 24 17. so now we go forth from here these religious types told herod where the messiah was going to be born then herod supper summoned the wise man the magi secretly now get this part right here he 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 verse nine after listening to the king they went on their way so there's a caravan coming from persia where the wise men or the magi came from all the way across the desert about five to seven hundred miles to the city of jerusalem they looked up the king they said we're looking for the king of the jews and they're talking to the king of the jews at the time herod and herod is confused now so he called the religious uh types and asked him and they knew exactly where it was so now herod called him secretly and said hey guys come on now when you go there find the guy in bethlehem little baby and come tell me and i too will go worship him how many of you believe that we got some beats from uh property in the swamp plans of louisiana to sell you after listening to the king they went on their way the magi and behold the star they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was the child is the lord jesus christ when they saw the star they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy that means they had joy upon joy because it says here they rejoiced okay great fantastic they were excited and then they did it exceedingly they went above and beyond just rejoicing and then they had great joy that's like a triple shot of joy beautiful beautiful right there in it and verse 11 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 worn in a dream not to return to herod they departed to their own country by another way may the lord bless the reading hearing understanding of his holy and precious word in jesus name amen so always the scene here there's a lot of things together like any good uh story account or even a play you always look let's say a good movie you always look at the plot now this is not a plot this is a historical account but we there are several things involved here not just three different characters or groups of characters all four for example actually but also some circumstances surrounding it let's say set the stage right now what time period this is this is two years after the birth of the lord jesus christ between one and two years why do i say that number one jesus christ was born in bethlehem of judea five miles south of jerusalem on the eighth day they mary and joseph went back to the temple to have jesus uh be as prescribed by the law to have jesus circumcised and be presented to the lord that's where he met sim jesus met samuel and anna and anne made a prophecy that we all know so well apparently they went back to jerusalem the bethlehem from jerusalem and lived there because notice what it says here in verse 11. uh let's go okay let's back up to verse nine after behold the star that they had seen when when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was so that the child is the lord jesus christ verse 10 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 fell down and worshiped him jesus christ was born in a quote unquote manger he's actually born in this table in uh in the poor part of bethlehem he was born in a stable that's where the shepherds found him the magi found jesus christ now a toddler in a house the bible says so matthew chapter two so this is between one and two years later and joseph is probably around somewhere doing outside doing some work probably during the day he's working and jesus christ is living in the house now the next thing we have to notice here with this with the environment where he is is the star let's talk about the star for a second now um the magi first of all let's talk briefly about the stars and get to the magi and then go back to herod the star apparently was only the only visible to the magi why do i say that it was not a regular star that we can look out in the sky in the night and see in the heavens in the in the configuration of stars out there because it was a star that alerted the wise men from the home base in uh in persia and them knowing the scriptures started following that light now it was a supernatural light um the bible says it was a star which is also it is a supernatural light and it apparently was only visible to them because when they were going and they ended up in jerusalem they stopped there now like any human being they should have kept following the star and going and probably going around jerusalem but it would not have fulfilled the prophecy their thinking their human thinking led them to a place where they thought a king would be born in a palace that is why they ended up in harold's palace asking where is the king because they thought the star had led them to jerusalem and they stopped right there now they were mistaken because that's not where they were supposed to be so it they were the only ones apparently to see the star because god had ordained them to be the the benefit the beneficiary of his blessing and his grace and his mercy because of who they were and who were they the magi well well they were known as a wise man back in babylon daniel knew who they were when nebuchadnezzar had a crazy dream as we know and and yet he called first of all for his wife his wise man the magi they studied the stars and they studied uh horoscopes and all kinds of ungodly stuff and unfortunately because of the ungodly training back in those days they were unable to interpret nebuchadnezzar's dream and that's when he called the man of god daniel now daniel died in babylon and his body is is buried in iran somewhere uh close to a river and he's revered in persia or iran still the magi knew the prophecies of daniel because daniel was uh after he interpreted nebuchadnezzar's dream he made prophecies about the coming king uh i think it meant daniel chapter nine and so on uh with the king who was coming uh and to the day in a week daniel prophesied the coming king jesus christ so these magi knew daniel's prophecy and they knew what was going to happen and they knew about micah 5 2 and numbers 24 17 and so on and isaiah 9 7 you know all the christmas verses that we're familiar with but one of these days you probably we all need to do a uh a study how these all tie in together so these magi knew of daniel they probably were trained under daniel's prophecy and god used these gentile pagans and brought them in his grace and his mercy to be some of the first people to come from the gentile world to worship the king now afterwards the magi in general went back to hule you were because i think it was acts chapter 13 they were back to doing the sorcery and stuff but not this group right here it's kind of like when god sent jonah to preach to nineveh and god saved a hundred thousand people nineveh before and after um did not follow god but those hundred thousand people did so god will save who he whom he will save and he will show his grace and his mercy upon whom he will show his grace and mercy so his these magi this group of of wise men who knew the prophecies who were given exclusive rights to view the star of bethlehem because they were the only ones who saw it that led them all the way into jerusalem they came right to the house where mary and joseph were living not in a stable with the title of jesus christ and then they presented him well the third thing uh in in this uh in this picture in this account here the gifts they presented him with gold they presented him with frankincense and myrrh gold was something that's fit for a king because they had come down to worship the king of the jews now they had um they had previously made an error and gone to the palace thinking that he was going to be born there they probably misread where the light was leading because the light was going over jerusalem uh it came down from persia and then it was going south over jerusalem to bethlehem and they stopped in jerusalem thinking that's where the palace was harris palace and so that was an honest mistake that was a human mistake so here they come into this house and they see this toddler instinctively the holy spirit in him in them led them to fall flat on their face exceedingly with great joys with great joy they rejoiced and worshipped a one or two year old baby or toddler that's an amazing thing and then they gave him the goal and which is for fit for a king and then they gave him the frankincense which is uh signifies the high priest uh jesus the high priest jesus the king jesus high priest because that's what the uh the priests in the temple of god in jerusalem used uh frankincense as incense to go in during the time of the offering as incense and burning before the lord and then the myrrh the murder was uh was to signify his death when jesus died on the cross nicodemus came with a hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes so to prepare his body for burial with when they wrapped him in a shroud with some people called the shroud of turin but we won't get into that you know that we don't know if that's authentic or not so and it is a belief uh among commentators and biblical scholars over the last 2000 years that jesus uh parents mary and joseph his earthly father uh of course not his heavenly father uh not his actual well god not god joseph well you know who joseph is so we don't have to explain joseph is the father of james and jude and the other brothers and sisters of jesus christ jesus christ was born of a virgin a virgin birth he was conceived by the holy spirit end of story it is it is a belief from scholars that that gold was used when jesus and his earthly parents fully had to flee to egypt because uh herod had sent in his soldiers to kill every boy under the age of two in jerusalem and in the in in the slaughter of the innocents as was prophesied in the old testament about rachel weeping in rama so it's actually almost similar to moses remember they had to hide moses in the basket and put him in the nile because pharaoh had sent a word to kill every hebrew baby boy it's kind of almost similar to that so it is a belief that that goal was uh used to finance their stay in egypt until herod died herald the killer her babies died and was brought back and then god sent the word back to to joseph to bring jesus and mary his earthly mother back to the land of judah and to settle down in nazareth so that's the magi we got here we got the magi we got the we got the atmospherics we got the house we got the gold we got the worship from the magi and there were not three kings and if you look at a nativity set and you see three kings kneeling down there that's not that's not really correct but i know it's a beautiful picture but it's not correct so who we're going to look at next we're going to look at king herod king herod was a very evil man herod was half arab and half jew he was not acceptable to of course uh orthodox uh believing jews in in in the faith system of judaism because he was a half-breed but because he was appointed by the corrupt uh julius caesar in in bc47 uh not not this particular hero but his his ancestor there was a line of kings of herod named herod all the way down they had the past and enter into the book of acts that were there until the romans came in 1870 and wiped out the place this particular herod was the one was the herod who built the temple right now the wheeling wall in jerusalem is the only uh remnant of that that temple that herod built herod built it stood there for 2000 years and it's a beautiful thing to behold because that's the original western wall of the temple herald took about 40 years to build that and he was not like by the jews but he did a lot of things to curry favor with them he was a master architect just like you know you see uh mark twain was an atheist but he was a beautiful funny writer uh bill gates and all his people uh uh steve jobs they were all they are or were atheists they don't believe in god or jesus christ or the constitution for that matter but they've done they've created good things that can be used for good and bad uh computer systems uh internet anything anything in that man makes can be used for good and bad in this case herod built that beautiful temple that the disciples were marveling about in matthew chapter 24 and then jesus busted their bubble and told them one of these days not one stone would be sitting on top the other one and sure enough less than 40 years later general titus uh took down that entire city of jerusalem so herod was a was a killer he he was so paranoid that he killed a lot of his own sons he killed his favorite wife he had 10 wives he killed his mother-in-law he would kill anybody whom he think was threatening his power caesar augustus you remember that whole biola the christmas story where the caesar augustus decreed and everyone should go to their own city to be taxed and censored and put in the census and stuff that's caesar augustus said it was safer to be herod's pig than his own son he was such a dirty evil man of course we know where he is now and then he and he herod is typical of the hostility that the world has towards the lord today the lord jesus christ and why is why is mankind so hostile towards jesus jesus especially you have people around in this country and around the world who say well i believe in god i'm spiritual i just don't believe in jesus christ well then you're not a believer you're going straight to the other place after you die you will not have the peace that path passes all understanding man is naturally opposed to jesus even if we celebrate the things of jesus you know the lost people in this country and around in the western world they would celebrate christmas and they would celebrate santa claus they would have no idea what christmas really means now we know jesus wasn't born on december 25th that's just a day selected to commemorate that that was selected years or hundreds of years ago most likely jesus was born around the face of the tabernacles in the in the early fall but we would not know that until we get to glory and then at the wedding supper of the lamb when jesus explains the whole story and we get to sit with him and we don't have uh fake news around we don't have anybody's lost we'll all be faithful servants of jesus christ and he can tell us how it all began and then he'll have eternity to teach us the things of god so the lost man shall do celebrate the things of jesus easter christmas and whatever easter they celebrate the easter bunny christmas they celebrate santa claus unfortunately some christians some weak christians uh go right along with that and forget about the true meaning of easter and the true meaning of christmas but that's another story we naturally oppose the sovereignty of jesus christ and his rule over of his our lives we that there's something in our nature our unsaved adamic nature that resists god we don't want jesus to rule our lives even christians who have been sanctified born again and when they come up against hard times and they don't have that solid grounding in the faith because they're not fully mature yet resist jesus christ because even though his yoke is easy and his burden is light sometimes it's hard to be a christian sometimes it's hard to zip your lip and keep it zip keep it zipped and then don't say nothing you know what i'm saying and but at the same time it's also hard to persevere through troubled times when things go down when people uh treat us mean and walk on and we know they're obviously sitting against god and against us it's hard it's hard but that's when we call upon our better nature which is the holy spirit because when we're born again the holy spirit takes the old adamic nature throws it out of there flushes it into the from in the in the everlasting safe as far as the eastest from the west puts his new spirit in us uh ii corinthians 5 17 any man who is in christ jesus he is a new creation catheter which is the same word as creation when god created the heavens of the earth and the earth brand new so we have this new nature in us which um even though we might want to resist god even though sometimes the flesh will fight against us while we in this world we have this new nation that could push back against that and say no we ain't going there well we're going to stay firmly grounded in jesus christ we're going to keep our eyes on god we're going to look up and praise him even in the dark times in in in awful times in the good times we will praise him and then too that's the kind of god kind of question that we are supposed to be we don't want god's opinion even some christians um people or people who call themselves christians professing christians they don't want god's government there's a guy in atlanta uh charles stanley's son who uh basically expunged teaching from the old testament in this church because he's got millennials in this church he's got a bunch of liberals and he doesn't want to offend him the word of god and the teaching of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing most people don't want the government of god they don't want the opinion of god they don't want the word of god and they don't want the commandments of god because it messes with their corrupt lifestyle their their race to grab all they can before before somebody else gets it to grab for the gusto to get the easy lifestyle to come out of college with a hundred thousand dollar debt and expect to make a hundred thousand dollars a month things that this their parents spend a lifetime building they expect to have it all in one year and if they don't get it they turn the socialists on and then they turn against god or they go and they go to these weak churches where they have people who know better take the bible and cut out two-thirds of it and say this is not relevant anymore the word of god is relevant from this front cover to this back cover everything in between is relevant for us and those who mess with it will answer on judgment day for their hostility they are dead to him and he represents the opposite of their sinful desires let's read romans chapter 5 verses 6 to 11 romans 5 6-11 why a lot of people like herod he told the magi that he wanted them to go to spy on jesus christ come back and tell him where he was so he can go worship no he didn't he wanted to to come back and tell him so they they he can send the soldiers out to kill him kill the baby and of course they are they were warned by by the lord to go another way and then and herod sent the kids uh the soldiers out to kill babies anyway in in the meantime god had sent jesus christ down to egypt to keep him safe and he had the gold there so that he can finance his stay while in egypt until herod was sent to hell at his death romans chapter 5 verses 6 to 11 as we wrap up why man is hostile to god but while we were still weak at the right time christ died for the ungodly for one will scarcely die for a righteous person though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die verse 8 but god showed his love for us in that while we were yet sinners christ died for us since therefore we have now been justified by his blood much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of god for if while we were enemies we were reconciled to god by the death of his son much more now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by his life the life of christ has saved us more than that verse 11 we also rejoiced in god through our lord jesus christ through whom we have now received reconciliation so what do we mean by being hostile to god what means we were enemies to god before he rescued us and reconcile us unto himself and uh because why because most men don't trust god most people men and women don't trust god most don't understand what grace really is and they think they have to work for their salvation no matter how many times you tell them that grace is free and mercy there is there for you and me they will they can't grasp it even um professing christians who are said they're born again and in the faith have a hard time with grace understanding what grace so we have to teach them over and over grace is free it costs no no there's not there's no free lunch anywhere it costs jesus christ everything on the cross it cost him his life it cost him a temporary separation from god because he had to cry out to god my god my god why have you forsaken me god had to turn his head from the ugliness of sin past present and future till the end of the age it costs jesus christ everything it costs us nothing to come into the kingdom and that's what grace is we don't grasp that and we don't understand god we don't understand why things happen and sometimes even christians don't care to understand why this happens so we have hostility and in the person of king herod we have the magi as we talked about we have now we're starting to get the full picture we have the magi the main part of the story then we have herald the killer the other part of the story major part of the story and we have the atmospherics around them we have jerusalem where the manjai thought jesus might be born in the palace so they they misread the light over the city of jerusalem because it had turned from the northeast and it was heading south over over jerusalem to bethlehem they had misread the the path of light which was guiding them straight to the house where jesus was so then we we talked about the star we talked about the house and now we're going to talk about this part here that finally that i talked i mentioned when we were reading the passage let's go back and visit revisit verse 3 of matthew chapter 2. when herod heard this what did herod hear herod heard that a wise man had come to find the king of the jews and wanted to worship him when herod heard this he was troubled and all jerusalem with him who is all jerusalem sure it might have been some of the regular folks you know the butcher the baker the candlestick maker and the blacksmith and the whitesmith or whatever no he's talking about the leaders here the deep state herod was a corrupt man the levite priesthood who were ministering in the temple was corrupt as herod we we find that out later on when jesus when they when those same priests led by caiaphas and anus and all those corrupt evil men uh tried to set up jesus for three years until they finally according to god's plan arrested him and had him murdered on the cross but they were corrupt way before that and that wasn't just the priests it was the scribes the people who knew the law they the scribes were the ones who wrote down what was in the the torah in the psalms and the prophets they would write down in in scrolls and and send them out to the synagogues in the outside jerusalem and they were they were also the ones who who interpreted the law and kept adding on law upon law and precept upon his precept a little bit here and a little bit there and they were putting heavy loads upon men and women that they could not care uh carry out even even the people who were writing it couldn't obey those those man-made laws that were creating for somebody else they were the deep state and also all jerusalem included was not just the elites of the political elite but they were as we see now the religious elite the sanhedrin the same people who are who condemned jesus christ to death and the sanhedrin is still around right now getting ready for the third temple in order to perpetuate the final heresy before jesus christ comes down and wipes them out for what a one final time so all jerusalem were in uproar includes the corrupt corruptocracy it was no it wasn't just herald and his murderous uh band of of killers and corrupt officials it was the religious people it was the high priest it was the priests under them it was the the people the priests were running the rackets in the temple selling pigeons well two or three times the amount that the cost selling animals for the sacrifice and lambs and all all sorts of things and stealing from the people who were worshiping there that corrupt racket where it was coming off the top was run by the high priest with the full knowledge of the sanhedrin who were the supreme court of of judah of jerusalem they were the supreme court of jews ignoring exactly the corruption was going on in with these uh religious types and you know what even worse they knew what the bad guy was talking about let's read this again in verse four let's start with verse three when herod the king heard this he was troubled in all jerusalem with him and assembling all the chief priests and scribes all the chief priests the religious elite the deep state and scribes of the people he inquired of them where christ was to be born they knew because how do we know that they it's right here they told him where christ was going to be born in bethlehem of judea for so it was written by the prophet these people these hypocrites these religious hypocrites they claim to be looking for the messiah who was going to deliver them from rome and all that sort of thing for centuries they're looking for the messiah they knew exactly what he was going to be born they told harold they knew they condemned themselves to hell by doing that because they told him bethlehem not one of them made the effort to go with the magi down to bethlehem you know why because it says it right here in verse three all jerusalem was troubled with him you know what that means that means that jesus had come to shake up their business they knew the scriptures they were the keepers of the scriptures and they purposely ignored the scriptures where the messiah the so-called claim to be looking forward to was actually being born the mashiach in bethlehem five miles south they said it they told herod and herod when i told him and these guys went by they're wailing and dealing you know why because they were selfish they were greedy they were unbelieving and they had brought condemnation on themselves not only in their personal lives when they went out to be uh to leave this earth but for all the praises that came after them remain condemned and this brings us to the modern day what can we learn from these religious types who sat there lazy apathetic corrupt evil while my people coming in led by the holy spirit i'm i'm sure a few of them knew it for exactly what was happening but they did nothing and they told herod they hold the tallest king where jesus messiah was going to be born and then they step back and uh let him let it go this reminds us of the kind of christians that we have today and why we should be careful there were three types of christians that these religious people actually two types of christians that they are like the first one is carnal christians they were corrupt they were running uh skimming operation um in the in the courtyard because remember jesus when jesus came and overturned the money tables he did it twice in the beginning of his ministry and is at the end of the ministry he was going after their their system he knew what they were doing and he called and he said zeal for my my father's house has consumed me so they were carnal they were all about making profit having to live in a good life they had the best houses they had the best food and a lot of them were committing adultery left right and center um all over the place different so they they resisted correction just like any carnal question today if you talk to a christian uh professing christian uh there's many of them around and most of them can be found in liberal churches but there's some who can be found in in mega and evangelical mega churches now more and more not just to make not just the mainstream mainline churches we know who they are the problem is starting to happen in evangelical mega churches where too many carnal christians are following the world and using all kinds of worldly systems and then uh and they're showing who they are they resist correction from from uh from counseling and from scriptures and and that godly discipline they resist teaching they resist reproof as scripture is supposed to be and they don't even pray and there is just and they see a divine revelation as a threat that's what happened with this when these uh religious types and hebrew in matthew chapter 2 verses 3 or 3-5 when they when they were troubled they saw the messiah coming as a threat to their lifestyle and that's what a carnal christian is today he sees she sees and their leaders and those who cater to them like in some of these mega churches in atlanta and california and wherever and uh hillsong up in new york city and so on where karl lentz had been caught in multiple adulteries and all kinds of things we we see all that sort of stuff going on because they have resisted divine revelation going all the way back to the garden carnal christian these religious types who were troubled because the messiah these magi came looking for the mashiach and they knew exactly where he was and they told the my major and they told herod they when they went about their business they are no different than carnal christians today now the second type of christian that these religious types the high praise the chief priest describes the supreme court of the real of the people of of jerusalem the sanhedrin who are no different today if you go to google who uh sanhedrin today you'll see who they are the actual men who are in the supreme court of of their system and they will be treated no differently than the sanhedrin that condemned jesus 2 000 years ago the second type of christian that these religious types are like today are apathetic christians many christians have so much apathy that is it is even it is um stunning and it is scary for especially for pastors and and church leaders around the world not not so much in the persecuted lands because that church is flourishing in china and the middle east and so on but in the western world christians are becoming more pathetic they have a head knowledge they know the scriptures many of them know the scriptures just like these uh uh chief priests and scribes and sanhedrin they knew the scriptures they knew where the messiah was gonna be born christian apathetic christians today they know they know the bible they know the consequences of sin they know the consequences of sin for a season and where it's going to lead us if you break up from god and go your own way and and to find your own temporary happiness they know that but because they're apathetic because they're lazy because they don't want to get involved in the things of god because they don't want to do the work of god they don't care now one day they will care when they stand before the lord and the savior jesus christ and he says depart from me i never knew you apathetic questions people who are born uh with head knowledge only and never been born again when they when the head knowledge was not never transferred down to their heart are quick to condemn others and in the end times the spirit of antichrist will be very very obvious in them and that they will condemn the true believer they will never see their own sin they will see others sin they wouldn't see their own tree forest in their own eyes but they'll be quick to point out the log in your eye and they will take god's word for granted so the religious types who told the magi and herod what jesus was was due to be born had that head knowledge they knew the scriptures in and out they wrote it down they wrote it on the scrolls to be read in the synagogues they had the supreme court of israel they judged the law the people under the same this law of moses but they never had a heart change they cared not for the things of god they used the things of god for their own corrupt prophet they were carnal believers and they were apathetic and lazy what are we called to we are called to be authentic believers we are called to be repentant of our sins we're going to sin day after day maybe we're never to allow sin to build up in us to turn us away from god that we will go off sinning and hurt others we are called to be repentant to keep short accounts with god because we never know if our next breath will be our last authentic christians believe in the virgin birth of jesus christ jesus was conceived by the holy spirit into the womb of a virgin named mary who was just his earthly mother mary is not the mother of god in the sense that she is to be worshiped the only person to be worshipped is jesus christ the heavenly father in the power of the holy spirit jesus was born of a virgin he lived a sinless life contrary to what carnal christians and apathetic christians in some of these evangelical so-called mega churches so-called evangelicals believe that jesus was a sinner jesus never sinned and we can prove that in the scriptures jesus he taught for three years he was persecuted by men he thought he taught the words of god and eternal life he showed us the way the truth and the life he's a high priest he's our advocate he's our redeemer he's our savior he died on the cross and he was as a payment as a propitiation as a substitutionary atonement for our sins he was literally dead as a man he was placed in the grave by nicodemus and joseph of amir mathea whom uh tradition tells us will run out of the of jerusalem by the high priest after that because both of them nicodemus was that was the high chief teacher of jerusalem and joseph was one of the richest man in the city and also connected with the religious types they were later on later on in their life chased out because they buried the lord jesus christ with honor and dignity jesus was dead he was dead on the third day he rose again from the dead to give us the promise for eternal life he was seen by 500 people and james graves were opened in the city of jerusalem people walked out of them when he was raised from the dead that is who jesus christ is the book of hebrews which we've been reading through week after week and midweek tells us who he is why he had to be born as a man why we have to be warned not to neglect so greater salvation and what the payment is hell but you know but if you do accept who jesus christ is and repent of your sins and live your life for him and join with him because his yoke is easy and his burden is light there is a sabbath rest for the people of god and we have access to the throne of grace through prayer and supplication and we can that way we can persevere this is the message of christmas we have a god who lives for us who give his life for us who stands before the throne of the father intercedes for us so that we don't believe the emotionalism and the lies of the current times so that we don't become indifferent to the things of god like the rest of the people out there including uh fake christians and and professing christians who were never converted to begin with we are to we we are to become doers of the word and not an apathetic christian like those who will sit around doing nothing and we have to make sure that we're truly converted and we are not con so that we can identify those around us who have the spirit of antichrist let's be aware of that blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness matthew 5 6 tells us the beautiful thing about the christmas story is that it it's it's full of so much richness so much beauty so much goodness for the for the brother and sister in christ today that if we just open our eyes open our hearts to what the lord is saying to us in these last days we will have the peace that passes all understanding that when we come before jesus christ and stand before him face to face we will want to hear well done good and faithful servant read matthew chapter 2 verses 1 to 12. study the magi study the evil part of herod study the religious leaders look at what the atmosphere that was that story was account was given one day all of this will be uh plain to see as we stand in heaven and jesus christ rolls the tape from creation all the way till the end it will be a beautiful thing because we will be the be with our savior who died for us who redeemed us and who bought us with his blood we will be with him through eternity and we will learn from him all and all through those wonderful times that we're going to be spending in heaven with our loved ones god bless you merry christmas look forward to the next christmas message to see what the lord has for us that we could apply today and we can teach young ones thank you amen thank you jesus

Channel: Bernie Lutchman

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Id: u_THr6G5C00

Length: 48min 0sec (2880 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 07 2020