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[0:00] Take your Bibles this morning, would you, and open them to the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew chapter 2.

[0:22] ! This will be the second sermon out of that chapter this Christmas season. Two Sundays prior to Christmas to preach through that chapter, chapter 2.

[0:34] Two Sundays, two sermons out of the second chapter of Matthew. So I want you to listen as I read verses 1 through 12.

[0:45] We took the latter half of the chapter first, as you recall, last week, if you were here. And this morning we're going to take the first half of it. So starting with verse 1, Matthew chapter 2.

[0:58] 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?

[1:12] For we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him. When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

[1:29] So they said to him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet, But you, Bethlehem in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah.

[1:41] For out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared.

[1:53] And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, Go and search carefully for the young child, and when you have found him, bring back word to me that I may come and worship him also.

[2:05] When they heard the king, they departed. Behold, the star which they had seen in the east went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.

[2:15] When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshipped him.

[2:27] And when they presented gifts to him, when they opened their treasures, rather, they presented gifts to him, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.

[2:47] Now, last Sunday, if you were here, you'll recall, again, that I took part of the passage that we read here this morning, but primarily verses 13 through to the end of the chapter.

[3:01] And our focus on that Sunday, last week, was the witness of the word. Now, this morning, our subject is going to be the worship of the wise.

[3:14] Taking these verses, verses 1 through 12, focusing, of course, obviously, on the worship of the wise men, whoever they may have been. Now, you also may remember what I said last Sunday, that there are two ways that Matthew seeks to prove that Jesus, the one from Nazareth, that particular Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, two ways he sought to prove that Jesus of Nazareth, Nazareth, rather, is the Christ of God, the anointed of God, the Messiah, Christ being the Greek, Messiah being the Hebrew for the same person, the anointed one.

[3:54] Two ways that Matthew sought to prove this. First of all, through the witness of the word, or the witness of the word of God. That is, to present the events in Jesus' life as fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.

[4:11] And we clearly see that in this chapter, and just reading through the entire book of Matthew, you'll see this over and over and over again. And regarding the birth of Jesus, every event in the story of Messiah's birth is moving along according to God's predetermined will, His eternal plan.

[4:37] Remember I said last week that God is not an omniscient or all-knowing spectator when it comes to human history and His creation.

[4:47] You know, somehow just watching human history as it progresses. That's not who God is. God is the sovereign mover of history and of all the events of redemption, a plan that was conceived in the heart and mind of God in eternity past.

[5:06] God is moving that along. You know, sometimes we fail to see that the Christmas story is just part of a much larger story. It's part of an overarching story of redemption, God's plan of redemption.

[5:21] Some have called it a metanarrative. We hear a lot about narratives. This person's narrative and that person's narrative and the narrative is and the narrative is. But there is this metanarrative, meta meaning above, about, beyond.

[5:38] And narrative, of course, just meaning a story, a story or an account of events. And so a metanarrative is a narrative about all narratives.

[5:50] And that's what we have in the Bible. Because the only valid metanarrative is the gospel metanarrative. That is God's plan of redemption. God's plan of redemption is the story, by the way, that explains all other stories, all other narratives, all other stories.

[6:10] Your story, my story, the story of world events, the story of nations, the rising of nations, the falling of nations, the stories related to world religions, and on and on I could go.

[6:23] All stories. You see, God's plan of redemption to redeem lost sinners is the metanarrative that explains everything. Everything in the Bible, everything in history, even your history.

[6:39] Because, see, listen, the world does not move independent of Almighty God. I know it may seem that it does most of the time. Now, certainly, much of the world moves in rebellion to God, no doubt about that, but it does not move independent of God.

[6:57] He created the world. He created everything. And He did not just wind it up like you and I would a clock and then sit back and watch it tick-tock and run down eventually.

[7:08] That's not the way it works. God said in Isaiah 49.9, would you listen to these words? God said, I am God and there is no other.

[7:19] I am God and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure.

[7:34] Indeed, I have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also do it. That's God. And so the world is moving along, even the world in the time of Jesus, especially then when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, all the events that took place in and around His birth and all throughout His life and certainly the cross, I mean, what did Luke say in Acts?

[8:01] That Jesus died according to the determined will and foreordination of God. And so Matthew reveals God's divine plan in every movement in the story of Christ's birth, even in the wicked machinations of Herod the king.

[8:19] Thus it is written, it says in verse 5, that it might be fulfilled, verse 15, that it might be fulfilled, again, in verse 17, and once again, that it might be fulfilled, verse 23.

[8:32] Jesus is the Christ of God. He is the Messiah, and we have the witness of the Word on that. But now, another way that Matthew seeks to prove that Jesus is the Messiah is through the worship of the wise, the worship of the wise men.

[8:53] And that is what we want to see this morning in these verses I read a moment ago. Now, in the entire chapter, the principal characters in this chapter are in the order in which they are mentioned.

[9:08] Jesus, first of all, he's the first one mentioned here. Then we have Herod, referred to as the king. Then we have the wise men, or the magi, as it is translated in some more literal translations.

[9:22] The very word is magi in the Greek text. We have the wise men. And then fourth, we have the chief priests and the scribes. Then, of course, there's Mary, the mother of Jesus.

[9:32] Then Joseph. And then finally, Archelaus, the son of Herod. Those are the characters mentioned in the second chapter of Matthew. Now, the characters that figure most in this part of the story of Jesus' birth is, of course, Jesus.

[9:51] I mean, there would be no story without him. Then there's King Herod. And then the wise men. These three. The chief priests and scribes have very little to do with the story other than to quote for Herod, the prophecy that pinpoints where Jesus or the Messiah would be born.

[10:10] And I think it's, by the way, interesting that Herod was more interested in finding the Messiah than were the chief scribes of Israel. And then there's Mary. Of course, she also is in the story, but she figures very little in this particular part of the story of the birth of Christ.

[10:27] Joseph is mentioned there, but his role, though it is important, is not Matthew's primary focus. And then, of course, Archelaus, the son of Herod, has no role whatsoever to play in the story other than his apparent threat to the well-being of the baby Jesus.

[10:45] The primary focus in the chapter is Jesus, Herod, and the wise men. Now, of course, Jesus played no, I guess we could say, no active role in the story.

[10:58] He's just a newborn baby, just an infant. Matthew's focus is not on anything Jesus did or anything that he said. Matthew's focus is on who Jesus is.

[11:13] And so Matthew wants to prove that Jesus is the anointed, the Christ of God. And, you know, the proof that Matthew offers here can really be summed up with one word.

[11:26] And it's the word worship. That's the proof he offers. Worship. And the word worship, by the way, appears three times in these three, or rather, twelve verses.

[11:40] It is the Greek word proskuneo. You'll forget all about that, but its basic meaning is to fall down down, or to prostrate oneself before a person of great worth.

[11:53] That's basic meaning of proskuneo, and it can apply, you know, not just to God, but it can apply to any majesty, any sovereign king, or prince, or anyone of great worth, or value.

[12:06] And so that's basically what the word worship means. And by the way, that's the basic meaning of the word worship in our English. It comes from the old English word worth-ship.

[12:19] And so it's evolved, kind of finally took on the pronunciation of wor-ship. It's kind of a shorter pronunciation, but the word comes from the word worth-ship.

[12:29] And it carries the idea of giving to another according to the measure of that person's worth. Worth-ship.

[12:40] Now, when we apply the word worship to God and what we offer to Him, in our worship of Him, we are, in a sense, proclaiming and giving Him His worth.

[12:57] Worth-ship. Now, since God is of infinite worth, you know, we can never give Him enough of what He's worth. We can never worship in a way that would communicate the full worth of God.

[13:11] Rather, what we do is when we worship, we're to communicate His worth to us. By the way, that says a lot about the way some people worship or don't worship.

[13:22] And so our worship of God requires then more than just something we do here on Sunday morning, on Sunday night, or maybe a Wednesday night, or some other special kind of service.

[13:33] It is something that encompasses the entire life. Our worship of God, because He is of infinite worth, our worship of God, requires our entire life given to Him in service, in worship.

[13:48] 1 Chronicles 16, verse 29, the Bible says, Give to the Lord the glory, do His name. That speaks of the worth of His character, His name.

[14:01] And then it goes on to say, Bring an offering and come before Him, O worship the Lord in the beauty of His holiness. And that speaks of His attributes.

[14:15] So we worship Him, you see, based upon the worth of His character, the worth of His attributes. And so thinking about that verse, just, you know, spend a little time and evaluate your worship according to this particular passage of Scripture.

[14:32] Now, having said that, it is interesting, as we look at these 12 verses, that both Herod and the wise men said they desired to worship Christ.

[14:48] Did you notice that? They both said, in fact, they used almost the same words. They both said it. The wise men said it in verse 2, We have seen His star in the east and have come to worship Him.

[15:01] And Herod said it in verse 8, and he said it to the wise men. He said, When you have found Him, bring back word to me that I may come and worship Him also. So both said, and I emphasize the word said, they both said they wanted to worship the Christ of God.

[15:20] Now, which one actually did it? Of course, the wise men. The wise men. How do we know that? Well, because they did it. They did worship Him and we have a description of their worship of Him.

[15:34] It was true. Worship. And what about Herod? Well, Herod didn't worship Him. He didn't do it at all. Now, what, I might ask, what worth, because worship means worth-ship, what worth did Herod ascribe to Jesus?

[15:55] Now, you might want to say none. No worth. But I would suggest to you that Jesus had some worth to Him.

[16:06] That is, He paid attention to Jesus to some extent or in a certain way. Because, you see, to Herod, Jesus' worth was His threat to Herod's rule.

[16:19] Herod was the king of the Jews or so He liked to be called that. And so, Herod offered to Jesus according to His worth. Jesus' worth to Herod.

[16:30] And what was it? Death. That is, He was worthy of death to Herod. Herod desired Jesus' death. And I would add there that the Herods today still ascribe the same worth to Jesus.

[16:44] I mean, they want Him out of their lives. They want Him out of their society, out of their government, out of their laws, out of their schools, out of their Christmases.

[16:56] That's the same thing that Herod wanted Him to do. Just remove this guy. He's a threat to my self-rule. So, what worth was Jesus to Herod?

[17:07] Worthy of death. What worth did the wise men ascribe to Jesus? Well, that's the real sermon here this morning from this text.

[17:18] The worth the wise men ascribed to Jesus. And so, let's just see how wise these wise men really were.

[17:30] In the first place, you should notice that they were wise in who they sought. They were wise in who they sought. Basic element of true worship is the object of your worship.

[17:45] these wise men were wise in who they sought. Now, just who and what were these wise men, by the way?

[17:57] I know some versions have the word magi, which is just a transliteration straight into the Greek. But who were they really? Some think that they were Persian philosophers, maybe even priests.

[18:11] Some think they were magicians, magi. magicians, maybe sorcerers of some kind. Some think that they were oriental astronomers because they were looking at the stars.

[18:26] Or maybe not just astronomers but astrologers, you know, reading the stars as some still do today. And of course, the traditional view is that they were oriental kings, you know, kings of great might and wealth and that there were three of them and their names were Gaspar and Baltasar and Melchior, you know.

[18:49] And so they're kings because of their apparent wealth and there are three of them because there were three gifts, all right. That's kind of a tradition and an old tradition, by the way, probably the most popular one.

[19:01] But of course, you know that the Bible doesn't have anything to say on the subject. It doesn't tell us who they were, so maybe we shouldn't guess who they were. It really doesn't matter because we can say this, whatever sort of wise men they were, whether they were magicians or astrologers or astronomers or whatever they may have been or kings, whatever kind of wise men they were, they really began to be wise men when they came, sought Jesus and worshipped him.

[19:28] They were truly wise men when they set out from their country and traveled all of that distance through all of the hardship of that travel to worship Jesus, the Christ.

[19:39] their worship was in who they sought. Verse 1 tells us, Behold wise men from the east, that is literally from the rising, that means from the rising of the sun, the east, which would be the east.

[19:54] They came to Jerusalem saying, Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? Which is a reference to the Messiah. So they were looking for the Messiah, they wanted to worship him, said we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him.

[20:09] They were wise in who they sought. They followed a star, the Bible says. There's a picture of one up there in there. What sort of star was it?

[20:21] I mean, there are a lot of questions surrounding that and most of the answers are the guesses really. They aren't really any clear cut answers. Well, the guesses say that it was not a real star at all in the traditional sense.

[20:37] It was perhaps the planet Jupiter, some have said, known as the king of the planets. It's very fitting to be the light from Jupiter, you know, pointing to the king, the Messiah.

[20:52] Or some have said it could be, could have been Jupiter and Saturn together, thus forming the sign of the fish, the Ichthus, which was the Christian sign or symbol.

[21:03] people. Some say it was a comet. Some say it might have been a low-flying meteor. Some have even suggested it wasn't any material, physical thing at all, that it was a divine inner light, the, quote, inner vision of the star of destiny in the hearts of mankind, end quote.

[21:25] The problem with all of these is they don't really line up with the description that we have in the passage. And that's what we've got to go by, and that's just as far as we can go.

[21:36] And so the description kind of tells us, namely, that the star appeared, wasn't there before, and then it appeared, and apparently disappeared for a time, and then ultimately just disappeared altogether.

[21:50] Also that the star moved, it moved, and then it stood still, and it accurately pinpointed the exact location of the birth of Jesus.

[22:04] That's what we learned from verse 9, and behold, the star which they had seen in the east went before them. So they were following a star, it moved, is the implication there, until it came and stood, the Bible says.

[22:18] So it stood still. All right, a comet wouldn't do that, a meteor wouldn't do that. Stars don't move, per se. We might move in their direction, but it came and it stood still, and it was able then to pinpoint the exact location.

[22:34] It stood still, the Bible says, over, right over where the young child was. I'll just throw that out to you, you know, it's interesting to try to figure out what it is.

[22:46] What's the answer? I mean, what viable conclusion could we come to, and I think I have one. The English word star is very similar to the Greek word, which is austere.

[23:03] So, you know, it kind of comes to us from the Greek, the Latin, it's Latin based. And the word is sometimes used to refer to a brightness, just a brightness, or a bright light of some kind.

[23:19] The word would be used to apply to that. The same is true of the Hebrew word for star, and both the Hebrew and Greek words for star sometimes are used figuratively in reference to the Messiah, in reference to the Christ.

[23:38] For example, and this would be the best example in Numbers 24, 17, the Bible says, a star shall come out of Jacob, a scepter shall rise out of Israel, king.

[23:50] Revelation in the Greek, Revelation 2, 28, Jesus is called the morning star. And toward the end of the book, in Revelation 22, 16, Jesus even calls himself the bright and morning star.

[24:07] Now, here's what I believe. I believe the wise men were the only ones who saw this bright light, whatever it may have been, this star, as it's translated for us.

[24:20] It was meant only for them, and they followed it. And it was a visible manifestation of the glory of the Lord, his Shekinah.

[24:30] We have several examples of that in the Old Testament. His Shekinah, that is the divine presence of God. And so the glory of God led them and showed them exactly where to find the Christ.

[24:44] And they wanted to find Christ because they were wise in who they sought, you see. And God led them to the Christ, the exact location. It was the glory of God. You know, the wise men endured quite a lot in their travels to find the Christ, didn't they?

[25:00] I mean, some of this is speculation as well. We don't know how far they traveled. They clearly came from the Orient, came from the far east of where Jesus was born. They were not Jews, not part of Israel.

[25:12] Israel. And they endured all that distance in their travel. And with the distance, they endured difficulty because it certainly was difficult to travel in those days, not anything like it is today.

[25:25] And they also, I think, endured danger. There was always danger along the road for those who traveled great distances. And so they endured all of these.

[25:36] And why would they do that? Because they were wise. And God made them wise. They wanted to worship. They wanted to find the Christ and worship Him. And it was worth all of that adversity.

[25:47] And I want to make this application. How many in America have come on this Sunday to church like you have to worship the Lord Jesus Christ? How many? Not many in relation to the population of our nation.

[26:02] And we don't really have to endure distance. I mean, in most places in America, there's a church in nearly every corner. corner. And we don't have to endure difficulty unless it's the difficulty of getting out of bed or maybe getting the kids dressed and ready.

[26:17] And I do remember the day when that was a pretty difficult thing to do. And we don't have to endure danger unless it's a little icy spot someplace on the road getting to the church.

[26:28] And yet many have chosen not to come on Sunday to worship the King of Kings. Kings. But now, getting back to these wise men, how did these, you might be asking, how did these wise men come to the conclusion, come to the understanding that this bright light, this star, as they called it, how did they come to the conclusion that it was associated with the birth of Messiah?

[26:55] I mean, it didn't have words printed in the sky. How did they make that connection, that association? Well, that leads me to my second point. They were not only wise in who they sought, but they were wise in the way they were taught.

[27:13] In the way they were taught. These wise men did not journey all this distance from their home on some hunch. These wise men didn't go to all the trouble and travel all that distance with the difficulties and dangers that would surely come as a result.

[27:32] They didn't do all of that just because of curiosity about some bright light in the sky. No, they were instructed. They were instructed by the Word of God.

[27:45] It was the Word of God that led them. Listen, I believe that they did what Jesus suggested that the Pharisees do in John 5, 39. He said, search the Scriptures, for these are they which testify of me.

[28:01] And so these wise men, I believe, searched the Scriptures. They were students of the Word of God. And they found Christ there in the Word of God. And they didn't have complete understanding of everything because they were still searching even when they got to Jerusalem.

[28:17] But the Bible had revealed that Christ would be the star that would come out of Jacob. And that means he would come out of the nation Israel. And then, because they believed that and they were seeking him, the glory of God, then revealed, led them and revealed the Messiah to them and showed them exactly where he was, where they could find him.

[28:38] They were wise in the way they were taught. And they wanted to find him. Again, they wanted to find him. They wanted to worship him because they were wise in who they sought.

[28:49] You know, the prophets had foretold a number of things about the coming of Messiah, the first time. We have many of those things quoted in Matthew.

[29:00] We looked at some of those last week. But the Bible also foretold of the time, the general time of Christ's first coming. Now, we don't have a time schedule put in the Bible for his second coming, but there was one, is one in the Bible concerning his first coming.

[29:19] Specifically, Daniel 9.25, where the Bible says the prophecy of Daniel, says, knowing therefore, know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, the coming of Messiah the Prince, there shall be, and then it's kind of cryptic at this point, seven weeks and 62 weeks.

[29:48] Now, understanding the meaning there and not taking the time this morning to really go into all the wise aware force of it, he's literally saying in 173,880 days, between the declaring or the decree to rebuild Jerusalem to the coming of Messiah, that many days, and using the Jewish calendar, which they would use, that's 483 years.

[30:16] Now, since we know when Artaxerxes gave the command to rebuild Jerusalem, then it's a fairly simple mathematical equation to discover when the Messiah is due to arrive.

[30:28] Now, the prophets had foretold that. The prophets also had foretold the place of Christ's birth. We looked at that last week. That appears right here in Matthew chapter 2, a quotation of Micah chapter 5, 2, and the city of Bethlehem.

[30:45] That's where the Messiah would be born. All these things and many, many other things have been foretold in the Old Testament by the Old Testament prophets, and the wise men were studying.

[30:57] They were students of God's Word. They were still learning even when they came to Jerusalem, still inquiring, still seeking, and still being taught. And, you know, the guiding principle when it comes to understanding God's Word is simply this, seek and you shall find.

[31:13] Now, I know we apply that to a host of other things, but it applies best to the Word of God and the will of God. God says, seek my Word, seek my instruction, seek my teaching, seek my will, and you shall find it.

[31:29] Literally, you shall keep on finding it. So, literally, if you will keep on seeking God, seeking His Word, then you will keep on finding Him. And so, you see, these wise men, whatever sort of wise men they were, were searching the Scriptures and they wanted to know more of what God had said in His Word about the coming King.

[31:53] And so, God led them to the Christ and they worshipped Him. And so, the Bible taught them about the coming of Christ, His first coming.

[32:04] And, by the way, the same Bible is telling us about Christ coming again. He is coming again. Are you ready for Him? Could be today. All right, then, these wise men were wise in who they sought.

[32:19] These wise men were wise in the way they were taught. And one more, and now we're getting on kind of familiar ground. In fact, we already sang a chorus that deals with some of what I'm going to be sharing with you now.

[32:34] These wise men were wise in what they brought. What they brought to the Christ. Verse 11 says, they presented gifts to Him.

[32:48] And so, we can say definitively, dogmatically, these wise men were taught by Him. These wise men were sought after Him. These wise men rejoiced because of Him.

[33:00] Verse 10. These wise men worshipped at the sight of Him. Verse 11. And gave Him gifts. Verse 11 says, they opened their treasures.

[33:12] What did they bring Him? Well, physically speaking, materially speaking, what they brought was very costly.

[33:23] These were costly gifts. Kingly gifts. They gave Jesus their best, which I think by itself, in and of itself, is an important truth concerning worship.

[33:39] To offer Jesus your very best. Best of what you have. But spiritually speaking, these gifts were instructive. Revealing.

[33:51] Even prophetic. Prophetic. First of all, gold. Gold. Gold speaks of Jesus' sovereignty. His right to rule.

[34:04] His kingship. Gold, more than any other precious metal, is a symbol of majesty, of sovereignty, of kingship. In Psalm 21, verse 3, a messianic psalm, says, You set a crown of pure gold upon His head.

[34:22] And then second, frankincense. Frankincense. Frankincense speaks of Jesus' sinless deity. His sinless deity.

[34:34] He's not only king, and the gold points to that. King of kings. But He is also God. Jesus is sinless God.

[34:46] Sinless deity. And let me just suggest a few interesting applications. About this frankincense, this incense, very costly. This precious incense comes from a substance they get from a tree.

[35:06] And Jesus would one day die upon a tree, nailed to a tree, the cross. To collect this incense, the bark of the tree had to be stripped, and then its trunk would be punctured with a sharp object.

[35:25] Jesus was stripped naked on the cross, and they took a spear and punctured His side. The substance that would ooze out of this tree was pure white.

[35:38] Jesus was pure, sinless. He was the sinless Christ. The fragrance of the frankincense is sweet.

[35:49] The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 2.15, For we are to God the sweet savor of Christ among those who are being saved. We're not the sweet savor.

[36:01] Christ is the sweet savor. The Christ in us. Christ is the sweet savor. And also, everywhere in the Old Testament where incense is required and prescribed, it's always in worship and always to be directed toward God and not to man.

[36:20] And so these wise men knew who this little infant was. If this baby was not God in the flesh, then these wise men were idolaters.

[36:32] And guess what? So are we. But He is the Christ. He is God. And so these wise men gave Him gold. He is sovereign king.

[36:44] These wise men gave Him frankincense. He is sovereign God. Sinless deity. And these wise men gave Him myrrh. And of course we know the way that the myrrh speaks of Jesus' sacrifice.

[36:59] The sacrifice of His life. Myrrh was an expensive perfume. Very expensive. Very much like frankincense. But in the New Testament times it had a very specific use.

[37:11] It was used in the preparation of a body for burial. And so the wise men gave it as a gift to Jesus. But its use pointed to the future.

[37:24] Very prophetic. Pointed to the future. It's purpose was then fulfilled in John 19.38. Listen to this. Joseph of Arimathea being a disciple of Jesus but secretly for fear of the Jews asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus.

[37:45] And Pilate gave him permission. And so he came and took the body of Jesus. And Nicodemus who at first came to Jesus by night also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes about a hundred pounds.

[38:02] Quite a lot. Then they took the body of Jesus and bound it in strips of linen with the spices as the custom of the Jews is to bury. So you see these wise men they were wise in what they brought.

[38:19] They gave humbly. They fell down. Worshipped him. Little baby Jesus. They gave unselfishly.

[38:31] They presented gifts to him. Costly gifts. They gave sacrificially. They opened up their own treasures to him. And they gave prophetically.

[38:44] That's the point that I want us to see. their worship. This is what Matthew is pointing us to. Their worship.

[38:57] The way they worship. How they were taught in their worship that led them to worship. What they brought. They gave. Their worship revealed the true identity of this baby lying in a feeding trough.

[39:15] born of Mary a virgin. This baby born in Bethlehem. He is the Christ of God. He is the Messiah.

[39:28] King of kings and Lord of lords. Evaluate your worship based upon the model the example that we have in the wise men.

[39:41] does your worship reveal who Jesus is? Or does your worship reveal who you are?

[39:52] There's a lot of worship going on today in churches all around the United States all around the world. Many of them their worship the form of the worship points more to man than it does to God.

[40:08] but true worship points to him points everything to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

[40:20] It points to him in the way we worship and we're informed in scripture on how to do that. So worship is attached to teaching the instructions of God's word.

[40:33] When Paul said that we worship or Jesus rather said we worship in spirit and in truth we worship in spirit as true believers but we worship according to the truth.

[40:47] So is your worship wise in the way you're taught? Is your worship wise in who you're seeking? Who you're seeking? Does it point to Christ or does it point to self?

[41:01] Or is your worship so so dead that it really doesn't point anywhere? And is your worship wise in what you bring to Christ?

[41:14] Have you opened up your treasures to him? Have you given to him out of your treasures giving to him your very best? You see the way you worship points everyone to who Christ is he's king of kings he's lord of lords and to to!

[41:42] to to to! Thank you.