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[0:00] Matthew chapter 2 is where we'll be at this morning. We will be looking at it in its entirety. It's not very many verses. We'll be looking at verses 1 through 23 as we just continue our study through the book of Matthew.

[0:11] We are just now getting into the study of our Gospel of Matthew. And if you remember, and something that we consistently highlight as we come to it, Matthew is the author of The King Has Come, right?

[0:23] The appearance of the King. The King is here. Each of the Gospels give us a full portrait of who Christ is. And by each of them, I mean when we read the four Gospels together, we get a four-sided or four-faceted view of Christ.

[0:38] Four-dimensional is how some Bible scholars put it. We get a complete picture of who Christ is. And we see this and we realize it. And when Matthew is writing to the Jewish people, because his intended audience was a Jewish audience, he is writing of the King who had come.

[0:53] And he is really prominent in that opening pages of the New Testament intentionally as God directed men to canonize Scripture, to put Scripture together.

[1:04] I don't think it was accidental that Matthew is here first because Matthew is the fulfillment of the long-sought-after prophecies in the book of Isaiah of the coming King from the stump of the root of David who would arise and the rulership should never depart from him.

[1:20] And he would rule his people and he would lead them to redemption and forgiveness. And even in Matthew, we find when Jesus stands up and he opens up the scroll of Isaiah and he reads from it.

[1:31] You know, these prophecies are fulfilled in your hearing today. So Matthew is constantly pointing to the King. And he's constantly pointing to who he is, that he is here, he's come.

[1:41] Now we understand on this side of the cross, right, on this side of the tomb and the empty grave and the resurrection, that every prophecy that Isaiah was proclaiming in the book of Isaiah did not come about in the first appearing of Christ.

[1:54] As a matter of fact, there are about twice as many prophecies of the second coming of Christ. But it is still important for us to know who this King is and while he is coming and what he did when he was here.

[2:08] And Matthew puts him out there and says, here's the King. Now, Matthew, also known as Levi, who is set as a tax collector at the Roman tax tables, right? He had served one emperor and was drawn away by the true emperor, the King of kings and Lord of lords.

[2:24] And after his encounter with Christ, nothing was the same. And from that point on, began to openly, boldly proclaim who Jesus is. We don't know much about him historically, especially connected to scripture, because we have this one gospel account written by him in which he doesn't really highlight his own activities.

[2:43] History shows us that Matthew traveled and went, just as the other apostles went on missionary endeavors, died a martyr's death is what history shows as a result of his profession of faith in Christ, that he was constantly looking for this King to reappear.

[3:01] And the boldness and assurance he had of it is what led him to openly proclaim, here is the King to other people. Now, as we opened up the first chapter, we began to see the family the King chose, right?

[3:15] The people he chose to come, not only just to dwell among, but to call his own. And we were amazed at that genealogy that we have in Matthew, that the King of kings, the Lord of lords, God himself, who could have chosen anybody, chose these people to be his earthly family, and kind of makes us scratch our head a little bit.

[3:33] But then we closed the first chapter looking at the birth, really not so much of the birth or the announcement of his coming, not through Mary, but through Joseph. And we were amazed again at just how the King chooses to come in in such power and such authority.

[3:50] And I want you to open up with me this morning into Matthew chapter 2. And I want you, I'll announce the title before we read it, but we're going to stand together and read the Word of God. And I want you to see the King among men.

[4:03] The King among men. So if you're physically able and desire to do so, I'm asking you to join with me as we stand together and we read the Word of God found in Matthew chapter 2.

[4:15] Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, Magga from the east arrived in Jerusalem saying, Where is he who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.

[4:30] When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. Gathering together all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They said to him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is what has been written by the prophet.

[4:44] And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the leaders of Judah. For out of you shall come forth a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. Then Herod secretly called the Magga and determined from them the exact time the star appeared.

[4:58] And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, Go and search carefully for the child. And when you have found him, report to me so that I too may come and worship him. After hearing the king, they went their way and the star which they had seen in the east went on before them until they came and stood over the place where the child was.

[5:14] When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And after coming into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother and they fell to the ground and worshipped him. Then opening up their treasures, they presented to him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

[5:28] And having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, the Magga left for their own country by another way. Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you for Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.

[5:44] So Joseph got up and took the child and his mother while it was still night and left for Egypt. And he remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet out of Egypt.

[5:55] I called my son. Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the Magga, he became very enraged and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity from two years old and under according to the time which he had determined from the Magga.

[6:10] Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah, the prophet was fulfilled. Her voice was heard in Ramah weeping in great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and she refused to be comforted because they were no more.

[6:21] But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, Get up, take the child and his mother and go into the land of Israel. For those who saw the child's life are dead.

[6:31] So Joseph got up, took the child and his mother and came into the land of Israel. But when he had heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Then after being warned by God in a dream, he left for the regions of Galilee and he came and lived in a city called Nazareth.

[6:48] This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets. He shall be called a Nazarene. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for this day. And God, we rejoice in every opportunity we have to read your word.

[7:01] And Lord, we pray that as we have heard it and we have read it together this morning, Lord, now that you would speak to our hearts and minds. We pray that the clarity of it would be seen by each and every one of us that our minds and our hearts would be opened up to the truth that it contains.

[7:17] We pray that it would come with power and authority and it would change us and move us and shape us to become more like your image for your glory and yours alone. And we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen.

[7:27] You may be seated. Just as we looked at last week, it is amazing just in really opening statements to see as we read this passage just how obedient Joseph is to every revealed, declared word of God.

[7:42] We looked at that in the closing passages last week in Matthew chapter 1, how when God revealed something that even seemed seemingly impossible, Joseph willingly obeyed, and he obeyed with confidence.

[7:54] And I told you last week that as we move forward in Matthew, especially into the second chapter, we would see the same thing, that when God revealed his word, Joseph didn't question or doubt or even try to really discuss, he just obeyed whatever it is God told him to do.

[8:10] And we see that here in the second chapter that Joseph is just constantly one who responds to the word of God. Now I know Mary, and rightfully so, God used her. She was referred to as highly favored one.

[8:22] She was the one that carried the Emmanuel in the womb. She's the one who was there and was at the cross. And we see that Mary has her place of prominence, but we don't ever need to forget the man that God chose as well, just one of quiet, deliberate obedience, constantly responding and doing what God had asked him to do, not bickering, not fighting, not doubting, maybe struggling a little bit internally, but we never see that spelled out for us.

[8:50] He's just doing whatever God told him to do. That's not part of the message. That's just part that we need to look at and just stand amazed at. We also see here in Matthew chapter 2, Matthew's emphasis on the fulfillment of prophetic word.

[9:03] This is why it's so important to always look at it in its proper context and to understand that Matthew is not just looking at things as they were in his present circumstance. He has been looking at things that were declared in the past, things that we're looking for with expectation into the future.

[9:18] He is really looking at what God has been doing throughout history, and he is declaring to the people who are reading this letter that what God has promised has come about. Now, if we were to search some of these prophecies in the Old Testament, we would see that many of them, if not all of them, have a partial fulfillment in other circumstances and other events and other happenings, like this one from Jeremiah that's Rachel weeping for her children.

[9:42] That prophecy is a literal fulfillment in Jeremiah of when God's people were put into exile, because it says later on in that same passage that the children would come back, and where there was weeping, there would be joy.

[9:53] But Matthew, rightfully so, being led of the Lord, realizes that every prophecy, while it may have a partial fulfillment in history, finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

[10:04] This is just something that we need to understand from the very beginning. Every word of God and every promise of God's ultimate fulfillment is found in Jesus Christ alone. Though he may meet needs and do things in time and space and history, every great fulfillment is found in Jesus Christ.

[10:25] And we see this. But what we really stand amazed at in the second chapter of Matthew is what it looks like when the king is among man. And what happens?

[10:36] I was tempted to title this a king among man. But then I realized the weakness of that statement, because a means it could be any particular king, or another individual could rise up.

[10:51] But when you say the king, you are given it singular force, right? Because ultimately there is only one king. There is only one lord.

[11:03] There's only one ruler. And men behave differently when a king among men may show up in their presence. But when the king is standing among men, as John declares, he came to his own and his own received him not.

[11:22] But when that king, Emmanuel, came, he is the ultimate king and he dwells among men. What happens? And that's the question that we need to ask, because when we are confronted with this passage, it's good to look at this and read into it and say, oh, there's some beautiful Christmas stories there, right?

[11:38] With the coming of the three wise men. Even though nothing in history tells us that they were three, I know that we think that they're three, and we would assume that they were three, because there were three gifts. More than likely, they would travel so many months and so many miles with a lot more than three people, because the region they traveled across was not all that pleasant.

[11:54] More than likely, if you're carrying gold and frankincense and myrrh, things of great value, you just don't go. Unless you're three pretty bad dudes. I don't mean, I know that doesn't sound really good pastorally, right? Unless you're like three Navy SEAL wise men whose whole job and occupation was just to stare at the stars.

[12:09] Those are not necessarily the guys I would think that I would be really afraid of. No offense there, right? They're astrologers and astronomers, and they're like, oh yeah, look at the stars. I mean, these must have been some pretty bad stargazing guys just to carry that much money across the desert barren wilderness where robbers and thieves were known to dwell.

[12:26] So more than likely, you had this whole entourage. Because what I have also understood is three men don't disrupt a whole city. Because King Herod and all of Jerusalem was disrupted when they showed up.

[12:40] But an entourage sent from a foreign empire bearing camel loads of gifts probably will disrupt a multitude of people.

[12:52] So anyway, we read this and say, oh, well, this is a pretty good Christmas story, but let's look beyond that. Let's look and see how it plays out in our life, right? Why is it here? Because I don't think when the Spirit of God was moving the hand of man, that is Matthew, to write the Word of God, that God had in mind that we would use this in Christmas plays and Christmas stories, even though those things don't take God by surprise.

[13:13] And please hear me out, and I'm not saying that that's wrong because it is a part of the story, but what I'm saying is that God was revealing these things to us so that we can look and see what it looks like when the King of all of kings shows up and lives among men.

[13:27] Because in this passage, by the way, we normally don't complete the story in our Christmas plays. We don't go back to King Herod and see, as what Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story.

[13:38] That doesn't make a good Christmas play, right? We usually cut it off after the offerings of gold, frankincense, and myrrh because we don't like the ugly parts. But guess what?

[13:49] God includes those. Because here we are confronted with what it looks like when the King comes and dwells among men. Number one, when the King is present, number one, there is the attraction of the King.

[14:06] There is the attraction of the King. Simply put, people are drawn to Him. All people are drawn to Him.

[14:17] It says, now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the King, and I'll just stop right there. Maybe you didn't catch it in our first reading of this passage, but you'll catch it as you go back and you study and read it again, and you look at it as we go through the message this morning.

[14:30] But it seems almost amazing to me that Matthew is contrasting here Herod the King with a lowercase king and Jesus the child king with a capital K King, right?

[14:41] There is this contrast between the King of men and the King who is among men, right? There is this contrast of Herod who seems to have attained this throne because that's what he did.

[14:52] He married the right people. He ascended to the right realm. He made the right friends in the Roman Empire. He made sure that when this guy was killing this guy that he was friends with this guy and he finagled him and got his way around here.

[15:05] He wasn't called Herod the Great because he was a great guy. He was called Herod the Great because he did some pretty amazing architectural things, right? He developed underwater concrete. He rebuilt the temple. He did that just to appease the people in Jerusalem because he was not all Jewish.

[15:17] He was Edumaean which means he was a half Jew. So he had enough Jewish blood in him that he could say, see, I'm of you. But he added enough non-Jewish blood that he could look at the Romans and say, see, I'm of you. And so he ascended this position here in this rulership and he even built a, he developed underwater concrete.

[15:34] He built this aqueduct. He did all these things just in development but they were all self-seeking, right? He was also terrified that one of his sons would take his throne so he killed most of them. Killed a number of his wives.

[15:47] It's amazing. He built this place that he could go to and fortify himself. The Jews ended up leaving that when Rome, they lived there. When Rome came and captured Jerusalem in AD 70, they went there to Masada which is where Herod built one of his fortified cities.

[16:01] But what we see is this king who did so much because Jesus appears at the end of his life and the true king and the contrast between them. But we see the attraction because it says, after this man guy from the east arrived in Jerusalem saying, where is he who has been born king of the Jews?

[16:18] It's amazing, right? These people weren't coming to Herod even though he had ruled with some at least world-renowned. He had ruled in this Roman Empire. More than likely, he came from the Babylonian Empire that was on the other side of the desert to the east of Jerusalem.

[16:32] It would have crossed the Jordan River. It would have went across the desert. And there in that Babylonian Empire, they probably would have traveled from there. You can read the book of Daniel and you are introduced to this cast of wise men there or sorcerers or magicians.

[16:45] And now here in the New Testament they're referred to as Magi or Magi, however you want to say it. But they're drawn. They're pulled to him, right? You say, where is he? Because we have seen his star and we have come to worship him and they're looking.

[16:57] And all I want you to focus on here is the fact that when the king comes among men, people are attracted. People are attracted. The reality is it was God drawing them to the king.

[17:15] Okay? Put the other gospels together with this. There were some shepherds out in the field the night he was born. And the angels of the Lord appeared to the shepherds and said, Behold, there is a king born today in the city of David.

[17:28] And this will be a sign for you. You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. So, then the Magi, they come probably about two years later, year and a half to two years later and God draws them.

[17:38] How does God draw them? Through a star that they see in the sky. All I want you to see here, the thing that should astound us is that God meets people where they're at. To shepherds, he met them with a child laying in a manger in a pen, right?

[17:52] Because that's where they were welcomed. To these magicians or these Magi who were astrologers looking up to heaven, God revealed to them a star that would draw them and attract them. But all of this was done according to the word of God because Numbers 24, 17 which is a false prophecy from one of the greatest false prophets who ever lived in that region to the east who declares, Behold, I see him but not now.

[18:15] I see him yet far off. A star shall arise out of Judah and the scepter shall never depart from his hand. Numbers 24, 17. And when Daniel was led into Babylonian captivity and Daniel because God gave him the interpretation of dreams.

[18:28] Think about this. All these years before, right? So in 586 BC Daniel was taken out of Jerusalem. 586. Jesus is probably born somewhere around 4 BC. So in case you're not really good at math as I'm not really good at math all the time, it's like 582 years before that, right?

[18:44] So 582 years prior to this Daniel was taken into Babylon and he now has this gift to interpret dreams. God has given him a gift so he ascends to prominence in the region of Babylonian Empire and he becomes this head of this cast of magicians, that guy.

[19:01] And because he ascends to that prominent row, all of the books that are important to Daniel end up in a Babylonian library. Well, the books that are important to Daniel are the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch.

[19:14] So he deposits those. Now, how would these Magi know 24, 17? Because one of their practices was to read the books that the people before them left behind.

[19:26] So they would have read this Numbers 24, 17 passage and then all of a sudden God shows them this star and he leads them and he brings them there. He met them where they were at.

[19:38] Because the scripture is absolutely accurate. No man comes lest he be drawn by the Father. These men didn't decide to take a journey because they thought it was a good idea.

[19:51] The shepherds didn't decide to leave their sheep behind because they thought it was a good idea because for shepherds that's never a good idea. Simeon didn't decide to go into the temple that day because he thought it was a good idea. You know, Anna who had been in the temple for over 80 years praying and waiting did not know to go out and prophesy over this child because she thought it was a good idea.

[20:09] Each and every one of these when the king shows up among men, one thing you find in common, every one of them were attracted and drawn. That's a great place in the very depth of your soul to say amen and hallelujah because the only way you ever come to the king is that the God of heaven draws you to him and he meets you where you're at.

[20:35] If you need a child laying in a manger, he's there. If you need a star to appear in heaven, he's there. If you need a spirit to reveal to you in prayer that he is coming among you, he is there. If you need someone to prod you when you've been praying for 80 something years, behold, he is there.

[20:50] God is always there drawing people to the king because when the king comes among men, the very first thing we see is attraction.

[21:03] This is why John can say he came to his own, but his own received him not, but it's not that none came. Jesus himself says, all of those you have given to me, I have not lost any of them but one who was the one of the son of perdition who was prophesied long before.

[21:17] He said, I didn't lose any that you have given to me, Father, because you have drawn them to me and put them under my care. He is the good shepherd who calls out his sheep and they come to him, right? So we see the reality of this is when this king, the king is here, people are drawn and attracted and God is constantly bringing people to his presence.

[21:38] We see the attraction of the king. Secondly, we see the adoration of the king because God doesn't just attract people to go, oh, that's pretty cool. I never thought I'd see this, right? He doesn't do that.

[21:49] He draws them for a purpose. So the Magi come in and they ask Herod, where is he who has been born king of the Jews? Herod, of course, is upset about this. He's a little insecure in his rulership anyway. He's always afraid someone's going to usurp his authority and take thrones so he wants to get to the bottom of this.

[22:04] So unbeknownst to Herod, he helps the wise men out. He calls all the religious leaders together. He gets all the scribes and the Pharisees together. He determines where that is. The prophecy said, and you, O Bethlehem of Judea, you shall not lease among the tribes but you shall not be considered light because out of you the one will come who will be the Messiah.

[22:20] So Herod goes back and tells them, right? He helps them out. And then it says, it amazes me, that when they left there, then they saw the star. Now I just have a question for you, okay? Maybe this is just me overthinking things.

[22:31] Maybe this is just me. Well, no, it's not just me. Maybe it's just me overthinking things, okay? If Herod was that concerned, don't you think that Herod could have looked up and seen the star and followed the star too?

[22:42] Yeah. Because it says, the Magi, when they left there, they saw the star and the star led them until it stood over the house where the child was. I don't think it, because this was something that God was doing for them.

[22:57] Them. Only they could see it because He was attracting and drawing them. And He was pulling them for purpose, right? And it says, and when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding joy and celebration and rejoicing.

[23:13] And that's why I said that was a good place to say amen and hallelujah deep in your soul is because we ought to exceedingly rejoice in the fact that God draws us to Himself. We ought to exceedingly rejoice in the means and the opportunities that God has for each one of us uniquely, right?

[23:29] As individuals and attracts us to who He is and brings us into the presence of the King. This ought to be a reason for celebration. And they come, see, our adoration of the King begins when we celebrate the way God draws us to the King.

[23:46] The adoration for the Jewish people when they were going into the temple, they didn't go into the temple to adore God. They didn't go into the temple to worship God. Their adoration and worship began outside the temple.

[23:59] As a matter of fact, before they left their house, they prepared themselves to worship. As they were going to the temple, they prepared themselves to worship. As they ascended the steps of the temple, their hearts were prepared to worship.

[24:09] They had these psalms of ascent, those very short psalms there at the book of Psalms. They're all called psalms of ascent because as they were ascending the hill to the temple, they sang these psalms, who will open up to us the gates of the temple?

[24:21] Who will do it? It is the Lord God Almighty and all these things. Praise Him, praise Him, praise Him. All these things were there to prepare their hearts. They intentionally made the steps going to the temple uneven so that you couldn't just haphazardly walk up to Him.

[24:35] You had to pay attention to what you were doing because you were preparing yourself to worship. See, your adoration started as you were going into His presence, not just when you got there. You were already worshiping when you got there.

[24:49] Which means, I hope, I pray, that you were already worshiping before you got here today. that what takes place in our corporate gathering is just an overflow of what's already been happening in your private gathering.

[25:01] Now, let me go ahead and say this. Whatever happens in our corporate gathering will always be an overflow of whatever was going on in your private moments. It's not very popular, but as Tony Evans says, Satan finds a way into the church and sometimes he rides the back of the members.

[25:20] Because whatever we're doing in our private life will always be magnified and amplified in our corporate life. That's just the reality. We can't help for it to be that because God shines a light, right?

[25:33] Because the light reveals and Jesus says, where I am, He is the light. He reveals it, right? He reveals it in our own way. That's why it's okay if in this corporate gathering our hearts are broken and our hearts are just rent and we have to come and weep because the light has revealed that to us.

[25:50] It's okay if we have to confess a sin to a brother or sister because the light reveals that to us. It is only when we don't let that revelation happen, when we haven't prepared ourselves to worship.

[26:01] See, we can't do anything in here as talented as anyone who sings up here can be, as talented as any musician can be, as talented as any individual who comes up, and I have no talent, so I'm not going to talk about the preaching, right?

[26:15] None of this stuff, I don't mean this to be offensively at all, none of this is going to lead us to worship if we are not already worshiping. That is a misconstrued idea of the American church that we want whoever to stand up to lead us to worship.

[26:35] God declares to us, praise him, worship him, adore him. The wise men leave and they see this, these magi, they see this star, they start worshiping before they ever get to the house.

[26:49] No wonder when they walk in the house and they see the child, they fall on their face and they worship him because, let me just go and tell you, if you've been worshiping on the way to the house when you finally get and you see him in the house, you fall on your face and you worship in the house.

[27:02] That's what happens. It's a direct result of what happened on the way. And we're looking at the adoration of the king. But worship wasn't the end of it, right? Because it says they worshiped and they fell on their face.

[27:13] That's, by the way, is a proper response. Anytime the king is present, you fall on your face. That's just a proper response. Fall on your face, you praise him, you worship him. It says, and then, after that, they could have just said, well, that was good, we're awesome, we came and we humbled ourselves, we worshiped ourselves.

[27:27] Then they opened up their treasures and they gave to him. We're not here to really talk about why the gold, the frankincense, and the myrrh, they all have great types and pictures and they point to things later on.

[27:38] I think it's also a good way for God to fund Joseph's soon coming trip. I mean, honestly, I think God, it takes a lot of money to move a family to Egypt, right?

[27:48] It takes a lot of money to go on a run for a little while. I don't say go on a run, he wasn't on a run, but to go to Egypt and to hang out in Egypt for a little while and then to move back and to relocate to Nazareth, it takes a lot of money. Evidently, he had been there enough to establish a house to live in and Joseph had to leave his carpenter trade.

[28:02] I don't know if they needed carpenters down there in Egypt, but it takes a little bit of money to get there so God says, that's not a problem. I've got some gold, frankincense, and Samargoat is always a good currency, by the way. He says, I can fund your travels, but what we see is they open up their treasures and they give because, see, adoration is not just worship.

[28:21] Adoration is opening up that which is precious to us and giving it to him. Whatever is most precious and saying, here it is, Lord.

[28:32] I want to give it to you. That's adoration, right? It's living open-handedly and saying, okay, if you put it there, I'm going to use it and enjoy it to the best of the ability you've given me.

[28:43] If you take it out, awesome, you can have it. That's good. It's just adoration. It's like, Lord, you're worthy of it also. Here, here it is. Here it is. Now, those are two great things, right?

[28:56] There's the attraction of the king. There's the adoration of the king, but let me just tell you something. The reality is, the reason we have the second half of this chapter is because now there's the animosity towards the king.

[29:09] There's the animosity towards the king. Let's just go ahead and get this settled, right? The king of kings allows no man to remain neutral. As a matter of fact, historically, no king with any authority has ever allowed anyone to remain neutral.

[29:31] Right? It just doesn't happen. The good kings and the bad kings. You can read your history and you can see what happens. Neutrality is not an issue.

[29:42] Either you're for me or you're against me. Right? You need to understand that the kingdom of heaven is not a democracy. It's a theocracy. That is, it's God on the throne and God alone.

[29:55] He's not there to set up a monarchy that's going to be passed down from generation to generation. He's not there to set up a family lineage. He's not there to set up majority rules. It is a theocracy that God sets on the throne and he is on the throne and history will show us the book of Revelations is already declared to us and we see it even here in the opening pages of the New Testament that the king who sets on the throne allows no man to remain neutral.

[30:21] Which means you will respond one of these two ways. That's just the reality. The first way are those who are drawn to the king and they come with adoration.

[30:34] That's the first. King Herod is a representation. Now the ultimate representation of the second way is those who respond with this attraction with animosity because King Herod was drawn to the king the same way.

[30:50] The wise men were in his own way because what bothered him? What was his way? Well, someone who would be called king other than him. Someone that would seem to be born as a king because he was not born.

[31:00] He had no blood lineage right to the throne he was setting upon. So one way God could get his attention is saying there is one born in your realm who is the true king.

[31:12] And now Herod was confronted with a choice. Will I go and adore and worship this child? Will I go and adore and exalt this king? Or will I respond another way just as all mankind is?

[31:22] But we see that God warns in a dream or he warned the Magi and told them not to go back because God knows what he's doing.

[31:34] Right? So he goes and then God warns in a dream Joseph and tells him that they're going to seek to kill this child and he needs to go to Egypt for this would fulfill the prophecy out of Egypt I call my child.

[31:46] See, you thought that was just about God exodusing his people in the book of Exodus. It had more to do than just God calling the nation of Israel out of Egypt. Right? Because out of Egypt I shall call my child the king.

[31:59] That is just there so that we can have it here. Right? That's why it's there. And it points to this picture. So he says Joseph go over there because that's outside the realm of Herod. He has no right over there.

[32:10] It's a good place to go live. So go there. And Joseph responds and he goes and then it says that when Herod realized when King Herod realized he had been tricked. See, the true king cannot be tricked because the true king knows all things but King Herod he was tricked.

[32:26] He realized that he he didn't get his way. So he issued a decree according to the exact time that he heard from the Magi of when the star appeared he issued a decree for the slaying of all male children two years old and younger.

[32:46] This is why we think that Jesus was probably at the most two definitely over a year I would think and he was living in a house and the word he has used to refer to him here is no longer a baby but he is a child right?

[33:00] He's a child standing with his mother. So he's at least of some age. It didn't happen right after the shepherds came so it's not like the shepherds came and the Magi came but sometime.

[33:11] But Herod issues this decree and his soldiers go out in Bethlehem and all the surrounding vicinities and they do it and there's this weeping weeping is heard in Ramah Rachel weeping for her children and she refuses to be comforted because they are no more again had more to do than looking at the Babylonian exile had to do with this horrendous response to the appearance of the king among men.

[33:40] See Herod's response to this king among men is one of animosity. Now animosity is a word that I use not just because it fits my acrostic not because I'm using A's and I do that not to be snazzy I do that from my own memory right because I forget things I have a tendency to do that and it helps me out.

[33:57] I don't do that just so it would flow smooth and I didn't use animosity just because it fits in there I used it because that word means to have more than a hatred for but to seek to harm and displace and to remove from one's presence.

[34:11] Because here's the reality no man remains neutral to the king. Either you adore him or you seek to get rid of him.

[34:22] That's it. You either adore him or you seek to get rid of him. You say well I don't really I know people who don't worship Jesus but they don't have a problem with it.

[34:36] Oh yes they do. Yes they do. They don't have a problem with the Jesus they have painted in their mind but they have a problem with the Jesus who is both Lord and Savior.

[34:50] They have a problem with the Jesus who can dictate to them what it is they should and shouldn't do. They have a problem with the Jesus who sets the standard of what their behavior should be like. They have a problem with the Jesus who says either you worship me or you know you are against me.

[35:04] They have a problem with the Jesus said you are either the son of God or the son of Satan. Tell someone you think that is neutral with Jesus that they are okay with them. Tell them what the scripture says you are the son of Satan and see if animosity doesn't just come up.

[35:19] You say that is harsh pastor. It is. It is biblical too. Because see in our own country and our own land and our own churches unfortunately we have made it okay to be neutral with the king when he shows up among men.

[35:35] But the king calls for allegiance and adoration and worship and to be all in not to just kind of be on the side because ultimately remaining neutral will always lead to animosity.

[35:51] You will finally get tired of it and you will want to get rid of him and you will do whatever you have to to get him out of your life. But even then God is in control. And this is what it looks like when the king is among men.

[36:07] The only question we have to ask ourselves in closing and I know it's a very weighty message but the only question we have to ask ourselves in closing is where do we stand at in that group of men?

[36:19] Where do we stand at? Are we perfect? No, absolutely not. One thing I have found is that none of the people that God attracted to the king were perfect.

[36:31] Every one of them came in their imperfections, their mess-ups, their failures, their faults, the ones he chose to use in a powerful way, grossly imperfect.

[36:44] But they adored the king they served. They adored the king. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much. We thank you for your word.

[36:55] Thank you for the power of it. And we pray that Lord, that that word would speak to our hearts and minds for your glory. We ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. We asked, so, so, so, Thank you.

[38:05] Thank you.

[38:35] Thank you.

[39:05] Thank you.