Participants: Pr. Doug Batchelor
Series Code: EG
Program Code: EG002651
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00:09 It's been 2000 years since the glorious light of the cross
00:12 illuminated a world veiled in darkness and confusion about 00:16 the character of God. And still today the greatest need of 00:19 mankind is a revelation of God's love as revealed in the life of 00:23 Christ. Amazing facts presents the everlasting gospel with 00:26 Pastor Doug Batchelor coming to you each week from Sacramento 00:30 Central Church in sunny California. Discover hidden 00:33 treasures in God's word today. 00:38 We're on the threshold of a new year and I am very excited. I am 00:46 very excited because I believe the Lord wants 00:49 to continue using this 00:52 church family in a significant way to spread the message of 00:57 Jesus and the good news around the world. Now I believe there 01:00 are many Christians in many churches. I believe there are 01:04 Christians in other denominations, but I believe 01:08 that God has called the Seventh- day Adventist church as a 01:12 special mission. I believe we have a unique truth. This is the 01:16 remnant church. I believe that God has committed to this church 01:21 the oracles of truth, the three angels message, for these last 01:25 days. So I believe that this denomination has a special 01:30 message. If not, I'm in the wrong church, right? But I don't 01:33 believe it just because I'm in this church. I believe it 01:36 because it's in the Bible. And that being true I think I can 01:40 make a strong argument that this church family is having a 01:44 profound impact on that message outreach to the lost and inreach 01:51 to the church. I believe God has a great plan for this church. 01:55 Now turn with me in your Bibles to the scripture that was read. 01:59 Meredith did a great job reading our verse this morning. Turn to 02:04 Matthew chapter 2 please and I'd like to begin by reading the 02:11 first couple of verse here. Matthew chapter 2 verses 1 and 2 02:16 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem... this is something 02:20 that's taking place after the experience with the shepherds 02:24 evidently... of Judah, in the days of Herod the king, behold 02:30 wise men... M-A-G-I, magi, it's we get the word magician, 02:36 but they're not connected. Wise men from the east came to 02:43 Jerusalem saying, Where is he who is born king of the Jews? 02:49 for we have seen His star in the east and have come to worship 02:56 Him. Where is He, His star, worship Him. Why did they come? 03:02 To see what they could get. Why did they come? They heard 03:08 there was a good show? Why did they come? Did they come very 03:14 far? There's one reason they came. It says they came to 03:20 worship Him. Do you think the baby put on a show for them? 03:24 Did He entertain them? Did they come away from the experience 03:28 and say, Wow, that was sure an exciting worship service? Was it 03:32 about what they were going to get or what they were going to 03:38 give. What was it about? They came to give their worship. 03:44 Now please don't be offended but I need to be honest to clear my 03:48 own soul just for your sakes. I don't think there is one in 100, 03:53 even within this place, who understands what God means when 04:01 he invites us to worship him. I hope you're not offended by that 04:05 but I still believe it. I'm included in that. I think even 04:10 I only see through a glass darkly what privilege is ours to 04:14 worship Him. I think the concept that the world and the church 04:19 have regarding what it means to worship God has been totally 04:24 obscured. We are so programmed by our culture to be entertained 04:30 We measure churches based on how fascinating the pastor is or the 04:36 architecture, or what kind of music they have or the 04:41 children's program or how close is it to my house or how long 04:44 does the preacher preach. We evaluate the context of a church 04:48 being good or bad based on so many things other than is it a 04:53 place where I can go and worship Him? That's why they came. 04:59 That's what we do on Sabbath is we come to worship Him. That 05:03 should be our primary goal. And what it really means to worship 05:08 Him I think has been largely lost sight of. Now I'm telling 05:12 you this not to make you feel bad. I'm telling you this 05:16 because I want you to feel good about it. Keep reading with me. 05:20 First of all, let's find out who were these wise men, these magi. 05:24 The word is margos. The historian Herodotus says these 05:31 wise men were seers or prophets from Median, a tribe in Persia. 05:35 You remember the Medo-Persian kingdom. They were from a Median 05:40 tribe. Supposedly they would interpret dreams. They were 05:44 devoted to astronomy, not astrology, astronomy, to 05:49 religion, to medicine. Isn't that interesting? They were the 05:52 doctors. They were from a priestly tribe and while they're 05:56 called kings, and we seen that song We Three Kings. 05:59 They weren't kings in the technical sense of territory, 06:01 but they were kings in the sense that Abraham was a king. They 06:05 were probably tribal leaders, patriarchs. These were highly 06:10 educated, wealthy leaders that had large clans under them. They 06:15 also had lived in a country that had been influenced by the Jews. 06:20 How long were the Jewish people in Babylon and Mesopotamia? 06:24 Seventy years of captivity. When they came out of Babylon did all 06:29 of the Jews come out of the land of the east. No. Most of them 06:34 stayed. Some of the remnant came out. Did they have scriptures 06:39 back there? Yes. Because Daniel was in Babylon, Daniel chapter 9 06:44 reading the prophecies of Jeremiah. So did they have 06:46 scriptures in the land of the east? So these men were exposed 06:51 to the writings and the prophesies that the Jews had 06:55 multiplied in the area and they were studying them and while 06:59 they're studying them perhaps they read the prophecy of Jacob 07:04 about the scepter in Judah. Or perhaps they read the prophecy 07:09 of Balaam where he says a star shall come out of Jacob, a 07:13 scepter shall rise out of Israel and then all of a sudden while 07:17 they are there in the east they notice in the sky towards the 07:20 west, which from their perspective is toward the land 07:22 of Jerusalem. There is this new star and it's not just something 07:26 they had missed before because as the heavens roll through the 07:29 night, you notice as you look up at night that the stars move. 07:32 And the way the stars move that is why we pick out the north 07:35 star because they rotate and the north star is pretty close to an 07:38 axis, it's pretty constant. So you can navigate by it. But the 07:41 other stars are rolling through the heavens. This one didn't 07:44 move. They could realize by it's shape and it's color that it was 07:49 a supernatural star. It wasn't a comet. They'd probably seen 07:52 those before. And they began to pour over the text to find out 07:56 what does this mean. And under the inspiration of the Holy 08:00 Spirit, they were guided to the prophecies of Jacob, of Balaam 08:05 who was a prophet of God albeit a prophet that went bad and it 08:09 said a star would come out of Jacob. This was a sign that the 08:12 King of the Jews and through the tribe of Abraham the Savior of 08:15 the world was going to come. The Savior of the world was going to 08:19 come and this star was a sign of that. They knew that. What's 08:22 amazing about that is they knew that and God's people did not 08:27 know it that had libraries full of scriptures. So they began a 08:32 journey, a long journey, a journey that took months. 08:36 It may have taken longer. And they did not come empty handed. 08:40 And the purpose of their journey was to do what? To come and to 08:43 worship Him. So, how did these men know? They read the 08:50 prophecies, they prayed and God guided them. And they came 08:57 seeking Him. The Bible promises in Jeremiah chapter 29, it's one 09:02 of my favorite verses. You can read verses 11-13 but more 09:06 specifically verse 13: You will search for me and you will find 09:10 me when you search for me with all of your heart. These men 09:15 came asking where is He. The most important question that 09:21 anybody could ask is, where is He? Our sins have separated us 09:27 from God and the gospel is the result of our finding Him. 09:32 He hasn't misplaced us, by the way. He knows right where you 09:37 are. And the first question in the Bible that man asked, I'm 09:42 sorry, the first question in the Bible that God asks is where are 09:46 you. Man ran from God. God knew where Adam was but he was asking 09:50 him a rhetorical question, Where are you? Where has sin gotten 09:54 you? The first question in the New Testament is right here, 09:58 Where is He? So isn't that interesting. First question in 10:01 Bible is the devil questioning God's word. Hath God said? 10:05 Then the first question God asks is where are you? When man 10:09 doubted God's words he got lost so God says where are you. First 10:12 question in the New Testament they're saying where is He. 10:16 We have been separated. The purpose of the plan of salvation 10:21 is a reunion. And so before you can find God you must seek and 10:25 what will happen? Seek and you will find. Are you searching for 10:29 God? How far are you willing to go? These folks were willing 10:33 to invest months if not over a year and great wealth in finding 10:38 him and worshipping him. I'm glad you came to church this 10:44 morning. I appreciate that. I know some who have come a lot 10:52 farther to worship Jesus right here. Where is He? Now as they 10:58 get to the hills above Jerusalem they see this guiding star, the 11:02 supernatural star and as they get closer it's bigger. Really 11:07 what it was was it was a band of angels. The same way the 11:10 heavens were filled with angels that communicated to the 11:14 shepherds. Sometimes in Revelation it talks about angels 11:18 as stars. So here's this band of angels together. Angels can 11:22 appear when they want to and disappear. Remember when one 11:25 angel first appeared to the shepherds and then suddenly 11:28 the heavens were full of them. They can turn it up or down. 11:31 Clap on, clap off, you know. Angels can set some see them and 11:35 others not see them. Isn't that right? Sure there are examples 11:39 of that in the Bible. The wise men could see the star. They 11:43 could see the angels guiding them. And when suddenly they saw 11:48 the angel star settling above the temple in Jerusalem and they 11:51 were praising God. But then it began to fade. So they went 11:55 running to the temple and they expected the words about the 11:58 Messiah, they expected the city to be in great jubilation and 12:01 rejoicing and everyone to be talking about the advent of the 12:05 Messiah. And they got into town and nobody's talking about it. 12:11 The church is oblivious. Here's what I want you to think about. 12:17 When Jesus came the first time did his people, the church, have 12:22 the Bible? Did they have the prophecies that the wise men 12:28 had? Yeah, they did. Did they have more than the wise men had? 12:33 Much, much more. Should they have known when their Messiah 12:37 was coming the first time. At least approximately. Were they 12:42 ready when he came? Could that happen again? Did they 12:48 misunderstand the nature of his coming. Yeah, you know the devil 12:52 has got everything swapped. The Jews back in the time of Christ 12:56 thought the Messiah was coming the first time like a lion. 12:59 He was going to overthrow the Romans. Messiah was going to 13:02 set up his earthly kingdom. And there are so many prophecies 13:06 talking about him coming as a lamb and they got them mixed up. 13:09 He comes as a lamb the first time, he comes as a lion the 13:12 second time. Now the church in our day, they're saying Jesus is 13:16 coming quietly, secret rapture. They've got it spun around again 13:21 and they're not going to be ready because he's coming this 13:25 time like a lion. He will roar. Everyone will know it when he 13:30 comes. I'd like to read something to you from the book 13:33 Desire of Ages. You know, I was telling Karen last night... 13:35 I've been studying for this message all week and I try to 13:38 do my homework, I read the Bible, sometimes several 13:41 versions, I read a number of commentators, I've selected ones 13:44 I trust and I read 15, 20 minutes. I like to do all this 13:51 study, read the Bible, then I go to the Spirit of Prophecy and I 13:54 like to compare. In 20 minutes of reading Desire of Ages I 13:58 learned more and I got more inspiration than all week 14:02 reading the commentators. That's what I told Karen last night. 14:06 I hope you folks are reading those books. Let me read you a 14:10 quote from page 60 of Desire of Ages. "When they reached the 14:13 land of Israel and they were descending the Mount of Olives, 14:16 with Jerusalem in sight when, Lo, the star that had guided 14:20 them all the weary way rests above the temple and after a 14:24 season it fades from their view. With eager steps they press 14:28 onward confidently expecting the Messiah's birth to be the 14:31 joyful burden of every tongue, but inquiries are in vain. 14:35 Entering the holy city, they repair to the temple. To their 14:39 amazement, they find none who seem to have a knowledge of the 14:42 newborn king. They questions call forth no expressions of joy 14:47 but rather surprise and fear not unmingled with contempt. " The 14:51 religious leaders hearing these foreigners say where is your 14:54 Messiah the King. We've seen the sign he's supposed to be here? 14:58 They're thinking well we're the priests, you know. If we don't 15:01 know, you don't know. God would certainly not reveal this to you 15:04 without telling us first because you're uncircumcised pagans. 15:08 How would you know these things? Might I submit to you, that 15:12 could happen again. I've already seen samples and signs of people 15:18 who are in the world that are discovering the truths of our 15:21 message that we take for granted and they are on fire about what 15:24 we know and we seem to be indifferent about it. 15:28 Could happen again; it's human nature. When Jesus came the 15:34 first time there was an appalling indifference and 15:36 ignorance regarding his first coming. I think that the church 15:40 at large may have the same problem the second time. 15:45 Now you remember after this, finally there's such a stir, 15:48 everybody sees these... We don't know how many there were. 15:51 A little later in the service we're going to be singing 15:55 We Three Kings and it might have been three. They say three 15:59 because there were three different kinds of gifts that 16:01 they brought, the gold, the frankincense, the myrrh, but it 16:04 might have been five that brought three different kinds of 16:07 gifts. It might have been two. It must have been at least two 16:10 because it says plural who brought three different kinds of 16:14 gifts. We really have no idea how many there were. I've got 16:18 one painting that I saw than an artist did where he's got a 16:22 caravan that came and that's very likely because when the 16:25 Queen of Sheba came with her gifts she had a great retinue. 16:29 When you traveled with all that money back then you didn't 16:32 travel alone because there were bandits on the road. I'm sure 16:35 that there were several camels even if there were only three 16:38 kings. And they probably had some guards and servants that 16:42 went with them. These were wealthy men. When Eliezer went 16:50 to get a wife for Isaac he had camels and servants just to 16:55 bring the dowry. And so I'm quite certain that there was a 17:01 pretty good train. So you can understand; it was like three 17:05 guys show up in Jerusalem, big city. It was this caravan came 17:09 looking for the king. Eventually everyone began to talk about 17:14 and word reached Herod the Great Now enter one of the most 17:19 interesting, infamous despots of history. Herod the Great was 17:24 an Edomite. They were enemies of Israel. But he had 17:28 ingratiated himself to Augustus Caesar and Augustus said I will 17:32 make you a vassal king over the land of Judah and Jerusalem. 17:36 He ruled 38 years. He was a bright guy, so is the devil. 17:40 He was evil. Matter of fact, he killed a number of his family 17:44 members, killed several wives. He was worse than Henry VIII. 17:49 He had 10 wives. Dispatched several of his children because 17:53 thought they might want to be king in his place. Jealous, so 17:56 power hungry. Great builder. I mean, he renovated the temple 18:00 and he did a lot of building projects you can still see 18:06 today. But he was a very sick man, very insecure about his 18:12 power and especially as he was getting older and weaker. Matter 18:15 of fact, a week before his death he killed one of his sons 18:17 because he was afraid that his son would kill him preemptively 18:20 to take the throne. Augustus Caesar said, You're better off 18:24 being one of Herod's enemies than his family or something 18:29 like that. He said it's safer to be one of Herod's enemies than 18:32 one of his family. I mean, that was his reputation. So he was 18:36 brutal. He was heartless. Someone was arguing this week 18:41 on one of these history channels talking about well we're not 18:44 sure if this slaughter of the innocents in Bethlehem actually 18:48 every did happen because there's no other historical record aside 18:51 from the Bible. Well all they've got to do is read the record of 18:54 Herod's life and he did so much brutality that it wouldn't 18:58 surprise us if this one did not stand out. So pretty soon he 19:02 brings in the priests. He said what's this stir and they said 19:06 well they're saying that the king, the Messiah, has been born 19:09 And he said, search for me and find out what do the prophecies 19:12 say. Well they didn't trust Herod. They didn't like the fact 19:15 that they had a Gentile reigning over them and so they were sort 19:18 of stalling and he said, I want to know right now where does it 19:21 say your Messiah is going to be born? Well they couldn't hold 19:25 back. They said in Bethlehem of Ephratha. Now there are several 19:29 Bethlehem's. Bethlehem means house of bread. I always thought 19:33 it was phenomenal that Jesus who is the bread of life was born in 19:37 a town called house of bread and then they placed him in a manger 19:42 which is where you put bread for animals. Isn't that something? 19:46 And so they said not just Bethlehem, Bethlehem Ephratha 19:49 Ephratha means fertile. It was the fertile house of bread. 19:53 That's the one right by Jerusalem where David was born, 19:56 the city of David. So pretty soon he brings in the wise men. 20:03 And he says to them... You know, you've got a little 20:07 rehearsal of what the sign was, what was the star. They seemed 20:10 like they are authentic and he is shaking inside because these 20:14 men's faces are shining. They are on a mission. They have seen 20:16 something and he thinks maybe this king really is coming. 20:20 So instead of submitting and saying this is wonderful the 20:23 kniving Herod says, Tell you what. Well let me read it to 20:27 you. Going to talk about false worship here. Matthew 2 verse 8: 20:31 And he (Herod) sent them to Bethlehem (the wise men) and he 20:35 said, Go search carefully for the young child and when you 20:39 have found him, bring back word to me that I might come and 20:44 worship him also. Under the pretense of wanting to worship 20:47 him what does he really want to do? He wants to kill him. 20:52 Now friends please if there's one word upon which this message 20:55 revolves, that word is worship. The Bible begins with two 20:59 brothers that both claimed to worship the same God. 21:04 They claimed to. One was false worship. Cain was worshiping God 21:10 his own way but claiming to want to worship the true God and he 21:15 kills his brother. Then you get to Revelation and you've got two 21:19 groups at war. One is worshiping God according to the Bible and 21:23 one is worshiping the beast and his image under the pretense of 21:27 worshiping God. Jesus said the hour is coming when those who 21:31 kill you will say they're worshiping God, John chapter 16. 21:35 And so this is happening right at the beginning of the gospel 21:39 story. Counterfeit worship. Does he really want to worship Jesus? 21:44 No. It's a trick so he can destroy him. The counterfeit 21:50 worship. What does Satan want? He doesn't want to worship Jesus 21:53 Satan said to him, All these things I'll give you, Matthew 21:57 chapter 4 if you will fall down and worship me. Herod didn't 22:01 want to share his worship with anybody. He didn't want to 22:04 share his throne with anybody and the only reason that he 22:08 feigned that he would worship this new king is so he could 22:11 kill him, to find out where he was. 22:13 And Jesus said, Away with you, 22:16 for it is written, you shall worship the Lord God and Him 22:20 only shall you serve. Revelation 13 verse 8 tells us that in the 22:24 last days, and by the way, we're there friends... Ooo I watch 22:28 the news and I see things happening so fast. All who dwell 22:32 on the earth will worship him whose names are not written in 22:36 the Lamb's Book of Life. They're going to be worshiping the wrong 22:41 way, on the wrong day and the wrong object, thinking they're 22:45 worshiping the true God. It's false or counterfeit worship. 22:49 You know, they're innocent, they don't know. The wise men think 22:53 he's sincere. They're probably talking through a translator. 22:57 So they leave and resume their search. They don't know where to 23:01 go next and so they kind of go out of the city gates of 23:03 Jerusalem and no sooner have they gone out, it's at night now 23:09 that the star reappears. Matthew 2 verse 9: When they heard the 23:15 king they departed and behold the star that they had seen in 23:20 the east went before them. It appeared again. Now why did it 23:25 first appear over Jerusalem and then it later goes to Bethlehem? 23:30 You know why? God wanted to honor the position of his temple 23:35 and his priests because it was to be the work and the job of 23:40 the Jewish nation to proclaim the king when he came the first 23:44 time. They should have been on the forefront of proclaiming his 23:49 first advent. He wanted to respect their positions. 23:52 He wanted to respect the temple and its purpose. But when the 23:56 Gentiles came searching for the Savior of the world, he wasn't 23:59 just the Savior of the Jews, he was the Savior of the world. 24:03 The prophecies had always said that. That those that should 24:06 have known didn't know, but God gave them the opportunity first. 24:09 And so when they leave and haven't heard anything... 24:10 Oh God forgive us. God have mercy on us. If people come to 24:15 our church and they don't hear about Jesus. Can you imagine 24:18 that these people crossed the desert to find out about Jesus. 24:21 They went to church and those that were there going through 24:25 all their rituals, they didn't know anything about him. 24:28 I wonder if that's still possible today that people come 24:32 to visit those who have the truth, but the people don't have 24:36 Jesus. In the libraries of the temple they had the scrolls, 24:40 they had the truth but when foreigners came and said where 24:43 is he, they said Huh, what? like they'd misplaced their Messiah. 24:48 You know, I think that still happens in churches. God forbid 24:53 it happens in our church. I hope when people come here saying 24:57 where is he that they find him. Amen? They can find him here. 25:01 I hope when people come to your home and say where is he... 25:07 I don't know if a dare tell you this. I'm going to tell you. 25:12 I think it'll be okay. I didn't hear Karen tell me not to. 25:17 This week some people knocked on our door and they offered to 25:21 give us Bible studies and Karen invited them in enough to 25:25 conversate with them a little bit. Is there such a word, 25:28 conversate? Write it down. Send it to Wikipedia. It's a new word 25:32 Pastor Doug coined. You know what it means don't you? 25:35 Okay. So in their conversation they mentioned that they were 25:39 studying with some neighbors, and these people I believe 25:43 belong to a cult, they were studying with some neighbors up 25:47 the street that we know fairly well. And it broke our hearts 25:51 that we weren't studying with the neighbors yet. And we 25:53 thought, you're studying with them. And we're thinking man we 25:57 better get ahead of the curve here. They're open to study. We 26:00 had no idea because they always seemed read indifferent to us. 26:05 And I thought to myself, Oh God have mercy on us. They'd been in 26:09 our home before. They didn't see Jesus. They're taking studies 26:14 from someone else! If people come saying where is he, are you 26:18 going to have the answer? Are you going to say, well he's here 26:22 he's in my house, he's in our church. We know exactly where 26:26 he is. Sometimes we, like the Jews, can get so involved in our 26:30 religion that we've lost the purpose of our religion which is 26:34 to worship Him. They came to worship Him. Do we have Him? 26:38 If you don't have Jesus and you've got all the trappings 26:41 we've got all the decorations, but if you don't have Jesus... 26:46 I heard this last week some man had this family tradition for 30 26:49 years. They'd put one of these little manger scenes on their 26:53 front lawn and some vandals came by and stole Baby Jesus. 26:57 How many of you heard about this? And they left a beer can 27:00 in the manger. Isn't that sacrilegious? Even though it 27:04 was just a plastic Jesus. You just think about that. They 27:08 stole the Baby Jesus. What's the manger scene without the Baby 27:13 Jesus, right? And left a beer can. You know it had been their 27:17 family tradition. This had been in their family for years. But I 27:21 wonder how many churches there are around the world and around 27:24 the country that they got all the trappings but the Baby Jesus 27:28 is missing. When they saw the star... Here's the part I 27:35 wanted to especially tell you. How did they react? 27:39 They rejoiced. How many want to rejoice. God wants you to 27:44 rejoice. They rejoiced exceedingly. Now that's not just 27:47 rejoicing. Rejoicing is good when it's just rejoicing. 27:51 Rejoicing exceedingly, that's better still. But we're not done 27:55 yet. They rejoiced exceedingly with great joy! Now you 28:01 realize in the Hebrew, I'm sorry in the Greek, the way this is 28:03 structured there is no bigger way to say it. When you say 28:09 exceedingly great joy. You can find Paul using phrases like 28:16 in other places. That means it's as good as it gets. Well can you 28:19 imagine how dejected these wise men felt when they got to their 28:22 destination, the star has faded, they were all prepared to 28:26 worship, the religious leaders say we don't know what you're 28:30 talking about. You don't know anything. You're pagans. You're 28:33 Gentiles. They walk out of the city. They're so discouraged. 28:37 Were we misled, was it an illusion, was it a mirage, what 28:40 happened? And the all of a sudden the star appears again 28:45 and directs them to the very house. Were they happy? They 28:48 rejoiced and they haven't even seen Jesus yet. But you know 28:52 what they have seen? They've seen the light. The light that 28:56 had been guiding them. They saw the light again and they're 28:59 rejoicing. Does the light make you rejoice? Does the truth make 29:05 you rejoice? Is heaven a place of joy? Sure it is. Eternal joy. 29:11 It is right hand of pleasures forevermore. I like what 29:14 C.S. Lewis said; it's a nice pun. Joy is the serious 29:18 business of heaven. Joy is serious business in heaven. 29:23 That's their job description up there. There's always joy in 29:29 heaven. The guiding light led them to rejoice and worship 29:35 and give. Notice here. Jesus said, John chapter verses 23 and 29:38 Jesus said, The hour is coming and now is when the true 29:45 worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. 29:52 That's what I want in my life. I want real worship. I am tired 29:56 of the canned, artificial, packaged idea the world has of 30:00 what Christian worship is as some kind of hootenanny and they 30:05 say wow what a worship service. That's not worship. The worship 30:09 is not about entertaining us so we go away feeling gooey. The 30:14 great joy is a recognition of the light. Worship him in Spirit 30:18 and in truth. For the Father wants us to worship Him in 30:23 Spirit and in truth for the Father is seeking such to 30:27 worship Him. The Father is seeking those that are seeking 30:32 Him. That's what worship is. Did you hear me? These wise men 30:36 came to worship and what does it say, They were seeking Him 30:40 to worship him. I'd like to submit to you that one of the 30:43 first steps in real worship is a seeking after God. It's not 30:47 what's in it for me. It's you are seeking after God. That's 30:51 what worship is. You're seeking his face, you're seeking his 30:56 will, you're seeking his truth. It's not about us being 31:00 entertained and massaged. It's about Him. Seeing after God. 31:04 God is looking for such to worship Him, for God is a Spirit 31:08 and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and truth. 31:12 You know, notice what Jesus says here: Worship, worship, worship, 31:15 worship. And it says truth, truth. They saw the light. They 31:20 rejoiced with exceeding great joy. Have you met people before 31:25 and you see that joy. They've been living in darkness and they 31:29 see the light of the... By the way, Jesus is the Word, Jesus 31:35 is the light, Jesus is the truth so all that they saw was Jesus. 31:40 When they saw that light and they saw the truth they 31:46 found... Was there a place for them to go to worship? Did they 31:50 go to a place to worship. Yeah. They went to a house where Jesus 31:54 was. Now friends you know I like to sometimes take what is a 31:59 simple principle and hit it out of the park. They crossed a 32:05 desert. It took them months simply to get to a place to 32:10 worship Him. And there held forth is the first example in 32:15 the Bible of those who come to worship Jesus. It took them 32:19 months, maybe a year. And we don't know what they got out of 32:25 it except the joy of worshiping Him and yet we roll over in bed 32:30 and say you know I've had a tough week. I don't think that 32:33 I can take this hour and get in my car and drive up the street 32:37 to worship Him. God wants us to come to a place to worship Him. 32:42 Amen? The house where Jesus is. Translation. You need to come to 32:47 church and worship him. Did I make that plain enough? Okay. 32:50 In case you missed all the little backwards ways I was 32:54 trying to get that in. III John there's one chapter, verse 4, 32:59 he says, I have no greater joy than these things to hear that 33:06 my children walk in truth. Joy and truth go together. Some 33:11 misworship the Lord because they don't have truth. Matthew 33:15 chapter 15, here's what Jesus says, In vain they worship me 33:20 teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. If you 33:23 don't have the truth it is not possible to worship Him 33:26 correctly. Jesus said some are worshiping him in vain because 33:32 they're teaching manmade doctrines. Real worship is 33:36 connected with light and truth and that's where the joy comes 33:40 from. Some dear souls, millions of them around the world, come. 33:44 They want to worship God but because they're in darkness they 33:46 can't really worship Him in Spirit and truth because they 33:49 don't know the truth. But they have this craving inside to 33:53 worship God as we all have. We're often around the world 33:57 trying to fill that vacuum with other things that will only be 34:00 satisfied by worshiping Him. Matthew 2 verse 11: And when 34:06 they came into the house, you notice it doesn't say the barn 34:13 or the stable, they saw the young child. That word young 34:18 child there is a different word than a newborn baby. He's a 34:22 little older at this point. We don't know how old. We do know 34:26 that when Herod interviewed them he got the impression it would 34:29 be important to exterminate all the baby boys in Bethlehem two 34:33 years old and under. So we don't know what the age of Jesus was 34:37 at this point. It may have been shortly after the shepherds but 34:40 they came into the house. The word house there is never used 34:45 for a barn... to worship Him and they saw the young child 34:50 with Mary his mother and they fell down and worshiped Mary? 34:55 Wait, whoa. They missed a good place to talk about worshiping 35:00 Mary. I mean, whose going to have the better conversation, 35:05 the young child or Mary? But they don't worship Mary. Did you 35:10 get that? You know, as I look for graphics for my programs 35:15 when I look for the wise men scenes all these pictures deify 35:19 Mary. It's almost like they're worshiping Mary and the Baby 35:22 is sort of off to the side. You know what I'm talking about? 35:26 Mary's got the halo and she's glowing and all the wise men are 35:29 there and it's like you're not sure which one they're 35:31 worshiping. Nowhere in the text does it say they worshiped Mary. 35:35 The emphasis is, notice here. They came into the house where 35:39 the Child was with Mary His mother. It doesn't say Joseph 35:42 was there and they fell down and worshiped HIM and when they 35:46 opened their treasures they presented gifts to HIM. Oh I 35:49 mean, did he have a bit wallet? I mean what's he going to do 35:54 with it. They may have given the power of attorney to Mary and 35:58 Joseph, but those gifts were not for Mary and Joseph. Are you 36:01 with me? I mean, in a lot of churches they're worshiping 36:04 everything but the Child. I want to read something from Desire of 36:10 Ages, page 64. If you don't know what book I'm talking about, ask 36:15 somebody. You'll find it online. It's a classic on the life of 36:21 Christ. Beneath the lowly guise of Jesus they recognized the 36:26 presence of Divinity. They gave their hearts to Him as their 36:32 Savior and when they poured out their gifts, gold and 36:35 frankincense and myrrh what a fate was theirs. They saw in 36:40 this Child the incarnation. They worshiped God in this Child. 36:46 They were worshiping Him. Now I want to talk about the Word 36:52 and worship. Part of true worship is the Word of God. 36:58 Part of true worship is hearing the proclamation of the Word. 37:03 Keep in mind when they came to worship Jesus they were 37:07 beholding Him. What is happening when we open the Word 37:10 such as right now. Are we getting a better picture of 37:14 Jesus? This is part of worship. Prayer is communion with Him. 37:19 Prayer is part of that worship experience. I want to turn your 37:22 attention to something in the Bible that will help explain 37:27 this. Acts chapter 8 verses 27 and 28: And behold a man of 37:31 Ethiopia, again a foreigner, a eunuch of great authority under 37:36 Candice the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge over 37:39 all of her treasury. He had come to Jerusalem, for what purpose, 37:46 to worship. He came a long way and since he is a treasurer do 37:53 you think he brought any treasure with him? Probably. 37:56 You don't come that far. When the Queen of Sheba came did she 38:01 bring any treasure with her? And he came to worship. And it 38:06 says that on his way home he was sitting in his chariot and 38:11 reading Isaiah the prophet. So part and parcel of his coming to 38:16 worship was reading the word. I believe God might have a 38:21 special time and a place for worship. Matter of fact, that's 38:26 the next point I'm going to talk about. God has a time, God has a 38:30 place for worship. How many of you have heard this uttered 38:33 before sort of sarcastically? Well you know Seventh-day 38:36 Adventists, you worship God one day a week, we worship God 38:40 seven days a week. And that sounds very pious but it's 38:44 really a bogus argument because while it is true we should 38:49 worship God always, whenever you pray, if you say the Lord's 38:53 prayer, how does it begin? Hallowed be thy name. It begins 38:58 with a sentence of worship. The angels in His presence, what do 39:01 they say? Holy, Holy, Holy. It's worshiping God. But does 39:05 God also have a designated time and place to come before Him and 39:09 worship? Yes, every Sabbath day. So those who say I worship God 39:14 seven days a week, that sounds pious but if you keep the 39:16 Sabbath seven days a week you're not holy, your lazy because it 39:20 says you don't do work on that day. It's a day of setting aside 39:24 everything else. It sounds very spiritual but it is true we 39:28 should worship God. You should have devotions every day, 39:31 several times a day. Daniel - morning, evening and at noon. 39:35 King David said Psalm 55, Daniel chapter 6, three times a day 39:39 was his custom. We ought to have regular times set aside to 39:43 worship the King and that would be including prayer, listening 39:47 to, meditating upon the word and just simply adoring Him, 39:53 worshiping Him, looking to Him, seeking Him. That's what it 39:58 means. But he also has a special time and a place. Matter of fact 40:02 it's so important to God that even in heaven, you'd think well 40:06 we don't need to go to church in heaven. Have you read in 40:10 Isaiah 66 verse 23: It will come to pass that from one new moon 40:15 to another and from one Sabbath to another, listen carefully, 40:19 all flesh, Jew and Gentile, shall come to worship, they come 40:25 to worship before me. On a certain time 40:27 they come to a certain 40:29 place to worship Him. Are we still going to have a time and a 40:33 place set aside to worship God in heaven? Yes. That's what 40:36 makes it so special. It's also something we do collectively. 40:40 You know, when you get people who really love a common object 40:44 together there's an energy there One of the things I do when I 40:48 try to strike up a conversation with a stranger to hopefully 40:52 share my faith, I find out what their interests are. And it's 40:56 amazing. I'll be sitting on a plane and I might engage a 40:59 person and you always say stuff like so what do you do and I'm 41:02 always listening carefully for what their areas of interest are 41:06 and I've done so many different things I can often find 41:08 something in common to talk to them about. And when I find out 41:12 what their interests are and they say well yeah I like to go 41:15 out and I actually do a little hang gliding. And I say oh 41:17 really. Yeah I've done some hang gliding. Oh, all of a sudden 41:20 they light up. What kind and where do you go. Blah, Blah. 41:23 You find a common interest and they just come alive. Have you 41:25 noticed that. People have a hobby, they've got a special 41:29 interest. If you get a room full of people that all are in love 41:33 with Jesus, that really love Jesus, then you really see 41:37 worship starting to happen and you'll see a fellowship. 41:41 You know, they're not bickering with each other because they've 41:44 got such a common love for Jesus I still think there are so many 41:47 people who go to church out of a sense of guilt or obligation. 41:50 Now I'm glad you're here. If you're here because you feel 41:53 guilty and that's the only reason, keep coming. It's still 41:55 better because you'll come and you'll hear the right reasons to 41:59 be here right? But so many come for other reasons. They've got 42:03 this sense of obligation or it's a habit; they grew up this way 42:05 and they're watching the clock. How long is Pastor Doug going to 42:08 go today. Some people I think set off their cell phones on 42:12 purpose, especially right around when they think the sermon 42:16 ought to end. It's an obligation But when we love the Lord we're 42:20 not thinking that way are we? That's where you see real 42:24 worship beginning to happen. The other point that I want to 42:27 especially focus on as we wind up here. You know what the wise 42:31 men did? They came, they rejoiced, they gave, they 42:39 worshiped. That's what's we should do. You can read that 42:43 back in Matthew. Turn with me in your Bibles again. I want you to 42:48 notice the sequence of this. Verse 11: When they came into 42:55 the house and saw the young Child with Mary His mother they 43:00 fell down. Now what else does that tell us about their worship 43:05 Did they stand up and wave? Did they salute? Or did they kneel? 43:11 They might have even prostrated themselves before a Baby, but he 43:16 wasn't just a Baby was he? He was the fulfillment of the 43:20 desire of ages. God came to earth in the form of a man. What 43:24 a mystery! And they fell down, they knelt. There was a 43:28 reverence happening here. There is a generosity, there's a 43:31 commitment, there's a surrender. These are kings, these are 43:35 patriarchs of tribes. They are wealthy leaders. They've come a 43:40 long way. What do they get from the Baby. Does it say he gave 43:44 them a good sermon. But they still worshiped him. Some people 43:48 leave church; they say ah I didn't enjoy church today. I 43:50 didn't get anything, I didn't get anything out of church 43:52 today. Pastor was firing blanks today. I know sometimes I fire 43:58 blanks and we've all been to churches where it's hard to 44:00 stay awake and that might be partly your fault. Could be your 44:03 fault if you're having trouble staying awake because you're 44:07 working too late and too long through the week. Not staying 44:11 up too late Friday night. You never say amen and the pastor 44:14 preaches a boring sermon when he's got a boring audience. 44:17 That's right. I preach a lot better if you're a better 44:21 audience. It's true. Amen? Yeah. And so part of the reason the 44:24 sermon's going downhill is because you are too at the same 44:28 time; we go together. It's true. I think my associates here will 44:33 agree with that fully. Sometimes it's hard to preach an exciting 44:38 to a boring audience. Do you mind? It works both ways. 44:43 But they don't come away saying you know I didn't get anything 44:49 out of what the Baby said. Are they saying that? No, because 44:53 it's not about what they're going to get. They haven't come 44:59 expecting to get anything. They've come to give. You see 45:02 what I mean when I say I don't think there's one in 100 that 45:06 really understands what worship is. And we'd be a lot happier if 45:09 we came with the right attitude to worship Him because of who He 45:13 is. And if you get something out of the sermon, that's a bonus. 45:18 Amen? Just one more reason to praise the Lord. Verse 11: They 45:23 fell down and they worshiped Him and then they opened their 45:28 treasures and presented to Him gold and frankincense and myrrh 45:34 They worshiped and they gave their treasure. In order to give 45:40 they opened to give. What is it that we must open to really give 45:45 the way God wants us to give? When we open our hearts. 45:50 God wants cheerful giving. Now I want you to notice the many 45:54 scriptures and I'm not going to even read them all because there 45:59 are so many. This is a Bible principle, friends. We're doing 46:02 something a little different today than we normally do with 46:05 our offering. Some of you are thinking, Oh hey they forgot the 46:08 offering. Good we're going to get out today without an 46:10 offering. No, no, no, the offering is part of the service 46:12 today. We want it to be part of the worship service. We want it 46:17 to be part and parcel organically connected with the 46:20 message. And it's biblical. They worshiped him and then they 46:24 gave their treasures. They brought their treasures. 46:28 Genesis 22 verses 5 and 6, Abraham brings Isaac up the 46:33 mountain. Notice what he says to his servants. Stay here with 46:37 the donkey. The lad and I will go yonder and worship and will 46:41 come back to you. So Abraham took the wood, the burnt 46:45 offering and laid it on Isaac. He took the fire in his hand and 46:48 his son and they went together. They went to a place to worship 46:52 and sacrifice. And you know what sacrifice means, it means 46:55 something is given. They went to a place to worship and sacrifice 47:02 Psalm 72, this is a prophecy. If you doubt the power of the Old 47:07 Testament prophecies listen to this. Psalm 72 verse 10: The 47:12 kings of Tarshish and the isles. I always like to remind people 47:16 that was my mother's maiden name Tarshish. The kings of Tarshish 47:20 and the isles will bring presents. The kings of Sheba and 47:24 Seba will offer gifts. Yes, all the kings shall fall down before 47:28 him, all nations will serve him. The prophecies, this messianic 47:32 prophecy of David said that these foreign kings would come 47:35 and fall before him and bring their gifts and that literally 47:38 happened didn't it. And if that's not enough for you listen 47:42 to how precise Isaiah makes it. They came to the place to give 47:46 and worship. Did you catch the point. Listen to Isaiah chapter 47:50 60 verse 1: The Gentiles will come to your light. Were they 47:54 following a light? And kings to the brightness of your rising. 47:58 These were kings in that respect The wealth of the Gentiles shall 48:03 come to you. The multitude of camels shall cover your land; 48:07 dromedaries of Midian and Ephah. All those from Sheba shall come. 48:11 They will bring gold and incense they will proclaim the praises 48:16 of the Lord. That's exactly what happened. Deuteronomy 26 verses 48:20 10 and 11, part of the instructions for the children of 48:25 Israel about how to worship God. And now behold I have brought 48:28 the first fruits of the land which you, Lord, have given me. 48:32 Then you will set it before the Lord your God and worship before 48:36 the Lord your God. So you shall rejoice. Notice that. That's 48:40 what our sermon's all about. Did these wise men rejoice? Did 48:44 they worship? Did they bring their offerings? This is a 48:48 privilege and I think we need all three. Then you shall 48:52 rejoice. You noticed it says they brought their offerings 48:56 and then it says they rejoiced. I think that when we give the 48:59 way God wants us to give it ought to bring rejoicing that 49:03 we've been able to worship Him by opening our hearts. Then you 49:08 shall rejoice in every good thing. You know the last one 49:10 I'll give you, I could give you dozens of verses. Some of you 49:14 remember the father and mother of Samuel. This man, I Samuel 49:18 chapter 1 verse 3: This man went up from his city yearly to 49:22 worship and sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. These 49:27 two things went together all through the Bible. They came 49:31 to a place to worship and give. You know, here we are at the end 49:36 of the year and I want us, as we enter this new year, I know we 49:41 have one more Sabbath left but I thought I wanted you to be 49:45 thinking about this now. As we enter this new year I would like 49:49 to be a place where people come and they really see Him. Where 49:53 people are going to say where is He and we're going to say, you 49:57 came to the right place. We're looking for Him. We're looking 50:00 for Him too. We know where he is. A place where people can 50:05 come and see the light and rejoice. A place where we can 50:10 come and worship Him and give just because He is God and a 50:15 place where we will rejoice with exceeding great joy because of 50:19 that privilege, because we have seen the light. Friends I really 50:22 mean this from the bottom of my heart. I believe God has 50:25 committed to this church the oracles of truth for the last 50:29 days. We don't know everything but oh God's given us so much. 50:34 And that ought to cause us great rejoicing. And I don't believe 50:37 there's anything you can give the Lord that he... You can't 50:41 out give God. When you think about what God gave when God 50:45 came to this earth. Think about the faith of these men. Like 50:48 Abraham. They went, they didn't know where they were going but 50:51 they were following the light and when they found Him they 50:54 rejoiced. Friends the Lord, I believe, has brought you here, 50:57 even those who are watching and He wants us to worship God. Our 51:01 worship must be God-centered. You know, I thought that it 51:05 would be appropriate once a year we do this here at Central 51:09 Church, if you're visiting this is a custom, that we reserve the 51:12 offering towards the end of the service and instead of us 51:16 collecting it, it almost makes us feel like Christian IRS when 51:21 you do it that way. Instead of us collecting it, we bring it. 51:26 I'd like to ask if our ushers or deacons will bring out a basket. 51:30 We're going to have a basket here at the front. We'll have 51:34 one also upstairs in the center of the top balcony. Those who 51:36 in the pie in the middle, I don't know what arrangements we 51:39 have for you. You'll have to go either up or down. But we're 51:42 going to stand together and we're going to sing that song 51:45 We Three Kings. Keep in mind it could have been four of them or 51:49 five. Number 137. I like this song because it talks about our 51:54 coming to bring our gifts. We trust that you've come to church 51:59 today prepared to worship and to give. We're also hoping you will 52:03 do it with rejoicing with exceeding great joy. We're going 52:06 to bring our gifts to the Lord today and thank Him and praise 52:10 Him for his goodness and just rejoice and worship Him 52:13 together. Is that your desire friends? Let's stand together as 52:16 we sing this and as we sing we will give the opportunity as the 52:20 Spirit moves, we don't have a line that we follow, to bring 52:23 your offerings and place them in the basket before us. 52:27 ¤ ¤ 52:39 We three kings of orient are Bearing gifts we traverse afar. 52:48 Field and fountain, Moor and mountain, 52:54 Following yonder star. 52:58 O star of wonder, star of night, Star with royal beauty bright, 53:11 Westward leading, still proceeding 53:17 Guide us to Thy perfect light. 53:23 Born a King on Bethlehem's plain, 53:28 Gold I bring to crown Him again, 53:34 King forever, ceasing never Over us all to reign. 53:44 O star of wonder, star of night, Star with royal beauty bright, 53:56 Westward leading, still proceeding, 54:03 Guide us to Thy perfect light. 54:09 Frankincense to offer have I; Incense owns a Deity nigh; 54:19 Prayer and praising all men raising 54:25 Worship Him, God on high. 54:30 O Star of wonder, star of night Star with royal beauty bright, 54:42 Westward leading, Still proceeding, 54:48 Guide us to Thy perfect light. 54:53 Myrrh is mine; its bitter perfume 54:59 Breaths a life of gathering gloom: 55:05 Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying, 55:10 Sealed in the stone cold tomb. 55:15 O star of wonder, star of night, Star with royal beauty bright, 55:28 Westward leading, Still proceeding, 55:33 Guide us to Thy perfect light. 55:40 Amen. Can you say praise the Lord? Looks like we had just the 55:44 right number of verses there. What were the three gifts that 55:50 they brought? Gold, frankincense and myrrh. The gold represents 55:56 love. The frankincense represents prayer. It was 55:59 something that they put in the altar to rise up in the temple. 56:04 It represented the prayers. Myrrh is what they anointed 56:08 someone with when they died. It was even in the words of the 56:12 song. It represented a personal sacrifice that we are buried 56:16 with Christ. I want my home, I want my church to be a place 56:20 when people come saying where is He, they find him here. 56:24 They find Him in our lives, they find Him in our church. Is that 56:27 your desire friends? And now that we might have that joy, 56:30 exceeding great joy that comes from seeing the light that sets 56:37 us free. Shall we pray together? Loving Father, Lord we pray that 56:43 today our study and our time, our worship, our gifts will be 56:49 acceptable in your sight. Lord it has brought joy to our hearts 56:54 to be in this place and simply say holy, holy, holy. We thank 57:00 you and praise you for the truth that we remember that you came 57:05 into this world, you took on the garb of humanity that you might 57:10 relate with us, that you might be an example for us, that you 57:15 might reveal the Father and ultimately die as our substitute 57:20 and sacrifice. For this Lord we worship you. We thank you for 57:25 your goodness. We praise you for your patience and your 57:30 everlasting mercy. Please protect this church as a group. 57:34 Protect every family that is represented here. We pray the 57:38 blessings that are in this place will go from this place into 57:41 every home that we can take those blessings with us. The 57:46 Bible tells us that when the wise men left they left a 57:50 different way than when they came. We pray Lord that as we 57:54 leave this place we can leave different people because we've 57:59 been here to worship the King. Thank you Lord and we are asking 58:03 this in Christ's name, Amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17