[0:00] and to sing praises as we already have, and what beautiful songs that were chosen for us in leading us into worship and to remind us of the great salvation that Christ Jesus has provided for us.
[0:16] 2 Peter 1 verse 2 tells us, Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is through this knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ that we have the forgiveness of sins, that we have the recognition that we need a Savior, and we've just celebrated the Christmas season where, again, the story's been told over and over again through song and through word that this Jesus has come to us, and what a blessing that is.
[0:47] Thank you, brother, for pre-reading our text for us here in the Gospel of Matthew. I'm not sure if you had Epiphany service here Friday or not, we did, and I chose to bring that service here as well.
[1:07] And it's not all churches do have a service on that particular day, but it is a good thing to remind us of the progress of Jesus' life past the birth in Bethlehem and what happened when the wise men came.
[1:29] When we look at the word Epiphany, it comes from a Greek word, which I won't try to pronounce, but it means an appearance or a manifestation. And as Epiphany, as we know it, it's specifically referring to Jesus Christ and his manifestation to the world, and especially to the Gentile world as the kings from the east came to him.
[1:56] We find in the Gospel of John that he very beautifully and holistically introduces us to Jesus, and not merely his Bethlehem manifestation, but also in glory.
[2:13] The Gospel of John chapter 1, I just want to read a few verses there, 1 through 5, and then verse 14. It says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
[2:24] The same was in the beginning with him. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.
[2:39] And then dropping down to verse 14, John says, And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
[2:54] I marvel when I read that passage of Scripture because it spans a lot of years, and really all the way back to eternity past. John begins to tell us that this Word, and it's not the written Word, it is Jesus, the Word, the life, the light.
[3:13] It says, He was in the beginning. He was with God in the beginning, and all things were made by him. So it spans from that period of time, from eternity past, right up until, in verse 14, where John is referring back to Christ Jesus being born.
[3:31] He became flesh. He was deity up to this point, and here he took on flesh, both characteristics, which is God and man. And what a beautiful introduction that John gives us of Jesus Christ.
[3:47] Much earlier, the prophet Isaiah also introduced us to this Jesus, and it's, of course, a prophetic word that Isaiah gave in Isaiah 7, 14.
[3:59] It says, Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. In Matthew, when we read in his writings, he gives the interpretation of Emmanuel, which means, literally, God with us.
[4:16] And that's what John is telling us here in verse 14, that the Word became flesh. God with us, dwelling among us. And isn't that a privilege?
[4:27] Isn't that a blessing to know Jesus has been on this earth just like we are today? He's experienced everything what we experience today. And so he can feel with our infirmities.
[4:38] He can comfort us because he's been here. And he's, of course, God himself, and so there's nothing too hard for him to do and to understand. And so we find that in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, we observe two very different types of people, even though people are all the same, and yet there's different, seems to be society places different classifications on various people depending on what their status is in society, what their occupation is, what their intellectual knowledge is.
[5:18] There's different classes of people. And we find that here when we read in Matthew concerning Jesus' birth and his manifestation as well as in Luke. We're going to turn back to Matthew a little bit to look at that group of people there.
[5:33] But we're going to start off with the Luke, or the Matthew, the Luke passage story. And so I titled this morning's sermon Jesus and Men's Response to Him.
[5:48] And the reason I termed it that way is because all of us, no matter where we are in life, what our status is, what our education is, every individual upon the past, present, and future must make a response to Jesus in one way or another.
[6:06] There is no being neutral. There is no side-skirting such a decision as that. And we will see this morning how two groups of people, even though on societal ladder, they're very far apart, yet they both make the right decision, the right response to Jesus.
[6:28] And so I trust that as we go through the study this morning, that if there's any here that have not made the decision for Christ, have not acknowledged their sinfulness and need of a Savior, as the songs already were introduced to us, that you will sincerely take that home, that thought, and that you would make that decision for the Lord.
[6:51] So to that end, I would like us to bow for prayer again. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you have given us your word so completely and so fully, and so, Lord, that all of us can clearly understand that through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that's been given to man to write to us and for our learning and our comprehension.
[7:15] And Father, the greatest thing that we need to learn and we need to know and we need to understand is that Jesus has come into the world to be the Savior of the world. And so each one that understands this and recognizes their sinfulness and agrees with God that they are lost.
[7:33] Lord, there is hope and there is an answer in the Scriptures. There is salvation. And Lord, what a beautiful message you have given to us. You have not left us without hope, but you have provided a way for us to be reconciled back to you.
[7:48] Thank you, Father, for that blessing and that gift. Bless us as we look at these Scriptures now in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Jesus and men's response to him Now, the story of Christmas has been told over and over again.
[8:06] I'm sure here as well through your Sunday school program and through various things leading up to Christmas. We find when we look at the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ as he's come into the world, it's very unique in so many different ways.
[8:20] Very unique from us. Our existence began at birth, whereas Jesus, he existed from all eternity past. We are made mere mortal flesh with a soul and a spirit.
[8:34] Jesus was fully God and he became fully man. He took on flesh. He took on humanity upon himself. He was both fully God and fully man.
[8:47] We have a human mother and father. He had a human mother, but the Holy Spirit, Mary was conceived of the Holy Spirit and had baby Jesus before Joseph knew her intimately.
[9:02] And so, those are just a few things that mark the unique difference between us and the Lord Jesus, even though the Lord Jesus was human just as we are, yet without sin.
[9:15] And we could look at a lot more, but that's not the point of our sermon today. The Apostle Paul taught the Christians in the church in the city of Colossae about the fullness of God being embodied in his Son.
[9:32] We won't turn there, but we can read that in Colossians chapter 1 and he does a beautiful job of explaining to us how the fullness of God was in his Son and that is who we had on earth and lived among us.
[9:46] And this Jesus, fully God and fully man, he came to us on earth as an infant in Bethlehem. And it is this arrival of Jesus that God made sure both toilers as well as thinkers would be eyewitnesses of and those are the two classes of people that we want to look at this morning.
[10:09] The toilers and the thinkers. Toilers are the working class people, which probably most of you are. Working class people and the thinkers are people who consider important subjects or produce new ideas or invent things.
[10:29] They are the deep thinkers. And we find when we look at these two accounts in Matthew, Ann and Luke that God revealed Jesus to both levels.
[10:40] The toilers and the thinkers. In Luke chapter 2 is where we find that Jesus is announced to the toilers.
[10:55] The angel came and told the toilers about this Jesus. And so what do we know about the toilers? That they are the shepherds. They are a working class in the Jewish culture and they were not very highly thought of.
[11:11] And I don't know if that strikes you when the angel came, the angel of the Lord came to the field in Bethlehem or near Bethlehem and announced to the shepherds the Messiah, this Jesus Christ, the Son of God had been born.
[11:30] And he came and announced it to these that were kind of the unlikely cast of society. In the, among the toilers they would have been probably almost the lowest.
[11:43] Not considered very important even though they had a very important work but not something that many men would desire to do. But that is to the people, the group of people that God came to bring this announcement first of all.
[12:00] They were of low degree. They had a humble occupation. I don't know, some of you may have worked with sheep before. I never have. I've observed a very little bit when we were in Israel many years ago and we saw a shepherd garb just kind of like we pictured them from the Bible stories and they had a sheep and our flock of sheep and they would take and tend them in the pastures as we passed by with our tour bus.
[12:28] It was interesting to see scripture coming alive to us as we'd often read in scriptures and here they were. Here were the shepherds with their sheep and it is to these, this group of people that God made the announcement first of all.
[12:45] Now shepherds are committed to a flock. A good shepherd the sheep to pastor, to fresh pastor. He will lead them to water, clear water to drink.
[12:56] He will be the protector of the sheep from predators and he will also tend to the needs of the sheep. That is, in short, what shepherds do.
[13:09] And in Israel, shepherds were generally considered unclean in the community of God's people because of the work that they did. Now we, if you've been with sheep, you know that they don't smell the best.
[13:26] Very often their wool is matted and being in a hot country it would have given off a very strong odor and that is what these shepherds were dealing with day in and day out.
[13:40] That was their occupation. That's what they did. And so, we can understand that not too many people would want to be in close contact with shepherds. But what are some things that we notice from our text here in Luke chapter 2?
[13:55] If you want to turn there, we're going to go back to Matthew yet but we're going to start off in the book of Luke. And there's at least seven things that we kind of take notice of of shepherds.
[14:07] First of all, in verse 8, chapter 2, verse 8, we read, And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field keeping watch over their flock by night.
[14:20] What we notice of these shepherds and especially at this time of day is that it was dark. They were in the fields taking care of their sheep, huddled together for night and it was dark.
[14:36] And that is true, very true in the literal sense as the text tells us. But I'm thinking too that it might have even been possible in the spiritual sense. But if we look at first of all in the literal sense where darkness was all around the shepherds and the sheep, it's through this darkness that God pierced with an angelic message.
[14:58] The angel of the Lord came and told them what had happened in Bethlehem. And this news surprised them. This news was not something that had ever come before.
[15:10] They may or they may not have heard the prophecy of the coming Son of God, the Messiah, but it took them by surprise. And the reason I think this possibly they might have been spiritually in the dark as well is because that they would have inherited as shepherds because of their unclean employment.
[15:34] And they were very often viewed as social outcasts or misfits in the cities. And so likely they would not have been introduced or included in the religious discussions concerning prophecies.
[15:51] They were not only in literal darkness but I think quite possibly in a spiritual darkness as well. And so we sometimes we or I think of that in the oil field sense as well.
[16:07] We know that a lot of things that and maybe because of the way the oil field used to be that there was a lot of spiritual darkness in the oil field.
[16:17] And I might have a totally wrong perception of that but we know in very the more the rougher employments that are there the gospel is not nearly as readily available among those groups of people.
[16:33] And so it is here that it's possible that the shepherds did not have a clear understanding of the prophetic word that Jesus was coming and so therefore they would have been surprised.
[16:44] when I think of the evil darkness but the spiritual darkness more so when a person has not taken the step of repentance of sins and believing in Jesus for salvation they are still in spiritual darkness.
[17:01] They might not be in literal darkness but very much in spiritual darkness not aware of the sin nature that they possess and the condemnation that is over them in that state.
[17:18] And so it is to those that they too need the gospel they need the message declared to them the angel of the Lord to break through to pierce their darkness and the angel of the Lord uses us as individuals as believers to come and bring that truth to people that are in spiritual darkness.
[17:38] the second thing we notice is that they are drawn these shepherds are drawn into the light and says and lo the angel of the Lord came upon them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were sore afraid.
[17:55] Very literally the glory of the Lord the presence of the Lord I believe shed a great light right where they were no longer were in literal darkness and they were about to hear news that would enable them to come out of spiritual darkness as well if that's where they were.
[18:16] This presence of the Lord is spiritual light and it dispels spiritual darkness. The Apostle John in his gospel speaks of Jesus and if we turn to the gospel of John just for a few minutes here John chapter one again reading from verse four through nine John further introduces us that this Jesus is the light of man and he's the life of man.
[18:48] Gospel of John chapter one verse four it says and just a continuation of his introduction to Jesus that being the word being with God and making all things he says in verse four in him was life and the life was the light of man and the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not there was a man sent from God whose name was John the same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe he was not that light but was sent to bear witness of that light that was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world and so this is true light he is the source of light and that is what the angelic being that came to bring that message he continued on that light he brought that light to the shepherds for them to hear the gospel message and for them to come out of spiritual darkness light we noticed that the shepherds that they were full of fear and understandably so they would have been as we would have been to have that news pierced the darkness of our night and with something that we had never heard before and to have be in the presence of someone we've never been before so it was something very new it was something very strange for the shepherds but we notice that the angel gave them a word of encouragement he says in verse 10 and the angel said unto them fear not for behold
[20:36] I bring you good tidings of great joy that shall be to all people and so not only to quiet the fear of the shepherds but this message of fear not is for all people of all generations no matter where we are we can take this word to heart that we need not fear in the presence of the Lord we need not fear and the Lord is always with us he's still Emmanuel he's still God with us not in person form but through the Holy Spirit God is very much present with us so we can take those words to heart that we neither fear no matter what we're going through we have the comfort of the Lord with us as one writer once said fear in the heart is one proof that light from heaven has been given which reveals the guilt of sin I wonder if in our lifetime we've ever seen more fear in people than we've seen during the
[21:45] COVID-19 a lot of fear and you would have encountered that here too I'm sure and perhaps maybe not because of the manifestation of sin the guilt of sin maybe more so the possibility of death if this virus was contracted when people aren't ready to the Lord they're not ready to face their deathbed there is fear and understandably so because we then have to do with the creator as Hebrews chapter 9 tells us it is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment and so as born again Christians we need not fear death we need not fear that judgment but for an unbeliever it is very different and so we understand when a pandemic such as this happens and a lot of people are sick and dying that there would be great fear we understand that how that works and that is the hope that the gospel brings to every person that will listen and they must respond one way or another to the good news of salvation to
[23:02] Jesus Christ and so that is here the shepherds came and the angel came and the shepherds heard the gospel and it was preached to them in verse 11 it says for unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior which is Christ the Lord what we find interesting is this angelic messenger didn't say for unto me is born or unto angels is born he says but unto you for unto you is born this day a savior the angels that had not sinned they did not need a savior and the angels that fell in the rebellion when Lucifer turned himself against God for them there is no hope they are doomed for eternity they made their decision and rebelled against God there is no hope for them so the angels message this savior this jesus was born in bethlehem it is specifically for humanity for people that have come to earth that are born on the earth that that that that that is that is the savior which is christ the lord that's the great message of the gospel it's about salvation it's about the forgiveness of sins it's about peace with god possibly and or possible through jesus christ and his sacrifice it's then we observe that the shepherds they obeyed the gospel it's not that the angel came and said you must go to bethlehem to see this but he gave that opportunity he said this is what you'll find when you go to bethlehem in verse 12 he simply says and this shall be a sign unto you so everything he said to this point he said you can verify yourself he says and this shall be a sign unto you ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger a very simple message a very simple act of obedience that they would need to do and we find that they did that they found the
[25:28] Savior they went and came and found him I believe when we genuinely believe in the gospel it will prompt obedience to the Lord of the gospel just as these shepherds they heard the gospel message they heard the good news of Jesus and it prompted obedience in them to go and look for themselves and so in verse 15 and 16 we read that they did go and it came to pass as the angels were gone away from them into heaven the shepherds said one to another let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass which the Lord hath made known unto us and they came with haste and found and and and so their act of obedience was a literal thing they went it's not just a believing intellectually but it motioned them into action to go to
[26:33] Bethlehem and to see this thing and they found it just as they were told and then we find the last thing we find of the shepherds here is that they rejoiced greatly in verse 17 and 20 we read and when they had seen it they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child and verse 20 says and the shepherds glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen as it was told them so not only did they go and see for themselves and they were changed as they had witnessed the truth of went and really became missionaries on their journey back to the sheep their occupation that they had left behind they told everyone that they met that was awake at that morning hour and told them that of what had happened that God had sent his son into the world and what a beautiful response what a right response of the shepherds when we turn to
[27:45] Matthew and if you would turn in your Bibles there Matthew chapter 2 we find that Matthew makes it very clear that not all religious leaders and kings such as Herod who had a very different response to Jesus not all responded in a positive way but here in Matthew 2 we find another group of people it's here that we find the thinkers and see what their response is to Jesus Herod is not until the wise men come and they ask the question where is he that is born king of the Jews and that sparked an interest and not an interest in the right way but he felt threatened Herod felt threatened that another king was arising among the people and so as soon as he heard that it got him into motion to work against God again so we find we're going to leave the toilers here we're going to look at the thinkers they also came seeking for Jesus verse 1 it reveals the thinkers to us let's read that
[29:05] Matthew 2 verse 1 now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king behold there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem we're told that they came from a far country to the east east of Jerusalem in our day and age and our mode of travel to us they would have been no further away than the next province or so but for them it was a very different experience when we think of possibly covering that distance by donkey or by camel or on foot it would have taken quite a bit of time and we're not told exactly how they came we always have the picture in the Bible stories of them coming with camels and their gifts laden on the backs of camels whether they did that or not our text doesn't tell us here but it wasn't just you know hopping on a plane or getting into the vehicle and driving for a few hours to get there it was a long long journey and dangerous at the same time when we study the east country that they might have been referring to it is very possible that they would have come from either Media or Persia
[30:31] Assyria or Babylonia in that area in the eastern region beyond the Jordan when we again think of that the distant country where they would come from and quite a distance away from Jerusalem and Bethlehem when we think of spiritual and we think of sinners they too are far away from the Lord they are they've removed themselves and by default because of the sin nature that each one of us is born with we are far from the Lord and we need to find Him we need to seek Him all the while while we are oblivious to our need Jesus is pursuing us and sinners are in that in that position we're unaware of their need of a Savior they're far far far from the Lord so whether someone as a sinner lives in the North Pole or lives in Israel in Nazareth they are far from they are like a far country away from the Lord Jesus and the prophet Isaiah tells us why no matter how close we are of Jesus no matter where we live we are far from the Lord and Isaiah very beautifully says that to us in chapter 59 verse 2 he says your iniquities have separated you from God your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear that is the truth that is where every sinner is before they come to repentance and believing in Jesus Christ they are their sins have separated them from God and God will not hear them until they come in sincerity of heart and repentance and seeking
[32:31] God seeking the forgiveness of sins it's then that they are very near to the Lord but it takes a turn for a sinner to come near to the Lord really in a sense between because of God's holiness and the unredeemed man's sinfulness there is a great gulf fixed between sinners and God but Jesus is the bridge Jesus bridges the gap between sinners and himself like the shepherds who saw God's messenger the angel of the Lord so also the wise men they saw God's messenger which came in the form of a bright star a star that they saw from the east over Israel and they followed the star till they got to Jerusalem and after inquiring there the star appeared again and they continued on to Bethlehem so they too saw God's messenger just as the shepherds in the fields so these wise men in a far country saw the messenger of the Lord the bright star so as they came to Jerusalem revealing their mission to the religious leaders
[33:49] Matthew chapter 2 verse 2 says this is what their question is when they arrive in Jerusalem where is he that is born king of the Jews for we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him spiritually speaking much of humanity go through life with their eyes closed oblivious or maybe unobservant to what God is doing in the world but not so with these men wise men not these magi they were star gazers they were studiers of the universe and so they took note of bright stars that they had some meaning behind them now it is believed quite strongly by many scholars that years earlier when Judah was taken captive into Babylon Daniel and his three friends we know that they went before that that there would have been a spiritual influence from Daniel and from all those that were spiritually awake at that time these wise men will have heard the prophecies of old time prophets that there was a coming king of
[35:09] Israel and so it is quite possible that as they were gazing the stars as they were studying what was happening in the universe that when this star appeared they would have recognized it right away we find an interesting prophecy in Numbers chapter 24 verse 17 from a very unlikely source it's the prophet Balaam that spoke this prophecy to Balak and the people that Balak was king over Numbers 24 17 and if you're familiar with the story Balaam is the prophet that rode the donkey upon the request of Balak to come and curse all Israel because they were they'd come out of Egypt they were in the wilderness and they were in Balak's territory and he wanted Balaam to come and put a curse on these people that they were powerless to do anything to them and of course long story short Balaam then makes his way there and instead of cursing the people because he had made a commitment to God he would only say what God wanted him to say it's there that he three times instead of cursing
[36:22] Israel he pronounced a blessing on them and in chapter 24 numbers 24 17 this is the prophecy that he said I shall see him not now I shall behold him but not now a star out of Jacob and a scepter shall rise out of Israel and shall smite the corners of Moab and destroy all the children of Sheth now that was not what Balak wanted to hear and Balak became extremely angry when he heard that but this prophecy stood it was truth and so it is very very possible that these wise men in the east would have been familiar with this prophecy that there was a star coming out of Jacob out of the people of Israel and a scepter coming out of Israel and so whether we are speculating or we're putting pieces of the puzzle together it is possible that these wise men had a foreknowledge of this coming Jesus and they recognized the star right away as this prophecy being fulfilled and so today we could say that the Holy
[37:37] Spirit is God's messenger who is actively seeking the attention of sinners to draw them to himself in John 16 7 through 9 shortly before Jesus' death and resurrection and ascension Jesus told his disciples shortly before that he says nevertheless I tell you the truth it is expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away the comforter unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you and when he is come he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment of sin because they believe not on me and so the Holy Spirit continues to be a witness of the Lord to us and especially to sinners to draw sinners out of their sinfulness and unto a relationship with him Paul also writes of this Jesus in Galatians 1 verse 4 he says that this Jesus gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God and our
[38:45] Father and these wise men were attentive to what was happening in Jerusalem and as soon as they observed this bright star they set out to find this newborn king the purpose of the star was not to amuse the wise men but rather to lead them to their destination Matthew 2 1 tells us that the Magi traveled from the east to Jerusalem and as we already said it would have been a long journey but whatever far away they were if they were 400 or 700 miles away depending on what area they would have come from it was a long journey and as I already said before unlike the wise men sinners don't have far to go to find Jesus the Bible says that he is near to all that call upon him to all that seek him they can find him because he is near but it is a repentance it's a turning away from sin it's a recognizing that I cannot save myself my own works are filthy rags they are an abomination to the
[40:02] Lord we need to trust in one only and that's Jesus Christ and when sinners come to that point they are near to the Lord they find the Lord right there and so that's very different than the wise men who had to travel a long way literally to find Jesus but moving on then we find that as they with the king and the religious leaders they then went through the scriptures and possibly through Micah 5 verse 2 and pointed them to Bethlehem that's where this Messiah is coming from and so that's where they went they went to Bethlehem and it's there that they found Jesus and when they found in the Bible it's very clear we can sense the excitement that these wise men would have had upon finding Jesus a great satisfaction their journey their destination had been arrived everything was worth all the effort was worth the time it took and here they were at in Bethlehem with baby Jesus it says in verse 10 when they saw the star they rejoiced with exceeding great joy and when they were come into the house they saw the young child with Mary his mother and fell down and worshipped him and when they had opened their treasures they presented unto him gifts gold frank incense and myrrh and being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to
[41:32] Herod they departed into their own country another way they they find what they were looking for what they set out to find it was a reality here he was again when we turn that to sinners finding Jesus we find in the scriptures that there's many invitations for sinners to come to come to Jesus one of them in the Old Testament that I always love to turn to is in Isaiah 55 1-3 Isaiah 55 verse 1 it says ho everyone that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no money come ye buy and eat yea come buy wine and milk without money and without price wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which satisf not hearken diligently unto me and eat yea that which is good and let your soul delight itself in fatness incline your ear and come unto me hear and your soul shall live and
[42:41] I will make an everlasting covenant with you even the sure mercies of David what a beautiful invitation for sinners that sinners put in a lot of effort spend a lot of money trying to find peace now they might not admit that that's what they're looking for but that is the vacuum in every person before we find the Lord there is a vacuum we're searching for something and we don't know that we're searching for Jesus but when sinners come to this point they come to the end of themselves the end of their ability to find this peace when they come to that point and recognize it's not in what I find that there is peace but in whom I find in finding Jesus there is satisfaction there is peace just as these wise men would have had just as the shepherds would have had and their response was the right one to the
[43:41] Lord Jesus also gives an invitation to sinners in John 7 verse 37 he says if any man thirst let him come unto me and we drink from him we satisfy the thirst the spiritual thirst that is burning in our hearts and then in Matthew 11 28 to 30 we read come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light again Jesus himself invites sinners and he speaks today even though he's gone to be with the father and to receive his glory in heaven he continues to speak through his word and through his people that sinners are to come to him and find rest in him but the wise man's mission isn't over yet we find that they worshipped
[44:54] Jesus after finding him they worshipped him and they presented him with costly gifts with the most expensive gifts that they could bring along they presented it to them but before they gave the gifts to him they worshipped him these wise men did the right thing and that is to humble themselves in the presence of Jesus the savior of the world and then they gave him gifts and so also it is only right and fitting for sinners upon finding Jesus to worship him and to give him the most costly gift which is not material things it's their heart it's their life and that is what we as believers must do all the time as well to continually offer ourselves to him that we belong to him we've been purchased of blood through Jesus Christ we belong to him and so we first of all give ourselves to him and then we consecrate everything that we have as his we give that back to him now
[46:04] God's reasons for the announcement of his son's arrival first of all to the toilers and then also to the thinkers is not clear and we can speculate probably many reasons one of the things that why he touched the lives of both groups of people at either end of the ladder is that he wanted to make it clear to everyone that he is available he's come for everyone for the common folk the everyday persons the hard working toilers as well as those that perhaps are in high rise buildings very important businesses inventing things or thinking things through the Lord has come for them just as much as he has for those that get their hands dirty in the barn or wherever our occupation may be I don't know if I'm thinking right when I think that way but that makes logical sense to me why he manifested himself so clearly to the shepherds and to the wise men there is only one right way to respond to
[47:19] God's invitation to meet his son Jesus there is only one right way and that right way this gospel song clearly says in the course it still takes a wise man to pray nothing has changed in that way the simple the uneducated in wisdom they come to the Lord the highly educated the intellectuals in wisdom they come to the Lord they bow before him and that is an act of wisdom there is only one right way to respond to the
[48:30] Lord it seems that humanity believes there is a choice of neutral zone there is a place that we can neither reject or neither accept what the Bible says but they are mistaken people who think we can be neutral they are mistaken to not believe and to not follow the invitation that God gives in the scripture Jesus for themselves is to reject him altogether our default is damnation our default is hell without making that personal decision that very intentional decision we are still in a default we then already have decided to reject Jesus to reject God in the story of
[49:30] Jesus crucifixion prior to his crucifixion we're familiar with Pilate wanting to clear Jesus and he really did he didn't find that there was any reason that Jesus should be crucified he recognized that it was for envy that the religious leaders had brought Jesus to trial and so he tried to clear Jesus in several different ways but he couldn't do his wife counseled him one night he says have nothing to do with this man but for Pilate either he tried to wash his hands that he was innocent of this man's blood but he couldn't do that either there is no neutral zone when it comes to our response to Jesus and
[50:31] I trust there's no one here this morning that believes I can be neutral about Jesus every person in the whole world will need to respond to Jesus in one way or another there's a gospel song that not sung often but it has its title is the burning question and I want to read this song and if there's anyone here that has never made the decision never responded intentionally to receiving Jesus and the forgiveness of sins I want you to think about this question what will you do with Jesus and this song goes like this and I won't read it all I'll just read a couple of verses Jesus is standing in Pilate's hall friendless forsaken betrayed by all hearken what meaneth the sudden call what will you do with
[51:35] Jesus what will you do with Jesus cannot be someday your heart will be asking what will he do with me Jesus Jesus is standing on trial still you can be false to him if you will you can be faithful through good or ill what will you do with Jesus will you evade him as Pilate tried or will you choose him what air be tied vainly you struggle from him to hide what will you do with Jesus I trust that our response to him is as this last verse in the song says Jesus I give thee my heart today Jesus I'll follow thee all the way gladly obeying thee will you say this I will do with Jesus so I want to leave that with us and if we made that decision for the
[52:38] Lord then that is settled for us we know we have made an intentional decision but if we're not sure yet if we've heard a lot about the gospel we've heard a lot about sin we've heard about hell but we've never intentionally made a decision I want us to think about that and not to wait not to put it off till tomorrow or next year or another a better time as some people in the Bible did King Agrippa when Paul shared the gospel with him he says maybe another day he kind of liked what he heard but he wasn't ready to receive it he wanted more time and we don't know if King Agrippa ever got the time to repent and turn to the Lord but we have the time and so if there's anyone here that I wanted to encourage you ask yourself the question allow the
[53:41] Lord to ask you the question what will you do with me what will you do with Jesus let's pray father we thank you this morning for your word we thank you the lives of the shepherds as well as the wise men and we can see what they did with Jesus both of these people very opposite ends of the working spectrum one group got their hands dirty among the sheep studied the stars they were intellectual superior to these shepherds and yet Lord you reveal yourself to both to the shepherds we believe you revealed yourself to the Jews and to the wise men you revealed yourself to the Gentiles so Lord there is no one exempt from not hearing about the gospel and not having received the invitation to come to salvation this morning
[54:41] Lord I pray you know everyone that is here and if there is anyone Lord that has not made that decision that personal commitment believe in Jesus who has come to be the savior of the world and of them I pray Lord that you would continue to move that individual to the place of repentance and believing and to find that their thirst their spiritual thirst is completely satisfied in Jesus thank you for coming to earth thank you for living among us thank you for experiencing life and all the difficulties that we have in life Lord