We've Come To Worship Him | Pastor Daniel Batarseh | Christmas Day Service

If you were here last night, you know that we briefly spoke about the obvious theme of this weekend, the birth of Christ, but we looked at a certain vantage point about how the Holy Spirit did not necessarily give us the precise date of the birth of the savior, but he did in his wisdom provide us numerous detailed accounts surrounding and leading up to that event. And we examined for just a few moments of one of those accounts, one of those reports, and it was the interruption, if I can use that word, of an angel and a heavenly host who appeared to a, quiet group of men who are supervising their their sheep. And they received an honor that no Caesar, no Pharisee, no priest would experience. And that was the announcement of the the son of God entering into the world and even the direction of how to witness it with their own eyes. But this afternoon, I want us to now look at a different angle from this.

I want us to look at a different group of men. I want us to see what the Holy Spirit has given us in terms of instruction on a vast subject about what we can learn from this event. And it's not gonna be on the specific night that the savior was born. We're gonna we're gonna fast forward a few months. We're gonna fast forward perhaps even a couple of years when this baby was now an infant, and he's no longer in a manger.

He is tucked safely in a home with earthly parents who have been given the responsibility to, can you imagine it, to raise up God himself. And so what I want to do now in this in this segment is take you to the book of Matthew in chapter two, read a few verses, and then unpack these verses for you with the same intention that we had last night, that your heart would come alive and that you would have a fresh desire to adore him, love him, cherish him in light of the wisdom of his word. Matthew chapter two. Beginning in verse one, we read, now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem saying, where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.

When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told them, in Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet, and you, oh, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. No date. No date of when the savior was born, but plenty of details to tell us of the period in which he was born.

And in the first couple of verses, we have an understanding of how problematic it was for Jesus to be born in these days. And that is highlighted by Matthew, inspired by the holy spirit when he underscores in verse one of Matthew two that Jesus was born, yes, in Bethlehem of Judea, but also in the days of Herod, the king. Herod, the king. Now that is reduced to just a mere historical fact unless you and I have some kind of understanding of who Herod was. Herod was a politician.

He was someone who was raised up by Rome, who was oppressing the nation of Israel at this time to be some form of a king who would bring order and peace to the inhabitants and the citizens of Israel. He was not independent from the influence of Rome. Rome designed this man to fulfill their wishes. And so he followed their orders, and he implemented what they desired, and the people were subdued to a certain extent. And this Herod, who was one of many succeeding Herods, is identified as Herod the Great.

Herod the Great, perhaps because of his great achievements as a politician. And he was known for many things, but this man was a master architect. He was able to create and implement and establish many things that was, part of the flourishing of the society of the time. And one of those things was a revamping of the temple for the Jews. It was a renovation project like they have never known, and he was responsible for it.

And according to John two twenty, it took more than forty years to accomplish, and it was glorious. It had passerbys just absolutely stunned by the beauty that this man was able to generate with his power and his creativity. But Herod, although he was great in that sense, what's important for us to know in this context was that he was not great morally. This man was, like many of the rulers of his day, constantly suspicious, paranoid, fearful that someone would usurp his authority. And because of this, he was responsible for many deaths, even the death of his own wife and some of his sons when he felt as though they might conspire against him.

This Herod was unpredictable. He was cruel. And by the snap of a finger, he can cause atrocities, not just great architectural projects. And we get a hint of this man's dark side in the very same chapter that you and I are in today. Because when he discovers that the the king of the Jews would be born and and did not have the ability to find him out of rage, he calls for a charge to slaughter the children, all the male Hebrew boys who were under the age of two.

A massacre. A gross, despicable thing. This is the kind of Herod that we are speaking about. And it seems like a silly thought, but let me present to you, a thing to meditate on for a moment. Perhaps you might look at that and realize that and think to yourself, how can it be that God would actually allow Jesus to be born at this time?

And just imagine for a moment that you would be in his divine council, speaking about God's divine council pertaining to the birth of the long awaited Messiah, what would be your recommendation for when the savior should be born? When would you decide? Would it be a time of peace? Would would you clean things up first before you would usher in the one that would save his people from their sins? Would it seem reasonable to you that God in his infinite wisdom would choose for the savior to be born and to become a helpless baby under the rule of this wicked man?

This man who had no hesitation to liquidate the innocent, to, in a moment, even remove these helpless babies from their mother's lap and to slaughter them, though they proposed no threat at least in the time? Was it a slip through the cracks so the messiah was born here and now? Let it be known today, let it be known this afternoon with great confidence that the birth and the timing of the birth of the Christ was not accidental. It was totally planned, perfectly planned. It was a procedure that even the timing would make a declaration of the mightiness of God, of the strength of God, of the majesty of God.

And it is this, that he has never been nor will he ever be intimidated by the resistance of this world. There is no earthly system. There is no diabolical force that ever presents even a inch of an ounce of a threat to the purposes of God in every age. When you look at this book from cover to cover and you study who God is and you realize what he has done, you will come to this conclusion that he delights to showcase his sovereignty by strategizing his advancements purposefully in doing what? Finding a way to do so in the most unfavorable and perilous of circumstances.

God loves to showcase his sovereignty when the opposition is the strongest. And there's so many examples of this. What came to mind this morning was how Hebrews tells us that Abraham, when he was as good as dead what a description for a man. When he was as good as dead, that is when God chose to give him a son. I think about God's exodus from pharaoh when he pulled out his people, and he purposely leads him to a dead end while pharaoh and his army are chasing the people only for that water to split open and to create a walkway for them.

I think about so many of the miracles that we see where there seems to be a delay in timing even during the ministry of Jesus. But in that delay, God wanted to display greater power and greater glory unto himself. And so we see in this book that through obvious examples and even through subtle nudges, that God loves to display his power and to show that there is no strength. There is no hand that can stay him and say, what have you done or what do you think you're doing? One of my favorite examples is actually found in a book that perhaps would not be very fitting for Christmas, but it's okay.

In Revelation chapter two can I show this to you? Go to Revelation chapter two. Aren't you glad you came to church? You're gonna hear from the book of Revelation on Christmas Sunday. But it's for good reason.

Revelation chapter two, I want you to look here in verse 12 when Jesus writes a letter to a church, and he writes to the church in Pergamum. And it says here in Revelation two twelve, and to the angel of the church in Pergamum write, the words of him who has the sharp two edged sword. Imagine introducing yourself like that to the church. Look at verse 13. I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is.

Yet you hold fast my name and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness who was killed among you where Satan dwells. You and I just heard how Jesus was born when Herod was on the throne and that was a a dangerous a dangerous thing. But now we come to the end of the book and you know what we read? We read that this Jesus is speaking to a church, a local church that was planted where Satan's throne was. Satan's throne.

Get the cartoon idea of hell out of your mind. Satan's throne is not in hell. Satan's headquarters is not in hell. Hell is Satan's punishment. We're told here that at one time in history, Satan's command center was in a place called Pergamum.

I find that fascinating. I find that exhilarating for many reasons, and let me tell you one of them in a moment. We're not given any explanation to why Satan dwelt here. Can I translate that? That's where home was.

That's where you sent mail to his address. That's where he was. And this is where a church was. And we're not told why Satan felt so comfortable to be in Pergamum, but if you know enough of his vile character, then it makes sense that there was something about that atmosphere that made him comfortable. That made him comfortable to park there at least for the time being and to have his main operations come out of Pergamum.

And so I know one thing based on this that Pergamum must have been a place of of severe blasphemy and gross immorality. It must have been scandalous. It must have been a place of of heightened evil and heightened persecution even as read that there was a a Christian who was murdered in those streets. And this is where Satan chose to be and I believe it's because he had special influence there. He was able to maneuver things.

He was able to bring this city into an unusual level of iniquity. But that's not the point. The point is, yes, his throne is there. Yes, Satan dwells there. It's a very dark description for a city, but it holds glorious revelation.

Here's the glorious revelation. Jesus said to a church, I know where you dwell. I know where you dwell. You dwell where Satan dwells. You say, brother, what are you trying to get at?

Here's what I'm trying to get at. Even in the boundaries of Satan's headquarters, souls were being saved. The Bible was being preached. Disciples were being made. Prayer meetings were happening.

And even martyrs were being produced. That's a that's a statement of the power of the gospel. And I hold that truth very dear to my heart because it shows me that God can raise up a remnant even in the midst of the most hostile and vicious grounds. You live in Chicago, don't you? Have you lost hope?

Have you lost hope for this city? Are you tempted to leave because of the evil that is bleeding into the safety of even the suburbs? Take this truth and hold it dear to your bosom. Christ can still make a mark here. Even with the the reputation that it has for its violence and for its unbelief and for its immorality and corruption, Christ can make a mark here.

He can raise up a faithful church. And not just local churches, he can raise up the quality of Christians like this man Antipas who is willing to have his blood shed in a place where there was little to no allegiance to Jesus Christ. And the birth of Christ is often associated with humility and lowliness, and that is right. That is not a wrong assessment, but let us also rejoice with it, the mightiness of God. He was born in the days of Herod.

When there was so much danger looming and threats, Christ came in in the most vulnerable condition you can be in this life and still triumph because God was the one who orchestrated such a plan. And I find it humorous beyond that. Listen listen to this. So you have Herod who is willing to kill babies and God chooses to usher in the Messiah at that time. And more than that, when you have the wise men coming into Jerusalem, God in his providence allows Herod to give them the directions to find him.

Do you realize that? So you go to Luke two or Matthew two rather verse eight, and we didn't read that verse, but we read that Herod, he finds out as you heard where the Messiah was to be born. He brings in the Magi and it says in Matthew two eight, and he sent them to Bethlehem. Why is that significant? Because they they made it to Jerusalem, but they got lost.

And so knocking on doors and asking around, hey, where's the king of the Jews? And what a what a what a sad spiritual commentary on the condition of the Jews of that day. They didn't even know about the king of the Jews. Here you have guys who are Gentiles that are not even in close proximity to sufficient prophecy, and they come to this place asking the people of God for directions to where the king of the Jews was born. And they didn't know.

And in God's providence, you have Herod who hears the news, brings him in, says, you guys wanna know where he at? He's in Bethlehem. And when you go there, tell him and and tell me about it rather so that I can come and worship him as well. So he's not curious, he wants to assassinate the child. And here's the thing, with his desire and thinking that these are the first steps to to accomplish that, God actually through Herod's schemes gives the Magi a map.

I mean, it's just the sovereignty of God is all over this. And it reminds me of a Psalm in Psalm seventy six ten. Surely the wrath of man shall praise you. Have you ever wondered what that meant? Here's a clear example.

Surely the wrath of man shall praise you. In other words, even those who want to fight against the will of God to try to destroy the message of the gospel, in the end, it will come to the praise and glory of God. And that's why in the second part of the same verses says, the remnant of wrath, you will put on like a belt. In other words, I'm gonna use your wrath against my purposes as a tool. You can never escape the sovereignty of God.

You are in subject to it whether you want to be or not. So here's here's the Messiah now, and we're told that he is born in the days of Herod. And now the Holy Spirit turns our attention to this group of men, the wise men that you just heard me referred to in Matthew two two. They come to Jerusalem eager, hungry, longing. And it says in verse two of Matthew two saying, where is he who has been born king of the Jews for we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.

Who are these wise men? In the Greek, they're known as the Magi. And like many things, the Holy Spirit and his wisdom discloses details about them, but it is believed that they have come from most likely Persia. And the book of Daniel helps us to know about some of their activity and their origins. These Magi who came from the East served as an advisory board to the reigning king of of their land.

They were experts in science and math. They were experts in things like history and even the occult. And they would be referred to, from royalty to either interpret things such as dreams, we see that in Daniel, or even to predict the future. They were they were guides for the monarchy of their time. Here's the question.

Why are they in Jerusalem? They're foreign. They're gentiles. They serve their own gods. They have their own plans.

They have their own ideas. They have their own things to deal with. And, again, when you go to the book of Daniel, it makes all all the sense. Right? Because for these men that we know come from the East, surely must have been influenced by Daniel.

In other words, Daniel who was a high chief official exiled into Babylon and after different kingdoms came and ruled, Daniel was in position for so long and it could be that through the prophecies he received, the same prophecies that you read in the book of Daniel were disclosed to these Magi. And these men who were eager to learn sat at the feet of this prophet and he revealed to them of a coming messiah, a Jewish king who would save, who would redeem, who would restore, who would rule the world. And it's very likely, it's very possible that generation after generation these Magi, these learned men passed down these teachings that came from Daniel. And it came to a point where there is this this boiling anticipation for the Messiah even among Gentiles. There was this hunger.

We wanna know this God. We wanna know this Messiah. And the time has come. The time has come where God reveals a supernatural sign to indicate to this generation of Magi. He's here.

He's here. Make your way. And they do. And these men are intriguing, but we don't know much about them. We don't know their names.

Contrary to the nativity scene that is popular, there could have been more than three of them. We don't know the exact origins of where they came from, but here's what we do know according to Matthew. If there is anything that the Holy Spirit wants to highlight, you ready for this, it's their diligence to worship. Their diligence to worship. Have you considered it?

The distance that they traveled? If they did come from Persia, if they did come from that Babylonian region, we're talking about modern day Iran, modern day Iraq, hundreds of miles to get to Jerusalem. And guess what? They didn't get on a flight to get there. You gotta understand that this journey included undeniably extreme weather conditions, the patience to travel on and with animals, the danger of bandits and robbers on the sides of the road ready to ransack and take their own possessions and even their lives if they had to.

This is a dangerous trek. This is not easy. This is not convenient. And yet they come. They come and they make their way to find this child and to worship him.

And add to that the threat of the destination itself. Because once they do behold this divine baby, they are told by God in a dream not to go back to Herod so they find a different way to head back home. Why all the effort? Why leave the comfort of your home? Why put yourself in danger?

Why make your way to this point? The Holy Spirit gives one reason and one reason alone, to worship him. To worship him. I said this last night and it's been in my heart all week so I'll say it again. I do not mind repeating myself.

True worship costs something. True worship includes sacrifice. And if there was anybody who had an excuse not to make time to worship the living Christ, it was these men with all their practical hurdles. But they worshiped because that's where their heart was at. And strangely, if you take your eyes off of this verse and you look out into Christendom today, it breaks my heart to say that generally costly worship has been replaced with convenient worship.

Convenient worship. So worship looks not like giving God what you are able to give him as long as it doesn't affect your personal pampering or your temporal distractions. That was that was not the case for these men. Worship was a priority and everything followed that. And even in a world today where we have so much religious freedom, so much comfortable transportation, so much of a sheltered building, and the warmth of people and the warmth of even a government that allows us to do what we wanna do.

The diligence of worship of the living Christ has been challenged and is being challenged more than ever. More than ever. Not by Herods, not by bandits, not by dangerous journeys to get to a place where you can worship and hear the word of God. No. By convenience.

By convenience. I can say more, but I'll stop. These men, with their diligence, had dedication. They had dedication and they had an eagerness. Verse two says one word in the beginning, saying, saying.

You know what that implies? They kept inquiring. They did not give up. They they were on a quest to discover where is this king. What a tragedy it would have been if after a few I don't knows they packed their bags and went home.

But that was not the case with them. Because their diligence, their persistence was anchored in something. You wanna know why it was that they were able to stay and remain and fight until they realized the spiritual treasure? One simple thing, it's not a mystery. They had absolute trust in the revealed word of God to them.

Did you notice the question? When they came and asked where is he, they didn't say, is it is it actually true that, the the king of the Jews is is born here? Is it is it a thing? Is we we don't know. We're just we're just curious.

Nothing of the sort. They asked, where is he who has been born? It was a done reality. It was it was a fact to them. They believed it.

They absorbed it. They heard it, and they concrete trusted in it. And so they said, where is he? We know he's here. And and here's the thing, they didn't see it, they didn't realize it, but they believed it.

And if you want to know the fuel to diligence, if if you want to know something of great spiritual success, if you wanna know how to be steadfast in your walk with the cry with the Christ then you need a complete trust in this word. That's all you need. Belief in this word, an active obedience to this word. Because you look at these Magi and I see something else. I see a tenacious determination which is a reminder of how steadfastness is necessary in order to know spiritual success.

They would have failed if they've given up. They would have failed. They would have missed out. There's only one way to know great things in God. There's only one way to graduate in godliness.

There's only one way to know from testimony to testimony, and that is this. You can't give up. You can't give up. Whether or not you see the results now or or tomorrow, you cannot afford to give up. And the thing that will keep you going is seeing this word and believing the God behind this word that he does not lie.

And he is faithful and he is true and he can be counted on. My heart my heart this afternoon bleeds a little bit. It bleeds a little bit because I I look out and I see little honor for Christ. Thank God in this church there's so much of it. But I'm talking about honor, just serving the Lord because he is Lord.

Worshiping him just because he is worthy to be worshiped. Being a devoted follower of Christ no matter the cost and prioritizing your existence around that truth. Oh, I long to see greater honor for Jesus Christ. Oh, that we would see it. Oh, that we would be like these men who came for what purpose?

To just worship him. Just to love him. Just to give him what is due unto him. No hidden motives. No hidden agendas.

Not trying to impress anybody. Not trying to get brownie points with God. Oh, just to worship him. I pray you young men who will be fathers, who will be husbands, that you would be leaders in this one pursuit. I will live to honor Christ, and my family will follow my lead to honor Christ and to honor Christ alone.

These men convict me. And the joy and excitement of the Magi is not the only instructive illustration before us today. Look at what is said of Herod in verse three in contrast to their attitude. In verse three of Matthew two, we read, when Herod the king heard this, he was troubled. He was troubled in all Jerusalem with him.

What an odd reaction. We celebrate this truth and here's this man who is agitated by this truth. Why was Herod so alarmed? Why was he so disturbed? What was it that his intelligence agency revealed to him that caused him to be this way?

It's very simple. It's not a mystery. It's not hard to understand. If it is true that there was a king who has been born, then there was also born a rival to the throne. And this man does not like this news.

He was disturbed not because there was a group of people who had this simple belief in prophecy. This man was disturbed because of the implications of this news on his own life. It's no different today. It's no different today that when people hear about the biblical Jesus Christ that it troubles many of them. And the reason why it troubles them is for the same reason that it troubled Herod.

You have many people who hide behind science, who hide behind pseudo philosophy, who hide behind all these strange arguments for their spirituality without lordship, or even just this cancellation of the existence of God altogether. And they're very passionate about it. They're very passionate and even angry about their stance. And it's not because their worldview is based on evidence or because what they have to say or believe can contribute to human flourishing. The reason why you have so many who don't have Christ but have a different God or or this disbelief in God altogether is because they wanna remain on the throne of their own lives.

And their worldview protects that. That's what it is. It's as simple as that. Yes. You have some who might struggle with doubt and I'm not talking about those people.

I'm talking about the majority who's know of the truth, who have been exposed to the divine design all around them and yet suppress it. Why do they suppress it? Is it because they're smart? Is it because they're persuaded by something that is more convincing? For a majority of them, it's because, like Herod, they know that if this biblical Jesus comes in, they have to get off the throne of their will and surrender it to him.

Yes. To accept this Lord Jesus is to is to accept the surrender. A surrender to self righteousness, a surrender to sin, a surrender to subjective reasoning, and ultimately a surrender of your soul, and you lay it at his feet. Listen. The entrance of Christ into this world wasn't a meaningless stunt in history.

The entrance of Christ into this world was in preparation to enter into the hearts of men. The hearts of men who are willing to open their hearts and say, I have room. Unlike that inn that had no room, my heart has room. In fact, here's the title deed of my heart. Take all of it.

This is what Christ came to do. And when that gospel is preached as it is being preached this afternoon, that will either excite people like these Magi or it will trouble souls like Herod. So what does Herod do with this news about a king? One verse four, he gathers the religious leaders. He he gathers the scribes and he gathers the experts of the law and he inquires about the exact location of the birth of the Messiah.

Where is this king supposed to be born? And it seems noble, but it's the beginning of an assassination plot. He wants to hunt down the promised one and to cancel the promise. And again, I can't help I can't help but compare Herod and compare the wise men. Here you have these men who are willing to go to great lengths to worship, and here you have this other man who is doing so much to prepare to go to war with him.

It may sound extreme, but it's biblical. What you see with Herod and what you see with the Magi are really the the two only options that every person has when it comes to the response to the reality of Christ. Only those two. I know I know people try to convince themselves of a neutral place with Jesus, but that doesn't exist in the economy of God. There is only two responses and they are illustrated beautifully through the Magi and through Herod.

You will either live to worship him or you will live to resist them and in that declaring war against God. I know you're a blue collar guy. I know you just you just pay your bills and you have a nice family and and you're just trying to get along in life, but I want you to see life through God's lens. And what God sees when he looks down on humanity, he sees only two categories, two class of people, Those who are with me and those who are against me. Oh, surely there's something in between.

I'm sorry to break it to you. There is nothing in between. That is the spectrum. That is the only options. And you're saying, can you prove it to me?

Yes. I can prove it to you. When this baby became a man, he said something in Matthew twelve thirty. He said, whoever is not with me is against me. He said it.

I didn't say it. I'm just a mailman. Take take it. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. What does that mean?

When he says, whoever does not gather with me scatters, it it it means if you don't work for him, you're working against him. But I'm not I'm I'm this is it's just not even in my thinking. It's not even in my mind. Religion is not my thing. Let people do what they want.

You are against him because he is the sovereign creator of all things, and he has the right to demand from his creatures what he wills. And what he wants from you is you. What he wants from you out of love, brimming love, is for you to realize his love and to surrender your affections to him. And if you don't do that, then in in God's mind, you're against him. And if you are in that category of people, if you're not with him, if you're not gathering for him, if you are in that category where you don't want him and you are fighting against him, whether you know it or not, whether it's intentional or not, whether it's aggressive or passive, regardless, if you are, may I may I suggest to you on this opportunity that I really have only one time out of the year that people come into these kind of doors just to satisfy the Christmas and Easter conditions to their religiosity?

Do you realize what you're standing up against? I'd I want you to at least see what you're standing up against. And, what I mean by that is this is real. This is really real. This is profoundly real.

This this book that I am declaring to you is is is supernatural. It vibrates with life, and it it holds so much power, not just in subjective experience, but in historical evidence and even prophetic fulfillment that I want you to reconsider standing against him. So when Herod inquires of where the Messiah is to be born, they pull out the ancient scrolls that are actually tucked in these pages that have been preserved by God. And he reads from the prophet Micah. That's that's a book in the Bible because the Bible is not just one book.

It's a library of books. And one of those books is the the book of Micah. And this is what they read to Herod to give him the exact location of where the Messiah was to be born. Well, when was this written? Several hundred years before it happened.

So in verse five and six of Matthew two, we read, so they told them in Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet. And you, oh Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah. For from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. I want you to fathom somebody today today predicting at some point that a ruler would come into existence. Think about that.

That a ruler of a specific nation would come and rule in a specific way. That's audacious. That's that's crazy. And yet this is what this man does. This is what Micah does.

He predicts with his veiled understanding that he's been given a precise amount of information of where it is exactly this king is going to be born. Now here's what's fascinating about that. You have a lot of people today who claim to hear from God. And I was just talking about within Christianity. I'm talking about in all different spheres of life.

You have people who pretend to to to tap into to this kind of spiritual channel and to predict the future and all these things. Now you have some crazy people who will set dates and times for something to be to be to be done. And all you have to do is wait for it to come to pass and realize that it's false. Right? But you have other who are who are smarter than that.

Here's what they do. They they make predictions, they'll read your hand or they'll they'll send you something and you send them some money about your future, and they're very vague. And they're very ambiguous and they're very general. And that's strategic because what they wanna do is, in case it doesn't come to pass, they have just plenty of explanations to give you of that's not what they meant. Or they miss they misheard you.

And so there's a lot of people out there who are playing that kind of a game, who who just give you enough to satisfy your curiosity or to impress you, but not enough that it can be proven wrong. The Bible doesn't play that game. It doesn't. The Bible is bold, very bold. So bold is the word of God that it will give you details, Details about events to come.

And God in Isaiah does that on purpose so that for the generations that will come to read this book will say, there is no God like this God. You just gotta take the time to study it. So so don't go online and look for top 10 atheist arguments against Christianity. You're gonna come up with silliness. When you, with a heart of of true desire, wanna discover if this book is true, Endeavor and set yourself in the place of humility to understand what it is that this book has to say and you will be blown away.

And I'll prove it to you. Look how specific Micah is. This is just one example. One of hundreds of prophecies that one man fulfilled in Jesus Christ. We have to read slowly verse six, and you oh Bethlehem in the land of Judah.

Why did he say that? Why did Micah, by the Holy Spirit, say, oh Bethlehem in the land of Judah? Can I tell you why? Because in Joshua nineteen fifteen, in a list of names of cities, when the original group of Israelites came into the promised land to have conquest over the land, and then there was allotments given to different tribes, there is a Bethlehem not in Judah. There's a Bethlehem in the region of Zebulon.

And so you have two different Bethlehem's, at least. It's like this the the name Springfield of different areas. You have you have two different Bethlehem's, And yet when Micah is inspired by the Holy Spirit penning this prophecy, with laser precision we are told Bethlehem, but not just Bethlehem. Bethlehem in the region of Judah. So the Holy Spirit makes an effort to to cancel any kind of contention or possible argumentation against the how specific this is.

And this is just one of many of the things that when you see all the prophecies of different men from different eras, different times in history, all speaking about in concert the same person, you cannot deny it. You can't deny the supernatural source of these words. You know who couldn't deny it? Even a man who hated the idea of a king of the Jews, Herod. Herod had this weird kind of faith.

He believed in the Bible enough to discover the whereabouts of the Messiah, but he did not love the truth and that he submitted to it. He wanted to fight it still. Herod realized that there is a king of the Jew to come and he wants to find where he is through prophecy. And here's the sad state of even even being confronted with so much evidence. Like Herod, people will still not worship him.

They still will resist him. They still will take up arms and say, I will not I will not surrender my life to you. I pray that would not be you this afternoon. I pray that in this place today that through a weak attempt, there would be something of a softening of your heart to realize this is this is this is just more than just history. This is more than just, morals being presented in a creative way.

This is true. I may not know the extent of it. I may not know all the details about it. I may not be familiar with every stitch of it, but something's happening to my heart. And I'm not here trying to pull on your emotions.

I'm here trying to point you to a book, a book that is accurate, a book that comes from God, a book that was authored by God. And so today, my friends, as you prepare to go back home and change into your pajamas and be with your loved ones, have you come to worship him, or are you at war with him? With how this evidence has been provided to you and there is so much more still, Will it cause you to worship him, or will you harden your heart and say, I still won't give myself to him? And here's the thing. I am not convincing you of a tyrant.

I am not convincing you to, bend the knee to a bully. This god loves, And his love is so strong that he warns in his love. And his love is so powerful that he he has to get your attention in many different ways. And sometimes those ways are strong and they cut, but it's all from the place of love. This Jesus came not just to prove something of prophecy being fulfilled, that God can predict the future.

It's it's more important than that. He came, as you heard earlier, to save from sin so that he can save you for himself. He wants you. Can you imagine that? This future predicting all powerful being who can stop the plans of kings and armies.

He wants you. The only thing standing in the way is your sin, but he made a way to get rid of that too. He wants to wash you, cleanse you, fill you with the Holy Spirit, and guarantee and seal you for eternal life. What must I do then? Here's the gift of eternal life.

Repent and believe. Turn from your sin. What good is it anyway? It's only hurt you and harmed you. It's only kept you in bondage and defeat.

Get rid of it and come to the one who created you. Come to the one who died for you. Come to the one who will fill you and give you life abundantly. Come to him. This is the Christmas message.

Christ has come, not just into this world, but he longs to come into your life. As he knocks, and perhaps he's knocking now, don't ignore it. Don't turn your back to it. Open it. Swing wide those doors.

Fall on your knees and say yes to the lordship and the saving work of Jesus. Let's pray. Lord, we ask that in this moment as we have been refreshed by the word, we pray that every soul in this house will be set on worshiping you, worshiping you, not necessarily to get anything from you just because you're worthy of worship. You have done everything you can in Jesus Christ. And yet, as a good father, you still give good gifts.

And so, Lord, as we sit here and as we are ready to stand, we pray that we would not leave here with empty cups, but that, Lord, your word and your spirit would fill us so that we would be those who determine to honor you with our lives. And Lord, for the soul that is troubled, troubled by the news of who Jesus is and what he asks of us, Lord, we just pray that you would eliminate every lie from the evil one, every deception, every misjudgment, misunderstanding of what it means to follow Christ. And we pray that perhaps this would be the beginning of a pursuit of truth that will set free. And so, Lord, today, we thank you. We thank you for the admonition.

We thank you for the word. We thank you for the power of the scriptures before us this afternoon. May it really change us by your grace, and we worship you now in thanksgiving for it. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand and worship the Lord.