The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 4: Behold Our King

Episode Date: December 22, 2019

At Christmas we celebrate the fact that Jesus stepped off of His heavenly throne to come to earth to be: Prophet: proclaim truth Priest: reconcile us with God King: rule and reign all that is, beginning in our hearts “I am THE WAY, THE TRUTH and THE LIFE and no one comes to the Father except through me” - Jesus

Well, amen and Merry Christmas. Church, I got to amen. I'm so proud of you right now because on my way here, I just began to think the weather outside is frightful. And I didn't know if anybody would be here with us, but it looks pretty full. That's awesome. But I did believe this. I thought that if McCauley Calkin, aka Kevin McAllister, who was left home alone for three days in New York City and also hunted down by the Wet Bandit Gang, if he could make it to church, then by God so would we.

And so I'm so glad that you are here. If you got your Bibles, we're going to be in Matthew chapter 2. And part of what we're going to do is we walk through a very familiar Christmas event is I am going to debunk a whole bunch of stuff that you think about Christmas because there's a lot of things that we've kind of incorporated into Christmas that aren't biblical at all. I'm not saying they're bad. They're just not very biblical.

Like the Christmas tree thing, that was a pagan thing, but hey, I like the Christmas tree too. There's a bunch of our Christmas carols that aren't from the Bible, like Silent Night. We're going to sing it. I'm pro-Sylet Night. It just probably wasn't silent at all. I have been a part of two bursts, and by a part, I was just an observer. And we had, by God's grace, things like epidurals, and it was not silent. I understand?

A way in a manger says that the baby wakes up, Jesus, with a cow. Listen, if there's a cow in your nursery, he ain't going to go back to sleep. I'm just telling you these are facts, okay? And while there's a bunch of stuff that are just more traditional than biblical, there are some things that I think are very, very, very biblical. One being gifts, all right? So gift card usually fit me the best, and they're my favorite colors. But I like gifts. I think gifts come straight out of the Bible, and we've got three sleeps until you get into the gifts.

Are you ready? I hope you're ready. And let me tell you, another thing not biblical, Santa Claus. I'm pro Santa Claus. just know this kids, Jesus is better than Santa Claus, okay? Because Santa Claus is a Pharisee. He's got a naughty list and a nice list, and you have to earn stuff. With Jesus, everybody's on the naughty list.

He was the only one nice, and he took on our naughtyness so that we could all be gifted as if we were nice. That's the gospel. Praise God, all right? Now. But gifts are good. Gifts are from the Bible, okay? And we are going to study these gifts. And when I say gifts, I don't mean, don't go off.

cheeseballed and be like, no, I just need the gift of your presents. No, I'm talking about wrapped up with the bow kind of gifts. And I've told you my favorite gift that when I think gifts, the motorcycle at my grandma's house, last week I had the pleasure of preaching at Baker Correctional or Baker campus, and I got to give them like the 25-minute version, but you remember that. That was up until last Christmas, that was my best gift memory ever until last Christmas. And Jesus says it's better to give than to receive. I about halfway believe that until last Christmas, on the giving end of that, I got to be a part of the best gift exchange ever. And we caught it on video.

Check this out. This is from last year's Christmas. Hello, y'all switched. Reagan, yours is the black one. JP, yours is the silver ones. Y'all have puppies. Merry Christmas. Yeah, they're yours.

Merry Christmas. That's for us. Duly. Duly. Reagan, yours is named Georgia. Amen. There's a lot going on here. I don't know if you've noticed.

sees other video, I've sent it 10 million times. First of all, I'm a bit of a Calvinist, therefore these dogs came with names because they are elect, they were predestined to be named that, because if we left it up to the free will of my kids, one of our dogs would have been named like, you know, twinkle-toes unicorn or something like that. So we went Georgia and Dooley, for Vince Dooley, for all you unsaved people. All right, and so, and did you notice what Reagan said? Through tears, she's overwhelmed with the goodness of her parents, and yet there's a

There's this little thing in her where she says, like to keep. And see if I was going to be like, no, the pet store doesn't know that we left with him, so we've probably got about 30 minutes before we've got to turn it back in. Yes, to keep. It's crazy how that bit of suspicion resides in every human heart. That God is a good dad that loves to give good gifts to his kids, and yet every single one of us have a really hard time. receiving the goodness that God has for us.

We just do. And so as we look at Matthew chapter 2, what we're ultimately going to see is the goodness of God. I think all of the Bible could be summed up in this name for Jesus that shows up at Christmas a lot, Emmanuel. It's simply translated by three words, God with us. It's the story of the whole Bible, God with us. That in the beginning, God creates everything that is, and he just decides, his own glory to make image bearers. And he breathes the breath of life into Adam and gives him a wife, Eve. And they are in perfect relationship with one another. But more importantly, they're in this

perfect unadulterated relationship with God, God with us. That was the intent. And then they believed that they would make better gods than God. And sin enters the world. And the whole thing is fractured. The intent of the whole thing is fractured. And now we have a perfect holy God that cannot be with us the way he intended because his holiness will not reside with our sinfulness. And so he kicks him out of the garden, but he makes preparation. And he gives the law, he gives the prophet, and he sets up this entire temple system. And the whole temple system in all of the old covenant is about one thing. It is about God being with us.

So for thousands and thousands of years, priests would come and bring their sacrifices to make atonement or make payment towards God so that God could be with his people. And then on Christmas, the word, God himself, becomes flesh and dwells among us. Emmanuel, God with us. And that is the ultimate gift, the very presence of God. And the reason that he sent his son Jesus is that so that, for ever and ever and ever, anyone who would believe would one day be in the very presence of God. And when Jesus Christ died on the cross, he died for the penalty of our sin.

He died so that we could have power over our sin. And one day when we are with him face to face, the presence of sin won't even be there. God with us. And so this ultimate gift at Christmas, which is Jesus himself, as we go to Matthew chapter 2, what we're going to see here in this gift exchange is these, gifts tell us a whole lot about who this gift of this baby or this child is. Now, just for you traditionalists, there's going to be several times where we're going to mess up your whole Christmas, but hang in there, it'll be okay. Chapter 2, verse 1 says, now after Jesus was born, when? After, that's a

big word. 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. Now, another word for wise men is magi, all right? Now, how many wise men are there? How do you know that? What you mean three? You're pagan, you're adding stuff to the Bible. It doesn't say three. We just guess three because there's three gifts.

It didn't say that, okay? Hadn't you ever chipped in at the office and about six people get one gifts? There could have been 18. You don't know. Now, tradition tells us three, but somebody just made that up. So not only do we not know how many, we don't know their names. There's this tradition. They got three weird names.

I can't remember what they are right now because they're in the Bible, so it don't matter. And so, again, somebody just kind of made this stuff up. It was, they were like government officials with a whole lot of bank, and you can tell by the gifts that they had, they probably traveled in a huge caravan, huge caravan with like servants and security and camels and all of this. And later that we're going to find out that when they entered into Jerusalem, it kind of turned the whole town upside down. I don't know that three men would show up and nowhere in the Bible doesn't say they're kings. Like we sing, we three kings, but the Bible doesn't say that. Again, we just make some stuff up. And I think it's in, I can't remember what song it's in, it's in First Noel, I think, that says the star was in the east.

Well, that doesn't make sense. They are in the east. If the star is in the east, then which way would they go? Easter, wrong holiday, okay? The star's in the west. They got to go wester in order to go see the king. So our Christmas carols, though are a delight to sing, sometimes they just mess stuff up, okay? So, you got some unnamed, we don't know how many group of wise men coming from the east to the west going to Jerusalem.

Verse 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. Now, one of the questions that you have to ask is, why are these non-known number of wise men searching for this king of the Jews? Well, remember where we were last week? Remember in the book of Daniel and our three heroes Shadrach and Abedigo? They were exiled from Jerusalem and they were exiled to the east to Babylon. Babylon will become Persia and most scholars believe that the wise men came out of Persia, that there were these governing officials from Persia.

And for thousands of years before the very first Christmas, the Word of God had been brought to the east. And these wise men apparently were studiers of the world. word. And in Numbers, chapter 22, 23, and 24, which I'm sure you read all Christmas long, there is this event where another wise man or magi from the east, he prophesies. His name's Beelam. He wrote a donkey. This king named Baloch was going to pay Balam to curse Israel. And so he was on his way to do it. And then God sent an angel to kill him. And then God gave his donkey the ability to speak. And his donkey spoke to him and was like, what are you doing?

If you're new to Bible study, look it up. Okay. And it's in there. He has this conversation with his donkey, but the donkey saves his life. And then Balaam, this prophet from the east, this wise man from the east, in Numbers chapter 24, verse 17, he says that a star will rise over Judah, and from there a king will be born. Thousands of years before the very first Christmas, a wise man from the east prophesies a star and a king, and now thousands of years later, wise men's from the east who apparently had access to that scriptures via Daniel Shadrette Mishak and Abindigo are now looking forward. this king who is in the east. Now something to pay attention to. In Matthew, Matthew's gospel is written

primarily to a Jewish audience. But what he starts off the whole book with is this, is that the gospel is for all people. If you look at your nativity set, which we're going to debunk in a little while, but right now, you can hang on to it. If you look at your little figurines at your nativity set, it is a good picture that the gospel is a movement for all people. You've got the lowly blue-collar shepherds out in the fields. They don't have any fame, no prestige, no money, and the angels come to them and go, come on, boys, you're invited. And you go all the way to the east at Babylon or Persia

to people that didn't grow up like the Holy Family, they didn't believe like the Holy Family, and they got cash and prizes and a lot of influence, and they are from another nation. And they are also invited. You see, the gospel is an invitation for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus. If you look at the book of Matthew, it opens with the nations coming to see Jesus. And Matthew closes with a great commission, which says, take Jesus to the very ends of the nations.

The bookends of the gospel of Matthew is that this gospel is a movement for all people. Now, when Herod, the king heard this, he was troubled. and all Jerusalem with him, and assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. And they told him in Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet. And you, O 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. Two things here that are very important.

First of all, God's general revelation, like stars in the sky. they may pique your interest about coming to find this God, this Savior, this Jesus, but it takes the word of God to answer the specific questions like, where is he and what has he done? Now, something that scares me a lot as the pastor of this church is that when the Magii show up to King Herod, and they ask, all right, where is the Messiah to be born? And King Herod gathers together the chief priest, and the scribes, the religious people. They know the Bible, but they don't know Jesus. In fact, if you read through the Gospels, what's crazy is, it seems like the more you know the scriptures,

the less likely you are to know the author of the scriptures. The people get so caught up with the information about what God's word says, but they're just indifferent to actually meeting him. you would think that the next verse would say well he's born in Bethlehem and so the scribes and the Pharisees and the teachers of the law packed up their stuff and they went just in case but they don't do that at all

1122 it's hard for church people to get saved because you think you know it all and what a waste would it be to know the Bible and know the traditions and know church history and nowhere to park and nowhere to come in and know what part of the song to raise your hand in and know all the stuff

stuff about him and miss Jesus. In the Gospels, the people that knew their Bible the best, they were three feet away from the word who had become flesh. They were three feet away from Emmanuel. They could smell the breath of God. And they didn't recognize him because ultimately they didn't recognize that they needed His grace. They thought they had done something that would make them righteous, which by definition would be self-righteous. Now, interestingly enough, like in 191, 193, somewhere around there. There was a group of people called the Sanhedron, and they established themselves.

And a part of their covenant, you see, their job was to study the Old Testament so that when the Messiah came, they would be first in line to say, yep, there he is, we recognize him. But a part of their covenant in being that kind of religious leader is that when the Messiah came, the kings and the priests would turn over their responsibilities

to the Messiah. you. I think ultimately the reason that the religious people didn't want to go see if it really was the king is they were not ready to surrender their life to the true king. Church attenders, podcast listeners, may it not be so of you. May you recognize the king and surrender your life to him. Then Harry, he summoned the wise men secretly to ascertain from them what time the star had appeared and he sent them to Bethlehem saying go and search diligently for the child and when you have found him bring me word that I too may come and worship. Herod's a liar.

We find out later on that he's crazy. In fact, he's so threatened by this king of the Jews by King Jesus that he orders all the children, all the boys two years and under that they would be killed. In fact, this was not the first time that Herod had done something crazy like this. He was this big old ball of insecurity and ego. He felt threatened for the throne by his wife, so he had her killed, he had two of his sons killed. In fact, he was so stuck on himself that he knew everybody in Israel hated him, and he wanted there to be mourning on the day of his death. He wanted his funeral to be legit, so he knew that there would be cheering when he died.

So he kidnapped 12 of the most influential Israelites, and he held them in prison, and he ordered his people, when I die, murder these people. so that there will be weeping all over Israel. This was a crazy, crazy king. And after listening to the king, the wise men, they went on their way, and behold, the star that they had seen when it rose, went before them, until it came to rest over the place where the child was. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. This is like quadruple joy.

This is what Christmas is all about. Christmas is all about the joy that we find in Jesus. Listen to me, the best this world can give you is happy. And happy's cool. I'm pro-happy. If I get a choice happy or sad, I'm going happy. But the problem is, is when we bank on the promises of this world, the best we can do is happy. Did you see how happy my little girl was when we gave her a puppy?

I wish you could see how unhappy she is when she's walking around with a bag of the puppy's unhappiness. Do you understand what I'm saying? And when we, like the magi, are led to Jesus, then hopefully we get this quadruple joy that they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. Verse 11. And going into, what's that word? The house. Well, how many of your nativity sets have a house? I thought he was born in a manger. Where's the manger? Huh. And going into the house, they saw the child, not baby, the child. You see, by the time, I got bad news for some of you, okay? The wise men were not at the manger.

The wise men were born, they show up, remember after Jesus is born, and they see the star, and then they start following the star. And so if you want to be biblical, you need to take your wise men. First of all, you only got three. You got three. Why got three? Who told you three, okay? You need to just have some assortment of wise men.

And you need to take them out of your nativity. you can keep them, you just need to put them in the garage or somewhere. And when people say, like, where are your wise men? They're on the way, you've got to give them a minute, okay? It's going to take a while. According to Herod's math, they're somewhere. You know, it took them not quite two years to get there, all right? So leave them in the garage or somewhere.

Pastor Stone sent me a picture of his. He says he fired a couple of them. He added a few. He added like Rudolph and Santa. So he's got four now, and he moved them to the other side of the room, okay? It's because he's trying to be biblical. He's always compliance. That's what you do.

And then, like, maybe, I don't know, next October, you could bring them back out and say, all right, now finally they're here. And it's a child, not a baby. Luke chapter two says, and this will be a sign, it'll be a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes. But imagine I don't see a baby. They see like toddlers or Jesus, child, all right? Maybe walking, almost talking. That's when they show up. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down.

And they worshipped him. This is what you do when you meet Jesus. And then opening their treasures. Think about this. You think your husband's hard to shop for? Imagine having to shop for the king of kings. The Christ, the Messiah, the one who spoke into existence, all that is. Everything was created by him, for him, through him, and to him.

He already knows what you're going to get him, because the Bible says he knows the very words before they're formed on our tongue. He knows the conditions of our heart. You can't surprise him with anything. What do you get this child Jesus? Well, I think, I don't think the gifts that the Magi give to toddler Jesus here are just random. I think they tell us not a whole lot about the Magi, but about their understanding of who they are standing before. And then opening their treasures.

They offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrr. Now, I'm going to tell you, you got to put on your big boy pants here, okay? We're going to dig in. We'll cover a whole bunch of the Bible to point to the meaning of these three gifts because I think they tell us about who they're giving the gifts to. You see, you would give gold to a king. That would be a gift that would be a good gift for a king, like when the queen of Sheba comes to meet King Solomon, she brings gold.

Most kings were measured by how much gold they have. And I think the magi understand that they're not just standing before this little Jewish carpenter's kid who's got maybe some Old Testament verses attached to him, but they were standing in the very presence of a king. You see, Jesus is, Kanye's right. Jesus is the king. John, in Matthew chapter 3 and in the beginning, ending of John, when John the Baptist is declaring the ministry of Jesus, he says, repent for the

kingdom of heaven is at hand. In fact, Jesus himself will say this in Matthew 4.17. From that time, Jesus began to preach saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now, a kingdom represents the rule and reign of a king. That's what it means. And a lot of times, what a lot of people do when talk about or read about the kingdom of heaven, they immediately go to the implications that the kingdom is here and they miss the primary message of Jesus. The primary message of Jesus is not about the new rules by which we should live. The primary message is the king has arrived. And then secondary unto that is, and for all the followers of that king that live in his kingdom, the way we live will be changed forever. You see, Jesus will be changed forever. You see, Jesus will

say things like this, 21 times in the Gospels, at least 21 times that I could find from Tuesday until today. At least 21 times in the Gospels, Jesus will say some version of the kingdom of heaven as like, or the kingdom of God as like. You see, when he stepped off of his throne to come on this earth, he was on a rescue mission to establish his kingdom. And the thing that he was establishing more than anything else, check this out, is that you and I could know the king. In Matthew chapter 25, one of the 21 times Jesus says this, the kingdom of heaven is like, and he gives three parables back to back to back. The parable of the virgins, he said, the kingdom of heaven is like this. There's a party.

The king is throwing a party. And everybody's invited. And everybody gets in the same way. And the price for your ticket has already been paid. The only stipulation is this. You need to be inside when the party starts. And whatever you do, don't miss the party. but in his in his parable there's a whole bunch of people and they're just they're kind of out doing their own thing

they've kind of ignored the invitation and they think once the party starts then maybe i'll come and knock on the door or scratch my way in and when they do that the king meets them at the door and says hey hey hey depart from me for i never knew you so the kingdom of heaven is like this everybody's invited everybody gets in the same way whatever you do don't miss the party well how do i get in it's simply this, by knowing the king. Then he tells another parable, the parable of the talents. He says, the kingdom of heaven is like this. The king's about to go on a long journey.

He brings three dues together, gives them a bunch of money, and two of them leverage all the money that the king has given them for the kingdom. And one man out of fear, he operates only for his own kingdom. And then one day the king returns to settle accounts with the three men. And essentially, he tells us this, everything we, have will either bring us great reward or great regret. And one of these men, the men that operated for his own kingdom, he says, depart from me, and here's why, here's why, because I never knew you. You see, you were operating for your own kingdom, therefore you are not a part of this

kingdom. Then he tells a third parable called the parable of the sheep and goats, and he says, the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Like a king who is a shepherd comes, and he gathers together the sheep and the sheep and the goats and he puts the sheep on his right, and he puts the goats on his left and he looks at those on his right the sheep and he says well done well done enter into the kingdom of my father and here's why because i was sick and you visited me i was in prison and you came to see me i was without clothes and you clothed me i was thirsty and you gave me something to drink and the sheep will say when did king when did we see you that way and he will say whatever you've done for the least of these brothers of mine you've done unto me in other words when you know the king then you have a heart for what

the king has a heart for and the king has a heart for the least of these. And those are you goats on the left, sorry you said over here, but you just did. Your goats on the left are like, whoa, what about us? King? If we knew that you, the king, was in prison or needed something to eat or needed something to drink, we totally would have gotten that for you. And then the king will say, whatever you did not do for the least of these brothers of mine, then you did not do for me. Depart from me. Why? Because I never knew you. You see, the whole message of the kingdom of God, first and foremost is this, is that you and I can know the king. It's not about what we can do for the king. It's about what the king has done for us. And if you know that, it for sure changes everything that you do. In fact, in Matthew

chapter 7 talking about his kingdom, he says this, verse 21, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will my father who is in heaven. And on that day, many will say, to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? And then will I declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. You see, ultimately, the kingdom of heaven is that we get to know the king. Because you've got to admit, this is a pretty good resume for getting in, isn't it? I don't know, do we have any prophets? Prophetesses in here? Probably have a few.

mostly they sit up towards the front usually anybody ever cast out a demon i know a couple of you have i've never cast out a demon okay closest i've ever come i sent a seventh grader home from camp and that was it okay then i met their parents and i think it was more of a uh you know generational curse but anyway but you would think if you made the exorcism team of the church that you're probably in and he goes well well that's not how it works it's not about what you do it is about knowing me by the way in the gospel of Matthew, the next time the phrase King of the Jews is used, it is to describe Jesus on the cross. You see, because Jesus will return to establish his kingdom forever and ever and ever. And it's described in Revelation chapter 21.

If you're new to Bible study, I would not encourage you to begin your Bible study in the book of Revelation, but I'm a professional, so follow me. Revelation 21 says this, and then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more, and I saw the holy city, Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, and I heard a loud voice from the throne. See, the king sits on the throne, saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,

and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away, and he who is seated on the throne, said, behold, I am making all things new. And also, he said, write this down for these words are trustworthy and true. And he said to me, it is finished, literally. And I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. And to the thirsty, I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage.

I will be his God. And he will be my son. God with us. In his kingdom, in his kingdom, we can know. the king. And so the wise man give to this little boy, whatever, 18-month-old Jesus. They understand, they understand that he's a king. And then they also give the second gift. They give frankincense. Okay? Frankincense. Now the reason I think they gave frankincense is because they understand Jesus's priestly role. Frankencence was used in the temple. And what a priest did, a priest's job,

a priest mediated between people and God. The job of the priest was to help people meet with God. And so they would do all kind of stuff. They would light candles and what they would do with frankincense. They would light the frankincense so that it would be a picture to the people. As you pray, our prayers kind of float up to heaven, right? And it would be a picture of that. But in the Old Covenant, in the Old Testament, the priest's job was to make sacrifices

on behalf of the people as a mediator between a holy and perfect God and an unholy, unrighteous people, like me and you. And so they had all kinds of stuff. They had all kind of grain offerings and praise offerings, and they'd bring money and all sort of stuff. But one time a year, they would bring their ultimate offering. It was called the Day of Atonement. And you see, the Bible says that without blood, there is no remit. mission of sin. You see, we serve a holy and a just and an almighty God. And for God to overlook any

sin, it would be wholly unjust. Imagine parents, if you were in a court of law and somebody had done something awful to your child, and then the judge looks at that situation and says, you know what, we're just going to overlook this one. You'd be like, no, we're not. Judge, you are unjust. And so for God to not judge sin, it would be unjust and he cannot act against his own character. And so he set up this system of sacrifice where blood would be spilled. Because every sin is committed against an almighty, everlasting God. And everybody knows. If you know anything about the law, which 1122 probably knows more than most churches.

But if you know anything about the law, you understand it's not just what you do, but who you do it against that determines your punishment. We've talked about this before. If you get angry on your way to the car and you kick the tire, that's not good. You probably shouldn't do that. You probably need counseling and you need to repent and you got some stuff going on in your heart. But you ain't going to jail for kicking your tire. Now, you get home and you kick your dog, that's worse.

You kick your cat, not even a sin. We've covered that over and over. And you can save your stupid cat emails, okay? Just send them amongst your cat people, all right? You kick your wife? The police are coming. You kick the police? You're going to jail.

You kick the president, you don't come out of jail. You understand it's not just what you do, but who you do it against. And every single sin is against an everlasting Almighty God and requires an eternal punishment. And so every year, every year, the priest, they would show up, the people will come before the priest on the day of atonement. They would confess their sins. He would transfer the sins to the people over to the head of this goat. It was called the scapegoat. He'd take it to the edge of Jerusalem and cast it out into the wilderness as far as the east.

is from the west and he would take a perfect spotless land. He would go past the outer court and he would go past the inner court. He would be ceremonially clean and then he would open up this curtain and he would go into the holy of holies, the place of God on this earth and he would shed the blood of a lamb and he would sprinkle this blood of this lamb over the ark of the covenant that held the broken laws of God. The idea being that every year the blood of a lamb was shed for the forgiveness of the Jewish people for one year and then the next year and then the next year. The idea being as God looked down on his throne on this earth,

he did not see his broken laws, but he saw a covering of this shed blood. And then Jesus steps on the scene. Not just as any priest, but as the great high priest. And his cousin John, before he baptizes him, looks at him and says, Behold, the Lamb of God, who comes to take away the sin,

of the entire world. Not another Lamb of God that's here to cover over the sin and the Jewish people for one year, but behold the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sin of the entire world. In the book of Hebrews, the Bible says this, Hebrews 9, 11 to 15, says, but when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ,

who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God? Purifying our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant. that those who are called may receive the promise eternal inheritance since the death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. I think the wise men knew they were in the presence of the great high priest. Listen, all you Catholics, grew up Catholic, praise God for your background. You have a mediator and it is not a man. It is Jesus alone. You don't bring your prayers to me and then I say, I'm not like FedEx and then I get them the rest of the way there.

according to 1 Peter 2.9, that if you are in Christ, you are a part of the priesthood of believers. Because Jesus is our great high priest. And if the blood of bulls and goats could satisfy God for a time, then Jesus did not just make a sacrifice on our behalf. He became the sacrifice for us, that we would be redeemed. And when he did that, the moment he says, it is finished on the cross. And his blood is shed. and he breathes his last. The Bible says that an earthquake hits Jerusalem,

cracks right down the middle of the temple, and the curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the people of God. That curtain was torn from the top to the bottom. Not the bottom to the top. It's not like mankind grabbed onto it, and we are ripping our way in, but God himself grabs onto it from the top,

and he tears away that thing that separated his children from him. God with us. Jesus is our great high priest. I hope you know it's not what you know but who you know that matters in this world, right? My daughter Reagan Capri joined a bike game. There's 10 little girls in our neighborhood and they all ride bikes together and they're all between 9 and 11 years old and we call it the biker gang. And what that means in my house now is that there are these little girls that I don't know. I'm getting to know them, but I don't know them.

And the other day, the other day, I hear somebody rumbling around in the Holy of Holies. It's the pantry, all right? And I open the door and there's one of these girls that I don't know. What are you doing in my pantry? And she says, I'm with Reagan. To which I go, well, then help yourself. Because if you come in my house with my daughter, then you are an invited guest. Even you feel like you have the right to rumble around to my Doritos.

The purple ones too. Are those not the best? Don't give me any of those. I'm fat. All right. So she's in there eating my purple Doritos. The only reason I don't. call her parents or call the police or child protective services or something,

it's because she has been invited in by my daughter. Jesus as our great high priest is also our brother. This is not how it works, but just go with me a minute. It's like you just come fumbling around into the holy of holies. We're all uninvited guests. You get squished by the holiness of God. But because of Jesus's ultimate payment by his own blood, we get invited into knowing God,

not just as the ultimate creator, but we get to know him as Heavenly Father because Jesus is our high priest. He gave him gold because he's a king. He gave him frankincense because he's a high priest. Now this one gets weird. And the third gift is Mur. I don't know if you know this or not, but Murr was an ointment used to prepare bodies for burial. Like Nicodemus does this in John 1939 to prepare Jesus' body for burial. You got to even, admit parents be a weird gift right got a birthday party get some gold you be like you're coming back gets some little incense be like we don't trust your parents you get you bring some like embalming fluid you're off our list okay you're not going to be friends with our child that's weird

but i think the reason that wise men bring the mur is because they know jesus is king and they know that he's priest and he's also a prophet but different than all the other prophets Every other prophet came to tell the truth about God. Jesus came to fulfill all the truths that were prophesied about God. Like I think that they knew this. Isaiah 53, 5 says, but he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. And upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace.

And by his wounds, we are healed. that they knew that this king came to die on a cross on our behalf. You see, Jesus would say these things over and over and over he would say truly, truly, I say unto you.

That when other people heard him taught, they would say, oh, he teaches differently. This is the way the sermon on the mount wraps up. He teaches as one who has authority. And when prophets would come, again, they would say true things about God. They would tell the truth. But Jesus came to say,

I'm not going to just show you the way. I am the way. He said things like this. In John 858, he said, truly, truly, I say to you before Abraham was, I am. He claimed divinity that he and the father were equal. In John chapter 6, he said, truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes or trusts, Pistuo is the word, has eternal life. In Luke 2343 has this very famous conversation.

Jesus is on the cross as king, as priest, and as prophet. And he's, on either side of him are two thieves that deserve to be there. And one starts mouth the mouth at Jesus and says, all right, bro, if you are who you say you are, call down a legion of angels. And why don't you save yourself? And while you're at it, why don't you help us out too? And then the brother on the other side is like, do you even know who you're talking to? We deserve to be here.

He's done nothing wrong. And then somehow, somehow, in this thief on the cross, He couldn't change anything about his life. He couldn't promise from now on I will start going to church. From now on is like this afternoon, and then that's it. And he looks at Jesus, and ultimately what happens there is somehow he believes that what Christ is doing on the cross will somehow count for him. And he simply says this, Jesus, remember me this day when you go before your father in heaven. And Jesus replies, as a prophet, as the prophet, truly, truly, I say unto you, today, you will.

be with me in paradise. You see, Jesus did not come to just point to another way. He came to make a way. In John chapter 3, a very famous conversation. Jesus is talking to Nicodemus, and Jesus says, truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven. He uses this word picture, this analogy, that you've got to be born again. And then Nicodemus, listen how terrible this is. Nicodemus is like, oh, what? How can a man enter into his mother a second time and be born again and Jesus is like oh my god would you stop no stop what in the name of me are you talking about no are you smart you're not even smart it's a very loose translation but read it that's what it says and so then he shifts gears from this born again language and because nicodemus is a student of the old

testament he uses this old he uses this old testament illustration and he's like hey bro you remember remember when the nation of Israel woke up one day and god released a bunch of poisonous snakes among them because they kept complaining all the time. And they wake up one day and every single one of them is snake-bitten. And the problem is not on the outside. The problem is running through their veins. The poison is on the inside.

It didn't matter how much ointment they put on the outside. They needed something from the inside out, not the outside in. And so God instructed Moses to take a bronze serpent and to put it on a staff and hold it up and anybody that would not look to themselves for the cure or the antidote but would fix their eyes on the way that God made through the bronze serpent, they would be saved. And Negadamian says, I. Uh-huh. And Jesus says, I'm like that.

I'm going to be lifted up on a cross. And every single one of us, you see, every single one of us, we're snakebitten at birth, by nature and nurture. We're snakebitten. And the problem is not some kind of outside thing that we need to change. The problem is running through our veins. And the only antidote is to fix you. your eyes on me to trust that when I am high and lifted up on the cross, that that would cure you and save you. And then he gives this very famous verse, Nicodemus doesn't understand, how could that be?

And he says, for God so love the world, that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved. I think that the reason that the wise men give this weird gift, myrrh, ointment to prepare a body for death, it's because they knew the prophet and the priest and the king came to be the sacrifice for every single one of us. You see, here's the whole point. At Christmas, we celebrate the fact that Jesus stepped off of his heavenly throne to come to earth to be the prophet, not just to proclaim the truth, but to fulfill all of the prophecies about him. And he came to be a priest to reconcile us with God. And he came to be

to be the king, to rule and to reign all that is, beginning in our very own hearts. You see, all throughout the Gospels, Jesus is recorded as over and over and over proclaiming the gospel, and his disciples had a really hard time getting it. In fact, in John chapter 13, the night Jesus would be betrayed, the Bible says that he knows all authority in heaven and earth has been put under his feet. that the kingdom was his, and he got up from the table, he dressed himself as a servant, and he washed his disciples' feet. And then he sits down with him in John chapter 13, and Jesus celebrates Holy Communion, the Lord's Supper. Do you know why? Because the disciples

were a little slow up on the uptake, which is a good news for a lot of us. If you have a hard time understanding, I'm reading from Hebrews, and you're like, I have no idea what you're talking about, that I've got good news. You don't have to fully understand to fully believe. You can make a great disciple because he keeps going over this over and over and over and over that he's prophet that he's priest that he's king that he is the messiah that he came to die for our sins and they're like we don't get it and so he's thinking i think all right if you're having trouble with the lecture maybe we'll do the lab and he goes hands-on tactile you know about the bread right and they're like yeah like moses in the exile sort of this is my body broken you know about the cup right yeah yeah

the blood of the lamb on the doorposts yeah sort of that's my my blood, the doorpost of your heart. As often as you eat of this and drink of this, this is about me down on the cross for you. And after dinner, just to make sure that they know, before they go to the Garden of Gassimony, he begins to share with them once again, the gospel, I'm going to be handed over, tried, crucified, dead buried, and on the third day, resurrected. Now, I think when most of the first century Jewish people read that he was prophet, preaching, and king, they wanted his kingdom to start now and to only be about here. And he's like, no, no, no, no, no. It's going to be eternal, but I'm going to go and die for you. And then he says this, John chapter 14,

but don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God. This has been the plan since before the beginning. Trust in God. Trust also in me. Because in my father's house, there's many rooms, and I am going to prepare one of those rooms for you. And I'm not making this up. I wouldn't have told you if I was just making this up. And if I go to prepare a place for you, don't worry, boys, I'm coming back to get you. But you know the way.

And then Thomas, who would later become doubting Thomas, but he's showing some evidences of it now, he goes, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. We don't know the way. And then Jesus says, John 14, 6. Thomas, I am. I am the way. and I am the truth and I am the life and no one no matter where you start from no matter your

religious pedigree no matter how good you are bad you are no one gets to the father except through me now this week for the first time in my life I've read this verse a couple times first time I've ever seen it through the gifts of the magia what if Jesus in John 146 is essentially describing all of his earthly ministry. That Jesus is saying, hey boys, listen, I am the way. I am the high priest, not to point you to how to get to God, but I will be the sacrificer and the sacrifice because I am the way. And I am the truth, that I am the prophet.

Not to just come tell you true things about God, but I came to be the fulfillment of all of those truths and all of those promises and that God loves you so much that for anyone who would trust me as the truth, you could be a son of God. And I am the life. I am the life. You see, in my kingdom, life is just different. When you know the king, everything about your life changes. And when you know the king, being in a relationship with that king, that is where you truly find life. Maybe this is why the angels say to the disciples that came to the empty tomb on Resurrection Day, they said, why do you look for the living among the dead? There's a bunch of people at Christmas time and you're looking for life in places where there is no life.

Like if you look for life in presents and if you look for life in the approval of men and you look for life in the parties and you look for life in this picturesque moment in your mind of what your family Christmas ought to be, you will be highly disappointed and at best you may have moments of happiness. But Jesus says, when you know the king, that is where true life really is. He says, I'm the way,

I am the truth, and I'm the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me. Church, let me ask you this. Do you know Jesus like that? as prophet as priest to make a way to you and God and as king or Lord

look I'm going to tell you in the South there's a bunch of us that are ready for him to be the great high priest for us to be reconciled to God but we may have a little problem with him being the Lord you see there might be a bunch of people in church today and we could be like the religious leaders because we know that when the Messiah shows up and the king shows up when the priest shows up we have to relinquish our own life

and our own responsibilities to him. So do you know him that way? Do you know him as the way, the truth and the life? Have you ever surrendered your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ? And you may say, well, I don't fully understand that. I've got really good news. What it takes to be a Jesus follower is simply this, is to admit it.

Uh-oh, I need someone to do for me what I can't do for me. It's not about bad getting better. I need, I admit it, I'm a sinner, I need a Savior. And that I believe somehow, like that thief on the cross, when he died on the cross, somehow when Jesus says it is finished, even though I might not have all the theological terminology, I believe, I trust that that counted for me, no matter what I've done, no matter what I will do. And if that's true, then I'm ready to confess, I'm ready to say, you are my king, you are my Lord. And the Bible says that that's what it takes to receive the free gift. of salvation. Would you please bow your heads and close your eyes? And if you would say, yep, that's me, I am ready to admit it. I'm a sinner in need of a savior. I believe that when Jesus died

on the cross, somehow that counted for me. And right now, I am ready to confess Jesus as my Lord. Then you do that in your heart. You just tell him those things in your heart. You just confess with your own words that Jesus is Lord and you believe God raised them from the dead. And if you did that this day for the very first time, I'd just like to ask you right where you are, would you just signify it by raising your hand saying, Father, here I am, I admit, I believe, I confess, here I am, God, I surrender my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father God, we love you more than anything, and we thank you so much that you sent Jesus as the fulfillment of all truth about what it means for us to be

reconciled to you. God, we thank you that Jesus is the way. He didn't just show us. us a way for us to somehow make our way to you, but you made your way to us and made a way for us to know you. And God, we thank you that Jesus is king, ruler and reiner. And one day, God, he will make all things new. But in the meantime, may he rule and reign our very own hearts. And we live by your kingdom and not the kingdom of this world. We pray this. In Jesus' name, amen. church would you please stand as we close we respond to the gospel and listen to me we respond in prayer you know why because our great high priest tore the curtain from the top to the bottom which means you don't have to go to a confession booth you don't have to offer your prayers to me to offer them

on your behalf but you can go directly to your heavenly father and he invites you to do so and we respond like the magi brought their treasures we bring our treasures because we We want to treasure Christ above all else, and we join our voices together and sing. Now, I'm going to admit, I wanted to sing this last song, totally tradition. I just don't think Santa Claus can come if you don't sing Silent Night, okay? And so I know it's super familiar, but there's a line in here that I think the Magi totally understood. Jesus, Lord at thy birth. And so, let us pray, let us bring, let us sing, let us respond.

Thank you.