Louie Giglio - When You Seek Jesus, You'll Find Grace
So, the text today is Matthew 2, and we’re gonna see wonder all through it. Beginning in verse 1 it says, «After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judah, during the time of King Herod Magi,» or your translation might say, «Wise men from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, 'Where is the one who has been born, '» here’s out word, «'King of the Jews? We saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.'» You see how right at the beginning we’ve already got it. «We saw this thing. We didn’t know exactly what it was. It was unlike anything we’d ever seen before. We followed to hear having heard that there’s a king and we’ve come to worship the king».
That’s really where we’re gonna land today so maybe we should start there. Is that why we’re here today? Are we here in church together to worship a King, to acknowledge there’s a king? «God, open my eyes. He put a sign in my path. He led me to see the Savior and now I wanna worship Jesus as King of my life». This is where these wise men are coming from. Verse 3, «When King Herod», so, we had another king in the story, «heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. ' In Bethlehem in Judah, ' they replied, 'for this is what the prophet has written.'»
And then they quoted the prophet Micah to him. «'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah. For out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd of my people, Israel.' Then Herod,» this other king in the story, «He called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared». And we’re gonna see a little bit later why he wanted to know when the star appeared.
«He sent them to Bethlehem and said, 'Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find Him, report back to me, so that I too may go and worship Him.' After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped Him. Then they opened their treasure and presented Him with gifts of gold, and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned», here’s the little key line here.
«In a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route». We don’t know a ton about these wise men. We’ve got three of 'em at the manger. Well, they’re not at the manger, so that’s one thing we don’t have right in the story. 'Cause now Jesus is a little older. They’ve made a long journey. They’ve arrived and He’s at the house, not at the manger 'cause He’s grown up a little bit. He could be four months old, six months old, nine months old, a year old, we’re not sure. And there could have been two of them, or five of them, or six of them, or twenty of them, we’re not really sure. We just know there were more than one of them because they were the Magi, plural.
So, we’re not sure how many. Tradition says three. All of our nativity sets that are on the side table or the, you know, on top of the television if you’re old school, you got one of those still around the house. And all of our nativity scenes have got three wise men, but we don’t really know, and we don’t know exactly where they came from. Best guess would be from Persia. They came from Babylon. They came from the east on their way to see Jesus. And we don’t really know all the details about the star. Could have been a great conjunction like the one that we recently observed here in Atlanta, Georgia of Jupiter and Saturn something so stunning and amazing. And a great conjunction happened around the time of Jesus.
So, could have been that. Could have been another astrological phenomenon or it could just been a miracle of God putting some glorious light in the sky for them to follow until it stopped over the house where Jesus was with His mother Mary. We can’t really fine tune all the details. What we do know about these wise men is that they’re teaching us the very first thing that God wants us to see today about the fact that He’s king. And that is that He is King over all the earth. He’s king over all the earth. In other words, He wants us to wander today at the reality that Christ birth has global significance.
And I just wanna keep us in that mind frame today and in that mindset today. Matthew’s gospel, if you just open your text if you have it and look at Matthew 1. This is one of those really compelling passages that opens up with this. Now, «The Genealogy of Jesus». That’s the header above Matthew 1. «A record of the Genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abram». And then it begins. «Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah». Goes through the entire lineage. Down in verse 8 we see, «And Jesse the father of King David». So, now we’re getting our king concept and that’s where this talk is really stirring up today.
And then if you come down to the very end in verse 16, «And Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ. Thus, there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ». And so, what is Matthew doing? He is taking the Jewish reader or the Jewish listener on a journey from Father Abraham all the way to Jesus. And he’s empathizing King David in the midst because the prophecy is that this baby born in Bethlehem is gonna be in the line of David and sit on the throne of David. That He is gonna have a kingdom and He’s going to be a King.
And so, it’s really an insider story in Matthew’s gospel. This is really about the Jewish people. And we’ve seen in Luke’s gospel that in a way it’s really about Mary and Joseph, and Elizabeth and Zechariah. It’s like a very personal story and it’s a very insider Jewish story. But now Matthew is gonna open things up a little bit and say, «And not long after the birth of Jesus, here come wise men». And they’re not insiders necessarily in the story of the Jewish history. And they’re not definitely insiders because they got a word from God that they were gonna be the ones who brought forth the miracle child.
These people are coming far away from the east because the birth of Jesus isn’t just a Jewish story, not just a Mary and Joseph story, it’s a global story. He has a global king. And I want us to be a global church so we wanna rally around this idea, again, that it’s not fifth avenue, it’s not Macy’s necessarily. Although there’s nothing wrong with Macy’s. I just wanna say that one more time. Please go there and shop until your heart is content. But this is not an Atlanta story. It’s not a western story. It’s not an American story. It’s a global story. It’s not small-town Christmas tree and manger story. It’s a global story. It’s good news of great joy for all people.
So, here’s where these guys came from. This is a more ancient journey. If you can see this coming up on the screen. This is more of the journey from Babylon coming over through the ancient day to what would be a present-day Turkey, making a turn south coming through Damascus, down to Jerusalem, ultimately, to Bethlehem. If you lay over this a more recent map, then you can see more of the reality. They’re coming from Iraq. So, we got wise men, Magi, coming out of Baghdad, coming out of Iraq journeying across to Syria. Coming down in Syria to Damascus. Coming down through Damascus to Jerusalem. And ultimately, coming down from Jerusalem to Bethlehem.
We’ve got people in the middle east seeking a king and they say, «We’ve come to worship Him». Christmas and Jesus is a global story. That’s why you heard in the giving that we are launching an initiative at Passion City Church called, «To The End of The Earth». It’s not a Christmas initiative, it is our house’s initiative. We will be talking about it all through 2023 into 2024 into 2025. Our goal is to help fund the translation of God’s word into the 3,000 plus languages who don’t have one verse of scripture in their heart language. That’s why at every location when you came in today at Trilith, and at Cumberland, and 515, you walk pass a big blank Bible. It’s there to remind us of what God’s word looks like for a billion people on earth.
This global story of the birth of Christ cannot be read by one out of every eight people on the planet because we haven’t gotten the word of God translated into their heart language yet. But we’re working on it at a rapid pace. And progress is being made in incredible ways. And Passion City Church has been a part of God’s word coming to the nations and will be a part of God’s word coming to the nation. Passion Conference has been a part of God’s word coming to the nations and will continue to be a part of God’s word coming to the nation. And our goal is that every person at Passion City Church would personally be involved in funding Bible translation through the 12-verse challenge. We’re wondering today at the reality that Christ birth has global significance.
The second thing I want us to see today is that the message of Christ birth is that Jesus is King. And He’s not a king because He was born into a line of Kings and when the king above Him left the throne, He ascended to the throne. He was born a king. He is the only King who’s ever been born King. His father was a carpenter. His earthly father was a carpenter. His heavenly Father was Yahweh. And the moment they laid Him in the manger He was at that moment King. «We’ve come to see this King who has been born among the Jews».
The third thing I want you to see today is that this King Jesus was fiercely opposed by the darkness the moment He was born on planet earth. As soon as Jesus was born all kind of buzz went through heaven. We talked about that last week. The angels to this day still fully don’t understand the redemption of Jesus and how God would come to earth for someone like you, or someone like me. The angels don’t fully understand how Jesus would lay aside His glory, majesty, righteousness, rule, and authority and enter into a human body, come through a human womb and be laid in a manger for people who basically had turn their backs on the righteous Holy God. They don’t fully comprehend this mercy of God, this love of God, this grace of God, the pursuit of God, the desire of God to restore and rescue all people to Himself.
Even at the great and perplexity price of His own Son. But I’m telling you once Jesus entered into the human story, all of hell begin to stir in the same way wondering, «What in the world is heaven doing sending this King into the world in Bethlehem»? And instantly, there was an intense opposition. King Herod said he wanted to come and worship the king which he obviously didn’t. He was trying just to play the wise men. But God gave them a vision and a dream and say, «Hey, don’t go back to Herod and don’t tell him where you found Jesus». Because King Herod was only wanting to protect King Herod. He was only wanting to protect his rule and reign.
King Herod been put in power as the key over Damascus, over Judea, through Caesar and Rome. And so, Roman rule came through King Herod in the region of Christ birth. And King Herod was a wicked king and a powerful tyrant of a king. And as soon as he heard that there’s a star that led people all the way from the east to come and find King Jesus, he pulled all the scholars of the Jews together and said, «Well, what’s going on here and where’s the king gonna be born»? They said, «Oh, the prophecy says He’s gonna be born in Bethlehem». «Okay, great. You guys go to Bethlehem, find this king and then report back to me when you saw the star». Why? Because he wanted to know about how old is this king, about how old is this baby, how long have you been on this journey, well, who exactly are we looking for.
And when the wise men didn’t come back and report to Herod, Herod took matters in his own hands and said, «Every baby in this area who’s under two years old,» he kinda calculated out from they saw the star is going to be killed. «Because I’m going to eradicate this king». You say, «Man, that sounds brutal». What it shows us is the intense opposition of the darkness to the kinship and the kingdom of Christ and how on day one Satan tried to snuff Him out. I was listening to a part of a conversation that happened in a dialogue on a college campus where someone was there to talk about Jesus.
And it was an open mic moment and one of the students posed the question with, I think, some sincerity but a little bit of scorn as well. And said, «How is it possible that one man suffering on a cross for just a few hours could somehow mediate all the evil, and all the darkness, and all the sinfulness of all of the billions of people living on planet earth? It seems a little preposterous that one man suffering just for a few hours on a cross could somehow mediate all of that». And the person who the question was posed to said, «Well, I just would ask you this question, who is the man»? Because if the man is God in human flesh, if the man is sent from heaven, and if the man is so worthy at His birth that they would bring Him gold, at His very birth they would bring Him incense, at His birth they would bring Him myrrh.
You’ve never been to a baby shower and not one time in your life where anybody brought gold. You’ve never been to one where they brought incense. You’ve never been to one where they brought myrrh. What was the myrrh? It symbolizes the dead and the burial of this baby. What was the incense? It symbolizes the worship and the fragrance of this baby. What was the gold? It symbolizes this child is the king. This is a royal child. You ever been to that. You went to the one where they got a sweater, or a onesie, or a little toy or stuffed animal. But you hadn’t been to the one where the bowed down and worshipped Him because this man is not just any man.
This is a heaven-sent man who own breath of His life is worth more than all the billions of lives who’ve ever been born. And in this instant, all the darkness tried to snuff Him out at the very beginning. But I love how the angel of God is appearing in a dream and He’s telling these Magi, «Don’t go back the way you came». And you translate that, our common language in the church today, «Not today, Satan. No, you’re not taking Him out today. We’re not ready for that yet. This little baby boy He’s gotta grow up and become strong and He gotta utter the words, 'Not my will, but your will be done.' And then you can take Him out».
It wasn’t that God was afraid of Herod taking the life of Jesus. It just wasn’t God’s time yet. It wasn’t that God was in some kind of power play with Rome. He had Rome on a string like a yo-yo. And He says, «Not time yet. And when the time comes, I’ll let you know. When the time comes, I’ll orchestrate things. And when the time comes, you can do what you’re so determined to do». I love this text in Acts. We’ve read it a lot of times at Passion City Church. But it’s the first sermon ever preached after the Holy Spirit came and filled the followers of Jesus. And in this message, we see one of the most powerful statements of the sovereignty of God.
You know, I can’t explain how all these people had to go through the sorrow and the heartache of losing their babies. I mean, can you imagine the mourning that’s going through Judea in this one act of a wicked king. But it’s a mirror of what we’re living in, where the entire world has gone wrong, and we all evil good and we call good evil. And we’re living in an entire world where there are suffering on every side of us and inside of us. Why? Because there is an opposition force to the person of Jesus Christ. Our own sinful choices have put us on a broken planet, and on the broken planet there is an evil force at work. But God is greater than it all.
That’s the story of Christmas. Amen? God is greater than it all. And this message in Acts 2 it says, «Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs». «That’s why I didn’t let you take Him out when He was a baby. 'Cause I wanted Him to be accredited to you through miracles and wonders and signs». «Which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge and you with the help of wicked men».
There come all the powers of Rome. «Put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross. But God raised Him up from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him». The fourth thing that God wants us to see in this text is, «To this king every knee will bow». Notice in Matthew 2 coming around to verse 9, «And after they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with His mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped Him».
You know, Daniel was taken to Babylon. A lot of the best and the brightest of Jerusalem were taken to Babylon and some remained there. And so, maybe there had been word that had reached these wise men that there is a prophecy about a Messiah. There’s a prophecy about a king. Something had stirred in them. You’re like, «How’d they come all the way from what is present day Iraq, and end up at Bethlehem at the house where Mary and the baby were»?
Well, maybe the word of God was still stirring in the remnant of the people of God left back in Babylon. And so, God was working and orchestrating things in such a way that they had a decree of revelation that God was at work. And then when they arrived and saw the baby, they didn’t just say, «Wow, this is amazing». Their wonder turned into worship the moment that they saw the child. It took me to Paul’s words about that baby. He said, «Who being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. But Jesus made Himself nothing, taking the very name of a servant being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man he humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God highly exalted Him to the highest place. And gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. To this king every knee shall bow».
So, this long journey brings these wise men to Jesus. And I’m telling you today wise men still seek Him and when they hear His name they bow down. And at the end of it all that’s where we’re gonna be. Why? Because Jesus is King. He’s King. And right, right now we’re in the middle. We got King Herod going and we got King Jesus going. We got King me and you going, and we’ve got King Jesus going. And even under the sound of my voice today there are people who have never bowed down to Jesus.
There are people who’ve come through the door of a church who have crossed themselves, who have maybe given a little clap, who may have said a prayer, may have fallen to their hands, may have given one of these. But never bowed down in total surrender and submission to the King of kings. But that day is coming because every eye is gonna see Him and when we do, every knee is gonna bow, and every tongue is gonna say, «He is Lord». For some people without mercy and grace, which God is freely providing, that will be their last confession of Jesus. And so, today it’s Christmas all over again. It’s God all over again putting a star in the sky and saying, «Come and see what I have done. Christ has been born king».