And now we continue with our studies in the Gospel according to Matthew chapter two, and we're still studying some of the features surrounding the coming of the wise men to see the child that had been born. Reading then from Matthew chapter two, now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and have come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. They said unto him in Bethlehem of Judea, For thus it is written by the prophet, and thou Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah, for out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel. Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, Go and search diligently for the young child, and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also. When they had heard the king, they departed, and lo, the star which they saw in the east went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were coming to the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshipped him. And when they had opened their treasures, They presented unto him gifts of gold and frankincense and mirth. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way. I am sure the Lord will bless to us again the reading of these verses. Let us bow for prayer. Our Father, we would ask thee in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. that in mercy thou shalt bestow a blessing upon thy people this day. Grant, O God, that no matter where thy people are found, they may be conscious of thy presence and thy help. Some perhaps are in greater need than others. Will thou be with them, wherever they are, especially remember the sick at this time. And then as we seek to study thy word, Grant that every listener today shall be blessed, listening to the word that will be spoken. Hear us in these things for the Lord Jesus' sake. Amen. In our last study, we were considering things pertaining to the wisdom that was expressed by these wise men in their saying, stressing most of all what is said in verse two of this chapter, Where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in East and have come to worship him. But now these wise men displayed wisdom in other ways. I want you now to consider with me their wisdom as it was expressed in their search. They showed wisdom in the way that they searched. and then there was wisdom expressed by the service that they rendered. Let us look first of all then at the wisdom expressed in their search. They came searching for him and also in spite of the fact that they went to the wrong place to begin with. Nevertheless, while they were there in Jerusalem, they were told to go and search diligently. They were to go and search for the child, make no mistake about it, search diligently for the young child. Now then, if we consider this search that they made, notice how their search commenced. It commenced with the phenomena of the star, which seems to suggest this at least. These men were interested in God's great creation. And then, after they studied the creation, there comes the time when their attention is directed to the Word of God, that which was written by the prophets. And then, the study of the Word of God confirmed what they had already anticipated. And last of all, their search was consummated by the finding of the sovereign himself. Now, the fact that they studied God's creation is proved to us by the fact that they saw this star when it appeared. You know, way back in the beginning of the Bible, in the book of Genesis, we're told there that in the beginning God created the heavens and They ask, if you continue reading down through Genesis chapter one, you discover this, that He made the sun and He created the moon and He made the stars also. You know, men have not yet discovered how many stars are in God's heavens. Nevertheless, God made the stars He knows them by name, and He knows the number of them. And so God made the stars also. But then again, when we come over to a beautiful chapter in the Nineteenth Psalm, here is how David expressed himself. And you remember David was a shepherd. He must have been lying out on the hillsides, perhaps at night, watching his sheep. and sometimes during the day. And David wrote that beautiful Sam in which he said, The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he said a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it, and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. And so he describes to us in these words, something pertaining to the great creation of God, showing that the firmament on high, with all its blue ethereal sky, and spangled heavens a shining frame, their great original proclaim. No man can intelligently study God's creation without realizing that there must be a great creator. For after all the creator must be superior to his creation. Surely the watchmaker has a greater mind than the watch that he makes. Surely the architect has a greater brain than the house that he designs. Surely the great creator is infinitely superior to his creation. And yet when you try to investigate the marvels of God's creation and the beauties of God's creation, you must be gripped with a sense of the greatness and the beauty of God. Now these wise men then at least had been studying God's creation. And as they studied the creation, they saw this star as it appeared, and her eye was fixed upon the star the other day we were having a study you will remember if you've been listening into our broadcast in which we followed a particular star it was the star of promise we started off with that star of promise a way back in Genesis chapter three verse fifteen and step by step we followed that star of promise as it moved on through the scriptures And each time the promise is given, there is a further development of truth. And there is a narrowing down, as it were, of the evidence, until it finally brought us to one who was called the Christ. Now may I suggest, just as we followed through the Scriptures, and we watched that star of promise, and it brought us to the Lord Jesus Christ, who was born at Bethlehem, So these wise men, they expressed great wisdom in the search that they made. First of all, they searched and studied God's wonders in creation. But after all, if you only study creation, remember this, you'll only get to know God as the mighty God of power. But then their search was confirmed by the prophecies of the Scriptures. When they came to Jerusalem, they came to the wrong place. After all, these men didn't understand the prophetic Scriptures of the Old Testament. These men were not brought up as Orthodox Jews. These perhaps and what we might call today heathen men. They didn't understand the Bible. They didn't understand the teachings of the Bible. And if the king was born, and if the king of the Jews was born, you might say, well, how did they know that the king of the Jews had been born? Well, after all, while they were not brought up as Orthodox Jews, there is every possibility that they did know something concerning the great prophecies made by the man called Balaam. In fact, It may surprise some of you when I tell you this, that so far as these wise men are concerned, a great number of theologians have arrived at this conclusion that these wise men came more or less from the same place as did Balaam. Now, while Balaam was a false prophet and he cast stumbling blocks before the people of God, Nevertheless, he was a man who spoke some great truth. And the prophecies of Balaam have gone down in history as remarkable prophecies. And he was the man who prophesied concerning the rising of a star. You see, Balaam was a man who was a religious man. And one of the prophecies that he made was this. He said, I shall see him, but not now. I shall behold him, but not nigh. There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth. And so therefore, in connection with that prophecy, he did say that a star would arise out of Jacob. It is possible that these wise men knew something about that particular prophecy, and when they saw this new star arrive in the heavens above, then they were convinced that this indicated that the new king had been born. And so they came along and they came to Jerusalem, expecting the king to be there. For after all, wasn't Jerusalem the capital city? But nevertheless, when they came there, they discovered that the king was not there. However, that brings us to the second particular point regarding the expression of the wisdom that's seen in their search. Because if their search commenced with the phenomena of the star, which was part of God's creation, their search was confirmed by the prophecies of the Scriptures. When they came to Jerusalem, Herod was upset. He was moved with a kind of hatred and the very idea that a new king had been born, because was not he the king? was someone arising now that would seek to take his place. And here is what happened. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. Now, I want you to notice, first of all, that while he was the king and occupied this great political position, he didn't know anything at all. about the scriptures. The Bible, so far as he was concerned, was a closed book. It was one of the things he had never studied. Now, it's a remarkable thing that people can occupy high places. They may be promoted to places of power and know nothing at all about the Bible. In fact, it would be very interesting at the present time if a conference could be called with regards to international affairs. Suppose just for a moment that someone stood up at a meeting of the United Nations and addressed the United Nations in terms like these and said, Gentlemen, I would like to read to you from the book that we call the Bible. And after all this book perhaps could throw some light upon our difficulties In the international problems of the present day, I suggest to you he might be told to sit down. In the United Nations, I don't suppose they even want the Bible to be read. That would be an insult to some of the members. Because you see, these men are not interested in what the Bible says. They are only interested in what they themselves want. But after all, it's said and done. people with some little understanding of the word of God are acquainted with this fact that the Bible throws great light upon the events that are happening in the world today. And now here with a man, Herod, he was the king, but he didn't know what the Bible said about the coming Messiah. This was an absolute blank so far as he was concerned, but what he did do was this. He called together the chief priests and the scribes. You know, I often point out from this particular passage the worthlessness of lifeless theologians. These men who were the scribes of that day and the chief priests of that day, these were the religious leaders. Now, the religious leaders had a certain knowledge that the political leader didn't have. For after all, they could turn up to the Word of God, and they were able to tell him that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophets. In plain words, these men knew something concerning the letter of the Word. They could teach the prophecies concerning the coming of Christ. They knew the exact place where Christ would be born. There was no practical expression or search, of course, on their part to find the Christ who was born. In plain words, a knowledge of the letter of the Word is not sufficient, because one may know about Christ and yet never exercise faith in Christ. These men that Herod consulted with knew some things regarding the letter of the Word. But there's no record that they ever moved one foot to go down to Bethlehem to try and find out the one that was born. And so therefore we see the worthlessness of lifeless theologians. Nevertheless, the wise men who commenced their search because of the phenomena of the star when they studied God's creation Now their search is confirmed by the prophecies of the scriptures because in the study of the word and listening to what others could tell them about the prophetic scriptures they learned exactly where Christ the Messiah should be born. Now a few days ago in our study we also traveled through some of these scriptures Scriptures that told us exactly when he would be born, Scriptures that told us where he would be born, and Scriptures that outlined to us how he would be born. And also we learned from these Scriptures who the person was that was to be born. He was Emmanuel, God with us. And the place where he was to be born was Bethlehem Ephrata. That was Bethlehem of Judah. Now then, these wise men then expressed their wisdom because of their search. Their search commenced because they studied God's creation. And now their search is confirmed to them that on the right track now because of the prophecies of the Scripture, they studied the Word of God. I would like to appeal to all who are listening to me tonight. along this very line. There is a need today for men and women to get back to the Bible. There's a great need for people to start reading and studying the Word of God. The Word of God can throw great light upon the circumstances that are happening around us today. The Scriptures can give us great light as to the way of salvation. The Scriptures will stir up your hearts to the fact not only that the Messiah came and was rejected, but the fact that He's coming again. We need to get back to the Bible. We need to read and study again the Holy Scriptures. They have been neglected too long. If there are any Sunday school teachers listening to this message, I appeal to you that when you get with your class on a Sunday... that you take your time to preach to them things that are found in the Word of God. Don't be sidetracked to talk to the class about other things. Your duty from a half hour that you have these little ones in your Sunday school class is to teach them the things of God. Teach the Bible. When these wise men had their attention turned to the Word of God, then it was confirmed to their hearts where they would find the Savior. And if you go to the Word of God and you study the Word of God, you'll find this. It will lead you to Christ. One day he himself took the Scriptures, walking with two people down to the road leading to Emmaus, and there he spoke to them, opening up the Scriptures, beginning with Moses and the prophets, and in all the Scriptures, he expounded unto them the things concerning himself. The Bible then presents to us the Christ of God. And so their search for the Savior, their search for the King that was born, was confirmed to them by the prophecies of the Scriptures. Then their search was consummated by finding the person of the sovereign who was born. The king had been born. And when they came into the house, now I want you to notice the wise men did not come to the stable. You know, so many people get all mixed up and they don't know the difference between the shepherds who came from the plains of Bethlehem and went and saw the place where he was born. But then when you come to the wise men, as mentioned here in Matthew chapter two, these wise men are different altogether from the shepherds. When the wise men came, a considerable time had passed, and they came into the house. When they came into the house, they saw not a babe, but they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him. You see, their search was consummated by finding the person of the king. And then, notice the service that they rendered. They gave themselves. They fell down and worshipped him. That was devotional service. They gave their treasures. That was gold, frankincense and myrrh. That was practical service. Then they gave their trust. They did not betray him. That was intelligent service. They didn't go back and tell the enemy where he could be found. It distinctly says that they went a way back another way. Being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way. way. Here were men who showed their wisdom not only by the search they made to find the Christ that was born, but they expressed their wisdom in the service that they rendered to Him. Now, my friend, I ask you, in all fairness, as you've listened to the message concerning the wise men, how they found the Savior. Have you displayed the same wisdom? Have you found the Christ? If not, why not? Why not do exactly what the wise men did? Why not fall down before him? O worship the King, all glorious above, and gratefully sing his power and his love, our shield and defender, the ancient of days, pavilioned in splendor and gilded with praise.