I will say greetings from Southside Life Station,
Northwest Ohio Baptist Association, New Heights
Fellowship, which is my church plant, and Fog
and Moon Books, which is a little publishing
company that our church planting arm started
up. And so I wear many hats, but the most important
one, I think, at least the one that's most important
to me, is... a preacher of the word. I've been
called to do that. So we'll go to the word first
and then time permitting at the end, I will share
with you. There's been some amazing things happening.
God has been moving and I'll share a little bit
of that with you at the end. That's okay. All
right. So I'm going to talk to you briefly about
a struggle that we have in our day, but it's
not new. And the reason we struggle with it so
much is because it's not new. It's been lasting
for a really long time, thousands of years. And
that is essentially teachings of the antichrist
creeping into the church. Creeping into our lives,
creeping into what are supposed to be moments
of God's glory, and they're a surprising intrusion,
and people sort of accept them like they're there.
I noticed that we all have a manger scene set
up in your sanctuary, but a lot of churches do.
And in the manger, you find some characters.
I should say, in the stable, you find some characters,
right? Did you know, by the way, that the stable
is where the baby was born, the manger was where
the baby was laid, right? We don't confuse that
a lot of times. Even we have a psalmist as he
was born in the manger, right? I don't think
Mary would have fit in a manger. And if she did,
I don't think she would have wanted to be in
a manger at that moment in time. But if it was
a really big manger and she was in it, I don't
know. I wasn't there. But it's sort of a strange
lyric, okay? And then there are some characters
in the manger scene, right? So you got Joseph,
Mary, hopefully the baby Jesus, which is sort
of the important part, right? And then there
might be a shepherd, there might be some sheep,
some animals, you know, there's a stable, and
that would help them stay warm, it's a cold night
most likely. Who else would be in that major
scene? The wise men are the three kings, right?
We three kings of Orient are, right? Traveling
from afar and all that jazz. And they wind up
in the stable. But were they in the stable? No.
No, they weren't in the stable. So why has Christianity
adopted the teaching? And by that I mean the
main... I'm not talking about just Christianity,
like maybe people who say they're Christian but
don't ever go to church. In the pews last Sunday
were a ton of people who were in the chairs,
whatever their building is like, a ton of people
who would have readily accepted that the wise
men were in the stables. Why is that? I want
to ask this question today as we look at the
scripture. I want to ask you, do you think, and
we're going to look at the evidences. I'm not
going to answer the question for you without
looking at the evidences. Is it possible that
the wise men... were actually Antichrist? No,
no, that can't be. It's all part of our tradition.
It's all part of our Christian background. They
came from afar. They saw a star. They traveled.
They did amazing. Don't get me wrong. They're
a great feature of the story. But is it possible
that they were actually Antichrist? The Antichrist
is that which doesn't belong. He's inserted by
the enemy. He does not accept the truths that
apply from the fact that Jesus Christ has come
in the flesh. The first passage of scripture
I want to read to you today. is in the book of
1 John. It's not an altogether unfamiliar passage
of Scripture. It comes in 1 John 4. I'm actually
going to read verses 1 -3. 1 John 4, verses 1
-3. But in case you hadn't guessed, we're going
to wind up in Matthew 2, which is the story of
the Magi coming to visit the baby Jesus. So those
are the two primary texts that we'll use. 1 John
4, beginning of verse 1. And then Matthew 2,
beginning of verse 1. 1 John 4. Beginning in
verse 1 says, Beloved, do not believe every spirit.
So right away we see John is writing to Christians.
This is for us as believers in the Lord, followers
of Jesus Christ. So not everything that you experience
is going to be God -honoring. And I think the
idea here is to recognize that some things are
going to come in that appear to be God -honoring,
but they really aren't. Otherwise, why would
we be cautioned so strongly? So do not. believe
every spirit. He says, but test the spirits to
see whether they are from God. Because many false
prophets have gone out into the world. That phrase
doesn't mean to us what it meant in the day that
John wrote it. Because we don't think we have
many prophets. And the office of prophet, the
way it was then, has pretty much ceased to exist.
It doesn't need to exist. A prophet is a person
who speaks for God. So if you're here today and
you're a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, in
some sense, you are a prophet. At the time you
made prophecy, you probably did this to yourself.
You say, well, you know, I'm going to have a
rough day. And lo and behold, you have a rough
day all day, right? So you prophecy to yourself.
You didn't mean to. Maybe I never should have
said that. Or you might say, yeah, I knew it,
right? Either way, we speak for God. We become
prophets of God. But these are false prophets.
So a false prophet is going to be somebody that
claims to speak for God or seems to show up and
deliver the message of God. Somebody might even
assess that, but in reality, they're not, okay?
And so he says there are many of them that have
gone out into the world. By this you know the
Spirit of God. This is how you know whether it's
God doing it or whether the motivations are evil
or negative, right? By this you know the Spirit
of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus
Christ has come in the flesh is from God. Now,
we're warned elsewhere, and I'm going to say
to you that it's really not a good idea to be
engaging in conversation with evil spirits, okay?
You don't necessarily want to go up to an evil
spirit, if you could, and identify it and then
go, okay, so I just got to ask you a question
real quick. So this is not that kind of a test,
right? So this is by observance. We can tell
by observance that some things, and even I'll
extend it to some people, do not honor the fact,
they do not live according to the fact that Jesus
Christ came in the flesh, that he was God in
the flesh, lived as an actual man, that God took
on flesh in the form of Jesus. And that... implies
a lot, right? For God so loved the world, he
gave his only begotten son. So at least it implies
that God loves us amazingly, much further than
we can understand. Because it would be hard for
us to sacrifice like that. It would be hard for
us to make those kinds of decisions. So then
we can see that God really loved us. And that's
sort of the beginning of it. Jesus was the embodiment
of God's love. And so to live in some way that
is contradictory to that, to not recognize that
Jesus was the embodiment of God's love, would
be to live as the Antichrist lives. That's what
John is trying to explain. So he says, By this
you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that
confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh
is from God. And every spirit that does not confess
Jesus is not from God. So it's pretty simple.
You're either on his side or you're not. You
recognize who he is or you don't. But he's tying
it to the Incarnation. To the fact that Jesus
came in the flesh. Of which you have heard, this
is the Spirit of the Antichrist, of which you
have heard that it is coming. And now it is already
in the world. So first of all, I want to say
to you that every time you think that you're
in the clear on this problem, you're actually
not. The disciples, the believers that John was
speaking to, they thought, oh, you know, the
Antichrist. There's someone going to come who's
going to teach against God. And we just have
to be careful. When he comes, he'll be obvious
enough because he'll be teaching against the
teachings. We'll just believe the teachings.
He'll stand up against them. We'll know he's
speaking against what we know to be true and
everything will be fine. But two phrases in here
cue in. to us to realize that that's not what
he's talking about. The first one is, he says,
test the spirits. If it was obvious, if it was
blatant, we wouldn't have to worry about it,
right? You don't have to test. If somebody puts
down in front of you the single food on this
planet that you hate the most, the thing that
you would never eat, whatever that is, I don't
know, and they put it down in front of you, you're
not going to eat it because you hate it. You
despise that food. You just don't like it. Like,
I've never eaten that. I've always hated it.
Never had a good taste for it. Every time I taste
it, I have these bad tastes in my mouth. It makes
my stomach upset or get sick or in the bathroom
all day or whatever. I'm not going to do it.
I'm not going to have that. I won't eat that
just because I hate it, right? That's not what
he's talking about. This is, they put in front
of you two identical bowls of soup or two identical
bowls of food, and they look exactly alike from
the surface. The smells are there, and for all
you can tell, these soups both are your favorite
kind of soup. But one of them, when you eat it,
is going to tear you up and put you in the bathroom
all day, and the other one, you're going to go,
oh, that was really good, and I'm going to be
fine. I'm going to have some more of that later.
That's what he's talking about. And so, because
you know that these two suits are what they are,
one is real and one is fake, if you will, use
it that way, he says, test them. Be careful.
Take some steps, right? And by the way, if people
put two suits down in front of me like that and
said, one of these is going to make you sick,
one is, what are you going to do? You don't need
either one, right? We don't have that option,
do we? Because one of them is Antichrist and
one of them is Christ. So if you want the Christ,
you've got to find a way to get to the point
of figuring out which one is which. And that's
what John is saying. We've got to find a way
to get to the point of figuring out which one
is which. You can't just say no to both. You
have to say no to Jesus. There is no line in
the middle. The fence in the middle between God
and Satan is owned by Satan. It's on his property.
So if you're on the line in the middle, you're
on his property. You belong to him. So we have
to choose. We have to test. That's the first
thing he said. And the second thing he says is
that This is what you have heard that is coming,
and now it is already in the world. Meaning,
they were looking already for it, and he's saying,
but it's already here. So you've been looking
for it, you've been waiting for it, expecting
it, and it's already here. Meaning, it's seductive,
it's subterfuge, it's tricky, it sneaks in. It
doesn't jump up with a sign or a shout. So, based
on this then, let us look at Matthew chapter
2, the visit of the Magi. From that perspective.
So the perspective of looking for the Antichrist.
While you're flipping there, I will say this
to you. Remember that when we talk about spirits,
it's hard to use human language to explain that
which is going on in the spiritual realm. But
we're really talking about spirits. And we know
the Magi were not spirits. So we're really looking
at the spirit with which they acted. Does that
make sense? The spirit with which they did the
things that they were doing. So we're looking
at their motivations. I always think that's dangerous.
Somebody says something. Maybe they comment on
your ties. You have a nice tie, right? But you
question their motivations. So you're thinking,
well, no, he's just trying to get me to give
him some money or something like that. That's
very dangerous to do that, to think like that,
to look at their motivations. At the same time,
we are called upon by that very passage of Scripture
we just looked at to examine motivations. So
we'll look at the magi. This won't take as long
as maybe breaking down the whole passage would
normally take, but we're looking at it from one
perspective. Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem
of Judea in the days of Herod the king, So real
quick, just to make sure we understand what just
happened. So Jesus is born. It's after Jesus
is born in Bethlehem of Judea, which is near
Jerusalem, pretty close, kind of due south, in
the days of Herod the king. Herod was the guy
who was freaked out by anybody who might take
his throne. He even killed some of his family
members. Magi, which just basically means wise
men. Before you jump, well, they're magi. They're
into magic. They're obviously evil antichrist,
right? Remember that Daniel, when he was a wise
man, was called a magi. So it's just people who
are wise, people who are learned, who are studied,
who would be called on for wisdom, that kind
of thing. So it's not really a term like we can
right away write them off. So they come from
the east. They arrive in Jerusalem, saving. So
they come to the capital of Judea. They come
to the capital of Israel, basically, to Jerusalem,
where the king, where Herod is. And they say,
where is he? who was born king of the Jews. For
we saw his star in the east, and have come to
worship him. So we were over there, and we saw
the star rise, or appear in the sky, and we came
over here because we want to worship this king
of the Jews. When Herod the king heard this,
he was troubled in all Jerusalem with him. Gathering
together all the chief priests and the scribes
of the people, in other words, his own version
of magi, he inquired of them where the Messiah
was to be born. Can we stop one second and say,
does anybody here have a problem with accepting
that Herod was Antichrist? We're okay with that.
Did you realize he later says he's going to worship
Jesus, but he's lying? He sends his men out after
the story to kill every baby that was up to two
years. I mean, we understand that he was following
Antichrist, right? But we're looking at the Magi.
We're asking that question on the Magi. Were
they Antichrist? So Herod... And the people,
they're troubled because they don't know what
Herod's going to do. They don't know what this
means. They don't know why they didn't figure
it out too. They don't know, you know, is this
a new day? Something strange is happening. They
said to him, in Bethlehem of Judah, for this
is what has been written by the prophet. And
you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means
least among the leaders of Judah. For out of
you shall come forth a ruler who will shepherd
my people Israel. So that's a prophecy. It goes
back to Micah 5 .2, which is hundreds of years
ago by now. But they read these scriptures. They
study these scriptures. They memorize these scriptures.
They look for the Messiah every day. They set
an empty plate in case he comes to dinner. The
men get out of bed and pray, thank God I wasn't
born a woman. And the women get out of bed and
pray, I hope I am the mother of the Messiah.
Every day, right? And so they've been looking
for the Messiah every day. And now they're wondering,
okay, did we miss something? And now they're
saying, and they know that this is potentially
the anointed one, the new ruler of Israel, sent
by God. They may or may not believe he could
be the son of God. They may or may not believe
he would be a suffering Messiah. The texts are
there, but they always kind of struggled with
those concepts. Okay? Verse 7. Then Herod secretly
called the Magi and determined from them the
exact time the star appeared. So he says, hey,
come over here in my private chamber. Tell me,
exactly when did you see that star? And he sent
them to Bethlehem and said, go and search carefully
for the child, and when you have found him, report
to me, so that I too may come and worship him.
So we're going to worship this Jesus. But you
know Herod's lying, right? It's not really about
that. And even if he would worship him for a
minute, he's going to be planning on doing something
to him later that isn't nearly as pleasant. And
so he's entreating them to be his allies in this
subterfuge. After hearing the king, so they listened
to him, they heard him, but they're not acting
on his behalf necessarily. They went their way,
and the star which they had seen in the east
went on before them until it came and stood over
the place where the child was. Astrologers and
scientists and whatever struggle with this verse,
but there's a pretty good new theory about how
that's all possible. But that's not what I'm
talking about. What's really important to note
is, how did they get to Bethlehem? They followed
the star. So why did they go to Jerusalem? Because
that's where they expected to find a king. And
there's a lot of people there. So they went as
far as getting close to Jerusalem, and they stopped
following the star. They stopped following the
leading that God was giving them, and went to
the kingdom of Jerusalem. Why did they go to
the king? That's an interesting thought. If he's
the son of God, if it's God that's providing
the motivation, if it's God that's leading them
to come to Bethlehem, why are they in Jerusalem?
And it says, when they saw the star, they rejoiced
exceedingly with great joy. They're so glad that
they're being led directly to where the child
will be born. Now, they've come over 900 miles
at least, and some people think maybe as many
as 9 ,000, but it's a long, stinking way. And
the star led them all that way. And now the star
leads them exactly to where the baby is born.
And they're a little surprised by that. After
they went to Jerusalem, they didn't find the
baby there. 11. After coming into the house,
they saw the child with Mary, his mother. Notice
the house. Because it would be at least eight
months after the birth of Jesus. And they didn't
stay in the stable for eight months. So they
come into the house, saw the child with Mary,
his mother, and they fell to the ground and worshipped
him. So this is kind of proper worship. They
subjugate themselves before the one that they
call the king of the Jews. Then opening their
treasures, they presented to him gifts of gold,
frankincense, and myrrh. And the three gifts
are really kind of important as we look at, and
we'll get into it in a second, but what their
motivations were. And having been warned by God
in a dream not to return to Herod. So now God
is directing them. So can God direct the Antichrist?
Can God direct them as they are following these
wrong spirits? Can they still get some direction
from God? some ability from God. I remember in
Matthew 7, it talks about people who go to heaven
and people who don't. There are those there who
say, well, we prophesied in your name. We healed
in your name. And God says, no, he didn't. No,
he doesn't say that, does he? He doesn't respond
to them at all. He said, but, and he goes on
to say that they missed the main thing, which
was being merciful and kind to those who were
in suffering. And he gives a list, but you ignored
me. And they said, when did we see you like that
and we ignored you? And I'm paraphrasing all
of this, of course. And they say, he says, well,
inasmuch as you did it unto the least of these,
which is referring to Christians primarily, right?
The brethren who are suffering or in need. But
inasmuch as you did it unto the least of these,
you did it unto me. But you didn't, and therefore
you missed it. And therefore, basically what
he's saying, you get to go to hell. But these
people over here who took care of me and mine
in my day, go to heaven, right? And so... Could
they prophesy on behalf of God? Could they do
something amazing on behalf of God and yet not
truly be saved to be Antichrist? Sure they could.
Absolutely they could. Okay, almost done with
the text. I'm just going to clarify a couple
things and we'll be out. After coming into the
house, they saw the child with Mary his mother,
and they fell to the ground and worshipped him.
Then opening their treasures, they presented
him gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And you know
that list, and I hope you'll remember it in a
second. So there are a few things that you need
to see in here that are kind of hugely important
and some things that happened. I just want you
to make sure they're there. First of all, you
notice that people, the Magi did, and people
can go looking in the wrong places, distracted
by worldly models of power. They went to Jerusalem
because that's where the king is. They went to
Jerusalem because it's high on the mountain.
They went to Jerusalem because a lot of people
live there. They went to Jerusalem because a
lot of money was there. Taxes are there. Armies
are there. They went there because, as far as
the world's concerned, that's where you would
expect to find a king born. They left following
the star that God gave them and went to Jerusalem
because they were distracted by worldly models
of power. Subtly done. Because in worldly models
of power, when people do well, when churches
are huge, money is much, and so on, health is
great, don't you think, those people must be
blessed. He's never been sick a day in the life.
Man, God really must be blessing him. Or he's
got plenty of money to pay all his bills. He
must be doing something right. He must really
be honoring God with his life. Those are worldly
models of power, and they were distracted by
worldly models of power as they were going to
worship King Jesus. People can think of God in
human terms. They gave gifts that would be appropriate
for a human king. Let's be clear, including worship.
You're familiar with our mode of prayer that
we kind of use when we picture prayer, which
is people get down on their knees and they look
up to our God. And I've been talking about how
that's kind of died out for the service of people
who do that as much anymore. It's a shame. Do
you know where that model of prayer comes from?
Back in the day when few kings were on the throne,
And someone would come and they would fully commit
themselves to serve that king. They would get
down on their knees, they would clasp their hands
together, and they would lift their face up like
this. And the king would come, and he would put
his hands on their hands, clasped together. So
he would put his hands, clasp their hands. It
would be symbolic. I submit my hands, and really
that means my whole being, into your service.
So it's subjugation before the king. I am giving
myself into your service, my king. So that model
of worship, which they did in front of Jesus,
is what you might do in front of any human king
that you're fully committing yourself to. So
they give Jesus gold, frankincense, and myrrh,
all of which are very valuable human things.
Now they have some symbolism, but they're very
valuable human things, and also they worship
him like you might a human king. So we don't
have a picture, even though we get a picture
of good worship in that moment, we don't have
a picture of them worshiping God, or God in the
flesh, or recognizing that he is God in the flesh,
or that this is the incarnation embodied. Remember
what John said? If they recognize that he is
the incarnation of body, then they are not the
Antichrist. Well, as of yet, I haven't seen any
evidence of that. Even though we like the model
of everything that's happened, I haven't seen
the evidence yet. It goes on to, we see a couple
other things, that people can fail to prioritize
or set right their course of action in the face
of pressures of their human circumstances. So
in other words, they came 900 miles to the region
of Jerusalem. But then rather than staying focused
and following the star to the baby Jesus, they
drifted into Jerusalem. Maybe they need to buy
supplies. They've been out on the road for a
long time. And they just thought they would ask
while they were there. They just thought they
would go to the king because surely he would
know. The wise men of the Jews, surely they would
know. But they didn't need to do any of that
because they had the star. So they walked away
from the leading of God to ask people who weren't
following God at all. about how to follow God.
Whether they were following the Antichrist or
are the Antichrist or not, it's not looking good
for their choices. People can leave the job of
telling others to those who already have less
to lose. How quick the wealthy are to dismiss
the gospel. How quick the healthy are to dismiss
the gospel. Jesus said, I come to preach the
good news to the poor. You know why? Because
the poor will listen when they're told. The truth.
Now, they don't always listen and accept Jesus.
I'm not saying they're always going to get saved.
It's not quite that easy. But those who are doing
pretty well have a tendency to walk away from
the most important teachings of God because they're
busy, maybe, because they have other things that
are more important. Notice that the wise men,
after they met the baby Jesus, they don't go
telling everyone that he's the baby Jesus. Remember,
the shepherds, they're actually pictured in the
stables and rightly so because of the night.
that Jesus was born. They were out in the fields.
They heard the angels declaring. They said, well,
let's go see this thing. And they went and saw
Jesus. And what did they do immediately upon
seeing Jesus? They told Mary and Joseph and everyone
that was there, anyone that was there, everything
that they had heard in the fields. But then they
left the stables and they went and told everyone
in the region about the birth of Jesus. And the
Magi, they're comfortable with that. This is
a group of worshipers that's comfortable leading
the job of telling everybody about Jesus up to
other people who have less to lose. They're kings.
I've got work to do. I've got to get back to
taking care of my stuff. I did my part. I came
here. I worshipped. I gave. I did my part. Now
I've got to get back to the things that God gave
me. The place that God put me. You know? I've
got to get back to my spread. Back to managing
my slaves. My wife is waiting for me. I've traveled
over 9 ,000 miles. I've been gone for months.
I've got to go back. I can't be busy telling
Jews, who by all rights should know anyway. I
mean, shouldn't everybody know anyway that Jesus
has come? I mean, the star. They missed the star
for crying out loud. If they can miss that, then
what's good is going to do vital. And so they
leave the telling about Jesus to others who have
less to lose. The fact remains, we cannot judge.
We can't decide whether the wise men were Antichrist
or whether their motivations were specifically
Antichrist. But we are to test the spirit by
which they did these things. We can learn from
their ways because we know some things that we
should do. Because we recognize he was Jesus
in the flesh. So in other words, we can see the
good things about what they were doing. We can
see the evidences. For example, we should learn
to extend ourselves. They extended themselves.
They traveled really far to just worship Jesus
for a few minutes. When I was back years ago,
I was living in Northwood, and God called us
to Lansing, Michigan. And we thought, well, we
just saw Lansing. We're going to have to find
us a new church up there. And we were very involved
in our church. We began to kind of look and follow
God's lead. And God did not free us up. In fact,
he specifically told me one point in time that
we would stay at Elgin. So for 17 months, we
drove 126 miles each way, starting out four days
a week, then three, then two, then one. Then
finally God said, when we didn't know it, but
Sherry was pregnant with our son, God said, okay,
you can find a church home nearby. You know,
if you live 10 miles from this building and you
got up one morning and your car didn't start,
you know what you should do? Walk. Call somebody,
get an Uber, a cab. You know what you would do,
or some people would do? I don't know if you
can judge. You'd say, well, I guess I'm a 10
-counter guy. They went over 900 miles, at least,
maybe 9 ,000. Some say it depends on exactly
where they came from. As a relatively small group,
though, we don't know it was three. You read
the text. I read the text. It doesn't say three,
right? It's three gifts, so we assume three kings.
It could be that all the kings that came gave
the same three gifts. We don't actually know.
Of course, seven of them gave gold, and three
gave frankincense, and two gave myrrh. We don't
know. That's not recorded. We just assume three
kings because there were three gifts. But it's
not in the text. Why? Because the Antichrist
is subtle. He creeps in with teachings that we
absorb and we make them part of who we are and
what we believe. And our job is to test. So we
test the spirits by which they do these things.
And we ought to extend ourselves, go that much
further, push that much harder, go way beyond
what we think we're capable of, as they did.
We ought to subjugate ourselves. They did. They
worshipped him on their knees. They were kings
or wise men at least. And they got down on their
knees, subjugated themselves to a baby. They
didn't wait until he was grown up or had armies.
They didn't wait until he was collecting texts.
They got down on their knees and subjugated.
We have a hard time getting down on our knees
and subjugating ourselves to God who saved our
souls, taught us everything we need to know about
living life, who became incarnate flesh and faced
sin and overcame death so that we could live.
Absolutely we should subjugate ourselves. So
we know that they did that and we like that they
did that. We should give gifts worthy of his
nature. Now I mentioned before they gave gold.
And theologians like to say they gave gold because
Jesus was royalty. Gold is the gift you give
to a king. A human king, but a king. Frankincense,
on the other hand, represents holy nature. So
it could be that they gave this because he was
a holy baby. Clearly they'd seen the miraculous
star. Maybe they even recognized that he was
the son of God. That's possible. and then myrrh
to signify his mortality so that he could remember
and everyone present would remember that he was
human. Well, if they specifically chose gold,
frankincense, and myrrh, that specifically chose
those gifts to honor the fact that he was God
taking on flesh, well then, that couldn't be
the Antichrist. That would be the Christ. That
would be a recognition. That would be a recognition
like John was talking about, that they were doing
it. And people want to believe that, but there's
so much about what they did that's questionable.
I'm telling you right now, I wouldn't call one
of these magi, no matter how much you might love
them, no matter how much they might bring to
the table, no matter how much wisdom they might
teach, I wouldn't call one of them as my pastor.
Because while they are bringing gifts that seem
on the surface to be worthy of an incarnate God,
they are doing a lot of things that seem to ignore
the fact that he was God in the flesh. So, lastly,
you notice they listen to what God says. They
honor God by going home another way. Well, that's
something we should do. Moreover, in all of this,
we now see... have seen Jesus walk. We have seen
Jesus walk. We have seen his days. And John would
write elsewhere in chapter 2, he would say that
those who say they abide in Jesus, those who
are living their lives in Christ, ought also
to walk as Jesus walked or as he walked. So were
the wise men Antichrist? Well, we can't really
say they were. Were they motivated by evil spirits,
motivated by the spirit of the Antichrist to
do what they did? We can't really say that for
sure either. We can say for certain that they
made a lot of questionable decisions. And I guess
that might be what you'd come up with the sum
of any man's life. Some things good, some things
bad. Which is part of why we're not called to
follow people. We're called to follow Jesus.
Because people get some things right and they
get some things wrong. But if you would assimilate
into your life certain things that they have
done, you would be wrong. But if you would assimilate
into your life certain other things that they
have done, then you would be right. So I guess
you are left with the job of determining, testing,
approving. which spirits to listen to, which
spirits are right. Oh, well, it's a good thing
we can do that. We stopped in verse 3 of 1 John.
Verse 4 says, You are from God, little children,
and have overcome them, because greater is he
who is the them, was not the magi. It's the spirits.
We have overcome the spirits. We have overcome
the spirits that are anti -Christ. That's what
it says. Little children, you have overcome them,
because greater is he who is in you, than he
who is in the world. Figure out what it means
to us that God sent his son in the flesh to live
a life subject to sin and temptation as we are,
but not to yield to that sin or temptation and
ultimately to die a sinner's death only to prove
that sin and death have no power for those who
are found in the grace of God. That's our task.
Nothing less than that. You have to ask yourself,
I can't do it for you. Your psychologist cannot
do it for you. Your analyst cannot do it for
you. Your pastor cannot do it for you. Your parents
cannot do it for you. Your children cannot do
it for you. Your job cannot do it for you. Your
Bible cannot do it for you. You have to figure
out what it looks like in your life to live every
moment of every day, every teaching, everything
that comes out of your mouth. honoring the fact
that the God of heaven took on flesh, became
a babe, lived a sinless life, died on the cross,
a sinner's death, came back to life, proving
that there was resurrection for those who trust
in the grace of God through Jesus, his son. You
have to figure out personally what that looks
like. Now, is it a journey? Sure it is. Is it
a long journey? Yes. Is it worth it? Absolutely.
When someone examines your life, will they say,
well, he or she did some things I don't necessarily
agree with. I can't follow them. Well, I hope
so. I doubt it. Some folks will examine your
life and go, yeah, he or she was pretty smart.
I'm going to do what they did. I'm going to follow
their path. They seem to have it all together.
They're good. They live to be older, stronger,
wiser. I want to do that. And some will say,
I don't want to follow their path because they
did that and I don't like that. Modern teaching
says that was a huge mistake. I want to be wealthier.
I want to be strong. I want to wear name brand
clothes. And they didn't do that or whatever.
And so some will go one way and some will go
the other. And guess what? Both of those two
groups, the one that follows you and the one
that doesn't follow you, are both wrong. Because
when you get it right and you follow Christ,
they should follow you. They should go and say,
well, you're going because you're following Christ.
And they came after you, so that means they're
following you. Not following you as in a sense
of like you're their master or their leader,
but you're following Jesus and you're ahead of
them in the story. And so they should be following
you. But when you're not following Christ, they
should not be following you. It's about Jesus.
It's not about us. Okay. So our conclusion then,
we're going to use one last text and it's going
to do it for us in a sense, but I'll explain
it as we go. It's 1 Corinthians chapter 15, beginning
in verse 50. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, beginning
in verse 50. And it says this, 1 Corinthians
15, 50. Now I say this, brethren, that flesh
and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of God is where God is completely
in charge of everything. It's in heaven for sure.
And it's on earth to some degree now, but not
in fullness, right? There is an enemy and he
buys for every bit of territory. There is a war
still going on. Now I say this, brethren, the
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of
God, nor does the perishable, that which dies,
inherit the imperishable, that which doesn't
die. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not
all sleep, but we will all be changed. Not everybody's
going to sleep, but everybody's going to be changed.
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the
last trumpet for the trumpet will sound and the
dead will be raised imperishable. and we will
be changed. Those of us who are still alive is
what he means. Whoever is still alive when the
trump sounds will be changed. Whoever is dead
will be raised. For this perishable must put
on the imperishable, and the mortal must put
on immortality. So your body, which is dying,
you wouldn't want to go to heaven in this body
and live forever, would you? Anybody real satisfied
with how much pain, disease, and illness you
have? Anybody happy about that? Another million
years doing it just like this would be great,
right? No, I don't want to do that. I broke my
toe back in August, or damaged it anyway, and
it still hurts me almost every single day. I
don't want to live like that for eternity, and
thankfully I don't have to. This imperishable
will put on imperishable. I'll get a new toe.
But when this perishable, verse 54, will have
put on the imperishable, and this mortal will
have put on immortality, Then we'll come about
the saying that is written, death is swallowed
up in victory. Oh, death, where is your sting?
Oh, death, where is your sting? I'm sorry. Oh,
death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where
is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and
the power of sin is the law. People get wrapped
up in that verse, don't. It just means that if
we lived a sinless life and died, it wouldn't
be so bad. You'd go straight to heaven, right?
That's not going to happen. When you die, you're
going to go to hell if you don't know Jesus.
And so that's the sting of death. We have sin.
Because we have sin, we separate from God in
eternity without the grace of God. through Jesus
Christ. So the sting of death is sin. And the
power of sin is the law. It's because we know
what's wrong internally, fundamentally know what's
wrong, do what's wrong. That's why sin equals
death. And before you say, well, some people
don't know the law. They don't know the Bible.
And Paul writes in Romans that those who know
what's wrong and do it, the Gentiles don't know
the law, but they know what's wrong. They become
a law unto themselves. So their conscience, the
part of them that helps them to understand, for
example, that lying or incest or rape or murder
is wrong. They then go and do the things that
they know is wrong and then go to hell for it.
So then it says, verse 57, But thanks be to God
who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ. And in that, I want to say to you, he's
saying that God sent Jesus Christ into the incarnation
to put on the perishable, the body that would
die, and eventually to reclaim his imperishable
body that will never die, to show us the way
from the perishable to the imperishable. Follow?
And then 58 says, and this is a summary of what
we ought to do, that which is not antichrist.
I can be more specific, but basically this is
a summary. It says, therefore, because all of
that is true, my beloved brethren, be steadfast.
Stand firm. Don't quit. Be solid. In the midst
of your physical struggling, and this will only
last for your lifetime, your mind is weak, your
body is weak. Don't quit. Be firm. He says, be
immovable. As we're moving forward in Jesus,
we will not move off course. We will not accept
the world's methods. We will not go after the
other things that look like Jesus but aren't.
Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in
the work of the Lord. To always abound means
to have much of the work of the Lord. You're
doing a lot for Jesus and to do more and more
and more. Every time somebody checks, there's
more. Every time somebody checked my life, there's
a little bit more that I'm doing for Jesus. So
you think I'm doing a lot. Four days a week you
work for Jesus. Five. You know, there are people
out there that work seven days a week. That's
sun up to sun down. And every day they are working
for Jesus all day long. We can do more. And we
should do more. And that's what he says. So be
steadfast, immovable, abounding in the work of
the Lord. He says, knowing that your toil is
not in vain in the Lord. If you could figure
out all the ramifications of his coming. This
would be the choice that you would logically
make. Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding
in the word of the Lord, knowing that your toil
is not in vain. This is all because Jesus came
and put on flesh that we may eventually put off
flesh. He took on death so that we may have ultimate
victory over death. Because of that... We must
not go looking in the wrong places. We must not
think of God in human terms. We must not fail
to prioritize our lives in the face of pressures
of our human circumstances, no matter how far
we've already come. We must not leave the job
of telling about Jesus to others. We must extend
ourselves, subjugate ourselves, give gifts worthy
of his divine nature, not just gifts that would
be good to a king. but gifts that would be good
to the king of the universe. We must honor God
by doing what God tells us to do. Whatever else
he leads you to do, do that. Remember, we say...
We abide in Christ. We ought to walk as you walked.
Now, that included helping people everywhere
he went, teaching the truth of God everywhere
he went. And he said, I only do what I see my
Father doing. That's the very standard for our
lives. And, John says, we are able. We can do
that. I won't judge the Magi. I won't judge you.
Truth is, you can't even judge me. But I'll strive
forward, as Paul said, working always, seeking
always, growing always. as we say around my church,
reaching new heights in Jesus every day. And
one day, Trump will sound. Maybe it'll sound
before your heart stops beating. If it does,
you'll never experience that physical sensation
of death. But if you do experience a physical
sensation of death, and you've lived like that
for Jesus, then you'll go straight to heaven
with God. Transform. Putting off this perishable,
just as he did. And you can get an inkling of
what that'll be like when you look at how he
was like after Jesus. Praise God. What a gift
we've been given. We examined our lives like
we just examined the lives of the Magi in that
small window. What we find is we've swallowed
some things. We've accepted some things. When
in reality, we should have dismissed them. Denied
them. Because you've got to get out of bed every
morning. And lived for Jesus. Abounding in the
word of the Lord. Standing firm. Continuing.
Someone hates you, still be who you are. Someone
badmouths you, still be who you are in Christ.
Most of us don't even have to deal with this.
Why? Because we're not abounding in the word
of the Lord enough to offend enough people for
people to hate us. Go to your neighbors. Knock
on their doors three to four times a month and
ask them what their prayer request is. Why do
you keep knocking on my door? I'm just trying
to pray for you. That's the love of God embodied
in me as it was in Jesus. Jesus loved people
and he forgave people and they hated that he
forgave. Even when he was on the cross and said,
forgive them for they know not what they do.
They despised him. They mocked him for it. They
mocked him for forgetting their sins. They said,
you forgive others. You saved others, now save
yourself. God helps. It's time we looked at our
church, looked at ourselves, and determined what
it would look like if we really lived for Jesus
every day. And we will annoy, and I get that.
We will bother people, and I get that. Someone
might even get mad, and they might key our car
or egg our house. You say, no. How would anyone
do that for living for Jesus? Because some people...
are following anti -Christ's teachings. And if
we truly follow Christ's teachings, we will come
into opposition with them. And some of them will
come over to our side because the gospel is truly
good news. Some of them will stand firm in their
side and go to hell, not because God hates them
or wants to be separated from them for eternity.
but because he did everything he possibly could
to save them, and they outright refuse. The problem
is not them. The problem is the people who claim
the name of Christianity. They claim the name
of Jesus, and they don't walk as he walked, because
they've swallowed the teachings of the Antichrist.
They've gone looking in wrong places. They've
accepted wrong things. It's time again for a
renewal, a revival, a strength in Christianity.
And people will say, I follow the incarnate,
immortal King of all men. Would you pray with
me? Father in heaven, you're an awesome and powerful
God. The fact is, I don't understand. In my limited
thinking, I cannot understand the depth of the
love that you have for us and that Jesus has
for us and that he would come and leave heaven,
leave rulership, that he would leave the honoring
of angels every day. To lay cold wrapped in old
clothing in an animal trough to be honored by
shepherds. And not all the world's shepherds
or all the world's people as it should be, but
just the shepherds in the region around Bethlehem.
How that must have paled in comparison to what
he was used to. Think about how a baby born shivers
because they are wrenched free from the warmth
of their mother. And he went through that and
experienced that. But he wasn't just wrenched
free from the warmth and protection of Mary.
He was wrenched free from the warmth and protection
of heaven. We talk about how the crucifixion
is an amazing sacrifice, but it is an amazing
sacrifice that began when the Holy Spirit settled
on Mary and Jesus was conceived. Lord, help us
to somehow embody, serve, to grow, to give, to
be people, one and all, individually and corporately,
honoring the fact. that Jesus came as a man.
And it'll take learning on our part. We get that,
so please help us learn. And it'll take application
and putting into practice what we learn on our
part, so please help us be firm. Please help
us be moving forward unswayed. We commit ourselves
to you, to a renewal that only you could offer,
to a journey which only you could lead, to a
king which only you could be. And we praise you
for all in Jesus' precious name. Amen. I have
a song of invitation at this time. If you're
here today, and it doesn't matter if you've been
a Christian, you'd say your whole life, or you
accepted Christ and were born again at the age
of 10 or 20 or 40. But I'm asking you today,
have you swallowed hook, line, and sinker, maybe
without realizing it, the teachings of the Antichrist
in your Christian year? Have you gathered together
that worldly thinking that health and wealth
and... success and jobs and relationships, that
that must be because that person is holy or right
or by God? Have you looked at those who are not
living in Christ and saw how they live and struggle
and said, well, that's just because they won't
accept Jesus. Have you done that? Is that your
judgmental nature coming out? Because that's
a teaching of the Antichrist too. You don't have
to worry about where other people stand. Just
deliver the gospel. I sat at a table of pastors,
11 pastors at one time, and shared the gospel
and told them the basics of what it took to be
saved. They looked at me like I was a freak.
What are you doing? We're all saved. And I said,
y 'all. Every one of you can say that because
the Spirit of God testifies to you and you know
you're saved. But you don't know that the guy
across the table from you is saved. You don't
know that. Let us be proclaimers of the gospel.
Have you given up proclaiming the gospel at this
late hour when we're so close to Jesus coming
to death? Or will you be found faithful on the
earth? I'm asking you today. If you have accepted
the teaching of the Antichrist into your Christianity,
will you repent today and begin to test and prove
the spirits and say, I will live for the incarnate
and the immortal Jesus who is my God. God's love.
You make that commitment today. You say, no matter
what, I never thought I'd realize I've never
really accepted Jesus this way in my life as
true Lord and Savior all day. If you do that
right now, then as we sing this song, you're
going to respond. And you don't even have to
come forward if you don't want to make the decision
in your heart today. But then don't fail to proclaim
it boldly. Don't fail to tell anyone who will
listen that's what they did. They went back home
to take care of their stuff. And when we read
that story, we called that the motivation of
the Antichrist. We saw that that was right. If
you're living for Jesus for the first time today,
you tell us that if you're living for Jesus,
renew today. By us, I mean all of us.