Were the Wise Men Antichrist?

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

1 John 4:1–3

-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

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

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

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

in verse 50. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, beginning

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

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.