Matt 2:7-18

What kind of Christmas did you have? How did you celebrate it?

The wise men thought the king had to be born in Jerusalem so they no longer looked at the star. They went to Jerusalem and there they asked where the king was to be born. When Herod enquired, they thought Herod would rejoice but he was an utter hypocrite. He made as if he wanted to go and worship the child but he wanted to kill Him.

Imagine what a shock it was to the wise men when they came to Bethlehem, enquired at the inn and was told that Mary, Joseph and the Child are in the stable. But they started to understand God's ways and brought forth their gifts of gold, and frankincense, and myrrh and worshipped the Child. That night God spoke to them not to return to Herod and so they returned another way to their country.

God also warned Joseph in a dream to flee to Egypt. Joseph was an amazing man, and he arose that very hour in the middle of the night and took the Child and His mother and fled to Egypt. See the wisdom of God that they should flee in the middle of the night. If they waited till the morning everyone would've known which road they took and told the soldiers, but now nobody knew and could not tell which way they went.

Mary didn't complain but obeyed immediately. Joseph was a real man, and didn't first ask his wife's opinion but did as God told him.

God commands children to obey their parents in the Lord. So too wives to obey their husbands in the Lord. If your husband goes astray from God's way do not obey him, and when your parents leave God's way, do not follow them to destruction.

Mary knew that Joseph was a man of God who followed God and heard His voice. Husband, are you known for that?

When Herod realised that the wise men weren't coming back he ordered all the boys under 2 years to be killed. Herod knew that the birth of the King was true and seriously tried to kill Him. He proved it by spilling the blood of those children.

We need Godly wisdom. Jesus had that wisdom. He knew how to answer questions and would not tell the Jews everything they wanted to know. Sometimes He would answer them with a question. He knew when to answer and when to keep quiet or answer wisely. We need more such Godly wisdom. Some people cannot keep a secret, they feel that if they know something they should tell it to anyone who ask.

Note that God told Joseph to go to Egypt and stay there till God showed him the next step. See how important it is to obey God all the time and not just at the beginning.

There's a story of a newly converted man who prayed a prayer from the heart but didn't know how to stop, so he ended with, "hoping to hear from you soon Lord".

That's how we should live, hoping to hear from Him. We should not move till we have heard from Him. We must watch and pray. We can pray till we're blue but unless we watch we will go astray. We must wait upon the Lord.

The Lord Jesus said "remain in Me and My words in you".

If Joseph was disobedient, Jesus would have been killed. Where would you and I have been if Jesus had been murdered? It would have been black. We would have remained in our sin and died in our sin.

Herod was furious and enraged, seeking to destroy the Child, and could not rest until he had done so. If you had received Jesus into your life, realise that there are many "Herods" trying to destroy Jesus in your life. They might even be your close relatives. Satan goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. There are many co-workers of satan, who are tools in his hands which he uses to destroy Jesus in the souls of others. Before the sun sets he might have ambushed you to try to destroy the Christ-child in you.

Mary, whenever she heard God's promises, held it in her heart. But if Jesus had been killed all those promises would have been just empty promises. So too if Jesus is killed in your life, you might have many wonderful promises but it would be empty promises and you will die without finding them fulfilled.

As Joseph and Mary had to flee to save the Christ child, so too you have to flee from sins, the lust of the flesh and anything that wants to destroy the life of Jesus in you. You may rejoice in your salvation, even testify of it, but unless you flee from the lust of the flesh and whatever wants to kill the child, you will find those promises empty, and your life gone, for the life is in the Child. The lust of the flesh doesn't just concern sexual sin.
In Gal 5:19-21 we read, "Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."
Flee from those things, bring them to the light else the life of Christ will be killed in you.

An alcoholic repeatedly fell back into alcoholism. Eventually the counsellor asked him how it happens that he falls back continually. So he said that every time he goes to his friends in the pub he tells himself that he won't drink, but before long he takes his first drink and that's the end. He was a fool. What did he look for in the pub? He had to flee from it physically and not come close to it.

The things from which you must flee or it will destroy the Christ child in you might be your cell phone, the internet, TV etc.

We read in Deut 6:24, 25, "And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.
25 And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us."

Wear these verses around your neck and keep them in your heart. Jesus can only be your righteousness if you keep His Word (John 14:15).