Eyes Attuned To Spiritual Warfare – Part 2

Introduction

I appreciate so much our shepherds and they’re admonishing us. Sometimes we forget. We lose sight of what’s most important. We need to be reminded that our labor and toil is not in vain in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 58. Be steadfast, immovable. And that these sacrifices that we’re called upon to make, however small it is, really, to attend the second service. It’s not asking that much when you think about the sacrifices that have been made for us. But having said that, it certainly is a nice segue into what we talked about this morning, about having minds attuned to spiritual warfare. To think about the great spiritual battlefield. And that’s the reason why some conclude that I’m not going to be committed to the assembling of the saints.

And it’s not just about worship, it’s the fact that, yes, we are coming to be in the presence of God together to bring our thoughts and our devotion to the very throne of God. And we can’t really get enough of that, but it’s also a commitment to his people. We ought to be here because we’re committed to each other. Admonishing and encouraging one another. And it’s all about this. Having our minds attuned to the spiritual warfare that’s taking place. And I want to enhance that by the three results that we’re seeking by today’s lessons. As we have looked this morning at the text of Matthew chapter 2, and the fact that Jesus’ very entrance into the world was met with hostile opposition, told about in Revelation chapter 12, the great red dragon who wants to devour the man child as he comes forth from the woman, but he’s caught up to God’s throne.

And we talked about Herod being the pawn of the evil one and his misguided attempts to preserve his rule. I don’t know what he was trying to preserve. He didn’t last very long after he slew all of those babies. And he didn’t get the one he was trying to kill. And a lesson that flows out of that, we concluded this morning, that we need to expect discouragement and opposition and resistance from the evil one. And that’s one of the difficult things for new converts to realize that there are going to be so many challenges thrown in our path. It may not seem so difficult at first, but as a month passes and then a year passes, and then five years pass, and then twenty five years pass, you realize the number of obstacles that are thrown in your way that you have to overcome.

And faith is about overcoming, and it can.

Extraordinary, really. I wish I knew more about the early years of Jesus, about the parental roles that were played by Joseph and Mary. Perhaps when Joseph died, it seems that he’s not around during Jesus’ ministry and the things associated with that. But being warned of God, they fled to Egypt until Herod had passed, and then they returned and settled in Galilee. There was a teacher of the little kids. You know, you have to be creative when you’re teaching little kids, as some of our Bible class teachers know, and you have to do different things with them. And so one teacher of the five-year-olds got a great idea to have the kids draw any picture in the Bible that they wanted to draw. And so the teacher is going around looking at the pictures drawn by the children.

And she sees something interesting in one of the children’s depictions of a biblical story. The first thing that caught her attention was the airplane.

The steps leading up to the airplane door, you know, not the hangers that you see at Intercontinental or Hobby. You know, sometimes when you’re flying the smaller planes, you get to go outside and walk up the steps. That was what the picture had envisioned. Here are people, there’s three adults headed up to the aircraft, and the woman is carrying a baby, and so she asks the child, she goes, What is this story? And she says, It is the flight to Egypt. This story in the Bible. And the teacher says, Okay, so that’s Mary with the baby Jesus. That’s Joseph. Who’s the other guy? And she says, That’s Pontius the Pilate. Cheat story, huh?

That’s a bad joke, isn’t it? Phil Roberts told us that at Florida College 30 something years ago. I thought if Phil Roberts told it, I could tell it. But I say that to say somebody who will remain nameless roaning came out this morning and showed me a picture that he had drawn of the great red dragon from Revelation chapter 12. And that was pretty good. You have it with you tonight? No. Oh, I wish you still had it. That was a great picture. A good thing for kids to do. Okay, now we’re going to look at something from Matthew chapter 2 that we went over rather hurriedly. But before we do that, as we talk about spiritual warfare and introduce this subject again tonight, I want us to look at 1 Corinthians 16.

Paul was keenly aware of the opposition, the spiritual warfare that’s taking place. As he says in verse 9 to the Corinthians, a wide door of effectual service or effective service has been opened to me, and there are many adversaries. You can just expect that. Wherever something good is going on, wherever the gospel is advancing, Satan is going to throw adversaries in the path of that achievement and success. And so he tells these brethren in Corinth who are fighting the same spiritual warfare. He says, be on the alert, stand firm in the faith. Act like men. You know, and that’s not that’s not chauvinistic. He’s saying just like men need to be strong and not weak. He’s saying, be manlike, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.

1. The Specific Birthplace of Jesus

And so we’re in a spiritual warfare, and I want to direct your attention to that, especially as we come to the concluding point tonight. But I want to take a look at something that really jumped out at me in the account of Matthew chapter 2, and that is the number of prophecies that are fulfilled. And really it’s extraordinary and should bolster our confidence or strengthen our confidence in God and his word to see the number of prophecies that are related to this text. And one that I’ve talked about so very often, several hundred years prior to Jesus’ coming, where he’s going to be born. As I mentioned this morning in Matthew chapter 2 and verse 6, as the prophecy from Micah chapter 5 and verse 2 is quoted, the specific birthplace of Jesus.

Now you think about how imprecise the birth of a child is.

I mean, it’s nine months. It’s getting pretty close, but the water could break at any moment. And who knows where you’re going to be, and if there’s going to be a mad dash in the hospital or if you’re going to be in labor for 24 hours. Let’s hope not. What’s the whole birth experience going to be like? God knows exactly where this child will be born. And then, as we mentioned this morning, Bethlehem means house of bread, perfect place for the bread of life to come into the world. Not even Joseph and Mary’s hometown, they’re going there because of a census that has been ordered. It doesn’t matter if he had been born in Timbuktu. God is going to know and can tell you 500 years in advance.

But even more extraordinary, this prophecy of Micah chapter 5 and verse 2 is that’s not the only Bethlehem in Judea. There’s a Bethlehem in the territory of Zebulun that is actually larger of the two Bethlehems. And this one, Bethlehem Ephraitha in the southern part of Judea, is specified in Micah chapter 5 and verse 2. That’s extraordinary. It says something about our trustworthiness that we should have toward the Old Testament. But again, with God, this is simple stuff. Let’s go all the way back to the beginning, the prophecy we quoted this morning in Genesis 3.15 about the conflict between the seed of the woman and the serpent. I mean, it’s all anticipating the crucifixion. Way back in the book of Genesis, or the promise made to Abraham.

2. Out of Egypt Did I Call My Son

This isn’t hard. There’s not anything too difficult for the Lord. But there’s another prophecy that’s a little more intriguing, a little more challenging in this context. When Joseph and Mary take Jesus to Egypt, it is so that the scripture can be fulfilled. Hosea chapter 11 and verse 1. And that’s found in Matthew chapter 2 and verse 15, quoted specifically. Out of Egypt did I call my son. This has really perplexed Bible students for years and years and years. Because when you go back to Hosea 11 and you read that prophecy, if you didn’t know that Matthew quoted it, you might not know that it was pointing to this episode in the early life of Jesus. There’s not any clues in Hosea chapter 11 that this is forward anticipating.

But Matthew, who was very acquainted with the Old Testament, says very specifically that this is also a fulfillment of this text. Out of Egypt did I call my son. And again, when God has Hosea pinned those words down, he knows how he’s ultimately going to use that. He knows Herod’s going to kill the babies. And that Jesus is going to come out of Egypt. And so, how is God working that? It’s really extraordinary. God is able to take the evil will of Herod and the awful slaughter of children, and again turn that into something very powerful or good. Just like Israel was delivered from Egyptian oppression and an evil Pharaoh. Jesus is delivered from Herod, and he too comes out of Egypt to accomplish God’s purposes.

And here’s the difference. Whereas Israel failed over and over again as God’s son, this time the son is going to be a success. Jesus is going to succeed where Israel failed. And you might remember, and then again you might not, a sermon I preached several years ago now about the temptations. And how that the three temptations of Jesus in Matthew chapter 4 are really indicating the same thing as Jesus keeps quoting from Deuteronomy. He is going to succeed as a son where Israel had failed. And while it was a glorious event when God delivered the Israelites from the Egyptians, this extraordinary deliverance that is going to be offered by Jesus for the sins of the people will be even greater. Another perplexing but incredible prophecy is recorded in verse 17.

3. Rachel Weeping for Her Children

As Herod slaughters the children, it says in verse 17, then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled. Okay, here’s another fulfilled prophecy. A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping in great mourning. Rachel weeping for her children, and she refused to be comforted because they were no more. And again, like Hosea, you go back to Jeremiah and you’re going, hmm, never would have seen that coming. From Jeremiah 31. Rachel weeping for her children. What was that about? Remember when the second son of Rachel was born? His name was what? Benjamin. Wrong. That was not his name initially. At his birth, she named him Ben-Oneh. Son of my sorrow. Because remember, Rachel dies after giving birth to Benjamin. She names him Ben-Oni, son of my sorrow.

There was great weeping and lamentation as the beloved wife of Jacob dies. And yet Jacob doesn’t want Ben-Oni to go with that stigma throughout his life. And so he changes his name to Ben Hamin, Benjamin, son of my right hand. A much more glorious designation. And so Rachel weeping is a moment of sadness in the history of the patriarchs, the people of the promise. And in the context of Jeremiah 31, it is a weeping of a far greater significance. What’s the occasion of Jeremiah 31? Babylonian destruction. Jeremiah is lamenting the fact that his people have slid into wickedness so badly that God is going to bring the Babylonians on them as Habakkuk had prophesied, and he is going to destroy them. He’s going to burn the temple.

He’s going to destroy everything. The Babylonians are going to destroy everything in their path. Great lamentation. And of course, Jeremiah writes the book of Lamentation specifically about that destruction. But here’s what’s interesting about the quotation of Jeremiah 31 and the mourning that is about to take place as Jeremiah has been prophesying and warning them about the punishment that’s coming. Is that this chapter actually contains words of hope in the midst of sorrow. Just like in the midst of the sorrow of Rachel’s death, circumstances for Benjamin improved with his being renamed, and he has a somewhat significant future, as one of the sons of Rachel and the brother of Joseph. But he’s saying in Jeremiah 31, and I wish I could take more time with this, but this is interesting stuff in Jeremiah 31.

That’s the beginning in verse 1. Let’s go back to the beginning of the chapter. We’re going to look at just a few statements here. At that time, declares the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people. Now, I have a heading underneath Jeremiah 31 in my Bible that says, Mourning will turn into joy. In the midst of this message of judgment, he says, Brighter days are ahead. Look at verse 9. With weeping they shall come, and by supplication I will lead them. I will make them walk by streams of waters on a straight path in which they will not stumble. For I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. He who scattered Israel, verse 10 will gather him and keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.

For the Lord has ransomed Jacob, verse 12, and they shall come and shout for joy on the height of Zion. I will fill the soul of the priest with abundance in verse 14. Who are the priests of the New Testament? Let me just throw that in, by the way. Yes, we are. And I will fill the soul of the priest with abundance, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, declares the Lord. Then the quotation that is quoted in Matthew 2 in Jeremiah 31, verse 15, look at verse 16. Restrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for your work shall be rewarded, declares the Lord. Now, if you start seeing these passages in relation to the work of the Messiah, there’s something encouraging here.

Remember what I said in the very beginning? Your labor is not in vain in the Lord. There it is. Jeremiah 31, 16. Did you see that? Your work shall be rewarded. And they shall return from the land of the enemy. And there is hope for your future, declares the Lord. I will surely have mercy on him. God speaks of his child in verse 20. And we can look more at the phrases in Jeremiah 31. So why is that quoted here? In this moment of tremendous sadness, as someone, I think it was Scott who was talking to me after the sermon this morning about, you know, we sometimes miss the point of the mothers who lost. How many mothers lost their boys? We’ve never seen anything like this in our lifetime.

I guess the closest thing, but these were adults would be 9-11. Babies. Slaughtered by the hundreds, who knows how many. Can you imagine the lamenting, the mourning that went up as a result of that loss and the evil that was perpetrated? And yet this mourning is going to be turned into rejoicing. And it’s not just about God trumping evil and righteousness winning, but even regarding mourning over our sinful past, blessed are they who mourn, they shall be comforted. Matthew chapter 5 and verse 4. God turns our mourning, our regrets over our past into rejoicing by providing forgiveness and mercy through Jesus Christ. So what starts off horrifically with lamenting and mourning and weeping over the loss of children is going to ultimately result in Jesus being the Savior.

And as Isaiah says in Isaiah 35, the ransom will return. Sorrow and sighing will flee away. God’s people will walk the highway of holiness. And just like in Jeremiah 31, Isaiah’s predicting in Isaiah 35 that there are greater days ahead, days of rejoicing for the people of God. And so now what’s the significance to you and me? Well, I’ve said a few things already, but Paul. We talked about him a couple Sunday nights ago. We would say in modern vernacular, he went through the ringer. Stone on one occasion, left for dead. Didn’t die. That might have been a blessing, actually. But he lived through it. Beaten with rods several times. Stripes several times. In fact, he doesn’t even know how many times he was beaten. And I’ve mentioned that before.

I mean, I think he can almost remember every time I got whipped by my dad. Now that I deserve that. Paul didn’t deserve this. But it only happened like two or three times. But I remember my dad marching me into the bathroom and saying, son, bend down over my knee. Again, it only happened two or three times. What are you laughing at? And there was this yardstick that he had that, well, it was a yard. It was 36 inches. But I do remember it was about that thick. And again, it only happened a couple times. And I remembered it being laid to my backside. And I deserved it. Again, I had misbehaved. Paul is serving the Lord. Beaten far worse than my loving father ever beat me.

I mean, actually, he hard to he barely had to touch me with that thing, and I would start screaming. I mean, he could have just gone tap, and it was just, it was just the whole thought of I disappointed my father, that was the worst part. It’s not like I walked away and couldn’t sit down for a day, maybe 30 minutes, but it wasn’t that bad. Paul was beaten times without number.

And when you think about his suffering, where is he when he writes Philippians, by the way? We all know that’s one of the prison epistles, right? Okay, this is not like staying in the holiday and express. This is not even like our modern day prisons. First century prisons, that was real prisons. Oh, I know people are confined and nobody wants to live in a prison. I get that. It’s not glorious. But I bet our guys had comfortable or comfortable beds. I say our guys, I guess there’s some females incarcerated too, mostly males. But I bet our inmates in Texas had a lot more comfortable sleeping arrangements than the Apostle Paul had in prison.

He writes Philippians from prison. And what does he say?

Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say, rejoice. Rejoicing is a theme in the epistle. The opportunities, the open doors that were set before him because of his circumstances, his rejoicing over the faith of the Philippians and other brethren throughout the world. I mean, we have a lot to rejoice over. Jesus turns our gloom into rejoicing. And I think sometimes we lose that in the midst of our painful circumstances. That as long as we have fellowship with God, as long as we find ourselves walking in the will of God, that he is able to take those circumstances and ultimately turn them into joy, and even joy in the midst of our pain when we realize what we have. When we realize the blessings of being associated with the Lord and His cause and being in fellowship with Him, we can rejoice even in the midst of pain.

4. He Shall Be Called a Nazarene

And I would tell you, we’re not good at that. That’s a generalization. But we’re not very good at that as 21st century Christians. We tend to focus too much on our pain and our disappointment and our troubles rather than what we know and what we have in Christ. All right, I could talk more about that, but I’ve got to go to the last one. Okay, four prophecies. So he ends up living in Galilee, because Herod Archelaus, the son of Herod, he’s not much better than his father. At least there’s some concern about what he might do. And so they come to Nazareth in verse 23. And then this that what was spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, he shall be called Nazareth. Now, I don’t know if you know this.

I didn’t know this. The Muslims, actually, look to this verse to suggest that the New Testament message is not reliable. This is one they will point out. And the reason why they say that is that there’s no specific Old Testament reference to the Messiah being a Nazarene. You’re not going to find mention of that specifically anywhere in the Old Testament. And so they suggest either the Bible has been altered, sections of the Old Testament must be missing, or the New Testament is at least partially fabricated and therefore unreliable. But I want you to notice something about this. Matthew does something here.

He said, all this took place in verse 22 of chapter 1 that was spoken by the Lord through the prophet. He says the same thing in Matthew 2 and verse 5, written by the prophet. He says the same thing in Matthew 2 and verse 17 through Jeremiah the prophet. Let’s even get more specific, not just the prophet, but the prophet Jeremiah. And he mentions Isaiah the prophet in the next chapter. Look, notice this is all around the context we’re reading. For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet, and he’s referring to John, the voice of one crying in the wilderness. There are two other occasions, one in Matthew and chapter 26 and in John chapter 6, where the writer doesn’t get specific. He simply says, the prophets, like in John 6, where Jesus says, they all shall be taught of God.

He’s not the prophet said this. It’s not a specific prophecy, but it’s a general. It’s a general theme or tenor of the prophets that he’s referring to. And he does the same thing in Matthew 26 when Jesus is forsaken by the disciples, and they all forsake him and fled, that the scripture might be fulfilled. Again. The idea of the Messiah suffering and being rejected, it is a theme and tenor of the entire Old Testament. Remember we looked at Psalm 118 a couple of weeks ago? The stone which the builders rejected becomes the chief cornerstone. Isaiah 53. Despised and forsaken. It says of the Messiah. Psalm 22. The passage that Jesus quotes on the cross when he says, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

He’s a worm and not a man. David says in himself again, Jesus isn’t quoting Psalm 22 just so, just because verse 1 sort of fits his suffering. He’s telling us that whole psalm is about his suffering. Oh, it’s about David’s suffering, but even more, as righteous David suffered, the perfect righteous one, is the ultimate fulfillment of Psalm 22. Jesus’ suffering and rejection. He is the despised root of Isaiah chapter 11, which has a connection in Hebrew to Nazareth. And so, when the Muslims and others come along and say, Well, where is this passage in the Old Testament? It’s not a specific passage. And Matthew doesn’t say it’s a specific passage or a specific prophecy. He says that the prophets, what the prophets said might be fulfilled.

He shall be called a Nazarene. Well, so okay, well, okay, there may be an etymological connection between Nazareth, Nazarene, and Netfer, the root, the root of Jesse, the despised root, Isaiah 11 and verse 1. Okay, you made your argument. There’s a connection. But it’s even more. Remember, and I’ve always loved this. John chapter 1, Bartholomew, all the disciples are being called, they’re being attracted to Jesus, and Bartholomew says, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? You see, Nazareth had a reputation. Or in John 7, a prophet from Galilee? We’ve never heard of that. Not even just the town he grew up in, but the region that he grew up in. We got a prophet out of Galilee and out of Nazareth no less. And what do the opponents of Paul say this sect of the Nazarenes?

They didn’t mean that complimentary. When they talked about the sect of the Nazarenes, this despised they’re associated with that Nazarene fella. Extraordinary, this prophecy.

When you think about how a king might, you might think a king might have a beginning. Actually, a descendant of a king, the greatest king in Judah’s history, King David, you would think this would be some kind of glorious palace. Certainly the Messiah, the king is going to grow up in glorious circumstances. -Nazareth. Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? But again, God knows all of that. Fulfilled what the prophets said. Okay, I can stop right here and I am almost done and just say, this is a wowser for me. I hope you get how excited I am about seeing all of this. These prophecies fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. And Matthew wants us to know this wasn’t an accident. This wasn’t an oh by the way.

5. I Need to Be Aligned With God

This was the calculated, planned purpose of our amazing God. Now let’s get to the practical point. We’ll be done tonight. What I learned from all of that is, I need to be aligned with God because things with God, though there are moments of sorrow for his people. And I tell you, whenever I go preach places like I did last week in Indiana, I know I’m talking to some people who are experiencing some difficulties in their lives. They’re going through pain. It could be physical pain. It can be emotional pain. It can be relationships that are not ideal. And when you’re going through pain, it is very easy to think that God doesn’t care.

That he’s not really responding to my prayers. And sometimes with the loss of a child, you mean that’s a very devastating thing. And I’ll just tell you about all those women who lost their children in Matthew chapter 2. They were just, unfortunately, in the wrong place where an evil man took out his wrath on innocent people. And that’s what happens when suicide bombers do dumb things and kill innocent people. Some people are just in the line of fire. They get run over by trucks, blown up in bombs. And we may know some of those people. Hit by cars, drunk drivers. Sometimes the righteous suffer among them. And I don’t know why it is that way in the world. But there’s something about our suffering that can be redeeming.

There’s something about our pain that can drive us to God and hope and not despair if we will simply stay the course as his faithful people. That’s a message all throughout Scripture. We’ve got to hang in there regardlude in 1 Peter chapter 5 because I believe that’s, and ultimately victory will be ours.

Conclusion

How do you respond when life is challenging, when it’s disappointing, when Satan is tantalizing and mesmerizing you with an offer that seems to be too good to refuse. Young men, probably because they lack the perspective that older men have. They’re singled out. Young men, clothe yourselves with humility. God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time. Casting all your anxiety upon him because he cares for you. Be a sober spirit. Be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. But resist him. Firm in your faith. Knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.

You are not alone. And that, and I’ve always wondered why Peter couched it in these terms when he said, and after you have suffered for a little while, man, I want that to say rejoice.

After you have suffered for a little while, it’s not that long. The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be dominion. Forever and ever. Amen. There’s a rainbow in the cloud. Let’s stand and sing.