And all right, well, great to be in church this morning.
I want to thank Pastor Shelley for giving me the opportunity to preach
while he's down in Houston for their family and friend day.
It's a great honor and opportunity.
And we're here in Matthew chapter two and we're approaching Christmas.
It's Christmas week next week.
You know, it's a great time to be thinking about the Lord Jesus Christ
and about the Christmas story.
So I want to preach a Christmas based sermon and specifically,
I want to talk about the spiritual warfare that goes on in this chapter.
And the title of my sermon is the triumph of Christmas, the triumph of Christmas.
Let's start in Matthew chapter 2 verse 1.
We're going to go through this chapter here.
Matthew 2 verse 1, the Bible says,
"Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea,
in the days of Herod the king, behold,
there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
saying, 'Where is he that is born king of the Jews?
For we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him.'"
Now before we get into the spiritual warfare aspect of this chapter,
I just want to point out that notice that the men that were coming to seek Jesus
and that were following his star were men from where? The east.
They were not from Jerusalem. They were not Jews.
And that's a picture of the fact that the Gentiles are the ones that are seeking Jesus today.
The Gentiles are the ones that are happy about the Christmas story
and that want basically to seek Jesus out.
But we see a different reaction in Matthew chapter 2 verse 3,
"When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him."
So you see they didn't exactly, in Jerusalem, in Herod they didn't exactly have the same reaction
that the three wise men from the east had.
And the thing about this is this is weird because Christmas is a time of rejoicing.
It's a blessing.
It's a time of victory and it's a time of rejoicing.
There's no reason to be troubled about Christmas.
There's no reason for Herod and for Jerusalem to be troubled.
Stay there, I'll read for you Luke 2 verse 10.
"And the angel said unto them, 'Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people.'"
You see, the gift of Christmas, the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, is a gift to all people.
And it should be a time of rejoicing for the whole world.
There's no reason for Herod to be troubled.
There's no reason for Jerusalem to be troubled, but you see that they are.
Look at verse number 9 of Matthew chapter 2.
"And we see how the wise men react at the birth of Jesus.
When they had heard the king, they departed, and lo, the star which they saw in the east went before them,
till it came and stood over where the young child was.
When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother,
and fell down, and worshiped him.
And when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts, gold, and frankincense, and myrrh."
So the three wise men, hey, they have the right attitude here.
They have the right reaction to the birth of Jesus Christ.
You know, this is how all of us in this room feel about the birth of Jesus Christ.
Hey, it's exceeding great joy.
Thank God for the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We're excited.
We're happy about that gift.
You know what?
If we were there, we'd be doing the same thing, worshiping that newborn babe, the Lord Jesus
Christ born in Bethlehem.
But we see that that's not the reaction that Herod has.
They're troubled.
I'll read for you Proverbs 28 verse 1.
The Bible says the wicked flee when no man pursueth.
The wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.
See, there's no reason for Herod to be troubled.
There's no reason for all of Jerusalem to be troubled.
Hey, this is their savior being born for them.
This is God in the flesh coming to save them.
This is their redemption.
Why are they troubled?
Why are they not rejoicing like the three wise men?
Why is Herod not coming down to worship at the feet of Jesus Christ like the three wise
men?
Hey, the wicked flee when no man pursueth.
They shouldn't be troubled.
This is great tidings.
This is glad news for all men, for everyone.
Let's go to John chapter number 3, John chapter number 3.
Let's look at verse 16.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
You know, the great thing about Christmas is that it's the God's gift to the whole
world.
Why?
Because He loved the whole world.
He doesn't just love the Jews.
He doesn't just love the Gentiles.
You know what?
He loves the whole world.
And so, He offered the greatest Christmas gift that there ever was, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Hey, and it's available to everyone.
It's a free gift.
He loves everyone.
And guess what?
It's eternal.
It lasts for forever.
It's the greatest gift that there ever was.
The Lord Jesus Christ, there's no reason for them to be troubled.
Hey, this is their Savior being born.
Look at verse 17.
"For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through
Him might be saved."
The Bible is very clear that Jesus Christ did not come into this world to condemn the
world.
He came to save the world.
The birth of Jesus Christ is not a condemnation to Herod.
The birth of Jesus Christ is not a condemnation to Jerusalem.
Why are they troubled?
Why are they upset about this great gift?
Look at verse 18, "He that believeth on Him is not condemned, but he that believeth not
is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten
Son of God."
You see, the condemnation is that you don't believe in Jesus Christ.
There's no condemnation of Jesus Christ's birth.
There's nothing negative about Him coming to the earth.
There's no reason to be troubled.
Hey, be troubled if you don't believe on Him.
Be troubled if you're going to reject God's spotless Son and reject that gift that He
gave you, then you ought to be troubled because you're condemned, because you're on your way
to hell.
And you know what?
That's why Herod and all Jerusalem are troubled because they were going to reject the free
gift that God gave them.
So number one, I want to point out that on Christmas Day, 2020 years ago, and every day
since, there's been a spiritual battle raging.
From the very birth of our Lord Jesus Christ and every single day since then, there is
a spiritual battle going on around us that we can't see.
We cannot see this spiritual battle.
Let's go to, no, stay there in John 3, I'll read for you 2 Corinthians 4 verse 3.
The Bible says, "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the
God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."
The Bible teaches that the God of this world, who is the devil, has blinded the whole world
so that they don't see the light.
The glorious light of Jesus Christ and of His gospel.
And the devil has the whole world deceived and blinded to where they don't understand
that light.
They don't comprehend that light.
And that is the spiritual battle that rages every day, is darkness versus light.
And see the problem with Herod was not that Jesus Christ was born, that's not a condemnation.
The problem is that he loves darkness, that's the problem.
The problem is that he wanted to reject the Lord Jesus Christ.
You're there in John 3, look at verse 19, "And this is the condemnation that light has
come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were
evil."
The problem is not that light came into the world, that's the solution.
The problem is not that, "Hey, Jesus Christ is coming to be your Savior."
That's the free gift.
The problem is that, "Hey, Jesus, light has come into the world, but men love darkness
rather than light."
That's the problem.
That's the spiritual battle that's being fought every day.
Look at verse 20.
And by the way, isn't it interesting how what was it that signified the birth of Jesus
Christ? a light, a star, a sign from God.
Why?
Because this is light that's coming into the world.
This is the Lord Jesus Christ, the true light that's coming into the world, and God used
that star as a sign to signify the birth of Jesus Christ.
Look at verse 20.
"For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds
should be reproved.
But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be manifest, that they
are wrought in God."
And you know who came to the light?
The three wise men, the people that love the light, the people that love the truth, a picture
of the Gentiles, how we end up being the people, majorly, who believe on Jesus Christ.
You know, the ones whose works are wrought in God.
But you know who doesn't come?
Herod.
Why?
Because he hates the light.
"For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light."
You want to know why Jerusalem and Herod were troubled?
Because they hate the light.
And you know what?
They still hate the light today.
And that's why if you go to Jerusalem right now, today on this earth, and you say the
name of Jesus, they will spit on the ground because they hate the light.
You know what?
It was pictured in the fact that Herod himself hated Jesus.
He hated Jesus.
Why is this?
Because he's being controlled by the devil.
Because there's a spiritual battle between light and darkness.
The condemnation is not light.
It's the fact that men love darkness rather than light.
That's what's condemning them.
Go to John chapter 1.
Let's look more into this.
John chapter 1, verse 4, "In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light, that all men through him might
believe.
He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light.
That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to
them that believe on his name.
Notice, the Bible says that Jesus is the true light that's come into the world, that it
lights every man, and John is coming to bear witness of that light.
But notice, the light, the Bible says, shines in darkness, and what does the darkness do?
It doesn't comprehend it.
It does not understand it.
So there is this battle, there is this contradiction, light against darkness, and when light shines
into darkness, it doesn't understand it, and men that love darkness, they're going to hate
the light.
That's the spiritual battle that we're fighting, but notice, what does John do?
He's come to bear witness of that light.
Just like the star in Bethlehem bore, bear witness of the real light that was coming
into the earth, John's ministry was the same thing as that star, and that's our same ministry
today.
It's to bear the light of Jesus Christ, to shine God's light through the gospel of Jesus
Christ, to help those who are in darkness.
To those who have no light, we have to shine that light and show them the truth and preach
the gospel to them so that they can be saved.
Go to Ephesians chapter 6, we'll look more into spiritual warfare here.
Light and darkness were battling the day Jesus Christ was born and has been every day since.
Look at Ephesians chapter 6 verse 2, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but
against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the," what?
"darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."
And whether we realize it or not, every single day there is a battle in this earth and in
this world from darkness and light.
That is the battle.
And Herod here obviously is a minister of darkness.
He is this spiritual wickedness in high places.
He's the king of Jerusalem and he's a wicked person.
We're going to get into that in a second.
But go to Ephesians chapter 2, back a few pages, and look at verse number 2, "Wherein
in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of
the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience."
So the whole world walks according to the devil's course.
Bible says that the whole world is walking according to the devil's plan.
He has the whole world in darkness, verse 3, "Among whom also we all had our conversation
in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of
the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others."
So he's saying, "Hey, even we, when we were unsaved, we were walking in that same darkness.
We had that same blindness on us, and we were walking just according to our flesh, doing
whatever we want."
And that's the thing, the darkness doesn't like light because it makes manifest your
evil deeds, right?
So you have to be wrought in truth to desire that light to be shown on you.
But you know what?
If you're walking according to the devil's plan and you don't want that light exposing
your wickedness, you're going to hate the light and you're going to be against the light.
Go to Acts chapter 26 and we're going to read about Paul.
He was giving his testimony to King Agrippa and he was recounting what the Lord Jesus
Christ said unto Paul.
And this is what he said to him in verse 16, what Jesus said to Paul, "But rise and stand
upon my feet for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose to make thee a minister and
a witness both of these things which thou has seen and of those things in which I will
appear unto thee, delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom now
I send thee to open their eyes and watch this to turn them from darkness to light and he
defines what that is and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness
of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me and sometimes
we just need the Bible to remind us that hey all these battles that we're fighting when
we see just the wickedness of this world and we say oh you know look at a really wicked
person. Let's use an example. How about, I don't know, Joe Biden. And we think, we think like,
all right, Joe Biden's our enemy. You know, we got to fight Joe Biden. But really, you know,
who is running Joe Biden? The devil. That's who we're fighting. That is who we're fighting.
He's the one that is leading the fight of spiritual wickedness and of darkness. And when Herod,
when we're going to get into the story and see what he tried to do, he was being led by the
devil. He was being controlled by the devil. And he, the devil is who runs the spiritual wickedness
in this world. And we got to realize that our fight is not a carnal fight. We already saw our
battle is a spiritual battle and it's against wickedness in high places. It's not against
flesh and blood. It's not really just Herod that's the enemy. No, it's, it's who's behind Herod,
the devil. That's actually who we're fighting. Go back to Matthew chapter two, Matthew chapter two.
If I didn't tell you already, keep your finger there throughout the sermon. So look at verse four.
"When he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded them
of where Christ should be born." So Herod is freaked out at the birth of Jesus Christ.
He's gathering all the priests and all the spiritual leadership together to ask a question.
And it's funny, often you'll see political leaders that are wicked. You know, they're not
against artificial light. You know, they have, what's the woman that Trump had as his pastor?
Wasn't it Paula White? That's not light. That's not actually light of God's word. That's like
artificial light. Okay. And you know what? Herod has no problem with artificial light. He has no
problem bringing all of these, you know, fake spiritual people and all of a sudden he's real
curious about spirituality. When really, I mean, the three wise men just saw a sign from God.
They're going to see God in the flesh, born, and he's asking all of these Jews who are probably
spiritually blind themselves a Bible question. It's pretty funny how they're really not against
religion. They're just against the true religion. And a lot of times you'll hear people, you know,
who are wicked say, "Oh no, Christianity is fine, but we're going to put these hate speech laws in
so that you can actually preach what the Bible says." Because they have no problem with Joel
Osteen. They have no problem with the vast majority of churches in this world that don't
actually preach light. They don't actually shine the light of what the Bible actually says. They
just preach what comes out of their own heart, or whatever's going to get most people in the building,
or whatever's going to give them the most money. And hey, the wicked people in this world, they
have no problem with them. They'll bring them to them all day long. The problem is they hate the
real light. Look at verse 5, "And they said unto him in Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written
by the prophet." They were right about that. Verse 6, "And now Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
art not the least among the princes of Judah, for out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule
my people Israel. Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently
what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, Go and search diligently for
the young child. And when ye have found him, bring me word again that I may come and worship him also."
Now later we're going to find out that this is a complete lie. Herod has no desire whatsoever to
worship the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact he wants to kill him. You know, the spiritual wickedness in
high places, nothing is below them. Any sin is on the table. They're willing to lie through their
teeth. They're willing to just look at you and just lie. He had no intention of coming and
worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ. His only intention was to destroy that precious child. Verse 9,
"When they had heard the king, they departed and lo, the star which they saw in the east went before
them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced
with exceeding great joy, and when they were coming to the house, they saw the young child
with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshiped him. And when they had opened their treasures,
they presented unto him gifts, gold, and frankincense, and myrrh, and being warned of
God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country
another way. When they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream,
saying, "Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there
until I bring thee word." For Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. So, you know,
Herod is telling these three wise men that he wants to come and worship the Lord Jesus Christ.
You know what? Mary and Joseph were warned in a dream that really Herod's coming to destroy the
child. Herod wants to kill the child. And we see here that there's obviously spiritual battling
going on in this story. It's obviously more than just a man Herod and Jesus Christ being born. No,
the devil's working in this situation. He's angry that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming to the earth.
Herod and all of Jerusalem are troubled because their deeds are evil and they want to reject the
Lord Jesus Christ. So number one, we see that there's definitely spiritual warfare going on.
But number two, I want to point out that the enemy's tactic in spiritual warfare is to conspire
against the righteous. Conspiracy is the tactic of the devil. Now, I know a lot of people don't like
to use that word, but you know what? If you don't believe in conspiracies, you don't believe the
Bible because the Bible is full of conspiracies from Genesis to Revelation. It's just conspiracy
after conspiracy. What is conspiring? It's a secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or
harmful, or it's the action of plotting or conspiring. It's just a plan to do something
bad. You don't think conspiring happens in this world? You don't think there's people that plan
to do things that are bad? Hello? That's what wicked people do. That's man's sin nature. So it's
like, oh, you're a conspiracy theorist? It's like, no, I'm a Bible-believing Christian with an IQ
above 30. It's like, of course there's conspiring in this world. And what is, what is Herod doing?
Hey, the angel warns him, Herod will seek to destroy the child. He's seeking, he's planning
to kill Jesus Christ. This is a conspiracy. And all of the devil's tactics is a conspiracy,
either to get you to sin or to get people to kill themselves, you know, the devils that possess
people trying to get people to kill themselves or harm themselves. You know, the Bible says
the devil walks about as a roaring lion seeking who he may devour. He's seeking, he's planning,
he's plotting to devour. Go to Revelation 12, and I'm going to prove to you that the idea of killing
the Lord Jesus Christ at His birth was a conspiracy of the devil. Revelation, I'm sorry, chapter 12.
And in Revelation 12, the Bible's giving us a flashback to the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and there's a lot in here, talks about the woman. I'm not going to focus on that in this sermon,
but let's start reading in verse number one of Revelation chapter 12. "And there appeared a great
wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown
of twelve stars. And she, being with child, cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
And there appeared another wonder in heaven, and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and
ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven,
and did cast them to the earth. And the dragon, who is the devil, notice, stood before the woman,
which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought
forth a man-child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and her child was caught up
unto God, and to his throne. So obviously, this is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. The child
that's to rule all nations. It's talking about Jesus. But the dragon is waiting to devour the
child as soon as he is born. So we got to understand, a lot of times when we see political
leaders or spiritual wickedness in high places, when they're plotting, when they're planning,
when they're conspiring, when they're doing wicked things, realize the devil is behind that. You
know who is controlling Herod? The devil. The dragon wanted to devour Jesus Christ the moment
he was born. And hey, there's plenty of ministers in this world that are willing to serve the devil.
There's plenty that are just ready to do it. Why? Because they hate the light, the spiritual
wickedness, the spiritual battle that's being fought. What is the tactic of the enemy? It's
conspiracy. You need to realize that conspiracies happen and conspiracies are happening today. And
they were happening the day that the Lord Jesus Christ was born. The devil and Herod were conspiring
to kill him. Go to Matthew chapter two, verse 14. And we'll see. So we learned he's gonna conspire
to kill Jesus Christ. But how does he actually enact that? How is he gonna go about killing
Jesus Christ? Look at verse 14. "When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night
and departed into Egypt." So Mary and Joseph, they're fleeing from Herod. They're warned of
the angel. They're fleeing to Egypt. Verse 15. "And was there until the death of Herod that it
might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 'Out of Egypt have I called
my son.' Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wrath and sent
forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem and in all the coast thereof from two
years old and under. According to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men,
then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, 'In Ramah was there a voice
heard, lamentation and weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and would not be
comforted because they are not.' So what was Herod's plan? He wanted to devour the Lord Jesus
Christ. He hated him so bad that you know what he did? He made a decree to have every single child
two years old and under-murdered. Two-year-olds? You know that they're walking around and talking.
They're kids. They're beautiful, precious children. And you know what? Herod hated
Jesus Christ and the devil hates Jesus Christ and the wicked servants that are in spiritual
wickedness in high places hate the light so much that they are willing to do anything. Anything.
We cannot, as safe people, even fathom something this wicked. This is not a sin that's common to
man, okay? This is nothing that any of us in this room has ever been tempted with. And if you are,
kill yourself, please. Disgusting. Herod does one of the most despicable things in the Bible,
slaughters children. Can you even fathom that? It's so disgusting how much just blood,
innocent blood, of who would do something like that. But you know what? You need to understand
something. Because we don't think like reprobates do. We can't fathom something so evil. But you
need to understand something. That there are people in this world that are willing to do anything,
absolutely anything. Sins, more heinous than you could possibly imagine. There's people on this
earth that are willing to do them. And so you know what? You ought to protect your family.
You ought to be sober and be vigilant because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion,
walketh about seeking whom he may devour. You know what? And the devil wants to do horrible,
horrific things to the Lord Jesus Christ and to us, his children. And you got to realize the
spiritual battle that goes on is real. And you better take it seriously. And we need to understand
that conspiracy is the tactic of the devil. And conspiracy is the tactic of the wicked.
Herod hated Jesus so much that he murdered every child. I mean, can you imagine how many children
died on Christmas Day? Or not on Christmas Day, obviously it was two years after. But around the
Christmas time, think about that. It's disgusting. Think about what a horrific thing he did. And
here's the thing. There's no new thing under the sun. These liberals that want to tell you that,
oh, it's just a, I just want women to have control over their own body. And you know,
it has nothing to do with the child. You know, they're sick murderers is what they are.
Anyone that supports abortion is a sick murderer. I hate abortion. You know what? I will not ever
have fellowship with someone who likes abortion. You know what? Any person that's willing to kill
a child that's four weeks old, that's four months old, will kill it at four years old.
That's what they'll do. And you know what? You will see a day in this country where
wickedness will get to the level like Heron. And you know what? I would not be surprised
if we had ever had a president or a leader that was as evil as Herod because guess what?
The same devil that was leading Herod to kill children is the same devil that's conspiring today.
Wake up! You know, we're in a spiritual battle right now. Do you realize that?
But you know what? Christians don't take it seriously. Like, oh Christmas,
it's a time where we give each other presents. Yeah, it is a time that we give each other
presents. But you know what? It's also a time to realize, hey, that the God of this earth,
He came to this world for glad tidings for all men, to be the savior of all men. It's great and
glad tidings to all men. But you know what? Sadly, there's some people that hate the light,
and there's some people that hate the light. That's why we have to take our job of bringing
the light, bringing the gospel to people very seriously and to turn them from darkness to light
before they can get to this point where they're so evil and so wicked and become a reprobate like
Herod. I mean, we don't need our world filled with people like this. We got to go give them
the gospel so that people like this don't exist. Go to 1 Peter chapter 5, and I just want to read
to you some conspiracies real quick against the Lord Jesus Christ. John chapter 5 verse 18,
"Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he had not only broken the Sabbath,
but said also that God was his father, making himself equal with God." John 8 40, "But now
ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I heard of God, this did not Abraham."
So we see they're seeking to kill him, seeking to kill him, seeking to kill him. What is that?
That's a conspiracy. That's what that is. Mark 14 1, I'll read for you. "After two days was the
feast of the Passover, and of unleavened bread. And the chief priests and the scribes sought how
they might take him by craft and put him to death. But they said not on the feast day, lest there be
an uproar of the people." What is that? It's a conspiracy. You know, and that's what's so funny,
the left-wing media wants to just make fun of conspiracies. And there was even a CIA document
I preached on this before where the CIA admitted that they're using the media to manipulate people
and it's just like an open document how they're saying, "We pay people off. We use media sources
to lie." It's just like open. It's what they do. It's a conspiracy is what it is. You think that
the mainstream media is reality, you are deceived. If you listen to Fox News or CNN or any of these
people and you think that the truth is being showed to you, you are simple because it's not
the truth. The truth is the Word of God. You're there in 1 Peter 5, 8. I already read this, but
I want you to see it. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring
lion walking about seeking whom he may devour. Just realize that. Realize that the devil today
is seeking, he's plotting, he's planning, he's conspiring, and with the evil forces of this
world, they're conspiring against the light. They want to hurt the light. That is their conspiracy.
Go to John 15, I'll read for you, 1 Thessalonians 5.5. The Bible says, "You're all the children of
light, and the children of the day. We are not of the night, nor of darkness." So we see in Matthew
2, you know, the Christmas story that Herod and the devil conspired against the Lord Jesus Christ.
But you know what? Now that the Lord Jesus Christ is in heaven, we are children of light. We are
bearing that light now on this earth. And the darkness hates us now because of it. And we got
to realize that the world is also going to be conspiring against us because we're the children
of God. You're there in John 15 verse 18. If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before
it hated you. You're of the world, the world would love his own. But because you're not of the world,
but I've chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hated you. See, the world doesn't hate us
because they don't like our personality or our church or what we or what, you know, we say that's
not from the Bible. No, they hate what we say that is from the Bible. The protesters that show up
there, you know, they don't hate Ben or Pastor Shelley or this church. No, they hate Jesus Christ.
That's who they hate because I guarantee you if you were just with your family at the grocery store
and they just bumped into you and struck up a conversation with you, they would be nice and
friendly and so polite and oh, hello, sir. How are you doing? But you know what? When they realize
that the light is here, that's when darkness gets upset. That's when the the freaks and the
fags and the people that hate God come against us, not because of any of us, it's because of
Jesus. If they hate us, we know that they hated Christ before and Christ is the real reason why
we are hated today. Someday, you know, there's going to be a conspiracy against us on a global
scale. Go to Matthew chapter 24. Look what the Bible says in Matthew 24 verse 9, "Then shall
they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you and you shall be hated of all nations." Why?
For my name's sake. That's why we're hated. We're hated because we're children of light,
because we're children of God and the darkness hates the light. Who is that light? Jesus Christ.
If we're the children of light, they're going to hate us too. Not because of us, not because
our personality, for no other reason other than that we bear that light that shines on their evil
deeds. That's why they don't like us. Go back to Matthew chapter 2. So far, what have we seen?
We've seen that in the Christmas story there's a spiritual battle raging between light and darkness
and we learned that of course the tactic of the enemy is to use conspiracy to conspire against
the righteous. They conspired against Jesus and they're going to do that to us as well.
But number three I want to let's look at the triumph of Christmas in this chapter because
what we've learned so far might tell some Christians okay well I've learned that there's
a battle going on and that people want to kill us. You know it's like great. Should we be scared?
Should we go you know hide to the mountains and try not to preach the gospel? Well here's the thing
this story is triumphant and Christmas Day is a reminder of the triumph of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look at verse 19 of Matthew chapter 2. "But when Herod was dead behold an angel of the Lord
appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt saying arise and take the young child and his mother
and go into the land of Israel for they are dead which sought the young child's life. And he rose
and took the young child and his mother and came into the land of Israel but when he heard that
Archelaus did reign in Judea in the room of Herod his father he was afraid to go thither not
withstanding being warned of God in a dream he turned aside into the parts of Galilee and he
came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth then it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets
he shall be called a Nazarene." So notice the devil conspires against Jesus Herod conspires
against Jesus he wants to kill him but what happens an angel comes and warns them and they flee
and then Herod dies and Jesus comes back to the land and then of course he grows up does his
ministry dies for everyone's sins and raises again from the dead Herod's plan was not successful
the devil's plan was not successful and what happened an angel of the Lord warned Mary and
Joseph Mary and Joseph and Jesus had an angel protecting them but you know we have something
way better than that we have the angel of the Lord protecting us the Lord Jesus Christ that same baby
that was born in Bethlehem's major 2020 years ago is the same God in the flesh who is resurrected
and glorified and is the ruler of the universe that's the same person that's protecting us go
to Matthew or we'll get to Matthew in a second go to Revelation chapter one and I'll read for you
Isaiah 42 verse four the Bible says he shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment
in the earth and the isles shall wait for his law Bible is giving this prophecy that Jesus Christ
is not going to fail he's not going to be discouraged there's no weapon formed against
the Lord Jesus Christ that can prosper there's no way you're going to let some reprobate kill
the baby Lord Jesus Christ before he's done his mission it's not going to happen
God is not going to allow it to happen the Bible says he will not fail nor be discouraged you're
there in Revelation chapter one look at what the glorified Lord said of himself in verse 18 I am he
that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive forevermore amen and have the keys of hell and
of death Jesus Christ was triumphant Jesus Christ was victorious and you know what Mary and Joseph
were victorious too because the angel of the Lord protected them and hey Herod's not going to win
and the devil is not going to win go to Psalm chapter two Psalm chapter two Psalm chapter number
two starts out talking about the conspiring of the wicked it says why did the heathen rage and
the people imagine a vain thing the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel
together against the lord and against his anointed saying let us break their bands asunder and cast
away their cords from us so bibles telling us the kings the rulers the spiritual wickedness in high
places they're coming together they're planning they're conspiring and what do they want to do
they want to cast away the cords of god from them they want a christless world that's the conspiracy
they want a christless world but look at what happens at the end of this chapter verse four
he that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh the lord shall have them in derision then shall he speak
unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure yet if i set my king upon my holy
hill of zion i will declare the decree the lord hath sent unto me thou art my son this day have
i begotten thee ask of me and i shall give ye the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost
parts of the earth for thy possession thou shall break them with a rod of iron thou shall dash
them in pieces like a potter's vessel be wise now therefore oh ye kings be instructed ye judges of
the earth serve the lord with fear and rejoice with trembling kiss the son lest he be angry
and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little blessed are all they that
put their trust in him you say are you are you afraid of all the conspiracies against us are
you afraid of all the conspiracies against god are these people not afraid of conspiring against
god are these people not afraid of conspiring against the lord jesus christ hey he's warning
these kings he's warning these people that want to come together and make their decrees against
god he says serve the lord with fear and rejoice in trembling the only thing you should be afraid
of is conspiring against god because you're not going to win you're going to fail every single
time the only thing you should be afraid of is conspiring against us his children i'm not afraid
of them conspiring against us they should be afraid of conspiring against us because they're
gonna fail they will fail every single time and here's the thing we have the angel of the lord
protecting us go to matthew chapter 28 matthew chapter 28 verse 18 and jesus came and spake
unto them saying all power is given unto me in heaven and earth go you therefore and teach all
nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost teaching them
to observe all things whatsoever i've commanded you and lo i am with you always even unto the
end of the world amen hey we have nothing to worry about the angel of the lord the angel of the lord
the lord jesus christ is with us to the ends of the world that's the triumph of christmas right
there hey harrod you can you can conspire against jesus all day long the devil can conspire against
us all day long but i got news for you he's with us to the ends of the world the lord jesus christ
that same precious baby that was born 2020 years ago is now glorified in heaven and he's on our
side not on their side so you know what they should be afraid of coming against us they should be
afraid of conspiring against us and going against the lord i'll read for you matthew 18 verse 20
says for where two or three are gathered together in my name there am i in the midst of them you
got to realize hey if they come at us jesus is with us the god of heaven is with us we have nothing
to fear and here's the thing this year there's been a lot of worry there's been a lot of fear
over the conspiring of the wicked and people are wondering man is the coronavirus a conspiracy
is you know the lockdowns a conspiracy is the election the conspiracy are the vaccines the
conspiracy here's the thing in the bible we know exactly what conspiracies are going on because
the bible says look they're conspiring look they're conspiring we don't have that today
here's what i do know i do know the devil's conspiring against us i don't know exactly
what it is i don't really even need to know exactly what it is but i do know that the enemy
is conspiring against us i do know that the devil will conspire to kill all of christians
and that he wants to create a mark of the beast so that we cannot buy or sell and so that we
would be hindered his his conspiracy is to stop the work of god but guess what jesus is on our
side hey we don't have anything to worry about and that's the triumph of the christmas story
hey the god of heaven that came to this earth to be the gift for us that christmas gift for us is
eternal he lives in us and we have him for forever we don't have to worry about anything keep that in
perspective this christmas matthew 16 verse 18 and i say unto thee that thou art peter and upon this
rock i will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it there's nothing that
the enemy can conspire that can stop us it doesn't matter if you give us biden it doesn't matter if
you try to force vaccines hey there is nothing that can stop us hey you got to keep that in
perspective and not let the media cause you to fear and not get you to and you're thinking oh man
herod's conspiring against us herod's going to kill us and that's all you focus on is the problem
no get things in perspective and realize that just like the angel delivered mary joseph and jesus
he's going to do the same thing for us he's going to do the same thing for us and so don't be afraid
to serve god second corinthians chapter 14 second corinthians chapter 14 i have two more places here
now thanks be i'm sorry second corinthians 2 14 now thanks be unto god which always causeth us
to triumph in christ and maketh manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place the bible
says that we always triumph in christ oh well what if they kill you what if what if you're a martyr
hey for me to live is christ and to die is gain you can't beat us even if we die where do we go
heaven you can't threaten us with heaven there's nothing that they can do to win and hey if we end
up living in dark times if we end up living in a time of spiritual warfare you know to the extent
that was around jesus's day where leaders are killing every child two years old and under to
try to get the lord jesus christ and obviously it's not going to be the same thing but realize
that's the same devil behind that and that's the same devil that's going to be conspiring against
us but guess what we will always always triumph always there's nothing that they can do to stop
us verse i'll read for you this will be the last place this is what we're memorizing psalm 23 verse
four says yay though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death i will fear no evil for
thou art with me thy rod and my staff they comfort me and here's the thing we walk through the
valley of the shadow of death we're not afraid not because we have a ton of ar-15 stocked up
or because we live in texas or because we got all the armored vests and armored vehicles
no the reason we're not afraid is because thou art with me that's why we're not afraid hey and
thy rod and thy staff they comfort me what comforts me is knowing that the god of heaven
is on our side hey and thank god for the christmas story thank god for the free gift that he gave to
everyone hey i want to bring that great news to other people i want to i want to shine the light
to other people but you know what the foolish people in this world that decide to serve darkness
that decide to reject light you know what they should they should be terrified they should be
terrified of what's going to happen to them when they die and they should be terrified of coming
against us and what god can do to them on this earth so here's what i want you to walk away
thinking about when we're thinking about christmas it's a time of triumph and when we go into the
next year realize that 2020 has been a crazy year where people have been coming against us and we've
had trials and tribulations hey but realize we will always be victorious and that we can serve
god without fear don't worry about the harrods don't worry about what they're conspiring against
us hey we need to go serve god kiss the son lest he be angry worry about pleasing him don't worry
about what harrod is doing to us let's have a word of prayer lord thank you so much for this day
and thank you for the great christmas story thank you so much that you have our back i just pray
that we would all fear and tremble before you and that we would always serve you lord and that you
you just protect us from the enemy.
Jesus' name we pray, amen.