Four Wise Men Came to My Office

All of mankind has wants of many sorts, and some would include:

💭 I want direction; I want the way to go in my life, but I don’t want no Jesus.

💭 I want to know the truth, but I don’t want no Jesus. 

💭 I want immortality, but I don’t want no Jesus. 

💭 I want wisdom and salvation, and to be accepted by God (if there is one), but I don’t want no Jesus. 

This is part of the world’s “want list,” but be assured: These expectations will not be satisfied.  Those who cling to the “no Jesus” mantra will find it ends very badly and that badly lasts forever.

The answers to all man’s questions—and the fulfillment of all his wants—begins at a place Jesus Christ calls “born again.”  John 3:3:

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Consider these glorious and powerful Scriptures:

✟ John 14:6:

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

✟ John 11:25-26:

25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:

26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

✟ I Corinthians 1:17-21:

17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

✟ Acts 4:10-12:

10 Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.

11 This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.

12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Have you yet to be born again?  You were first born the son or daughter of Mr. and Mrs. So-and-So, but when you are born again—born a literal second time, this time of the Spirit of God—you will become a son or daughter of God.  The decision is yours to make.  Will today be your day where all sin and shame are washed away and where all Satan’s bondages are broken?  Will today be your day?  Your magnificent new life in Jesus Christ can begin in mere moments if you’ll follow me with your heart in this simple prompt.  Today will be the best day of your life.  Are you ready?  Here we go: Click onto “Further with Jesus”  for childlike instructions and immediate entry into the marvelous Kingdom of God. NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.

GOD SAID, Mark 16:15-16:

15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

GOD SAID, Proverbs 11:30:

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.

GOD SAID, Daniel 12:3:

And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

MAN SAID: Everyone knows it’s true.  The Bible has outlived its time.  There is no place for God in this enlightened and erudite society.  And guess what?  If I don’t know the answer, I’ll just ask my phone.  All the world’s great knowledge is at my fingertips! 

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The visions and understandings of this world are, by heritage, always upside-down. It can’t be any other way.  Grandma Eve, in an act of unbelief, believed Satan’s words over God’s Words, and Grandfather Adam followed her pernicious ways.  As a result, immortality was lost and they were booted out of Paradise.  They died the second death the very day of their unbelief and disobedience, and consequently, all their children were born alive to the carnal elements of this world, but spiritually dead unto God.  We all came into this world spiritually stillborn, thus the need to be born again—born a second time, born of the Spirit of God.  Right out of the womb, the carnal mind begins life’s journey upside-down, even dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2).  For the carnal-minded, it will always be easier to believe a lie than the truth—it is a matter of heritage.  As a result of this upside-down conundrum, what you see is not what it is.  What carnal eyes witness is not the reality, it is not what God sees, and He is the reality. 

II Corinthians 4:17-18 declares this principle well:

17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Four stars, four luminaries, came to my office the other day, but most would not have recognized them as those who have achieved stardom.  Stardom is reserved for the sports heroes, for movie stars, for moguls of business and politics, and their ilk.  Unfortunately, their stars fizzle out and for most, it ends very badly.

Things are seldom how they appear.  Several years ago, I had the marvelous privilege of participating in the salvation of a gentleman employed in the auto industry.  Two days after his conversion, his wife left him for another man.  He asked, “How could this be?”  I told him that this was a gift from God.  There was an almost three-second pregnant pause.  Shocked, he exclaimed, “A gift?!” Yes, a gift.  Evidently, God didn’t think the ex-wife worthy to share the bed of a son of God, bringing her infidelity and sexually-transmitted diseases with her.  If you spoke to this brother today, he would tell you that this was a gift. 

All instances are not the same, but the gift principle is.  Often, that which appears to be the worst is actually the best. 

It was a terrible, dark, and fearful day when Jesus Christ hung on the cross of crucifixion and was suspended between heaven and earth, between two thieves.  It was from crucifixion that the word excruciating was coined.  But first, He was arrested, mocked, spat upon and beaten, tried by the authorities and sentenced to the death of the cross, scourged and forced to carry the cross of shame and finality.  Pontius Pilate, who ordered the crucifixion, prodded on by the Jewish priests, wrote a title and affixed it to the cross.  It read, in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS (John 19:19).  It didn’t look good.

The Lord’s apostles and disciples, not to mention His family, were heartbroken and decimated.  How could it be? This was the Messiah! Now, He is dead and their own credibility—even their lives—are hanging in the balance.  Their glorious King of love and life, the only begotten Son of God, had died a naked, tormented, mutilated pauper.  The day of the crucifixion, that’s what the carnal eye saw—but something entirely different had occurred. 

God saw something entirely different.  God saw the reality.  God saw Jesus Christ, who had fulfilled His Father’s will to make a way of escape for the lost and doomed sons and daughters of Adam.  God saw Jesus Christ destroy Satan’s legal argument.  He saw His Son suspended between heaven and earth, mediating for the world’s lost souls. I Timothy 2:5-6:

5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

That’s some of what God saw that day. 

Satan saw something entirely different, too.  He saw his power of sin and death shattered for all those who embrace the cross of Christ.  Satan saw souls by the millions liberated from his chains of darkness and despair.  He saw himself and his evil angels booted out of heaven and cast down to the earth.  He saw his soon-coming doom, and eternity in the lake of fire.  That’s what Satan saw that day. 

Four stars, four luminaries, came to my office the other day.  We hold a Bible study every weekday morning from 8:00 to 8:30 AM, and it is open to the public.  They came to participate.  These men came from the Cincinnati Restoration Church of Ohio.  One thing this ministry does is take in drug and alcohol victims and reconciles them unto God. These four men were once addicted.  In the world’s eyes, these were ruined men, but I saw stars.  They regularly frequent this area and you’ll often see them in front of high-traffic shopping places, seeking donations to underwrite the ministry.  Some would call their efforts “panhandling,” or “begging,” but that’s not what I saw.  They also interact with area people and explain their ministry.  If someone is bound by addiction, they encourage them to pack a suitcase; they are transported back to the ministry to be fed, housed, and taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is all done at no charge.  Donations underwrite the cost.  The men and women in this ministry are in the ministry of reconciliation.  They are reconciling to God that which was bound, ruined, discarded, and lost.

These four now-wise men that visited my office were once ruined men, but no longer.  They are stars—stars of God, literally transformed into His glory—and their stars will never fizzle out.  Daniel 12:3:

And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.    

Proverbs 11:30:

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.

Things are often not what they appear. 

Jesus Christ, the fountain of life and reconciliation, the King of Righteousness, who is the very definition of stardom, is known in the Scriptures as the bright and morning star (Revelation 22:16), and His star shines for all eternity.

Four stars, four luminaries, even four wise men, came to my office. The world saw ruined men, but I saw stars because that’s how God sees them. 

GOD SAID, Mark 16:15-16:

15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

GOD SAID, Proverbs 11:30:

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.

GOD SAID, Daniel 12:3:

And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

MAN SAID: Everyone knows it’s true.  The Bible has outlived its time.  There is no place for God in this enlightened and erudite society.  And guess what?  If I don’t know the answer, I’ll just ask my phone.  All the world’s great knowledge is at my fingertips! 

Now you have THE RECORD.

 

 

 

References:

Authorized King James Version

 

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