God Uses Any Means Necessary To Lead People To Christ – Sermon Series Part 3 of 3

Hello and welcome to Social Media Ministries, my name is Spencer Coffman. Thank you for being with us. Today we are wrapping up a three-part sermon series about the stars in the Heavens and what they are. So if you have yet to see the first two sermons, check them out. There will be a card here.

Otherwise, you can navigate to our YouTube channel and find the playlist. The first week we talked about the “Practicing of Astrology” and how it is not good, it is a sin to practice worshiping or interpreting the stars and the sun and the moon and the sky as a means of predicting or finding out things here on Earth.

You are giving them a false power and practicing divination, which means making them divine, which is wrong. It is a form of idolatry because God is divine. You should be worshiping God, not the heavens. It is also a gateway to seeking omens and horoscopes and different interpretations of the signs and the times.

Then that could also lead to sorcery, spells, wizardry, witchcraft, seeking mediums or spirits, consulting the dead, different things like that and that is all stuff that you need to avoid no matter what. You must avoid it.

Last week we spoke about the wise men or the magi at Jesus’ birth and how they took a leap of faith and a big journey and the star that God had there for two years for them to follow and see. They took off and went for it and God led them to Jesus.

Now if we are not supposed to practice reading and interpreting the stars as a means of astrology, but yet that is what the wise men did and God provided the star for them to follow, why would God do that? Why would God provide that if that is not what we are supposed to do? Why would God give that as a means for them to be there if practicing divination is sinful?

Well, the answer to that is that “God uses any means.” What do I mean by that? God will use any means necessary to lead people to Christ. Now does that mean He is going to use sinful things to lead people to Christ? Someone could be led to Christ out of sin. Someone could be tired of sinning themselves and say I got to get this right.

Someone could have a sin happen to them and they could seek God as a result of that. God will use sin. Why would He use that? Well God uses everything for the good of those who love Him. Think of what happened to Joseph. His brothers sold him into slavery out of jealousy.

Poor Joseph had to go through all kinds of stuff and eventually ended up saving many many lives as a result of that path God used. God used the star and the magi. They worshiped the heavens, He appealed to them, to their beliefs, and brought them to Christ because He knew they would follow it.

People are sinners. We all sin, therefore as sinners, we can understand and relate to our sinful nature. Therefore God is going to speak to us in those terms. It is not the healthy who need a doctor, it is the sick. Jesus said that when He was getting grief for hanging around with tax collectors and sinners.

He said these are the people who need me, the healthy do not need a doctor, the sick do. So I am going to talk to these people. Jesus knew that it was very important to speak to people on their terms. He did not go up to the fishermen and say “Hey I will make you guys counters of money and you will add up the sums of men to get to Heaven or something like that.”

No, He said I will make you fishers of men. He related to them in their language, in the words and vocabulary that they would understand. Same with the magi. God knew that they would follow this star because that is what they studied. God uses any means necessary to bring people to Christ.

Why do you think that recovered addicts, whether it is alcohol or drugs or something of that nature, and converted convicts like ex-cons do so well in helping other addicts and other convicts? It is because they have been through what their audience is going through. They can relate to them.

They can speak to them in terms, in a language that they can understand. They speak to them from a point of experience and that breeds trust. If I come to you and you are a drug addict and I start talking to you about the bondage of addiction and all this stuff and you look at me and say, “Have you ever done drugs? Have you ever been an addict? Have you ever been committed? Have you ever whatever?”

And I say no to all of that, you are gonna be like, well how can you understand what I am going through? If I say yes to all of that, then you will say okay then you do understand. It is a point of trust. So God will use those means of relating to people because He knows that it is an instant bond.

It is instant trust. For example, if you served in a war and you see someone else, maybe they have got a cap on or a shirt, it is like oh wow instantly you guys have a bond because you were both over there at the same period. You both know what happened, and what went on, you can relate to them a little better.

You can converse with them a little better, you can speak to them from a point of your own experience and they get that because they also had a similar experience. You can relate to each other therefore you have gained that authority and that trust.

You see God wants to lead people to Christ. That is His goal, He wants to save. The son of man came to seek and take what was lost. Well anyone who does not follow Jesus is a lost soul. He is here seeking, trying to save everything that was lost. How does He do it? God uses sinners to do it. After all, all humans are sinners.

God does not have a choice, He cannot use anyone else. He used Jesus. He sent Jesus here but then after Jesus left who else is He going to use? He has to use sinners, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” That is Romans 3:23.

All of these verses will be referenced in the description below, so I encourage you to read your Bible, check them out, start drawing some lines, put a timeline together with all three of these sermon series, and rive in and study this.

God is going to use sinners to bring people to Christ. That means He can take someone’s sin and turn it around and help them realize what was going on and then use that to bring them to Christ. That they stop sinning so that they become changed.

Do you think the wise men went home after worshiping Jesus and started reading the stars, looking for another king? I doubt it. I bet you they went home and were like wow this is amazing, He is our savior. He is the Messiah. God brought them to Jesus.

Once you bring someone to Jesus, you do not just let them fall by the wayside and convert to their old ways. If God uses sin to make someone realize the importance of Jesus, He is going to do it. If He has to use a sin, He will.

God uses all things for good. We have had this verse before. “He uses all things for the good of those who love Him.” That is in Romans 8:28. So if you have your Bible please turn with me, Romans 8:28. Turning there myself, give me a minute. Give you some time to go there because you should be using your Bible. Now if you are driving or something, obviously do not do that.

Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” It does not say that in some things God works for the good of those who love Him, or in certain things, or in good things He works for the good.

It says in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, in all things. Sinful, not sinful, God uses everything for the good of those who love Him and who work and are called according to His purpose, not our purpose.

The magi were called. God used their false perceptions, their worship of idols, of divining the heavens, God used that. He said I will show them, I will put a star up there in the sky, they will believe that is some kind of a divine sign and they are going to follow it.

When they get there they will be in for an amazing awakening because they are going to realize that they were wrong and that this is the Messiah that was prophesied about. That this is who they should worship, not the heavens, but that this is God the creator of the heavens.

God led them to Jesus by any means necessary. God used astrology, a sin to get the magi to Christ after Jesus was born. He did not do it before. He wanted to make sure they were led to Jesus, in the same way you are to be like God and lead others to Jesus.

Now that does not mean that you should all of a sudden throw in your lot with a bank robber and then afterward you are the getaway driver and you drive him to church and then you guys all go to jail and you are leading him to Jesus somehow. No, it does not mean you need to start going and starting to sin.

That is also a bad thing if you start enabling other people to sin or you start leading others astray. Jesus said you should have a millstone tied around your neck and thrown in the depths of the sea.
So you do not want to be willingly leading others astray, but you can use their sin and relate to them to bring them to Christ.

If someone is a drug addict or someone is a thief or someone is whatever or they struggle with some type of a sin you can speak to them in terms that they will understand and get them to go away to Jesus.

God knew that star was something that the wise men understood. How did He know that? Well, there was a prophecy in Numbers 24:17, about a man named Balaam. If you do not know who that is I encourage you to read Numbers 22-24 because it is pretty incredible. In Balaam’s prophecy 24:17, he says, “I see him.” Who is he talking about?

Balaam is saying I see Jesus, but not now. I do not see Him now. “I behold Him but not near. A star will come out of Jacob, a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the sons of Seth.”

He is saying in the future I see this guy, this Jesus, this king, and it is not here, it is far away. It is going to rise from Jacob, from Israel. The magi knew this prophecy, they knew other prophecies. There are many prophecies about Jesus throughout the Bible and the Old Testament. The magi would have been familiar with most of them, maybe all of them.

God knew they would follow that star. How did He know that as well? Because they knew the prophecies, but also because they were actively practicing the art of divining the heavens, astrology, or divination. Now obviously not all of the magi were convinced, but some were. We do not know how many could have been.

There were three gifts, but they could have brought multiple. Maybe three people brought ten pieces of gold each and maybe one person brought myrrh and 10 brought incense or frankincense.

We do not know exactly how many, but the point is that out of all the magi in Babylon that were looking at the signs and debating about what this star was and what it meant, it was up there for two years and some of them finally said, “Hey enough is enough, we are going and we are bringing gifts and we are going to journey all the way there.”

The star led them all the way there. They made this journey for months. Two years after that star was up there, not all of the magi were convinced to take that step in faith and go. But some were and some are better than none, keep that in mind.

Get out there, share Jesus, try to lead others to Jesus, sow seed, share with them. If you share it with 100 people and only one is convinced, rejoice, do not be discouraged. Some are better than none.

You have to seek and you will find. The wise men sought. They knew. They are like we know this star means something, we need to go there. We need to seek what is out there and for months they journeyed. It was not like a day trip over there, instant gratification. No.

We do not know about their journey. We have no idea of what happened on that journey. Did they encounter bandits? Did one of them get sick? Did anybody die on that journey? Did they get bitten by snakes or scorpions or spiders going through the desert? Were they dehydrated and thirsty? Did they run out of food? Did any of their camels die and they have to walk? What happened? Were they forced to eat one of their camels? We do not know.

But it might not have been an easy journey and that is another thing, this journey was many months and we know that based on the climate it had some desert and treacherous terrain. So it could not have been easy. But they did it in faith. They were patient. They were actively seeking Jesus and the journey was not easy.

Keep that in mind on your journey, on your walk to be closer to Jesus, that is what they were doing. They were going from Babylon to Bethlehem. They were walking closer to Jesus. They were on their way to seeking Jesus. So in your daily walk to be closer to God, to be closer to Jesus, remember that it is not always going to be easy.

There could be some hard times. There could be some rough patches. You are not always going to get everything right away. The wise men had to wait months until they got to Jesus and found what they were looking for. The point is you gotta seek and you will find. How do we know this?
Psalm 34:4 “I sought the LORD and he answered me, he delivered me from all my fears.”

You have to seek and you will find. Matthew 7:7 says this, “Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, for everyone who seeks finds, and to him who knocks the door will be opened.”

The magi were seeking. They even went to Herod in their search and they said where is this King? Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him. Matthew 2:2.

They were seeking Jesus so much that they made stops along the way and asked if anyone knew where He was. Even though this star was guiding them the whole way, they still wanted more confirmation. That is like us.

Even though we know what we are doing or we know God is telling us to do something or we are supposed to go to church or we are supposed to teach others about Christ, we still want more confirmation.

God might be saying “Hey share the Christ with someone, share Jesus with this person, share a video, share a post, share a Bible verse, go talk to that guy in the coffee shop.” You might be like, I do not know, God, give me a little more confirmation.

Wait a minute, we know what we are supposed to do. The wise men knew they were supposed to follow the star, yet they still stopped and asked for confirmation. This is a whole other sermon in and of itself. Trust, have faith. Because what happened? The magi stopped and asked for confirmation and then what happened?

Herod ended up killing all the boys under two years of age in the region. That is a bad tragedy. If they hadn’t stopped and asked for confirmation, if they had faith and continued to do what they were supposed to do,100, maybe 1000 lives would have been spared. But again that is a separate sermon. That is a separate issue.

The point is for you to have faith, and know your goal. What is your goal? Share Jesus. Especially at this time of year when the world wrongly celebrates Christmas as the birth of Christ, get out there. when you are saying Merry Christmas to people or when people are saying Christmas to you.

What should you respond with “Yes Merry Christmas” but maybe something, like “Thank God Jesus, was born or Praise is to Jesus” or something that tells them that Christmas is more to you than a holiday of spending Jesus is the reason for the season share him and remember God will use any means so even though people might be saying merry Christmas or happy Hanukkah or these different seasons greetings or happy holidays or political correctness.

God could still be using those means to bring people to Christ they could say “Happy Holidays” to you and you could say “Jesus is the reason for the season” back to them and if they get offended they get offended. If they do not, hey, maybe they will ask you, “What do you mean by that?” Boom.

You had faith, you kept going to the star, you did not ask for confirmation, and land lives were spared. Have faith. Remember God uses any means and the bottom line is that He was bringing people to Jesus. That is what you should do.

You should always be trying to bring people to Jesus. It is throughout the Bible, that god did it at Jesus’ birth, Jesus was doing it even after He died. That is how important this is. So whatever you do, make an effort to bring people to Jesus. We have talked about it before in other sermons. That is our ultimate calling, it is the great commission, and it is what we are here to do.

To grow the kingdom of God. So get out there and do it. Lord Jesus, thank you for this great time of year for all of the family gatherings and the fun and the festivities I ask that everyone out there who is watching or listening they would have a great Christmas season and a great time of year together.

And that they would have a happy new year and that everything going on they would have safe travels to and from. That they would think about this, that this message is all about bringing the wise men to Jesus, and that you will use us. Even though we are sinners, use us and you will use sin to bring us. You will use any means.

Lord, I ask that you would inspire those watching and listening to be more like you so that on their walk to Jesus they would understand that it might be hard and treacherous, but that they would continue seeking Jesus and that they would remember that there is a calling and a purpose and that they would keep that faith.

So that they do not always have to seek confirmation on the way. That they would walk in faith all the way. In Jesus’ name. Amen. Thanks again for being here. Come back next week and we will be kicking off the new year with a great sermon on how you can start to live for Christ in the coming year. So I hope that you join us for that. God bless.