Good morning, everybody. Let's
turn to Isaiah 7. I'll tell you how I came to this
passage. I was thinking about it since
this week. The world's going to be speaking
about Christ and thinking about His birth. But I was just thinking on it.
I wasn't sure I was going to preach from it. And then I looked
in John chapter 2, and the next passage we come to, they ask
a sign. They wanted to see a sign, and
the Lord gave them the sign of Christ's resurrection. So I just
had to preach on Isaiah 7, because it's the sign of Christ's birth,
and John 2 is the sign of His resurrection. So the world thinks
we're strange for preaching Christ every day anyway, so they'll
probably think it's strange that I'm going to preach on the resurrection.
the week of Christmas. That's all right. Isaiah 7. Isaiah 7. This is the sign of
Christ's birth. Now, verse 1 says, it came to
pass in the days of Ahaz, he was a wicked king, he's the king
of Judah, He's the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah. It came to pass that Rezan, the
king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah, king of Israel,
went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail
against it. Now, it's important to note God
sent this trial. The king's heart is in the hand
of the Lord. He turns it whithersoever he
will, so this was all of God's doing. These men thought they
were acting on their own, but God was bringing all this to
pass, every bit of it. Verse two, and it was told the
house of David, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim. Ephraim is Israel, and they were
going up against Judah, their own people. And when they told
the king, his heart was moved, and the heart of his people,
as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind. Now, this
was troublesome, very troublesome, because Israel, they're going
up against their own people. They're going up against Judah,
waging war. And their confederate was Syria,
an enemy nation. You know, this was a terrible
time. This was a troublesome time.
And the news moved the king's heart and it moved the heart
of his people. And they were move like the trees
of the wind. And it says, verse 3, then said
the Lord to Isaiah, go forth now to meet Ahaz. Thou and Sher-Jazub
thy son, this boy's name means a remnant shall return. When
God the Father sends forth the word, the Father and the Son
come forth. God comes forth in the word. And in Christ, He's always declaring
to us, a remnant shall be saved. His remnant's gonna be saved,
and that's what he was declaring here. And it said, they met him
at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway
of the Fuller's Field. This pool is the pool of Siloam. Remember when Christ came to
the blind man, and he put the stuff on his eyes, and the mud
on his eyes, and he said, now go wash in the pool of Siloam.
and he came away seeing. That's where the Lord had Isaiah
meet Ahaz. And it's in the fuller's field.
Christ is the fuller. He's the fuller who washes his
people whiter than any fuller can wipe his people. And he says this, and he said,
say unto him, now this is God's word. He's delivering this through
his prophet, God's word to Ahaz. And he says, take heed, be quiet,
Fear not, neither be fainthearted for the two tales of these smoking
firebrands, for the fierce anger of reason with Syria and the
son of Ramaliah. Because Syria, Ephraim, and the
son of Ramaliah have taken evil counsel against thee, saying,
Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach
in the wall for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the
son of Tobil. Thus saith the Lord God, It shall
not stand, Neither shall it come to pass. For the head of Syria
is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezan. And within
threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be
not a people." God said in 65 years, Ephraim is not even going
to be a people anymore. And the head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. God said, I'm going to destroy
all them. And he says, now, if you will not believe, surely
you shall not be established. Now, let's hear this. God, hear
what he said to him. Now, all he saw was a man. He
just saw a man. And he's got these enemy kings
coming up against him. And here he has this God's prophet
come forth and this man says to him, take heed and be quiet
and fear not. Don't be fainthearted. He said,
Enemies have declared their counsel against you, but God's counsel
is going to stand. Not their counsel, God's counsel.
God said it shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.
The enemies, he said, are smoking firebrands. They're not even
on fire. They're going out. They're smoking,
and they're firebrands. They're the tail of firebrands. They're going out. But now look,
he said, if you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.
If you won't believe, you're not going to be saved by God,
not going to have assurance in your heart, going to be troubled
and fainthearted. If you will not believe, you
shall not be established. And then God commanded Ahaz to
ask a sign. to ask a sign. Now, does that
sound strange to you? Because remember, the Lord said
an evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign. Well, it's
not seeking a sign that's the bad thing. It's seeking the wrong
sign. Because God here said, I'll give
you a sign. He said, this is what's going
to guarantee you that every word that I've spoken is coming to
pass. This sign I'm gonna give you,
every word I've spoken will come to pass. This is the guarantee
of that. Verse 10, moreover, the Lord spake again to Ahaz,
saying, ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God. Ask it either in
the depth or in the height above. But Ahaz said, I will not ask,
neither will I tempt the Lord. Now, Ahaz just heard the word
of a man. So he refused to ask of God a
sign, and he's pretending like he's concerned for God's glory,
and he's concerned you know, but that wasn't it at all. He
refused a sign right here and wouldn't ask a sign when God
said, I'll give you a sign. And then when Christ walked this
earth, men said, we'd believe you if you'd give us a sign. They had, both had the same problem.
Ahab's wouldn't receive the sign from the Lord and they wanted
another sign. What was the problem? The problem
is wanting a sign other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the
sign. He's the one guarantee, the assurance
God has given that every word God's promised is going to come
to pass. It's Christ. But the world, ungodly
man, wants something else. If you give us some other sign,
we'll believe you. He's the sign. He's the guarantee. Verse 13, he said, hear ye now,
O house of David, is it a small thing for you to weary men, but
will you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself shall
give you a sign. Now here it is. Behold, a virgin
shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel,
God with us. Now the son of God, Come forth
in human flesh, born of a virgin, the Son of God incarnate, in
human flesh, born of a virgin. He is the sign, the guarantee,
the surety that every word of God's everlasting covenant promise
is ordered and sure in all things. He's the sign of that. He's the
sign of that. When I read that, and I got to
thinking about this, I thought, here we are, the week that the
world's gonna at least somewhat recognize that Christ came forth,
or at least one they call Jesus came forth. And I thought how
troubled the world is right now, how afraid everybody is of all
the things that have come to pass this year. And here it is,
the week when they're gonna at least recognize that this one
was born, And God says, if you believe on Him, you'll be established. You won't be afraid. He's the
sure guarantor that every word I've spoken will come to pass. The sign of Christ's birth. Now
I want to look at who gave the sign, and I want to look at the
sign given, and then for whom it's given. Who gave this sign? It says, therefore the Lord himself,
Jehovah God himself, shall give you a sign. The Lord Jesus is
the child born, but he's the son given. He's the child born,
he's the son given. God sent him. God gave him. It's God's pleasure. It's his
good pleasure. It's his purpose. that Christ
have all preeminence in all things and be the, he is the covenant
and the fulfiller of the covenant and the messenger of the covenant.
Every word of God is in him, ordered and sure in all things
because God purpose, his son's gonna be glorified. His son's
gonna receive preeminence. Turn over to Colossians 1, Colossians
chapter 1. And look at verse 14. In Christ we have redemption
through his blood, even the forgiveness of sin. So of every believer. He's the image of the invisible
God. He's the firstborn of every creature. For by him were all things created
that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
where the thrones or dominions or principalities or powers,
all things were created by him and for him. If he created all
the powers that be, who do you think rules them? Who do you
think controls them? It's Christ, look. And he's before
all things and by him all things consist. and he's the head of
the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead. Now here's why God set him forth
to be all of these things, to do all of these things, that
in all things he might have the preeminence, that he might be
preeminence, supreme, because it pleased the Father that in
him should all fullness dwell. And so to reject Christ is to
reject God the Father. He's the one who gave him as
the sign. He's the one that sent him forth
because it pleased the Father that all fullness, everything
we need for this life and the life to come, the salvation of
his people, it pleased God that all fullness come from Christ
and he receive all the glory, all the preeminence. He said,
this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased, hear ye him.
Hear ye him. Now, let's look at the sign back
in our text. He said, behold, a virgin shall
conceive and bring forth a son, and thou, and they shall call,
well, let me read it again. A virgin shall conceive and bear
a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. Now, when God says
behold, when he says behold, it means this is preeminent. It means stand in awe, stand
in amazement, because this is the great thing right here. This
is the greatest thing there is. Now, this is seen only by the
eye of faith. When he says behold, it's something
only the eye of faith is going to see. A carnal man knows he's
dead, can know he's spiritually dead in sin if he mocks this
virgin birth right here. Because you gotta have faith
to believe this. Reason can't explain this. Logic
can't explain it. This is as great as the mystery
of God. God was manifest in the flesh. He came down. And look how this
happened. This virgin shall conceive and
bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel, God with us. That means he's of God. He came
from God. That means he is God. That means
he's not of sinful man. That means he is the holy God-man. A virgin shall conceive without
a man. This is that new thing done in
the earth. In Jeremiah 31.22, the Lord said, the Lord hath
created a new thing in the earth, a woman, shall compass a man. Now let's go to Matthew 1 and
see. Scripture says that Mary was
a virgin. Matthew chapter 1 and look at verse 18. Now the birth
of Jesus Christ was on this wise, when as his mother Mary was a
spouse to Joseph, before they came together, She was found
with child of the Holy Ghost, of the Holy Ghost, of the Holy
Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, being
a just man, not willing to make her a public example, was mighty
to put her away privileged. He thought that she had committed
adultery. He thought she had committed
adultery. But he didn't want to make a
public example of her. He wanted to put her away privately. And it says, But while he thought
on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto
him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to
take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in
her is of the Holy Ghost. and she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins. Now all this was done that it
might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet,
saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring
forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being
interpreted is God with us. And so Joseph being raised from
sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took
unto him his wife, and knew her not, till she had brought forth
her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus." Now, the Lord
Jesus is flesh and blood. He's a man. He came forth as
a man. The Son of God came forth as
a man. but he's God the Son. He's the Son of God. So he's
the perfect, holy God-man. Now why was it a must that he
be born of a virgin? Well, he had to come save his
people from our sin. The necessity of him being born
of a virgin tells us the people he came to save are all sinners.
Because if he'd have been born of a man, then he wouldn't have
been the holy one. So he couldn't be. He came to
save his people from our sins. He had to be a man like unto
his brethren. If he's gonna be the high priest,
he's gotta be chosen from among the people because the high priest
was chosen from among the people. If he's gonna be able to make
an offering to God without the shedding of blood, there's no
remission of sins, he has to be a man. And if he's going to
be a merciful high priest and know the feeling of our infirmities
and be able to comfort you and me, he's got to go through the
troubles we go through and be touched with all the feeling
of our infirmities and know everything about us if he's going to comfort
us. And in order for him to save,
he has to be holy. Every child conceived of a man
is sin. Every one, we grow in sin in
the womb. We're conceived in sin, we grow
in sin in the womb, and so we come forth in sin because we're
sinner. Psalmist said, behold, I was
shapen in iniquity. In sin did my mother conceive
me. That's the reason he had to come
forth of a virgin, because we're conceived in sin. And he says, behold, thou desires
truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part, thou shall
make me no wisdom. So he got to be holy within.
He got to have a holy nature. But you and me, we come forth
from the womb and the wicked are estranged from the womb.
Estranged from who? Estranged from God. We go astray
as soon as we're born speaking lies. We don't sin to become
sinners, we sin because that's what we are, conceived in sin. So the Lord Jesus Christ is the
God-man, holy, without sin, and therefore he's a fit sacrifice. He's that spotless Lamb of God
that God promised. He's God with us who was able
to lay down his life and who accomplished putting away the
sin of his people. Emmanuel, God with us. Now that is amazing and something
you just can't get over that God came down. Do you believe
God is, he is in the heavens. He's in the third heaven, scripture
said. Paul said, I was raised up to
the third heaven. I saw things that it's not lawful
to be uttered. Wherever that is, that's where
God is. That's where Christ is right
now as the God man. But when He was invisible God,
He came down to this earth. And the Son of God took flesh
like unto His brethren, so that He could save His people and
be a faithful and merciful high priest in things pertaining to
God. Let's read 2 Corinthians 5 again. This is something we
don't ever We don't ever want to grow weary of hearing this. Look at this. 2 Corinthians 5.19,
God was in Christ. God was in Christ. When you read
that, it doesn't mean that he was not God. Somebody will take
that and they'll try to say, well, he was in Christ, but Christ
wasn't God. No, he's God. God was in Christ. He's God. What was he doing? Reconciling the world unto himself,
reconciling his people scattered all over the world, those that
he said his name's Jesus, for he shall save his people from
their sins. He was reconciling them to himself,
not imputing their trespasses to them. Well, what did he do
with our trespasses? They got to be dealt with, verse
21, because he made him sin for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. The Hebrew writer
said, he came into this world and he said, sacrifice an offering
thou didn't desire. That couldn't put away sin. Nothing
we could do could put away sin. The blood of bulls and goats
couldn't put away sin. He said, lo, I come to do thy
will, O God. He came down to do the will of
God the Father. And everything he did under the
law was doing the will of the Father. He was doing it for his
people because we couldn't do it. And the scripture says he took
away that first covenant and established the second covenant,
the everlasting covenant of grace. And it says, and by his will,
by him fulfilling the will of God, we're sanctified through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ one time. So everybody
he died for, God's not imputing their sins to them. because he
imputed our sins to Christ. He made him sin for us, and he
charged him with our sins, and he made him bear the curse of
our sin. And he put it away. And so we're sanctified, perfected
forever in him. So those that he died for, his
scripture said, his name's Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sins. And that's what he did. He saved
his people from our sin. And he's God, so now God's not
only just because everything's been satisfied, God is the justifier. God justified us. He justified
his people. That's what Abraham was talking
about when he said, God will provide himself a lamb. He is God who was provided himself
and who is himself the lamb. God will provide himself the
lamb, that's who he is. Now lastly, who's this sign for? Who's the sign for? Let's go
back to our text, Isaiah 7. Our text says, the virgin shall
call his name Emmanuel. Now read the text again. It says
there in verse 14, now what? Behold, a virgin shall conceive,
a virgin shall bear a son, and a virgin shall call his name
Emmanuel. God with us. She conceived of
the Holy Ghost, she bore a son, and she called his name Emmanuel.
Go to Luke 1 and look at verse 46. Whenever she heard the good news
of who it was that was formed in her, this is what she said. Luke 1, 46. And Mary said, my
soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God
my Savior. What did she just say? She said,
this one is God my Savior. He's Emmanuel. He's God with
us. She fulfilled that prophecy. She called him God with us. So
we see in her who this sign is for. Who's this sign for? Who's going to believe and be
established? Well, the Spirit formed Christ
in her. The Spirit formed Christ in her.
Not only physically, but spiritually. He saved her by His grace. And
that's who the sign is for. That's who's going to be made
to believe. Those Christ is formed in by the Spirit, spiritually. That's who this is for. That's who shall call him Emmanuel.
The Lord proclaimed to her the gospel of who Christ is and what
he would do. His name is Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sin. She heard all this that Elizabeth
said. She heard all about it. And that's
who this sign is for. Those God is gonna make hear
this gospel and believe that he is indeed God with us. the
savior of his people. And he made her behold him as
God her savior. And the result was she believed
on him. She believed on him. Unlike anybody else, she's physically
carrying her savior and believing that the one in her womb is her
God and all her salvation. That's pretty amazing, isn't
it? Well, it's similar to you and I. Christ is formed in us. Just as real as He was physically
formed in her, the scripture says Christ is formed in His
people in spirit. That's the only way we believe.
But that's who this sign is for. She's not the only one who shall
call Him God and Savior. She's not the only one. Go back
to Matthew 1 and look at how the Matthew 1.23 says, Behold, a
virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son, and
they shall call his name Immanuel, which is interpreted God with
us. Not just her, but all his people, everybody he died for
is going to be brought. His chosen, his redeemed, his
called will all be brought to call him Immanuel, God our Savior. by his grace, by the blood and
righteousness of Christ, we're chaste virgins. Isn't that what
the scripture says? Paul said, I've espoused you
to one husband, to Christ, as chaste virgin. And that's what
all his people are, by his grace, by his blood, by his righteousness,
we're every whit clean. And so, you see a picture of
the people he's gonna save when you look at Mary. She was a sinner
saved by grace just like us. So brethren, Christ is God with
us. That's who He is. He's not just
a little baby in a manger. He's God. He's God with us by
His incarnation, by His blood, by His redemption. He's God with
us by His Spirit. He's protecting, He's guiding,
He's comforting His people. He's God with us in His church
and where He's assembled His people together. He's God with
us in His gospel that goes forth to comfort and console us. He's
God with us when we face every trial and every trouble, just
like they were facing. What was the comforting word?
This one who's coming forth. The sign is Christ Jesus, God
with us. This is the sure word. This guarantees
you every word of God is so. And so he's the comfort, he's
with us when we go through trial and trouble. And he's with us
when we face that day, when we face the ultimate trial and we
come to death. He's with us then. And he'll
be with us for eternity. And we'll be with him. Now, people
today are terrified, they're shaking like a leaf on a tree.
Just like these folks was. But we shouldn't be. The Lord
said, if you will not believe, you shall not be established.
But if you believe, you'll be established. If we believe Him,
we have no reason to fear anything. Everything God did there in Ahaz's
day was of God. Everything. In fact, the Son
of God was ruling everything that was happening. Everything
about it. He sent He sent the kings against
them, the enemy. He sent the prophet to Ahaz.
He sent the prophet's son to Ahaz. He sent the word to Ahaz. He had the control of everything
that was going on the same way he does in our day. And the promise
we have that every word of God is going to come to pass is that
Christ, we have the benefit of hindsight. He has come. He has
come. in human flesh. But you know
what Ahaz's problem was? He only heard a man. He only
heard a man. And he deemed his counselors,
everybody was talking to him and counseling him, he deemed
them wiser than what Isaiah declared to him, the word of God. And
he was not established Just like God promised, He was not established. So I pray that God will give
us hearts to trust Him, believe on Him. If we're going to be
saved from our sins and be established in righteousness, there's only
one way, it's through faith in Christ. If we're going to be
saved from every enemy, within and without, it's going to be
believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. This one we're talking about
is in control of everything, always has been, always will
be, and he says he will not lose one of his people. He will not. So he says, take heed, be quiet,
fear not, neither be fainthearted. God says concerning the enemy,
it shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass. Believe on him
and be established. Everything is exactly according
to his purpose, everything. All right, brothers, let's stand
together. Father, we thank you for this
word. Thank you for this sign of our Lord Jesus and his birth.
Thank you, Father, that he is the God of creation, ruling everything,
and one who has accomplished the salvation of his people.
Lord, help us to believe. Help us to cast all our care
on Christ and trust that all your promises are yes, and they're
amen in him, they're sure and certain, that you're working
in our midst, that you're working in this nation and in this church
and in each of your people. And Lord, settle our hearts to
trust Him. Thank You, Father, that You have
set forth Your Son and we're thankful that You've given us
a place to hear His gospel preached and given us hearts to believe
Him. We ask You to be with our brethren who are sick and in
trouble. help settle their hearts, and
comfort them, and heal them, and be the consolation they need. Father, we ask You to forgive
us for doubting, and forgive us for being faint-hearted. Lord, we believe, help our unbelief. We're so full of it. And we ask
You, Lord, to help us. Thank you for this day. Thank
you for this service for these brethren. I pray, Lord, you'd
be honored and glorified and make your word go forth effectually.
In Christ's name we pray. Amen. For my pardon, this I see.