I've always done it. In Isaiah
chapter 7, Isaiah is one of the shepherds that
was sent to declare this word to Ahaz, King Ahaz. Now, I'm new to this area still. Everywhere I go, I have to pay
attention to the signs. be able to tell where I'm going.
If I don't watch and read the sign. I don't know the way we
went over the other night to that ballgame over there at Philadelphia. When we pulled into the parking
lot. They didn't have a picture of
the parking spot. They didn't hold that up. They
didn't hold up directions telling us how we ought to be driving
our car. They didn't hold up directions telling us how we
ought to lock things up when we get to our parking spot and
anything like that. They held up a sign. And by looking
at that sign, we knew where to go. No other way but by looking
at that sign. Well, I want to talk to you tonight
about the sign. The sign. In verse 10 of Isaiah
7, the Lord spake unto 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. And he said, Hear ye now, O house
of David. Is it a small thing for you to
worry men, but will you worry my God also? Therefore the Lord
Himself shall give you a sign." This is the first thing I want
you to see tonight. The Lord shall. The Lord must
give the sign. The sign is the Lord Himself
given by the Lord Himself. The child born is the sign. The child born is the Son given. He's the truth, He's the sign,
He's the Son given which the Lord Himself shall give. And
in this was manifested, we see the love of God in this. Because
God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might
live through Him. Now here's the love, this is
where it's manifest. Not that we love God. but that
He loved us and sent His Son to be propitiation, satisfaction,
make atonement for the sins of His people. Now, the reason this
is such a sign that God must do this, that God shall do this,
He has done this, the reason this is such a miracle, such
a sign of grace, that salvation is all of grace, is because every
one of those for whom Christ died, if you want to know for
whom Christ died, everybody listen to me, we got a small group tonight,
so I might call on somebody to read. Listen to me. every single
person that Christ came to die for. You want to know who He
came to die for? He came to die for people who are by nature
so dead and so pious, and so self-knowing, self-learned, self-taught,
self-righteous, self-dependent, God-hating rebels, that they
didn't even care about God giving them a sign, giving them His
Son. They didn't want it. We didn't
want it. The Lord tells Ahaz, ask a sign of the Lord. And in
his pious self-righteousness, in a pretense of holiness, he
says, oh no, I won't tempt the Lord and ask a sign. Now, in
our Lord's day, he walked this earth, and man said, we would
see a sign. Now, why is that that the Lord
tells Ahaz, ask a sign? And in our Lord's day, when He
walked this earth, men said, we would see a sign from Thee.
And He said, an evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign.
Well, how do you reconcile those two? Because the reason Ahaz
wouldn't ask for the sign is because God is saying, ask Me
to show you how God alone is salvation and saves in His Son
alone. And Ahaz said, I don't want to
hear that. And those men that said we would
see a sign were saying, if you'll show us anything else, teach
us anything else, tell us that this salvation is anywhere else
other than Christ alone, we'll follow you. And that's why he
said, no other sign shall be given. No other sign shall be
given. The Lord Himself must give the
sign. He must give the sign. Now, I
want you to be sure you understand this and you get this clearly. Everything that the Lord does,
everything the Lord does in His Word and providence and everything
we know about God, everything He's doing is to bring His children
to shut their mouths and bow and trust His Son. Everything.
But when you behold a man like Ahaz, who will not ask a sign,
and then you behold a religious man who says, well, we'd see
a sign. Both wanting something other than the sign. Brethren,
what our Lord's been teaching us throughout the Sermon on the
Mount, is whatever religion says is the way, whatever the majority's
going after and the multitude are saying this is the way, He
said, you look at it with a great big skull and cross bone and
a great big warning sign on it and beware. Beware of it. A man don't know God by nature.
A man's backwards. They'll seek after any other
sign but this one. So that's the first thing. The
Lord Himself shall give the sign. Here's the second thing. Jesus
is God the Son. Somebody asked me the other night,
I was preparing this for Sunday. I was working on it for Sunday.
And Saturday night I was flipping through the channels trying to
see whether we was going to have service or not, what the weather
was going to do. And somebody asked me a question. That's the
wisest, best question I've heard anybody ask in a long time. I've been around some fellas
who know some doctrine, who can dissect it, who can break it
down into each little part of doctrine. And I had somebody
ask me a question that blew me away. And it was this. Is Jesus
God? I wish somebody would ask that
question. I wish there was somebody so so willing to say, I really don't
know much. Is Jesus God? Talk to me about
it. Tell me how that's so. Well,
here's what the sign is, verse 14. Behold, a virgin shall conceive. Now turn over to Matthew chapter
one. Behold, a virgin shall conceive. Back in Genesis 3.15, if you're
writing notes down and writing scripture down, I ask you to
turn to these scriptures later at your own convenience. Write
these down though. Genesis 3.15, Christ Jesus, way
back in the beginning, in the garden, Christ Jesus is the seed
of woman. The only child ever born without
any help from a man. He's the seed of woman. He's
the seed promised to Abraham by God that in whom Jew and Gentile
people from among all the nations of the earth would be blessed.
He is the holy seed, the substance, the life. When God stripped all
the branches off of Israel, that nation Israel, and He said, I'm
going to save a remnant from it. He's that holy seed. He's the substance of it. That's
Him. That's who He is. Then Jeremiah
31, 22 speaks of, a new thing shall happen in the earth. A
woman shall come pass a man. That is, a virgin woman is going
to conceive. and bring forth a child without
ever knowing a man. Now, verse 18. Now the birth
of Jesus Christ was on this wise, Matthew 1.18. When as his mother
Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she
was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband,
being a just man, not willing to make her a public example,
was minded to put her away privately. He could have had her stoned
if he wanted to, according to the law of God. But verse 20,
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, marry thy wife, for
that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This thing that's
conceived in her is of God the Holy Spirit, God the Holy Ghost.
Jesus is flesh and blood. He's a man. But Joseph's not
the father of Jesus. Joseph wasn't his father. Jesus
was conceived in the Virgin of God the Holy Ghost. Jesus is
God the Son. God the Son. Now here's two reasons
that that's important. Two reasons. First of all, for
God to be justifier. To be the one who actually justifies
his people. Makes them everything they're
required to be. He had to be in Christ. God had
to come in the person of his Son to be the one who did the
justifying. God was... Abraham went up there
to the mountain and he had Isaac and he went to offer Isaac on
the mountain and he saw... Isaac said, where's the lamb?
We've got to have a lamb. And Abraham said, God will provide
Himself a lamb. He's that lamb. God was in Christ
reconciling His elect Jew and Gentile to Himself. God is just
and He's the justifier. Jesus is God, the Son of God. He's all Jesus, all man, and
all God. All man and all God. Secondly,
here's the second thing, in order to save His people from their
sins, because their sins, they're sinners, He's got to be made
a man like his brethren, but he's got to be holy and without
sin. Now get this point real careful.
We're going right down to basics here with this. And this right
here is the very thing that men say, tell me something else.
Don't tell me this. Talk to me about another sign.
Don't tell me about this sign. And here's why they don't want
to hear this sign. You hear folks talk a lot about, don't do this
sin, don't do that sin, you ought to abstain from this sin and
that sin. And you should. But I want you to know that that's
not what makes you a sinner. What you do or don't do. That's
not what makes you a sinner. Whenever you were conceived of
your Father in the womb, in your mother's belly, you were made. sin. I was of my father, because
he was of his father, and his father was of his father, all
the way back to Adam, the first man who sinned against God and
lost life when he lost God. His sin separated him from God,
and so he didn't have any life. He was corrupt, he was defiled.
Everything he touched was corrupt and defiled and cursed. He began
dying immediately in his flesh and he lost all spiritual life
spiritually. And when he had a son, that son
wasn't born after the image of God, that son was born after
Adam's image. That defaced, scarred, corrupt
image. We're made in our inward part,
our substance. Inside and out, we're sin. And
because we're conceived in sin in our mother's belly, all the
while we grow in our mother's belly, our bodies are shaped,
they're formed, our members come about in sin. And therefore,
because that's what we are when we come out of our mother's womb,
your mom and daddy's had to teach you to talk, but you know what
they didn't have to teach you to do? Lie. Because that's what
you are. You're a liar. You're a liar. This fellow that was asked me
the other day about, is Jesus God? I began to talk to him. He said, who did he die for?
And I said, he died for sinners. And I said, and that's fine to
say that he died for sinners as long as you know what a sinner
is. I said, are you a sinner? He said, I don't think I am.
I don't think I am. What is that? What is that? And I began to explain it to
him and he said, Well, I don't say bad words. We're liars. That's what we are. Made sin. That's what Scripture
said. David said, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my
mother conceive me. Behold, thou desires truth in
the inward part, in the hidden part. That's where God desires
truth. We can't make truth there. When we're separated from God
and sin from the womb, it says the wicked are estranged from
the womb and go forth speaking lies because that's what we are,
made sin. So see, this one couldn't be
born of a man. He couldn't be born of a man
or he would be what you and I are, sin. He had to be born of God. born of the Holy Ghost, not of
a man. He is a man, but he's God. The
angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come
upon thee, and the power of the high shall overshadow thee. Therefore
also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called
the Son of God. That holy thing, holy thing. Our text says, Butter and honey
shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil and choose
the good. When he was born, Scripture says he grew in wisdom and stature,
just like every one of you do. And the grace of God was upon
him. And he said, I delight to do thy will, O God. Thy law is
within my heart. And he wasn't saying that like
me. And you say, me and you, if me and you made that statement,
we'd be lying. We'd be trying to fool somebody,
ourselves and God included. He could say that and mean it.
Because that's what He was inside and out. Inside and out. Obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross. Perfect in nature. And therefore
everything He said, everything He thought, everything He did
was holy and perfect. And because He knew no sin, He
was spotless, perfect. He fulfilled God's law. He walked
before God's law and honored and magnified God's law, not
by striving to obey it and keep it, He never was an impure thought. It was just who He is to fulfill
it, to obey it. And then because He is that way,
then He could take the sin of His people and be made sin for
them and put away their sin. Because He's perfect. He's holy.
He could do that. Scripture says, he said, in burnt
offerings and sacrifices for sin, you had no pleasure in those
things. All down through the volume of the book we read about
all the offerings and sacrifices and all the things God did. God
gave all those things to teach us to teach his people, brethren,
you can't do these things. You need somebody else to come
and do this for you. And he did it in such a way that
it shuts our mouths if we honestly, if he gives us some light to
see it, it shuts our mouth to know we can't do it. We can't
do it. I've given you that illustration
of He had the law of circumcision. When a child's eight days old,
you circumcise that male child. And then there's the law of the
Sabbath. You can do no work on the Sabbath. What in the world
are you going to do when your son's birthday falls on the Sabbath?
The eighth day falls on the Sabbath. How are you going to keep that
law? By Him who is our circumcision without hands, by Him who is
our Sabbath, He keeps it. He keeps it perfectly. They used
to shut our mouths. It wasn't given to do anything
but that. Now he came to do away with the first and establish
the second and by his one offering he sanctified his people because
he's holy. So God's got to give this sign. He gave, He gave His only begotten
Son, not because we wanted Him to, not because we desired Him
or loved Him or wanted Him, He did it. That's the first thing
we saw. Secondly, the sign is, this is God. It tells us that
we're absolutely sin and we can't do anything to save ourselves.
We messed up in the womb. That's where we messed up. That's
how bad we need this one. This one's completely other than
what we are. That's what holy means. Other
than. He's other than what we are. From the womb to the tomb. From the womb to the cross to
the tomb. He's other than what we are.
Completely. Alright, here's the third thing.
He's the firstborn son of God. Now, I'm going to read the Scripture
to you here. It says, Behold, a virgin shall
conceive and bear a son. Here's the third thing. Now,
throughout the Scripture, firstborn doesn't mean a whole lot to us.
because we don't really understand what that entails. But let me
tell you what God's government of things. His book He gave and
how He laid out the firstborn and taught His people the importance
of the firstborn. Let me give you some indication
of it. Everything about it pointed to Christ and declared Christ
to be the firstborn. Everything about it pointed to
Christ and declared He's the firstborn. And I'll give you
an example. The night his children were in Egypt, they're in bondage. They can't free themselves. They
can't do anything. They can't get out from under
their taskmasters. They cannot free themselves from
bondage. That's you and me by nature.
And he passed through Egypt that night. And when he passed through
Egypt that night, all the firstborn, beasts and children, all the
firstborn were slain. when God passed through Egypt
that night. All of them were. Even in the
house of Israel, His children, all of them were, but the difference
was the firstborn in the house of
Israel were spared, and their beasts were spared, their firstborn
beasts, because God provided His firstborn in type. He provided His firstborn son
His Passover lamb to die for them so that they could go free. That's what was pictured in that
Passover lamb. It's not just a Passover lamb,
it's also the firstborn son is pictured there in that lamb.
And so because God provided in type, He provided the firstborn
son and He provided the lamb in that firstborn son. They were
redeemed, bought out from under bondage, freed from bondage,
and went out of Israel free. While everybody else was howling
and screaming in misery, they went out free. You know, we like
to glory in our children. I like to show pictures of my
kids. I want everybody to see my kids, talk about my kids,
and I want to hear good things said about my kids. So do your
mamas and daddies about you. Nobody more so than God the Father.
He sent Isaiah here in our text to Ahaz in the midst of a international
political hotbed, a meltdown between countries. And he didn't
send him with a message on how to reform himself and how he
ought to get in a local church and things he ought to be doing
to make things better. He sent him with the sign, Christ the
Lord. He said, this is the only way
you're going to be saved. And the people. That's it. He sent
Him with a sign. So after delivering Israel from
Egypt, after getting them, bringing them out of Egypt, God said,
now you're going to tell all your generations from here on
out, you're going to tell them about My firstborn son, the Lamb
I provided from here on out. And He said, I'm going to give
you two things you're going to do from here on out. Turn to
Exodus 13 with me. The first thing was the Passover. We know that. They observed the
Passover. They took a lamb, they did all the things they did the
night they were there, and Scripture tells us, and that Passover is
Christ. That's who that Passover lamb
typified. But that wasn't all that took
place that night. Something else took place that
night, and God gave another word for them to go forth and set
forth throughout their generations. And here it is in Exodus 13.
The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Sanctify unto me all the firstborn,
whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, of man
and of beast. It's mine. It's mine. Now, they were to slay the firstborn
of beast and they were to redeem the firstborn of their children
with the pure shekel of the sanctuary, with money, redeemed, bought,
purchased. Verse 14, He said, And it shall
be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is
this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the
Lord brought us out from Egypt from the house of bondage. And
it came to pass when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that
the Lord slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the
firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast. Therefore I sacrifice
to the Lord all that openeth the matrix being males, but all
the firstborn of my children I redeem. All the beasts I kill
them, and all my children, I redeem them, or I redeem them with a
lamb, the beast, and I redeem my children with this shekel
of the sanctuary. Now look what he says, verse
16, and it should be for a token, a sign. This is the sign, this
is the gospel to you, because you need to hear this over and
over and over and over, the Lord told them, or you will forget
it. If you don't hear this message over and over and over, you'll
forget what this means. You've got to hear it over and
over. Tell one another over and over what this means. And He
says, It will be upon your hand and for frontlets between your
eyes, for by the strength of hand the Lord brought us forth
out of Egypt. Now, what does that mean? What
does it mean God gave His firstborn Son, who
is the Passover Lamb, the Lamb. And because Christ is the firstborn,
and all those given to Christ Jesus are His firstborn, then
God saves. all his children, his elect,
his firstborn in Christ who is the firstborn. And he does it
because the firstborn has to lay down his life. That's why
he said, now when you separate these firstborn animals and these
firstborn children, you tell everybody, Here's why I'm doing
it. Christ the firstborn is coming.
Christ the firstborn Son of God is coming, and He's the Lamb,
and He's the one wherein we're going to be saved. Now, just
like with all the rest of the law, just like with everything
else God gave in the law, they never, nobody ever fulfilled
this law. You know why they never did?
Because no one ever truly opened the womb. No child ever opened the womb. Even though they were born first
in order from their brothers and sisters, none of those children
ever really opened the womb. The womb is opened at conception,
not at birth. But the firstborn son of God
fulfilled this law. That's what Isaiah 7.14 is saying. Behold, a virgin shall conceive. That's the first part of the
sign. But here's the second part of it. And behold, a virgin shall
give birth to a son. He's the firstborn. And all His
children are firstborn in Him. That's what God was... He said,
you preach this gospel over and over and over throughout your
generations. Say, this is how we're redeemed.
In the firstborn. In the firstborn. Now, what's
the significance of the firstborn? We turn over to Genesis 49. Genesis
49. What's the significance of the
firstborn? The firstborn son is holy. separated
unto God. He's the one to whom the Father
entrusts His house and all His brethren. He has the birthright. He receives the inheritance and
all the blessing from His Father and all the glory and honor and
praise from His brethren. So you see, there's something
to be in the firstborn child. The law of the firstborn stated
this. It had great significance. Listen
to this, Genesis 49.3. Of Jacob's sons, Reuben was technically
the one that was born first in order of time, but he wasn't
the one who got the birthright because he sinned against his
father Jacob. But what Jacob says about Reuben
is all the honor and glory that goes to the firstborn. Listen,
to Christ the firstborn. He said, Reuben, thou art my
firstborn, my might. You're my might. and the beginning. You're the beginning of my strength.
You're the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power. That's who Christ is, the firstborn. Now Judah got the birthright.
The other son, the birthright was conferred to him. Now look
down at verse 8. This is what is also said of Christ, the firstborn. Judah, thou art he. This is the
tribe through whom Christ actually came. Judah, thou art he whom
thy brethren shall praise. Thy hand shall be in the neck
of thine enemies. You're going to save your brethren
and honor your father's house by destroying your enemies. Thy
father's children shall bow down before thee. He says in verse
9, Judah is a lion's whelp. He's my son. Unto him shall the
gathering of the people be. Binding his foal unto the vine
and his ass's coat unto the choice vine. He washed his garments
in wine, his clothes in the blood of grapes. His eyes shall be
red with wine and his teeth white with milk. He's the firstborn. He's the might, He's the beginning,
He's the excellency of dignity, the excellency of power. I couldn't
read that without helping to think, this is the sign, this
is how God's gonna save, this is the sign. I couldn't help
reading that without looking up that word excellency. And
remember Paul said, I didn't come to you with excellency of
speech, of man's wisdom, but that your faith might stand in
the power, the excellency of the power of God. That's a person. That's a person. That's why I
don't come trying to muddle the thing. I come just telling you
this is because it's the dignity is his to do this. The honor
is the firstborn son's to do this. I can't take that right
to myself. He's the firstborn. He came and
rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, on a lowly ass's coat, a root
out of dry ground that came up. Nobody wanted to have anything
to do with Him. He's not esteemed by anybody
as anything, and He comes riding in there unnoticed, and He ties
His coat to the choice vine, and He goes to the cross, and
He takes the sin of His people upon Himself, and God pours out
His wrath on Him, and He washes His garments in wine, in blood. And He, all the while, was perfectly
faithful, perfectly holy. His teeth were set white, pure
as milk. He's the Holy One. And all His
children, because of what He's done, they're coming to Him. I get this picture of Him coming
in on that holy ass's coat, you know, and from this, and I know
there's much more to it than this, but tying up that coat,
going to the cross, Everybody thinks he's gone, but when they
see him the next time, he's coming like they thought he was coming
the first time. He's coming on a mighty stag, on a mighty stage,
arrayed in splendor and glory. That's this one. He's the firstborn.
I want to look at it more next time, but let me just say this.
Jesus, the firstborn Son of God, and His brethren are so inseparably
one that God the Father calls His Son His firstborn, and He
calls His elect His firstborn. He calls them both by the same
name. His firstborn. My firstborn. What He did, He's holy unto the
Lord, Those that have been chosen and called of God in Him are
holy unto the Lord. He's the glory of the Father.
Those that have been justified in the firstborn are the glory
of the Father. That's right. Every blessing
now, get this too now, with the firstborn also comes not only
the right to all the government of the house and everything that
goes, but all the inheritance and all the blessing belongs
to the firstborn. I want you to turn to Romans
8. Romans 8. I looked at the time. Alright,
Romans 8. I'll be through. I've got a couple
more things I want you to see. Romans 8. Wherever you find mention
of Christ the firstborn, you're going to find mention of the
inheritance. You'll find mention of the inheritance.
You know, Romans chapter 8, the purpose of the letter at that
point in Romans chapter 8 is to persuade the brethren to have
full assurance not to live after the flesh, but to walk after
the Spirit, to trust Christ, to follow after Him. Because
we don't owe anything to the flesh. The flesh didn't help
us in any regard. Our firstborn, our elder brother
is the one who's done it. We're holding on to Him. And
he says this in verse 16, The Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God, and if children,
then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if so
be that we suffer with him. We shall also be glorified together."
He says God's going to work everything for the good of them that he's
called. Called what? Sons of God. Firstborn. In the firstborn.
It's going to work according to purpose. Verse 29. For whom
He did foreknow. All in this one simultaneous
choosing of His people. He blessed us with all spiritual
blessings. He foreknew us. He predestinated us. He called
us. He justified us. He glorified us. It's not like
He did one thing, then waited and did another thing, then waited
and did another thing. He did it when He chose us in the firstborn. Everything the firstborn is,
we are in Him. And he says, and because of this,
now this is the one who's come into this place, this is the
one that's put away your sin. Now look down at verse, why did
he do all that? That he might be the firstborn
among many brethren. You see that? He's the firstborn.
Now what's the result? Verse 31. What shall we say then
to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not His own Son,
His firstborn Son. He didn't spare His firstborn
Son to deliver us. How shall He not also, just as
He's given the whole inheritance to His firstborn, Christ the
Lord, how shall He not with Him make us joint heirs with Him,
give us everything He's given to the Son? What did Isaiah 53
say? He will conquer, He will take
the spoils and He'll divide the spoils with the strong. The firstborn
will. That's who this is. Okay. Colossians
3, you don't have to turn there, but I'm sorry, Colossians 1,
go there and read that too at some point. He's the image of
the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. He's the head
of the body. He's the beginning. He's the
firstborn from the dead, that in all He might have the preeminence.
That's the significance of this thing. He's saying, Ahaz, you
want to know how you're going to be saved? It's going to be
this way. God's going to have to give His
Son. And this man who's coming that's
going to save is God. He is God. And a matter of fact,
he's the firstborn. He's the firstborn. Adam's not. He's the firstborn. He's the
firstborn. That's what Luke 1.32 says. He
shall be great. You know what the word means?
Elder. Firstborn. And shall be called
the Son of the Highest. Firstborn Son of the Highest.
and the Lord shall give unto him the inheritance. All of it. And it's because the government's
on his shoulder, and of the increase of his government, there's no
end. To order it, establish it in righteousness and holiness
and truth, that's who this one is. So, the Lord's gotta give
you the sign. He's gotta give his son to do
this. Jesus is God the son, the God man. Behold, a virgin shall
conceive, born of the Holy Spirit. Lo, a body hast thou prepared
me to do thy will. He's the firstborn, the beginning,
the firstborn of every creature, firstborn from the dead, that
in all things he might have the preeminence. He's the head. The
government's on his shoulder. It ain't on mine. It's not on
yours. It's on his shoulder, the government
of everything. And here's the last thing. Everybody
he's putting his son, they're going to bow to him and trust
him and call him Lord. They're going to call him who
he is. They're not going to call him Jesus. They're going to call
him Lord. Now, how do you do that? Verse
14 says, Isaiah 7, 14, it says, and thou, let me read it to you,
the last thing, she's going to, This virgin's gonna conceive,
this virgin's gonna bear a son, and the word is, and thou, O
virgin, this virgin, we're still talking about this one, she's
gonna call his name Emmanuel. Now, Matthew 121, you still got
your place there, Matthew 121? It says there she's gonna bring
forth a son, she's gonna call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sin. And all this was done that it
might be fulfilled what was spoken of the Lord by the prophets,
saying a virgin shall be with child, she'll bring forth a son.
Now watch this though. And they shall call his name
Immanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. Now in Isaiah
7 it says the virgin's going to call him that. Here it says
they're going to call him that. If we find out everything in
Isaiah 7 specifically talking about Mary, if we can find out
how this happened for Mary, we find out how the they come to
do this and what they do, what they say. Alright? Luke chapter
1, and I'll be finished. Luke chapter 1. Here's how the
virgin, here's how all God's true virgins, this they here,
all His children that He saves are virgins. They're pure, undefiled,
separate, haven't been defiled by man, by the pollution, the
corruption of man, haven't been polluted, defiled. He presents
His church to Him a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle
or any such thing. Look at Luke 1.45. Let me set this up for you here
just a minute. Now God chose Mary. He chose
her. And He told her what He was going
to do. Who this one is. He said, I'm
giving a son. It's the son of the highest.
He said, this one is holy. This is God. He told her everything
I've been telling you here tonight. He told her all those things.
And He said now, Elizabeth, your cousin, she's six months pregnant
with one that's called, named John the Baptist, he's the forerunner
that's gonna come along to declare this one named Jesus. Before
anybody else, he's coming along to declare it. So Mary, after
she hears these things, she takes off up to the hill country, where
cousin Elizabeth lived, and she ran up there, and when she ran
in the house, where cousin Elizabeth was, at the salutation, The baby,
John the Baptist, jumped in her womb, and the Holy Ghost filled
Elizabeth, and Elizabeth began to speak with a loud voice and
preach to her. She heard the gospel from John
the Baptist through Elizabeth. And verse 45, this is what he
said. Well, verse 42, Blessed art thou
among women, Blessed is the fruit of thy womb. That's why you're
blessed. You're chosen of God. You're chosen of God. Christ
has been formed in you. That's what it is to know who
Christ is. He's got to be formed in you.
In spirit. He's got to take up residence
in the soul. Verse 45. And blessed she that
believed The interpretation is, blessed is she which believe
that there shall be a performance of those things which were told
her from the Lord. You believe the sign. You believe
the sign. You believe the gospel. You believe
the Lord's Word to you. He said to her, now here's how
she called his name Emmanuel. She never said it verbally, that
I can find, and nobody else in here. I never see anywhere else
that his name's called Emmanuel. God, Emmanuel Jesus, God our
Savior with us. I never see anybody in scripture
calling him Emmanuel, but right here, watch this. Here's how
she does it, and here's how all his virgin does it. And Mary
said, My soul doth magnify the Lord. I'm just overwhelmed in
my soul with the Lord. With Jesus? She's talking about
the one in her belly. Now get that. She's bowing down
in worshiping the Lord in her belly. Just conceive. We're not talking about a nine-month-old
baby in the womb. We're talking about one just
conceived in the womb. And she says, my soul doth magnify
the Lord. My spirit hath rejoiced in God
my Savior. This is what Paul meant when
he said, no man can call him Lord but by the Holy Spirit. You can't do this. Your soul
can't magnify Him and your spirit can't rejoice that He's God,
my Savior. For He hath regarded the lowest
state of His handmaiden. For behold, from henceforth all
generations shall call Me blessed. She's saying what every sinner
said. This is how they all call Him Immanuel. They all say, from
henceforth forever. Just like I'm the only one that
this has ever happened to. They're going to call me blessed.
Not this world. There are other ones that are
saved this way. They're going to say, you've
been blessed. You've been blessed. He chose you. You're nobody.
He chose you. He did this for you. For he that's
mighty hath done to me great things, and holy is his name. His mercy is on them that fear
him from generation to generation. She knew something about this,
son. She said, I read about this. I read about what He's taught
me. I heard my grandma and grandpa and all of them telling me about
this, about how that night in Egypt when they came out of there,
God in type showed them, taught them, and He's gonna save through
Christ Jesus, His firstborn, who's the Lamb of God, who's
God with us, the Lamb. I heard about Isaac going to
Ahaz and telling him that there's going to be a virgin that's going
to conceive God's coming, and that He's going to be the firstborn
among many brethren. She said, I've heard all this.
He's done this from generation to generation. He's taught this
to His people from generation to generation. And now He has
showed strength with His arm. He's shown it to me. He scattered
the proud in the imagination of their hearts. Where's the proud tonight? He's put down the mighty from
their seats, exalted them of low degree. Nobody. He filled the hungry with good
things, and the rich He sent them away empty. He's helped
His servant Israel in remembrance of His mercy, as He spake to
our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever. This is what God's done. That's
how she called him Immanuel. That's exactly how she called
him Immanuel. Now that law of the firstborn said that once
the parents had that child, he's the firstborn child, then they
come to the priest with that child. And when they get there
to the priest with that child, that they redeem him with the
pure shekel of the sanctuary. price of redemption, money, bought
with a price. They redeem him with a sheikah
of sanctuary. And at the same time, they offer a sacrifice
for the sins. And if they were too poor, they
couldn't offer anything but some turtle doves. They're supposed
to bring a lamb, but if they were too poor and they didn't
have a lamb, God said they can bring some turtle doves, and
that'd be fine. Offer them. Well, when she came there to
that priest, and with that infant she was
holding after he was born, in her arms she held the high priest. She held the pure shekel of the
sanctuary. The Redeemer. She came there with nothing but
some turtle doves, but she had the lamb. She had the lamb, the
lamb. And though she looked like she
was poor and looked like she didn't have anything, She was partaker of the inheritance
of God the Father with His dearly beloved firstborn son. Everything
that belonged to him belonged to her. Everything. So see, you
can't always look on the outward appearance, can you? You can't
always look at the way things appear. Everybody else were scattered
in the imagination of their heart, worshiping God. worshipping God. And there she was, bowing to
him at his feet. Well, you know what the Lord
told, what Isaiah told Ahaz? This was his profound practical
application that he gave to Ahaz that day when he stood there
by that pool and talked to him. This was his word to him. Take
heed and be quiet. Stop running here and there,
being taught to stop and just be quiet. Be still. Don't be
fainthearted. Concerning all your enemies,
thus saith the Lord God, it shall not stand, neither shall it come
to pass. If you will not believe, surely
you shall not be established. Believing, though, you'll be
quiet, you won't be faint-hearted, you'll be settled, and you'll
trust Him who's delivered you from all your enemies. And if
you're a witness of Christ, then be a witness of Christ. Declare
His works. That's all Isaiah came talking
about. Christ, Christ, Christ. You know, we came to that pool
of Shiloham, Shiloham, Shiloha, called the waters of Shiloha
that go softly, just a gentle pool there where he came to with
this gospel. And God called that gospel the
waters of Shiloha because it just went forth peaceably. He
didn't come and try to make Ahaz do anything. You know when we're
going to have rest amongst ourselves and in this world and in our
own soul? When we stop trying to make ourselves
and others to do something. If you stop worrying about making,
most people that are worried about trying to make somebody
else do something, trying to do it because they can't make
their own self do anything. And they think, well, maybe I
can glory in somebody else's flesh. Just stop, as they say. Be quiet. Believe on the Lord. Quit trying to make folks do
stuff. God'll do it. He'll put down this whole nation
that's coming up against you. That pool where he taught him
that, that's all he said to him was just that gospel. And he
said, that's the water of Shiloh that goes south, that's the gospel.
You know what else happened at that same pool years before that? That's where David, when he was
dying, he said, you take Solomon and you take him down there to
the pool of Shiloh, that one who typified Christ, who's gonna
build the Lord's house all by himself without anybody else's
help. Take him down there and you anoint him right there at
that pool. And you know what else happened there? Years later,
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself came along and He found a blind
man, and He put some mud and things on his eyes, and He said,
Now, if you want to see, go to the pool of Shiloah and wash. And the blind man went and washed
there, and he came away seeing. This is where Christ is anointed.
King, high and lifted up. This is the Gospel through which
God's King is set forth, and this is the Word that you wash
in and bathe in, Christ Himself, and you come away seeing. And as you do that, and you're
holding up that Word, and you see the whole world, you do like
Ahaz and go, well, I'm just too holy to do that. I'm too concerned
about holiness to just be content with that sign, Isaiah. I'm sorry.
I've got to go make a confederacy with Assyria. Don't you see that
this thing is more practical than what you're making at Isaiah?
Don't you see that I'm the king and I've got to go to the king
of Assyria here and I'm going to try to align myself with him
so that I can get some help from him against Assyria and against
Israel and these other ones that are coming up. This thing is
much more practical than what you're saying Isaiah. When you
see others do that. Isaiah didn't get mad or glad
or sad, he just said, this is how you're going to be
saved. This is how it's going to happen. No other way. If you won't believe, you're
not going to be established. I don't care if you make alliances
with whatever king there is in this earth. You're not going
to be established. This is the king. This is the
firstborn. This is God, our salvation. This
is how you're going to be saved. So as you declare it and the
whole world goes after whatever, Take heed, be quiet, fear not,
neither be fainthearted. Thus said the Lord God, it shall
not stand, neither shall it come to pass. Believe him, you'll
be established. It's real simple. It's real simple. But it's profoundly difficult
for a sinner. Only by God's grace. Only by
God's grace.