Now, the Holy Spirit declares
plainly that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved. But calling on the name of the
Lord involves much more than just calling out His name. If we're going to call on Him,
we have to believe on Him. And if we're going to believe
on Him, it means we cast all our care on Him. We're persuaded
convinced that He alone is able to save us completely, that He
is all salvation. And believing on Him is much
more than just making a public profession of Christ. Believing
on Him is truly being persuaded of who He is and what He is able
to do. And the only way we can believe
on Him is if we hear of Him and hear who He really is, who God
says He is. Not who men say He is, who God
says He is. The scripture says, how should
they call on him in whom they've not believed and how should they
believe in him of whom they've not heard? So if we're gonna
hear of Christ, we're gonna know him, we're gonna believe on him,
we gotta know who he is, we gotta know what he did, we gotta know
where he is now and what he's doing now, so we can believe
on him. Now I want to talk to you first
about who is Christ Jesus, who is he? Verse 6 here in Isaiah
9 says, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. The Lord Jesus Christ is all
God and He's all man. He's not part God and part man.
He's all God, He's all man. He's the God-man, the God-man. It says here, Unto us a child
is born. This speaks of his humanity.
He's a man. Those whom God elected unto salvation
and his son are men. God made the first representative,
Adam, a man because before he ever made Adam, God purposed
that the second representative would be man. As by one man's
disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one man
shall many be made righteous. Turn over to Hebrews chapter
5. Hold your place here in Isaiah 9 and turn over to Hebrews chapter
5. Now Christ is our High Priest. And as the High Priest, He is
a man taken from among men for men. That's what a high priest
is. And he has a two-fold responsibility,
the high priest does. The high priest under the old
covenant was patterned after Christ, our high priest. He's
always been our high priest. He's the priest after the order
of Melchizedek, having neither beginning of days nor end of
days. He's always been the high priest of his people since God
gave him a people. But in time He came, and we're
talking about His incarnation here. And as a high priest, look
at Hebrews 5.1. Two things every high priest
had a responsibility for. First, it was to make reconciliation
to God for the sins of his brethren. Look in verse one. Every high
priest taken from among men is ordained for men. You see that? Every high priest is taken from
men and he's ordained for men in things pertaining to God that
he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. Now, his brethren were
men, so he became a man. He came to lay down his life
as a sacrifice for the sin of his people. And therefore, he
took upon him humanity that he might be able to die, to lay
down that life. He would have to die, therefore
he assumed this nature to be able to suffer death. The second
responsibility of a high priest is to comfort his brethren. Now
look at verse 2, Hebrews 5, 2. Who can have compassion on the
ignorant and on them that are out of the way. That's who his
brethren are. That's where he finds them, ignorant
and out of the way. for that he can have compassion,
for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. And by reason
hereof, he ought as for the people, so also for himself to offer
for sins. Now look at verse four. And no
man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God,
as was Aaron. Aaron was a type of the, or he
was a high priest, but he was a type of Christ. Now look at
verse five. So also Christ glorified not himself to be made a high
priest, but he that said unto him, thou art my son, today I
have begotten thee. So, now back to Hebrews two. I wanna show you here, put this
all together now. So he came because the elect
given to him were men. He came that he might suffer
death for them, that He might have a body to lay down for them,
that He might be one who knew their infirmities, knows everything
about them, what we suffer, so that He's able to comfort them
that suffer. Now look at this all together,
verse Hebrews 2.14, For as much then as the children are partakers
of flesh and blood, He likewise, he also himself likewise took
part of the same, that through death he might destroy him who
had the power of death, that is, the devil. That's what Sarah
was just talking to us about. And deliver them who through
fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
For verily he took not on him the nature of angels. His seed,
his children that were given to him weren't angels. He didn't
take on him the nature of angels. But he took on him the seed of
Abraham, the nature of Abraham's children. Wherefore, in all things
it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might
be a merciful and faithful high priest, first of all, in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people, and
secondly, for in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted,
he is able to comfort them that are tempted." Are you a child? You see here that it says unto
us, a child is born. Are you a child? You're a child
right now. You know what? The King of glory
of heaven and earth was a child. Are you a young adult? You're a young adult. This one
went through that phase of life. He was a young adult. Are you
an adult? He was an adult. He walked. He
grew in wisdom and stature as a man. So anything that you think,
well, he don't know me and know what I'm going through. Yes,
he does. Whatever phase of life you're in, whatever stage of
life you're in, he'd been there. He knows. He's a man, flesh and
blood, just like we are. He's a man. Then, look here in
Isaiah 9, 6 now, it says, unto us a son is given. This declares
the deity of Christ and the gift of God in giving this one. He's a man. This one born a child
is the son of God. The son of God was not born,
but given. This one was not born, but given.
Salvation's a gift. Can't be earned. It's a gift. And this gift's in God's Son.
In this was manifested the love of God toward us. Because God sent His only begotten
Son into the world. God sent His only begotten Son
into the world that we might live through Him. Now herein
is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent
His Son to be satisfaction for our sins. So Jesus Christ is
both man and God, all man and all God. His obedience to the
law could not have had eternal saving efficacy if he hadn't
have been the infinite God. A man had to die to satisfy eternal
justice because men sin, but his death would not have been
satisfaction to God, eternal satisfaction to God had he not
been God. infinite God. So, He's God in
man. He accomplished eternal redemption.
He is eternal life. His salvation is eternal salvation. Salvation, eternal life, eternal
redemption is the gift of God in His Son, the man Christ Jesus. This is the record. God has given
to us eternal life and this life is in His Son. That's plain,
isn't it? That's simple. It's one place.
It's in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life,
and he that hath not the Son hath not life. Who is Christ
Jesus? He's God. He's man. He's the
God-man. All God, all man. He's life eternal. Now, here's the second thing.
What did Christ come to do? What did He come to do? Verse
6 here says, The next phrase says, and the government shall
be upon his shoulder. Now turn to Romans chapter 3
with me. Romans chapter 3. Now at the
time that Isaiah was delivering this prophecy, the government
in Israel was in shambles. The ten and a half tribes had
departed and gone into idolatry. Judah was having, Ahaz was the
king of Judah, and he was making confederacy with the Assyrians,
and they were just in shambles. They had no king. They had nobody
who had the reins and who was in control and who was running
the show. To their natural eyes, they didn't. The government is upon the shoulder
of Christ. Christ came, first of all, first
and foremost, the glory of God is the first thing in all things. In everything God does, his glory
is first and foremost in everything he does. Christ Jesus came to
lay down his life at Calvary, being made sin for his people,
to declare the righteousness of God. Now, the government of
the righteousness of God, this government of declaring God just
and the justifier fell upon the shoulder of Christ. That's why
He came. That's the first way this government
was on His shoulder. Look at verse 21, Romans 3, 21. I've told you this before, but
I'm going to make this point again. You need to get this.
I know you're using a new King James Version and it's going
to say faith in Christ. Listen to me now. Your faith
in Christ does not manifest the righteousness of God. Christ
faithfulness on behalf of his people before God manifest the
righteousness of God. If you've got a pencil, you can
change that from end to of because it's it's a Fast difference. It makes your righteousness to
be in you rather than in Christ. Now look here, Romans 3.21, Now
the righteousness of God without the law is manifested. That means
without you and me, apart from us, being witnessed by the law
and the prophets. This is what the law and the
prophets declared throughout the Old Testament. even the righteousness
of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon
all them that believe." God was in Christ reconciling the world
unto himself. And it's called the world because
his elect were Jew and Gentile. They were a people that would
be saved out of every nation, country, tongue, and tribe under
heaven. He was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. He declared
in the way that he justified his people, he declared that
he will only save in righteousness. That's what God declared at Calvary's
cross. He will only save in righteousness.
And he did so, he declared it by making him sin for his elect,
this one who knew no sin. He made him sin for us that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him. the wrath of God
toward all the transgressions of all his elect throughout all
time, the eternal, infinite weight of justice and mercy fell on
the shoulder of Jesus Christ alone. He tread the winepress of God's
fury alone. There was none to help him. None
to help him. And when he cried out, My God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? God is of two pure eyes to
behold iniquity. God said, if you clear the guilty,
or if you punish the innocent, It's the same to me, God said. It's unrighteousness. He hates
an unjust weight. He hates an unfair balance. He
had, in order to pour out His wrath on Christ Jesus in the
place of sinners, He had to make His Son sin. In order to pour
out wrath on His Son, His Son had to be made sin. And His Son
was made sin for us and God justly poured out His wrath on His Son
instead of on His people. He justly did that. And because
God is in Christ, reconciling His people unto Himself, because
Christ satisfied God, made complete, total satisfaction. What's the
wages of sin? Death. He died. And when he died,
his people died in him. The law said, got nothing else
to say to them. They're innocent. They're free,
completely free. And he cried out, it's finished
from the cross. Now God is absolutely just to
have mercy on everyone for whom Christ died. That's the government. By setting Christ forth in this
manner, lifting him up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, You read that in John 3, when the Lord Jesus Christ
said, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
so must the Son of Man be lifted up. And then in John 3, verse
16, He said, for God so loved the world. You know what the
meaning there is? In this manner is how God loves. How? Holy, righteous love. His Son had to be lifted up,
made sin for His people, bear the wrath of God so that God
remain just, and then God shows mercy to his people and he's
just to do so. That's how God loves. He don't
love outside of Christ. He don't love outside of righteousness. He does not love outside of holiness. He loves with a holy, righteous
love. His mercy's righteous mercy.
He's just and he's the justifier. This government was upon his
shoulder. That's why when we read in Hebrews
1, it says, God spoke to us in a lot of different ways in times
past, but in these last days, when Christ came, the last days
started and he spoke to us in his son. And what'd he say? He said, this is the brightness
of my glory. This is the express image of
my person. This one right here is upholding
all things by the word of his power. And when He had by Himself
purged our sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty
on high. This is the government that was
on His shoulder. And then, thirdly, let me ask you this
now. Where is Christ now and what's He doing now? Where is
He now and what's He doing now? Well, God the Father raised Him
from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in heavenly
places. And Christ Jesus is far above
all principality and all power and all might and dominion and
every name that's named. Not only in this world, but also
in the world to come. He's preeminent. And God the
Father put all things under His feet. Everything. So right now,
here's another way the government's on His shoulder. Right now, The
government of his church is on his shoulder. Christ Jesus is
the head over all things to the church. The church is his body. If you had all power, if you
had all power, as he has all power, you know
how you protect your body right now? Not having any power at
all, being a weak, frail little thing that you are. You know
how much you protect your body right now? I'm talking about
your body. What if you had all power? Nothing, no harm would come to
your body, would it? No trouble could happen to your
body unless you permitted it. You would make sure that your
body was safe and secure. Well, the church, those that
he redeemed, those that he calls out, are his body. And they're
his fullness. If one is not brought in, his
body won't be complete. It's his fullness. And he fills
all in all. That means Christ is everything. That means the government of
our well-being is totally, completely all of Christ. Completely. He's the King that's sending
forth messengers with His gospel in truth and in spirit. He's
the King that's sending forth the Holy Spirit who is taking
up dominion in the hearts of His people. He rules in the heart
of every believer. Christ does, through the Holy
Spirit, and makes every believer willingly submit to Him. Some
of you sitting here may not know Him. You may not care to know
Him. You may think what I'm saying
is foolishness, do you? You know why you do? Because
He hasn't taken over dominion of you. He's left you alone.
You're totally left alone. And unless He takes dominion
of you, you can't come to Him. You can't call on Him. You can't
bow to Him. In fact, you can't bat your eye
or take your next breath. That's who God is. That's who
Christ is. You know what that means? You
need to fall on your face and ask mercy from him. That's what
you need to do. You need to come to him and beg
mercy from him because you're not going to have it any other
way. You're going to have to come to him and when he says
to you, it's not fit to give the children's bread to dogs,
you're going to have to take your place as a dog. You're going
to have to say, yes, Lord. Even the dogs get a crumb from
the Master's table. He don't save any other way.
This is the King of Glory. When we read, sin shall not have
dominion over you because you're not under the law, but under
grace, it means you're not under the law. The believer is not
under the law. He's under the gracious rule
of Christ Jesus the Lord who rules in the inner man. You were
the servants of sin unto death, but now you're the servants of
righteousness. Whose righteousness? Is that
just a thing? That's a person. The Lord our
righteousness. His people are servants of the
Lord our righteousness, and you have your fruit unto holiness
in the end everlasting life. And then right now from heaven's
glory, The government of the universe and the whole world
is on his shoulder. That's what he's doing right
now. He's ruling all things. Everything is in his hand. Before
he left, before he ascended to the Father, he told his disciples,
all power, all power, where? In heaven and in earth. All power
is given unto me. in heaven and in earth. Turn
over to Colossians chapter 1. How far can we take that? How
far can we say that the government is on his shoulders and right
now he's ruling and reigning just as fully and freely as he
pleases? How far can we take that? Look
at Colossians chapter 1. Look at verse 16. were all things created that
are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by Him
and for Him, and He's before all things, and by Him all things
consist. Right now, he upholds all things
by the word of his power, and he's the head of the body of
the church, this one who is the beginning, the firstborn from
the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence,
for it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. Now what does that mean for the
believer? What does that mean for the person who has cast all
their care on Christ by his grace? It means that our king subdues
all our enemies. It means our king protects our
persons and our properties. It means our king protects our
rights and our liberties as sons of God. It means he supplies
us with everything necessary for our well-being. You unsure about your nation's
government right now? Don't be, because the government's
on his shoulder. You're unsure about this world
and the politics of this world? Don't be. The government's on
his shoulder. You're unsure about your inability,
your frailness, and your weakness to managing your own homes? Don't
be. The government's on his shoulder.
It's on His shoulder. Don't let men entice you. Don't
let men turn you away to the rudiments of this world to tell
you that there's something else besides Christ Jesus. You've
got to look somewhere else. Now there's something else than
Christ Jesus. That's philosophy and vain deceit. In Him all fullness dwells. It pleased God for it to be so.
And if it pleases God, you need to camp out right where it pleases
God, in His Son. All fullness dwells in His Son.
Who's going to separate us from the love of Christ? Nothing.
You know what Revelation says? I saw this today, and I put this
in at the last minute. It says in Revelation 19.12,
on His head are many crowns. Because He's the King over everything.
He's the king over everything. The government's on his shoulder.
That's what he's doing. That's what he came to do. That's
what he accomplished. That's what he's doing now. Now,
I want to ask you something. Have you called on his name? This one's name? This one's all
together than the Jesus this world declares. This Jesus saves. Look back there at Isaiah 9,
6, and I'm going to go through this just real quickly and tell
you who his name is. His name should be called Wonderful
Counselor. I think, I think that the comma
shouldn't be there. I think this, his name should
be called Wonderful Counselor. In Isaiah 28, 29, he's called
wonderful in counsel and excellent in working. What it amounts to
is this, he is the wonderful angel of the counsel of the triune
God. That's who he is. He, all the
promises of God, the triune God in the counsel and covenant of
grace before eternity, everything promised to his people, all the
glory that was promised is in him. It's yes. And it's amen
to God's glory. Every bit of it. He's the sinner's
advocate. That's something else this word
counselor has a meaning to. He's our advocate. If any man
sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Christ Jesus, the
righteous. Now, is this the name you've
called on? Wonderful counselor. This one who all promises are
not dependent on you whatsoever. They're totally lock, stock and
barrel wrapped up in this wonderful counselor. If you haven't, call
on him now. Call on him. Look here in verse
six. His name shall be called the
Mighty God. Unto the Son, God said, Thy throne,
O God, is forever and ever. He's mighty to call His people,
and He's mighty to hear His people when they call. He's mighty to
create a center anew in righteousness and true holiness, and He's mighty
to teach us and to lead us in the way of truth. He's mighty
to preserve, He's mighty to bring you to glory into His presence.
For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead. I can't even begin to think of
the fullness of the Godhead. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. All the fullness of the Godhead
dwells in Christ Jesus, the Godman, bodily, in a body, in a human
body, in a body just like ours. He's the head of all principality
and power, the mighty God. And those who trust him, if you
trust this one, you're completing it. There's nothing else that needs
to be added to completion. Is this the one you've trusted?
Or are you still thinking that there's something else necessary
for you to do, for you to be complete? You're complete in Him. That's
what Colossians tells us. You're complete in Him. Isaiah
9, 6 says, His name shall be called the everlasting Father.
Now remember, Isaiah's not talking about, Isaiah's talking about
His incarnate, this incarnate Christ Jesus is who he's talking
about. He's the everlasting Father. The mediator, the surety, the
redeemer of His people. He's been the Father over His
own house for everlasting. That's what Hebrews 3 says, he's
a father over his own house, whose house we are if we hold
fast the beginning of our faith firm into the end. Now, the father
is a life giver. The father's the life giver.
The father is the provider of his children. Now, our first
father, Adam, All those that he was the father
of, who is that? All mankind without exception.
The one he, once he was the father of, died when he broke the law. But in our second father, Christ
Jesus, all whom he represented, we don't know how many that is.
It's a multitude no man can number, but it's not all mankind. Romans
5 tells us, Christ is the figure of Adam, he's the type of Adam,
but here's where it differs. It's alike in representation.
But all whom Adam represented died. All whom Christ represented
shall live. All whom he represented. For
as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
When he died, they died. When he obeyed the law, they
obeyed it. When He died, they died. When He rose, they rose
victorious to the right hand. And then this Father sends forth
the Spirit. He sends forth the Word in a
setting just like this tonight. When you come in and you just
think it's just another weeknight and it's just another night to
come in and hear the gospel and you sit down and there's been
many a person that thought, you know, I've heard everything He's
saying. I know everything He's saying. I believe, I made my
profession years ago, I believe in. And in just a setting like
this, the everlasting Father gives life. And you realize this
is not a doctrine, it's a person. Salvation's a person. Born of
his seed, born of his spirit, made a partaker of the divine
nature. alive, eternally alive, made
to wear the name of the Father. His name shall be called the
Lord Our Righteousness. Then you go over a few chapters
and read, and this is the name wherewith she shall be called,
the Lord Our Righteousness. Everlasting Father, your Father
gave you His name, didn't He? My Father gave me my name. Our
Everlasting Father gives us His name. the Lord our righteousness. We're under his care. Your fathers
work every day to care for you. We're under his provision. He
puts the bread on our table, spiritually and temporally. And
we're going to possess his inheritance. The father leaves an inheritance
for his children. Those who have been born of the
Everlasting Father have been made joint heirs with Christ.
He's over His own house. Is this the one you called on?
If you haven't called on Him, call on Him. Look at verse 6,
His name shall be called the Prince of Peace. He plunged Himself
as the Captain of our salvation into the very teeth of the battle
and won peace through the blood of His cross. Speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem, crying to her that her warfare is accomplished.
It's accomplished, that her iniquities pardoned, she's received of the
Lord's hand double for all her sins. It's done. It's done. Therefore being justified, by
faith we have peace with God, because He justified us. Call on this one now, and I'll
tell you something about this one. With the Prince of Peace,
it just keeps getting better and better and better and better. Look at verse 7. Of the increase
of his government and peace there shall be no end. Upon the throne
of David and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish
it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. You know, the Lord of hosts is
so zealous over His name. He's so zealous over His name
that it pleased Him that all fullness should dwell, the glory
of His name should dwell in His Son, Christ Jesus, the God-man. And He's so zealous over His
name that He won't give His name to anybody but those for whom
He has honored His own name Himself. He not going to leave the honor
of his name in my hand or yours. If he gives you his name, it's
because he honored his own name on your behalf. And he's so zealous
for the honor and glory of his own name that he will not allow
one that he gave to Christ to go to perish, to pass out of
this life without being brought to Christ, to faith in Christ.
And he will not allow one that's been brought to faith in Christ
to perish in their sins and unbelief, to fall away. He won't allow
it because he's zealous for his name. Is this the name you've called
on? Whether you're a sinner who's never called on Him, or you're
a sinner who believes Him, call on Him now. Call on Him. We don't just call on Him and
then stop calling on Him. We call on Him and keep calling
on Him, keep calling on Him, keep calling on Him. We have
not a high priest which cannot be touched with a feeling of
our infirmities but was in all points tempted as we are yet
without sin. Let us therefore come boldly
with confidence unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need. I guarantee you if you
can come to him, if you can call on him, if you can cry out and
honestly cry to him and say, Lord, I need mercy. You know what you're going to
find? Mercy. Abundant, abundant mercy. Call on Him for this is what
He promises. This is what He promises. Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Amen.