Turn in your Bibles, if you would,
please, to Isaiah chapter 9. Isaiah chapter 9. I wanted to make reference back
to Hezekiah and Ahaz because it was out of that history, that
historical circumstance, that the prophecy of Isaiah came beginning
at chapter 7 of the book of Isaiah. And it continues on through the
book of Isaiah. If you look at chapter 7 and
verse 14, we looked at this last time, it says, the Lord himself
shall give you a sign. Ahaz refused to ask the Lord
for a sign, even though God told him to through the prophet Isaiah.
But here he says, the Lord himself will give you a sign, and here's
the sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and
shall call his name Immanuel, which is God with us. Now, Isaiah
was standing before Ahaz the king, and he was standing there
with his son Shear-Jashub, which is found in verse three, which
means a remnant shall return. So the prophecy that God would
send forth his son, who is named God with us, which is the Lord
Jesus Christ through the conception and the Virgin Mary. That prophecy
had to do in the historical context of preserving that remnant. And
that remnant, as we saw last week, were the people of God,
God's chosen people he determined to save by the Lord Jesus Christ.
And then, if you look over in chapter eight, there's a challenge
thrown down to all those who oppose this remnant. Again, this
is a consistent theme here. In chapter eight, verse nine,
it says, associate yourselves, O ye people, and you shall be
broken in pieces, and give ear, all ye of far countries, and
gird yourselves, and you shall be broken in pieces, gird yourselves,
and you shall be broken in pieces. Three times. Verse 10, take counsel
together, and it shall come to naught. Whatever you decide to
do is not going to be successful. Speak the word and it shall not
stand for God is with us. God is with us. There you have
it. The Lord Jesus Christ is God with us. And then he goes
on. He says in verse, well, I'll
read from verse 11. For the Lord spake thus to me
with a strong hand and instructed me that I should not walk in
the way of this people, saying, say ye not a confederacy to all
them to whom this people shall say a confederacy? Neither fear
ye their fear, nor be afraid. The Syrians and the 10 tribes
of Israel are coming against Judah, and the prophet Isaiah
is telling Ahaz, you should trust in the Lord. He refused. He was
an idolater, and all of his people were following in the idolatry
he had led them to. It was in their hearts, it was
their fault, but he led them in it. And so Isaiah is told,
don't say a confederacy to whom this people say a confederacy.
Don't build alliances with them, but fear the Lord. And he says
in verse 13, sanctify the Lord of hosts himself and let him
be your fear and let him be your dread. And he shall be, notice,
for a sanctuary. but for a stone of stumbling
and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, for
a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And
many among them shall stumble and fall and be broken and be
snared and be taken. Bind up the testimony and seal
the law among my disciples." See, there's a contrast here.
Some are going to be broken, some are going to fall, but others
are going to find the Lord who should be our fear. And by that,
what he means is, if you look at this historical context, Ahaz
trusted the idols of Syria. He trusted the idols of the Assyrians.
He trusted anyone who had power over him. And so he feared their
idols because they were able to overcome him. But here the
prophet is saying, sanctify the Lord of hosts. Who is the Lord
of hosts? the Lord God, Jesus Christ. He's the Lord of all the armies
of heaven. The hosts refer to the angelic hosts, the armies
of heaven, the holy servants of Christ for the heirs of salvation. In Hebrews chapter one and two,
it talks about that. So the Lord Jesus Christ is the
Lord of hosts. Let him be your fear. In other
words, the one you trust. Okay, it goes on. He says in
verse 17, notice, here's the response of the prophet, I will
wait upon the Lord that hides his face from the house of Jacob
and I will look for him. So he is resolved to trust in
God, even though destruction and affliction and captivity
and all these horrible things are coming upon this nation.
And he says this in prophecy. Now these are the words of the
Lord Jesus Christ spoken and fulfilled in Hebrews chapter
two. He said, behold, I and the children
whom the Lord has given me are for signs and wonders in Israel
from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in Mount Zion. All right,
so we see the context here then. Historically, it was the destruction
and the ruin of these people for their idolatry under the
wicked king Ahaz and other wicked kings. And out of that incomprehensible
sin against God, God's abundant grace is shown because he's going
to send a savior, God with us, and save the remnant out of that
nation, out of those people. And that one is the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so he says that he ought to be and will be the trust
of his people. Now in chapter nine, now that
we have that historical context and how it is given to us in
the New Testament scriptures fulfilled in Christ, he says,
nevertheless, The dimness shall not be such as was in her fixation. Now it's referring to the horrible
case that both the nation of Israel and the nation of Judah
were in because of the enemies God brought against them for
their idolatry. In the land of Israel, Zebulun
and Naphtali, two adjoining tribes around the Sea of Galilee, were
completely ruined. The people of that place were
taken captive, and they were poor people. They were people
of no reputation. Had nothing to say important
about that place. Notice what he says about that
place. Nevertheless, the dimness shall not be such as was in her
vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of
Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously
afflict her by the way of the sea beyond Jordan. Notice, in
Galilee of the nations. This place had Jews in it, but
it also had Gentiles in it, and it was outside of the boundary
of the River Jordan in the land which was connected to that wilderness
through which Israel came through all those 40 years. And God is
saying that land that had been in darkness because of their
spiritual blindness, because of their idolatry and because
of the destruction that came upon them, because of their enemies,
that people, those people in Galilee of the nations of the
Gentiles. Note verse 2, the people that
walked in darkness have seen a great light. They that dwell
in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light
shined. Thou hast multiplied the nation
and not increased the joy. They joy before Thee according
to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide
the spoil. For Thou hast broken the yoke of His burden and the
staff of His shoulder, the rod of His oppressor, as in the days
of Midian. For every battle of the warrior
is with confused noise and garments rolled in blood, but this shall
be. with burning and fuel of fire. So all of this destruction
and all of this horrible stuff that came upon that land, and
yet here's what God promises, for unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given, and the
government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall
be called Wonderful. Counselor, the mighty God, the
everlasting father, the prince of peace, 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. And if you
read in Matthew, The book of Matthew, chapter 4, you'll see
that was fulfilled. This talking about the people
that sat in darkness seeing a great light was fulfilled when the
Lord Jesus Christ came to that place in Galilee, left Nazareth,
After the death of John the Baptist and he came to Galilee and he
preached the gospel there, he told them, he said, I am anointed
by God to preach the gospel to the poor, to set the captives
free at liberty, to declare the acceptable year of the Lord,
the year of jubilee in the Lord Jesus Christ and his coming.
And so he speaks of this as something that would come, and in verse
6 here of Isaiah 9, he's talking about this same one. And you
can see here, first promise to Ahaz, the virgin shall conceive
in her womb, Name him Immanuel. He's the one who would defend
his people because God is with us against their enemies, and
he's the one that God would send to shine the light, his own light,
of himself, and he's the child that would be born. And all through
this. And if you look at chapter 12, you'll see this. Look at
chapter 12. And in that day thou shalt say,
O Lord, I will praise thee. Though thou wast angry with me,
thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me. Notice the
next words. Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid.
For the Lord, Jehovah, is my strength and my song. He also
is become my salvation. That's the Lord Jesus. The Lord
Jesus Christ has become my salvation. Now, let's look at verse 6 together.
We watch a movie. My family likes to watch it.
I've seen it enough times that I don't care for it too much.
And there's a lot of poor acting in it. But nevertheless, at this
time of the year, we watch it. You may have movies like that
that you watch. It's called A Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart. You
guys are familiar with that? The whole story, Francis is shaking
his head, no, I've never seen it. It's because you're from
the Philippines. But in the story, this man lives and everything
seems to collapse and he's ready to give up his life. He declares
at one point in the story, he says, I wish I'd never been born. And of course, the rest of the
movie is all about what would happen if he had never been born.
Now look at this. For unto us a child is born.
What would have happened if that child had never been born? What
would have happened? The world itself would be destroyed
and not a single person saved. Every one of us would spend eternity
in hell, and we would deserve it. and there would be no Savior. All the angels that fell had
no Savior. And yet we who in our constitution,
in our nature, are lower than angels, unto us a child is born. My daughter has a newborn baby
and we hold the baby in our hands. It's a wonder to look at a newborn
infant. absolutely helpless. The Lord Jesus Christ made himself
of no reputation. And he took upon him the form
of a servant and the nature and the form of our human nature,
body and soul, and was born. He was made under the law. He was born of a woman and made
under the law that he might redeem us who were under the law. And
cursed by God's own law, the Lord himself, God with us, who
is the eternal God, took on the nature of his people in order
to save them from their sin. If he had not been born, where
would we be? All the world would be lost.
But because he was born, people out of all the world are saved. Isn't that an incredible thing?
Now, what made this necessary? What made this necessary? Well,
we might be inclined to say, well, because we were going to
die in our sins that made it necessary. No, that didn't make
it necessary. There was nothing necessary in
keeping those angels that fell from the damnation that they
now experience, was it? No. God was perfectly content
to destroy them. And so why was it necessary that
the child be born? What makes anything necessary?
Look at Acts chapter 4. Acts chapter 4 talks about this
child. In Acts chapter 4, it tells us
why this was necessary. He says in Acts 4, in verse 23, in chapter 4, what's
happening there is Peter and John were taken into prison for
preaching the gospel. and Peter was still locked up
in prison, and the believers were praying, and then God let
Peter out of prison. Actually, I'm not sure if this
is that account, but anyway, it's the same situation. And
verse 23, This is not that time when they were in prison, but
this was the time after they were threatened. In verse 23,
it says, being let go, they went to their own company and reported
all that the chief priests and elders had said to them, Acts
4, 23. And now in verse 24, when they
heard that, all those that heard what they told them about how
they were treated, how they preached the gospel and were threatened,
when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one
accord, and they said, Lord, Thou art God, which made heaven
and earth and the sea and all that in them is, who by the mouth
of Thy servant David has said, Why did the heathen rage, and
the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood
up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against His Christ, for of a truth against Thy holy child Jesus
whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate with
the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done. Why was Jesus, why did he come?
Why did he die? To do whatsoever God's hand and
counsel determined before to be done. And now, Lord, in their
prayer, these believers are saying, and now, Lord, behold their threatenings
and grant unto thy servants, Peter, John, and others, that
with all boldness they may speak thy word. by stretching forth
thine hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done
by the name of thy holy child Jesus." See, they're praying
about the Lord Jesus, and they mention Him as His holy child. This was what God ordained. That's
why it was necessary. And notice, when they had prayed,
because they were praying in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
God's holy child, Jesus. When they had prayed, the place
was shaken, where they were assembled together, and they were all filled
with the Holy Ghost, and they did what? They preached the gospel.
They spake the word of God with boldness. And the multitude of
them that believed were of one heart. So you see here, what
made this necessary, not only would it have been the result
of the entire destruction of the world, but it was necessary
because God was pleased to save a people and in doing so to glorify
himself. It was necessary because it seemed
good to God. That's what made it necessary.
Look at Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 10. Hebrews chapter 2. This is what happened. This is
why Jesus came. God determined it, therefore
it had to happen. This is the way God works everything
according to the counsel of his own will. In Hebrews chapter
2 and verse 9, He said, after talking about
how God in the beginning made man, and he put all things under
his feet, and yet we don't see everything put under him, what
happened? Verse 9, we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than
the angels. In other words, he stooped lower
than the angels, he took our nature, and it was just for a
time, and this is why. lower than the angels for the
suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he by the
grace of God should taste death for every, every, every son,
every child, every sanctified one, every one God gave to him,
all those that were the children of Abraham. If you read the context,
it follows. Now, verse 10, for it became
him, this is God the father, it seemed good to him for whom
are all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons
to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
sufferings. For he that sanctifieth and they
who are sanctified are all of one. That's why he had to become
a baby. It was a greatest stoop that
God would take the nature of man, and as man bear the sin
of his people, and obligate himself for the offenses they did against
God, and fulfill his own law, magnify it, satisfy his own justice,
and make peace between them and God in his own blood. It seemed
good to God. That's why he did it. That's
why it happened. That's why this son was given.
And I'm so thankful that it seemed good to God. If it seemed good
to God, who influenced him to do it? Well, it was done before
the foundation of the world. He's the lamb slain before the
foundation of the world, Revelation 13.8. If no one was there, no
one was yet created, and it seemed good to God, then what can we
say about what God has done here in the birth of the Lord Jesus
Christ, in his life, in his sufferings, in his death, in his resurrection,
in his ascension? What can we say about this? Well,
we say it's all God's work. It arose out of God's own nature
and character, his purpose and his will. Therefore, it is holy. There's nothing here that's not
perfect and righteous and holy and eternal and immutable. It's
all out of God. Back to Isaiah chapter nine.
Unto us a child is born. It seemed good to God. It seemed
good to the Lord Jesus Christ. God took delight in his son.
He made, he prepared a body for him. And he, the Lord Jesus Christ,
willingly, with joy, he took to himself that nature, he who
is God, also joined to himself the nature of man, human nature,
body and soul and spirit. And we can't understand it. We
can't enter fully into the comprehension of it, but we believe it, don't
we? A child is born. That's the human nature. Unto
us a son is given. That's his divine nature. The
son of God was never born as the son of God. He was born as
a man. He is the God-man. Two natures,
one person. This is our savior. Notice, and
the government shall be upon his shoulder. The government
is the power, the authority of the one who rules. The word government
here means the ruler, the one who rules. He rules. That means whatever he wants
to get done, gets done. Nothing keeps him from his will. He has not only a will, but the
power to do his will. And he came to save, therefore
he will and shall surely accomplish his will. He shall save his people
from their sin, and he shall deliver them from their enemies.
He shall deliver the captives from their captivity, from darkness
into light, from death to life. He shall save them to the uttermost
who come to God by him. That's the government laid on
him. He's the king of God's kingdom. And then it says, the government
shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called wonderful. Now I know that in some translations
it says wonderful counselor, but I really think it should
just be left like this, wonderful. What does it mean that he's wonderful?
Well, it means there's everything about him is wonderful. Everything
that follows, he's the wonderful counselor, he's the wonderful
mighty God, he's the wonderful everlasting father, the wonderful
prince of peace, he's wonderful. Everything he does, his rule
is wonderful. His incarnation is wonderful. His life is wonderful. He never
did anything wrong. He had no thought of sin and
he wasn't proud about the fact that he had no sin. He was wonderful. He was so lowly that sinners
could come to him and so lowly that the proud refused to come
to him. He was wonderful in his life,
wonderful in his death. How could he who knew no sin
and did no sin die since death is the wages of sin? because
He wonderfully took our sin. He was made sin for us that we
might be made the righteousness of God in Him. He's wonderful,
isn't He? Everything He does is wonderful,
and He alone deserves this name. We shouldn't throw these words
around like we do. How was your trip? It was wonderful. I often cringe when I hear myself
say things like that. No, I've got to take that word
back. That word is reserved for the Lord Jesus Christ. He is
wonderful. He does wondrous things. Psalm
72, 18 says, the Lord God of Israel only doeth wondrous things. That's our God, He only does
wonderful. We trust Him, don't we? When things don't look good,
we know the Lord our God only does wonderful things, because
He's wonderful. And He's called the Counselor.
A counselor, what does a counselor do? Well, he gives the wisdom,
he gives the mind of God. David had two counselors. One
was Ahithophel and the other one, one of them turned against
him, just like Judas betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ. He was
David's counselor. He had, it seemed, the very,
he was able to see the very thoughts of God in his counsel. That's
how wise he was. And God uses this word counselor
to help us to understand when it is applied to the Lord Jesus
Christ. It shows us that all of God's
mind, all of his purpose, all that God thinks is his Son. He is the Word of God, the logic
of God, the reason of God. He's the truth. Not that there's
truth somewhere in a book independent of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
Lord Jesus Christ himself is the truth. He is the word of
God. He is the counselor. And what
does he say to us? What does the counselor say to
us as sinners? Look at Isaiah 45. He says everything
he says in his word, but I want to point this out to you and
me, because this is what I need to hear from him. Isaiah 45,
look at this. This is such a wonderful counsel,
wonderful counsel. He says this, verse 22. This
is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking from the word of God that cannot
be broken to you and to me. He says in Isaiah 45, 22, look
unto me and be ye saved for all the ends of the earth for I am
God and there is none else. Isn't that wonderful counsel?
I find that to be the most wonderful counsel that could possibly cross
my life. And what else did the Lord say?
He said, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. It's not like there's a way he's
pointing us to. He points to himself who made
the way, who is the way. He is the truth. We don't find
it somehow a standard outside of God. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the truth. He fulfilled the truth, and he
is the truth. He tells the truth, and he is
the life. There's life in his son. If you
have the son, you have life. If you don't have the son, you
don't have life, 1 John 5. He's wonderful, and he's our
counselor. He directs us to himself. He
says, come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and
I will give you rest. Isn't that wonderful counsel?
He doesn't direct us to a set of rules. He directs us to himself
who fulfilled God's righteousness for his people. That's counsel
I can live with. He's the mighty God, the mighty
God, the mighty God. Can God fail? Can he fail to
do his will? Is there something that God desires
to do in which he undertakes and yet doesn't complete? No,
he that has begun a good work in you, he shall fulfill it.
He'll complete it to the end. He'll finish it. When the children of Israel failed
to go into the land of Canaan, or when they made an idol and
offered to it when Moses was up on the mountain, in both of
those cases, God said to Moses, I'm gonna destroy this people.
He didn't really intend to do that. He was just showing the
role of the mediator. And Moses said, one of the things
he said was, if you do that, then your enemies will say, the
Lord was not able to bring them in to the land he promised to
give them. And it was implied that their
sin would be too great for him, that he was holy, but he couldn't
be gracious enough to find a way to solve the impossible problem
of how God could justify the ungodly. that that's the very
thing that God elevates in showing His glory to Moses. I will be
gracious to whom I will be gracious and merciful to whom I will be
merciful. This is His name, the Lord, the
Lord God, forgiving iniquity and sin and transgression. And
so what we see is that he's the mighty God who cannot fail to
do his will, and his will and his mission was to save his people
from their sins. That's the very thing we could
never in any way save ourselves from. But that's the very thing
he set himself up to undertake. We have offended God. Only God
can forgive us and only God can remove our sins from us and before
his face. And he says, the way that's done
is by the sacrifice of my son. Look at Romans chapter eight. He says, for unto us a child
is born. Who are the us? Who are these
us? In Romans chapter eight, it tells
us. Romans chapter 8, he says in verse 31, what shall we say
to these things if God be for us? Who can be against us? Who are these us? He that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? These us people,
these are the ones God freely gives all things because he delivered
up his son for them. Look at verse 33. And who shall
lay anything to the charge of? God's elect, us. It is God that
justifieth, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. You see? The mighty God found
a way in his wisdom out of his heart of grace and in his righteousness,
all of it in his holiness to magnify his character and his
heart of love and grace and wisdom and truth and righteousness and
holiness and power to take away our sins from before his face
in the death of his own son. That's the God we worship. That's
the salvation in which we, in consideration of the Savior,
we worship God by him. He's the king who established
this worship of God in his own sacrifice for his people. He's
the mighty God. He is the everlasting Father. The everlasting Father, Jesus
said, he that seeth me, seeth him that sent me. in John chapter
12 and verse 45. And he told Thomas and Philip,
he says, have I been so long time with you? And have you not
seen me? He that has seen me has seen
the father. So when we look upon the Lord
Jesus Christ, the child born, he is the Son of God. And when
we see the Son of God in the Lord Jesus Christ, we see and
know the Father. No man comes to me, no man comes
to the Father, but by me, he said, no one. And he's the Prince
of Peace, the Prince of Peace. Now here we have an amazing,
amazing statement, the Prince of Peace. Look at Luke Chapter
2 with me, Luke Chapter 2. I love this account here of the
shepherds and the angels. Luke Chapter 2, he says in verse, I'll just start with
verse seven. And she brought forth her firstborn
son, Mary, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him
in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.
This was the place where the cattle were. And I'm sure that
you've been in a dairy, you know what it's like, or maybe you've
seen a dairy, driven by one, you know what it's like there.
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field,
keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of
the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round
about them, and they were sore afraid. Why were the shepherds
afraid? What causes fear? Guilt? Separation
from God? Judgment? Deserved? They were
afraid because of their sin. And the angel said to them, fear
not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which
shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day
in the city of David a savior. I know that some people never
mark their Bibles, but I have, and I underline that about 10
times, a savior. which is Christ the Lord. He's
gonna get the job done. And this shall be a sign to you.
You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in
a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude
of the heavenly host praising God and saying, glory to God
in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men. These are the angels. They are
holy. They are the watchers. They look upon the face of the
Father, and they are swift, and they run to the aid of those
who are the heirs of salvation, and now they see the Savior born. And what do they declare to these
shepherds who are quaking because they're sinners? Peace. How can
there be peace? How can there be peace when I'm
a sinner? Because everything God requires
to be at peace with me is in Christ the Prince of Peace. It's
not in me, it's in him. And so the angels, him having
been born, he says to the shepherds, everything you need to know peace
with God is in the Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ,
this child born. And the angels who are holy,
the armies of heaven, watching what God has done here in the
birth of Christ, declare to sinful men, Peace on earth, good will
toward men. These are the holy angels who
cannot compromise the truth, and yet they speak peace to men
because God himself made peace in the blood of his son. It hasn't
happened yet in history, but it happened before time in the
decree of God and in the pledge of Christ to fulfill this obligation
he entered into voluntarily in love for his people. And this
is an eternal love. And this love was fulfilled when
the Lord Jesus Christ gave his son, when he delivered him up
for us all. What a prince, what a king. He established the true worship
of God. He made reconciliation for our
sins. He subdued all of our enemies. He cast our sins into the depths
of the sea, and he put Satan under the subjection of the feet
of his people. It shall yet come, but he has
done it. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince
of Peace, he sovereignly gives peace. And how does he give it?
Look at Romans chapter 15. And we'll have to cut it short
soon here, but Romans chapter 15, he says this. In verse 13,
now, Romans 15, 13, now the God of hope because all of our expectation
and hope for all that God said will happen is in Him. He's called
in 1 Timothy 1.1, Jesus Christ, our hope. Now the God of hope
fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound
in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit.
How does this peace come to us? Well, we know it in believing. But our faith in Christ doesn't
make our peace with God. His blood did that. He took away
the wrath. But in believing that the Spirit
of God gives us this grace, this gift of God to see Christ as
he told us to do, look unto me and be ye saved all the ends
of the earth for I am God and there is none else. Here he says
this grace of God that is given to us freely by God out of the
deadness of our own sins when he raises us to life and gives
us this faith to see Christ and to trust him, being fully persuaded
that he's able to do all that he has accomplished and said
he would do in our salvation. That's when we experience this
peace. Look back at chapter four, Romans
chapter four. He says in verse 25, He was delivered
for our offenses. God the Father delivered him
up, as we read in Romans 8.32. He was delivered for our offenses.
He was raised again for our justification. What part did you have in that
verse? You did nothing. If you were justified by the
Lord Jesus Christ when God raised him from the dead, you were there
only by God's doing and physically, In your life, you weren't yet
born, nor did you contribute anything, not even those who
were alive. They all forsook him and fled.
God delivered up his son for his people and their offenses,
and he raised him again because he justified them. Now look at
the next verse in chapter 5. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Faith is the way God grants us this mysterious enabling to lay
hold on what Christ has done and take it to ourselves and
apply to Him at His throne of grace, the Prince of Peace, to
come to Him. Lord, give me this salvation.
I must have it. We're justified. We've been forgiven
all of our sins. We've been clothed in the righteousness
of Christ. Therefore, we have peace. Is
there any reason why we shouldn't have peace? Well, if our salvation
in some part depended upon us, we would have every reason to
fear. But because it depends only on the Lord Jesus Christ
and faith teaches us that, we have every reason for peace.
And so the angel said, fear not, fear not. Peace on earth, goodwill
toward men, towards those, us, who God gave to Christ to save.
And so back in Isaiah 9, 7, of the increase of his government
and peace, there shall be no end, no limits to the boundaries
of his government. Men out of every kindred, tongue,
people, and nation shall see and believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ because of his power. And upon the throne of David
and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment
and justice from henceforth forever and ever. What Christ does is utterly just. His judgment on his people is,
neither do I condemn thee. Remember Romans, I mean, John
chapter eight to the woman taken in adultery? Neither do I condemn
thee. It is Christ that died. But here
he says, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. God's
not gonna fail. He is zealous to do this work
and he did it. And the Lord Jesus cried, it
is finished. Rest in it, trust him and glorify
God. The angels first announced his
birth. Who announced his resurrection? the apostles and the disciples,
they went throughout the world because that honor was reserved
for those who were given all that Christ accomplished and
that he obtained in his own life and death. They're the ones who
are seated with him in glory. The angels are servants to them
because they're serving Christ. What an amazing salvation this
is. God required this. Therefore, God is holy and he
is gracious and he is just in doing this. Let's pray. Thank
you, Lord, for your great salvation, our great Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Truly, when we see him, we declare
with Simeon, mine eyes have seen thy salvation, And you have prepared
this before all people. And we know, Lord, that in ourselves,
even though we may think we can make this work for us, we're
utterly dependent upon your grace. Only you can give to us this
word. You can open our hearts. Only
you can. and we need our hearts opened.
We need to have this grace of faith to look to the Lord Jesus
Christ and see him as everything in our salvation. We're such
helpless sinners. We have no strength over our
own sinful nature, and yet you have come to live in your people,
and now we live by the faith of the Son of God who loved us
and gave himself for us. We pray, Lord, that you'd be
with our children and their parents, and you would be with all of
us as we go about our lives in this world. Help us to hold this
treasure in our heart that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Prince
of Peace. This peace is established in
Him, and even though we may not feel it, we look away to our
Savior and find it in Him. All that God requires from us,
He has found and provided in His Son. What a blessed gospel
this is. And we ask that you would receive
our thanksgiving and our worship today, and receive these people
here. through the Lord Jesus Christ,
through his precious blood, and give them this grace to believe
him. In his name we pray, amen.