Good morning again. If you will
join me in Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1. I'm sure your pastor will say the
same thing when he comes back home, but your brethren in Kingsport
send their love and greetings. It's always my honor be asked
to come and preach the gospel anywhere, but I definitely have
a special place in my heart for you. I pray the Lord might bless
us. Luke 1, verse 26. And in the sixth month, the angel
Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth. to a virgin espoused to a man
whose name was Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin's
name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her
and said, Hail thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with
thee. Blessed art thou among women."
Now before I go on, I want to say a few words about our sister,
Mary. It says thou that art highly
favored. I'm going to tell you what my
center margin here says. It says that means graciously
accepted or much graced. And that just makes me rejoice. People twist that so badly. She
was graciously accepted. She didn't accept Jesus, the
Lord God of heaven and earth, in His mercy and grace, covenant
of grace. He accepted her. When also looking up that meaning,
it says, pursued with grace. Oh, I love thinking about that.
He pursued her. God pursues His people and He's
going to have them, every single one of them. He said, not one
shall be lost. Mary, I just referred to her as our dear sister, and
praise the Lord, she is. But she was only a sinner saved
by grace. That would have been her story.
It's all God's people's stories. Verse 29, And when she saw him,
she saw the angel, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her
mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel
said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with
God. Much like Noah found grace. Verse 31, And behold, thou shalt
conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his
name Jesus." Now, we're not going to read it, but we just read
she was a virgin, and later she said, how can these things be,
seeing I know not a man? Okay, that right there tells
us what we're reading. This is a God. It's God. Alright. Thou shalt call his
name Jesus, verse 32. He shall be great and shall be
called the son of the highest. And the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father, David. And he shall reign over
the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom, there shall
be no end. Oh, my soul. What a salutation. What a declaration. The title of my message, He Shall
Be Great. What a subject. The greatness
of our Lord. Now I've got four points I want
us to go through. His person, His name, His work,
and His glory. He shall be great. Now here in
Luke chapter 1, The Lord is not the only person
we read of who shall be great. Look with me at verse 13. But the angel said unto him,
Zacharias, the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias, for
thy prayer is heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee
a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have
joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice, at his birth. For he
shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither
wine nor strong drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy
Ghost even from his mother's womb. And many of the children
of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God, and he shall
go before him in the spirit and power of Elias to turn the hearts
of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom
of the just. to make ready a people prepared
for the Lord. Now, my message is not about
how John and the Lord Jesus Christ were both great men. That's not
my message. I think you know that. See, John was a great man,
but his greatness was a totally different kind of greatness compared
to our Lord's. Now, John was a great man indeed. You think
of some brethren you read about in the Bible, you think how you
just can't wait to have a conversation with them. John's one of those
men. The man ate locusts. He lived in the wild. I can't
imagine. He's the only preacher we read
of other than Christ himself who was prophesied of in the
Old Testament. It's amazing that God would be
pleased to speak of John as he spoke of him. And we just read
he was filled with the Spirit from his mother's womb. We also
read That when he was a baby in the womb, when the Lord sent
Mary to tell Elizabeth of her salutation, it says that baby
leapt in her womb. That baby rejoiced in the womb.
That baby heard something from the womb. Oh my. Our Lord said this about John.
Among them that are born of women, there hath not arisen a greater
than John the Baptist. He was great in the sight of
the Lord. The Lord used him greatly. But
I love this. That verse, Matthew 11, 11, goes
on to say, Notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom
of heaven is greater than he. I just mentioned a few minutes
ago contradictions. Right? He shall be great. There's
none greater than John, yet he's the least. How can that be? I'll
tell you how. It's very simple. Just like Mary,
he was graciously accepted in the sight of the Lord. God in
His grace pursued him, chose him, saved him in Christ. We're
one in Him. We're not better than each other.
We're all the dust of His feet. We're going to sit at His feet.
We're going to worship Him. John was a sinner saved by grace.
Great in the sight of the Lord. But I promise you, he was not
great in the sight of John. Many people rejoiced at his birth.
Yes. All the people that heard him
preach Christ, that followed him as he preached Christ, they
rejoiced over John. But they rejoiced over John's
message. Not in John. We love each other. We especially
love those who preach Christ to us. But we love them because
of Christ. That's the only thing lovable
about any of us. Christ in us. John said this in John 3.30,
speaking of Christ. His followers that went with
him as he preached, They came to him and told him, as if he
didn't know, that men were coming to this man, Jesus, and being
baptized with him. They were following him, they
weren't following John. They thought he'd be so upset. Oh,
they just... Kind of like those disciples
on the road to Emmaus, they were so upset. Oh, they crucified
him. We thought he was going to redeem
Israel. John turned to his brethren, he told them, He told him several
things, but then he said this, he said, he must increase, but
I must decrease. I think that calmed their troubles.
He must increase. I must increase. John came with
a message declaring Christ. He was prophesied of that he
was going to prepare the way of Christ. He was going to say,
here comes Christ. I was born just shortly before
him, but he's coming after me. But he's preferred before me.
He preached Christ. I mentioned earlier, we're not
pursuing our own glory. John wasn't pursuing his own
greatness. He was sent. declaring and he was honored
and rejoiced to declare the greatness of Jesus Christ and him crucified. Behold the name of God which
taketh away the sin of the mortal. John was a great man, yes. But
the first glaring difference in John and Jesus Christ is Jesus
Christ is God. He's God. Look at verse 31. Thou shalt call his name Jesus.
He shall be great. He shall be called the son of
the highest. And the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over
the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom there shall
be no end." John wasn't the son of the highest. John didn't have
a throne. John didn't have a kingdom. Praise
God he was a part of the kingdom. Praise God he's seated around
the throne now with Christ reigning in him. We say we're kings and
princes with him. But that baby that Mary gave
birth to, God Almighty. That's what Simeon said, wasn't
it? He said, I've seen God's salvation. It's no ordinary baby. Y'all
are rejoicing with us over our baby. We're so thankful. Wonderful
blessing. But this baby was God. Is God. I'm not going to try to explain that.
It's a mystery beyond our human comprehending. But God became
a man. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. But you know, in Him was grace and truth. There's
no grace and truth in this flesh. I don't know. He's the only begotten
of the Father. There's just one God, man. There's
just one. And it's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's the Son of the Highest. I think Nebuchadnezzar, when
God saved him, he said, Most High God. King of heaven and earth. And
you hear people say sometimes, make Him king. Make Him Lord.
He was born king. See, a body was prepared for
Him. Where it says God created a man in His image, God was a
man first. That body was prepared from eternity. Then God created man in His image.
And then we corrupted ourselves. And then Christ came. Oh, praise
God, Christ came. Born King. He has an eternal
kingdom. He said, my kingdom is not of
this world. People in John 6, I believe, they started following
Him and He was feeding them. And they said, we're going to
make Him King. It wasn't long after they were
offended at the hard saying, and they went back and walked
no more with him. Our Lord's kingdom is a heavenly kingdom.
It's an eternal kingdom. And He reigns over that kingdom
right now, and He shall reign over that kingdom forever and
ever. And I'm glad it's that way, aren't
you? I'm glad right now, you know what, we're in an election
cycle, we all have hopes and whatnot, but the King's heart's
in His hand. It's already been appointed. We may get upset,
and so be it. Let's trust the Lord. We don't know what's best. He does. He's our King. There's our hope. He's our King, isn't He? Our only King. I know I've mentioned this before,
but our Lord, He's not who we naturally think He is. He's not
who this world thinks He is. He's not a beggar. That's such
a terrible way to speak of Him. And I know no one would ever
hopefully say those words and mean it, but they clearly declare
that's what they mean when they say who they think He is. Wants
this. Hopes this. Tries this. Working
on this. Waiting on this. No. He's God. He has His way all the time. He always will. He can't not
have His way. He's God. The Lord God omnipotent
reigneth. Let God. I think there's a verse that says
let God, but I believe it says let God be magnified. There's
a big difference in that. Let God have His way. God will
be magnified. He will. He will. Think about
when the Lord sleeping on that boat and they got caught in the
storm, the disciples, and oh, they were so afraid. They just
knew this is it. We're sinking. I guess they might
have forgot. We're with Him. He's on this
boat. We ain't going to sink. That
ark, it didn't sink, did it? They're safe in the ark. And
they went and they woke up their Lord and they, Lord, don't you
care that we perish? Save us. Help us. Oh yeah, a little faith. Just
like that. At the sound of His still, small
voice, peace, be still. He said there was a great calm.
We were at the beach a week or so ago and it was pretty windy
the first few days. There were some big waves coming
in. They were coming a lot closer than we wanted them to. And I
couldn't make it stop. I can say peace be still all
I want, but it only makes me look like a fool. The wind and
the sea obey Him, and only Him has all power. All power is given
unto Him. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 1. Familiar couple verses,
Hebrews 1 verse 1. God, who at sundry times and
in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made
the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory and the express
image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his
power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on
the right hand of the majesty on high, being made so much better
than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent
name than they." Who is Jesus Christ? He's God. I think this chapter goes on
to say, the Father said to the Son, Thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. He's God. He's the very image of God. The
express image of His person. He's the glory of God, the brightness
of God's glory. And His name, His name is excellent. It's more excellent. than all
the angels. We just read about one angel,
Gabriel. His name is more excellent. More excellent than all the angels.
And that leads me to our second point. His person is great. His name is great. Let's briefly
consider his name. Jesus. Savior. Savior. What a name. He's worthy of that
name. He has earned that name. Call
His name Jesus. He shall save. And turn with
me to Isaiah chapter 9. I can't talk about His name without
looking at this blessed verse. Isaiah 9, verse 6. For unto us a child is born,
and 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. Don't you love what His name
shall be called? Wonderful. We have a wonderful
Savior, don't we? Wonderful God. Oh, to tell of
His wonder, His wonderful works, how could we We're going to fall
short every time. I'll read you a verse, Isaiah
25 verse 1 says, O Lord, Thou art my God, I will exalt Thee,
I will praise Thy name, for Thou hast done wonderful things. Thy counsels of old are faithfulness
and truth. He's done wonderful things, hasn't
He? You know, people, the false preachers, I've talked about
it. In Matthew 7, we read what they're going to say in the judgment.
Lord, Lord, we've done many wonderful works in your name. You know,
people will say it in Jesus' name or in Christ's name, but
they have no idea how great and wonderful His name really is.
And we know that because the Lord said, you're going to say
it in my name, but I'm going to say it apart from me, I never
knew you. You see, they came boasting their wonderful works,
not His. He's the only one who has wonderful
works. He's the only one who has anything
wonderful about Him. He's the only one. His name shall
be called Wonderful. Counselor. I just read His counsels
of order, faithfulness, and truth. Sometimes people go to a counselor. They need help. And if you do,
that's okay. Don't be ashamed of it. I get
it. The struggle is real for me too.
We have problems. But who do we go to? When we
get down to it, who can help us? There's only one. Our Lord Jesus Christ. He's our
counselor. He's our help. Wonderful counselor,
the mighty God. I mentioned that baby. In Mary's arms, in Simeon's arms,
in Joseph's arms, that baby was God Almighty. Selah. God Almighty. The everlasting Father. The three-in-one God. The three separate
persons. Yet Christ said, you've seen
me, you've seen the Father. We're one. We're one. Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty
God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. I said it
earlier. He's our peace. No peace in this
world. Don't look for it because there
is none. Don't worry yourself. You're
not going to find it here. You're going to find it here.
Christ is our peace. Praise the Lord. Turn with me
to Malachi chapter 1. Malachi chapter 1. The psalmist said, O Lord, our
Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth. Let me ask
you a question. Is the name Jesus Christ great
to you? Does the sound of His name bring
you joy? Is that an excellent name to
your ears? Look here with me, Malachi 1 verse 11. For from the rising of the sun,
even unto the going down of the same, My name shall be great
among the Gentiles, and in every place incense shall be offered
unto my name, and a pure offering for my name shall be great among
the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts." Well, we see who his name is
great to, don't we? The Gentiles. The dogs. Truth Lord. The heathen. I remember in college, some of
my co-workers, religious, they'd mention a statement about the
heathen, and it was a, you know, a holier-than-thou type statement. Who are the Gentiles? Who are
the heathen? Who are the ungodly? Well, based on this verse, I
hope it's me. Otherwise, this name's not great to me. We don't need to be proud of
who we are. That's the message being told around the world right
now. Be proud of yourself. Oh, no. Like Job, I repent in
dust and ashes. I loathe myself. Paul said, oh,
wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me? It takes the Spirit of God for
us to truly believe that about ourself. Most people would say,
no, I'm not a heathen. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not that
bad. Or I'm not bad at all. But if we're going to be saved,
we must be brought to realize, that's me. That's exactly what
thou worm, Jacob. And we read, he shall reign over
the house of Jacob. We must be able to identify with
Jacob. Jacob's the Israel of God. The
chosen of God. His peculiar treasure. His chosen
people. We must believe ourselves to
be nothing before Him. But here's the fact of the matter.
We will not believe ourselves to be what God declares us to
be until we come to know the greatness of Jesus Christ. I think this scripture fits so
perfectly with this. Isaiah 6. Turn with me to Isaiah
6. When the Lord spoke to Isaiah,
when he saw who God is, let's see what happened. Isaiah chapter
6, verse 1. In the year that King Uzziah
died, I saw also the Lord. And look where he saw Him. sitting upon a throne, or reigning. I saw the Lord sitting upon a
throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple.
Above it stood the seraphims, each one had six wings, with
twain He covered His face, and with twain He covered His feet,
and with twain He did fly." Now notice, here's the angels. We
just read about the angels, okay? Verse 3, cried unto another,
the angels were crying this, holy, holy, holy is the Lord
of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. And the post of the door moved
at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with
smoke. Then said I, here's what Isaiah had to say, woe is me. Woe is me, for I am undone."
Senator Martin says, cut off. I'm cut off. Because I'm a man
of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. That right there is somebody
who has been shown the King. That's someone who has been,
who has seen a revelation of who God is. Not the God of their imagination.
He saw the King. He said, my eyes have seen the
King. He said, even the angels cried, holy, holy, holy. Even
they covered themselves before Him. Even they were ashamed to
be in His presence. How much more of us said, woe
is me, I'm undone. If we ever see the King, I mean
the King, high and lifted up, that will be our cry. May God show us the King. We see enough of the rulers in this world, we
need to see the King. We need to see the King. Mine
eyes have seen the King. If we ever do, we'll rejoice at the
sound of His name. Oh, we will. We'll love to sing
songs of praise to Him. Come Thou Almighty King, help
us Thy name to sing. Help us to praise. Oh, help us
to praise Him. We know there's no other name,
is there? No other name whereby we're going
to be saved. No other name. No other name with power in it.
There's power in that name. No other name like His name.
There's a lot of songs we could quote here, but the one I've
got is, Precious Name, O How Sweet, Hope of Earth, and Joy
of Heaven. He's going to be the joy of heaven.
It breaks my heart when people talk about what they think goes
on in heaven. Heaven is Christ. Just looking
at Him, just beholding Him in His glory, just seated at His
feet, covered by Him. Just looking at Him, singing
to Him, worshiping Him. That's going to be our eternity. Oh, no more, no more sinfulness
and foolishness of me trying to get up here and talk about
worshiping Him. We're actually going to worship Him. Oh, hmm. His person is great and His name
is great. Third, His work is great. Matthew 1.21. I know most of
you probably know it, but it's always good to see it again. Matthew 121, And she shall bring
forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. Senator Morgan says, Savior.
For he shall save his people from their sins. That's my favorite shall in the
scriptures. There's a bunch of them and I love them all. But
none compare to that one. He shall save. Not he, not he might. Not he's
going to try to save. Not he's going to make it possible
for them to be saved. He shall save. He shall save. What a, what a hope. What a,
what a declaration. Oh my. Do you need to be saved? People
say, save from what? What do you mean be saved? I
feel safe. I feel saved. Do you need to be saved from
your sin? He shall save them from their sins. And that's more
than what we do. It's what we are. We've done abominable works,
but we are present tense abomination. We just are. And there's nothing
we can do about it. Leopard can't change his spots.
Ethiopian can't change his skin. We can't do good. We're accustomed
to doing evil. It's all we know how to do. You
say, well, we go to church. I have for years. I've been in
church my whole life. We're just worse. We only get
worse. We don't get any better. I mentioned
Paul. Paul, he was nothing. He was the chief of sinners,
less than the least of all saints, wretched man. Sin. God has concluded all under
sin. Period. But praise the Lord,
Christ came to save sinners. 1 Timothy 1.15, that's a faithful
saying worthy of all acceptation. He came to save sinners of whom
I'm chief, Paul said. And we say, nope, that's me.
Nope. You know what? There's a bunch
of chiefs of sinners. Every single one of God's people
is the chief. I said, well, one. One and the same. We're the chief
of sinners, but we're perfect in Christ, saved in Him. Every soul for whom Christ died
shall be saved. I was going to turn, but in Zephaniah
3, we're told a little about our Lord's might and strength.
It says, The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty.
He will save. He will save. We read in Isaiah
42, He shall not fail. That's a good shall too, isn't
it? He shall not fail. He will save. Praise the Lord.
Now, when our Lord came to save us, we know the moment of our
salvation, if I can put it that way, which we've been saved from
eternity, but He saved us by His death, okay? At the cross. What really happened
at the cross? What really happened at the cross?
Who was that man hanging on the cross? Our brother couldn't have
picked a better text to read. Can't find him. Our substitute. That's what Isaiah
53 is all about. Our substitute. He bore our sins,
bruised for our iniquities, wounded for our transgressions. The chastisement
of our peace was upon Him. He was despised and rejected
of men. We didn't esteem Him. We turned everyone our own way.
We all went astray. And yet the Lord laid on Him
the iniquity of us all. All for whom He came to save. Every sinner
who needs a Savior. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. I'm not even going to mention
what I have written. That chapter just sums it all up. What happened
at the cross? Salvation. Nothing short of 100%
perfect, complete, satisfactory salvation, eternal redemption,
perfected forever, completed. Oh my, what a salvation. What a God. What a Savior. His
person is great. His name is great. His work is
great. And because of His great work
of salvation that He accomplished at Calvary, His glory He's great. So great. Psalm 21.5 says, His
glory is great in thy salvation. He's our glory, isn't He? All
of it. I mean all of it. Look with me
here, Philippians chapter 2. Philippians 2 verse 4. Look not every man on his own
things, but every man also on the things of others. That's
what Christ did. He did nothing for himself. He
did it all as our substitute. He did it all for his people.
Verse five. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought
it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation
and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man. He humbled
himself. For him to even become a man
was humbling himself. Being found in fashion as a man,
verse 8, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross, wherefore God also hath highly exalted
him. and giving Him a name, which
is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things
under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Because of who
He is and what He did, God hath highly exalted Him. May we likewise highly exalt Him. That's the whole theme of
this message. He alone deserves to be exalted. I need to be reminded of that.
I need to be reminded of that all the time. We love self-exaltation, don't
we? We love compliments and praise and all that flattery. May we exalt Him and only Him. If God has saved us, we're not
going to glory in ourselves anymore. Or when we will, God will correct
us. David said, the Lord is my light and my salvation. Paul
said, Christ is all in all. All in all. Great is the Lord
and greatly to be praised. His greatness is unsearchable.
Call His name Jesus. He shall be great. I pray God
has enabled us to Get a glimpse of the greatness of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.