King Ahaz was a very wicked man. He was one of the kings of Judah. Now, you don't need much of a history lesson, but I think most all of you are aware of the fact that the kingdom of Israel divided shortly after the death of Solomon. and the kingdom was divided into two kingdoms. The northern kingdom was Israel. It consisted of 10 tribes. The capital of the northern kingdom was the city of Samaria. The southern kingdom consisted of Judah and Benjamin, and the capital was Jerusalem.

As we read Isaiah chapter 7, of course, the kingdom has been divided. And another king has taken over in Judah. But unlike four of the godly kings of the southern kingdom, King Ahaz, he was vile, depraved, he hated God, He was a works worshiper. He embraced all manner of false idols and gods. He even offered his firstborn son unto the god, the Canaanite god, Molech. And he sacrificed his son to Molech.

Now, what Isaiah is writing about at the beginning is that there are two nations that are going to combine forces to go against the nation of Judah, the southern kingdom. And one of the nations would be Syria, long an enemy of Judah. And the other nation that would combine with Syria seems to us like an unlikely enemy. but they were the enemies of God and the enemies of God's people, and that's the northern kingdom of Israel. And Isaiah says that the Syrians and the Israelites, the people of the northern kingdom, are going to come together, and their goal is to overrule Jerusalem and to cause the kingdom of Judah to cease to exist.

But the Lord assures the people of Judah through the writing of Isaiah that the Syrians and the Israelites in their confederacy, though they join their armies together, they will not be successful. Because the kingdom of Judah would last until Messiah came. And after the coming of Messiah, after the coming of Emmanuel, after his work of redemption has been finished and he's gone back to heaven, then Jerusalem is going to be destroyed in 70 AD. And the temple would be torn down. One stone won't be left standing upon another stone. That was going to happen. But it couldn't happen. It couldn't happen until Christ the Savior came. And so these first few verses, that's what this is about. It's about God preserving his people and his nation until that time that he has made use of them and made use of their government. And until that time that the Lord Jesus would lay down his life, giving his life a ransom for the people of God.

Ahaz was of course a vile and wicked man. And there were lots of people in the kingdom of Judah who were also vile and wicked. But there were also a remnant according to the election of grace. And God would not let the whole nation be destroyed until the time that Christ would come to give his life a ransom. for many. So the Lord graciously sends words of promise, words of encouragement to the people of God. These are needed promises to lift their spirits. It doesn't mean that everything was going to go smoothly with them. They would encounter great opposition. But their existence as a nation would continue until Christ came.

Now, as we read down through here, we read about Israel, the northern kingdom. Now, their existence as a nation was numbered. And they're gonna be destroyed long before Judah would be. But Judah's going to last because The seed of the woman is coming through Judah. They cannot cease to be a nation until the purpose of God, according to grace, the purpose of redemption has been fulfilled. Hold your place here and turn to Genesis chapter 49. Look at Genesis chapter 49. Here we find Jacob pronouncing blessings upon sons. And it gets down to Judah. Judah. Verse 8, Genesis 49, 8. Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise. Especially that special one who will come out of Judah. All will praise him. All will bend the knee to him. We read in Philippians that every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess that Jesus is indeed the Lord of glory. Judah, in his name means praise. Thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise. Thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies. Think of Christ. You don't want him for an enemy. Because his hand's going to be on the neck of the enemy. And the enemy shall not escape. And he says, thy father's children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion's whelp. He's like a young lion, full of strength, full of energy. That's Christ the Savior. From the prey, my son, thou art gone up. He stooped down. He couched as a lion, as an old lion, who shall rouse him up? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet. In other words, Judah will continue to exist as a nation, though they would be in the times of our Savior under Rome's dominion. under Rome's authority, but they would continue to exist as a nation. So the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until somebody comes. And his name is Shiloh, till Shiloh come. And unto him shall the gathering of the people be. He will be like a magnet, to draw his people unto himself. I, if I be lifted up, Christ said in John chapter 12, I will draw all unto me. All of my people will be drawn unto me. That's the magnetic power of the cross of Calvary. Our Lord, by His death, would redeem us, put our sins away, satisfy the justice of God. And that preaching of the cross, preaching of Christ crucified, will be like it will have a magnetic pull on the elect of God. Others will be repelled by it. There are many who don't want to hear that message. They don't want to hear of substitution. They don't want to hear of satisfaction. And that just turns them away. but Christ crucified. I tell you, there's a people out here when they hear that message and it's driven home to the heart by the Spirit of God, they'll say, I need to hear that. That's the message for me because I'm an old sinner. I'm lost and undone and the only hope I've got is in this Christ of the cross of Calvary. And notice this there in verse 10, the scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come, till Christ comes. They will still have some form of a government, not a king, but still they had government officials until Shiloh came. The word Shiloh means him to whom it belongs. The root word of Shiloh means peaceful, prosperous, quiet. Peaceful, prosperous, and quiet. That's our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, Judah shall continue to exist as a nation. Though they had to pay tribute to Rome, that's certainly correct. But they would not be stamped out. They would not lose their identity until this one Shiloh comes. Him to whom it belongs. What belongs to him? The world belongs to him. The governments belong to him. All people belong to him in that everyone is his property. And there's a special people in the world at any given time that are His. We belong to Him. We were given to Him in covenant grace. He bought us by His death at the cross of Calvary. He owns us. He paid our ransom price to the law of God until Shiloh comes. He's the one that everything belongs to anyway. And so over here, in Isaiah chapter 7, this is the promise of God to Judah. Don't worry about losing your identity as a nation. That cannot, it will not happen until Immanuel comes. And after he finished his work of redemption, well then, they will lose their identity. No Israelite, no Jew can with certainty trace their lineage back to a specific tribe of Israel because those have ceased to exist. They've lost their identity. Now notice what it says here. Drop down to verse 9. Verses 89, for the head of Syria is Damascus. That was their chief city. And the head of Damascus is Rezan. He was the king of Syria. He ruled over Syria, I believe it was something like 65 years. And within three score and five years shall Ephraim be broken. That's when Israel's going to go out of business. That's when the Northern Kingdom would lose their identity. They would be taken into captivity to such an extent that the nation of Israel, the Northern Kingdom, ceased to exist. It was a judgment of God. They were full of idolaters. You see, the southern kingdom, they had a few kings who were, we call them godly kings, men who believed God, men who trusted the Lord. But they had a lot who were wicked. But the northern kingdom never had a decent king. After the kingdom split, after the death of Solomon, every king of the northern kingdom was an ungodly idolater. And they're going to lose their identity, Isaiah prophesied, in just 65 years because the Assyrians are going to come in and wipe them out and destroy the nation. And he says in verse 9, well, let me read the rest of verse number 8. And within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people." So it's not going to exist anymore, verse 9. And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, that's the capital city. And Ephraim is used as a word to describe all of the northern kingdom. And the head of Samaria is Remeliah's son, who was Peacock. P-E-K-A-H. And then the Lord says through Isaiah, if you will not believe, if you will not believe, surely ye shall not be established. In other words, if you don't believe God, you're going to cease to exist. You won't remain any longer. The judgment of God will be so heavy upon Israel that they'll be wiped out. And then, verse 10. Moreover, the Lord spake again unto Ahaz through Isaiah, saying, ask thee a sign or an evidence of the Lord thy God. Doesn't matter what it is, just ask for a sign. Ask it either in the depths or in the heights above. Ask God for an evidence that these things are going to come to pass. Verse 12, but Ahaz was a rebel. And he pretends here to have some reverence for God. He said, I will not ask. Neither will I tempt the Lord. In the law of God it's written, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. You're not to ask for a sign, but if God says, I'm gonna give you a sign, that's different. And the Lord says through Isaiah in verse 13, he says, hear ye now, O house of David, Is it a small thing for you to weary men? But will you weary my God? Will you trouble my God? Literally, will you aggravate the Lord with your unbelief? And now in verse 14, Isaiah says, therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. You arrogant, wicked fool. God says, ask for it and I'll give you. Ask it of any, the depths below or the heights above. And you put on a pious face as if you're not gonna do that. And Isaiah said, well, the Lord's gonna give you a sign anyway. He's gonna give an evidence that his word will come to pass. What is it? Behold, be amazed, be shocked. Something is going to happen that is absolutely against nature. This is going to be a miracle performed by God himself. Behold, be astounded. A virgin shall conceive, whoever heard of such a thing. That's not according to nature. Procreation comes about as a result of the union of a man and a woman.

But Isaiah says, behold, now listen up, pay attention. God's gonna give you a sign. And God gave a sign to the people in that day when Shiloh came. And the sign was this, a virgin conceived. It was predicted through the Old Testament. In Genesis 3.15, wasn't it called the seed of the woman? The seed of the woman's... Well, we know that the woman doesn't have the seed. The man has the seed. But this is different. This is different.

Pay no attention if you've got some so-called translation of the Bible that just says a young woman. I'd discard that. She is a virgin. When Gabriel came to her in Luke chapter 1 and said, you're going to conceive, you're going to have a son, he'll be called the Son of the Highest. The little lady is called the Son of God. She said, how can that be? That's impossible. That's impossible. I think about what the Lord said to Abraham and Sarah, don't you call impossible what I've called possible. He brings the impossible to pass.

You know something else that's impossible? For you to believe the gospel. That's impossible. But all things are possible with God. And if He's of the mind to do it, He can give you spiritual life. People who are watching, you may not have any interest, you may not believe Christ, you may be an unbeliever like Ahaz. Refuse to believe. But if you're one of the Lords, He'll draw you to himself.

A virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. And then he says this in verse 15, butter and honey shall he eat. That, and the word that, it's kind of an unfortunate translation He's not saying that he'll eat butter and honey in order that he'll know to refuse the evil and choose the good. That's not what he's saying. So instead of the word that, think of the word and. And. Butter and honey shall he eat and he will know. He will know what we don't know. HE WILL KNOW TO REFUSE THE EVIL AND CHOOSE THE GOOD, BECAUSE HE'S THE PERFECT MAN. ISAIAH SAYS HE'LL BE THE PERFECT MAN.

FOR BEFORE THE CHILD SHALL KNOW TO REFUSE THE EVIL AND CHOOSE THE GOOD, THE LAND THAT THOU ABHORST SHALL BE FORSAKEN OF BOTH HER KINGS, BOTH THE KING OF JUDAH Israel. I'm drawn to this statement back here before I work on Emmanuel just a little bit. I'm drawn to this statement back at the end of verse nine. If you will not believe, he says, surely you shall not be established. You shall not remain. You shall be taken away. What a word of warning. If you will not believe, if you will not believe, you'll be taken away, taken away in judgment.

And we know this, we will not believe if left to ourselves. That's an impossibility. We can't, we won't. because salvation by pure grace through the doing and the dying, the blood and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, that is a message that is foreign to our nature. And therefore, the Lord Jesus says in John 5, and ye will not come to me that you might have life. People can say, well, yeah, I can come anytime I want to. Well, why don't you come on then? I will if I want to." Well, why don't you will to come? I'll tell you why. Because the will to come to Christ and the faith to draw near to him are things that are absolutely contrary to your nature. You will not come to me that you have life. And in John 6, you cannot come to me. Nobody can come to me, Christ said, except my Father, which has sent me, draw him." Thank God for drawing grace that draws us like a magnet. You see, we're like Peter's sword in his sheath. Remember when he pulled it out and cut the right ear off of the high priest's servant's head, cut his ear off? Well, that sword, that sword couldn't do anything. It'd just stay there in its sheath from now on. Somebody acted upon it. Simon Peter goes, he pulled that out and off the ear comes. And you see, that's the way it is with faith and drawing us to Christ. We can't do that. And here's the problem. Proud flesh just won't accept that. I can come anytime I want to. I'll have you know, I have a free will, really. Your will's in bondage just like mine, yours, and everybody else's by nature. Read Mr. Luther's book on the bondage of the will, on the book of Galatians, The Bondage of the Will. We don't have the desire to come. We don't have the ability to come. We just don't want to come. You're telling me that God shows mercy on whom He wants to show mercy, and I don't have anything to do with it? I'm not telling you. That's what the Bible says. You're telling me I don't have a choice in this matter? But doesn't it say right here, if you will not believe, surely you shall not be established? It says that. You are responsible to believe. But responsibility is not the same as ability. We lost the ability in Adam's transgression, and now we're helpless. And those in whose heart the Holy Spirit works, the Spirit of God draws us to Christ, and we come as poor beggars and say, Save me or I'll perish. We're like Simon Peter going down in the water. He's sinking. All you gotta do is exercise your free will. You won't go down like a rock. If you have any sense at all. You'll just copy the words of Simon Peter. Lord, save me. Lord, save me. Because salvation is of the Lord. You see, here's what salvation is. You ready? It is the restoration of the throne of God and the heart of a sinner. That's what salvation is. The restoration of the throne of God used to be there in Adam. Then he fell and he threw every good thing out the window. But God comes in and he restores his throne of grace. He plants the flag of grace only, Christ only in the heart. And that's something you don't get over. That's not a little decision you make. That's an act of God, an act of God. And Isaiah says, I'm going to give you a sign. The Lord says, I'm going to give you a sign. Behold, somebody's coming. A virgin shall conceive and bear a son shall call his name Emmanuel. What does that mean? Well, it's my privilege to show you what that means. Matthew 1. Let me show you Matthew 1. Gabriel pays a visit to Joseph. And this is the way it happened. Matthew 1.18. Now the birth, the word birth here is the word translated Genesis. Genesis. What does Genesis mean? Beginning. This is the beginning of the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ in reality. It's always existed in the mind and purpose of God. But as our Savior came into this world to take up his residence for nine months in the womb of Mary, he said, "'A body thou hast prepared me.'" So the genesis or the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise. When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, She was found with child of the Holy Ghost. And then Joseph, her husband, being a just man, man who wanted to do what was right, not willing to make her a public example, he had it in his mind he's going to put her away privately, he's going to divorce her. They'd never come together, but back then the engagement was a legal thing, and the only way you could break off an engagement, man and woman break off an engagement, they had to have divorce papers. I guess you'd be careful who you proposed to then. It's a legal matter. Verse 20, but while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, Thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. That's three times the word shall or a form of it used. Mary's going to do something. The Lord said she's going to do something. What's she going to do? She's going to bring forth a son. And what are you going to do, Joseph? Here's what you're going to do. You're going to call his name Jesus. And what's he going to do? He's going to save his people from their sins. Three declarations of certainty. Now verse 22, now all of this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophets saying, and that's in Isaiah chapter 7 where we started. Behold, be amazed, be astonished, be astounded. A virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel. Now what does that mean? which being interpreted is God with us. Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife, and knew her not in a husband and wife relationship, till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus, Immanuel. God with us. He was Emmanuel in his incarnation. In order to pay our ransom and free us from all the demands of divine justice, Emmanuel redeemed us from the curse of the law. He took away our sins by taking them to himself. He took my sins and my sorrows. I can't comprehend that. That's not for me to comprehend. That's for me to believe. He took my sin as His very own. And now I can't be punished because I don't have them anymore. Well, who got them? He got them. by his own voluntary decree. Well, what'd he do with them? He died for them. He suffered the condemnation for them. The penalty of sin, the fury of God's wrath penetrated his very soul. It pleased the Lord to bruise Him. That's the reason we're not going to be bruised. That's the reason we're not going to be cursed. That's the reason we can't be put to death eternally is because Christ died in our stead. He was God with us in His incarnation. He was God with us in regenerating grace. Christ is formed in us by His Spirit. and therefore we read Christ in you the hope of glory. God with us. He's with us whenever we gather for worship like this. Emmanuel is with us this evening. He's God with us. He's God with us, Emmanuel, throughout our earthly pilgrimage. Here's the cure for worry, for covetousness, for envy, for anxiety. Here's the cure right here. If you will avail yourself of this prescription, remember that Emmanuel is God with us right now, not later on. But right now you suffer, got aches and pains, got something wrong with you, got a disease. Maybe somebody's facing death. He is still Immanuel, God with his people. He'll be with us throughout our pilgrim journey. He will be Immanuel when we get ready to cross the chilly waters of the River Jordan.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why not? Because thou art with me. Emmanuel's with me, Ron. Emmanuel! No need to fear anything. He's been carrying you through your pilgrimage through life, and he'll carry you right through death. safely to the other side. You don't have anything to worry about.

For people who have nothing to worry about, we sure do worry. We invent stuff to worry about. And we need to remember all things are of God. And I'll tell you this, Emmanuel be the song of the saints in glory. Because you see, Emmanuel, Don't dwell with us there. He's always my Emmanuel. He's God with me.

Let men say what they want to say. Let men do what they want to do. Let people speak vile of you or vile of me. Let people oppose us. Let men and women be enemies against the cause of God, or enemies against the gospel, enemies against the preachers of God. Hey, He's still Emmanuel. When we stand to preach His gospel, we're not standing by ourselves. The Lord's right here with me. That gives us boldness, you see?

Well, Immanuel, God was, and he proved his humanity because he ate butter and honey. Because that was a land flowing with milk and honey. Brother Allen gives me some honey. Oh, I sure like that, and I like that Amish butter, too. Good enough for the Savior, good enough for us, isn't it? That's really good stuff.

Well, let's sing the closing song.