Now if you're feeling a little
confused this morning you're in good company because I'm right
with you. Once in a while you have one of those weeks or two
weeks and days where it just seems like everything's kind
of out of kilter and it's been that kind of morning for me.
Start off I got the wrong Sunday school lesson for my Sunday school
class. And then I was talking to one of our ladies about a
matter we discussed last week, and I had completely forgotten
it. And I forgot to mention one of our dear brothers who's in
the hospital to the Sunday school class. And then to top it off,
Brother Joe gets up here. And he says, turn to Psalm 32.
And I know I didn't put Psalm 32 down on that paper. And I
thought, man, I've messed up again this morning. It was Isaiah
32. You read the right passage. You
just called it the wrong thing. So I thought, man, what is going
on with me today? So please don't ask me to say
your name this morning. I'll tell you. Anyway, well,
let's see if we can preach the gospel and study the word of
God. in this few minutes here. I want to talk to you this morning
a little bit about the person and work of Jesus Christ. That's the title of the message.
The person and the work of Jesus Christ. Now there, that's what
the whole Bible's about, isn't it? From Genesis to Revelation.
Point us to Christ in the glory of his person. Who is Jesus Christ? Exactly who is he? That's important. Somebody says, well, anybody
who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Well, what
is his name? Well, his name is involved in
who he is. His name identifies and distinguishes
him so that I can know and you can know that we're not trusting
a counterfeit, that we're trusting the true Christ of this book.
And then it speaks of his finished work, what he accomplished on
Calvary. And I suppose there's that, as
I said, the whole Bible is about this subject, but I suppose there's
no two verses in the Scripture that so comprehensively spells
that out than Isaiah chapter 9 and verses 6 and 7. We quote
them all the time, and especially this time of year you hear these
verses. We sang them in our opening hymn,
Unto Us a Child is Born. Look at it, verse 6, Unto Us
a Child is Born. Unto Us a Son is Given. And the
government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name, whosoever
shall call upon his name, well here's his name, his name shall
be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. There's the person of Christ
right there. There's the glory of his person. Then verse 7,
of the increase, or the multiplying, the success of his government
and peace, there shall be no end. In other words, it's not
going to fail. upon the throne of David and
upon his kingdom to order it, to establish it with judgment
and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the
Lord of hosts will perform this." There's his finished work, his
successful work for his people, the person and the work of Christ.
One of the most complete prophecies of the Lord Jesus Christ found
in the Old Testament. Two fundamental gospel principles
right there. The gospel in two verses. Salvation
itself. His name shall be called Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins. The person and
the work of Jesus Christ. Well, let's just look at each
phrase here. First of all, in verse 6, the person of Christ.
The glorious person of Christ. And look how it starts out. Unto
us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. Well,
you can't reverse that. I mean, you can't say a child
is given and a son is born. Not in this case. A child is
born. That's the child Jesus. That's the infant. That's the
seed of woman. Born of Mary. This speaks of
his deity and his sinless humanity. That's what it's talking about.
He was to come into the world as the Virgin's son. And he did. He was true man. Spirit, soul,
and body, as born of Mary, but without a human father. He was
conceived in the womb of the Virgin by the Holy Spirit of
God, without the aid of man. He was born that holy thing,
that's what the angel called him, that holy thing. That's
not a term of derision. That's a term that shows his
uniqueness. Nothing like him. There was never
anything like Him before and there will never be anything
like Him afterward. He is the only begotten Son of
God. But now, that's the child born. That child, that holy child.
And He is also the eternal Son of the Father who had come from
the glory that He had with the Father from all the past eternity. Given in grace for the redemption
of His people. and united His deity, the Son
given. The Son cannot be born. He's
the eternal Son. He's the second person of the
Trinity. Has no beginning and no end. He's the great I Am.
You know, that could never be said of a mere man. I Am. I Am. That's God. And that refers
to His deity. And He united. Now think about
this. He united His deity with His humanity every way except
apart from sin. No sin in him, no sin of him. And so we see Jesus Christ the
Savior as God and man in one blessed person. When the angel
appeared to Joseph concerning this issue of Mary's pregnancy,
the angel told him that this one who was coming, who would
be born of Mary, would be called Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins. Well, is He able to do that? Is He able to accomplish the
salvation of His people from their sins? And in verse 23 of
Matthew chapter 1, He says, His name shall be called Emmanuel,
which being interpreted, God with us. That's the prophecy
here. Unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. That's
God with us. That's the Word which was in
the beginning. That's the Word which was with
God. That's the Word which was God.
And that's the word that was made flesh and dwelt among us,
Jesus Christ. It says, the government shall
be upon his shoulders. What government is he talking
about? Well, it's true that Jesus Christ, as the Lord of glory,
the savior of his people, will rule over this whole universe.
This whole universe is his domain. Every knee shall bow, every tongue
shall confess that Jesus is Lord. It'll be his footstool. But what
he's talking about here is specifically a prophecy of the Messiah, the
anointed one, the chosen one, to come as the redeemer of his
people. This is covenant language. This
is the product of the everlasting covenant of grace made before
time. And that government that he's speaking of is the government
of God's eternal kingdom the government of grace, the government
of the redeemed, the government of salvation. And when it says
the government shall be upon his shoulder, why his shoulder?
Well, his shoulder represents his power. That's what it represents. He's able to carry the weight
or the burden or the responsibility of this government. And what
he's simply saying here is upon this person, this child born,
this son given, God-man, one person with two natures, God
and human, without sin, the whole government of the salvation of
God's people was placed squarely upon his shoulders. All salvation
is conditioned on the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, salvation is
not conditioned on the people of God. Not conditioned on you. Not conditioned on me. If it
were, it would fail. Now do you know that? If it were,
it would fail. People all over this country
talking about how Christ made everybody savable if they'll
meet the condition of faith. If that's so, then there's no
hope for any of us, friend. No hope for any of us. Man by
nature will not choose God, will not come to Christ. It's all
conditioned on Christ. Well, did He meet those conditions?
Well, hold on. The government shall be upon
His shoulder. Well, is He able to do all that? Well, He's God and man in one
person. And look here, it says, His name
shall be called Wonderful. That means awesome. You know,
our young people, they use that word too quickly. Oh, that's
awesome. Most of the things they call awesome are not awesome
at all. But I want to tell you something.
This right here is awesome. This is a miracle. Look over
at Luke chapter 2 with me. Luke chapter 2. Look at verse 9. This is when
the angel appeared to the shepherds concerning the birth of the Messiah.
In Luke chapter 2 and verse 9 it says, Lo, the angel of the Lord
came upon them, and it says, the glory of the Lord shone round
about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto
them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy
which shall be to all people. See, it's not just to the Jews.
God has a people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation.
And he says, For unto you is born this day in the city of
David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord, And this shall be a
sign unto 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. Glory to God in the highest.
That's why his name shall be called Wonderful. Jesus Christ,
the God-man, is the embodiment of the full glory of God. How is that even possible? I
don't know, but it is. Colossians chapter 2 and verse
9 says, In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. That's awesome. That's a miracle,
you see. That's not just words that we
use loosely. His name shall be called Wonderful.
It means a revelation from God, a wonderful mystery, something
that only God reveals. You know, there were people who
saw Him, But we're not impressed at all. In fact, as to His outward
appearance, He had nothing special about Him in His outward appearance
to appeal to anybody at all. In fact, Isaiah 53 describes
Him this way in verse 2. He shall grow up before Him as
a tender plant, as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form
nor comeliness. That comeliness is like beauty.
that would draw somebody like, who is charismatic, you see.
He said, he hath no form nor comeliness and when we shall
see him there is no beauty that we should desire him. There was
nothing about his physical appearance that would draw anyone to him.
It says he is despised and rejected of men. A man of sorrows. You
don't want to be around a man of sorrows, do you? You know
somebody is always down all the time. You want to get away from
them. But this person, this God-man, this Lord of glory, this wonderful
person, he's a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We
hid as it were our faces from him. That's man by nature. He
was despised and we esteemed him not. That's the way the Scripture
describes him. And yet, by God's sovereign description
here, it says his name is wonderful. Think about it. without controversy. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh. You see, this is something only
God knows and God reveals. That's why I read in that Psalm
118 when he's talking about the work of the Messiah. This is
marvelous in our eyes. I remember a time when it wasn't
marvelous in my eyes at all. What's the difference? God revealed
it. God opened these old eyes. He gave the blind sight. He gave
the deaf hearing ears. And then we see something wonderful. And I'll tell you what, later
we're going to see how His name is wonderful because of the work
which He would accomplish. Look at the next one in verse
6. His name is wonderful. His name is Counselor. Why do
you go to a counselor? To get advice. Find out what
to do. Where to go. How to act. Well, Christ is the Great Counselor. He's the One Counselor. He is
the Wisdom of God. You want wisdom? You'll find
it in Christ. He's all wisdom, and all wisdom
is in Him. He's the revelation of God and
His glory. He's the way. He's the truth.
He's the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by Him. He's the Counselor. He's the
Word of God. You want to know what God says?
Look to Christ. The Bible teaches us that only
the Father reveals Him and He reveals only the Father. He is
the embodiment of wisdom. He is the one who tells us the
way of salvation because He is the way of salvation. There is
no other way but the way of Christ, the way of grace, the way of
the blood, the way of righteousness. And then it says His name is
the mighty God. That's the second person of the
Trinity. And it speaks of His power and
the fact that He's able to save to the uttermost them that come
unto Him by His blood to the Father. He is the mighty God. He is God in every attribute
of deity. Yes, He's man in every attribute
of humanity without sin, but He's fully God, fully man. How
can you explain that? But he's able. I know this. Paul
said, I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. He's
the mighty God. He's the power of God. The scripture
teaches us. And then it says he's the everlasting
father. Now, I've heard some things about
this one, and I want to just start out by showing you this
is not a confusion of the distinction of persons in the Trinity. This
is not saying that Christ is God the Father and God the Father
is the Son and confusing that. Now I'll tell you something about
the Trinity. The Trinity is one of the most blessed and awesome
truths of the Bible. It really is. It's an amazing
thing. To deny the Trinity is to deny
God. To deny the Trinity is to deny
Jesus Christ and the way of salvation. But no human being on God's green
earth from Adam on to the last one who is ever born on this
earth could ever explain to you or to me the Trinity. It is not
possible. It is one of those areas that
falls under the category of such knowledge is too wonderful for
me. It is one of those areas that
shows us That God is God and we are human beings. Even saved
human beings. We know something about the Trinity
because God reveals it. But we can't explain it. We cannot
even illustrate it. I know people try. You've heard
all those illustrations. I have too. You take this water
glass here. You've got liquid and you've
got a solid. You've got some ice in there.
I really appreciate that ice this morning. You got liquid,
you got solid. If I took it back there and put
it in a poppin' bullet, you'd have steam. And they use that
and say, that's what the Trinity's like. No, it's not. That would
be one God in three forms. And that's not what the Trinity
is. The Trinity is one God in three persons. Each person subsisting
in that office which is assigned by the Godhead. And I can't explain
that to you. It's one God, it's not three
gods. It's not a three-headed God. It's not one God in three
forms or one God in three roles. It's the Trinity. But there is
a distinction of persons in the Trinity. There's God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. When it says that Christ,
this child born, this Son given, is the everlasting Father, it
could be translated this way, the Father of eternity. But either
way, here's what it's saying. Jesus Christ, The second person
of the Trinity, incarnate, the Son of God incarnate, is the
author and finisher of salvation. That's what it means when it
says He is the Eternal Father. He's the author and finisher
of our faith, the Scripture says. He's the provider and protector
of His people. He's the source of every blessing
that we enjoy. The Bible says that we're blessed
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. Every blessing that we as the
children of God, sinners saved by the grace of God, every blessing
we enjoy and even the blessings that we have not yet experienced,
they all start with Jesus Christ. He is the everlasting Father
of everything that we have and everything that we enjoy. Now
it also says here in verse 6, He is the Prince of Peace. Look
back at Luke chapter 2. Verse 14. This passage, and especially
this verse, is quoted during this time of year by so many. Luke 2 and verse 14. Now it says,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace. Now you hear
what it says there, don't you? On earth peace. Let me ask you
a question. Is there peace on this earth? Well, the answer depends on what
kind of peace you're talking about. If you're talking about
peace between nations, you'd have to say no, unless you live
in a cave somewhere and don't talk to anybody or listen to
anything. Is there peace between men? No. There are some. I mean, you know, there's some
semblance of it. But what's he talking about? On earth peace.
And then he says goodwill towards men. If you'd look at the original
translation or the original Greek of this, it would read this way. It would give you several ways.
What it would be is glory to God in the highest and on earth
peace to all on earth who please Him. Peace to all on earth who
please Him. Or it could be peace among men
with whom He is pleased. It is another way of translating
Or as one translation puts it, and I believe it could go this
way, if you look at the words, peace on earth to people he favors. God favors. If you look at it
that way, peace to all on earth who pleases God. Man by nature
doesn't please him. He says that. Who pleases God? I know the only
one that He said pleases Him in the perfection of nature is
Jesus Christ. He said, this is my beloved Son
in whom I am well pleased. I know over in Hebrews 11 it's
the talk of a man named Enoch who pleased God and then right
after that it says, without faith it's impossible to please God.
Who pleases God? I'll tell you who pleases God.
Any sinner who comes to God pleading the merits of His Son, Jesus
Christ. That's who pleases God. With whom is God pleased? All
of His people in Jesus Christ, washed in His blood, clothed
in His righteousness. Who does God favor eternally
and spiritually? All who are in Christ. So peace
on earth, what's he talking about when he's called the Prince of
Peace? He's talking about reconciliation
between God and His people by Jesus Christ. That's what he's
talking about. Yes, there's peace on earth. If you're in Christ,
you're at peace with God. You're still here on this earth,
but you're at peace with God. Christ came to this world to
make peace. He established peace on earth between God and His
people. Now, how did He do that? Well,
just hold on to that thought. He establishes peace within the
hearts of His people. How? Alright, hold on. Let's
go to verse 7. Here's the second thing. Isaiah
9, 7. Here's the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. What a person
that we trust. What an awesome, glorious person
who is our salvation. Here's the redemptive work of
Christ. First of all, it says, of the increase of His government
and peace, There shall be no end. That word increase, it means
to multiply. It means to grow. You know what
it means? It means success. It means success. There'll be no end. There'll
be no failure. There'll be no hindrance here.
What's he talking about? The increase of his government.
What's his government? That's the government of grace.
That's the salvation of his people. That's the population of his
kingdom. How do they get there? By good
works? No. By the sovereign grace of
God. So what does it mean? It means
the full redemption and salvation of His people conditioned on
Him and not on them. Of the increase of His government. The full redemption and full
salvation of His people. And why? Well, it says of the
increase of His government and peace. In other words, the full
redemption The full success of His finished work is because
of eternal peace which He established by everlasting righteousness.
Now go back to Isaiah 32. That passage that Joe read, Isaiah
32, is a prophecy, another prophecy of the Messiah. And listen to what it says. Verse
1. He says, Behold, a king shall
reign in righteousness. Now that's not talking about
King David. David's already dead by this time. David's been dead
for several hundred years. Some people say, well, David's
going to rise again. No, not King David. Peter dealt
with that in Acts chapter 2 when he prophesied, when he invoked
a prophecy of the resurrection, quoting from the Psalms that
David wrote. And he said this, he said, David
wasn't speaking of himself. He's speaking of somebody else.
Who? He's speaking of the royal son of David, the perfect son
of David, the everlasting Father, the Lord Jesus Christ. So a king
shall reign in righteousness and princes shall rule in judgment. That's the Messiah and it goes
on. But where I want you to go to is look at verse 17 at the
last of this passage. It says, and the work of righteousness
shall be what? Peace. Now, peace between God
and sinners is established upon the work of righteousness. And
he says, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.
That's that peace which passes understanding in the hearts of
God's people by the power of the Holy Spirit. And then he
says in verse 18, my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation. Now he's not talking about somewhere
on this earth. He's talking about dwelling in
the house of the Lord. He's talking about dwelling in
the kingdom of God. And in sure dwellings, in other
words, they won't be upset, they won't fall, they'll never lose
them. And in quiet resting places. And he says, when it shall hail,
Coming down on the forest and the city shall be low and in
a low place, blessed are you that sow beside all waters, that
send forth thither the feet of the ox and the ass." In other
words, they are going to continue and they are going to be profitable,
they are going to be fruitful. It is all based upon the work
of righteousness. We will look back at verse 7
of Isaiah 9. Of the increase of His government
and peace, there will be no end, He says, upon the throne of David
and upon his kingdom. He's not talking about a literal,
physical throne in Jerusalem. That's going to come in the millennium.
You'd be amazed at how many say that when they go there. That's
not what he's talking about. He is talking about a literal throne.
You know, some people say, well, you don't believe in the literal.
I believe what this says is literal. What he's talking about is a
literal, messianic throne. over the heavenly Jerusalem fulfilled
in and by the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Peace, the Prince
of Peace. Look at Jeremiah. Turn to Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah spoke of it in prophecy. Verse 5, Jeremiah 23. He says, Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord. And I will raise unto David a
righteous branch. Who's he talking about? That's
the Messiah. That's the child born, the son given. And a king
shall reign and prosper. Of the increase of his government,
there'll be no end. And shall execute judgment and
justice in the earth. And in his days, Judah shall
be saved and Israel shall dwell safely. This is his name whereby
he shall be called. Who is he? The Lord, that's Jehovah,
our righteousness. Jehovah, Sidcon, he's not talking
about King David there. King David would never be named
Jehovah. No man could ever be, no mere
man could ever be named Jehovah. Who's this talking about? He's
talking about the God man. The Lord, our righteousness. And
then look over at the book of Luke, this time chapter one. Turn to Luke chapter one. Verse 32. Remember we talked
about Matthew 1 where it talked about His name shall be called
Jesus, where He shall save His people from their sins. Well
look, in verse 31, this is the angel speaking to Mary and it
says in verse 31 of Luke 1, And behold, thou shalt conceive in
thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.
Look at verse 32, He shall be great, and shall be called the
Son of the Highest, 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." Forever and
ever and ever. Was that talking about Christ?
Of course it is. This is the only one it can be
talking about. That one who was made of the seed of David according
to the flesh, speaking of his sinless humanity, That one who
is declared to be the Son of God, His deity with power. That's who He's talking about.
Go back to Isaiah 9. You see, this is talking about
David's throne in spirit. That eternal throne of which
was prophesied through David and of which David's throne is
a type and a picture. It's not a literal seat that
someone's going to sit on here on this earth. It's the seat
of glory in heaven which the Son of God incarnate sits on,
ruling and disposing of all things, all things under Him. And it
says, upon His kingdom, verse 7, it says, to order it, He's
going to set things in order. He's not waiting on you to order
it. Or I hear people say, well, he's coming back when the Jews
get straightened up. No, he's already ordered it.
David spoke of that on his deathbed. He said, my salvation is sure,
although my house is a mess, my family is a mess. My salvation
is sure. Because he's made a covenant
with me that's ordered in all things and sure. And it certainly
wasn't conditioned on David. Wasn't conditioned on any of
David's family. Conditioned on Christ. It's ordered
in all things. He ordered it. He foreordained
it. He predestinated it. He chose
his people before the foundation of the world in Christ. And then
not only to order it, but to establish it. That means to lay
the foundation and to build it. And how did he establish it?
It says here, with judgment and with justice from henceforth
forever, even forever. Now we talked about how peace
is established upon the work of righteousness. Here's the
work of righteousness right there. He establishes it with judgment
and with justice. Here's the work of righteousness.
Here's how peace is established between God and sinners. made
peace, the Scripture tells us, by the blood of His cross. That's
Christ as our substitute. When we talk about the work of
Jesus Christ, the God-man, we must speak of substitution. He
stood in the place of His people, under the law. He who was made
of woman was made under the law. He's our surety. That is, all
the responsibility of our debt was put upon Him. The government
was on His shoulders. He's our sin bearer. He bore
our sins in His own body on the tree. He was made sin for us. Christ who knew no sin, that
we might be made what? The righteousness of God in Him. The sin which He bore, that's
the demerit of our sin. That's what our sins brought
upon Him. That's what we deserved and earned. The wages of sin is death. That's
why He had to die. And that's why He had to be made
flesh. To die. God cannot die. But this
person who is God did die. How could He do it? He was made
flesh. Man cannot work out an everlasting,
unchangeable righteousness. No man can do it. Adam couldn't
do it in the garden before the fall. But this person who is
man did work out a perfect everlasting righteousness. That's attributed
to his deity. He was made a curse for us. You
see, the sin that he was made, as our sins were imputed to him,
charged to him, accounted to him, that was our doing. The righteousness that we're
made, that's imputed, accounted us, that's His doing. And upon His doing, peace is
established. He was made a curse for us. You
say, well, it talks about judgment and justice. Where's the love?
Well, my friend, that's what's amazing to us. That's why it's
so glorious in our sight. That is the love. God in love
providing what His justice demanded. God being both a just God and
a Savior. That's grace and that's mercy.
Mercy and love. All based upon judgment and justice
established so that we can have confidence in this person, Jesus
Christ. And it's all because of Him.
Look over at Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. Look at verse 10. Listen to this. You see, this is what His birth,
His life, His death, His burial, His resurrection are all about.
And people make a mistake when they segment His life and just
look at this portion of it, not this. It's all one grand, glorious,
sovereign, marvelous event. in the history of time. And it's
the assurance of our salvation in Him. Look at verse 10 of Isaiah
53. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. That's God's work. It wasn't man's work. He hath put him to grief. Why
do you have to go through all that? To satisfy the justice
of God. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed That's his generation. That's his children. That means
this. That's all for whom he died. That's his sheep. That's
his church. He shall prolong his days and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Everything
God wants to do will prosper in the hands of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Verse 11, he shall see the travail of his soul. He's
going to be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many for he shall bear their iniquities. He bore
our sins in His own body. Therefore will I divide Him a
portion with the great and He shall divide the spoiled with
the strong. Why? Because He's poured out His soul
unto death. And He was numbered with the transgressors. Isn't
that something? And He bared the sin of many
and made intercession for the transgressors. That's His glorious
work. Well, the last one in Isaiah
9, 7, it says this. It says, of the Lord of hosts
will perform this." Now what's that about? You know when you're
zealous for something, that means you put all your energies into
it, don't you? All your desire. You have a zeal for something. It's a hobby or your job or your
family. Well, you have a zeal for that.
The Bible speaks of how man by nature has a zeal, but it's for
unholy, sinful things. I can think about Romans chapter
10, it talked about the Jews, the lost unregenerate Jews. And it said they had a zeal for
God, but not according to knowledge. They had a religious zeal. I
know people who are religiously zealous, but they don't know
Christ. Isn't that sad? I know people
who get zealous for Christmas. I mean, you know, it's like they
live all year just for this time. But they don't know Christ. Zealous
for a lot of things. Well, here it speaks of the Lord. The Lord of hosts. Who's that?
That's the Lord. Literally what that means is
the Lord of a great army. But what it means, what it means
to us is this. It's the Lord who cannot be defeated. The invincible God. In other
words, whatever He's zealous for, He can't be defeated. Have you ever had a zeal for
something and it didn't come out the way you wanted? Sure
you have. We have a zeal for a lot of things
and it just doesn't come out the way we want. And the reason
it doesn't come out the way we want is because we don't have
the wisdom, the foreknowledge and the power to make sure that
it comes out the way we want. But the Lord of hosts, he has
a zeal. Do you think it's not going to come out the way he
wants? Well, if you don't think it's
going to come out the way he wants, you don't believe in the
God of this book. The zeal of the Lord of hosts
will perform this. Well, what is it? What is this
zeal? Well, it's stated over in Luke 2 that we read in verse 14. What is that zeal? What's he
zealous for? Well, here it is. Verse 14. Glory to God in the highest. That's what he's zealous for.
His glory. He won't share his glory. He
won't deny his glory. He will not compromise his glory.
What is his glory? That's his honor. That's his
reputation. It's on the line here. And he's
zealous for it. And He won't share it, He won't
deny it, He won't compromise it. Not for you, not for me,
not for anybody. In fact, if God is not glorified,
you can mark it down, there is no salvation. But glory to God in the highest.
You mean the highest? What do you mean the highest?
That means the highest manifestation of the glory and honor of God.
Where is that to be found? What does He say here? And on
earth, peace, goodwill. Where is that to be? In Christ.
Christ is the Shekinah glory of God. The Bible speaks of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. It says in 2 Corinthians 5, God
was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing
their trespasses. God has engaged His glory in
the salvation of His people based on the righteousness of this
person, right here. So that when you trifle, now
listen to me, when you refuse to believe in Him, your war,
your opposition is opposition to the zeal of the Lord of hosts,
to the glory of God. When you trifle with this, as
men do today, and confuse people over it, you're trifling with
the zeal of the Lord of hosts. The zeal of God. The glory of
God. You understand? But when you
come to Christ as a sinner seeking mercy, pleading His blood and
righteousness alone for all salvation, you know what's happened there?
You've seen with the eye of faith by the power of the spirit, the
glory of God in the highest. And there's peace between you
and God. You didn't make it. God did in his son. All right. We're going to sing hymn