Good morning. Turn with me to
the book of Colossians chapter 2, scripture reading. I want to read beginning in verse 1
down through verse 12. For I would that ye knew what
great conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea, and
for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh. And this we're about to read
in verse two is my heart's desire for us here this morning, that
our hearts might be comforted being knit together in love and
unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement
of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ in whom
are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In this
I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words For though
I be absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in the spirit,
joying and beholding your order and the steadfastness of your
faith in Christ. As ye have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him, rooted and built up
in him, and established in the faith as ye have been taught
abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware, lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after
the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are
complete in him, which is the head of all principality and
power, in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without
hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the
circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism, wherein
also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of
God who hath raised him from the dead. Let's pray. Our peace is in a person, isn't
it? Oh, Lord, abide with me. We read a minute ago, in whom
are hid in Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge. Sounds to me like we don't need
to look anywhere else, does it? We need to pitch camp right there
and learn of Him. Learn of me, the Scripture says,
and be at peace. My text is found over in the
book of Isaiah this morning, chapter 9. You know, one of the most thrilling
things to me, as I stand before you this morning, is that we speak of a salvation that's
a certain salvation. We speak of a Savior who accomplished
salvation. We speak of a God who is God. And what He proclaims, He shall
bring to pass. There's no room for, if you do
this, God will do that. God's Word is a proclamation.
God is who He is. God has done what He has done. God will do what He has purpose
to do. It's about who He is. who his
son is, what his son has done, where his son is, what he's doing. And brothers and sisters, we
are totally subject to God's will, to God's purpose. We have no power, we have no
ability. We were brought forth in his
time, and we shall leave this world in his time. He gives,
He takes away, He kills, He makes alive. And we all are subject to His
will in His time. He gives life at the appointed
time. And we have an appointment with
death. And we will keep that appointment. And God made that
appointment. And whether we like it or not,
we are subject to His will in regard to natural things. And
we are subject to His will regarding eternal spiritual things. And we gather this morning, we
look to Him to provide our needs, not only for natural things,
but for our spiritual needs, for our salvation. We look to
Him alone. And as I look out at your faces
this morning, I see us all, we all have a problem. You and I, we're in this together
as far as what we are dealing with. We've all got a big problem. We have a sin problem. And it's
killing us. It's destroying us. And Pam just sang, in all around
I see change and decay. And we, our pastor preached to
us a couple Wednesdays ago that all that we see, all that we
can touch and feel and taste, it's temporary. It's temporary. The one that we love that sits
beside us this morning, It's a temporary relationship. Our
children that we enjoy, and they're such a joy to us, they're temporary. They're gods. He gave them. He, in his time, will take them.
These relationships are temporary. And I'm here to be dead honest
with you this morning. I wouldn't deceive us, and this
is not a place to sugarcoat things. to try to make people feel better, just for the sake of making you
feel better. I'm here to tell you the truth according to God's
Word. God's Word is truth, and we're
subject to His Word, to His truth. So I wouldn't deceive you. But where do we find comfort?
We see these things happening. We know they're happening. You
say, I don't want to think about that. It's just a depressing
thought. We need to think about these
things. These days are coming when we're going to have to turn
loose of everything in this world we hold so dear. Are we not? Let's live as though we're going
to die because we are. Let's not live as though we are
never going to die and never be separated from what we enjoy
in this world. Let's be honest with ourselves
this morning. Let's be honest. So where do
we find comfort when we come down to that time that's appointed,
when our health is gone and eternity is in view? We're about to step
out into eternity, the unknown. Where does that comfort come
from? Does it come from what I believe, from what I've convinced
myself of? Do I comfort myself in my own
thoughts? That's a sorry place to place
your trust and your hope. We place it in Him, a person,
acquainting ourself with Him. We want to know Him now, so we
know Him then, and He knows us, and He'll carry us through, and
we can have confidence in that, and assurance in that, a sure
thing, a sure foundation. Boy, I want my foundation to
be firm and sure in that hour. I want it to be sure. And where
is that? God has laid that foundation.
It's Christ. Let's build on that foundation.
I run across a scripture in Isaiah 43. Our Lord says this, you can
read it when you get time, but He says, I, even I, am He that
blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not
remember your sins anymore. The emphasis is on I, even I,
It's one thing to read a promise, but to know Him who has promised.
There's the comfort. There's the assurance. There's
what we will need when all is taken away, knowing Him who loved
us and gave Himself for us. My, oh my, what a Savior. And that's what I aim to tell
you some more about this morning. and establish our trust in Him. Establish that He's worthy to
be trusted. He's worthy to be believed. And if He is, if He is worthy
to believe Him, let's believe Him with all our hearts. Let's trust Him with all that
lies within us. All the grace that God will give
us to trust Him. Is there any guidance in the
Scripture, in the Word of God? Most of you know the Scripture
better than I do. Is there any guidance in the
Word of God that says, that teaches us to be reserved in this matter,
be cautious in this matter, don't trust too heavily, don't lean
too hard on Christ? No. Anything but. Just cast our all on Him. all
of our weight, all of our trust, without reservation, without
hesitation, wholeheartedly, you can fall on Him. He'll carry
you. He'll save you. He'll keep you. He'll bring you to Himself in
glory. Isn't that a blessed thing? Our
Savior is such a one as He is. And His Word, when He gives us
a promise, I've blotted out your transgressions. You can lay hold
on that because it's of who has promised it, who has done it,
who has done the work, who has made the promise. That's our
assurance. That's our hope that will carry
us through no matter what happens, no matter what comes. And that's
my hope. And I trust that's your hope.
So let's read about him in Isaiah chapter 9. That's my introduction. You're all familiar with this
in verse 6. For unto us a child is born,
and unto us a son is given. Now this is written six or seven
hundred years before Christ actually came. But it speaks as though
He's already come. God's not bound by time. What
He has purposed shall come to pass in time. But 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. He shall do it. But I want us
to consider for a few minutes this prophecy of Isaiah concerning
our Lord Jesus Christ. We read here of His certain coming.
Not only is it in the future as far as time goes, but it's
in the purpose of God, which is established from all eternity,
as though it already was. In the person of Christ, where
do we start? My oh my, God in Christ, Christ
the Son, so deep is the mystery of the person of our Lord that He must reveal Himself to us
for us to know anything about Him. We read over there in Colossians,
in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. They're
hid in Him. He's got to reveal them to us,
the riches of each person, of Himself. There's no seeing Jesus
except by His own light. He is the light and He gives
light. He shines the light of the knowledge of the gospel into
the hearts of His people. If He doesn't do that, we'll
be blind and we'll never see. He is the lesson, but He's the
schoolmaster. He's the teacher. He is that
which is to be seen for we're to look to Him, but it is by
Him that we're enabled to see Him. Isn't that something? For
He giveth sight to the blind, as I said, or else we remain
blind. So where do we begin? As we scan the whole of this
reading, these two verses, how in the world can we grasp, by
our finite minds, how can we comprehend God and Christ and
His deity, His manhood, His perfections, How can we grasp it? Well, we
can't. We never will in this lifetime. But how can all of this that
we've read be ascribed to one person, a man, the God-man? That answers a lot of it. But
how in the world can all this be ascribed to one man? Almost
in the same breath, Isaiah calls him a child and a counselor.
A son and a father. A son and an everlasting father. And yet this is no contradiction.
We're talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man. He's
everything we're not, and He's nothing that we are. He's beyond
our comprehension. It's no contradiction, but it's
a marvel. It's a marvel that we marvel
at, that we wonder at. He was an infant, yet He's infinite. Can't explain that. Can't grasp
that. He who was the man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief, He's God over all. And look over in Revelations
chapter 7. I want to show you something
that This kind of amazes me, along
these same lines. In verse 17 of Revelation 7,
it says, for the Lamb, talking about our Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ, for the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall
feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters,
and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. What is striking
to me about this is he's referred to as a lamb. He was made a sacrifice
for sin as the lamb of God who shed his blood. But here he acts
as the shepherd. He's the lamb and he's the shepherd. Because it says, The lamb which
is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead
them. Have you ever known a lamb to lead a flock? The shepherd
leads the flock. Lambs are followers. They're
dumb animals, aren't they? Just in like manner, he's God
and he's man in one person. Here we read he's the lamb and
it says in The New Testament, he's the shepherd of the sheep,
the great shepherd of the sheep, and he's a lamb. He's all of
these magnificent persons, magnificent things in one person, our Lord
Jesus Christ. The lamb becomes a shepherd. As well might a gnat seek to
drink in the ocean, as a finite creature comprehend the eternal
God. And how vast is the ocean. Spurgeon said this, I like what
he said here about this, he said, we must not suppose that we shall
understand Him at a glance. And most people take a glance
at Him, think they know Jesus Christ. A look will save the
soul, a look to Him, look unto me and be ye saved. But patient
meditation alone can fill the mind with the knowledge of the
Savior. Glorious mysteries are hidden in His person. He speaks
to us in plainest language, and He manifests Himself openly in
our midst. But yet in His person itself
there is a height and a depth which human intellect fails to
measure. When He has looked long and steadily, The devout observer
perceives in His well-beloved beauty so rare and ravishing,
he's lost in wonder." And boy, that's the truth, isn't it? We're
just lost in wonder when we consider Him. But it's with this sense in awe
and wonder that we consider these verses this morning. First, let
us look at this. Go back to Isaiah 9. The first thing I want us to
observe is this, for unto us, unto us is a child born. The declaration is made not just
that a child is born, but unto us is he born. Unto us. There's a specific purpose designed
in that in a child being born. He's born unto us. Not unto all is He born, but
unto us. He further adds that unto us
a son is given. Unto us a son is given. And this
giving is one of the chief articles of our faith, for nothing is
to be gained that Christ was born if He had not likewise been
our own. if He had not likewise been born
unto us. You see, the whole world believes
that a child is born. You know, most folks practice Christmas. They have
Christmas. It's all about baby Jesus. But only those who are born again
can say unto us, a child is born. There's a scripture very familiar
to you all in Matthew 1 and verse 21. I think it's probably one of
my favorite scriptures, if not the most favorite here recently.
And it just says this. This is a declaration. And she shall
bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. His name
is the Savior, for He shall save His people from their sins. There's rest in that. There's
assurance in that. There's peace in that. I blotted
out your transgressions. I, even I. There's certainty in that message.
We're not speculating. This is not a theory, this is
not a false doctrine. This, and think of this, this
is a promise of God. God's promise. My oh my, God's to be believed
and by His grace I'm going to believe and lay hold of that
to my dying day. He's going to save His people. He came to accomplish salvation
for His people and He accomplished it. Oh, what rest there is in
that. It has nothing to do with what
I am, what I've done, what I hope to do. It doesn't depend on me. And God's not looking to me for
anything. We just bow. And thank God that He revealed
it to me that I'm one of those for whom He died. And notice, too, the certainty
of the statement back in our text. Unto you a child is born. It is stated as though it had
already been. The incarnation and birth of
Christ was yet to come, but it says unto us a child is born,
present tense. And that's the way it is with
God's decrees, God's designs. Like I say, He's not bound by
time. That which is purposed, it's as good as done. His Word standeth sure. Sure. There's nothing sure in this
life. Nothing sure. Other than what God has purposed. That's sure. And we look to Him. And when something's sure, you
can take full assurance in it, as I said a minute ago. Not half-hearted
assurance, full assurance, with a whole heart, unreservedly.
I'm relying on that. That's my foundation. Full assurance
can be laid upon God's Word. It's true. There's nothing true
in this world without deceit and watered down. There's nothing
true. Just God is true. You see, there's
no possibility of God's purpose being thwarted. If God saves
a man, he shall be saved. No chance, as we say, that that's
not going to be brought to pass. That's what I said at the outset.
I love the certainty. There's rest and peace in the
certainty of God's salvation that He elected a people gave
Him to His Son, and in time sent His Son to die for those people
and put away their sins, washed them from their sins in His own
blood. And He saw to that. And He's
seeing to that. And that's where our confidence
is. We look to Him who has promised. And if God says a thing, I can
stand before you and these are outlandish things. If it were
not in the Word of God, we could not believe it. We would not
believe it. But if God says it, you can proclaim
it with full assurance that you're not deceiving people, that I'm
telling you the truth because it's what God said. It's what
God's Word says. There's no basis for us to believe
that God saves sinners, that God would save somebody like
me. unless it was in the Word of God. And God's people believe His
Word. You know that? We're not called
upon to prove the validity of God's Word. God convinces His
people in His time and they believe His Word. They take it as fact. His purpose shall be accomplished. And you can believe it's never,
Scott used to say it's never, Speculation to believe God. Nothing
ventured on believing God. Nothing ventured on believing
God. Believe God. He's to be believed. He's to
be trusted. Hesitate not for a moment to
believe Him. We believe God and we cast our
never dying souls upon what He said. as a foundation of our
hope, never seeing Him. Remember, everything we see is
temporary. Only what we see by faith is
permanent and eternal and lasting. And then we read in our text,
and the government shall be upon His shoulder, not only of the world in general,
but of the church in particular. John 17 says that God the Father
has given Him power over all flesh. He has power over you
and authority over you. Rightful power and authority.
It's His right. And there's no limit to His right.
He can do with you as it pleases Him. He's a sovereign God. But aren't
you glad that our sovereign God is a gracious God, and He shows
grace and gives grace. If it frightens you to be in
the hands of God, and it should, that's the beginning of wisdom.
He can send you to hell and be right in doing so. Run to Him,
pleading for grace, pleading for mercy. He delights to show
mercy. Our sovereign God is a merciful
God. That's our only hope. That's
our only hope. Go to Him in Christ. But when I compare the government
of Christ with that of earthly governments, I see little similarity. You know, we got presidents and
kings, powers, they're very limited. They think they have a lot of
power, but as far as we're concerned, they do. Compared to us, they
do. But compared to Christ who has all power, they have no power,
none. They exercise power among their
equals and their subordinates. But they have no power but what
has been given them by God. So we can say they have no power
because they don't. God gives them any power that
they have over others. Their power is very limited.
Concerning Christ's government, our text says the government
shall be upon His shoulder. Now I was struck by the fact
that it says shoulder, singular. He doesn't need both shoulders.
That tells me a little bit about His power is infinite, His ability,
His strength to uphold the universe. just by the word of his power.
He doesn't need both shoulders. That's just me. That struck me
as significant. One shoulder, and he bears it
alone, and he needs no assistance. But more importantly, we see
the government of Christ over his church as its eternal head,
which is a far greater and more glorious office. His government consists in ruling
the hearts of His people, causing them to submit to Himself and
makes them willing in the day of His power. He subdues their
enemies and He goes before them. Like we read in Revelation 7,
the Lamb acts as a shepherd and goes before
them and leads them. He protects them and He supplies
their every need. Every need He supplies. He provides. He saves them by His grace and
keeps them by the word of His power. And in verse 7 of our
text, Isaiah 9, we read 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. And look at that
last word, the zeal of the Lord, of host, will perform this. And that word zeal kind of stuck
out to me. And the meaning I looked up,
it means fervent and flaming love. It's apparently not sufficient here
to say that the Lord will perform it, or else that's what we would
read. but rather that the zeal of the
Lord of hosts will perform it, the fervent and flaming love.
Oh, the Lord's heart is engaged fully in the salvation of His
people and He'll perform it. Can we imagine the greatness
of the Lord doing a thing only He can do? Much less the zeal
of the Lord doing a thing that only He can do. There's something
wonderful in that. In the matter of preserving His
church, God is inflamed with an uncommon and extraordinary
desire to promote the salvation of His church. And He'll come
with no light or slow arm to redeem His church. He'll be all
on flame with amazing love of believers and anxiety about their
salvation. And now I want to consider these
names that He's given in our text. His names, you know throughout
Scripture, He's given many, many names, our Lord Jesus Christ.
He's called many things and He has many names. And as I said a moment ago, I'm
just lost in the wonder of His person having embodied in one
person all that we see here. We read first of all, in the middle of verse 6, His
name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the
everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace. Truly what we read in Colossians
2 is true because it says, in Him dwells all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily. And I think it's significant,
you know, we can say our Lord is wonderful, He is. But it doesn't
say that here. It says, his name shall be called
wonderful. That's his name. You know, we
call one another things. A lovely person, a wonderful
person. And that's mostly just flattery. This is not flattery. This is
his very name. The essence of his person, of
his character. His name shall be called wonderful.
There's no flattery here, but the scriptures don't exaggerate.
They're true and faithful. Wonderful sometimes translated
as marvelous or miraculous. It may also mean separated or
distinguished. The scripture says of him, thou
art fairer than the children of men. The chief among 10,000
and altogether lovely. And think of the greatest wonder
that though He is before all things, and by Him all things
consist, that the Eternal of the Ages became an infant, condescended,
and took on flesh, was born of a virgin. And then beyond that,
see this. Oh my. See Him submit to the death of
the cross. His name shall be called Wonderful." See God Almighty condescend,
become a man, and submit to the death of the cross on behalf
of His people. God was manifest in the flesh
and crucified of men. God was manifest in the flesh
and crucified of men. Wow. Then see him rise from the
dead, a victor over his enemies, a victor over sin, a victor over
death. The highest intellects, the loftiest
minds have all wondered at Christ.
And it's a difficult task to make some men wonder, but such
men have covered their faces with their hands and cast themselves
into dust and confessed that they have been lost in wonder
and amazement. That's about all we can do with
that, isn't it? Just wonder at it. Be amazed at it. And then we read, His name shall
be called Counselor. He is a counselor, but His name
is Counselor. Scripture says of Him that He
is wisdom. He not only has wisdom and gives
wisdom, he himself is wisdom. It's his name. He is absolute
wisdom himself and he is in every respect the highest and most
perfect teacher. And he teaches his people by
and through his spirit, through his word. He said of himself,
all things that I've heard of my father, I've made them known
unto you. All things I've heard of my father.
We read in Psalms, the secret of the Lord is with them that
fear Him, and He will show them His covenant. He will show them
His covenant. And then His name is the mighty
God. Our Savior is a successful Savior
because He's God. None that He died for will ever
be lost. None. Not one. No possibility. He's the mighty God. He who has
the keys of hell and death, who has power to lay down His life
and then to take it again. He that bore the punishment for
sin in His own body and put it away, put away the wrath of God
against the sins of His people. He who conquered death, who rose
from the grave. He's immutable, omnipotent, all-wise
God over all. And as the mighty God, we may
now rely on Him with safety. If you're relying on Him, you're
safe. Scott used to say this too. He'd say, if you're trusting
Christ, you're safe as God can make you safe. That's pretty
safe. I like being there. Don't you? Full reliance. You can cast your
all on Him. And rest. Leave it there. And
go on. Oh boy. Our enemies are the devil. Can you do battle with the devil?
We can't. With death? Death is pressing
down upon us. It's coming. natural death. There's no spiritual
death. Christ did away with that. We'll
never die. We'll never die if we're His. These enemies are too powerful
and too strong, but we look to our mighty God, our Savior. In Christ, the mighty God, there's
abundant protection for defending our salvation, for keeping us,
for bringing us to glory, And we desire nothing beyond
Him, for there's no greater. He supplies all our needs, for
He's God. And He's pleased to proclaim
Himself mighty on our behalf. And then we have Him as the everlasting
Father. See, Christ and the Father are
one, and the Father is in Him, and He's in the Father. And he that has seen Christ has
seen the Father. and yet they're distinct. And
we're talking about the Divine Trinity of God, three in one,
one in three, beyond comprehension. But Christ is a Father with respect
to chosen men who were given Him as His children and offspring in that covenant between God
the Father and God the Son before time ever was. Those that He
adopted into His family, that is named of Him, that has His
name, and who are regenerated by His Spirit and by His grace.
To those, He's an everlasting Father, and He was so from everlasting,
before time ever began. Or we might say He's the author
of eternal life who has procured it for His own. He's the author
of our faith, the author of eternal life, which He gives. And then
He's the Prince of Peace, the Prince of Peace. Christ is a
Prince and exalted to be a Prince and a Savior. And He is said
to be the Prince of Peace because He's the author of peace. And He made peace by the blood
of His cross. He's the giver of peace. And
we look to Him for our peace. The Prince of Peace. Well, that's a lot, isn't it?
My, oh my. Our Lord, what a Savior. What
a Savior. Doesn't that draw us to Him?
Magnificent. Magnificent in all His offices. in all his attributes, in all
his characters. Do you count him worthy? Do you
count him worthy to be not only to be named as
he is named, where God has exalted Him and given Him a name which
is above every name. And every knee is going to bow,
every tongue is going to confess. Do you count Him worthy as God
has counted Him worthy? Is He worthy to be trusted? Is
He worthy for you to believe Him? He is all-believing, all
my dear soul trusting. No wonder that the scripture
proclaims Christ to be all in all, the one in whom God the
Father is well-pleased. May God cause us to be well-pleased
and satisfied with Christ our Savior and find in Him our all
in all, seeking none but Him for time and eternity. And when
that hour comes, and it's coming, it's coming soon, we'll part
from what we hold dear in this life. We will know Him and can call
on Him. And more importantly, He will
know us and He will see us through. And we can believe that and we
can believe Him and trust Him and lay our head on our dying
pillow with confidence and assurance that we'll wake up in His presence.
If you don't have that, you don't have anything, because you're
losing everything. If you have that, you have everything,
and come what may, it'll be well. We can sing, it is well with
my soul. The Lord bless you this morning. Gary, come and lead us in the
closing hymn. Let's stand, turning our hymnals
to