Now if you would turn with me
in your Bibles to the book of Isaiah chapter 9. Isaiah chapter
9. And as Brother Jim said, the
title of this message, it's in your bulletin there. You might
want to follow along in the bulletin, I'll be using this quite a bit.
I call it the story of Jesus Christ. the story of Jesus Christ. Some of you may remember from
years back, I know you young people may not know this, but
you remember the radio commentator named Paul Harvey? You might
remember him. And I used to enjoy listening
to Paul Harvey come on the radio. And he had one segment of his
program called The Rest of the Story. And in fact, you can get
it in book form now. But it's really interesting because
he tells things about things that happened in history. And
then he tells, and he says, I'll give you the rest of the story.
And he gives you some little facts that are just fascinating
about people in history. Well, that's what I want to do
this morning concerning our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I want
to give you the rest of the story. Actually, it'd probably be better
put this way. I want to give you the whole
story. Now you know this time of year, people are thinking
about the story of his birth. Many people after this is over,
they forget about it. Or they may not know anything
more. Come April or March or April, they'll be talking about
his resurrection. And those are good things, his
birth, his life, his resurrection. But again, they may not know
the whole story there, the rest of the story. They may either
not know or they may just forget about it. But the story of Jesus
Christ obviously is more than his birth and more than his resurrection,
even though that's very much vital parts of this story. But
one of the things I want you to see this morning as we look
at the scripture is this, is that if you are a sinner saved
by the grace of God, And that's the only kind of saved people
there are. Sinners saved by the grace of God. Christ said, I
didn't come to call the righteous. I came to call sinners to repentance.
The whole don't need it. If you're righteous, you don't
need a physician. You don't need a savior. But sinners saved by
grace. If you're one who has been brought
by God in His power to see the glory of God in Christ, to believe
in Him, rest in Him, to follow Him as He's revealed in the Scripture,
His story, in essence, is your story. And I'll show you what
I mean by that. The story of Jesus Christ. Now
look at Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6. You know, in these Old
Testament prophecies, you may wonder, you know, a lot of the
things that Brother Jim read in Isaiah 32, you may, well,
how does that fit with his story? The story of Christ. Well, you
know, all throughout their life as a nation under the Old Covenant,
the law of Moses, which lasted about 1,500 years, from Mount
Sinai, you know, God giving the law on Mount Sinai, you know,
the Ten Commandments. And He gave more than the Ten
Commandments, you know. He gave the ceremonial law, He gave the
civil law, all of that. From Sinai all the way to the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is the time period of the Old
Covenant, the law of Moses. Christ finished that. He abolished
it by way of fulfillment. That's why he said in John 19.30,
he's hanging on that cross, he said, it is finished. And you
remember when he died, what happened? The veil in the temple was torn
in two from top to bottom. That was a physical sign from
God that the old covenant was over now. The new covenant's
beginning. Well, during their history in
the 1500 year period of Israel under that covenant, There was
always times of rebellion, unbelief, even idolatry. There were times
of desolation. times of sorrow and despair,
just like what you were reading there in Isaiah 32, you know,
he talked about the people being desolate, but God, through the
prophets, always told them that the reason for their existence
as a nation under that covenant for that limited time period
was to bring, ultimately, to bring one person into this world. and is none other than the Messiah,
the Lord Jesus Christ, God in human flesh. And that's how that
passage started. A king shall come. He'll reign
in righteousness. And here you have all this desolation.
You know, we talk about the world today. We say the world's going
to hell in a handbasket. Well, that's true. But there
is hope. for sinners who look to Christ. That's what the gospel is all
about. Christ as He's revealed, as He's
identified in the Word. And so the whole Old Testament,
the whole New Testament is the story of Jesus Christ. And look
at Isaiah 9 and verse 6. This is the same thing. He talks
about the desolation, the coming punishments that are upon the
nation Israel. But he says, here's your hope
now. Here's the hope. It's not in the temple in Jerusalem. It's not in the nation as a nation. It's here, verse 6. For unto
us a child is born, unto us a son is given, 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. And verse seven, of the increase
of his government and peace, there shall be no end. Upon the
throne of David, he says, and upon his kingdom to order it,
to establish it with judgment and with justice or righteousness. Remember what Brother Jim read
in Isaiah 32, a king shall come and reign in righteousness. Judgment
and justice is righteousness. And he said, righteousness from
henceforth even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will
perform this. Now what I've just read there
in two verses is the story of Jesus Christ. Isn't that amazing? And it begins, look in your bulletin
there. I asked four questions here.
Who is Jesus Christ? Who exactly is he? Well, Isaiah
answers the question, for unto us a child is born. Now what's
that talking about? That's talking about the conception
and the birth of a miracle child. The Bible teaches us, we read
it in Matthew chapter one, Joseph and Mary, you know the story.
People are talking about it today. They're setting up nativity scenes
and all of that. Now, here's the real story. This
one who is the Messiah, now the word Messiah means anointed one.
The Greek word, or we transliterate it, is Christ. Jesus Christ.
You know, Christ is not his last name. Christ is his title, Jesus. Jesus means salvation. Christ means the anointed one,
the Messiah. And this person who is Messiah,
who is Jesus Christ, is a man, fully a man, in every way a human
being, without sin. A sinless man. A child is born. He was not born in a fallen,
dead state like we are naturally. We fell in Adam, the scripture
says. And we're born spiritually, not
physically, spiritually dead in trespasses and sins. But not
him. He was born a child. A child is born. He is man. Every bit man. Just like us except
without sin. And then look at the next line.
Unto us a son. Now notice it doesn't say a son
is born. It says a son is given. That speaks of his deity. He's
the son of God. He's the second person of the
Trinity, co-equal with the Father and the Spirit, having no beginning
and no end. His deity was not born. It was not conceived, not
created, not born. His deity always was, always
is, and always will be. Who is Jesus Christ? Well, we
read it in Matthew 1.21, His name shall be called Jesus, for
He shall save His people from their sins. And then later on,
here's the question, is He capable of saving me from my sins? Well,
His name shall be called Emmanuel, which is interpreted God with
a, He's God-man. That's who He is. fully God and
fully man. And his story reaches back before
the world began. Unto us a child is born. Who
is he? Unto us a son is given. He's God in human flesh. And
then look at the next, now here's the next question on your bulletin.
Why did he come into the world? Why did he come to this world?
Well, look at verse six of Isaiah nine. Unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his
shoulder." Now why do you put anything on anybody's shoulder?
So they can carry it. Isn't that right? They bear the
burden. The weight is upon them, the
condition is upon them. And what government is he talking
about? Well, over in verse seven, it
says, of the increase of his government and peace, there shall
be no end. You know what he's talking about?
It's the government of his kingdom. It's the government of grace.
It's the government of salvation, the salvation of his people.
You know, to have a government, you got to have a governor and
you got to have somebody who's to be governed. Isn't that right?
Or you don't have a government. I mean, I could go out on an
island somewhere and say, I'm gonna call this my government,
but that's just foolish, isn't it? But to have a government,
you gotta have a governor, and you gotta have those who are
governed. So who's this talking about? It's talking about Christ,
and it was put upon his shoulders to save his people from their
sins. The conditions of salvation were
upon Christ, not upon you. You know, today people preach
a gospel where they make salvation conditioned upon you, what you
do, what you choose, what you decide, what you believe. That's
not so. You say, well, don't people have to decide and believe
and choose? Yes. But even that's not a condition
in order to attain and maintain salvation. The government's up
on his shoulder. And what is the condition? Well,
it says in verse seven, of the increase of his government and
peace, there shall be no end upon the throne of David upon
his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and
with justice, with righteousness. The story of Jesus Christ is
the story of who he is and why he came into the world. He came
into the world as the surety of his people to substitute himself
in their place and pay their debt to God's law and justice
for their sins accounted, charged, reckoned to him, imputed to him. That's why he came. Unto us a
child is born. Unto us a son is given. And he
identifies him. He says his name, look at the
names given here in verse 6 of Isaiah 9. His name is Wonderful. That means an awesome miracle.
Wonder of wonders. It means a revelation from God,
a wonderful mystery. The Bible says, without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
In other words, if you know Him as He really is, it's a revelation
from God. It's not a consensus of men. We're going to vote on Him? No.
God's already appointed. It says His name is Counselor.
What does that mean? It means He knows what to tell
us. He knows what to say. It means His wisdom. That's what it's talking about.
All wisdom. He's the revelation of God in
His glory. He's the way, the truth, and
the life. No man comes unto the Father but by Him. It says He's
the mighty God. Well, He is God. Emmanuel, God
with us. The second person of the Trinity.
All-powerful. What does that tell us? It means
he's able to save to the uttermost them that come unto the father
by him. He's the everlasting father. Now this is not a confusion
of the distinction of persons in the Trinity. Some translate
this as he's the father of eternity. What it means is this. It means
that Jesus Christ is the one who brought salvation into the
world. He is the progenitor of the salvation of his people.
He's the author and finisher of our faith, the scripture says.
He's the provider and protector of his people. It says here,
he's the Prince of Peace. You know, we often quote. Luke
chapter 2 and verse 14 where it talks about goodwill towards
men and peace on earth and all of that. You know what that verse
is saying literally? If you translated it literally,
it means goodwill, God's goodwill toward his people and peace upon
all those with whom God is pleased. Now who do you suppose God is
pleased with? You could say, well, certainly
God is pleased with me. I'm doing the best I can. Well,
first of all, I doubt that you are really doing the best you
can because none of us can really say that we always do the best
we can. We used to tell our children,
say, well, if you make this grade or that grade, I just want to
know you're doing the best you can. And we hope they strive for that.
Somebody says, well, I know he's pleased with you, preacher. You're
out there preaching. Is that what pleases God? You
know what God said about pleasing him? Christ came to John the Baptist
when he began his public ministry. And he bade John to baptize him. And John said, well, I can't
baptize you. You're the Messiah. I'm not worthy.
And he said, suffer it or allow it to be so for us to fulfill
all righteousness. That's why he came, to fulfill
all righteousness. And John baptized him. That was
a picture of his death, burial, and resurrection. In other words,
this is what Jesus Christ, the Messiah, was going to do in order
to fulfill righteousness. He was going to obey his father
unto death, and he really died, so he was buried, and on the
third day he was raised from the dead. Why? Because he accomplished
redemption for his people. He didn't try to save them, he
saved them. Well, after that, the Spirit of the Lord descended
from heaven in the form of a dove, and the Lord spoke, and the Father
spoke, and you know what He said? He said, this is my beloved Son
in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him. You want to please
God? Come to Christ. Plead His blood. Plead His righteousness. That's
pleasing to God. That satisfies God. Nothing we
do will. This Prince of Peace He's reconciliation
between God and sinners through the Lord Jesus Christ. How is
peace? He's not talking about peace
on this earth. You know, when they say peace on earth, listen,
if he came to establish peace on earth amongst men and nations,
then he was a failure. In fact, he himself told his
disciples, he said, as we approach the last days up to his second
coming, he said there'll be wars and rumors of wars, didn't he?
What's he talking about peace on? He's talking about peace
between God and his people in Christ. Do I have peace with
God? Somebody said, well, are you
making your peace with God? Well, go ahead and try. You'll
fail. I have peace with God, but it's
already been made by the blood of Jesus Christ. There's my peace. His righteousness imputed to
me. That's my peace. God is reconciled to me and I'm
reconciled to him in Christ. And that message was set up before
the foundation of the world, the eternal son of God. Well,
it says here, he, of the increase, verse seven, of his government
and peace, there shall be no end. What did Jesus Christ accomplish
in his death and resurrection? Well it says here, of the increase
of his government, that's the fulfillment, the accomplishment,
the success, the prosperity of his government, his kingdom,
and peace there shall be no end. There's no failure here. When
I was growing up as a boy, Going to a church, I used to hear the
preacher say at the end of a message when he would give what they
call the altar call, which is not biblical. You do know that,
don't you? Somebody said, well, don't you give people a chance
to be saved? No, I don't do that. That's not my job. I just preach
the gospel and command them to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what the Bible says. You can believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ sitting right there. You say, well, don't you confess
Christ before men? Well, the first public confession
of Christ before men is believer's baptism. And that's what the
Bible teaches. And then we spend our lives confessing
him in unison in the fellowship of faith and witnessing the gospel.
But I used to hear the preacher say, he'd make this statement,
he said, did Jesus Christ die on the cross in vain for you? Well, he didn't die on the cross
in vain for anybody. There's no vanity connected with
Christ. He shall save his people from
their sin. What did he actually accomplish
by his death on the cross? He secured the salvation of every
sinner for whom he died. He established righteousness
that God had already imputed to them, charged to them. And
righteousness demands life, not death. Sin demands death. He
put away the sins of his people. Somebody says, but you've got
to accept the gift. Oh, if he died for you, you will.
You will, at some point in your life, He'll arrest you on your
road to Damascus and put you in the dust and bring you to
Christ. Listen to that passage over in
Isaiah 32 that Brother Jim read. Verse 1, Behold, a king shall
reign in righteousness. Now, by whose righteousness?
Who is this king? Jesus Christ, the God-man. He's going to reign and rule.
He's on a throne. And He's going to reign in righteousness.
Whose? His own. Which He charged to
His people. We are righteous in Him. And
He said princes shall rule in judgment. That's His people.
And how do we rule in judgment? We preach the gospel. We point
to Christ like John the Baptist. I'm not the Messiah. I'm not
your Savior. Go to Christ. And then over in
verse 17, I love this passage of Isaiah 32. He said, the work
of righteousness shall be peace, not war. And the effect of righteousness,
quietness and assurance forever. He says, and my people shall
dwell in a peaceable habitation and in sure dwellings and in
quiet resting places. That's all a metaphor for the
peace and the prosperity of salvation brought about by the King of
righteousness, by whose righteousness we stand before God justified,
in whose righteousness we have life from the dead. What did
he accomplish? He secured the complete salvation
of his people. The Bible says in Hebrews 10,
14, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are
sanctified. It's his one offering that brought
about the salvation of his people. It says here back in Isaiah 9
and verse 7, of the increase of his government and peace there
shall be no end upon the throne of David. That's talking about
a spiritual throne, not an earthly throne in Jerusalem and geographically. That's talking about the promise
that David, King David had of the royal line through which
the humanity of Christ would come. He was born of the seed
of David according to the flesh. His humanity had a beginning. He was conceived in the womb
of the Virgin. He was born in Bethlehem, the
city of David. Old little town of Bethlehem.
That was all according to the promise of God to bring him through
in his humanity. But his throne is not an earthly
throne. He said that. His throne is a
heavenly, spiritual, eternal throne. And it says here that,
and upon his kingdom to order it. Now who ordered it? Not you,
not me. He ordered it all. Even David
himself, King David himself said that his salvation was according
to God's covenant which was ordered in all things and sure because
God ordered it. And to establish it. Who established
it? It's not, we don't establish
his kingdom by our decision. He established it and then he
brings us to him. We do decide, we do choose Christ,
but he brings us to it. And he does it with judgment.
Now, where did that judgment fall for the people of God? You
know, a lot of people have a misunderstanding of the final judgment. Even people
who say they're believers. They think, well, God's gonna
bring you up before him and he's gonna weigh your good works with
your bad works in whichever one way. Well, if that's the case,
we're all doomed. You do know that, don't you?
We're sinners who fall short of the glory of God. But the
believers, the children of God, will not be judged for their
sins. They've already been judged.
And you know when that happened? When Christ died on that cross
for our sins imputed, charged, accounted to Him. That's right. He put them away. God's a just
judge. He won't judge twice for the
same sins that have already been judged. We were judged in Christ. I want to say His story is our
story. I was chosen by God before the
foundation of the world in Christ. How do I know that? Because I
now have been brought to believe in Him and to repent of my dead
world. I'm submitted to Him. He's my
only righteousness. He's my only hope. He's my only
way of forgiveness. I'm justified in Him before God. It means I'm not guilty. It means
I'm righteous in Christ, not by my works, not because of who
I am, not because of my preaching. It's because of what Christ did
in His obedience unto death for me. And then when He died, He died
for His people. How do I know if He died for
me? Do you believe? Do you rest in Him? When he died, I died. When he was buried, I was buried.
When he arose, I arose. That's what that's about. That's
what he accomplished. Now, where is he now? Well, the
Bible says he's seated in the heavenlies, ever living to do
what? To make intercession for his
people. What does that mean? It means the merit of his blood,
his righteousness is there forever to plead for his people. Romans
8, 33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea rather
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. You know, the true people
of God can never be lost as long as Christ lives to make intercession
for them. Now, I know what people do with
it. Somebody says, well, that means we can go out and sin all
we want to. No, it doesn't. Because you see, the power of
His grace is not only the power to justify us before God and
keep us, it's also the power of a new heart, a new life. looking to Christ, resting in
Him, following Him. Well, one more thing, in Isaiah
9-7, he says, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. Now, when you see that title
of God, the Lord of hosts, you know what that means? That means
the invincible God who cannot be defeated. That's what that
means. Literally, it means the Lord
of a great army. But the idea is that the Lord of hosts and
the invincible God who cannot be defeated. There is no such
thing in the story of Jesus Christ of him failing or being defeated. He's always the successful sovereign
savior. And the zeal there means the
desire. And what is the zeal of the Lord
of hosts? It's his own glory. His own glory. And in Jesus Christ,
in the salvation of sinners, it's all for the glory of God.
God's going to be glorified. You can bank on it. Man will
have no glory. God will get all the glory. Paul
said it this way in Galatians 6, verse 14, God forbid that
I should glory except in one thing, the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the story of Jesus Christ
and that's where He is. He's seated and He's coming again.
We don't know when. A lot of people try to speculate
on that, don't they? Oh, he's, how many times, I think
in the last 10 years, we've had none, about 15 different dates
given that he's coming back. I used to know a fella who came
around, he used to come around here, but when I was up in Ashton,
he even showed up up there, he used to have a t-shirt on that
had a date on it, and he was sure that was the date that the
Lord would come back. It's already come and gone. I
don't know what he did with all those t-shirts. He was selling them
too, you know. I guess you can use them as rags
to wash your car now. But we don't know when. But we know he is coming. And
he's going to receive his church unto himself. All right.