And oh, how merciful our God
has been to us. He's so great. He's so great.
Open your Bibles, if you would, to Isaiah chapter 7. I ask you
who are the people of the Lord. Is anything too hard for our
King? Is there anything too hard for our Lord to do? Anything?
Nothing. There's nothing too hard. for
our God to do. Absolutely nothing. He is the
sovereign, almighty God. He rules and reigns in majesty.
He does whatever He pleases. He does whatever He pleases.
And we who are the people of God, we've been taught by experience,
haven't we, that there's nothing too hard for the Lord. We can
look in our lives and we can see, we can testify of the Lord's
goodness and the Lord's greatness just in things that have occurred
in our lives. And we can testify that there's
nothing too hard for the Lord. Absolutely nothing. We've experienced
it. And we've experienced it in the fact of our salvation,
haven't we? We can't save ourselves. None of us can save ourselves.
It's impossible. But there's nothing that's impossible
for our Lord, right? He said, with man, these things
are impossible about saving ourselves. But he said, with God, all things
are possible. So the fact that we're saved,
we who believe, is a testimony to the fact that God can do whatever
he places. He can do anything, anything
he wants. And there's nothing too hard for him to do, nothing. He never finds himself in a situation
where he goes, well, I can't fix this. It's too broke. Think
how broken we were, dead in trespasses and sins, without hope. Born
again by the Holy Spirit of God. We're fixed, aren't we? We're
now fixed in the way that we are now fit to be in the presence
of God. We were not fit before. The Lord's taken care of that,
hasn't he? By his almighty power. We praise his mighty name for
that. And what did he come here to do? What did the Lord come
here to do? Did he come here to set an example?
Did he come here to try to do everything he could to save sinners
and then say, well, you know, the rest is up to you? Did he
do that? No. He came here on a mission. Brother Tom, you were in the
forces. When you went out, you were on a mission to get that
done, right? The Lord came here on a mission. He's the captain
of the Lord's host. He's in charge of all the angels.
All those beings just bow before him, the seraphims. He's in charge
of them all. He's over them all. What power. One angel killed 100,000 men.
What power. He said, I can call six legions
of angels. That would destroy everybody
on this earth. But he didn't, did he? Because he came here
on a mission. He came here what you said sister to save his people
from their sins that's why he came here that was his mission
to purchase his bride to purchase the ones whom the father had
given him in eternity and he was driven you know what he was
driven by let's just sink in he was driven by his eternal
love for us that's what he was driven by he was driven by his
eternal love for those who the father gave him an eternity to
come to this earth and to die for them. Now, I think about
that. He was driven by his eternal
love for me. And we say, how can it be, right? How can it
be? But it's a fact. He says, I loved you before you
loved me. And the reason we love him is
because he loved us first. So he was driven by eternal love
to come to this earth to give his life as a ransom for our
souls by the shedding of his precious, precious blood. That
drove him to come here. He was bound in the covenant,
right? The covenant of grace. He was a lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. And so he comes into this world.
What a savior, what a redeemer, the one true living God. And
He did this for you, if you're a believer, and He did this for
me. Again, all because of His eternal love for us. We who are
the born-again, blood-washed people of God, He loved us, and
because He loved us from eternity, He came into this world to go
to the cross to save His people from their sins. And praise God,
He accomplished that, didn't He? It's done. The work's finished. See, man is so trying to work
their way to heaven, and it's impossible for man to work their
way to heaven. We rest our eternal souls on
the merit of Christ and Christ alone, don't we? Nothing we can
do. All of what he's done. So let's
look at this passage in Isaiah 7, and knowing that Christ was
moved by his eternal love for his bride, for his people, those
the Father had given him eternity, to come to this world, to come
to the very place that he created. And we know he was despised and
rejected. And the world still despises him and rejects him.
I was amongst them before the Lord saved me, and so were you.
My, how can it be, we sing, right? How can it be, right, that God
would love a soul like me? Oh, how can it be? because of his eternal love.
Look at this in Isaiah chapter 7. We'll read verses 10 to 22. Moreover, the Lord spake again
unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God. Ask it either
in the depth or in the height above. But Ahaz said, I will
not ask neither while I tempt the Lord. And he said, Hear ye
now, O house of David. It is a small thing for you to
weary men. But will ye weary my God also? Therefore, the Lord
himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Immanuel. Butter and honey shall
he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good.
For before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose
the good, the land that thou abhors shall be forsaken of both
her kings. The Lord shall bring upon thee
and upon thy people and upon thy father's house days that
have not come from the day of Ephraim departed from Judah,
even the king of Assyria. And it shall come to pass in
that day that the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the
outermost part of the rivers of Egypt and for the bee that
is in the land of Assyria. And they shall come. Look at
that. He has control over everything. He has control over everything,
beloved. And they shall come, and shall rest, all of them,
in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and
upon all thorns, and upon all bushes. In the same day shall
the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, namely by them beyond
the river, by the king of Assyria, and the head and the hair of
the feet, and it shall consume the beard. And it shall come
to pass in that day that a man shall nourish a young cow and
two sheep. And it shall come to pass for the abundance of
milk that they shall give he shall eat butter. For butter
and honey shall everyone eat that is left in the land. Look
at verses 14 to 16 again. Therefore the Lord himself shall
give you a sign. that's Jehovah, shall give you
a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and
thou shalt call his name Immanuel. Butter and honey shall he eat,
that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. 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." So what a miracle we have brought forth here before
us in this text. A virgin shall conceive. A virgin
shall conceive. Norm Wells and I were talking
on the phone yesterday, and we were talking about different
scriptures, and he brought up the fact that Robert Hawker had mentioned
that Mary was a virgin when she had Christ, and she was still
a virgin after she had Christ. Because that which was conceived
in her was conceived of the Holy Spirit of God. See, we don't
think of that kind of stuff, do we? I just sat back and he
goes, man, Robert Hawker's amazing to bring out those facts. It's
just incredible. My, oh, my. But here before us,
we have the virgin birth body here before us. We have a miracle
in our text. This is a miraculous and mighty
work of God. A virgin shall conceive and bear
a son and shall call his name Immanuel. Virgin. And this speaking, when it says
Immanuel there, you know, you read commentators and they've
got all these different ideas. It's just crazy. This is speaking
to Christ. And this is speaking to Christ
alone, Immanuel. God with us is the meaning of
the very word Immanuel. God with us. My, people get so
caught up, isn't it funny? People get so caught up in different
things and different theories and just lose the whole meaning
of the passage. My. So this is speaking of no
other than the Lord Jesus Christ. And today I'd like us to consider
three points from our text. First, the birth of Christ. The
birth of Christ. Secondly, the food. And thirdly,
the name of Christ. begin with the birth of Christ.
Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son. What an astonishing
sign we have here before us. This is an astonishing sign.
A virgin shall conceive without the use of natural means of reproduction. A son shall be born without the
intervention of a human father. this wonderful child shall be
called by a by a name very significant a name above all names his name shall be Emmanuel Emmanuel God in one person God and man
in one person what the theologians like to call the Hyperstatic
union, we just call him the God-man. He's the God-man. He's 100% God,
and he's 100% man. This is why this birth is so
miraculous. There's no human father. Mine. So let our minds go onto
Bethlehem. Let our minds go unto Bethlehem,
as the shepherds did, and see this thing which has come to
pass. Let us behold lion in the manger, God incarnate in the
flesh. God incarnate in the flesh. Turn,
if you would, to Hebrews chapter 10. God incarnate in the flesh.
The prince of peace, the king of kings and the Lord of lords
incarnate in the flesh. Wonder of wonders. God has become
a man. Why? Why would God do that? Well, God can't die, can he? So God becomes a man that he
might die to satisfy his own law and justice in our place. Isn't that amazing? And again, he's driven by his
eternal love for us to do this. And here we are,
2,000 years later, we look back and we're in awe. But you know,
all this was planned and purposed for maternity. Bye. We're finite beings trapped
in time, aren't we? We'll be released, we'll be released
one day, though we will be. We'll be in the presence of our
King. We'll be outside of time and space, one day when the Lord's
pleased to take us home. And what a day that'll be. So
let us behold, lying in the manger, God incarnate in the flesh, again,
the Prince of Peace, the King of Kings. Let us see the Lord
Jesus Christ, the God-man, Emmanuel, with us in a body prepared by
the Father. Look at this in Hebrews chapter
10 verses 5 to 7. Wherefore when he cometh into
the world, this is speaking of Christ, he sayeth sacrifice and
offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me. Look at that. A body has thou prepared me.
In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
Then said I, lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written
of me to do thy will. This book testifies of Christ
from the beginning to the end. It speaks of him. But we see
here that God has prepared a body for Christ, for the word of God,
for the second person of the Trinity. And God would have the
sacrifices and offerings continue only for a time until Christ
came. After Christ came, there's no more need for any sacrifices. None. None at all. That's why there's no need to
rebuild the temple in Israel. Because those sacrifices would
be an abomination to our great God. You've got so many people,
they all want to rebuild this temple. There's no need for it. Christ is the final sacrifice.
He's the Lamb of God. slain from the foundation of
the world. And any sacrifice that would be offered would be
an abomination, again, in the eyes of the Lord. Because all
those sacrifices in the Old Testament, who did they picture? They pictured
Christ. They pictured the one here, born
of a virgin. The seed of the woman prophesied
in Genesis. The seed of the woman. And God would never accept any
sacrifice for sinners except for the sacrifice of Christ. This is what makes it so wondrous. And therefore, by God's divine
will and purpose, which was from eternity, he clothed Christ in
a human body, prepared by the Holy Spirit, that Christ might
obey the law and suffer for sin in the place of chosen sinners. called the elect in the scriptures,
called the sheep of God. And we who are his people are
in awe and wonder in the fact that we're included in that number.
And it's a number that no man can number. Don't let people
deceive you. No, we couldn't even number the number. But God knows every single one
of his sheep, doesn't he? He knows every one. The Father knows
every one of the sheep he gave to Christ. Christ knows every
single one of the sheep he died for. And the Holy Spirit knows
every one of the sheep he's going to fetch. There won't be one missing. Oh, it's incredible. So keep
praying for your family members and your friends. We don't know
who the Lord's people are. Keep praying for your family
members. Keep praying for your friends. Keep praying for your
co-workers. Oh, Lord, if it be your will,
grant them faith to believe on you. Please, Lord. Oh, my. So marvel at the prophecy here
in Isaiah. Prophet Isaiah, more than 700
years before the coming of Christ, speaks of the virgin birth of
the Lord Jesus Christ and declared who he is. He declared who he
is right in the text, didn't he? Emmanuel. God with us. He's declared who
he is right there, right in the text. And this is proof of the mysterious
union of his nature, God and man in one person. And again,
note the miraculous conception. As the text says here, behold,
a virgin shall conceive and bear a son. This expression is unparalleled,
even in sacred writ. Of no other woman could it be
said of, except for Mary, and of no other man could it be written
that his mother was a virgin. And we see Mary here identified
as the virgin. We know that. Turn, if you would,
to Matthew chapter 1. Look at this. We'll see here Mary identified
as the virgin, but we'll also see who's identified, who will
be born of the virgin. So we saw in the Old Testament
there the prophecy of it, right? Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son. Some might say, well, who is
that son? Who is it? Look here in Matthew chapter
1, verses 18 to 23. Now the birth of Christ was on the wise. When
his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they came together,
she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Oh my, this is a
miraculous conception. Then Joseph, her husband, being
a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was
minded to put her away privately. He thought maybe she had stepped
out. How else would she be pregnant?
Right? But oh no. Look what it says. But while he thought on these
things, behold the angel, and think of this, that would be
troubling for him, wouldn't it? This is his fiance, this is the
one who he's espoused to. He already has love for her.
And he's espoused to her, and all
of a sudden he finds out she's pregnant. And it says here that
he was thinking on these things. Well, any of us would in that
situation as men, wouldn't we? Yes. It says, behold, but while
he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared
unto 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. Oh, my. This is an incredible
conception. Christ is conceived of the Holy
Ghost. A body was prepared, remember? Fully man. Fully man. And she shall bring forth a son.
Now look, he's going to be identified. Here we see, so we've seen the
virgins being identified. It's Mary, right? Now, look at
this. We know that in the Old Testament,
his name is Immanuel. in the portion we looked at,
which means God with us, right? Now we see, as I mentioned earlier,
he was on a mission, wasn't he? Look why he came. And she shall
bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name what? Jesus. There
he's identified, right there. Jesus is God incarnate in the
flesh. Whether people believe it or
not, scriptures declare it. He's God. He's the one conceived
of the Holy Spirit of God, born of a virgin. There's no arguing
about it. If people want to argue about
it, they're calling God a liar, aren't they? That's a serious thing. That's a serious thing. Look
at this. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shall call his name Jesus. For he what? Shall. Oh, don't you love that word?
He shall. There's no doubt. He shall. What shall he do? He shall save
his people from their sins. Hallelujah. He saved my soul,
and he saved your soul if you're a believer. My, oh my. He did
it. He shall save his people from their sins. And do you notice
it doesn't say, he shall save his people when they accept him.
Now, do we run to Christ? Do we flee them? Absolutely we
do. But who's doing all the work? He shall save his people. He has obtained eternal salvation
for us. He did it all. That's why he
came into this world, to save his people from their sins. And he accomplished that. How
do we know it is finished? My, finish means finish, beloved. There's nothing for us to do
but simply to look to our Savior. Wonder of wonders. The Lord Jesus
Christ has saved his people from their sins. It says here, now
all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken
of the Lord by the prophet, saying, behold, a virgin shall be with
child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his
name what? Emmanuel. He's identified right
there in the New Testament, isn't he? Prophesied in the Old Testament
over 700 years before his birth and manifested right here before
us in the New Testament in the book of Matthew. Which being
interpreted as what? God with us. Oh my. Now the Greek word and the Hebrew
word are both very expressive of the true and real virginity
of Mary to show us that Christ was born of a woman and not of
man. We saw he was conceived by the
Holy Spirit of God. And God had ordained this to
be, that his son should be sent forth born of a woman, the seed
of the woman, which was the first promise. He's not the seed of
man. He is the seed of woman. Therefore,
he does not inherited the sin nature which we inherit from
our fathers, which when you go all the way back, we all inherit
from Adam. So marvel here, he has come to
bruise the serpent's head to save his people from their sins.
And marvel at the divine wisdom that's bought before us here
in this text, that Jesus Christ should be the son of woman and
not of man. Again, we're born of Adam, naturally. Our generations go all the way
back to him. And we've inherited all his frailties. We've inherited his sin nature.
We've inherited the infirmities which man, from his birth, has. And we are what? We're conceived
in sin, aren't we? We're seed of the man, but he's seed of the woman. He's
not born a man. The Holy Ghost overshadowed Virgin
Mary, and Christ stands as one man in marvel, marvel that who
came forth. He's pure. He's perfect. He's
sinless. His name is Jesus, Emmanuel. God with us. Absolutely sinless. No son or daughter of Adam could
ever say that we're sinless. No. Everyone who's of the seed
of Adam are born sinners. And the Lord Jesus Christ came
down from heaven. Remember that, too. were born
into this world. He came from above into this
world. His beginning wasn't when he
was born. Our beginning was when we were born. He's always been from everlasting. And he came into this world.
And he was born and buried. God incarnate in the flesh. Marvel
at this fact that God tabernacled amongst men. That as you and
I see each other, he tabernacled amongst men and women. Isn't that amazing? He labored when he was young,
and then he called his disciples, and he walked among people like
you and I walk amongst people. He was wholly a man, fully a
man. When they got hungry, he went
to the market and purchased things to eat. He's just like us. And yet, he's God incarnate in
the flesh, absolutely sinless, spotless, perfect. the total opposite of us. He
tabernacled amongst men and women. He spoke to them. He spoke to men and women. They
did not know who he was. Think of this. He who spoke the
world into existence spoke to those around him, like you and I do. Wonder of wonders. He who fastened
the pillars of the universe and riveted the nails of creation,
he who counts the stars, came to this world to save his people
from their sins. Wonder of wonders. This is amazing
grace right here before us in this text. This is amazing grace.
Just the birth of Christ is amazing grace. The fact that God became
a man. Why? again, to save his people
from their sins. And he also came here to establish
a perfect righteousness, didn't he? Because all our righteousness
is like filthy rags before the Lord. But he comes here. Not only to die for those who
he loves, he's not just driven by his love. He's driven by his
love to die for them, but he's also driven by his love for his
people to weave a perfect code of righteousness that they shall
be clothed in forever. And he did it willingly. He left
heaven. He did it willingly. He left
willingly. Wonder of wonders. And our Lord's
birth, our Lord's birth was a humble birth, right? He's born king,
and yet he's born in a stable. He's not born in the palace halls.
He's not even born in the governor's house of Bethlehem, is he? He's
king! And he comes born in a manger. Born in a stable. He's not clothed in purple. They
used to clothe kings in purple. And deck out the royalty in purple. He's not clothed in purple. He's
clothed in swallowing clothes. His mom and dad have very little. Very little. my oh my, or his
mom and Joseph, have very little, very little. So our Lord's birth
was a humble birth. There's no golden cradle for
him, is there? I imagine a prince would be put
in the fanciest cradle they could find. Do we not put our kids in the,
we get a nice cradle for our kids, right? Put them in there,
make sure they're safe. Well, think of a king, he could
afford anything. Fancy cradle, put them in. Lord
doesn't have that. He's lying in a manger. King
of kings and Lord of lords. Palace halls were not blessed
by his footsteps. No, he grew up in a small village,
poor village. And even Bethlehem, again, he
was not born in the governor's house, was he? He wasn't born
in the governor's house, or in a mansion, or the chief man of
Bethlehem. No, no, he was born in a manger. And then think of how low he
stooped. Think of how low he stooped,
beloved. He's in glory being worshiped by angels. They're falling down before him
and crying, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which is and
which was and which is to come. My, they're giving him all the
glory and he comes into this world and there's only shepherds
there, isn't there? And Mary and Joseph. And he's
born king, though. He's the one who appeared before
Joshua, clothed in armor with a sword in his hand. And there's
all these angels, and he says, nay, but as the captain of the
Lord's house, I've come. Oh, what a mighty warrior he
is. And here he is, a babe, born in the manger. Oh, how low our Lord stooped.
that he would be girded with humility and stooped so low,
why would he bend to such a lowly birth? And if he bowed, why should he
submit not simply to become the son of poor parents, but to be
born in such a miserable place? Oh, let us take courage. If the
Lord Jesus Christ was born in a manger, Why should not he come
and live in our stony, rocky hearts? It's wonderful, isn't it? If he was born in poverty, why
should he not come to the poor in spirit? Those who have been born again
by the Holy Spirit of God. Those have been made to see that
they're poor in spirit and yet rich in Christ, sinners before
God and yet rich in Christ. If he endured humiliation at
the first, will he count it any dishonor to come to the very
poorest and humblest of his creatures and tabernacle in the souls of
his children? Praise be to God. Praise be to
God. So what a great lesson we have.
A great lesson of comfort here before us from his humble birth
and the fact that he came here to save his people from their
sins. What comfort the sinner can find in Christ, in Christ
alone. If you do not know him, there's
no hope for you outside of Christ. There's no hope for anyone outside
of Christ. None. No hope at all. But Christ came
here to save sinners. The question is, are you a sinner? Are you a sinner? Is God showing
you that you're a sinner before God? And if he has, give him
all the glory. And if he hasn't, our prayer
is that the Lord would show you that she be born again of the
Holy Spirit of God and given faith to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. And what the scripture says,
thou shalt be saved. Why? Because he saved us 2,000
years ago, beloved, because he was born to come into this world
to die on Calvary's cross to save his people from their sins. And that's a fact. That's a fact. Let's read our scriptures again
here. Oh, our great Savior, he came to this earth to save sinners,
to save the eternal souls of chosen sinners. Look at our text again. Therefore,
the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall
conceive and bear a son, and thou shalt call his name Immanuel.
Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the
evil and choose the good. For before the child shall know
to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that thou
abhors shall be forsaken of both her kings. Now this second thing
that I'd like us to look at is the food of Christ. Now this
perplexed me, I'll be honest with you. When I was studying
this, this perplexed me, but I got some light from Spurgeon
and Gill and some of the others, Hawker, about this. And this
was fascinating, I found it fascinating. We see in verses 15 and 16 the
humanity of Christ brought forth, the humanity of our King brought
forth. Look, butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know
to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child
shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land
that thou abhors shall be forsaken of both her kings. When our Lord
would convince his disciples that he was flesh and not spirit.
He took a piece of boiled fish, didn't he? And of honeycomb. And in his other's day, he said,
handle me. And see, for a spirit hath not
flesh and bones as you see me have. This testifies, beloved,
of our Lord's humanity. We are told here that he ate
butter and honey, just as other men did. Just as other men did. Other men are nourished by food
when you and I, men and women, when we eat food, we're nourished,
aren't we? See, he's fully human. He has
to feed his body, doesn't he? So again, it shows us the humanity
of Christ, that he was really a man. Really a man. And yet he's fully God. He's fully man, and yet he's
fully God. And all things that behooved
him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a
merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God,
to make what? Reconciliation for the sins of the people. He
came here to reconcile us to God. How? By dying for us on
Calvary's cross. Again, he was born to die. We're born and we live. He was
born to die. He was born to go to Calvary's
cross and die in the room and place of his people. Therefore,
we're told that he ate butter and honey to teach us that he
was actually a real man who afterwards died on Calvary's cross. And
then I found this out, too. Butter and honey teach us that
Christ was to be born in times of peace. because such products
are not always found in Judea in the times of strife. The ravages
of war sweep away all the fair fruits of industry, one commentator
said. The unwatered pastures yield
no grass and therefore there could be no butter. And the bees make their hive
in lion's carcass And there may be honey there, but if the land
is in turmoil with war, there's no one to go collect it, is there?
Because no one's going to go out and lose their head for some
honey. And how shall the babe eat butter
when its mother flees away, even in the wintertime, when the child's
clinging to her breast? In times of war, we have no choice
of the food, do we? In World War II, there were certain
foods you could get, and there were certain foods you could
only get a little bit of. They were rationed. And there were
some things you couldn't get, because there was a time of war,
and there was a great need. There was a great need. So we
see that. And let us thank our Lord that we live in a land of
peace. So we see a mystery here in the fact that our Lord was
born in a time of peace. Now, the king and prince came
to the temple of Jerusalem. Augustus Caesar was emperor of
the world, and none other ruled it. And therefore, the wars had
ceased. So it was a time of peace. The earth was still. The leaves
quivered not upon the trees from the field of battle. There was
quiet. My. Christ, even while he was
a babe, even while he lived upon butter and honey, knew the evil
from the good. He's perfect from conception. He's fully man, and yet he's
absolutely sinless. He was like no other child either.
How do we know he was like no other child? Well, think of this. When his parents went up to Jerusalem, Our Lord went to the temple.
Now what would other kids be doing at that age? What was I
doing at 12? What were you doing at 12? We'd
be out playing, wouldn't we? We wouldn't be sitting in the
temple, would we? See, he's like no other
child. He's in the temple because he
understood the mysteries of God. He was not found, again, like
other children, playing about the courts or the markets, but
he was sitting among doctors, both hearing and asking them
questions. This is no ordinary child. One
commentator says he was a mastermind. Spurgeon actually said he was
a mastermind. He was a genius. How do we know that? How do we
know that? The scriptures say never a man speak like this.
People had never heard anybody like him. Why? Because he's God incarnate
in the flesh. There's no one like him. That's
our master, beloved. That's our redeemer. That's our
savior. That's our great God. Never a
man spake like this. No one. No one ever spoke like
him. My, oh my. And how sweet are
the words of the master to the believer. His words are sweet
like honeycomb to us, aren't they? Sweet like honeycomb. The believer cries, thy words,
O Christ, are like honey, sweet Jesus. Every word of thine is
precious to my soul. No honey can with thee compare. Now, honey is very sweet, isn't
it? Oh, my. I've gotten some real nice honey
in my life. And I'll tell you what. It's
sweet. It tastes so good. There's nothing
compared to the words of our master. Number three, last point. We're
closed with the name of Christ. Look at our text again in Isaiah
7, verse 14. Now consider this wonderful name. This is one of our master's names
in the scriptures. Therefore, the Lord himself shall
give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. What a name. What a name. Now, back in the
days of biblical times, they used to give their children names
with meaning. Oh, no other name compares to
this name, Emmanuel. Emmanuel. My, there was Cain. His mom said, I've gotten a man
from the Lord. His mother called him his name Cain, which means
gotten or acquired. There was Seth that is appointed,
for his mother said, God hath appointed me another seed instead
of Abel. Noah means best or comfort. Ishmael
was so called by his mother because God heard her laugh. And Isaac was called laughter
because he brought laughter to Abraham's house. We see here Christ is called
Emmanuel. which means God with us. So we saw who was identified,
didn't we, in the New Testament. We saw this child identified
and his name is Jesus. Therefore we can conclude that
Christ is God with us. God with us. God incarnate in
the flesh. He who hung the stars. He who keeps everything together,
everything in order, became a man. Became a man. Oh, let this wonderful, wonderful
name ring in our souls, Emmanuel, God with us. That's his name. That's one of his titles. God
with us. God with us how? By his incarnation. By his birth. The creator of the world. The
creator of the world walked upon this earth. He who just spoke it all into
existence walked on this earth. and marvel
at his power. Remember that storm they were
caught up in? He says, peace, be still. And they marvel, who is this
man that even the waves obey him? Oh, he's God incarnate in
the flesh. Everything is at his command. Now you see that when he gave
his life up, how incredible it was. He could have struck them all
dead just like that. Those men who nailed him to that cross?
He didn't even have to call legions of angels down. He could have
just wiped out everyone, couldn't he have? But he didn't, because
he came here to save his people from their sins. And how must
he save his people from their sins? He must die. He must shed his precious blood.
He must redeem them. He must purchase them with his
precious, precious blood. God with us? And think of this. He who made
10,000 worlds. We don't even know the number,
do we? They keep finding more and more and more, don't they? How vast this world is. How vast
the creation is. All the stars. Look up at night,
and that's just a fraction of the stars we're seeing at night.
He made them all. And think of this, compared to
all that, this earth is just a speck of his creation, isn't
it? It's just a speck. This world compared to all that
he's made is like a little wee piece of dust that we see floating
in the windows. And he came here to this little
speck to save his people from their
sins. That's amazing. That's truly,
truly amazing. It really is. It's incredible.
He who is from everlasting stepped into time. He who is neither
constrained by time or space stepped into time. He made time. He made all the constraints of
this world, and he steps into this world. redeem his people
from their sins he comes from everlasting and he and he he
comes to this world and he's God with us has he lost that
name nope he's not lost that name at all has he nope so take
comfort take comfort You who are the beloved of God, because
He is now God with us. Is He not with us every step
we take? He said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. Others
may leave you in your life. Others may forsake you. Sometimes
close friends and sometimes close family. They may forsake you. But Christ has said, I will never
leave you nor forsake you. And in the Greek, that's never,
not ever, ever. That's comfort, isn't it? God
with us. We're never alone. We're never
alone, beloved. The Savior is ever with his people.
Put us in the desert alone, and we can still say God with us. We can still say that. Put us
in the ocean, out in the middle of nowhere, and we can still
say, God with us. He's with us. He's not left to
go to the bottom of the sea or parts that you can't even measure. He's still down there, isn't
he? God with us. He's everywhere
with his people. He's always with us. Always. Fly high above the earth. We
fly in planes, don't we? We're flying on these planes
going from one end to the other in the country. He's still with
his people the whole time. Isn't that wonderful? What comfort.
What comfort. He's with his people at all times.
In happy times, he's with us. In times of sorrow and grief,
he's with us. In times of trouble and distress,
he's with us. In times of sickness, he's with
us. He's here with us today. He says, where two or three are
gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
He's God with us. He's not lost that title, has
he? He's with this work. We're going forward. He's with
us. This is his church. Belongs to him. We belong to
him as his people, don't we? And he's with us. What comfort
we can glean from that. It's absolutely wondrous. My,
oh, my. I ask you, you who are the people
of God, do you know what God with us means? Has God been with
you in your tribulations? Always have, always. Have you been comforted by the
Holy Spirit of God through trials and tribulations? That's God
with us. Has God been with you in searching
the scriptures and he just lights something up and you just rejoice
over it? Or you just get a blessing hearing
the gospel preached? That's his doing. That's his
doing, beloved. God with us. God's people know
what the word Emmanuel means, don't we? We've experienced it. We've never seen him. but we
know he's ever with us. One day we will see him by the
grace of God and by the grace of God alone. Oh, may our great
God teach us this week the meaning of the name Immanuel, God with
us, God with us. Let us close with this thought,
this word again, Immanuel, Immanuel. What a sweet, sweet word, Immanuel,
God with us, God with us. He's the, listen to this, one
person wrote this. "'Tis the sufferer's comfort.
"'Tis the balm of their woe. "'Tis the relief of their misery.
"'Tis the sleep which God gives to his beloved. "'Tis their rest
at all times." That's what he is to us. He's our rest at all
times, isn't he? God with us. Tis eternity's sonnet. Tis heaven's hallelujah. Tis
the shout of the glorified. Tis the song of the redeemed.
Tis the everlasting song of the great orchestra of the sky. God
with us. God with us. Hail, Emmanuel,
all divine. Indeed, thy father's glory shine.
Thou brightest, fairest one that eyes have seen or angels There's
no one like Emmanuel.