The title of the message this
evening is His Precious Name. If you were here last week, you
may recall that we looked at the first part of this chapter
and saw five gifts of God's grace. This week we're going to see
the sixth one that's listed in this chapter. Every other gift
of God's grace flows from this gift, the unspeakable gift of
God's Every grace God has for a sinner flows to us from this
gift, the gift of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. The passage
we're going to look at this evening is often preached from during
the Christmas season, the time when everyone may be thinking
about the birth of our Lord. And that's fine, but this is
not a message just for Christmas time. This is a message for every
day. This is a message of salvation,
a message of comfort. Because the name of Christ tells
us who he is. If we know who he is, we know
his name, we'll find salvation in him. If we know who he is,
we know his name, we'll be comforted and have that name, who he is.
And here's how we know. Isaiah lets us know in very clear,
unmistakable terms. Here's how we know who the Savior
is. But verse 6, Isaiah chapter 9, for unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given. Now a child's born, but son's
not born, son's given. The son is the eternal God. He can't be born. The son is
I am that I am. He has no beginning and no ending.
He is the great isness. He just always is. So the son
must be given. God took on him human flesh. God took on him flesh and bones,
a human body and a human nature. Now he did that because God in
his grace has purposed salvation for his people. And if sinners
are going to be saved, the sinner or the Savior must be God. He
has to be God. So that he'll be perfect. So
he has a perfect righteousness that he can impute. But he's
also got to be a man. So he can be our representative.
So he can be the savior of sinful men. Isaiah says, here he is. When that child was born, the
son was given. When that child was born, the
light of God shone forth in the world. God's son became what
we are. so that he could be joined to
us. He could be joined to us like a husband is joined to his
wife. Christ was betrothed to his people
and he became joined to his people. He married them and when he did,
he took all of our debts on himself. He made them his debts and he
paid the debt in full. Now he can't do that unless God
became a man like we are. So the child was born. But he
must come in perfection. He must be a perfect man in order
to save. So the child was born, but the
son is given. Now here way back 700 or 800
AD, Isaiah writes, this is the second time of the virgin birth. And without question, the virgin
birth is a great miracle. Nobody can understand the virgin
birth. It's a great miracle. When we
begin to talk about our Lord, everything about Him is a miracle.
So His birth certainly is no exception. A virgin birth is
a miracle. And a virgin birth is necessary. Well, again, everything about
our Lord is necessary. He didn't waste any activity.
He must be born of a virgin. If He was not born of a virgin,
He would have partook in Adam's guilt. If our Lord Jesus had
an earthly father, He couldn't save anyone. because he had been
made guilty in Adam. That guilt is passed to the children
from the father. Christ was born of a virgin without
the seed of a man. So when the child was born, the
son was given. Well, given to whom? That's a
good question. To whom was he given? He wasn't
given to everyone in the world. He was given to his people. Isaiah
says he's given to us. You see that? unto us a child
is born, unto us a son is given. Well, who's the us? Well, the
us, several ways you can identify the us. The us, first of all,
is the people that God's chosen. Ephesians 1.14, or 1.4, excuse
me. According as he has chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world. Secondly, this
us is the people that Christ died for. Romans 5.8. But God
committed His love toward us. And that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Romans 8, 32. He despaired not
His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. The us is the
people that Christ died for. Third, the us is the people that
Christ intercedes for. Now, Lord Jesus Christ, seated
on His throne, does not intercede for everyone. He intercedes for
us. What he's saying in his great
high priestly prayer, John 17, I pray not for the world. He
makes it clear, I'm not praying for everybody, I'm praying for
them that thou hast given me. Romans 8.34, 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. Fourth, this us is the people
that God's called. He chose them, He sent His Son
to die for them, Christ intercedes for them, and these are the people
that God has called. Even us, whom He has called. Not of the Jews only, but also
the Gentiles. And fifth, this us is the people
who God loves. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for His great love, were with He loved us. That's who the us is. Am I in
us? Do you wonder that? Am I in us?
Well, I can answer that question. Do you believe Christ? Do you
believe Christ? If God chose you, Christ died
for you, God called you, Christ is interceding for you, God loves
you, I can promise you this, God's given you faith in Christ
and you believe because you're in us. Unto us the child is born. Unto us the Son is given and
the government should be upon His shoulder. This is not just
any child that's born. The government is upon His shoulder. And that simply means this. Everything,
whatever it is you think of, everything is under the control,
the government of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ was even born
of His own will. Nobody else can say that. except
the Lord Jesus Christ. He was born of His own will. During His earthly ministry,
He was in control. Everything was under His control.
The weather was under His control. He told it to stop raining, and
it stopped. He told the wind to quit, and it quit. He told
waves to be still, and they were still. You just try to distill
the waves in a bucket of water. Just try it. Our Lord said, be
still, and it was like glass. He's in control. He created matter. Of course He did. The Creator
creates matter. He broke the loaves and the fishes
and created loaves and fishes that weren't there before. He's
in control. Every disease was under His control. We read about Him, they bring
Him all the sick and He would heal all manner of diseases because
everything's under His control in the hearts of His people.
under his control. Zacchaeus came down and suddenly
that old crook turned honest and generous. The hearts of his
people are under his control. Our Lord's in control of salvation. Salvation's up to him and it's
a good thing because if it wasn't, nobody would be saved. But salvation
is up to Him. It depends upon the will of Christ. I hope we understand this. The
Lord Jesus Christ is not a beggar. You and I are the beggars. Christ
is not the beggar. He's not begging anybody to accept
Him. We're begging Him to accept us. Salvation, mercy and grace,
life and peace are in His hands. And He gives it to whomsoever
He will. He gives it to as many as the
Father has given Him. Christ saves whom He will, when
He will. And then He takes the reins of
government and He rules in the hearts of His people. The government
is upon His shoulder. Now being in control of all that
sounds like a job that's too big for all of us. And it wouldn't
be. The government's on His shoulder. He doesn't say shoulders, just
one's all it takes. The government is on its shoulder.
And that's how you can identify him. Then next, Isaiah gives
us five names of the Lord. And this is the name of the one
who brings those five gifts of grace we looked at last week.
Light. Life. Joy. Freedom. And forgiveness of sin all come
from this one that Isaiah gives us his name. Now it's important
to know the name of the Savior. to know the name of the one to
whom we're calling. David said, Psalm 9, verse 10,
they that know thy name will put their trust in thee. This
is why I want you to know his name. If you know his name, you'll
put your trust in him. For there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Salvation
is only in this name. Romans 10, 13. Whosoever, whoever
you are, wherever you come from, shall call upon the name of the
Lord, shall be saved. I want you to know His name,
so you call on Him. Look over a few pages in Isaiah 50. We've been talking a lot recently
about spiritual light and spiritual darkness, both in our studies
in Isaiah and in John. Well, look in Isaiah 50, verse
10. Who is among you that feareth
the Lord? that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh
in darkness, and hath no light, let him trust in the name of
the Lord, and stay upon his God." It's important that we know his
name. Well, here it is. His name, Isaiah
says, should be called Wonderful. Our Lord Jesus is wonderful.
Everything about him is wonderful. He's wonderful in his The father
of the mother became the son of the mother. Now that's wonderful.
Try to wrap your head around that. He who was made woman was
made of a woman. The eternal God became a helpless
baby laying in the arms of Mary. He was completely dependent upon
Mary just like you and me were when we were born. We were dependent
upon our mother. The Lord was too. The Lord Jesus
started out on this earth the same way we did as a helpless
baby. Now that's wonderful. He's wonderful
in His birth. He's wonderful in His person.
He's both God and man. The child is born. The son is
given. He's both God and man. And He
is the only perfect man who ever lived. He never sinned. And He never became proud of
sinning. Can you imagine how intolerable we would be if we
went one hour without sinning? We'd be intolerable. And we can't
deny that that soap is one thing every one of us has to guard
against. Pride of grace. Now, the very fact we need grace
lets you know we can't do anything right. We've got nothing to be
proud of if we need grace. We have to guard against pride
of grace. Well, if we could go just a few
minutes without sinning, we'd be intolerable. Not the Lord. He's wonderful in His person. And it's that righteousness that's
my righteousness. Christ is wonderful. God-man,
this wonderful Savior. His name's wonderful. He's my
righteousness. Now Cecil, that's wonderful.
His obedience is my obedience. He's wonderful in His person.
He's wonderful in His death. The death of Christ was the death
of death. And the death of Christ was the
death of a substitute. And because He died, I'll never
die. Justice is satisfied by the death
of my substitute, so I'll never die. That's wonderful. Christ
is wonderful in His resurrection. He raised Himself from the dead. That's wonderful. And at the
same time, Scripture says the Father raised Him from the dead.
For our justification. He was raised from the dead because
the sin that was charged to Him is gone. Now, if you're a sinner,
that's wonderful. Christ is wonderful in His ascension.
Can you imagine what a glorious homecoming it was? where our
Lord rose through those clouds back to glory. And there He has
stayed, preparing a place for His people. Now that's wonderful. Christ is wonderful in His intercession. At this very moment, a man sits
on the throne of glory, making intercession for His people with
the Father. Now that's wonderful. Christ
will be wonderful in His return. When He returns, Every eye will
see him, and that's wonderful. But I'm going to tell you what's
wonderful. When he returns, I'll see him. Bob, I'll be like him. Oh, that's wonderful. So wonderful. Christ is wonderful in his love
for sinners. No one else would love sinners,
but he does. He's wonderful in his love. He's
wonderful in his power to save. No one else has the power to
save a sinner but him. He's wonderful and His grace
to the guilty. No one else would give grace
to the guilty. Clark and I are talking today,
Texas has got it right. They take those criminals and
execute them. That's one of the things they
do. We don't show grace for the guilty. Christ does. Wonderful in His grace. Christ
is wonderful in past, present, and future. In eternity past. Christ was wonderful. He never
changes. So of course He was wonderful in eternity past. He
was daily the delight of His Father as He stood as the surety
for His people. He is wonderful. We are accepted
in Him even then because He is wonderful. Christ was wonderful
2,000 years ago during His earthly ministry, accomplishing the salvation
of His people, accomplishing what no one else could accomplish.
And Christ is wonderful in the present. He is still calling
out His elect through the preaching of the gospel. He's still blessing
His people through the preaching of the gospel. And that gospel
is only wonderful because it declares His name, declares who
He is, the Wonderful One. And in eternity future, Christ
will be wonderful. He will be the focal point of
heaven. He is the glory of heaven. I
say it over and over again. The glory of heaven is not streets
of gold and pearly gates. The glory of heaven is the one
sitting upon the throne and we'll worship him face to face perfectly. Heaven can only be called glory
because the one named Wonderful dwells there with his people.
His name should be called Wonderful because he is wonderful. Then
his name should be called Counselor. Now, in our day and time, everybody
wants to be a counselor. That's not my goal. Now, I'll
help you as best I can with any problem that you've got. I can
talk to you about it. I don't know if I can help you
or not, but I'll gladly lend an ear and we can sit and talk
about it. But the only thing I have to tell anybody that is
of any worth is this name, the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He's the counselor. You'd be surprised how often
regularly attending the preaching of the gospel will give you direction
and help you with the problem that you face. You'd just be
shocked. Because this is where the counselor speaks to his children.
The preaching of the gospel. You'd just be amazed how often
that happens. And this counselor, he doesn't just give you some
light. You know, let's shed some light on the subject. That's
what a counselor would do. Let's shed some light on the
subject. Christ doesn't shed light on anything. He is the
light. Christ doesn't just help you know some true facts. Christ
is the truth. Christ doesn't just tell you
how to live a better life. You know, most people want to
go to a counselor, tell me how to live a better life. This one's
rotten. Christ doesn't tell you or just
tell you how to live a better life. He is our light. Christ doesn't tell you how to
be a better spouse. He is our husband. He's betrothed himself
to us. Christ is our counselor. Now
if you go to the court and the judicial system, a lot of times
we refer to an attorney as a counselor. We've got a counselor. One who
in heaven, before the bar of God's justice, pleads for his
people. And this counselor never loses
a case. Never. Never lost one. One whose
name Wonderful is also named the Counselor. The name of this
Counselor is Wisdom. He is our Counselor. He is the
Wisdom of God. Now, would you like some wise
counsel from the Counselor whose name is Wisdom? This is what
He said. Look unto Me and be ye saved
of all the ends of the earth for I am God and there is none
else. Believe on the Name. of the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. If any man thirst, let
him come unto me and drink. That's good counsel. That's counsel
that'll save your soul. We all want some counsel so I
can live to live by in this world. Try this on. Love your enemies. Bless them that curse you. Do
good to them that hate you. Pray for them which despitefully
use you and persecute you. The only way that can be done
is in Christ the Counselor. That's wonderful. His name should
be called the Mighty God. Christ the Counselor doesn't
just tell you about God. He is God. I love Saying this,
I love the truth of this, I love hearing this, Jesus Christ is
God. It's not like he's God. He's
not a different manifestation of God. He's not God you see
through mirrors. Jesus Christ is God. And that's wonderful news to
a sinner because the work of salvation is the work only God
can do. And since Jesus Christ is God,
He's all the righteousness a sinner ever needs. Since Jesus Christ
is God, His blood atones for sin, washes us white as snow. Since Jesus Christ is God, He's
got the power to save and He's got the right to save His people
because He's God. Since Jesus Christ is God, He
gives eternal life to His people. He can do that because He's God.
But if Jesus Christ is not God, He's the biggest imposter who
ever lived. And every one of us are idolaters.
Every one of us. If Jesus Christ is not God. Now
He is. But this is why I love this truth. Jesus Christ is God. Because
we're idolaters if He's not. If you're worshipping anything
or anyone other than the Lord Jesus Christ, you're worshipping
an idol. If he's not God, he's no better than Buddha, or Confucius,
or Mary, or any of the Greek gods, or Roman gods, if he's
not God. But, Jesus of Nazareth shall
be called the Mighty God, because he is the Mighty God, God in
human flesh. Then Isaiah says his name shall
be called the Everlasting Father. Now this child who's born, is
the everlasting Father. The Son who is given is the everlasting
Father. Now this is the Trinity. The
Trinity, the truth of the Trinity is not just a New Testament idea.
This is taught all throughout Scripture. Let us make man in
our image the Trinity. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
These three are one. Three persons, one God, one Godhead. The Son is not the Father. The
Father is not the Son. They're separate, distinct persons,
yet one God. The Father and the Son. They're
one in nature, deity. They're one in power. They're
one in will. They're one in every attribute,
but they're separate persons. So how can the Son be called
the Father? Here, God the Son is called our
Father because He's our Father. in several ways. First of all,
Christ is federally our father. Adam was our federal head. He represented all men in the
garden. We talk about our father, Adam.
We call him our father because we all came from him. He was
our federal head in the garden. Christ is the second Adam. He's
the federal head of his people. He's the representative of every
believer. That's why God can accept Because
Christ is our federal head. When he sees us, he sees Christ
our federal head. So, in that way, he's our father. Second, Christ is our father
as the founder of our faith. You know, we talk about, here
July 4th is coming up, we're thinking about our founding fathers.
Well, we call them our founding fathers, they founded our country.
Abraham is called the father of the faithful. Because he demonstrated
such faith and he stands as an example of faith to other believers.
What does Scripture call our Lord? Christ is the author and
finisher of our faith. So in that way, he's the founder
of our faith. We call him our Father. Third,
Christ is the Father who gives life. He gives his people spiritual
life. Now, Savannah is my daughter.
I gave her life. Now, Janet would tell you she
gave her life. Well, Janet gave birth to her,
but her life came from her father. Her nature came from her father.
Her sin nature came from her father, came from the seed of
her father. Christ gave me spiritual life. He gave it to me. So I didn't
do anything to get life. I gave it to her. I mean, in
that sense, you know what I'm saying. God did it, but you know,
it came from me. God gave me. freely spiritual
life. He's my father. And in the new
birth, I receive the nature of my father, the nature of Christ.
He's my father. He gave me life. He gave me his
nature. Fourth, Christ is the father
in this sense, that Christ is the head of the church. Christ
has the care of the church. He supplies the need of the church.
He takes care of the church, just like the father. In an earthly
sense, he has the care of the home. He supplies for the needs
of the home. He takes care of the home. He's
the father. He's the head of the home. Christ is the head
of the church. He's our father. And God's Son
agreed to become our father. Now, every day Savannah's been
alive, it's been my joy to be her father. Christ agreed to
be the father. I have a beautiful young woman. I have a kind, sweet girl of
ugly, sinful rebels. He agreed to be our Father and
save us from our sins. Brethren, that's wonderful. Then
His name should be called the Prince of Peace. Now last week
we saw Christ as the mighty warrior who comes in and breaks the yoke
of every enemy. That doesn't sound very peaceful,
does it? by His Prince of Peace? The one we looked at last week
whose garments are rolled in blood? That's the Prince of Peace? Yes, it is. He made peace for
us through the blood of His cross. He established peace for us by
destroying every enemy. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon Him and by His strifes
we're healed. By His stripes, by His sacrifice,
we're given peace. Now, the Prince of Peace, true,
lasting, real peace, can only come one way. Through the blood. Through the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Peace with God can come no other way other than
the blood of Christ. Nothing but the blood of the
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ can remove the God's angry. Nothing can remove that sin that
makes God angry except the blood. Christ shed his blood. Fathers
reconciled. God's reconciled. Though his
spirit comes and applies the blood to your heart and you're
reconciled. The enemy, he's gone. Because
of the blood. There's peace in the heart when
the blood of Christ is applied to my heart. And you won't have
peace until Until the blood of Christ is applied. Your conscience
will never give you rest until sin has been paid for. Then your
conscience is clear. And we have peace with each other.
Because we're part of the same family. We've been made part
of the same blood family. So we have peace. Now that's
the message of the gospel. Peace in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The apostles preached peace by Jesus Christ. Paul's salutation,
he began every epistle, grace unto you and peace. Peace, how? From God the Father and from
our Lord Jesus Christ. And the Prince of Peace. He doesn't
just tell you how to have peace. He doesn't point you to the way
of peace. Christ is our peace. Now, verse 7, that's his name.
This is what he's going to do. By 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." Now the increase of his government,
that increase means abundance. His kingdom is so abundant in
mercy. It's so abundant in grace that
the number of people in his kingdom is so increased you can't count
them all. They're a number no man can number. And there is
no end to the kingdom of Christ. That word end is boundary. There's
no boundaries to it. You know, the United States,
we've got clear cut boundaries. Don't cross our boundaries or
there's going to be trouble. There's no boundaries to His
kingdom. The kingdom of Christ will be eternal and it reaches
everywhere. There's no end to it. There's
no boundaries where the rule of Christ and the grace of Christ
must stop. It reaches everywhere. Everywhere
there's a where, John said. John Chapman said that. Everywhere
there's a where, that's where God's grace can extend to. There's
no end to the peace of His kingdom. Christ has established eternal
peace. It's not like, well, we've, you
know, end of World War I, we got peace. Well, it lasted a
little bit, didn't it? Well, end of World War II, we
got peace. Peace in our time. Well, it didn't last too long,
did it? We get out of Korea, It didn't take too long. There's
another one. They agreed. They said, still not settled.
We're still at war. But Christ has established eternal peace. And this peace is not just a
promise that we'll have to wait and we'll enjoy it someday in
heaven. No. God's people have peace right
now. There is no end to the peace
that's in a believer's heart. There's no boundary to it. There's
no place where it stops because the blood of Christ has been
applied. He's taken up residence in your heart. Now, the storm's
going to rage. It will. The storm of this life
will rage. But the peace in your heart will
never end. Because the Prince of Peace reigns
in your heart. And the Kingdom of Christ is
established. Now, we know that the Kingdom
of Christ is established in glory. It'll never face any threat of
overthrow, will it? This is not a promise we've got
to wait to enjoy when we're in heaven. Believers enjoy this
now. The kingdom is established. The
kingdom of Christ is established in the hearts of His people right
now. Because when God the Holy Spirit forms a new man and a
new birth, a new heart, that heart will be established. It
will be established because of who formed it, who gave it. God
the Holy Spirit will establish that heart in righteousness.
Not in yours, but in the righteousness of Christ. So we say with David,
I shall not be moved. That babe in Christ may be like
David at the beginning of that psalm. He said, I shall not be
greatly moved. Later on, David said, I shall not be moved. Established in righteousness
and justice. Salvation in Christ is just. Now it's just. God just didn't
pretend like and overlook sin. This salvation is just. The law
is satisfied. Justice is satisfied. And because
God's law and justice are satisfied, they will never take away what
Christ gives. Ever. It's established in justice. Christ is the rightful king,
so his throne is established forever. And then Isaiah says
the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. It's the zeal
of God that compels him to accomplish all of God's purpose. Now that
word zeal, I looked that up today, it means jealousy. It means a
fervent emotion. And it means, for my sake. For
my sake. There's someplace God said, I'm
not doing this for your sake. You rebellious, stiff-necked
people, I don't do this for your sake. Do it for my sake. For my great namesake, I'm going
to save you in spite of yourself. And because God is jealous of
His glory, He's jealous of the glory of His name. And because
of that jealousy, the Father will honor the Son. The Father
is jealous of His glory. He's jealous of the glory of
His Son. You parents, you're jealous of the glory of your
children. When they're out there playing sports, when they're
out there doing this stuff, you're jealous of their glory. You're
not watching all these other kids. You're watching yours. You're
jealous of their glory. God the Father is jealous of the glory
of His Son and He will honor the work of His Son. If the Father
rejected even one person for whom Christ died, just one, that
multitude, no man can number. If one was missing, you and I
probably wouldn't know. We can't count that high. But
God would know. If that one is rejected, that
takes away all the glory of the Son. And the Father won't do
it. that would publicly embarrass
His Son. You wouldn't publicly embarrass
your children. God the Father won't either. Now what does all
that mean to us? Trust Him. Did you hear His name? Trust Him. Trust His name. He's wonderful. His name is wonderful. Counselor. The mighty God. The
everlasting Father. Prince of Peace. That's his name. That's who he is. Look to him. Trust him and find salvation
for your soul. All right, let's bow.