Well, to scare you ladies to
death who haven't gotten started yet, Christmas is just around
the corner. Won't be long, everybody be putting
up trees and decorating their houses and singing Christmas
carols and thinking about that baby born in Bethlehem 2,000
years ago. That baby, that infant, just,
I suppose, like any other baby, just a span. That baby is himself
the mighty God. That man who walked on this earth
for 33 years, eating and drinking as any other man. That man who
as a boy was obedient to his parents and learned to read and
write like any other boy. That man is the mighty God. That
man who died at Calvary is the mighty God. He is the man seated
in glory today, the mighty God. That's the declaration given
to us by divine inspiration in Isaiah chapter nine and verse
six. The name given to our savior
in Isaiah 714, Emmanuel, teaches us that God is present with man. Jesus Christ is God in our nature,
the embodiment of all that God is. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. The infinite, eternal, incomprehensible
God dwells in that man, Jesus Christ the Lord. In Isaiah 9,
6, we're told his name shall be called the mighty God. Look at it. For unto us a child
is born, 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. This name given to our Savior,
the mighty God, primarily suggests the idea of strength and power. That's the principal message
of the name. He is God, strength, and power. It could be translated God the
strong one, or God the mighty one. This name might even be
properly translated, as many have suggested, God the hero. That's pretty good. God the hero. The one of whom the prophet here
speaks, the Messiah, Emmanuel, of whom Isaiah prophesies, was
to be one who is characterized by heroic acts of divine omnipotent
power. This name of our Savior, the
mighty God, lays stress upon his might, his power, his heroic
ability, particularly as our mediator, as that one who represents
us before God, who represents us at the throne of heaven. The
child born unto us, the son given unto us is himself God. Not just a likeness of God, not
just a representative of God, not just a spokesman of God,
but himself God, the mighty one. He is God, the God of might. The one we delight to worship
as savior. the one who is our Redeemer,
our prophet, priest, and king. The one we trust is none other
than the omnipotent God in human flesh. Therefore, we may be of
good cheer trusting him. Would you God, I could convey
that to you and I just quit. He who is our Savior, He upon
whom we cast all our care. He who rules the world, whom
we trust to rule the world for our good. He who is our Redeemer,
our Mediator, our Savior, our acceptance with God. He is himself
God. Let us then in all circumstances
at all times be of good cheer. This mighty one takes care of
his own. It's not my purpose in this message
or any other to prove the divinity of the Lord Jesus. I don't need
to do that to you. The scriptures never attempt
to prove the existence of God or the existence of anything
about God and certainly never attempt to prove the Godhood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The scriptures never make an
effort to prove anything. Did you ever notice that? This
book, everything written in this book is simply declared. There's
never one word given to prove that what's declared is so. You
see, the book of God is the written revelation of God. It is the
unveiling of God, the declared revelation of the triune Jehovah. It is to be received and understood
by faith. It is to be received and understood
by faith. It can only be received and understood
by faith. By faith, we understand that
the worlds were framed by the Word of God. On the way on this
earth, you can understand God's creation or any event recorded
in this book concerning anything in this world is by faith in
Him who is the mighty God. Isaiah simply declares, His name
shall be called the mighty God. And he declares it almost like
this. Take it or leave it, believe it or perish, there it stands. Jesus Christ is the mighty God. I take God at his word. I trust
his son. I want no other support. I refuse
to consider any other possibility. I refuse to consider any other
possibility. But pastor, you're an educated
man. You're a smart man. You're a
reasonable man. Not when it comes to this book. I'm never reasonable,
never reasonable. I'm absolutely planted in dogmatism
and I refuse to consider anything that contradicts the book written
by any man or any group of men. In preaching this message, I
want to show you both in the New Testament and from your experience
in mine that Jesus Christ is at this day and shall forever
be the mighty God. He is called the mighty God by
God himself in this book. And he is called the mighty God
by all who know him. Jesus Christ is himself God. And this truth is so clearly
revealed in his name, in his works, and in his glorious perfection
in his person, that it cannot be refuted, denied, or gainsaid. As the mighty God, we worship
him, trust him, love him, and bow before him. Let me give you
the message of Isaiah in this statement. His name shall be
called the mighty God from three directions. First, this is God's
revelation. Now let's look at some scripture.
Turn over to 1 John chapter 5. 1 John chapter 5. As already suggested, I don't
think it's profitable for God's servants to attempt to convince
the world of any divine truth by any words of man's wisdom. I understand that this creation
center up close to Cincinnati, wherever it is, is a very impressive
thing. And I understand the research
and the work and the money that's gone into it. But I don't need
scientific argument to prove to me that God created the world.
And I won't listen to any that suggest he didn't. I don't need
scientific argument to prove to me that the story recorded
in Genesis 6 of the ark and the flood was really something that
can be validated. I won't listen to anything that
seeks to invalidate it. We read the book of God and see
what God says. It may be profitable for us to
be aware of the arguments which the wicked employ in their folly,
but if we would convince men and women of the truth of God,
our reliance must be upon the word of truth alone. I don't
want your faith to stand in the power of human reason and logic,
but in the power of God and his word. Therefore, Paul said, I'm
determined to know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. He said, I came not to you with
excellency of speech. Now, Lindsay, that man saw the
Tarsus. He was trained like few men are
trained. And he had ability like few men
had. He was a man, you read his letters
and you see clearly his logic, his reasoning ability, but he
speaks with utmost simplicity. He speaks with utmost simplicity
and just declares what God said, that's all. That's exactly how
every man who seeks to serve the souls of men is to preach,
with utmost simplicity, dogmatism, and boldness. I want your faith
to stand not in my abilities, but in God's Word. And if we
would convince men of Christ's eternal Godhead, we must realize
that the only weapon by which to do so is thus saith the Lord. That's all. That's all. This
is what God says. This is what God says. But this
is what God says. But this is what God says. Nothing
else matters. Nothing else matters. And any
time you allow anything else to matter, you've taken one foot
off the scriptures and you're standing on shaky ground. Thus
saith the Lord. Let's find out what God says.
Nothing else matters. The weapons of our warfare are
not carnal. but mighty through God to the
pulling down of strongholds. What are the weapons of our warfare?
The word of God, the spirit of God, and the throne of God. We
call on God in prayer and wait on God to work. First, the Scripture
tells us plainly, here in 1 John 5, 20, that Jesus Christ is God. Now that's not an interpretation,
even a good interpretation, that's just the plain statement of 1
John 5, 20. Jesus Christ is the true God. Look at it. We know that the
Son of God has come. and hath given us an understanding,
that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that
is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God
and eternal life. He is life, eternal life, who
is the true God. He is the true God from whom
we receive life. All other gods, all other representations
of God are false delusions. To worship any other god is idolatry. Call him Buddha, call him Allah,
call him what you will, it's idolatry, idolatry. God alone is our savior. Our savior alone is God and worthy
to be worshiped as God. To fail to worship Jesus Christ
as God is nothing less than atheism, for there is no other God but
He. Look at chapter 5 in 1 John,
verse 7. Chapter 5, verse 7. I've said this to you many times
and I keep stressing it. Every modern translation does
its dead level best to either eradicate this verse from Scripture
or to tell you, well, we put it in here because everybody
likes for it to be there, but it really doesn't belong there. There's
a reason for that. This is the only single verse
in Holy Scripture that states plainly the doctrine of the Holy
Trinity. The only one. But there was never
a question about it until Arius raised his nonsense denying the
deity of Christ. There are three that bear record
in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these
three are one. God, the three in one, three
persons in one holy Godhead. John Gill wrote, this text, 1
John 5, 7, is so glaring a proof of the doctrine of the Trinity
that the enemies of it have done all they can to weaken its authority
and have pushed hard to expunge it from its place in the sacred
writings. When we say that Jesus Christ
is God, we do not in any way suggest a denial of the Trinity,
not at all. I remember a long, long time
ago, back when I was 18 years old, I was asked, when I was
out in Springfield, Missouri, to preach for some folks. I didn't
have any idea who they were, but I walked in and found out
it was a Jesus-only Pentecostal group, folks who do not believe
in the Trinity. They believe that the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit are just different names for
Jesus. They're Jesus-only folks. But
we're not suggesting any denial of the Trinity. The scriptures
clearly affirm that we worship one triune God, Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost in the three distinct persons of the Trinity, equal
in all things, one God. This triune God, however, is
known, seen, worshipped only in Jesus Christ, the God-man.
Turn over to 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians chapter 12, 2 Corinthians 12. All three persons of the one
God are mentioned together in this blessed benediction. And
this is the case in other scriptures. I'm sorry, 2 Corinthians 13,
verse 14. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of
God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all. All
three were present when our Savior was baptized. The Lord Jesus
being baptized by John, the Holy Ghost descending from heaven
in the form of a dove, and the Father speaking from heaven saying
concerning that man being baptized, this is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. We baptize believing sinners
in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost
as our Lord taught us. And yet it's clearly affirmed
three Divine Persons are one God. The Lord Jesus said again
and again, I and My Father are one. I and My Father are indivisible. He said, Philip, if you've seen
Me, you've seen the Father. Look in John chapter 1, the Gospel
of John chapter 1, two verses, verse 1 verse 18, beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God. God was the Word, and the Word
was God. Verse 18, No man hath seen God
at any time. No man hath seen God at any time. In His glorious, infinite essence,
No man has ever seen God, and none can see Him. The only begotten
Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared
Him. This one who is the Son of God,
standing right here in front of us in human flesh, and we
can reach out and touch Him, or reach over and get a piece
of bread out of His hand. This one we hear talking to us, or
this one we're walking with, This man, this man, he is in
the bosom of the father. But we're looking at him. Yes,
because he's God. He's God. The only begotten son,
which is in the bosom of the father, he hath declared him. Now, I told you a week or two
ago, that's the word from which we get our word exegesis. He
hath exegeted him. He's gone and taken what God
is. and shows him to you. So there's no guesswork about
it. Every revelation of God in the
Old Testament scriptures, every one of them. The Lord walked
with Adam in the garden. God came down and spoke to Abraham. God showed himself to Manoah
and his wife over and over again. We have men seeing God, men seeing
God. But John said no man seen God
at any time. Every revelation of God in the
Old Testament Scriptures was a pre-incarnate manifestation
of Jesus Christ, the God-man, our mediator. When the Holy Spirit
reveals God to men, what does He do? He shows them Christ. The only way to worship God is
to worship Him in Jesus Christ, the Lord. The only sight of God
any man has ever had The only sight of God any man will ever
have, the only sight of God any man ever needs is Jesus Christ,
the God-man. Soon we shall see his face. We will see the Son of God face
to face. And seeing him, we will see all
of God in him. The Lord Jesus Christ, The man
himself is the God of sovereign dominion, who sitteth upon the
circle of the earth. Christ came, who was over all
God, blessed forever. Under the sun, the Father said,
thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. Look in 1 Timothy chapter
three, 1 Timothy three. Back many, many years ago, there
were two preachers, brothers by the name of Priestley, one
in England, one in the United States. This is during the early
days of our, when we were still British colonies. And the one
had fallen prey to the rationalism of the Europeans and he denied
the Trinity and denied that Jesus Christ is God and so on. And
the other, the fellow who lived in England, he was a thoroughgoing
evangelical preacher of the gospel. And he was visiting with his
unbelieving brother, who was a preacher in the States. And
his brother thought he would be polite and ask him to preach.
That's always a mistake, unless you want to hear something. But
his brother asked him, he said, he said, but I would like for
you not to preach on anything controversial. And the brother
looked at him for a little bit and he said, okay, I can do that. And he got up on Sunday morning
and he read this text of scripture. And without controversy, I promised
my brother I wouldn't preach on anything controversial. And
this is without controversy, it says so right here. Great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory,
and proceeded to preach about Jesus Christ, our great God and
Savior in the accomplishment of redemption. We're told in
Titus chapter 2 that the Lord Jesus Christ is the great God,
our Savior, in whom we have hope. And the Church of God universally
stands as one man. I said the church of God. I'm
not talking about folks who profess to be the church. I'm not talking
about folks who profess to be Christians. I'm not talking about
folks who claim that they are in the church of God. I'm talking
about the church of God. Every saved sinner in this world
stands as one man and confesses with Thomas, my Lord and my God. It is the height of folly. for
a person to pretend to be a follower of Christ and yet deny his deity,
though many do. Suppose just for a minute, if
you dare, that Jesus Christ is not God. If he is not God, then
he's a liar, because he said he was. That means he wasn't
a good prophet. If he's not God, then his crucifixion
was the most justifiable thing ever to take place in executing
a man. For the Jews declared plainly
that he was guilty of blasphemy. Being a man, he made himself
God. If Jesus Christ is not God, his
religion is as useless as Islam or Judaism or Hinduism. His religion
is of no value. You're yet in your sins. You
should pay no attention to it. The fact is no one can deny the
eternal deity of our Lord Jesus Christ and be a believer. Let
all the forms that men devise assault our faith with treacherous
arts. We'll call them vanity and lies
and bind the gospel to our hearts. We write this on the forefront
of our banner. Christ is God, co-equal and co-eternal
with the Father and the Holy Ghost, very God of very God,
one who counted it not robbery to be equal with God. Our faith
delights then to call our Savior by this name, the mighty God. Second, all our experience of
God's goodness, mercy, love, and grace, affirms Isaiah's prophecy. The Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior,
is called. He is worshiped by us as the
mighty God. I don't put much stock in experience. Men put far too much in it. But
I put no stock at all in religion that has no experience. And all
that I have experienced these past 50 years verify this fact. My savior is the mighty God. Every day, God's saints attribute
deity to him. We call him God not simply with
our lips, but with our actions, with our experience. We live
by faith upon the mighty God. We call our ever-blessed Christ
the mighty God in our daily contemplation and worship of him. How often
through the day do you bow before him? When you think about him
and you call on his name and you worship him as the mighty
God. In our blessed hours of meditation,
We are enabled by the Spirit of God to look on Him as God
the Eternal Son. We worship Him as God, the God
of eternal love, who before the world was, set His heart upon
us. We rejoice and give thanks to
Him, God the Mighty One, for making us His own. Has it not
often been the comfort and the stay of your heart when you can find no other nail
in a sure place, when no word from anybody could help. Oh,
what a comfort to lift your hearts to God, your savior, and find
peace in your soul. And thus we attribute to him
who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, all the attributes
of divinity, for he is God. immutable his will, though dark
may be my frame, his loving heart is still unchangeably the same.
My soul through many changes goes, his love no variation knows. Whenever we gather in this place
to worship and we bow before him in prayer,
we do not attribute to him his omnipresence as God. He sits
on heaven's throne in human flesh. as really as he did when he was
born as a babe in Bethlehem in human flesh. Now he sits on heaven's
throne in the flesh as really God in the body of flesh as he
was when he died at Calvary, God in our flesh. Yonder he sits. But wherever two or three are
gathered together in my name, he said, there am I in the midst
of them. We call him wonderful, counselor,
the mighty God. We call Christ the mighty God
in our dependence upon him as our mediator. We worship him,
the mediator of our souls. In order to mediate for us, he
must be one of us, a real man, touched with the feeling of our
infirmities, capable of knowing what we feel. Rex, that's just almost hard
to grasp, isn't it? He who is God, capable of knowing
what we feel? How often have you said to someone
who's going through great trouble, I know how you feel, and they
look at you almost with steely eyes and say, you can't know
how I feel. You've not been there. He is
a man touched with the feeling of our infirmities. A man tempted
in all points like as we are, yet without sin. And he is touched
with all that touches us because he really does know exactly how
you feel. He's the mighty God, our Savior.
And we cast on this man, all the burden of our souls and His
infinite shoulders as the mighty God are able to carry the load
without our aid. We call Christ the mighty God
when we bow before Him and trust Him as our Savior. None but God
could bear all the sins of His people in His body on the tree. None but God could with one tremendous
draft of love drink damnation dry. None but God could endure
all the wrath of God and satisfy the justice of God. None but
God could speak peace to your heart and say, go thy way, thy
sins are forgiven thee. Oh, I know men do that all the
time. But try to find me somebody who
heard that word from a man who has peace in his heart. Oh, but when God says your sins
are gone and you hear God say your sins are gone like Enoch,
you have testimony from God that you please God, you walk with
peace. Here's the third thing. Throughout
the world, the church of Christ calls him the mighty God. But
why does he deserve such reverence as this? By his very nature,
he deserves it. But we delight to call him such
because of all that he has done, is doing, and shall do. In all
his mighty deeds, in all his great accomplishments, Jesus
Christ is rightly called the mighty God. Our Lord Jesus came
down here in human flesh. And when he was at his weakest
as a man, he had been fasting for 40 days and 40 nights. You know what that does to the
human body, to the human mind? When he was at his weakest, he
confronted Satan in the wilderness. and overcame him in his temptation
in the wilderness. And then he comes to Gethsemane, and Satan throws his last assault
at him. And our Savior, anticipating
being made sin, his heart breaks within him, and he breaks out
in a sweat of blood. And he said, what shall I say?
Father, save me from this hour. And he seems to brace himself
up. And he stands and says, for this
cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. And he said to Peter and James
and John, come on, boys, my hour has come. And he goes out to
be crucified upon the cursed tree. And there at Calvary, As
He bare our sin in His body on the tree, He bare them away,
purged them from us, took them away forever, the mighty God,
the mighty God. And when He did, He crushed the
serpent's head. He came down, John describes
him as a mighty angel from heaven with a great chain and he bound
the devil, that dragon of the pit with a great chain and put
a lid on the pit. And he should not deceive the
nations anymore. And he sends out to gather his
elect out of the four corners of the earth in this gospel age. And soon the mighty God is coming
again. He's coming in the clouds with
power and great glory. And every eye shall see Him. And I acknowledge Before I can
say it, I acknowledge it quicker than a heartbeat. I don't have
a clue how. I don't have a clue how. He won't
be some great huge giant that can be seen all over the world
at one time. Don't have a clue how. But this
I know, every eye will fully understand that this man is God. they also which pierced him shall
wail because of him. And he will consume the wicked
with the brightness of his coming, consume this present ball we
call earth, and will make a new heavens and a new earth, wherein
dwelleth righteousness. And when he does, in the consummation
of all things, this man who is the mighty God shall present
all the universe in all its details, with all its events, in all its
history, all the works of men and angels and devils, everything
in heaven, everything in earth, everything in hell, and he will
cause it to be manifest there for the glory of God. He is called
the mighty God, our Savior. God, the mighty one. The hero of every saved sinner. The only one we have. Amen.