I invite you to take your Bibles
this morning and turn with me to Isaiah chapter 7. I'm going to leave the reading
of this chapter to you. You can do it now or you can
do it later on this afternoon because when you're reading through
the old prophets, and they start telling you this one's name and
who his father was and his third cousin and all this, By the time
you get all that in your head, you can't really get in your
head what exactly this thing's talking about. So I'll let you
do that in the privacy of your home this afternoon, and you
can see that what I'm telling you is so. I'm just going to
kind of sum this chapter up, and then I'm going to speak from
verse 14. But Isaiah chapter 7 is a prophecy
of the preservation of Judah. That's what it's all about. That's
what he's talking about here. Judah and Israel are separate. There was 10 of the 12 tribes
of Judah that pulled away. And in their pulling away, they
allied up with Syria, with the Syrian king. And then, with that
much power, they decided that they were going to conquer Judah.
Now Judah, in the land of Judah, this is where Jerusalem, this
is where the temple, this is where the heart and soul of everything
that God has set in figure and type of Himself. This is where
He should be worshipped. This is where His King is to
reign. All of these things right here in Judah. And so they ally up, and they
come in, and they besiege the city. And they almost take it,
but God's hand restrains them, and they don't. But then the
news comes to Ahab, king of Judah, that the ten tribes of Israel
have allied up with this heathen king. And it said it affected
him like the wind that bows the big trees. It just took all the
strength out of him. And he sat there in depression
and fear and trembling that this city of God under his reign is
going to fall. And God sends Isaiah to him.
Now Ahaz wasn't a good king. He was an evil king. But God's
still his God. And he's still the God of Israel.
And he tells him that he sends word by the king. And he tells
him that he's going to preserve. He's going to preserve all these
things. But everybody in the city, including the king, they
were all overwhelmed. And they looked around. They
were outnumbered. They were outmaneuvered. And
psychologically, they were defeated. They threw their hands up. They
knew that they'd withstood them on this one attack, but one more
attack and they're going to fall. They knew it. They just knew
it. Until God sent His prophet to King Ahaz with a message. He said Israel and Syria's attempts
would be fruitless. They're going to be fruitless
because what they wanted was contrary to God. Now listen to
me. If you could get a hold of this,
all your fears and doubts will fade away. All your fears and doubts are
going to fade away. It wasn't because of the king,
as I told you before, he was an evil king. And it wasn't because
of the people in their strong faith, because they all sitting
down there trembling and quivering. And most of them had followed
the same ways that the king had followed. But Israel and Syria's attempts
were going to be fruitless, because what they wanted was contrary
to the will of God. These ten tribes, to me, they
represent this religious world. I believe that's what they represent.
They're religious. They say, we're Israel. We're
the Israel of God. We're believers. We do this. We do that. And then they ally
up with the evil king. And everybody knows who that
is. That's Satan. That's Satan. And I want you to see this first,
that there is nothing contrary to the will of God that ever
has or ever will come to pass. Nothing. Nothing. You think about that. I know
preachers standing up every day telling them folks, you're doing
contrary to the will of God. No, they ain't. They're doing
exactly what God wills to be done. They did it when they took
his son. I can't imagine a more blasphemous
thing than this, than running into a crowd of people sitting
in judgment on a perfect man, the Son of God, and running into
that crowd and putting your arm around folks and saying, he's
an imposter. He's not the son of God. He's
filled with the spirit of Beelzebul. And calls those people to choose
a murderer and seditioner over him. And that's exactly what
natural Israel did. That's exactly what natural religion
does today. They want you to pick this murderer
in his stead. And that's what he is. Nothing. contrary to the will
of God has ever or ever will come to pass. It says, without
any apology, he worketh all things after the counsel of his own
will. Nebuchadnezzar, that old evil
king that God broke down and made him eat grass like a beast
of the field, when he called him back to his senses, he said,
God's in heaven. And He ruleth in the armies of
heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay
His hand or say unto Him what doeth that." He has His will
in everything. His kingdoms from generation
to generation got nothing to do with His reign. He's God. You see what God's sending down
to this prophet to calm his fears and the fears of those people
there in Jerusalem? He said, God's God. And what
they're doing is contrary to my will. And they're not going
to get it done. They're not going to get it done.
I remember years ago, an Armenian preacher was talking to Brother
Mahan about God's absolute sovereignty. He was questioning the preaching
of Brother Mahan on the absolute sovereignty of God. And he knew
Brother Mahan's son had just been killed recently in the war.
He knew that. And so in this conversation,
he's Of course, Brother Mahan quoting scripture after scripture
to him, and he getting more and more aggravated as time went
on. Finally, in anger, he looked at him and he said, well, if
God's sovereign, he said, where was your sovereign, God, when
your son died in the war? And Henry said he's in the same
place he was when his son died on the cross on the throne. He
doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth. And not only can't you stay his
hand, you can't even question what he does. That's what that
old king learned. I wish we could learn it. He's
on the throne. And the reason why we fear and
we doubt and all these things, I believe, is twofold. First
of all, we're ignorant of the will of God. There's no reason
to doubt if you know the will of God. Who's going to resist
God? Huh? Who's going to overcome
God? Who's going to turn him from
the way? Who's been his counselor? Who's wiser than him? He's God. He's God. And we're ignorant
of God's ways and ignorant of God's will. That's why we doubt
and fear and tremble and all those things. It's God's will,
first of all, to save a people. That's God's will. Christ said,
I came not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent
me. And this is the will of Him that sent me, that of all which
He has given me, I should lose nothing. That's God's will. It's
to save a people for the glory of His own name. Is He going
to do it? You better believe it. Well, I just don't agree
with that. He's still going to do it. He's
still going to do it. And if everybody in the country
stands up and says, well, I ain't going along with that, He's still
going to do it. And if you ally up with all the
idiots of this world and all the heathens of this world, he's
still going to tell you it ain't going to be done because it's
contrary to my will. Now that's what's going on over
here in Isaiah chapter 7. That's what's going on. We're
ignorant of the will of God. To accomplish this will, He sent
His Son into this world where He lived and died and was raised
from the grave and ascended up and is seated right now at the
right hand of God, expecting till His enemies be made His
footstool. You know why He's expecting that?
Because He's God. And it's going to happen. Nothing's
going to change it. Nothing's going to change it.
God's ordained His means. Is He going to change? God doesn't
change. He's not going to change that. This is God's will. You reckon He's going to change
His mind? No, God's not going to change. He's not going to
change. Right now, He's accomplishing
God's will by the presence of the Holy Spirit, the Word of
God, and the preaching of the Gospel. Nothing will or can destroy
this world until all God's elect are safe in the fold. It's not
going to melt down before that time. When that time comes, It'll
melt down. Until then, it ain't going nowhere. We fear and doubt because we're
ignorant of the will of God. And then secondly, we fear and
doubt because we do not believe the Word of God or trust in His
reigning King. Now, ain't that it? Huh? Ain't that really at the bottom
of it? We like to make all kinds of excuses, but that's at the
bottom right there. We don't trust Him. We don't
trust Him. Well, you say we're unbelievers.
No, but I am saying that you have unbelief. That's why you
fear, unbelief. You can't fear what you believe. Now, you believe that this is
His King, the sovereign King of glory, and He sits on the
throne. Well, you've got to fear. Well, He sent Him into this world
permanently to become a man to save your soul. Now, what you
got to fear? And he's accomplished it. And
now he's seated at the right hand of God in union and acceptance
with God to do that very thing. Well, who's the enemy that's
going to turn that aside? Who's going to change that? It
ain't going to change. You see what I'm saying? But
why do we fear? Because we don't believe it.
That's it. Those disciples who walked with
the Lord, that disciple who leaned his head on the Lord's breast,
they said, Lord, we believe, help thou our unbelief. Ain't that what they said? And to the King of Judah and
all those trembling under his rule, The Lord gave this word
of assurance and comfort in Isaiah 7, verse 14. Now, he told this
king just before this, he said, ask me a sign. And the king started
pretending to be religious. And he said, well, I got all
pious, and I'm not going to tempt the Lord and ask the Lord for
a sign. Well, it might be a temptation from you if the Lord didn't ask
you, but if the Lord asks you, Then to not do it is just the
very opposite, isn't it? It's an offense to him when he
tells you to do something. And the Lord told him, he said,
you ask of me a sign. And he made this big pretense.
And then he said, therefore, the Lord told him, he said, now
I'm going to give you the sign. Here's the sign. Therefore, the
Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive,
and bear a son. and shall call His name Immanuel,
God with us." Isn't that what that means? God with us. Now, this is the only source
of comfort and consolation that chosen sinners will ever receive
of God. Show us a sign. Here it is, he
said. God Himself is going to show
you a sign. A virgin is going to conceive
and bring forth a son. I know there's a lot of rhetoric
going on today, and I know there's a lot of things going on, and
a lot of sins and silliness going on, but I'm telling you this,
don't you mock that virgin birth. This is the sign, God said, it's
the only sign you're ever going to get from me. Here's the sign,
a virgin shall conceive. Now why did He give that sign?
To take away all their fears. Huh? To declare His faithfulness
and so on. this virgin-born Son of God.
Now, let me give you several things this morning that God
declared through the Lord Jesus Christ coming into this world.
Now, first and foremost, He tells us that this one born in this
cow stable nearly 2,000 years ago is the God-man. This is Immanuel, God with us. This is God in the form of a
man. There's not enough words to describe
what that means. The fullness of God in this man,
in this baby. John chapter 1 verse 14 says,
the Word, the eternal Word. If you read the first part of
that chapter, he'll tell you, in the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, capital W-O-R-D. And the same thing he said down
here in verse 14, it's that same word, capital W-O-R-D, that was
made flesh and dwelt among us. Romans chapter 9, verse 5, describing
the Christ of the Old Testament prophecy, Paul said, who is over
all, God blessed forever. That's what he called it. And
then in Colossians 2, verse 9, the Holy Ghost tells us that
in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And He
took not on Him, He said in Hebrews, the nature of angels, but the
seed of Abraham. The seed of a man. Here He is. He's a man. The flesh and body
and nature of a man. And by a one-time permanent union. The eternal Son of God took to
Himself the body and nature of a man and was born of a woman
and laid in a manger. Laid in a manger, an old cow
stable. You think about that. What a
condescension this is. From the throne of glory to a
stable. I tell you, you don't fear what
this world appears to be doing, or what ignorant men say it's
going to do, this world and everything in it revolve around the incarnate
Son of God. all His purposes, counsels, and
decrees. You read in Revelation chapter
5, John wept because no one was worthy to take that book from
his hand. It was sealed with the very perfections
of God, the whole and complete will of God, and no man was worthy
to open it except the Son of God. This Lamb slain, He took
it from His hand and opened the seals. And He's still opening
them today. Still opening them. And He's
going to open them to the end of time. Don't fear what men are going
to do. All things are connected with Him. This world and everything
in it revolve around Him. And the indisputable sign and
irresistible evidence of this is this virgin-born Son of God. He came exactly as God said He
would come. Well, preacher, what makes you
think that Mary's little baby was indeed the incarnate Son
of God? Well, the Scripture is full of
evidence. the time of his birth? It was prophesied. Daniel talked
about it. Ezekiel talked about it. Jeremiah
talked about it. Isaiah talked about it. They
depicted the very time when he was going to be born. They told
which government was going to be in power when he comes. And
all the governments that preceded it until the Roman government
took over. He tells you all of this in the Old Testament Scriptures.
Tells us the time of his birth. prophesied by the Old Testament
prophecies. It tells you all the future prophecies
of the Christ and how they came to pass, the forerunners, the
Roman rule, the cities they lived in, the cities that they moved
to, all of these things foretold by the prophets. What about the
heavenly witness? I tell you, there haven't been
too many babies born that the angels in heaven started singing
about them. He didn't sing about any of mine, but he sang about this one. He didn't call any wise men in
to witness the birth of my children, but he did this one. He didn't
take a star and lead anybody to mine, but he did to his. Oh,
there's a heavenly witness all through the Scriptures. How about
the Father's confirmation? The Father Himself said, this
is My beloved Son. What about that? What about John the Baptist,
the forerunner of God, and all the miracles that attended the
ministry of Christ and His resurrection from the dead, and the hundreds
upon hundreds that seen Him, who knew Him and testified of
Him after His resurrection? The hundreds that bore witness
of Him, and the miracles that attended their witness. God even
confirmed their witness by miracles and wonders and signs. And then
what about the witness of the Holy Ghost in your own heart?
Huh? You going to deny that? I don't
think so. This is the Son of God. What
did God declare in the birth of His virgin-born Son? That
God has come into the flesh to save a people for the glory of
His name. And He's doing it. He's doing
it. And then secondly, He, by the appearance of this young
child, declared His dissatisfaction. with all this world's ideas of
a righteousness by something they do under the law. Let me
tell you something. If there's any value, any virtue
whatsoever in ceremonial religion, if there's anything to it, now
people have told me this. They may not be telling all the
truth, but there's some virtue, some good in what they do. If
there was any good in what they do, the Son of God wouldn't have
had to come into this world. All they would need is just reformed.
Now, isn't that what people are doing? They're trying to reform,
trying to get them to do just a little better, do just a little
better. Honey, it ain't a little better you got to do. You have
to be perfect as God. And nobody can do that but God
Himself. In Hebrews 10, verse 5, listen
to what this says. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, that's what we're talking about, the appearance
of Christ. When he cometh into the world, he saith, by this
appearance, by this coming, he saith, here's what God saith,
sacrifice an offering thou wouldest not. Don't we say it? And why
we keep throwing it at him? Why we keep doing it? He said
it didn't please him. He didn't like it. He didn't
satisfy Him. Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest
not, but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. He never did. He never did. Isaiah chapter 1. talks to Israel and describes
all their ceremonialisms and their without faith whatsoever,
looking forward to the cross. He calls that an abomination.
But he ordained those sacrifices. Yeah, he ordained them to be
seen through faith. That priesthood, the tabernacle,
the ceremonial law were, Hebrews 9, verse 9, a figure for the
time then present. that could not make him that
did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience, which stood
only in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances,
now listen, imposed on them until the time of reformation. These
were patterns, he goes on to say, of things in the heavens
and shadows of good things to come. But there was nothing effectual
or satisfying in the ceremonies or sacrifices themselves. Their
only virtue in these things is that they, in the one that they
pointed to, that's the only virtue in those things. They set forth
Christ as the propitiation for our sins. That's what they did.
They testified of Him. And if there was anything virtuous
in the ceremonial law, it would not be necessary for the God-man
to appear on this earth. So his coming into this world
was a once-for-all declaration of God's dissatisfaction with
those things. Now if we leave those things
and go back to that mess, there remaineth no more sacrifice for
sin because this is it. This is it here. Now you want
to go back to that old mess, you're going to have to get all
of it, number one. People talk about obeying the law and all
that type of stuff. And our church follows the Ten
Commandments. Well, you've got a whole lot
more than ten. You can't handle the ten, but
you've got a whole lot more than ten. You're going to have to
go get a priesthood and a lamb and all those things, a temple. He wound those things up, and
he's the end of the law for righteousness. Thirdly, He came into this world
as a representative man to do for us what we could never do
for ourselves. When He appeared there, He didn't
appear there on His own. He appeared there as a representative
man. That's why everybody wants to
rejoice. That's why the wise men came. That's why the shepherds
came. That's why Mary herself said, I rejoice in God my Savior. That's right. He's a representative
man. Otherwise, what's everybody rejoicing
about? It's just another man. Isn't
that right? There's no reason to come in
here and worship Him if He's not a representative man. God
sent Him here for that purpose. Look back with me to Hebrews
chapter 10. In Hebrews 10, verse 6, he repeats
himself a little bit. He said, in burnt offerings and
sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I,
this is that one who came into the world to do the will of God, and so
on. Then said I, lo, I come. In the volume of the book, it's
written of me, to do thy will, O God. Above, when he said sacrifice
and offering and burn offerings and offering for sin, thou wouldest
not, neither hath pleasure therein, which are offered by the law.
Then said he, lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away
the first, that he may establish the second. Now he's going to
establish what all these things pointed to. That's what he's
saying. By the which will, that is the
accomplishing of this will. We are sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Ain't that what that says? Huh?
Once for all. In Romans chapter 3, verse 21,
he said, But now the righteousness of God without the laws manifested,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness
of God, which is by faith or the faithfulness of Jesus Christ
unto all and upon all them that believe." This is a representative
man. John, he didn't need to come
here to obey the law to prove anything. He's the giver of the
law. This is God himself. But he become
a servant to the law and was born under that law as a representative
man to provide us with a righteousness. He's already righteous. He was
righteous before he ever appeared as a man. But it's to provide us with a
righteousness. So this declares his representative
for him when he came into this world. And there's no sense. Now, I'm telling you this. There's
just no sense. I read things. I've got one section
in my study thing on my computer that'll give you across the board.
It'll give you Arminian sermons. It'll give you all kinds of things.
And I read through them occasionally just to see what in the world
they're going to do with this verse and script. And they start
talking about the coming of Christ into this world and start making
universal applications to it. And it's so ridiculous that a
lot of times the very scripture they're referring to will have
the word elect in it. And I don't know how in the world
you can do that except just to be blind. But there's just no
sense in which you can make His presence here to be universal
except for two things. He is the reigning universal
king over everything that lives, walks, flies, and crawls. Universally,
he's the king. And universally, you can use
it in this sense, he chose his people out of every nation and
tribe and kindred and tongue under heaven. That's the only
two senses that I'm aware of that have anything to do with
the universe or universal or the world as it is, in that sense. But you try to take that redemption
he accomplished and make it something other than particular redemption,
oh boy, you're going down a road you can't get back on. Now, I'm
telling you. You start trying to make this
love out to be universal that he loved all men, you're going
down a dead-end street. I'm telling you. It corrupts the character of
God It defies the will of God. It goes totally contrary to the
purpose of God. And it makes an absolute mockery
out of the death of Christ. It makes His appearance in this
world to be of no value whatsoever. All that He came to do, He did
for His own. His redemption is particular
redemption. His atonement is limited to God's
elect. And all attempts to make this
world apply to all men is contrary to the character of God, contrary
to the harmony of the scriptures, and they deny the sufficiency
of the sacrifice. His name shall be called Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sin. Now, if he didn't,
if he didn't, he's not the Christ. Ain't that right? If He didn't save all that He
came to save, He can't be the Christ. If He didn't effectually
purchase all He came to redeem, He can't be the Redeemer. If
He did not justify all He died for, then His death was of no
effect. And if He did not accomplish
all He was sent into this world to do for God's elect, then God's
purpose, rule, power has all been overthrown, and God must
step down from the throne. That's just how serious it is.
That's why Paul over there in Galatians, he said, if somebody
brings another gospel contrary to this, he said, I don't care
if it's an angel from heaven. Let him be accursed. Let him
be accursed. This tiny babe in Bethlehem's
manger is the Lord's Christ. He's the Redeemer and substitute
of all His elect. And if this is not sufficient
to calm your fears, it may just be that you've never seen the
Son for who He is. That's right. Now, he's either
all God said he was and did all God sent him to do, or he didn't. I'm telling you, you need to
settle that in your heart. Settle that in your heart. We
let so many things just take us here and take us there. Alright,
fourthly, he came into this world to put away sin. Isn't that what
he said? Paul said, one time in the end
of the world hath he appeared. Who? This Christ of God. He appeared. What for? To put away sin. Ain't that what He said? By the
sacrifice of Himself. Did He put it away? That's what
He came to do. Did He put it away? Well, He
put some of it. Uh-uh. You got the wrong Christ. This
Christ put it away. He put it away. He didn't come into this world
to show a compromise or any willingness on on God's part to compromise
His holy character, He came here to save sinners. And to save
sinners, He must satisfy God's justice concerning their sins. And to satisfy that justice,
the sinner must bear all the infinitely righteous justice
of God demands of him. I want you to hear me. All of the men, all of the men,
that's a broad way, he said, many there be on that broad road
going into hell, which the scriptures define as an everlasting punishment. In all of their suffering and
all of the men combined and put together, they can never satisfy
the justice of God or else it wouldn't be everlasting punishment.
Is that right? That's why they're going to suffer
forever because you can't satisfy God. And he's not going to save
anybody until his justice is satisfied. And the only one who
could bear the infinite justice of God and satisfy his wrath
is the Lord Jesus Christ. And why folks won't believe that
and run and embrace him is beyond me. You can't do it. You can't do it here and you
can't do it suffering in hell. You'll never do it. has to be
done by Him. People talk about praying people
out. You can't pray nobody out of hell. Your prayers here can't
satisfy God. And your prayers there can't
satisfy God. And your suffering here or there
can't satisfy God. Only Christ can satisfy God. Christ and Christ alone One time,
he said, in the end of the world appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. Paul said over in 2 Corinthians
5 that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them. Put them on Christ. How did he do that? How did God
do that? He says down in verse 21, for
He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. Substitution. Substitution. All right, 50. God Himself, He said, will give
you a sign in the midst of your trouble and fear. Fear of bondage,
fear of evil, fear of death, whatever those fears might be.
by sending his virgin-born son to establish his loving rule
in the hearts of his elect. Let me read you a little conversation
of Christ and Pilate at his judgment. Pilate said, are you a king?
Are you the king of the Jews? And Christ said, who's asking? He said, are you asking or somebody
put you up to it? And Pilate said, Are you a king? He said, Am I a Jew? Thine own
nation, thine own chief priests have delivered thee to me. And
the Lord looked at him and he said, My kingdom is not of this
world. That's why we stand here talking. It's not of this world. Otherwise, you'd just be some
ashes on the floor. My kingdom's not of this world.
If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight
that I might be delivered. But now is my kingdom not from
hence. Pilate, therefore, said unto
him, art thou a king? Jesus said, thou sayest that
I am a king. To this end was I born. And do
you know what he said? Huh? A tiny baby in Bethlehem. Hey, it's going to kill it. The
Jews are going to destroy it. They're going to deny it. This
whole world stood against him. But God said, I put my king on
my holy hill in Zion. Ain't nobody going to kick him
off. He was born to be king. What is he? He's king. To this
end that he both died and revived, now seated at the right hand
of God to be Lord of the dead and the living. He's king. He's
saying, and the Kingdom of God is not Jerusalem and that little
bunch of ground over there that surrounds it. The Kingdom of
God is God's loving rule established in your heart. It's Christ in
you. That's what the Kingdom of God
is. It's His loving rule established in you, established in the heart. The Lord said in Matthew 12,
38, if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom
of God is coming to you. If I come into your heart and
into your mind and into your life and cast out the demons,
cast out the devils, cast down those false imaginations and
tear down those strongholds, ain't that what Paul said we
do through the preaching of the gospel? He preaches God in Christ
and Christ through the Holy Spirit comes into a man's heart and
he casts down those things. He tears them down. What the
Lord said over there in Matthew is that the strong man comes
in and He rules the house until a stronger than him comes in.
That's Christ. And binds up the old strong man. That's that loving rule of Christ. I'm telling you this, all men
who truly see Him in His glory, willing to receive him into their
heart and mind, and they're willing to follow him and bow to him
as their king. You don't have to bribe them.
You don't have to bribe them. You don't have to threaten them.
All you have to do is point them to the king. If they ever get
a sight of the king, they'll follow him. He said, my sheep
hear my voice, and they know me, and I know them, and they
follow me. Ain't that what he said? You can forget any kind of walk
of faith that does not willingly, lovingly bow to the King. If
Christ reigns in my heart, then I'm a subject in His kingdom,
ain't I? That's right. And if I'm a subject and a servant
to the great King, then let my life honor the King. That's how
I walk. That's how I walk. They told
one of the preachers over here the other day, he said, well,
you just believe a man can walk any way he wants to. He said,
I wish I could. Believers want to be like Christ,
don't they? And then I'll close with this
last point. This virgin-born Son of God which God Himself
sent into this world is a sign, a sign of His faithfulness. A
sign of His everlasting love and a sign of His sovereign purpose
of grace, He brought His Son into this world to manifest His
glory. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld His glory. That's what John sees. What kind
of glory? The glory as of the only begotten
of the Father. That's the kind of glory. That's
that image of God. The Word was made flesh. There
are two marks God inscribes in the minds and hearts of all that
believe. Grace and truth. Now what he
says there in John 1.14, We beheld His glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Believers all receive the truth.
You cannot have Christ and rebel against the truth. And all those
who know the truth, they confess that that knowing is all of grace.
All of grace. I thought I might give you those
things this morning as we drive around and we visit with our
relatives and we see those things and our children are here and
they're celebrating this holiday that we can know the truth about
this child. This is God's sign. His sign. And oh, what a sign it is.