Open your Bibles please to Isaiah
chapter 9. Isaiah the 9th chapter. I want to pick up right where
I left off Tuesday night with verses 5 or verses 6 and 7. Isaiah
chapter 9. And the title of my message is
The Name We Trust. the name we trust. Have you ever
noticed that in the book of God, we are never admonished, not
even once, to trust the blood of Christ? We're never admonished to trust
the righteousness of Christ. I talk about that. Preachers
talk about that. Word of God never uses that kind of language.
We're never once admonished to trust the grace of Christ, the
love of God, the mercy of God, Christ intercession, never once,
never once. We are admonished again and again
and again to trust the name of the Lord. Reckon why? Reckon why? Listen to this. They that know
thy name will put their trust in thee. They that know thy name
will put their trust in thee. Some trust in chariots, some
in horses, but we will remember, we will trust in the name of
the Lord our God. 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. God promises, I will leave in
the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people. And they shall
trust in the name of the Lord. His name, the angel told Mary,
shall be called Jesus. For he shall save his people
from their sins. And in his name shall the Gentiles
trust. Neither is there any salvation
in any other. For there is none other name
given under heaven among men whereby, that is by this name,
we must be saved. Now, come back here to Isaiah
chapter 9 verse 6. We've enjoyed this blessed season
called Christmas. I don't care a thing on earth
for all the religious tomfoolery associated with it. And I don't
pay any attention at all to the date, December 25th. Somebody
said the other day, it doesn't matter what day it is. You're
dead sure right. It doesn't matter what day it
is. It doesn't matter. December 25th is as meaningless
as January the 3rd or June the 10th. It's just meaningless as
far as the day is concerned. We don't observe holy days, but
I am delighted. that once a year everybody in
the world is forced by God's providence to remember the fact
and deal with the fact that God stepped into this world in human
flesh. Jesus Christ came into this world
a real man who is God overall blessed forever. I don't believe
that. Yes, you do. You may not trust
him, but you know that's so. You know that's so. That's just
an old wives' tale. You try dying with that on your
mind. You try it. No, no, no, no. These things
are things so plainly evidenced that they cannot be denied with
honesty. Our hearts rejoice to celebrate
the incarnation of God's darling son. We celebrate his coming
here. For he came here as one of us
that he might take us where he is as he is in his everlasting
glory. He assumed everything that we
are that he might give us everything he is. Oh, what a statement. What a thought. He assumed to
himself everything we are. that he might give us everything
he is. He made himself all that we are,
that he might make us all that he is. For you know the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, how that though he was rich, yet
for your sakes became he poor, that ye through his poverty might
be made rich. And it is written, whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Our Lord
Jesus came here to die as the last Adam. That we who died in
the first Adam might live forever with him in his glory. He came
here to restore all that we lost in the sin and fall of our father
Adam. To restore that which he took not away. And he does it
by his obedience in life as a man and his death upon the curse
tree as a man who is God in our nature as our substitute. Truly,
in Christ it must be said, where sin abounded, grace did much
more abound. Now let's look at our text. Isaiah
chapter 9 verse 6. For unto us a child is born,
and 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. Of 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. This is our Savior. This is He
in whom we trust. This is the name we trust. Some of you are not included in that we. You have no faith in the Son
of God. And having no faith, you're without hope. No hope. Not a shred of hope
in this world for your soul. No hope. It is my prayer that
before you leave here this day, God Almighty will arrest you
and stop you in your mad rush to hell. and calls you to know
this blessed name, and trust this name, Jesus Christ our Redeemer,
and discover the wonder of his name. Though the Lord God threatens
wrath against the ungodly, he will by no means clear the guilty,
he says so plainly. Though the soul that sinneth
must surely die, Our God in wrath remembers mercy. And in this
passage he promises mercy. He promises grace, promises salvation
to all who trust in his name. But how can such a promise be
fulfilled? All the great comprehensive promises
of God's grace, all those promises of salvation and eternal life
in the book of God are fulfilled and can be fulfilled only by
God sending his son into this world in human flesh. You mean,
Brother Don, God couldn't save sinners any other way? Do you
think God sacrificed his son for nothing? Would God sacrifice his son for
nothing? There is no way God Almighty,
in his holy character, in his justice and truth, could ever
forgive our sin and receive us to glory, except by the incarnation
of the Son of God, and he became God incarnate, God in our flesh,
for the suffering of death. That's why I came here. for the
suffering of death. People have a silly notion that
the Lord Jesus is somehow interested in being a king over yonder in
that little piece of ground that Jews and Palestinians have been
fighting over all my lifetime. He's not king over that little
spot of ground. He's king over all the ground. He's Lord everywhere. No, no, he didn't come here so
that the Jews might pretty please let him sit on a little throne
over yonder. No, no, no, no. He came here for the suffering
of death. That He might die in our room
instead. Here in Isaiah 9, 6, and 7. The
prophet of God proclaims that God would fulfill his word of
grace, the word of salvation that's been spoken in the first
five verses of this chapter, by sending his own dear son into
this world, by the incarnation, the virgin birth, and the extraordinary
character and glorious exaltation of our Lord Jesus. As we look
at these two verses together, let me call your attention to
four things, and I'll be as brief as I can. First, the incarnation. Our text begins with a prophecy
of the incarnation, the virgin birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. For unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. And the government shall be upon
his shoulders. Now there's no question that
Isaiah is here elaborating on the prophecy that he gave just
a couple of chapters over in chapter 7 verse 14. Therefore,
the Lord himself shall show you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall
conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
I caught Brother Clay Curtis's bulletin late last night, and
he had an article on this 14th verse about the Lord's sign.
He said, why is it that the Lord told Ahaz to seek a sign, as
he did right here in this 7th chapter of Isaiah, And he told
the Pharisees they were condemned because they sought a sign. Even
an adulterous generation seeks after a sign. Why? Because Ahaz
and the Pharisees both wanted some sign they could touch and
handle and explain. And both refused the sign God
gives of His grace. Jesus Christ, God incarnate. They despise Him who is God's
only side. Oh, let's talk in tongues. That'd
be a good side. Give me the Savior. I don't need
tongues. Let's have miracles. That'd be a great side. Give
me the Redeemer. I don't need a miracle. Let's
have a word of prophecy, a vision, a dream. Let's get out and dance
in the isle and act like a bunch of heathens dancing around somewhere
on an isle in Africa. No, I don't need that. I need
the Redeemer. He's the sign. And Isaiah is
here elaborating on this prophecy in verse 14. He's telling us
that in order for God to save us, God himself must come into
this world in human flesh. In this opening sentence, the
prophet of God tells us three things about our redeemer. First,
he declares our Lord's real humanity. For unto us a child is born. When you read the scriptures,
read the scriptures slowly. Read them with care and attention
to the details. It doesn't say unto us a child
is given and a son is born. But rather it says unto us a
child is born and unto us a son is given. There's a reason for
that. Our Lord Jesus as a man was born in this world. As God
he could never be born. He is given as God the son but
he is born as a man. Born as a real human being. Just as real a human being as
any of us sitting here. When he was born, he came into
this world in a virgin's womb. Jeremiah said, a woman shall
encompass a man. And there he is in that virgin's
womb, just as dependent upon his attachment to the wall of
his mother's womb as any baby that ever came into this world. Well, you can't say that. That
destroys his Godhead. No, it doesn't. No, it doesn't. He's a real man. When he came
out of his mother's womb, he was just as dependent on the
milk of his mother's breast as any child ever was. And at the
same time, he's God who supplies the breast with milk. He must
be wrapped in those blankets that a poor woman would wrap
her baby in, so that he's warmed by those blankets, just like
any other child. When our Lord walked on this
earth, he got hungry. I don't mean he
ate just because he had to. He got hungry and ate. He thirsted
and drank. He got tired, walked over by
a well and sat down. Sat down. Because he was weary.
You can't say things like that. That diminishes his Godhood. No! He never ceased to be God. He's God who put water in the
well. But he's a real man. Can you
grab hold of this? God will help you best you can
to get hold of this. Our Lord Jesus is a man like
us. Touched with the feeling of our
infirmities. Because he came to suffer the
wrath of God and die in our stead, he assumed a nature capable of
suffering, of bearing sickness and disease and death. He'd bear our sicknesses. Our sicknesses. The scriptures
are so plain. He bore every every, every detail of the curse as
he walked on this earth before he left this world because he
came here to suffer for us. He took a body capable of such. That thing prepared in the womb
of the virgin. He says in Hebrews chapter 10,
verse 5 I think it is, and a body has thou prepared me. A body
specially prepared for God to live in. Because he came here
to redeem men. Not angels, but men. Not all
men, but some men. He took hold on the seed of Abraham,
we're told in Hebrews 2.16. He passed by the angels and took
on him the seat of Abraham. Took hold of the seat of Abraham.
Now some folks have real difficulty with this. They don't have any
trouble with the fact that he passed by the angels. He passed
by the angels, but that's alright, but don't you tell me he passed
by men. He passed by men too. He didn't take hold of Adam's
seed, he took hold of Abraham's seed. He took hold of the covenant
seed, the seed of promise. Had he taken hold of Adam's seed,
one of two things must be so. Either all men are redeemed and
saved by him, or he's an utter failure and nobody is saved by
him. He took on Him the seed of Abraham. And taking on Him
the seed of Abraham, He came here as God, our Savior, to redeem
Abraham's seed. That's the second thing. Isaiah
here speaks of our Lord's deity, His eternal Godhead. Unto us
a son is given. As the Son of Man is a child
born, as the Son of God is the Son given. That little child,
that baby, that baby is God Almighty. God Almighty. God Almighty. Not a God, not
like God, God. This book often refers to angels
and men, magistrates, as gods because of their authority given
to them as representatives of God. And so there are some heretics
that have been throughout the ages who come along and point
to passages like this and they say, Jesus is a god. No, no, no, no. He's God in the flesh. Our Savior
must be both God and man or he's useless to us. He's not just
a representation of God. He's God in human flesh. This
is the great mystery of godliness. Turn over to 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy
3. Look at it. 1 Timothy 3. Verse 15. Verse
16. Without controversy. Without controversy. Now I'm
going to tell you a little something that this generation needs to
find out. If it's written in this book,
it's without controversy. It's not a matter of debate.
Well, let's discuss this. No, let's proclaim it. Without
controversy. Great is the mystery of godliness. The mystery of godliness. Mystery. That's something that you just
can't quite get a handle on. Something you just can't quite
explain. Something you just can't quite... Brother Clay Curtis puts a rack
of brains around it. You just can't quite get it.
You believe it, rejoice in it. It's plainly revealed in the
book, but it's indescribably beyond us. Great is the mystery
of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Manifest. How do you know God? How do you see God? How does God communicate with
you? Well, I know God this way and that, and God speaks to me
this way and that. God speaks to men and reveals
himself to men and makes himself known to men only one way, and
that's in his sword. God was manifest in the flesh. What does that mean? He was justified
in the Spirit. This One who came here in the
human flesh took on Himself our nature and died under the penalty
of God's justice as our substitute. He died being made sin because
He who was made sin deserved to die just as we ourselves deserve
to die. And when God had plunged the
sword of His justice into the heart of His Holy Son, Three
days later, he was justified in the Spirit. God raised him
from the dead with no sin. He's coming again without sin
to receive us to himself. He was seen of angels. The angels
saw him, the risen Christ. He was preached to the Gentiles.
He was believed all in the world. He was received up into glory.
And this is the great mystery of grace. This child was born. This son was given unto us. Unto us. Man had broken God's
law. Man must repair it. But the obedience
of a man would do us no good. Not the obedience of the best
of men. For each man owes obedience for himself. that here is a man
who comes without sin and owes nothing to God's law and he obeys
God's law and his obedience is of infinite worth, of infinite
merit, of infinite efficacy because this man is God manifest in the
flesh. Man broke God's law and man must
satisfy God's justice. The soul that sinneth it shall
die. But if a mere man Any mere man should die in my
stead. That benefits me nothing. Not
before God. Not before God. But here's a
man who owes God's law nothing. And he's given to Alan Kibbe
and Don Fortner. Unto us the Son is given. This
child is born to us. takes our nature and stands in
our room and stands before God and bears all the fury of God's
holy wrath and justice until justice is completely satisfied. How can that be with the sacrifice
of one man? Because this man is God in the
flesh. God in human flesh. Our God loved
his church and laid down his life for his church and purchased
it with his own blood, we're told in Acts chapter 20 verse
28. He is the son given. God gave
his son in the covenant of graces. I'll give thee for covenant to
the people. God gave his son in the incarnation,
sent his son in the fullness of time. God gave his son into
the hands of justice when he sacrificed his son in our stead.
God gives His Son in the new birth. And God gives us His Son. Oh, what a day awaits. God shall
give us His Son. All that Christ is and all that
Christ has earned and all that Christ possesses shall be ours
in everlasting glory. Here's the third thing. Isaiah
proclaims the dominion of our Lord. and the government. Now this man has broad, infinitely
broad shoulders. The government shall be on his
shoulder. The shoulders of this man who
is God. What government? Notice the text. The government. The government. But which one? The only one there is. The government. The government of all nations. The government of all creation. The government of all providence.
The government of all grace. The government of all judgment.
The government shall be on his shoulder. He alone is governor and king. Thou hast given him power over
all flesh. Now this speaks of our Lord in
his mediatorial capacity. as the obedient God-man, our
Savior. It speaks of Him not as God in
His own right as God. Nothing's given to Him as God. He possesses all things as God. But the Father, the triune Jehovah,
gave Him power, dominion, authority, the right to rule over all flesh. For what purpose? That He should
give eternal life. unto as many as thou hast given
him." That man who sits yonder on the
throne and holds the reins of universal monarchy in his hands. That man, God our Savior, who
controls the thoughts of every king's heart. and controls the
thought of every man's mind, and determines the speech of
every tongue, and the actions of every hand. That man rules
the universe to save the people of his love. And let me tell you what the
long and short of that is. Everything's alright. This world
is well ruled. It's ruled by God our Savior. Now look at our Savior's character.
The next part of this verse speaks of His character. The character
of Him upon whose shoulder the government is. The amazing character
of God our Savior. His name shall be called Wonderful,
Counselor, the Mighty God. the everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. Here are five names by which
our Savior is called. And these five names are the
name by which we call upon and worship our great God, the triune
Jehovah, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. His name is who He is. His name is what He is. His name is His character. Somehow
we lose so much of that in our day. We don't have names given
identifying anything about us. Historically, names have represented
something. They represent where a fellow
was from or they represented something about his family. Our
family name is Fortner. I don't know much about the family
tree and don't care much about it. What I know I don't like,
including the one standing in front of you. But the name Fortner,
it comes from folks in Germany who were trolls. They were keepers
of the ford. They're the fellows who took
care of the crossing as the water would run over the ford. They're
the ones who were the keepers of the ford. What does that mean? Make you a keeper of the ford,
that's all. Nothing. Our Savior's name represents
what he is, his character, his real character. His name is wonderful. Look at him. If it were possible for me to
stand him on a revolving pedestal here in front of you, his whole
being, his physical being, his life, his deeds, his words, his
thoughts, his dominion in heaven, his eternal everlasting being
as God, his everlasting being as God our Savior, his everlasting
being as our surety, if I could stand him on a pedestal in heaven
here in front of you, turn him slowly, And I said, look at him
from any angle you can look at him. Look at him. Let the heavens
look down upon him. Let hell look up upon him. Look
on him with adoration and faith and joy and understand his name
is wonderful. Mystery. Glory. Majesty. Honor. Exaltation. His name is wonderful. In all
his works, in all his person, in all his accomplishments, in
all his love, in all his mercy, in all his grace, his name is
wonderful. Counselor. He stood as our counselor before
the world was. And the Father delighted in him. And he took sweet counsel together
in the covenant of grace on our behalf as our surety. He comes by his spirit and gives
us counsel to guide us day by day through his word. He is our
counselor to order our steps, to teach us the way in which
we should go. And he is our counselor. before
God in heaven, our advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous, the mighty God. Actually, the word is God the
mighty one. He's wonderful counselor. He's God the mighty one. The mighty one. Not your little pygmy God. Not your little rabbit's foot
God. Not your good luck charm God. Not God that you push from
here and there and put him, he'll be God over here and then we'll
put him in the closet and forget about him. Not God with eyes
that can't see and arms that can't move and lips that don't
speak. Oh no, no. He's God, the mighty
one. God who rules this universe,
God who holds you in His hand, holds your breath in His hand,
and can snap it out just like that, and will. He's God, the
Mighty One. Because He's God, the Mighty
One, He's able to accomplish everything He's undertaken as
a man. He accomplished righteousness.
He obtained eternal redemption. And he's able to save to the
uttermost all who come to God by him. The Everlasting Father. Now you see brother Don, I told
you the Bible is full of contradictions. It speaks of Jesus Christ as
the Son of God, now it talks about him being the Everlasting
Father. Oh, what a contradiction. No, what a fool you are for thinking
it. Isaiah wasn't confused at all. He's not here talking about our
Lord Jesus in his glorious divinity as the second person of the Trinity.
He's talking about our Lord Jesus as God, man, our surety. He's
the father of his spiritual seed, the church. The whole family
of God's named after him, Ephesians 3 verse 15. He's the father of
an everlasting age called eternity. He's the father of the world
to come. He is to us our everlasting father. We are begotten of him, born
of his spirit. We have his nature. We wear his
name. We're under his care. It is he
who provides for us. And the inheritance we shall
possess as his inheritance. He's the Prince of Peace. He purchased peace for us. He promised peace to us. And
he performs peace in us. He comes in saving power. And this is what he does to rebel
sinners. He squashes the rebellion. He takes away your weapons and
makes you glad to give them up. He causes you, as you have your
fists shoved in God's face, suddenly to reach out and embrace Him
with glad hearts. He gives peace. And bear me witness, children
of God, He keeps giving peace. It doesn't matter what you do
to turn your life upside down. He still comes and gives peace.
It doesn't matter what your neighbor does to turn your life upside
down. He still comes and gives peace. And we pace the floor
and bite our nails and try to figure things out and we get
all disturbed and tense and go to the doctor and get him to
give us something to calm us down and something to pep us
up and after a while you quit. and peace you couldn't find anywhere
and you couldn't muster anyhow, He gives peace. He giveth His
beloved sleep. And sweet sleep it is. And then
in verse 7, the prophet speaks of our Lord's exaltation. It was hinted at earlier, here
it's more fully described, of the increase of His government
and peace there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David and
upon his kingdom to order it, to establish it with judgment
and with justice from henceforth forever. His government, the government
that's on his shoulder Is the government of David? David, the king of Israel? The
government typified by David, the king of Israel. His government,
the government ruled by that throne, which is an everlasting
throne, on which today sits David's sea. This one whom God has made
Lord and Christ over all the house of Israel, over all the
world, for all God's elect. He sets on the throne, the throne
particularly of his church and his kingdom. God made him, Paul
tells us in Ephesians 21, head over all things to the church.
He's seated on the throne of universal monarchy, but he's
the head, the king of Zion. He's lord over everybody, but
he's our lord. He is the governor of everything
for his church and in his church. That means the church. is ruled
only by Him, only by His Word. Not by their will, but His will. Not by their rules, but His rules. Not by their choices, His choice. The church is under His rule,
and He orders it. He orders His kingdom exactly
as He wills. giving his marching orders to
Zion he says go into all the world and preach the gospel giving
his order in his church he's established our ordinances and
we have none other and practice none other he orders it and establishes
it establishes it the psalmist said establish thou the work
of our hands the work of our hands establish thou it except
God established the work of our hands it won't be established
He builds his house, and except he build the house, they labor
in vain who build it. He keeps the city, and except
he keep the city, they watch in the night in vain who watch
over the city. He establishes it with judgment,
with discernment, with discretion, with wisdom. Don Fortner God teach you to
live as you preach and learn what you teach. Our Redeemer is today ruling
this world for His church with absolute perfect wisdom. I'm not looking for something
to say. I want you to hear what I say. I mean with absolute perfect
wisdom. So far as I know, so far as I
know, there's not a politician in Washington or in Frankfort
that I would choose to be there, so far as I know. Not a single
one. Thank God the choice is not mine
or yours. Amen? Thank God the choice is
not mine or yours. Everything is being done exactly
as God will have it. God give me rest. God give me
rest. Ask of me. The father says to
the son, I will give you the heathen for your inheritance. He rules all things, the hearts
of all men and all devils. He rules by love for His own.
He rules everywhere and exercises His rule through the gospel.
It's established by His hand. One last thing. Our text speaks of the infallible.
absolute security of God's sovereign, eternal purpose of grace in Christ.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. God's zeal
for His name, His zeal for His people's good will perform it.
Jehovah's zeal is a fervent, flaming, burning love. His fervent
burning love moves Him to perform all that He's purposed to affectionately
accomplish it. His fervent love for His glory,
which is the ultimate end of everything. His glory is that
by which God governs the world in creation, in providence, in
grace. It is zeal for His glory that moves Him to fulfill all
that He's decreed. The Lord's zeal, his fervent
love for his people, moves him to perform his purpose grace. The Lord's zeal, Jehovah's burning
fervent love for his darling son, to whom he's given all glory. For whom He made all things.
In whom He shows His majesty and shows Himself glorious. Moves
Him to perform everything He's decreed. Brother Don, what does
all this mean to me? You can trust this Christ. I wish I could say you can trust
me, but you can't. I believe I can honestly say
you can trust me to the best of my ability. But Fred, my ability
ain't much. I give you my word, you can bank
on it, as long as something bigger than me doesn't get in the way.
But there's nothing bigger than him to get in his way. You can
trust him. You can trust him with everything
and for everything. How we ought to admire this God,
our Savior. How grateful we ought to be for
Him. Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift. How devoted. Oh, how devoted we ought to be
to Him. I started to say who was, that's
not right. Who is utterly devoted to us. Oh, how we ought to rejoice in
our Savior's wonderful name. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. There's just something about
that name. Master, Savior, Lord Jesus. Like the fragrance after the
rain. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, let all heaven and earth proclaim.
There's just something about that name. Something about that
name that satisfies every word of prophecy in this book. Something
about that name that satisfies every demand of righteousness
and justice. Something about that name that
satisfies every need of my soul. Something about that name that
satisfies every craving of my heart. God make him yours for Christ's
sake. Amen.