This is indeed a blessed season
of the year. Not so much the things that the
world looks upon as being so delightful. We recognize there's
no significance spiritually to this season of the year. But
it is a blessed season of the year because we are reminded
again of the coming of the Son of God into this world and how
we rejoice to celebrate that fact. and those things that flow
to our souls as a result of it. We celebrate the coming of God
to us in humiliation. He who came here in abject poverty,
not only physically, but made himself poor spiritually, the
very poorest of men, so that he stood before God and cried,
I'm a worm and no man. that He might bring us to God
Almighty in all the richness. I started to say that He possesses,
but it's more than that. All the richness that He is.
Listen to this. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ that though He was rich, oh, how rich. He had nothing
to gain from us, nothing. Rich, the eternal God, in his
ineffable beauty and glory, with all the praises of the angels
of heaven, rich, in the joy of the triune God, Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit, rich. Rich in glory we cannot begin
to think of, much less comprehend, though he was rich possessor
of heaven and earth, yet for your sakes he became poor. He emptied himself, made himself
of no reputation, took on him the form of a servant, and became
obedient, obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
For your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty,
through him emptying himself, that might be made rich with
all the fullness of God. The Lord Jesus came here to die
as the second Adam. That we who died in the first
Adam might live forever with him in his eternal glory. He came here to restore that
which he took not away. And he restored it by the paying
of a debt that he didn't owe. And the price by which he paid
that debt was his own precious blood. Truly, in Christ it must
be said, where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Now tonight, I want to direct
our hearts once more to him, in whom the grace of God comes
bounding and abounding to needy sinners such as we are. Let's
turn to Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6. In the opening verses of this
chapter, Isaiah tells us of a time of great spiritual darkness, But in that time when God, he
prophesied, would send blindness to the apostate nation of Israel,
and they would be cut off and left desolate, the Lord God promised
that he has an elect remnant who would be saved in the time
of his great mercy and grace, even in the midst of judgment,
darkness, and desolation. I never, never despair. We read the newspapers, and I
try to keep up a little bit with what's going on around me, but
I don't get too upset. I don't get too upset. I don't
get too fretful. When God sends judgment, my soul,
God sends judgment. But in the midst of wrath, God
always remembers mercy. In every age and every generation,
so long as time shall stand, as long as time has been, God
has an elect remnant who he will save by his almighty grace. In the second verse of this ninth
chapter, the Lord God promises to give light to those that sit
in darkness. In the third verse, he promises
to multiply and increase the number of his people. And then
again in that third verse, he promises to give joy, joy unspeakable
to those people who are called by his grace and to give them
liberty to those who had been in great bondage in verse four.
And he promises at last to give them victory. He tells us he
will break the battle for his people. Though he threatened
wrath against the nation, the nation that would not hear and
would not hearken to his voice. In wrath, he remembered mercy
and promised great mercy to all who will hear his voice. Yes,
we live in a day of darkness. Yes, we live in a day of utter
apostasy. Yes, we live in a day when God
has sent delusion to the nations of the world. Yes, we live in
a day when God's judgment is so manifest you'd have to be
blind in both eyes not to see it. We live in a day when God
Almighty has turned his back hand to the nations. But God
still remembers mercy. And he will yet save his people.
And he will even use the apostasy of a multitude to save another
multitude. He uses the unbelief of many
to bring the gospel to another. And he promises that all, even
in dark, dark days of wrath and judgment, who hear his voice,
and turn to Him, He gives them light and mercy and grace and
liberty. Well, how on earth can these
promises be fulfilled? These great comprehensive promises
of grace, they sound good, but how is it going to happen? That
seems terribly unlikely in our day. I frankly acknowledge, as
I go about endeavoring to preach the gospel, and as we as a congregation
give ourselves to whatever open doors God sets before us, and
we do what we can to spread the gospel of God's grace in this
generation, I look at this thing and I say, how? How will anybody,
how will anybody believe this message? How will anybody come
to know our God? It seems terribly unlikely. But look at verse 6. Here the prophet proclaims that
God will fulfill his word of grace by sending his own dear
Son into the world by the incarnation and virgin birth and extraordinary
character and glorious dominion of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look
at what he says here. 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. 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,
the word is wisdom or righteousness, and with justice from henceforth
even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts
will perform this. Now, let's look at this great
Savior. The prophet speaks here of our
Savior's coming into this world, his great condescension. He's
talking here about the incarnation and virgin birth of our Lord
Jesus Christ. And without question, Isaiah
is here elaborating upon what he said in the passage we looked
at this morning in chapter 7 and verse 14. He's telling us that
in order for God to save his people, God himself must come
into this world. God himself must assume not only
identity with man, but God must assume into union with him manhood. And yet God never be tarnished. God must take into union with
himself. And I don't know how to express
it. It's beyond expression. The theologians use lots of big
words to talk about it, but the Lord Jesus Christ, when he came
into this world, wedded. God and man, so that God and man are one in
His person. An indivisible, permanent union,
and there's no way for God to save a sinner without it. It
can't be done. God Almighty cannot in His holy
character just say, well, I'll forget about your sin. God cannot
in His holy justice say, well, we won't mark that against you.
God cannot say, well, all right, I understand. We'll let it go
this time. God can't do that. The Lord God
said, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. And sinners must
die. Justice must be maintained, else
God's throne is toppled and dominion ceases. One of the reasons we
have such utter chaos in our society is because there's absolutely
no justice in any court in this land. None. None. Even if we
have judges occasionally that won't exercise justice, the law
of the land won't allow it. And so chaos rules. Chaos reigns
everywhere. In any home where there's none
to rule, where there's no father to exercise rule and dominion,
you can mark it down, chaos rules. And where chaos rules, there
is no rule. How can God save a sinner? Only
when God comes in human form. to do for man what no man can
do, indeed what all men together cannot do. First, he declares
for us the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Unto us a child
is born. Now, this is not a play on words
that is given. Unto us a son, our child is born
and a son is given. The child speaks of our Lord's
humanity. The Lord Jesus Christ may indeed
be called the Son of Mary. He is called in Luke's Gospel,
Mary's firstborn son. But he is not the Son of Mary
in his divinity. Mary is in no sense the mother
of God. He did not She did not give birth
to God. She gave birth to a man, to a
man-child in whom God resides and with whom God Almighty has
taken union. Unto us a son is given. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world as God and man. And he is now God and man. As much man as though he were
not God, as much God as though he were not man. Fully God and
fully man, all together without sin. But he is given as the Son
of God. Here, in the next line, unto
us the Son is given, the text speaks of our Lord's great deity. Now this is the great mystery
of godliness. God must be both God and man. Hold your hands in in this passage
here in Isaiah 9, and turn to 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy chapter
1, or chapter 3 rather. In preparing this message, I
kept going back to this text, and I'll probably preach to you
on it again soon. I did so much studying on it recently. But here in 1 Timothy chapter
3 and verse 16, the Apostle Paul is writing to Timothy, telling
him how to behave himself in the house of God, the church
of the living God. And he declares this statement
with regard to godliness. Now, when we talk about godliness
in Bible terms, when we talk about godliness in the language
of the New Testament, we're not talking about what kind of clothes
you wear and how you fix your hair or don't and whether you
wear clothes that cover the top of your head down to the soles
of your feet or whether you don't. That has nothing to do with godliness.
We're not talking about what you eat or drink. We're not talking
about that. It's got nothing to do with godliness. As a matter
of fact, Paul tells us in another passage in Timothy, he said bodily
exercise profits little. Bodily exercise, all the exercise
men do in religion, there ain't much to that. There ain't much
to that. All that goes on in outward religious things, there
ain't much to that. All the discipline you have,
but godliness. Now that's great gay. What is
godliness? Godliness is the gospel of God's
grace, and godliness is that gospel of grace made effective
in our hearts, causing us to turn to God. Let's look at it
now, 1 Timothy 3.16. Without controversy, great is
the mystery of godliness. Godliness. God taking up residence in you.
God taking control of you. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh. That's just about as well as
it can be said. God was manifest in the flesh. Who is that? Standing
up there on the bow of that ship. Commanding the storms to obey
his voice. I reckon that must be God. But
he's a man. Find me another one who commanded
storms to be still. God was manifest in the flesh. Who is this? Who is this that
by the power of his own name commands a dead man to come out
of the tomb? Well, I know him. That's that
man Jesus. Find me another man who can do
that. God manifest in the flesh. Anybody standing there got to
come to a conclusion. That man is God Almighty. God
was manifest in the flesh. Of his fullness have we received
grace for grace. We understand that in him is
God Almighty, for he is God. Not only was he manifest in the
flesh, he was justified in the spirit. While he lived on this
earth, It was manifest. He is God. He demonstrated His
power over nature, over all creation, over all the elements of the
world, over the devils of hell. He demonstrated His nature. Unmistakably,
He's God manifest in the flesh. But then He was made to be sin. All our sins, heaped up and made His. He who knew no sin, made to be
sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
And when He was made to be sin, justice slew Him. God's holy
sword was drawn. His glaring sword pierced Him. God said, Awake, O sword, and
slay the man that is my fellow. And the Son of God was slaughtered
by the sword of divine justice. But when he was slaughtered by
that sword, he willingly swallowed that sword in his own holy soul. And I mean he swallowed it. So
that with regard to his people, the sword of justice is fully
satisfied and cannot be unsheathed again. This man is God who hangs
on that tree. Let's see if he paid enough. Let's see if his payment satisfies
the debt. Let's see if God will receive
him. That's what the Jews said when
they crucified, wasn't it? Let's see if God will have him. All
right, let's see. Let's see. He put in that too. Hey, ladies. Told you we're done
with him. Told you there was nothing to
him. Hang on. On the third day, he's justified in the Spirit.
See him ascend back to his home. He said, I go to my Father because
I put away sin. I go to my Father because I've
brought in righteousness. I go to my Father because judgment
is done. There he is, justified in the
Spirit. Look at it now. Saint of angels. Angels of God
saw him rise from the dead when he was justified. The angels
of God saw him take his seat at the right hand of the majesty
on high. The angels of God saw the conquest he made at Calvary.
Preached unto the Gentiles. Wonder of wonders. Preached unto
the Gentiles. The Lord God Almighty has taken
the marvelous gospel of his free grace and he's been preaching
Christ to us. Preached to the Gentiles. Us. Us. Now I know in our modern
age we have a tendency to kind of pop our suspenders and strut
a little bit and think we're something. And we kind of look
down our noses and laugh and see folks in National Geographic
or on these newsreels tell about these tribal areas in New Guinea
and Africa. Imagine people living like that. That's what Gentiles are. Idolaters. Superstitious to the core. Superstitious. Superstitious to the core. I
recall when I first went to look at it, after one day visiting
with some ladies in the church, some older women, both of them
spinsters. And I started to go out the back
door, came in front door, said, OK, do that. I said, what? OK,
do that. Somebody died. I made it a point. I always went out a different
door, always. One day I was planting some pine
trees in the yard. I said, oh, you're going to kill
somebody in the family. I said, I never did like them.
I'll kill them all. I'm playing about 30 of them. Superstitious. They're gentiles.
Gentiles. As silly as folks who worship
a stump with a nose in their bow. But Christ didn't preach
to us. And the thing that changed the
Gentile world, turned it upside down, was not Roman democracy,
was not the civilizations that have come after it. That which
tamed the Gentile world was the gospel of God's free grace preached
to the Gentiles. And that's the only thing that
retained men yet. Not only has it been preached to the Gentiles,
he was believed on in the world. People who have been worshiping
been raised to worship the sun and the moon, people who all
their lives have been taught to worship every imaginable power,
people who all their lives had been taught somehow that they
could conjure up and make a god for themselves, people who all
their lives had lived in the blind superstition of idolatry. heard about this Christ, God
manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, and believed Him. I believe Him. This man believed
on in the world and received up into glory. He didn't just
rise in the dead. He was raised up, ascended up,
received up before the eyes of men. before the heavenly host
in the glory and took his seat on the throne of God. Unto us
a child is born. Unto us a son is given. Not only did God give His Son
for us, not only did He give Him for
a covenant to the people. Not only did He give Him to die
in our room instead at Calvary, not only did He give Him to take
possession of heaven for us, not only did He give Him to be
Lord and King over all for us, He gave Him to us. Unto us the Son is given. I have been, most of my adult
life particularly, the object of the generosity of many. You
give much to see to it, my family and I maintained. I have been given so much. I've been given that dear lady,
given those darling children, given, given, given, given. But
God Almighty gave me His Son and He keeps on giving. He's given me His Son, all of
it. All of it. All that Jesus Christ is. All that he is, is mine. The Lord is my shepherd. He's my savior. He's my king. He's my prophet. He's my priest. He's my God. He's my wisdom. He's my righteousness. He's my
sanctification. He's my redemption. Unto us the
Son is given. Oh, thanks be unto God for His
unspeakable Sometimes I'm embarrassed. Well,
truth be said, I'm always embarrassed when I bow before God, but sometimes
I'm embarrassed to ask anything of Him. He gave me Christ. He gave me Christ. Has He given you His Son? Unto
us a Son is given. He gave Him to me and in me. In the work of His grace, when
He called me by His grace, He plated Christ in me. And then Isaiah here describes our
Lord's great dominion. And the government shall be upon
His shoulder. Now, wait a minute, preacher.
If he's God, and he is, then the government's always been
on his shoulder. True. No question about that. But he's
talking about him now as the God-man. He's talking about him
now as the savior of his people. The Lord God said to him in Psalm
2, I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. Ask of me and I'll
give you the heathen for your inheritance. I'll give you people
from all over the world. And the Lord Jesus said, now,
Father, glorify me with your own self, that you've given me
power over all flesh, that I should give eternal life to as many
as you've given me. In other words, the Lord Jesus,
as a result of his obedience to the Father, as our covenant
mediator and surety, has now on his broad, almighty shoulders,
government. Government. What government? All of it. All of it. The government of all creation,
the government of his church and kingdom, the government of
all grace, the government of all providence, the government
of all men sits on his shoulders. What does that mean, preacher?
That means he's in charge of everything. That means he rules
everything. As in the days of his flesh,
he demonstrated and exercised the most unlimited authority
and dominion over disease, devils, and death, over the elements
of the world. So now, everything, everything,
oh bless his name, everything is under the thumb of the sovereign
Christ. Everything. Everything. Everything. There's nothing out of control.
There's nothing that moves or wiggles, but by his sovereign
dominion. And then the prophet here describes
our Savior's character. Oh, look at the name by which
he is described. His name. His name, not names,
name. His name. We generally think
of names, and we don't pay much attention to say, well, his first
name, his second name, and his last name, or otherwise. Fill out forms. First name, middle
initial, last name. My name is Donald Stewart Fortner. Now that doesn't mean a frazzling
thing. That's just my name. It doesn't mean that's what I
am. Fortner comes from an old German clan, used to be keepers
of the four. In other words, they were trolls.
They might describe my character pretty good, I don't know. But
that's not what names do in our day. We give a boy a name because
it sounds manly, I hope. Or give a girl a name because
it sounds pretty. Or we might name them because of someone
in the family. His name is who he is. Not names, name. His name is Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful is He. In all His being,
in all His works, in all His doings, in all His character,
in all His will, in all His glory, His name is Wonderful. His name is Counselor. Counselor. He is our counselor. He is the one who stood as our
counselor in the covenant of grace before the world began,
stood up and said, I am wisdom. He is the one who gives us counsel
as our prophet, teaching us the things of God, revealing to us
the will of God, the character of God, the very nature of God.
He is our counselor and advocate before the throne. His name The
mighty God. The mighty God. Sometimes in the scriptures,
particularly in the Psalms, you fellows will read back in the
office or out here and you'll see how the angels are called
gods. Sometimes civil magistrates,
rulers are called gods. They're called, Satan's called
the god of this world. because of a God-given authority,
not because of the character. But the Lord Jesus Christ is
the mighty God. It would be better translated
this way, His name is wonderful, counselor, God, the mighty one. That's Him. He's the mighty God.
Omnipotent God. Because He is God. He is able
to do all that He came here to do. Because He is God. He is
of infinite worth and merit because He is God. There is efficacy
about everything He does because He's the mighty God. And He's
called the everlasting Father. The everlasting Father. Well,
Isaiah, what book did you read on the Trinity? He didn't. He wrote the book. He got confused. Well, how can we say that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God? And at the same time, he's the
everlasting father. That shouldn't be too confusing.
Shouldn't be too confusing. I'm her husband. And her friend. And her brother. Why? How can you? How can you say
all that? Is there anybody here who doesn't
understand how I'm her husband, her friend, and her brother?
And none of the things conflict. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
husband. He's our brother. He's our friend. He's our kinsman. And he's our
father in this sense. As our representative, as our
mediator, he's the father of that spiritual seed, his church,
the family in heaven that's named after him, Ephesians 3.15. He's
the father of the everlasting age of his grace and mercy. He's
the father of the world to come. He is for us the everlasting
father. In this sense, we are born of
his spirit. We have his nature. We wear his
name. We're under his care. We live
upon his provision. And we shall soon possess his
inheritance. His name. Well, he's the Prince
of Peace. He is the Prince who obtained
peace between God and man. He is the Prince who purchased
peace for us. He is the Prince who gives peace
to sinners. He is the Prince who comes into
your troubled soul and speaks peace when the storms of life
are turning you upside down. He's the Prince who said, My
peace I give to you. He's the Prince of Peace. And
wherever the Prince of Peace rules, there is peace. If He rules in your heart, He
calms your troubled waters and gives you peace. If He rules
in your house, He gives peace in your house. If He rules in
this church, He gives peace in this church. Where the Prince
of Peace rules, there's peace, not turmoil. His name is his
character. He's wonderful, counselor to
mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Now then,
look at his coronation. 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 and to establish it with judgment,
wisdom and righteousness and with justice from henceforth
even forever. Now here Isaiah is talking about
the sovereign rule of Christ the Messiah as the prince of
peace, as the exalted king and governor of the universe, as
the governor of his church and kingdom. I won't try to look at all the
passages of scripture or even several passages that demonstrate
this, but at your leisure, read the second chapter of Acts and
understand that Jesus Christ, as a man, when he ascended up
to glory and took his seat on the throne of God, took his seat
on the throne of David. That's what this passage is talking
about. That's what Peter said in Acts chapter 2, isn't it?
He said David talked about him. Do not, don't pay any attention
to those Bibles that have been messed with and got notes in
them and tell you to look for a future thousand year millennial
reign when the Lord Jesus is going to come again and make
the Jews somebody else in the world and he's going to sit on
the throne over there in Palestine. That's just, that's sheer idiocy. Not only is it sheer idiocy,
it's idiocy invented by men as all idiocy is. The Lord Jesus,
when he ascended up to heaven, sat down as a man on the throne
of David's kingdom, God's Israel, and we're in. He sits on the
throne and rules as king in Zion by virtue of his obedience. The
Lord Jesus Christ kingdom is an ever-increasing kingdom. What
takes any of the increase of His kingdom? There should be
no end. Remember the beginning of the
message I told you? The Lord Jesus always has a people. In every age, in every generation,
He has a people whom He will save by His grace, and His kingdom
will continue to be increased until His kingdom is full. His
government is a peaceful rule. How can I say this? The Son of
God has no forced servants. And yet they're all forced. None of us would willingly serve
him. None of us would. But thy people shall be willing
in the day of his power. And all of us who are his servants
serve him willingly. Is that true? All other religions, called by
whatever name you want to call them, whether it be Baptist or
Buddhist, it doesn't matter. All other religions, all religions
built upon works and built upon man's doings, all religions have
forced servitude to God Almighty. forced by the pressure of law,
forced by the promise of reward, forced by some constraint to
get folks to act like the fools to act because they say they're
Christians. The Son of God only has willing servants, willing
servants. He comes and rules in the hearts
of men by peace. He governs by peace. He governs
by peace because His grace brings peace. Rules in our hearts by
love through the gospel of His grace. And the Lord Jesus Christ's
rule is established in the hearts of His people with wisdom and
justice. Judgment, wisdom. With righteousness,
judgment. And wisdom and justice. He makes
us to see the wisdom of God. and the righteousness of God
in redemption. And he makes us to know the justice
of God in grace. When I began to have some concern
for my soul I did what all men naturally
do. I started trying to do something. I started trying to read the
Bible. And I'd read, read, I'd read until I'd fall asleep at
night reading. Didn't understand a thing I read,
but I read. I read. And it wouldn't satisfy. No peace. Went to church. Went to church
Sunday morning Sunday school. Went to church Sunday morning
preaching. Went to church Sunday night. Went to church Wednesday
night. Went to church. No peace. Tried my best. Quit acting so mean. Quit cussing
and carried on. Quit doing things I wasn't supposed
to do. Didn't do any good. Didn't change a thing. Didn't
change a thing. Go out and fell a hole and get
in a scrape. Quit fighting. Didn't do any
good. Didn't change a thing. Didn't
change anything. No peace in my soul. And my conscience
and my heart kept crying, how can God save this sinner? What on earth will atone for
my iniquities? What can bring me to God Almighty
in peace? And one day, I heard somebody
talk about a crucified substitute who satisfied the justice of
God. That's enough. That'll do it. God's satisfied with the sacrifice
of His Son. His kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom. Of His kingdom there shall be
no end. Is there any confirmation to
this promise? How can we be sure? How can we be sure that God's
going to save his people? How can we be certain that his
kingdom is sure? How can we be absolutely certain
that when God Almighty sets his throne in your heart, he's there
to stay? How can we be sure of that? of the Lord of Hosts will perform
this. Oh, bless His holy name. Nothing
in His purpose, nothing in His grace, nothing in His kingdom,
nothing, nothing depends on me. And nothing in His grace Nothing
in His purpose, nothing in His kingdom can hinder Him or stop
Him. His zeal for His glory and His
people will perform what He said. Amen.