Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Niver. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nyvert. I'm reading from the ninth chapter
of Isaiah, beginning in verse six. We read, for unto us, a
child is born unto us. A son is given and the government
shall be upon his shoulder. 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. In a couple of days, we'll be
having that day that is known as Christmas, when people celebrate
the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the Bible does not give
us the day he was born. It does not tell us to celebrate
his birth. That's a man-made thing. If I'm
a believer, I celebrate his birth, his life, his death, his resurrection,
his intercession every day. not just a certain day, we don't
attach any religious significance to this day, the Bible doesn't,
but I do enjoy this day. It's a day when families get
together, where goodwill prevails, giving, it's just a warm time.
And I like the fact, I love the fact, that men are made to at
least think about the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world. Now, I just read a passage of
scripture that I believe is one of the most awe-inspiring passages
of scripture in all the Bible, where Isaiah says, unto us a
child is born, speaking of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
December 25th? No, he was born in the spring.
But unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given. Now, notice the child was born,
but the son was not born. The Son always has been. The Son is God. He never had
a beginning. He never had a birth. He's the
eternal Son of God. Unto us a child is born, but
the Son is given. Now, this child being born is
a reference to the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
read in Isaiah 7, verse 14, Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you
a sign, Behold a virgin, one who's never known a man, shall
conceive." Well, that's impossible. With men it is, but not with
God. A virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and thou shalt
call his name Immanuel, God with us. Somebody may think, do you
really believe that Christ was born of a virgin? Yes, I do. The Bible says he was, and he
couldn't be our savior unless he was born through a virgin. If he would have not been born
through a virgin, he would have Adam's sinful nature, and he
couldn't save anybody. The virgin birth of the Lord
Jesus Christ is absolutely necessary. Now, do I understand how that
took place? No, but I believe. A child is born, the virgin birth
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this was prophesied in Micah
chapter 5, verse 2, this child that would be born in Bethlehem.
We read, out of thee shall come forth to me, that is to be the
ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from old, even
from everlasting. Let me read Matthew chapter 1
that speaks of his birth, verse 18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ
was on this wise, when as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph
before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy
Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being
a just man, not willing to make her a public example, was minded
to put her away, divorce her. Now, of course, he didn't believe
that she was a virgin when she became pregnant. She told him
and he didn't believe it. You can understand why. But verse
20, but while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of
the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, Joseph, thou son of David,
Fear not to take thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived
in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins." Now all this was done, verse 22,
that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the
prophet, saying, and I've already quoted this from Isaiah chapter
7, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth
a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel. which being interpreted
is God with us. Now he is the child that was
born, but he's also the eternal son that was given. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son. Now notice in our text in Isaiah
9, verse 6, he says, unto us a child is born. and unto us
a son is given. Now my question is, who is the
us that this child is born for and that this son is given? Who is the us? May the Lord enable
us to consider this honestly. The us is the same us that we
read of in Romans 8 31. If God be for us, who can be against us. The same us when our Lord said
to John the Baptist, thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. The us is His people. Matthew
121 says, Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save
His people from their sins. It doesn't say He'll make men
savable. It doesn't say He'll offer Himself if we do this.
It says He shall save His people from their sins. Listen to this
scripture. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4 says,
according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him. Now, the us is God's elect. Interestingly, I listened to
a man preaching, and he was dealing with this scripture, Ephesians
1, 4, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world. He says, what's that mean? Well,
that means he didn't just choose me, he chose us. And he was just
dancing around this scripture, trying to keep from offending
anybody, trying to keep from telling the truth concerning
God's elect in grace. Now, he may have succeeded in
not offending men, but he offended God. You see, the elect are the
us, those that believe, those that were given to Christ before
time began, those that God chose. Unto us, every believer, unto
us a child is born and to us a son is given. Now, this child who was born
And this Son who is given is nobody less than the eternal
uncreated Son of God, the second person of the blessed Trinity,
the one who said, let us make man in our own image. Unto us
a child is born, unto us a son is given, and next it says, and
the government shall be upon his shoulders. Now the word government
is where we get, it comes out of the word meaning power. What
is the government being on his shoulder? This is a reference
to his absolute sovereignty. Now let me use that phrase again,
his absolute sovereignty. We use the term loosely, we talk
about sovereign states, or each nation says it's a sovereign
nation, it's not answerable to other nations, and I understand
that. But in reality, there can only be one sovereign. There
can't be two. I've heard people talk about
God's sovereignty, and they've said, well, God and His sovereignty
made it to where man has a free will, and man's will decides
if he'll be saved. Now, all that is is a denial
of God's sovereignty. To say God is sovereign means
He is in absolute control. He controls everything. He has all power. He has a will. There is such
a thing as the will of God. He has the power to make His
will come to pass. No one can hinder Him from doing
His will. He's God. This is who He is.
He has the right to make His will come to pass, and He always
does, in fact, make His will come to pass. The scripture says,
He doeth. According to his will in the
armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and
none can stay his hand Or say unto him what doest thou the
government shall be upon his mighty shoulders He is in control. He's lord. He's lord of creation
His will will this creation into existence. He's lord of providence. He's sovereign over everything
that happens He's ultimately the first cause behind everything. Now, I know that when terrible
tragedies happen, people ask why? I mean, so many people are
asking why this tragic event that took place in the murder
of those children. Why? Well, I can't answer why, but
I do know this. God rules. God reigns. God's
in control. I might not understand what His
purposes are, but He does, and I'm just fine with that. He's
in control of providence. Romans 8, 28 says, All things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
called according to His purpose, And most especially, He's Lord
of salvation. Salvation is in His sovereign
hands. If you and I are saved, it's
up to Him. That leper understood this when
he said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. And the Lord
said, I will. Be thou clean. The government,
absolute sovereignty is upon His mighty shoulders. Five names are given to him. After this, let's read it again.
Isaiah 9, 6, 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, and the Prince of Peace. His name shall be called Wonderful."
Now, we use that term loosely. How is the meal? Wonderful. Really? I mean, it's good, but should
we use words like that? full of wonder. I mean, I'm thankful
for good food, but wonderful? We use the term so loosely, but
here is the one to whom the name fits. His name shall be called
Wonderful. Oh, I love His name as Jesus.
Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people
from their sins. Jesus means Savior. His name shall be called
Wonderful. Now, He's wonderful in His person. He's God. He's man. He's the God-man. Now, that's
wonderful. I don't even know how to explain
it, but he is wonderful in his person as the God-man. He's the one who said, let us
make man in our own image. He is God. He is man. And the only way he can be Savior
is if he's the God-man. If all he was was a man, it wouldn't
help us. If he was God absolute without
being a man, We couldn't be saved because it was man that sinned,
man must die. Man can't satisfy, only God can
satisfy God. The God-man did both. He died
and he satisfied the very justice of God. He's the God-man. He's
wonderful in his person. And he's wonderful in his birth. I love to think of his birth.
A virgin shall be with child. God the Holy Spirit conceived
the Son of God in her womb. He never began to be, but this
child was born. And I love the fact surrounding
his birth. He was born in a cow stable amongst
the poor, and everybody that was anybody would have thought
nothing of him. But they didn't realize that this one who's born
in a cow stable is nobody less than God Almighty. Oh, how wonderful
he is in his life. He never sinned. He loved his
father with all of his heart, with all of his soul, and with
all of his strength, and he loved his neighbor as himself. He never
had a bad thought. He never had a bad motive. He
never sinned. He obeyed God's law perfectly. Now, somebody might think, well,
what good does that do me? Well, if he represented you,
When he kept the law, you kept the law. When he obeyed God,
you obeyed God. Remember when he said to John
the Baptist, thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. You see, everything he did, he
did as a representative. When he obeyed God perfectly,
everybody he represented obeyed God perfectly. So truly, he's
wonderful in his life, and oh, how wonderful he was in his death. Now, when he died, the second
he died, Something took place. Sin was put away. You see, his body never suffered
decay the way you and I will when we die. His body never went
through that process. Why? Because he completely put
away sin and satisfied God. God was satisfied with what he
did. Now, this thing of satisfaction.
I have one daughter. If someone murdered her, you
couldn't do anything to satisfy me about that. You couldn't say,
well, here's a million dollars, will that make up for it? Or
here's 10 billion, will that make up? No, I would never be
satisfied. The reason hell is eternal is
because the justice of God is never satisfied. Sin is an infinite
evil against an infinite God, and we killed his son. But here's
the glory of His death. His death because of who He is.
He's God. He's the God-man because of His
perfect obedience. When He died, He satisfied God. And all my sin was paid for.
And God said, I can ask no more. I can ask no more. Oh, how glorious
He is in His death when He put away the sin of everybody He
died for. Isn't that glorious when He said
it is finished? The sins of all who believe were
put away and their salvation was secure. And how glorious
He is, how wonderful He is in His resurrection. I love to think
of Him coming back to life. He died. How did that happen?
I don't know. It's a mystery to me how the God man could die
in the first place, but died he did. He laid in the grave
and then he was raised from the dead having accomplished salvation
for everybody. See, if he was still dead, that
means God was not satisfied with what he did. But God is satisfied
with what he did. So he was wonderful in his resurrection,
satisfying God, and he went back to the Father, and right now
he's wonderful in his intercession for his people. He represents
His people. He prays for me. Now, that doesn't
mean every time that I sin, He says to the Father, oh, let Him
get by with it again, forgive Him again. No, all He does is
stand before the Father, and the Father looks at Him, and
everyone in Him is accepted. He's the great intercessor of
His people. He is able to save them to the
uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth
to make intercession for them. Oh, how wonderful He is in His
intercession. and how wonderful he is in his
return. Every eye is going to see him
and oh we look forward to that. And next he is called the counselor. He is the wonderful counselor. Now I know that going to counseling
is very much in vogue in this day and I'm not going to really
say I'm sure there's there are things that are helpful for different
people in different situations but I know who the wonderful
counselor is. Him. He's the counselor I want, I
want his counsel. I'm not really so much interested
in what men say. I want to know what he says. He is the wonderful counselor. You know, the scripture speaks
of the counsel of peace. You see, there's something that
happened before time began when the Lord Jesus Christ, God, the
father, God, the son, God, the Holy spirit, it's called the
covenant of grace. God, the father gave God, the
son of people and said, you're going to be responsible for them.
And God the Holy Spirit is going to give them life. And Christ
agreed. He became a surety for his people
in this wonderful council of peace. And what a counselor now
he is. Listen to this counsel. Come
unto me. These are the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I'm meek and lowly in heart, and you'll find rest
for your souls." Now that's counsel. He said, if any man thirst, let
him come to me and drink. What counsel? Listen to this
counsel. "'Sirs, what must I do to be
saved?' the Philippian jailer cried. "'Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.'" You trust Him. Believe
on Him. Trust Him, and you'll be saved.
What wonderful counsel. And you know, there's nothing
more therapeutic than believing the Gospel. We read in the Scriptures
of the joy and the peace of believing. Oh, what wonderful counsel to
come to him. Oh, he is the wonderful counselor. And next he's called, and I love
this, he's called the mighty God. This one who is the wonderful
counselor is also the mighty God. God the Father said to God the
Son, Thy throne, O God, is forever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of Thy kingdom. Only God is omnipotent. That's all-powerful. There's
nothing He lacks the power to do. He's omnipotent. He has all
power. Christ said, all power is given to me in heaven and
in earth. Only God is eternal. He never had a starting point.
He never had a beginning. Go back, back. He's always been. He's eternal. He never began
to be. He'll never end. Christ Jesus, it said of Him,
the same was. in the beginning with God. In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. The same was, eternally was,
in the beginning with God. Only God is immutable. He never changes. We change,
everything changes. So much, I mean, so much change. God, He says, I'm the Lord, I
change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed. Jesus Christ never changes. Jesus Christ the same. Yesterday,
today, and forever. However He was, that's how He
is. However He is, that's how He
always will be. He's the unchanging one. Change and decay in all around
I see, O thou that changest not, abide with me. Jesus Christ is
immutable. Only God is omnipresent. That
means you can't go anywhere where He's not. You can't go anywhere
where He's not. He is everywhere. The universe
is in the hollow of His hand. You can't go anywhere where God
is not. Well, what is said of Christ? Where two or three are gathered
together in my name, there I am in the midst of them. Wherever
it is, I don't care what part of the globe. If it's all happening
the same time, it doesn't matter. There I am in the midst of them. He did what only God could do. He brought matter into existence
that was not there before. He created matter. He raised
the dead. He controlled the weather. He
proved himself to be very God of very God. Remember when He said, Son, thy
sins be forgiven thee. And they said, who can forgive
sins but God only? They were right. Only God can
forgive sins. And He is the mighty God. And then we read in Isaiah chapter
9, verse 6, His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the
Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. Now this is not understood, simply
believed. The Lord said in John chapter
14 verse 6, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life, no
man comes to the Father but by me. Well, Philip went on to say,
Lord, show us the Father and we'll be satisfied. And he said,
he that hath seen me hath seen the Father. Now, can I explain
that? No, I can't. I'm not even going
to attempt to. But I believe it. His name should be called
the Everlasting Father. He was equal to the Father. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead in a body. His name should be called the
everlasting father, and then his name shall be called the
prince of peace. Peace. I love the way the word
sounds. Peace. Harmonious relationship
is what it means. No reason for turmoil. No reason
for strife. Complete harmony. Peace. Nothing to worry about. Peace. Peace. He's called the Prince
of Peace. Now, how is he the Prince of
Peace? You know, when I think of my
sin, I certainly don't feel any peace. I feel turmoil. I feel angst when I think of
my sin. And if I think of God judging
me for my sin, oh, it tears me up. But thank God I have this
peace. The Lord Jesus Christ removed
God's reason for anger because He removed my sin. That's why
He came. Having made peace through the
blood of His cross by Him to reconcile all things to Himself.
By Him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in
heaven and you that were sometimes alienated in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through
death. having presented you holy, unblameable, and unreprovable
in the very sight of God. You see, this is what he accomplished,
my peace. The kingdom of God is not meat
and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy
Ghost. What joy we have in knowing that
He is our peace. You know, I have such peace knowing
that everything that God requires of me, He looks to His Son for. And oh, what peace there is in
that. Having been justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And we
have peace in all of providence, too. You know, everything that
happens, I've got peace because I know who's controlling Oh,
as Paul said in Ephesians 2.14, he is our peace. And then we
read in verse 7, of the increase or the border of his government
and peace, there should be no end, no limitations upon the
throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish
it with justice and with judgment. Henceforth, even forever, the
zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. And we have this
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