I hope this hour I'm able to
answer the question that ends all other questions. And that
question is, what thank ye of Christ? What thank you of Christ? That's what I've titled the message. Now in Micah chapter five, we
see Probably, well, in all of Micah,
truly, we see one of the greatest prophecies as far as the foretelling
of Christ to come. We have Isaiah 53, which is just
a few pages back where Rob read for us in Isaiah 55. He talks about how the Lord will
be, how he'll be born. He'll be born tender as a tender
plant. And so we have types and pictures
all throughout the Old Testament of prophecies, but There's one
of the clearest ones is found in Micah. Micah tells us that
there is a message of judgment, yet there's a message of hope
in God's sovereignty. Tells us that there's hope in
his work, in his mercy. Chapter five tells us of the
birthplace of Christ, where he is going to be born. It literally
says Bethlehem. So the Lord's giving him this
great insight into the forecoming of Christ. So let's look in Isaiah,
I'm sorry, Micah five, verse one. Now gather thyself in troops,
O daughter of troops. He hath laid siege against us.
They shall smite the judge of Israel with the rod upon his
cheek, upon the cheek. But thou Bethlehem Ephrata, though
thou be little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of thee shall
he come forth unto me, that is going to be ruler in Israel,
whose goings forth have been from old, from of old, from everlasting. Therefore will he give them up
until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth,
then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children
of Israel. They shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God, and they shall
abide for now. Shall he be great unto the ends
of the earth? And this man shall be the peace.
This man shall be the peace when the Assyrian shall come into
our land. And when he shall tread in our
places, then shall we raise against him
seven shepherds and eight principal men. And they shall waste the
land of Assyria with the sword and the land of Nimrod and the
entrances thereof. Thus shall he deliver us from
the Assyrian when he cometh into our land and when he treadeth
within our borders. And the remnant of Jacob shall
be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the
showers upon the grass that tarrieth not for man or waiteth for the
sons of men. Now I love our Lord's wording. He tells us what he's going to
do. He tells us for whom he's going
to do it. He tells us how he's going to
do it. And he tells us why he's going to do it. I love his authority,
his sovereignty. He doesn't ask permission. He
just declares the truth and says, I will. Men cannot do that. Did you know that? Men cannot
say, I will, and it's guaranteed that it will come to pass. Men
can purpose and try, but men's purpose can be thwarted. Men's
purpose can be prevented, not God's. God's will cannot be stopped. He's God. Men devise opinions around what
they think they know. Men will interject in conversation.
I had a conversation with somebody recently, and he said, you're
misconstruing the scripture. And I said, well, the scripture
says this. The scripture says this. We're
going line upon line, precept upon precept. Our intention is
to declare the full truth, isn't it? We're not trying to misconstrue
anything. If anything, we're trying to
look deeply into what the Lord is saying and just find his truth,
that's our hope, his truth. But men will interject and they'll
want to argue, they'll want to debate, they'll want to give
their opinion, they'll want to say, but I believe this is true,
I believe that is true, what does God say? That's what we
need to know, what does the Lord say? Because whatever he says
is the truth, whatever he says is what's gonna stand, it doesn't
matter what I think, matters what he thinks, doesn't it? He's
God. You and I have been made to know
from the last hour that there's no way that you can learn enough
to come to the knowledge of the truth. So we need the Lord to
cause us to look to Christ the truth. We've been made to know
that salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. What
does that mean? What does he mean when he says salvation is
of the Lord? It means that he bought it. with his own blood. He owns it. It's his salvation. Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation is what David prayed. It's his salvation for whomsoever
he will, for those for whom he lived, for whom he died and whom
he was resurrected. Those are the ones. Those are
the ones that come to the knowledge of his salvation. The truth does two things. When
you hear the truth, it does two things, one of two. Well, it
does both at the same time, truly. It condemns and it also sets
free. That's what the truth does. It'll
condemn, but it also sets free at the same time. So when you
hear the truth and you're condemned, you're convicted of being the
sinner, then you also hear at the same time the truth that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. So it condemns
and it sets free at the same time. Convicts us of sin, doesn't
it? Truth convicts and the truth
sets free. We've been made to know truly
that anyone, if anyone, is going to be saved, it will take the
act of God. It will take God doing it. He'll
take God doing every bit of it from start to finish, from start
to finish. He must do the work. He must
open up the eyes of the blind and give us faith. He must be
the one that allows us to be made alive, to give us rest,
resting in him alone. Now, Micah 5 tells us how he's
going to do just that, how he's going to do that. Verse 2 tells
us, he shall come forth unto me. Now, in order for him to
come forth, I love the thought he already had to exist. It doesn't
say he's going to be created. It doesn't say he's going to
be made. It says he's going to come forth. That means he had
already existed. He was already with the father.
Christ Jesus was already with the father. He already existed.
He is the self-existing one. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. He's the everlasting father, the king of kings, Lord
of lords. In order for him to come forth, he had to already
exist. And he says he's going to come forth. Now in verse one,
we hear that he's a judge and that he's going to be smitten.
In verse two, we see that he's a ruler and he has everlasting
going forth, everlasting. His goings forth have been from
old, from everlasting. So who is he speaking of? Well,
it has to be the Lord Jesus Christ. This ruler has to be the Lord
Jesus Christ. This judge has to be the Lord
Jesus Christ. The one coming forth has to be the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's none other that can meet
that description, is there? His coming was foretold. It's
Christ the Messiah. It's the one that's going to
put away the sin of His people, and He did. He did. I find it
amazing the Lord gave insight to everything that's going to
happen in this chapter. He gives insight to Micah. How many years before that? Isn't
that glorious? So they were saved looking to the cross. We have
the full canon of scripture. We have the full volume, everything
that happened, all the miracles that he performed. John said
it this way, if I was to write every one of them, the whole,
the books couldn't, you couldn't contain it. There's no way to
write it all down. Well, Christ did, but yet, We
do have enough so that whenever He gives us eyes of faith to
see, we realize that there's no man like this man. There's
no man, no Lord like this Lord, no God. Who's a God like unto
thee that pardon iniquity? That's what Micah says in the
last chapter. He's other than we are in every
way. Now it has to be Christ Jesus.
That's who he's talking about here. But just as important,
I want us to ask ourselves this question, who is speaking here? Who is speaking here? You'll
notice that it is Micah, no doubt, but it's prophetically the father.
He's going to come forth unto me. Well, he didn't come forth
whenever Micah was alive. He's the, it's the Lord's, the
father's the one that sent the son. born of a woman, born under
the law to redeem them that are under the law. The father's the
one that had a son, had a son. And so that's who's talking here.
This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. This is the
one that's gonna come forth, the self-existing one. God is
gonna raise up this judge, this ruler over Israel. He's gonna
raise him up unto himself. Do you know why? The Lord raised
up this judge, this ruler, the Lord Jesus Christ for his glory,
for his glory. That's all for his glory. Everything
in time and eternity is for God's glory. God will have all of it. He will not share one bit of
his glory with man. Micah prophesied that Israel
will smite him with the rod. I would remind us of Isaiah 53.
It says that he was stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
He was stricken of men. They smote him on the cheek,
but he was smitten of God and afflicted. We have the fulfillment
of that in Acts 2, verse 23. He says, in Christ, you have
taken Christ, and with wicked hands you have crucified and
slain him. So we have the fulfillment there. He was stricken by men. He was smitten by the father.
No man should take his life. He said, no man can take my life.
I lay my life down freely. For who? For everybody? My sheep. For my sheep. I lay my life freely
down for my sheep. God purposed all of this with
great designs of grace. He ordained his son to suffer
his wrath. so that you and I could be redeemed,
so that his people could be bought with a price, brought back to
God, brought back into fellowship with God. I love the thought
that he was born King. That baby in that manger was
as much God right then as he was hanging upon the cross of
Calvary, as much as he was when he ascended back into heaven,
and as much as he is right now seated on the throne. That was
God in the manger. That was God. Jesus is Christ. Jesus is God. Now the question I had mentioned
to begin with, and this is the focal point I want us to think
about, what think ye Christ? I've declared who he is. I've
declared what he's done. What think ye of Christ? That's
the question you must ask yourself. This is life and death. This
is the most serious question you will ever ask. I had a conversation
with someone who claims that they believe what I believe,
believe what we believe, what we preach. And I asked them the
question, what think ye of Christ? And they said, yeah. And the
next question Christ said was, is whose son is he? So I said,
what think ye of Christ? And he said, yeah, whose son
is he? He said, David. That's what they said, David.
So he quoted the passage we're fixing to turn to. He had the
right answer to the question, just like the Pharisees thought
that they had the right answer. But only the believer believes
that Christ is God. I'm talking about not a figment
of our imagination, God, not baby Jesus, meek and mild. I'm
talking about God, the sovereign creator of the universe. And
he tells us in John chapter one, in the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God and the Word was God. All things were
made by Him. Who? The Word of God, Jesus Christ. And without Him, not anything
was made that was made. Christ made everything. The baby
in the manger was God. He's the one that was purposed
to redeem his people, and he did. He did. His will could not
be thwarted. He could not be challenged. He
could not... No. They tried to kill him many times, didn't they?
And they couldn't touch him. Why? He was God. He was God,
and he chose not to reveal himself to some, and he chose to reveal
himself to others, and they that he revealed himself to believed
him. Why? Because he was God. He is God. What think ye of Christ? Whose
son is he? He is God's son, and he is the
fullness of the Godhead bodily. Christ is God. Now turn with
me to that passage I was just mentioning in Matthew chapter
22. The Pharisees, as they often tried
to do, have gathered together against the Lord to try to trap
Him, to try to get Him to stumble, to try to trick Him. I'm glad
that God cannot be constrained nor restrained by us, aren't
you? I preached a message on that several weeks ago, but we
can't constrain Him or we can't prevent Him from doing what He
wants to do. And we can't make Him do anything we want Him to
do. We can't constrain Him or restrain Him. Well, these Pharisees
were trying to trick him. They were trying to ensnare him,
entrap him. They asked him this question,
is it lawful, is it lawful for us to render tribute unto Caesar? They thought, okay, we got him.
We got him. And he says, where is the, bring
me a piece of the tribute money. And so somebody had a coin, they
got it out of their pocket, whatever, handed it to him. And he says,
whose face is on it? Whose face is on it? And they
said Caesar's. He said, render unto Caesar that which is Caesar,
and render unto God that which is God. Well, they couldn't find
any fault with him saying that, they didn't like it. It was the
truth though, wasn't it? It was the truth. Well, the second,
group comes up, which is the Sadducees, and it literally says
here that they do not believe in the resurrection. The Sadducees,
which do not believe in the resurrection, asked him this. He said, Master,
sir, there's a woman that's been married seven times. Every husband
that she had died. Her first husband died, she remarried.
Second husband died, she remarried. Third husband died, all the way
to seven. He said, in the resurrection day, and they were mocking at
that one because they didn't believe in the resurrection. In the resurrection day, whose
husband will she be? The Lord said, ye do err by the
scriptures. For in that day, they neither
marry nor give in marriage. Men would continually talk in
false religion about heaven. And it was falsely. They didn't
know what they were talking about. And they say they can't wait
to meet their mother when they get there. And listen, brethren,
there's Heaven is so much better than this place. We're all gonna
be united in the love of Christ as one body looking unto Him
that's gonna be perfect love for everyone that's there. We're
gonna be unified together. It's so much better than this
place where you love some, you hate another, that kind of, that's
nothing like heaven, nothing. You won't prefer one person over
the other because the focus is all on Him. And it'll be perfect
because it's perfect worship. It'll be perfect peace. Perfect
joy. I wish I could describe it like
it's going to be, but we looked through a glass darkly. Paul
said it this way. I heard things that I can't even
utter them. I don't even know how to say
them. It's too wonderful. I can't do it. It's impossible.
There's no human words to describe how glorious heaven's going to
be. Well, he said, you see, he thought
they had the Lord and asked him the question, whose wife is she
going to be? Lord said, you err according
to the scriptures. Well, the third one came up to
him and he was a lawyer. He was also a Pharisee. This
lawyer looks at him and he says, I know what I can ask him that's
going to trick him. I can see him rolling up his sleeves thinking
that he's got it down pat, you know, arrogant, whatever. He's
a lawyer. He studied the law. He knows.
He says, what is the greatest commandment? I'm going to make
him answer because if he says one's greater than the other,
then I'm going to say this, or I'm going to say that. He's already
planned it out in his mind. You see how it works. We know how that
works. And Lord said, the greatest commandment is this, love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, soul, and strength. And
the second is likened to the first, love your neighbor as
yourself. For on these two hang all the
law and all the prophets. And they couldn't answer him
a word. Now, Christ demands an answer from these men. He asked
them, what think ye of Christ? But what were these men coming
to him with, really? What were they trying to bring
before him to trap him? They asked him the question about
Caesar's money. That's politics. That's politics. They asked him about marrying
the woman according to the scripture. Well, that's theology, isn't
it? That's theology. That's what they came to him
with, theology. And the third thing is the law. They were trying
to trick the Lord on politics, theology, and the law. And that's
exactly what men are doing today. You go to other churches, you
will hear men speak on politics. You go to another church, you'll
hear men speak on theology. Well, we have the right doctrine.
We have the right theology. Other men will preach the law,
won't they? We'll have all kinds of lawmongers in this day and
time in which we live. You should do this and you shouldn't do
that. And this is what men preach. This is what they brought to
Christ. And he said, you've missed everything
because of this one question. What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? Now look with
me in verse 41, Matthew 22. While the Pharisees were gathered
together, Jesus asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ, whose
son is he? They said unto him, The son of David. He said unto
them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying,
The Lord saith unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till
I make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then calls him Lord,
how is he his son? and no man was able to answer
him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him
any more questions. Pharisees knew the right response,
they thought. Well, he's David's son. Well,
that's true. That is true. You can see his
lineage, and I believe it's Matthew. You can look at the very beginning
of the book, and it'll tell you his lineage comes through David,
his physical seed. But they've missed the most important
detail. He was born not of a corruptible
seed of Adam, but of an incorruptible. The kingdom of David that the
Lord had established forever was a heavenly kingdom. It wasn't
an earthly kingdom, even though they had the right words to say,
it still wasn't the right words, was it? It still wasn't the spiritual,
it was the physical. That's all that these Pharisees
could see. That's all that men and women can see by nature.
That's all you and I can see is the physical. That's why men
preach that we should be able to see the life that you're living
as being a good life. They call it the Christian life.
They should be able to see that there's a change being made.
No, the change is on the inside, brethren. The change is on the
inside, and it's not based upon theology or politics. Let the
world worry about the politics. Whoever's in the office, it's
God's president. God put him there. Whoever's
in the Senate, God put them there. And I'm not saying don't vote,
but I'm telling you, let the world worry about these things.
Well, what if war is gonna happen? What if the stock market collapsed?
God is still seated on his throne as the sovereign creator of this
universe, rest. Rest in Christ. Don't worry about
theology, trying to have everything right. Look to Christ and live. And don't worry about the law. Christ is the fulfillment of
the law. And as we heard last hour, He's written His law upon
our heart, upon our heart, and He is satisfied with the new
heart He's given us. He's satisfied with the blood
of Christ. Men look for physical things
because they're spiritually dead. That's what all men do by nature.
We look for physical things, but the Lord looks on the heart. Religious men then and religious
men now are doing the exact same thing. They're looking for physical
health, wealth, prosperity, or a lack of evil in their life
as evidence that God is pleased with them. Now you can live a
good moral life in this world. You can dot every I and cross
every T by man's standard, but we're forgetting one thing. God
doesn't look at the physical. He looks at the spiritual. It
doesn't matter if your theology is right or your politics are
right or you think that you kept the law. It doesn't matter. Paul
said, I've counted all of that, but dung that I may win Christ. All of it, but dung. There's
no rest in it. There's no hope in it. There's
hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's rest in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Men believe that if I give enough
effort, I can change my circumstance. I can obligate God. I can obligate
God to help me. Oh, we can't obligate God, can
we? Christ Jesus did. obligated his father to resurrect
him from the dead. Why? Because he successfully
had redeemed his people by his own blood. And he was resurrected,
wasn't he? Just because something makes
us feel better doesn't mean it's accomplished anything. Being
a sinner doesn't feel good, does it? No, it doesn't, but seeing
Christ, Oh, there's peace in seeing Christ, peace that surpasses
all understanding. When you're resting at his feet
for a moment, you're not worried about politics anymore, are you?
You're not worried about theology or the law. You're keeping the
law. You're worried about one thing, seeing his face, resting
in him. There is true rest, true rest
in this gospel. True peace comes only through
and by seeing Christ. True peace only comes by Him.
He's the Prince of Peace. He's the Prince of Peace. That
means He owns it. It's His peace. It's His peace. Now, back to chapter five of
Micah. What think ye of Christ? Men's eyes cannot see who He
is. The natural eye cannot see God. The natural eye can't see spiritual
things because it's carnal, it's corrupt. It takes the Lord's
work in the heart to have a spiritual life to see Him, to see Christ. It takes the act of God, an action
of God, to give faith for us to see whose son He really is. If you believe that Christ is
God, If you truly believe that Christ is 100% God and that he
was 100% man, man as well. And what I mean by God is not
that he tried to do anything, but he really successfully redeemed.
If you believe that he is God, you're a believer. You're a believer
if you believe that Christ is God, 100%. Takes the Lord to reveal that.
Now look in chapter five, verse two, but thou Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of
these shall he come forth unto me, that is going to be ruler
in Israel, whose going forths have been of old from everlasting."
From everlasting. He was born in Bethlehem. Bethlehem
translated means the house of bread. The house of bread. Ephrata, means the place of fruitfulness,
fruitfulness. So it's the house of bread and
it's fruitfulness, isn't it? Now this place is little compared
to the other places in Judah. It's insignificant to man's eyes. You and I would not think naturally
that a tiny place of Bethlehem would be the place of kings and
Lord of lords to be born, but that's the whole point. The Lord
doesn't do things the way men do it. Men would have thought,
well, he'll be born in Jerusalem, or he'll be born here, or he'll
be born there. That's why the Lord said, search the scriptures,
for in them you think you have eternal life. But there, they
would speak of me. They speak of Christ. He's going
to do it the way that he wants to do it. And he was born in
the humblest of places, the humblest of places in Bethlehem. And he
was laid in the humblest of place, a feeding trough. feeding trough. There was no room for him in
the inn. That's a picture of men not having any room in themselves
for the Lord. Men will not come to Christ.
They're full up of themselves, aren't we? Aren't we by nature?
We're full up of ourselves. The Lord has to empty us and
then fill us. And that's what he does. But the inn is a picture
of no room for Christ. And so they lay him in a manger
in the most humblest of places, the most humblest of towns. And,
you know, he lived the most humble life. He said, the foxes have
holes, the birds of the air have nests, son of man has no place
to lay his head. He had no earthly possessions
that he brought, took with him. He had no, he was on business
with his, for his father. He was doing business with God.
He was honoring the father in his life. And he humbled himself
from the time he was born until the time he died. And he humbled
himself to the death of the cross for his people. Isaiah 53 tells
us, who hath believed our report? To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? That's a question. Who hath believed our report?
To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Only the Lord's people. Only the Lord's not gonna reveal
Christ to everyone. If he does, they'll be born again. Seeing Christ is salvation. If
you see the Lord Jesus Christ through the eyes of faith, if
he's given us that faith, you're born again. The Lord's called
you. He doesn't do that for everybody. If he did, everybody would be
saved. Who hath believed our report?
To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up
before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground.
He hath no form, no comeliness that we should see him. There
is no beauty that we should desire in him. What is he saying? To
the natural man, there is nothing attractive about the Lord Jesus
Christ. God was manifest in the flesh,
and yet men did not see him as God. He was not attractive to
the flesh to them. He had no form or comeliness.
He was not beautiful in their eyes. Reminded that King David,
they say, even in the scripture, talks about him being a handsome
man. He was a good-looking guy. And
so Israel, even Saul, the one that they picked prior to David,
Saul was a big man. He was a really strong man. That's
why they picked him as king. They looked over the congregation. They say, that's the one that
we would like to have. He's the tallest and the biggest.
And the Lord's, of course, the Lord had to anoint him, but you
understand what I'm saying. They wanted a king for themselves, a big,
strong man. Christ didn't come here to appeal the flesh. You and I would not have looked
at him in our flesh and thought, yes, that's the son of God. No,
it comes by divine revelation even now, just as it did then.
How many times do we read that they would have taken him yet
he passed through them unnoticed? How is that possible? He's standing
right in front of them and now he's passing through them and
they can't see him. That's the power he has. He can reveal himself
when he chooses to, or he can leave us blind where we can't
see him if he chooses to as well. came to establish not his earthly
kingdom, not his earthly kingdom, his everlasting, eternal, heavenly
kingdom. He didn't come to save this flesh. He came to save the spirit. He
came to save the soul of men, his people. I love the thought
that everything done by him was for spiritual gain. Everything
we do is to our own destruction. It's our own damnation. Everything
he did was for spiritual gain, and everything we do is for our
physical destruction, and even damning to the soul if he doesn't
open up our eyes, give us faith to see. Everything he did was
for a purpose, everything. He was despised and rejected
of men, yet he reigned in the heart of all of his elect, then
and now. How many times? Think about the
disciples that were sitting there. Peter was fishing with his brother,
And they're with their father, and they're doing what they love
to do. They're doing their work, whatever.
And the Lord comes and he says, come with me, I'll make you fishers
of men. And they left their nets, and they left their father, and
they followed Christ. Why? Because God's call is effectual.
God's call is effectual. Philip was sitting underneath
the tree, praying unto the Lord. And the Lord came up to him and
said, I saw you praying, Philip. Follow me. Pilate got up and
followed Christ. How many, every single disciple
was that way. Can you imagine the Lord coming
in and to you and I and saying, follow me, we just leave. I mean,
that's what happened. Ain't that amazing? Why did they
do that? Because he was God. Because Christ
was God. What think ye of Christ? He's
God. That's why. The miracle is beautiful
pictures of the lame receiving their strength to walk and the
blind eyes opening. And that was our evidence that
he was who he said he was. But the most precious miracle
is that he successfully redeemed his people by his own blood.
That's what we look to as our hope. That's the most glorious
miracle he performed is he can take an unregenerated dead dog
sinner and make them spotless before the throne of God. Give
them a hiding place before God's sovereignty, a place of mercy
under the mercy seat. This is what he's done, he's
God. wise men heard of his birth and
said, well, we, we have to go worship him. They knew the prophecy. They knew what was going to happen.
They had read Micah chapter five. They knew it was Bethlehem and
they saw the star. He said, he's been born. We got to go worship
him. And they went to Herod and Herod
said, yeah, go out and find out who that is. And I want to worship
him too. No, he wanted to kill him. Didn't he? Herod wanted
to kill him. And we see that he kills the males under two
years old after the Lord had departed. The wise men never
went back to report, but they brought gold, frankincense, and
myrrh. What's the picture of that? Well, the gold is his deity.
It's his sovereignty. It's his lordship. He's the king. Then you have the frankincense
and myrrh. One was used as an ointment that they would put
on the dead, the deceased. That's the picture of his death. And the other is a picture of
his anointing, his resurrection, as the Lord is satisfied with
him. He's God. He was God in the manger. Angels
of the Lord appeared unto the shepherds and says, I bring you
good tidings of great joy. The greatest tidings of the best
joy you will ever hear for unto you is born this day in the city
of David, a savior, the savior. He's here, the one that's going
to redeem. And he did. the Savior Christ,
the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto
you. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes,
lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude
of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, glory to God
in the highest and on earth peace. Oh, he brought peace with him.
He is the peace, isn't he? Peace on earth, goodwill towards
men. The shepherd said one to another, let us, let us go see
this. Let's go, let's leave and go
see this wonderful thing that's taken place. And they went and
found him. They found him laid in the manger, didn't they? And
they worshiped. Oh, he reigned in the heart of his people while
he was on earth in a manger. That's God. That's who I'm talking
about. And as his lifetime on earth progressed, then he was
worshiped by his people then too. And even now we worship
him with the same faith that it took from Genesis to Revelation.
It's the faith of Christ that he's pleased with. His people
worship him. I love the thought, and I said
this already, but I love the thought that all things were
created by Him and without Him, not anything made that was made.
So you have this baby laying in a manger that created everything.
Isn't that awesome? He was God right there. I mean,
nothing could have touched Him. Nothing could have harmed Him.
He was under the protective order of the Father. Nothing could
hinder Him. Nothing could stop Him from going to the cross and
dying. It was His purpose. It was His will. His purpose
to redeem His people. He was God at that moment, and
He still is. Scripture says that He lets us
know He's the God man. He says He's the fullness of
the Godhead bodily, yet He's robed in flesh. So we see without
controversy, great is the mystery. How can God be born? Answer me
that. God was born. The eternal God,
the everlasting Father. That's what they said He was
gonna be called, the Prince of Peace, the Lord, the everlasting Father. Counselor, wonderful. How was
God born? It's a miracle, isn't it? Great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
God was manifest in the flesh. Scene of angels preached on the
Gentiles received up into glory. God was manifest in the flesh.
He wasn't just a man. He was the God-man. He says right
here in verse two, the very last word is everlasting. whose goings
forth have been from old, from everlasting." That means it's
from eternity. The eternity that's already been.
As it continues, it's hard to explain eternity because it just
is. There's no time there. So what did God do? God made
time. He made time. He declared, okay. He declared
that he was going to make time in order to redeem a people back
to him. He made time. This baby in the manger that
I'm speaking of, he made time. And then in the time and the
fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a
woman, born under the law to redeem them that were under the
law. Why? He might show mercy, that He
might show grace to His people. He's God. What think ye of Christ? That answer, if He gives you
the faith to say He is God, you're a believer. You're a believer. This was all because of His eternal
decree. He doesn't do anything temporarily.
He doesn't do anything temporarily. Everything He does is for our
eternal good. It's His eternal salvation, His
everlasting covenant. This was His purpose. This was
His purpose. I love the thought that He's
omnipotent. He's omnipresent. He's everywhere all the time
and He knows everything all the time. He occupies all space in
time. He is the Lord of time as well.
It doesn't determine anything for Him. He's not altered by
it. We age, don't we? We age and the Lord's flesh certainly
did age. He had to become a man in order
to die. And that's the second part to
that. God was born and yet the eternal God died also. He did
it all in time that he had created. Why? Why? The love he had for
his father, the love that he had for his bride to redeem them
back to God. Think about that. He loved a
bunch of dead dog sinners. So much, he became a man and
he redeemed them back to God. And on the cross of Calvary,
he became the sinner substitute, bearing the dead dog sin that
we are in his own body upon that tree. And he redeemed us back
to his father. We could sit here and talk about
God being born and how that's a mystery. We could talk about
God dying and how that's a mystery. We don't understand what we believe,
brethren. We just believe God. We just believe what he has said,
what he has done, because he's the one that said it and he's
the one that's done it. Lord Jesus Christ tells us that
he is God, but in John chapter 10, and I quoted this earlier
part of it, but my sheep hear my voice and I know them and
they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life and they shall
never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
My father which gave them me is greater than all and no man
is able to pluck them out of my father's hands. Then he says
these words, I and my father are one. I and my father are
one. This is God speaking. When he
says something, he can't tell a lie. He can't tell a lie, he's
immutable. I and my father are one. He was
one with the father, wasn't he? He's God manifest in the flesh.
What think ye of Christ? Jesus Christ as God, the same
yesterday, today, and forever, that didn't try to redeem His
people, He successfully redeemed them. He did it all. Now, the
good news of this also is that once He accomplished salvation,
He's given us a few promises here in Micah as well. Micah
5, verse 4, And Christ shall stand and feed in the strength
of the Lord. He shall feed in the strength
of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they, whose they, his people, shall abide. For now shall he
be great unto the ends of the earth. He shall feed them. Scripture
says, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me
to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. Only hungry people eat, only His sheep feed upon Him,
the bread of life. We're about to take the Lord's
table here in just a moment. And that's what it represents,
that He is the bread of life. That's what He feeds His people,
is Himself. That's what fills us up. His
blood is what washes us whiter than snow. This is what we look
to as our righteousness. This is what we look to for our
redemption. This is what we look to for our
salvation as Him alone. And I love the word shall. He shall feed them. God said that. God said, I will,
I will feed you. He shall feed them. Verse five, we have this comfort
and this man shall be the peace. Now you'll notice that word man
is in italics. Now, sometimes the translators get it right,
and sometimes they don't. I don't have trouble. I don't think it's
necessary to contest it this time. It's fine, but let's do
read it without that. What he just said was, he shall
stand and feed in the strength of the Lord. And then it says,
verse five, and this shall be the peace. See, when he feeds
you the bread of life, there's peace. It's rest, isn't it? That's what we rest in. That's
our hope that we heard the first hour. That's the peace that the
Lord gives his people, is himself. himself. And he tells us why
he's going to do all of this and look in verse seven in closing.
The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as
a dew from the Lord as showers upon the grass that tarrieth
not for man nor waiteth for the sons of men. Now I got to The
other day I saw three rainbows in one day. I have never seen
that many rainbows in one day. I was sitting in the same spot
the whole time. It would rain in the distance and a rainbow
would pop up and it kept doing it. So as I read this dew, I
got to pondering upon why did he say dew here? What is the
purpose? Lord's words always, a spiritual
application is there, but the Lord can choose to reveal it
or hide it. The dew can't be seen. and it can't be counted. You
can see the rain at the rainfalls and you can kind of sort of count
raindrops as they fall. You really, we can't count all
of them, but you understand what I'm saying. The dew is hidden. It can't be counted. It just
falls. Is that not the promise that
he gave Abraham? Your seed will be as the sands
of the sea. Can you count the sands of the
sea? Certainly not. He said it would be as the stars
of the heaven. Some men preaching the gospel limit the Lord's regeneration of his people as
thinking that it's a small number. It's not a small number. John
said it was an innumerable number. No man can number it. The Lord
knows it though, doesn't he? He knows the number of his people.
That's what the dew represents as the Lord's people. The dew
is pure and it's sparkling. Have you ever seen dew sparkle
in the sunshine in the morning? You see it glistening on the
wet grass. As the sun hits it, it glistens,
doesn't it? It glistens. That's what he's
done for his people. He's called us to shine as the
noonday sun. We are the moon. You remember
me talking about that. We reflect the sun. He's shined
his light in the darkness unto us and now we shine forth. And
what do we shine? Well, if you look, you'll see
the shimmer of a rainbow on the dew. What is that rainbow? It's
the kaleidoscope or the, not the kaleidoscope, The prism,
the prism. You've seen it before. It's the
same as the rainbow. What does it represent? His promise.
His promise that his wrath was satisfied because he beat upon
the ark with his wrath. until His anger was assuaged. Christ absorbed the fiery wrath
of God upon the cross. That's what the promise represents. That's what shines forth from
us. That's what He's done for His people. He's given us this
faith that just looks to Him. That's why He says the dew right
here. It falls. It can't be counted. It shines
forth the prism. It shines forth His rainbow. He tells us it falls on the grass.
showers upon the grass, while Isaiah was told, comfort ye,
comfort ye my people. Okay, Lord, what do you want
me to tell them? What comfort can I give to your people? Tell
them their grass. Thank God for the rose among
the grass that hides us under the shadow of his pavilion, the
lily of the valley, the bright in the morning star. What thank
you of Christ? Oh, he's God. He's God and he is good to his
people. He is good to his people. I love the idea that, oh, I meant
to tell us also that at the very end he says, that he tarrieth
not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men. We can't control
the dew, can we? We can't control the rain. He
does. He does. Every drop of water that falls
upon this earth is ordered by God before time ever began. He
is the doer of all things according to his will. He's not waiting
for men. He just said that, nor waiteth
for the sons of men. No, God doesn't wait. God just does. God does that
which he wills and men does that which God wills them to do. What
think ye of Christ? He shall be wonderful, counselor,
prince of peace, the everlasting father. Christ was the everlasting
father. You want to explain that to me? I don't understand it,
but I believe it. He's the prince of peace. He's
the king of kings and Lord of lords. He said, call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin. Christ
achieved his purpose as God incarnate. He secured salvation for his
people. He's not waiting for us to do
anything. It's already done. What think
ye of Christ? He's God. Amen. Father calls
us to look to Christ, not as the world looks at him, it calls
us to look at you as God. Christ in we pray, amen.