Okay, now, Isaiah 7. Isaiah 7. Let's read verse 14. Isaiah 7, verse 14. And I've
entitled this message today, taken from verse 14 of Isaiah
7, Call His Name. Oh, His Name. His Name. Emmanuel. Emmanuel. God with us. Therefore the Lord
Himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin who never knew
a man shall conceive and bear a son. Oh, a special son. And we'll call his name. And
they shall call his name. Oh, thou virgin, call it, it
says there. Call his name Emmanuel. Emmanuel,
I like that, don't you? Emmanuel, God with us. Now we have before us in God's
inspired word a prophecy concerning the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ to accomplish our salvation as a God-man mediator. He knew when he came, why he
came, and what he was to accomplish. How long had he known about this? From all eternities the Lamb
slain. What a remarkable and glorious
truth we find here. God taking our humanity unto
himself. God who made woman was born of
a woman. God who gave the law was subject
unto his own law, made under the law to redeem us. from our
sin. In the fullness of time, the
time God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the
law, under the law to redeem us from our sin. What grace,
what love is displayed before us. God sent forth His only begotten
Son. Now a little bit behind the history,
just as God said it would come to pass, it certainly did. This prophecy here is given about
700 years before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, before
God was pleased to take humanity unto Himself and be born among
men. But as we just read in Matthew's
record, it did happen, didn't it? Everything God says shall
come to pass, it will come to pass. Judah here in this Isaiah
chapter 7, Judah and Jerusalem were about to be attacked by
the armies of Syria and Israel. Remember that Judah and Israel
were divided into two kingdoms. They hated each other. Brothers
fighting against each other. Ahaz was a king over Judah in
the south and Pekah was a king over Israel in the north. Pekah,
in order to secure the victory over Judah, became an ally with
an enemy, Syria, to do Jerusalem harm, to raise up their own king,
that they might abuse the country. Isaiah and his son Joshua were
sent to warn Ahaz to tell him not to fear that God would protect
them. Notice verse 4. Isaiah says to
Ahaz, take heed and be quiet, fear not, neither be fainthearted
for these two tales of these smoking firebrands and their
fierce anger, God said, I'm going to put them I'm going to break
them. The Lord to Isaiah tells Ahaz
in verse 7, that Judah shall be spared and the confederation
of Syria shall be broken. Notice verse 7, thus said the
Lord God, it shall not stand. It shall not come to pass. Ahaz,
even though he was king of Judah, was a wicked man. He was an unbeliever. He would not believe the prophet
Isaiah. He would not believe that God
was going to protect them, that God was going to break this confederation
of Israel and Syria. And he said, when Isaiah said,
well, ask the Lord a sign and He will give you a sign. In rebellion, Ahaz said, I will
not tempt the Lord. Notice verse 12, Ahaz said, I
will not ask. Neither will I tempt the Lord."
Now, that's rebellion against God. God told him to ask, and
he refused to ask. The Lord, in great mercy, said,
I'm going to give you a sign anyway, verse 13. And he said,
Here now, O house of David, is it a small thing for you to weary
men? But will you weary my God also? The Lord himself shall give you
a sign. The Lord graciously takes the occasion of the rebellion
of Ahab's to declare unto us the good news of the gospel.
Aren't you glad? The Lord is telling us of the
coming of the Messiah. Where sin abounded, grace does
much more abound. This reminds me, and this is
similar to the sin and rebellion of Adam against God in the garden.
In the face of Adam's fall, in the face of Adam's sin, our gracious
Lord pronounced unto us the victory of the coming of the Redeemer,
the Lord Jesus Christ. After Adam had sinned against
God and had fallen and plunged us all into utter ruin, sin,
depravity, and despair, the promise of God in the face of all that
sin and rebellion against God, God says this, I will put enmity
between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed, the woman's
seed." Who is that? Christ. It shall bruise thy head,
conquer, crush the dominion of sin and Satan, and in doing so,
his humanity, his heel will be bruised. That's the good news
of the gospel. That's the announcement even in the face of Adam's sin
against God. The Lord God pronounces the good
news of the coming of the Messiah, just as it is here in Isaiah
7, even though Ahaz would not believe God's prophet and dismissed
it as a small thing. When God told him to ask a sign,
yet God, even though in the face of his unbelief and rebellion,
said, I'm going to give you a sign anyway. Aren't you glad the Lord
delights to show mercy to sinners? Now, in this verse 14 of Isaiah
7, we see three things about the gospel declared. We see His
virgin birth declared. His virgin birth declared. We see His holy humanity also
declared in verse 15. And we see His name declared,
which is Emmanuel, God with us. Now, let's look at those three
things. First of all, we see his virgin birth here declared.
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and a virgin shall bear a son. We can be assured, all that God
has spoken will come to pass. Will come to pass. Shall conceive,
shall bear a son. In Numbers 23, the prophet said
there, God is not a man that he should lie. As a matter of
fact, the Scriptures declare it is impossible for God to lie. Everything that He has said,
everything that He has promised, do you reckon it will come to
pass? Everything that God has said
will come to pass. Everything that God has spoken,
it shall come to pass. Find Isaiah 46. You see, He declares the end
from the beginning. Isaiah 46 verse 10. Declaring
the end from the beginning, from ancient times, the things that
are not yet done, saying, my counsel will stand. I'll do all
my pleasure. Isaiah 46, 10, verse 11, calling
a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executes my counsel
from a far country. Yeah, I've spoken it. I'll also
bring it to pass. I've purposed it. I'll do it. So we can be assured as believers. that all that God has promised,
He is able to perform. Not, I like the last words of
Joshua, remember? His last words, he said, of all
the things which God has promised us, not one word has failed. So God says, a virgin is going
to bring forth a special son. A child is born, a son is given. It says that in Isaiah 9, we'll
read that in just a minute. Now, it is impossible that a
virgin should give birth to a child without the aid of a man. But with God, all things are
possible. Now, let's find Luke chapter
1. Luke chapter 1. And let's read about the angel
Gabriel. When Gabriel, we read about earlier,
about the angel appearing to Joseph. And saying, Fear not
to take unto thee Mary, that to be thy wife, that which is
conceived of her is of the Holy Ghost. And bring forth, she shall
bring forth that Son, and you will call his name Saviour. He's
got our Saviour. God with us, who is our Saviour.
Now here in Luke chapter 1, in the sixth month, verse 26, the
angel Gabriel was sent from God into the city of Galilee, named
Nazareth. to a virgin engaged to a man
whose name was Joseph. He was at the house of David,
and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came unto her and
said, Hail, thou art highly favored, chosen of God. The Lord is with
thee. Blessed art thou, not above women,
but among women. And when she saw him, she was
troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation
this should be. And the angel said unto her,
Fear not, Mary, Thou hast found favour with God, and, behold,
thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus, Saviour, he shall be great,
and shall be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God
shall give unto him the throne of his father David. He shall
reign over the house of Jacob for ever, for his kingdom For
ever and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then Mary said
unto the angel, How shall these things be? Saying, I don't know
a man. I've never known a man. And the
angel said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and
the power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also
that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called
the Son of God. It's the holy thing, the holy
one. And behold, thy cousin Elizabeth,
she also hath conceived a son in her old age in the six months
with her who was called barren." You remember, Elizabeth brought
forth, you remember, John the Baptist. For with God nothing
shall be impossible. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid
of the Lord, be it unto me according thy word. And the angel departed
from her. A virgin is going to give birth. It is true. The body that was
prepared for the Son of God to dwell in was miraculously provided
by God. He is the only begotten, well-beloved
Son of God. In Hebrews 10, 6, we read, Our
Lord said, A body hast thou prepared me to dwell in. Now, our Savior
didn't have His beginning in Bethlehem's manger. That's the
beginning of His humanity as far as His body is concerned.
But from everlasting to everlasting, He is God. At that time, God
inhabited the body of a man, but He's the eternal God. Our
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, had to be born without the aid
of a sinner, without the aid of a man. He had no earthly father. He was begotten of God. The power
of the highest shall overshadow thee. Now these are mysterious
things. But isn't the gospel a mysterious
thing? And that holy thing shall be
called the Son of God. You see, He has to be without
blemish and without spot. He has to be the sinless man. He has to be the spotless Lamb
of God to be our perfect sacrifice for sin. Had He been begotten
of a man like you and I, He could not have been our Savior, because
He would have had the sinful nature of Adam reckoned unto
Him, imparted unto Him. If He's not the virgin born,
If the Lord Jesus Christ is simply born a man like we are. If He's not virgin born, we have
no gospel message. If He's not virgin born, if He's
just a mere good man who died, we have no gospel. He has to
be God in the flesh. For He is God. He is God manifest
in the flesh. And we indeed have good news. You see it. Who He is. It's who He is that gives power
and infinite value to what He did. He's just not a mere man. He is God who inhabits a body
of a man. A man, a human man, a human nature
without sin. Without sin. We also see in this
picture something of God's sovereignty. God will have mercy on whom He
will. You reckon how many virgins there were in that day in Jerusalem
that were of the house and lineage of David? I'd say there was a
lot. But God chose one woman and said,
God's favored you. God sovereignly put His finger,
His heart on that one single woman. The Lord sovereignly chose
Mary, didn't He? Do you remember what the angel
said? You're highly favored of God. Even in this, we see a picture
of God's election of grace. He will have mercy on whom He
will have mercy. Mary was freely chosen of God. No doubt about that. So was every
believer freely chosen of God. We are bound to give thanks to
God for you, brethren, because God has chosen you from the beginning. As many as were ordained to eternal
life believed the gospel. Mary was highly favored of God.
So was every believer highly favored of God. Who's made you
to differ from another? What do you have that you didn't
receive as the free gift of God? Though Mary was freely chosen,
so was every believer chosen of God. Mary was visited by God,
wasn't she? Mary was visited by God in a
special way. So was every believer in regenerating
grace. He visits us by His Holy Spirit
and causes us to be born again by the Spirit of God. Mary, in
her conceiving the baby, Mary was visited By God, so is every
believer. Mary had Christ formed in her. So does every believer. Christ
is formed in you. Christ in you is the hope of
glory. Mary was blessed for Christ's
sake. It says there in Luke chapter
1, or Luke chapter 2, My soul does magnify the Lord, my spirit
has rejoiced in God my Savior." Mary was blessed for Christ's
sake. Mary rejoiced in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and so does every believer. We rejoice in Him always, and
again I say, rejoice. So who then is the Lord Jesus
Christ? Is He just a mere man? Is He
just a historical man? Is He just Jesus from Nazareth? Is that all we know about Him?
No, He's God dwelling among men. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ?
He's very God of very God. Holy, Almighty, and yet He has
the nature of a man. without sin. Notice in verse
15, butter and honey shall he eat. He ate butter and honey. And he does know that word that
really is a wrong word. Really, it's saying that he knows
good and refuses evil. He's a real man. Isaiah says
of him, Isaiah 53, the man of sorrows acquainted with grief.
He's not a phantom man, a phony man, a plastic man. He's a real
man. And yet this real man is God.
The God-man mediator. The old timers referring to God
incarnate referred to him as the God-man. One word, God-man. Romans 8 says, For what the law
could not do, and is weak to the flesh, God sending His own
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, by sacrifice
for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. He appeared once in the
end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
So who is the Lord Jesus Christ? Both God and man, and one blessed
person. Fully gone? Fully man? In one blessed person. The God-Man
Mediator. He's our Savior. He's our Redeemer. He's our Mediator. He's our Righteousness. He's our Intercessor. He cannot
fail. Now, let's see if we can find
that in the Scripture. Now, we're looking for both His
deity and His humanity. Let's find John chapter 1. John
chapter 1. Oh, this is so vital to the gospel.
Without it, we have no gospel. He is Almighty God. He said, when you've seen Me,
you've seen the Father. I and My Father, we're one. What's
true of the Father is true of the Son. They're both holy. Eternal. John chapter 1. Look, verse 1.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. And
the Word was God. So, no doubt about it. He is
God. And yet, look down in verse 14. The Word was made flesh. Same
Word, same God. The Word was made flesh. Flesh
and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory. The
glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and
truth. He was a real man. And yet He's God. Explain that. I can. I declare it to be so. Find Philippians chapter 2. Our
faith is based upon the foundation of faith is a word. We believe
these things and preach these things because the word of God
teaches these things. He is God Almighty. Who inhabits the body of a man.
Philippians 2. Look at verse 6. who being in the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God. He had the nature
of God, the form of God. But made himself of no reputation,
took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness
of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. A real man. God and man. Find 1 Timothy 3,
1 Timothy 3, 16. Without controversy. You see
that? Without controversy. This is not debatable. This is not debatable. We don't
debate whether he is God in the flesh. We don't debate that.
We declare it to be so. Without controversy, great is
the mystery of the gospel godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Justified or vindicated by the
Spirit of God. Seen of angels, preached unto
the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up to
glory." He came from glory to accomplish His work, and then
He went back to glory, and then He sat down. His work being accomplished. Now find Hebrews 2. Hebrews 2. We declare these things to be
so because the Word of God teaches them. And we see the very fulfillment
of what Isaiah told old Ahaz. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 14. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that
had power of the death. Who had power of death. And deliver
them who were who through fear of death are all their lifetime
subject to bondage. For he took not on him the nature
of angels, but he took on him a seed of Abraham." So who is the Lord Jesus crying?
He's God and man in one blessed person. Something else we see,
the Scriptures declare of him that he was sinless. It says
back in our text that he shall What does it say? He shall choose
good and refuse evil. This one who is God, and yet
man, manifest in the flesh, is impeccable in his character.
That is, he was tried and tempted in all points like as we are,
yet without sin. No sin. He was manifested to take away
our sin, the scripture says of Him, 1 John 3, 5, and in Him
is no sin. He's a real man, but He had not
the nature fallen and full of sin like Adam, like we have. He was without sin, impeccable
in His character. He was manifested to take away
our sin and in Him is no sin. You know this Scripture well,
2 Corinthians 5. God made Him sin for us who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
1 Peter 2, 22 says, who did no sin. So, in Him was no sin. He knew no sin. He did no sin. In Hebrews 4, 15 it says, He
was tempted. In all poems like this, we are
yet without sin. Hebrews 7.26 says, He's holy,
harmless, undefiled, and separate from sin. He's my Savior. He cannot fail. Now, here's the last point. His
glorious name. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son, the special Son, seed. Isaac, Abraham, and shall
call his name Immanuel. His glorious name. Call his name
Immanuel. What does it mean? We read it
a while ago. God with us. God with us. Now stay with me. Turn over here
to Isaiah 9, verse 6. Unto us a child is born. A child is born. Who is this
one? It's God Almighty. God in the flesh. Unto us a Son
is given, given of God, the only begotten Son. And the government
shall be upon His shoulders, and His name shall be called,
oh His name, wonderful, Counselor. Who is He? 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, upon his kingdom, to order it, to establish it
with judgment, with justice, from henceforth, even forever,
the zeal of the Lord of hosts. We'll get this done. Shall perform it. Call his name
Immanuel. What a name! I did a series of
messages many years ago about the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a name! What a name! God
had given Him a name which is above every name, that at that
name every knee will bow, every tongue shall confess that He
is Lord to the glory of God the Father. What a name! Remember
what Peter and John said to that crowd of religious hucksters
that day? Neither is there salvation in
any other For there is no other name given among men whereby
we must be saved." If He's not Emmanuel, He can't do anything
for us. If He's not God with us, if He's
not God manifest in the flesh, we have no salvation. Ever notice in Scripture how
He's called God our Savior? God our Savior. Joseph, we read
a moment ago in Matthew chapter 1, Joseph was instructed to call
his name Jesus, which means Savior. And he is exactly what he's called. He performed exactly what he
was given to do. He shall save his people from
their sin. And he did. He did justify them
from all their sin by his blood sacrifice. He justified us freely
by His grace through the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are redeemed not with corruptible things, but with the precious
blood of Christ. Now Jesus, and often I usually say the Lord
Jesus or the Lord Jesus Christ. But His name, Jesus, was His
name of humiliation. Jesus of Nazareth. It is the
name of his humanity. For had he not been a real man,
he couldn't have died for our sins. But this also describes
his office as priest who represented us before God with an acceptable
sacrifice for sin. And as the high priest of God
representing us, he didn't bring the blood of bulls and goats,
did he? He brought himself for an offering for sin. He sacrificed
himself. It's His blood that obtained
eternal redemption for us. But here the virgin was instructed
to call His name Immanuel. It says in the marginal reference,
Thou, O virgin, shall call His name Immanuel. She was also instructed,
as we read in Luke chapter 1, to call His name Jesus. So you get the whole picture.
He is God, our Savior. Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus,
Savior. He's God our Savior. God our
Savior. By the light of nature, we see
God above us. The heavens declare the glory
of God. In the light of the law, we see God against us. Cursed
is everyone that continues not in all things which are written
in the book of the law. To do them, only in the light
of the gospel do we see God with us. God with us. God with us to redeem us from
all sin. He bought us with His own blood.
God with us to redeem us from the curse of the law. And He
did that with His own blood. God with us to establish perfect
righteousness for us by honoring the law. He said, I didn't come
to destroy the law, I came to honor. He came to honor His own
law and die under the curse of that law. God with us honoring
His own law. Establishing perfect righteousness
for us. The just one dying for the unjust
that He might bring us unto God. God with us. Now think of it.
God with us. to redeem us from all sin. God
with us to establish a perfect obedience under that law and
freely impute that to us as a justifying righteousness before God. Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord imputed righteousness without works.
God with us. Our Savior, one with us. God
with us to call us out of darkness into His marvelous light through
the preaching of the gospel. For He hath translated us out
of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son.
God with us to regenerate us and to make us new creatures
in Christ Jesus. God with us. Remember by nature
what we are? Without hope, without life, without
God in this world. But what do we have in the gospel?
God with us in Christ Jesus. Oh, this is good news. God with
us to save us. God with us to keep us. God with
us to lead us. God with us to guide us. God
with us to save us. God with us to lead us. As a good shepherd leads his
sheep. Therefore, the sheep do not want
because a good shepherd laid down his life for the sheep.
Because a chief shepherd is coming in. Because a great shepherd
have given His lifeblood to save us. God with us now, and God
with us forever. For eternity, from everlasting
eternity, it is God with us. And we behold the Lamb of God
that takes away our sin. Call His name Jesus. He's the
Savior. Is there another? Is there another
way? No. He's the only way. He said that I am the way. Is there another name whereby
we must be saved? No, no. No other name. Is there another foundation upon
which we can rest? Oh, no. No other foundation.
Can any man lay than that which is already laid? What is that
foundation? God with us. Savior. Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ. He is Lord to the glory of God
the Father. He's not Lord by something we
do. God hath made this same Jesus whom you crucified. God hath
made Him Lord and Christ. Peter said in Acts 2, He is the
Lord. He is God. He is Jesus. He is our Savior. The only one. Call His name Jesus. Call Him
what He is. He is Jesus, isn't He? He is the Savior. Lord Jesus. And He is the Christ of God.
What does that mean, Christ? What does that mean, He is the
Christ? That means He is anointed of God. He is the one sin of
God. Make sure you have the right
Christ. Make sure you're not trusting
the Antichrist. Make sure you're trusting the
one Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, Emmanuel. God with us. God with us.