Let's read our text again, Isaiah
chapter 9, the subject, the God-man, what is his name? The God-man. Someone said, see
if you can say those two words as one, the God-man, because
he's so identified with us. perfect God and perfect man. Isaiah 9, verse 6 says, unto
us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the
government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name, this
God-man, what is his name? His name shall be called Wonderful. All of these are capitalized. The mighty
God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. What a text. What an awesome subject, the
God-man. What is his name? Paul, writing
to Timothy, called this a great mystery. He said without doubt,
without controversy, great is this mystery. That God was manifested
in the flesh. God was seen of the angels. God
was vindicated by the Spirit. God was preached to Gentiles. That God's man was believed on
in the world and received up into glory. This is a great mystery. And Paul called it in 2 Corinthians
9, unspeakable, unspeakable. He said, thanks be unto God for
his unspeakable gift, a mystery, unspeakable. In Romans chapter
11, Paul called it unsearchable. Canst thou by searching find
out God? Oh, the depth and the height
and the length and the breadth of the wisdom of God, how unsearchable
are his judgments, his ways past finding out. And in Matthew 22,
the Pharisees found it unanswerable. A mystery unspeakable, unsearchable. And as far as the so-called wisdom
of the world and religion, unanswerable. Our Lord said to these men, men
of scholarship and earthly wisdom, he said, what think ye of the
Christ? Whose son is he? Oh, they said, he's the son of
David. Well, our Lord said, why did
David call him Lord? David said, The Lord said to
my Lord, sit thou on my right hand. How can this Christ, this
Messiah, how can he be David's son and be David's Lord? How can he be a man and be God? And the scripture says, from
that time on, they never asked him any more questions. They
couldn't find the answer. It's complex. It's mysterious. And I know that men and young
people and women build their nativity scenes and they find
them quite charming. But that infant lying in that
manger is no mere child. That's the Son of God. That's
God in human flesh. How complex, how mysterious. In the same scripture that the
prophet calls him a child, he calls him the Son of God. He
calls him Mary's infant, God's son, conceived by God the Spirit. in a virgin's womb. That's the
mystery. In the same breath that Isaiah
calls him, in this scripture, a son, he calls him the father. That is complex, isn't it? That
is mysterious. That is unanswerable. That is
unspeakable. He calls him the son. But then
he says down here, he's the mighty in the same breath, in the same
scripture, that he says his garments are rolled in blood, back there
in verse 5. Garments rolled in blood. Who is this that cometh from
Eden? His garments soaked in blood,
his own blood. In the same breath that he declares
his garments are rolled in blood, he calls him the Prince of Peace, the King of Salem, peace on earth,
goodwill. In the same breath he calls him
Man of Sorrows, Man of Sorrows, acquainted with greed, Here it
is where our faith is found in despised and rejected of men. He calls him the mighty God.
Before whom every knee will bow and every tongue will confess
that he's Lord. It is said that he's rejected
and yet the government on his shoulders. It is said that he
in the eyes of men was a failure. and yet he shall never fail. No contradiction here, it's all
true. Unto us a child is born, a son
is given. 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.
It's all true. He is their God of their And
yet he's bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. But this, my friend, is not learned
by reason. It's not learned even by research. It's learned by revelation. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians,
He said, if the princes, the leaders of this world, had known
who he is, they would not have crucified him. But eye hath not
seen, and ear hath not heard, neither hath it entered the heart
of men the things that God has prepared for his people through
this man, Christ Jesus. But God hath revealed them unto
us. by his Spirit. For what man knoweth
the things of man, save the spirit of man that is within him? Even
so, the things of God, the unsearchable, unanswerable, unspeakable, mysterious
judgments of God, but the judgments of God are known only to God,
and he to whom God reveals them. Not by reason, not by research,
by revelation. You see, there's no seeing Christ
except as he opens the eye. He said to the disciples one
day, well, whom do men say that I am the son of man, the son
of man? They said, we know who he is,
he's the carpenter. We know his mother, we know his
father, we know his brothers and sisters. Well, they said,
whom do these people say I am? And the disciples said, well,
some of them, there's different opinions. Some of them say you're
John the Baptist. Come back from the dead. Some
of them say you're Elijah. Some of them say you're one of
the prophets. He said, whom do you say that
I, the son of man, am? And Peter spoke for the group.
He said, thou art the Christ. Thou art the Christ. the son
of the living God. And he said, Peter, you're blessed. Blessed are you, Simon Barjona. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
that to you. You didn't learn that by reason
and research. It's contrary to reason. How
can God become a man? Well, I'll give you one just
as hard. How can man become a son of God? We talk about we're going to
heaven and live with God. You tell me how you're going
to do that. I'll tell you how God came to
earth, and in doing so, I'll tell you how man can go to heaven.
God became a man. The son of God became a son of
man, that the son of men might become sons of God. That's what, you see, Jacob saw
that ladder with the angels ascending and descending from heaven to
earth. And he that descended is the
same one who ascended. And he descended that he might
lead captivity captive and take us to glory. He suffered the
just for the unjust to bring us to God. Are you with me? God became a man. That's by revelation. He said, Peter, you didn't learn
that in school, my father taught that to you. My father, you see,
there's no seeing Christ except as he opens the eyes. He's the
lesson learned, but he's the teacher. We have learned Christ,
the scripture says. We haven't learned theology. or creed, we've learned a person.
We look to him, and he gives us light to see. He's our priest,
he's our altar, he's our sacrifice, and he's the God to whom it's
offered. Let me show you something here.
This is the revelation and understanding of which our Lord spoke when
he said these words. Now turn to John 6, just a moment. This is what our Lord is talking
about. When he asked Peter, Whom do you say that I, the Son of
man, am? Who am I? Who am I? And he said, You are the Christ,
you are the Son of God, you are the God-man, you are the Redeemer,
you are the one sent to redeem a people. And he said, My Father,
blessed are your eyes, you see that. Now listen to John 6, verse
36. I said unto you that you also
have seen me, and believe not, you see me in the flesh only
as a man. All that my Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I'll in no wise
cast out. For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
And this is the Father's will, which hath sent me, that of all
which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise
it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that every one that seeth the Son," that seeth the
Son, that sees who the Son is. Who is this Jesus of Nazareth?
Who is this man? He that seeth the Son, that He
is the Son of God and the Son of Man. That He is the mighty
Father, the everlasting God, the One who came into the world,
the Prince of Peace. He is Emmanuel, God with us. Everybody sees that. Listen. And believes on Him. Rests in
Him. Trusts in Him. Bows to Him. may have everlasting life, and
I'll raise him up at the last day." Now, that's the promise. Now here are those who obviously
did not see. Now listen to them. And they
murmured, because he said, I am the bread that came down from
heaven. They murmured. One day our Lord said to these
Jewish leaders, he said, I've done many wonderful works among
They'd taken up stones to stone him, and he said, I've done many
wonderful works, but which work are you stoning me? They said,
we're not stoning you for good works. We don't mind your feeding
the hungry and healing the sick. We're stoning you because of
blasphemy. You're a man, and you say you're
God. You can't be a man and be God. These same fellows, They murmured
because he said, I'm the bread that came down from heaven. Listen
to them. Here's that reason. They said, is not this Jesus?
Is not this the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?
How is it he said, I came down from
heaven? And he answered and said to them,
Murmur not among yourselves. No man, no man can come to me, can see
me, believe on me, receive me, understand who I
am, except the Father which sent me draw him. And I'll raise him
up at the last day." It's written in the prophet. This is what
the prophet wrote about these people. they shall be taught
of God." God teaches them who Christ is. Through his Word,
God tells them, and they believe him. God teaches, they shall
be taught of God, every man that hath heard and hath learned of
the Father, he comes to me. That's just so. By revelation, the God-man All
right, let's go back to our text. Let me ask a couple of questions
here. In Isaiah 9, verse 6. Under us a child is born, under
us a son is given. A child is born who never lived
on this earth before. A new body. But a son is given. The son is not born. This is
the only begotten of the Father. This is the everlasting Word
of God. He's not born. He's given. He inhabits the body of that
child. Is this true? Well, the scriptures tell us
it's true. The angels tell us it's true. They said to Joseph,
this holy thing, born of Mary, shall be called the Son of God.
The Father says it's true. He said, this is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased. The works he did say it's true.
The resurrection of Christ says it's true, God hath appointed
a day in which he shall judge the world, and he gave this evidence
by this man Christ Jesus, and gave this evidence. He raised
him from the dead. Now I want you seriously, as
serious as you've ever been right now, to consider four things. That this is not true. If this is not true, unto us
a child is born, a man-child, inhabited by the Son given by
God. This is not true. Now listen
to me. Four things. If Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth,
is not the God-man, if he's not the God-man, he's the world's
greatest imposter. He's the greatest imposter that
ever lived. He's the greatest con artist
that ever walked in human flesh. He said, I and the Father are
one. Even Mohammed didn't say that. Mohammed said, listen, there
is one God and Mohammed is his prophet. Jesus said, There's
one God, and I'm that God. Isn't that what he said? He said, I am the Father of one.
The disciple said, show us the Father. He said, you seen me?
Seen the Father. Now if he's not God, he's the
biggest liar that ever lived. And you better skeedaddle out
of here, because secondly, If he's not God, he's not the God-man,
all who worship him are idolaters. Just as much as that pagan over
yonder in the jungles who's fallen this morning before a God of
stone, you and I who sing, all hail the power of Jesus' name,
that angels prostrate fall bring forth the royal diadem and crown
him Lord of all, don't ever say that again if he's not the God-man. That's idolatry. Isn't that true? Third, if he's not the God-man, if he did not die on that cross
for our sins and rose for our justification, The death on the
cross is nothing but the death of a madman, a fool, and is of no benefit in any shape,
form, or fashion to any human being who has ever lived or ever
will live. Paul said that. He said if he
be not risen, you are yet in your sins. His death accomplished
nothing. If he be not risen, Every apostle,
Peter, James, and John, the rest of them are false witnesses of
God. He said, if he be not risen,
nobody else will. The dead rise not. If he be not
risen, if he is not the Christ who lived and died for our sins
and rose again, we are of all men most miserable. Is it true? Is he the God-man? Is he the
Messiah? Is he the Christ? Is he the Redeemer? Is he the one for whom we looked,
of whom the prophets spoke, of whom the types are shadowed? Is he the one? No? He's not? Then fourthly, if he's not, then
we have no mediator. between us and God. We have no advocate. If any man
sin, we have no advocate. We have no priest. We have no
way to God. God's not going to hear us. And if He's not the Messiah,
then we look for another, don't we? I asked a Jewish friend I said,
if Christ Jesus, if Jesus is not the Christ, if Jesus of Nazareth
is not the Messiah, who is? He said, we're still looking
for the Messiah. Well, I tell you, if you are, you've got a
problem. He's got to come of the tribe of Judah. Does anybody
anywhere know where the tribe of Judah is? You've got to be of the root
of Jesse. Does anybody anywhere have any idea? of which direction
to look for Jesse's family? He got to be the son of David.
Now Joseph went to Bethlehem to be taxed because everybody
he knew and everybody else knew that he was a descendant of David,
house and lineage of David. Mary was of the house and lineage
of David. That's why they were in Bethlehem.
Their names were on the record. When Caesar, when this guy said
for all of them to go be taxed, they had to go to Bethlehem because
that was their city. But who's going to Bethlehem
now? Where's Jesse? Where's David?
Where's Judah? How could he ever be identified?
There's not one tribe or one family that can be identified
today. But thank God He is our Messiah. It's true. Unto us a child is
given, a child is born, a son is given. He's Jesus Christ,
our Messiah. I believe He's the Messiah. I've looked into this matter
for 45 years and I'm more strongly convinced and persuaded beyond
a shadow of a doubt that there is no other. He's our Messiah. I don't have to have all the
answers about how can God become a man. God can do anything. Is anything too hard for God? He made man. How can God walk
the earth in human flesh and die on a cross? I can't explain
that. How can God forsake God? My God,
why hast thou forsaken me? I can't explain that. You see,
I know in part, I preach in part. I see through a glass dimly.
But when that which is perfect is come, then I shall know as
I have been known, and I'm going to see as I have been seen. I'll
answer all your questions in just a very few years. But you
won't be asking them. You'll know them too. You'll
know them too. But I can believe. I can believe
God. And I know that God is holy and
righteous and must punish sin. I've got to have a Redeemer.
I've got the whole Old Testament. shows us the time Adam fell,
and God killed that lamb to provide a covering for Adam's nakedness.
That's the first picture of Christ dying, the Lamb of God to cover
my nakedness. And all the way through the Old
Testament, he pictured the coming of this Messiah, the coming of
the Christ, the coming of the Son of God, the Son of Man, to
be our priest, our righteousness, our sin offering, our supper.
Everything, our priest, king of peace, king of Salem, priest
of God. We have a priest at the right hand of God. And
listen, when old Moses, let me give you one other thing. When
Moses was called by God in Exodus, you know the story, how that
he prepared Moses to lead his people out of Egypt, And Moses
came up on the mountain, an 80-year-old man, came on that mountain, he
saw that bush that burned and was not consumed, and God spake
to him, Moses, take off your shoes, go on holy ground. And God told Moses that he would
lead Israel out of Egypt. And he said, Lord, now when I
go to the people, and tell them that the Lord God of Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob has sent me to lead them out of Egypt. They're to listen to me. They're
to follow me. And they say to me, well, what's his name? What's
his name? What am I going to say? And the
Lord said, I am that I am. You tell them, I am a city."
Now then, the Lord called me to preach the gospel, and he
sent me to tell sinners that God would deliver them, not by
my hand, but by the hand of the Messiah whom he would send out
of sin. Now, if they know anything of
the depth of sin, and the extent of the fall and its devastation. If they know anything of the
holy demands of God's law and the severity of God's justice,
they're going to ask me, this Deliverer, this Savior you're
preaching, this One whom you proclaim will deliver us, what's
His name? What am I going to say? Well,
he tells me right here, under us a child is born, under us
a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders,
and his name, his name shall be called Wonderful. He's wonderful
in his deity, he's wonderful in his antiquity, he's wonderful
in his incarnation, he's wonderful in His holiness. He's wonderful
in His grace. He's wonderful in His death.
He's wonderful in His power. He's wonderful. He's the counselor, eternal counselor. He is the counselor with the
Father when He said, let us make man. He's the counselor to us
from the Father who reveals the father. He's the counselor in
us. Christ in you, the hope of glory,
and he's the counselor for us. He ever lives to make intercessions,
he's my counselor. And when these fellas on TV say,
you call us and we'll counsel you, don't do it. He's our counselor. You don't want to be like them.
You want to be like Him. That's right. I'm not the counselor. He's wonderful. He's the counselor.
You learn Christ. And He's the mighty God. The
mighty God. That's who He is. Only God is
good. Only God can give life. That's
what I want, life. My darling daughter's life here
is over, but her real life has just begun. That's the life I
want, and only God can give life, the mighty God. The mighty God
can raise the dead. The mighty God can make us like
Christ. That's His name. Don't accept
a substitute. Don't receive an imposter. Don't
let men deceive you. His name is wonderful, Counselor,
the mighty God. He's the everlasting Father.
He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. The disciples, somebody said,
one day we'll see the Father. They had already seen Him. They
had already seen Him. To see Christ is to see the Father.
To love Christ is to love the Father. To know God, to know
Christ, is to know God. I expect to know Him better than
already knowing. And then He's the Prince of Peace.
He made peace through the blood of His cross. He's the Prince
of... What's His name? Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And He's our
Savior. He's our Savior. Lord, I believe. Help Thou mine unbelief.