Now let's open our Bibles to
the book of Isaiah again, chapter 9. Isaiah chapter 9. I'm reading two verses, verses
6 and 7. Now I have before me this morning
my favorite subject. Without reservation, totally,
completely, this is my favorite subject. I'm never more comfortable,
never more comfortable in the pulpit preaching than when I'm
preaching on the person and work of Jesus Christ my Lord. That's
my favorite subject. And yet the most difficult, the
most difficult subject, No one knows the difficulty of the task
of preaching about the mysteries of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
not as simple as some indicate. How complex and mysterious is
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ? How complex, how mysterious. Paul said to Timothy, great,
without controversy, without contradiction, Great is the mystery
of godliness. He calls it a mystery in so many
places in the Word, the mystery of the relationship between Christ
and His Church, the mystery of the resurrection, the mystery
of the incarnation. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. He was seen of the angels. He
was preached to the Gentiles. He was believed on in the world. He was received up into glory.
That's a mystery. And it's not understood by reasoning
or by research. It's only understood to the degree
that we have a God-given revelation. That's so. Now let's read Isaiah
9, 6. A child is born. He called him over in Isaiah
53, a tender plant and a root out of dry ground. A child is
born. Just like all children are born.
Mother waited nine months, had certain contractions and pains,
the father anxiously stood by, the midwife aided, and a child
was born. That's what that says, see, unto
us a child is born. Under us a son is given. Now
the mystery deepens. Now the mystery deepens. It doesn't
say a son is born. It says he's given. He's given. Now read on. And the government
shall be upon his shoulders. The government. And his name. It doesn't say
he shall be these things. It says he is these things, and
this is what he's called. This is what he's called. His
name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. In the same breath,
the Prophet calls him a child. Bobby calls him a counselor. In the same breath. He calls
him, unto us a child is born, and this child shall be called
the counselor. With whom took he counsel? This
one right here. In the same breath that he calls
him the son, unto us a son is given, he calls him the father. In the same breath he calls him
the son, he calls him the everlasting father. You figured that one
out? Don't preach doctrine to us,
just preach Jesus. Don't go into any depth of the
Word. I mean, we don't need to study.
Don't go into this complex theology. Just preach Jesus. Poor fool. Poor fool. O foolish Galatians,
who hath bewitched you? In the same breath that the prophet
calls him the son, he calls him the father. He that has seen
me has seen the father. And that to you is simple? And back there in verse 5, look
at verse 5, Isaiah 9, it says, For every battle of the warrior
is with confused noise and garments rolled in blood. Garments rolled
in blood. And in the same breath he talks
about his garments rolled in blood. And you remember who is
this that comes, Cecil from Eden, his garments dipped in blood?
In the same breath, he talks about his garments rolled in
blood. John, he calls him the prince of peace. Peace. He comes with his garments rolled
in blood, bringing peace. Warrior. In the same breath,
he calls him a man of sorrows. I read that to you a while ago.
Despised. no form, no comeliness, despised,
rejected. In the same breath, in the same
breath, it says he's the mighty God. In the same breath, he talks
about him being rejected of men, he talks about him being wonderful,
and the government being on his shoulders. There's no contradiction
here. The only contradiction here is
for the natural man who calls this foolishness. The only contradiction
here is for the natural man, even religionist, who calls this
a stumbling block. There is a great mystery here
that's discerned and taught by revelation. I want to read you
two passages. If you'll keep our text in turn
to the book of Job, the book of Job. Now, if you'll always
bear in mind, turn to Job 11, if you'll always bear in mind
that this great mystery of the person and work of Christ, if
you'll always bear in mind that it is not taught by research,
it's not learned in the seminary. We want our preachers to go to
the seminary. We want our preachers to go to
this place of learning. That's not where it's learned.
This comes by revelation. One time our Lord asked the disciples,
whom do these men say that I am? And to whom did the Lord refer?
Well, the Pharisees, the theologians, the scribes. The Sanhedrin, the
Sadducees, that's the people to whom he was referring. He
said, what are they saying about me? And the disciples said, well,
they say you're some great prophet, or some, maybe John the Baptist
come back from the dead, or that Elijah, the Jews thought Elijah
would come back to earth before the Messiah, or before the millennium. And you're that Elijah. And these
are all wrong. These are the deductions of human
reason and human wisdom. He said, but whom do you say
that I am? And Peter said, thou art the
Christ. Thou art the Son of the living
God. And he said, Peter, blessed are you. Flesh and blood did
not reveal that to you, but my Father, which is in heaven. It
comes by revelation. You see, Job 11, listen. Verse
7, can you by searching find out God? Can you find out the
Almighty unto perfection, wisdom, understanding? Can you? Why,
it's high as the heaven. What can you do? It's deeper
than hell. What on earth do you think that
you can know about this mystery? All right, let me show you another
one in Romans 11. Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter
11, listen to this. Verse 33, Romans 11, 33. Oh,
great is the mystery of godliness. My sincere prayer is, O Lord,
be our teacher. Lead me not to my natural wisdom,
to what I think, What I believe, the wisdom of men is foolishness
with God. Romans 11, 33, O the depth of
the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How
unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out
who hath known the mind of the Lord, who hath been his counselor. There's no seeing Christ. Now
listen to me, please listen. There's no seeing Christ in his
person, in his work, in his revelation, in his redemption. There's no
seeing Christ except by seeing Christ in his own light. In other
words, he is the one to whom we look, but he is the light
by which we see him. Does that make sense, what I'm
saying? He is the object of faith, the
object of the site of faith. He's the one to whom we look,
but he himself is the light by which we look. In other words,
he's the lesson we learn, but he's the teacher. Does that make
sense? He's the teacher. He's the lesson,
and he's the teacher. He's not only the sacrifice,
he's the priest who offers it. He's the altar on which it's
offered, and He is the offended God to whom it is offered. That's a mystery. He is not only
the door, but He's the one who opens and no man shuts. He is the destination to be like
Christ, but He's the way to the destination. O Lord, be our lesson and be
our teacher. Sanctify our thoughts and illuminate
our understanding and reveal thy glory to our hearts and let
us see Christ. Like the Greeks who came to the
disciples with this marvelous request. They said, sirs, we
would see Jesus. This one. Let's look at this
one. All right. Verse 6 of chapter
9. May God the Holy Ghost teach
us. May He give us an appetite for
the bread of life, a thirst for the water of life. May He give
us a heart that yearns to know Him. A heart that would be dissatisfied
with anything less than coming to Christ. Anything less. I don't
want to be a child of the lesser God. I want to be a child of
the King. I don't want to see this world's
Jesus. I want to see the mysterious, complex Christ who has to be
revealed by the very power of God Himself. Under us a child
is born. Under us a son is given. There's
no repetition here. There's no repetition here. The
careful student will discover that the Holy Ghost never wastes
words. A child is born, a child who's
never lived on this earth, a child of a woman, actually the seed
of woman, he's born of woman, bone of our bone, flesh of our
flesh, blood, pores, fingernails, skin, hair, blood, feelings,
thirst, weariness, hunger, pain, sleep, awake, man, numbered with
the transgressors, son of man. That's right, son of man, a child
is born, that's right. But, watch this, and as a son
is given, as a son he's not born, he's given. As a son he pre-existed. Not only pre-existed, but he
is existence. He is life. He is the only begotten
well-beloved son of God. He is the same substance and
nature as the Father. He was with God in the beginning
and was God and all things were made by Him. He's given. He inhabited
the body of this man-child. The Word, God, was actually made
flesh and dwelt among us. And we actually beheld His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, the exact image
of God, the express image of His person and the brightness
of His glory was robed in human flesh, believe it or not. Is
it true? Is it true? Yes, it's true. The
angel stood that night on the Judean hillside and said to the
shepherds, we bring you good tidings of great joy unto you
is born a Savior, Christ the Lord. And if you look, God will
give you a sign. A star is in heaven over his
birthplace. Heaven at this moment is standing
still over that little place in Bethlehem where God is inhabiting
human flesh. Is it true? One day he came down beside the
river Jordan and told John the Baptist to baptize him to fulfill
all righteousness. And John said, I have need to
be baptized of thee. He said, suffer it to be so,
to fulfill all righteousness. And so John took him and they
went, both of them, into the water. And John baptized him
and brought him up, and when he brought him up, the heavens
opened. And the Spirit of God descended in the form of a dove
and dwelt upon him. And the voice from heaven said,
This is my Son! Yes, it's true. It's true. And one day, a man
inhabited with demons met him, and the demons cried out at the
presence of Jesus of Nazareth, and they said, We know who you
are. Didn't they say that? We know who you are. These Pharisees
don't know who you are, but we do. We've dealt with you before. We know who you are. These Sadducees
don't know, but we know who you are. These poor, unbelieving
disciples, they've got to learn the hard way, but we know who
you are. Have you come to torment us before our time? We know who
you are. Is it true? Yes, it's true. Well, if it's
true, what then? Well, if it's true, I have a
representative. If it's true, I have a mediator. If it's true, the eternal, almighty,
holy God has been pleased to send someone to represent us,
who are the fallen sons of Adam. If it's true that God became
a man, if it's true a child is born and a son is given, if that's
true, and it is true, then sinners have a mediator. They have a
representative. If it's true, they have a ransom.
That price he paid is all that needs to be paid, if it's true. If it's true, I have a righteousness.
That life he lived is accepted by the Father and I in him, if
it's true. If it's true, I also have a resurrection
hope, because He died like I shall die, and He was buried as I shall
be buried, but the grave couldn't hold Him. He came out, then I
shall come out, because He said, because I live yielded. If it's
true, and it is true. Well, if it's not true, if it's
not true, without Christ incarnation, representation, crucifixion,
soul offering, resurrection, ascension, intercession. Without
that, religion is a joke. It's a joke. People carrying
Bibles around and meeting in buildings and temples and cathedrals
and holy places is a joke. It's a total, complete waste
of time without that substitute, without that representative,
without that ransom, without that righteousness, without that
resurrection hope. It's a joke. Because if this is not true,
under us a child is born and a son is given, if this is not
true that the son is the father and the child is the counselor,
And the despised one and representative is, in fact, actually the mighty
God, the everlasting Father. If this is not true, then I have
no representative. I stand alone. If a man sinned
against God, who will stand for him? Nobody. You'll stand there. If this is
not true, Jim, get ready. Get ready. We stand alone. before the awesome God you talked
about in your prayer. If this is not true, this little
verse right there is not true. You got no representative. That
funny looking fella walking around in those religious garments,
he ain't no representative. He can't help you. He can't help
himself. Your blessed mama who loves you
dearly, who'd give her life for you, she can't stand for you.
Your precious daddy who loves you and adores you, he can't
stand for you. Forget it. You're dearest friend.
You don't have a chance of a snowball in hell. That's the way it is,
isn't it? That's plain language. Standing before a holy God. That's
just where it is. You don't have a representative.
I'll tell you something else. You don't have a ransom and the
debt's too great to pay. And you don't have a righteousness.
You're the fellow that he said, how come you're in here without
a wedding garment? cast him out. Huh? And there's no resurrection. Oh, my friends, I thank God this
is true. A child is given. A child is
born. A son is given. Thank God. God came to earth in Jesus Christ,
in the complex, mysterious person of Jesus Christ. All right, what's
this next line? And the government shall be on
his shoulders. What are you talking about, preacher?
I'll tell you what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the
government of the messianic kingdom, given him, you read about that
in 1 Corinthians 15, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom
to the Father. All things are put under His
feet, yet we don't see yet all things put under His feet, but
they're there. He has the government of the Messianic Kingdom on His
shoulders. He has taken it. It's been laid
on Him. All things have been committed
to the Son. Not only the Messianic Kingdom,
He has the government of this world on His shoulders, the universe. By him all things were created,
for him all things were created, and by him all things are held
together. This child, this son, this God-man,
this man-child who is God in human flesh has the government
on his shoulders of the messianic kingdom, of the world, whoa,
I'm not through, and of all flesh. All flesh. Thou hast given him
power. Over what? all flesh. And the church, he is the head
of the church. And God has given him the glory
in eternity. He must reign till he puts all
his enemies under his footstool. Jesus Christ is not the pitiful,
pathetic, frustrated, defeated reformer that he is pictured
to be. He is the King of kings and Lord
of lords. He has that on His vesture. That's
right. I'm telling you the truth. The
government. Unto us a child is born, a tender
plant, a root out of a dry ground, despised of men. But the Son
is given. And the government. The government. The rule, the reign of the universe,
of the world, of all flesh, of the church, and of the messianic
kingdom. and of the glory of God is put
on his shoulders. Like the queen of old, who knighted
the warrior, and he arose, sir, so and so, on his shoulders. And God the Father put it all
on him. And anything you have to do with
God will be through him. God's taken the whole barn of
your same ball of wax and given it to Christ. vested it in Christ,
put all His glorious golden eggs in one basket, and that's Christ.
That's right. All right, watch it now. His
name shall be called Wonderful. Wonderful. You know, we call
a lot of things wonderful. There are not wonderful things
on this earth, but I tell you, He's wonderful. He's wonderful
in His eternality. He said, before Abraham was,
I am. He's wonderful in His person,
He's the God-man, none like Him before or after. He's wonderful
in His love, O love of God, the everlasting, infinite, unchanging
love of our Lord. How rich, how pure, how measureless,
how strong it shall forevermore endure. Our love doesn't endure
the faintest wind, but His endures even the death of the cross.
Wonderful in his life, no sin, no sin. None could charge him
with sin. None could find fault with him.
Even heaven says, I'm pleased with him. Wonderful in his death,
that he should die at all is wonderful, but for sinners, that's
wonderful. Wonderful in his resurrection
by his own power he came forth. My Lord didn't lie in that grave
waiting for somebody to let Him out. By His own power He came
out. That's right. Now you can have,
you're welcome to it, I've got no argument with you, I've got
no time for you. You can have a Jesus who wants
to and can't. You can have a Savior who wants
in and folks won't let Him. You can have a Jesus that sits
around and waits for the will of the creature, or the will
of the flesh, or the will of man, or the approval of man,
or the affirmation of man, or so and so. You can welcome to
Him. My Lord has no chains on Him. He has no limitations on
Him. He'll do what He will, when He
will, with whom He will. He'll quicken whom He will. And
when He went to the Great Cross, He went there on purpose. When
He died, He died on purpose. When He lay in the tomb, He lay
there at the prescribed time. He said He would. And when that
morning awakened, He did too. And by His own power, He came
out. He's wonderful. Wonderful, wonderful. In His
ascension, He's raised to the right hand of the Majesty on
high and wonderful in His return, for His return shall signal When I was in the Navy, I was
a signalman. We had certain signals. On a
certain signal, every ship would do certain things. And we had
a flag hoist. We'd put up and in a certain
thing, and all the ships would raise it. Ours was the command
ship. And I'd stand there with my hand
on the halyard on the line, and my commanding officer up there
And he'd have his hand up, and when he dropped his hand, I'd
jerk that flag down, and every ship in that convoy turned on
a signal from that one man. And I'll tell you, when my Lord
comes, that's the signal when there'll be a new heaven and
a new earth, and every grave will open, and they'll come forth
to life, and come forth to death, and the angels will sing, and
all things shall be made new. Isn't he wonderful? I used to
think that old bearded four-striper was wonderful. Man, he could
just drop his hand and everything would move. But I tell you, when
he raises his hand, everything's going to move. He's wonderful. Oh, he's wonderful. He shall
be called wonderful. And what's this? He shall be
called counselor. Counselor. Would you know God? I tell you, a lot of these preachers
are wasting their time with counsel. Everybody's got to self-seize
some counsel. Turn to Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40. You need one counselor. He's
the wisdom of God. Would you look into God's wisdom?
Look at Christ. Would you look into God's power?
Look at Christ. Would you know God's covenant
and mercy? Look at Christ. Would you know
God's purpose? Look at Christ. Study Christ. Learn of me, he
said. Learn of me. Learn of me. Would you know God? Isaiah 40
verse 13, listen. Who hath directed the Spirit
of the Lord, or being His counsellor, hath taught Him? With whom took
He counsel? Who instructed Him, taught Him
the path of judgment, taught Him knowledge, showed to Him
the way of understanding? Oh, I tell you this. Who is this?
He's the counsellor. He's the counsellor. Turn to
the book of Zechariah. Why don't you look at this scripture.
Zechariah, if you can't find it in a hurry, just listen. I'll
read it. Zechariah chapter 6. Listen to verse 12 and 13. And
speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying,
Behold, the man whose name is Debranche, See the capital letters,
capital B, capital R, capital A, Debranche. He shall grow up
out of his place. He shall build the temple of
the Lord. Even he shall build the temple of the Lord, and he
shall bear the glory and shall sit and rule upon his throne,
and he shall be a priest upon his throne, and the counsel of
peace shall be between them both, the Father and the Son." He's
the counselor. You want to know God? Come to
Christ. He's the counselor. He's the
wisdom. This is what I want people to
do. I want to preach, and I don't want them I don't want them following
a man. I want them to know Christ. I
want them to seek Christ and find Him in the Word and follow
Him. Like John the Baptist was standing
there with those disciples and he had trained them and taught
them in the things of God. And one day Christ came by and
John said, Behold the Lamb of God. And those disciples left
John and went running after Christ. Left old John standing there
by himself. That's the greatest thing in the world. That's the
end of all preaching. It's not to make a man his own
pastor. I don't mean that at all. But it's to bring a man
to look to Christ, the counselor, and find in him the wisdom of
God, the knowledge of God. Something wrong when we always
have to run to a human being, isn't it? Always have to run to a human
being. We get down in the dumps and we got to run over there
and get somebody to lift us. We get, this time we got to get
somebody to lift us. Christ is our comfort, our strength,
our confidence, our hope. All right, read on. His name
is the mighty God. The mighty God. Do you know that
His attributes are the attributes of God only, Jesus Christ? Only
God is good. Only God can give life. He stood
outside the grave of Lazarus and said, come forth. Only God
can forgive sins. He said, thy sins be forgiven
thee. Only God can create, says all things were made by him.
Only God knows men's thoughts and Christ knowing their thoughts. Only God knows men's hearts.
He saw Nathanael come and he said, there's an Israelite whom
there's no God. I know his heart. Only God can still the storm.
He stood out one day and the rain stopped. That's God. He's the mighty God. Only God
knows the future. He told his disciples, said,
you go down there and there'll be a donkey tied to a tree. That's
God. He's the mighty God. All right,
I hurry. Watch this. He's the everlasting Father.
The everlasting, everlasting Father. What was the answer to Moses'
question? Moses says, what is your name? He said, I am that
I am. I am that I am. Learn this. I am. This is the holy ground. A man wrote me an interesting
letter yesterday from over in Kansas. He heard a tape I preached
here when I mentioned that this certain preacher was over in
the tomb He said it was the tomb of Christ, and he said, this
is the holiest place on earth. You remember that? I told you
about that television picture. I never thought of this at the
time. But he said, this is the holiest place on earth. And this
man in Kansas wrote back and said, did he have his shoes off? He didn't. He didn't have his
shoes off. God said, Moses, take off your
shoes. You're on holy ground. Holy ground. And then Moses said, well, what's
your name? He said, I am. I want you sometime to go through
the New Testament. Now, you know that when a word
is italicized in a different print that it's supplied by the
translators. But you sometime go through the
New Testament, see how many times the Lord Jesus Christ refers
to Himself as what? I am. I am. You just check. He said before
Abraham was. I am. They came to arrest him. They said, we seek Jesus of Nazareth.
He said, I am. And they fell back. Will you
remember? I am. You check it so many times. He
said, if you believe not that I am, you'll die in your sins.
I am. Spurgeon said one time, I see
an old man sitting under an oak tree. And I'm intrigued by his tales
of the ancient times, the years gone by, old white-haired man
sitting under an old oak tree. But what is the age of that old
man compared to that tree under which he sits? That tree has been there twice
as long as that old man lived. But what's the age of that tree
compared to the rocks? around that tree have seen a
lot of trees come and go. Those rocks were laid there by
God when He laid the foundations of the earth. But what are the
ages of those rocks compared with the angels who watched Him
lay them there? That's going back, isn't it,
Charlie? But what are the ages of those angels who owe their
existence to Him who spake them out of nothing? That's Jesus
Christ. He's the everlasting Father.
And He's the Prince of Peace. And I close. Peace. What kind
of peace? Peace with God. Therefore, being
justified by faith, we have peace with God. Peace of heart. My peace I give unto you, let
not your heart be troubled. Peace that passes understanding. The Prince of Peace. David said, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. I shall not
want for rest, because he makes me to lie down in green pastures.
I shall not want for peace, because he leads me beside the still
waters. I shall not want for forgiveness, because he's restored
my soul. I shall not want for holiness,
because he leads me in paths of righteousness, his righteousness.
I shall not want for fellowship, because thou art with me. I shall
not want for comfort, because his rod and staff comfort me.
I shall not want for any provision, he hath prepared a table before
me. I shall not want for joy, my
cup runneth over. I shall not want for anything
in this life, nor in the life to come, because surely goodness
and mercy shall follow me, and I will dwell in the house of
the Lord forever." I tell you, John, come sing that song for
us. is wonderful, isn't it, huh?
His name. Unto us, a child is born. Unto us, a son is given. And
His name, the government shall be on His shoulders, and His
name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace.