Well, it's good to see you out
this morning. Just a few announcements. This one, actually, next Sunday,
December 26th, we'll have the Lord's Table after the morning
message. There'll be no lunch or afternoon Bible study. The
reason being, Saturday's Christmas. You got Friday and Saturday,
y'all gonna be with your families, gonna be a lot of activities
and cooking and such as that. So next Sunday, which is the
day after Christmas, we'll have just morning service and the
Lord's Table, and then we'll dismiss for the day. So that's
the schedule. Add to your prayer list John
Grabowski, is that right? And this is Sam's cousin who
is in the hospital on a respirator with COVID. I think he and his
wife both got the COVID. She wasn't affected by it very
much, and he was severely affected. So remember him in your prayers.
Long with Melvin Levert, who had his second toe taken off. I thought it was the first toe,
but I'm glad it's the second toe. But he's up and down with
us. stomach problem because the pancreatitis
and probably because the antibiotics he's having to take for his toes.
So remember him in your prayers and also talk to Perry. And he said he was pretty sore
from them going around poking inside there even though they
didn't do the operation. They found that the blood problem
was not actually a blood problem but a blood vessel problem. They felt like the vessel might
be a little weak. They told him he'd get a second
opinion, but they didn't feel safe operating because of the
vessel being weak. So he will start within three
weeks, I think, chemotherapy and radiation. So remember him
in your prayers also. Seek the Lord's help for him.
And remember the others who requested prayer also. Seek help for them.
Pray for each other. Call each other's name out to
the Lord. I find that's the easiest way to increase your love for
one another is to pray for one another. That's just a fact.
Okay, let's begin our worship service with hymn number 466. Christ liveth in me. What's far from God and dead
in sin life my heart could see. But in God's word the light I
found. Now Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. What a salvation this, that Christ
liveth in me. As rays of light from yonder
sun, the flowers of earth set free. So life and light and love
came forth from Christ living in me. Christ liveth in me. So praise the God of truth and
grace His spirit dwelleth in me. Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. What a salvation this, that Christ
liveth in me. With longing all my heart is
filled, that like him I may be as on the water. Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. Oh, what a salvation this, that
Christ liveth in me. After scripture reading and prayer,
we'll sing hymn number 287. like a river glorious. If you
have your Bibles turn with me to Isaiah the 7th chapter. Isaiah
the 7th chapter. The title of my message this
morning is What a Sign. What a Sign. Verse 1 says, And
it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son
of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin The king of Syria and Pekah,
the king of Ramaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem
to war against it, but could not prevail against it. And it
was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate
with Ephraim. And his heart was moved, and
the heart of the people, as the trees of the wood are moved by
the wind. Then said the Lord unto Isaiah,
Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Sheor Jashub thy son, at
the end of the conduit of the upper pool and the highway of
the fuller's field. And say to him, take heed and
be quiet. Fear not, neither be faint-hearted
for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger
of Rezan with Syria and of the son of Ramaliah. Because Syria,
Ephraim and the son of Ramali have taken evil counsel against
thee, saying, Let us go against Judah and vex it, and let us
make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of
it, even the son of Tabeo. Thus saith the Lord, It shall
not stand, neither shall it come to pass. For the head of Syria
is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is resin. And with three
score and five years, Ephraim will be broken. Let it be not
a people, and the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria
is Ramaliah's son. If you will not believe, surely
you shall not be established. Moreover, the Lord spoke again
unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God. Ask it either
in the depth or in the height above. And Ahaz said, I will
not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord. And he said, Hear ye
now, O house of David, Is it a small thing for you to weary
men? For it is a small thing for you
to weary men, but will you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord
himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
an embarrassed son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Butter
and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil
and choose the good. For before the child shall know
to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that thou
ofhorst shall be forsaken, of both of her kings. Let us pray. Now, Father in heaven, we are
thankful that we have your word, a word from heaven, that in the
midst of the battle, under the siege of the enemy, thou hast
given thy people the sign, and that sign is the birth of the
Lord Jesus Christ into this world. We are thankful, Father, where
you have declared even in your word. For unto us a child is
born, and unto us a son is given. And the government shall be upon
his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, the Everlasting
Father, the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace. And his counsel shall
stand. We are thankful, Father, that
over and over again in your word you tell us to fear not, be not
afraid, The world would have the people of God afraid and
everyone else. The children of God know that
Christ has come and has set things in order and has established
the fact that these things that surround us and these things
that happen to the people of God are all according to your
purpose and your will. We do bow to it and are thankful
for it. Father, we pray for those of
our company who are sick Remember this gentleman, John Grabowski,
that you would be with him. It is our desire that you heal
him and bring him out of this COVID bed, but we know that your
will will be done. We pray that you'd be with his
wife and his family as they minister to him. Help us to remember each
other in prayer. We'll pray for Melvin. I'm thankful
that they were able to remove this toe and hopefully has removed
the infection. pray for Perry as he awaits now
the healing of his body so he can begin to take chemotherapy
treatments. We ask, Lord, you'd be with those
doctors as they minister to him. These things are troubling to
our souls. When our brethren hurt and are
in pain, we hurt and are in pain. We know that trials and tribulations
attend the child of God as he lives in this world. Part of
those tribulations are sickness and pain and poor health. we
ask lord that you would strengthen us in christ for when it all
ends up and we are finished whom have I whom have we in heaven
but thee and who on earth do we desire beside thee help us
lord to remember who you are and what we are and the great
things that you have done for us we pray this in christ's name
amen hymn number 287 like a river glorious Like a river glorious is God's
perfect peace, over all victorious in its peace. Perfect yet it floweth Fuller
every day Perfect yet it groweth Deeper all the way Straight up
on Jehovah Hearts are fully blessed Shining as he promised, perfect
peace and rest. Hidden in the hollow of his blessed
hand. Never foe can follow, never traitor
stand. Not a surge of worry, not a shade. State upon Jehovah, hearts are
fully blessed, Finding as He promised, perfect peace and rest. Every joy or trial falleth from
above, Traced upon our dial by the sun of love. We may trust him fully, or for
us Straight upon Jehovah, hearts
are fully blessed. Binding as He promised, perfect
peace and rest. I'll ask Stan and Steve to receive
me out this morning, please. Let us pray. Father, again we
approach in the name of Jesus Christ, that blessed name, that
wonderful name, the name to which every knee shall bow and every
tongue confess that he's Lord to your glory. Things in heaven,
things under the earth and in the sea shall all proclaim the
glory that Jesus Christ is Lord. He has given us all things, done
all things for us. done for us what you required
of us, what we could not do. And we thank you. We thank you
for every gift. And we know that every gift,
every good gift, comes from above, from the Father of lights in
whom there is no changing, no shadow change. We know, Father,
that you have been merciful to us on a daily basis, showering
us with mercies and grace. Help us now to return unto Thee
that which You have given us, knowing full well that it belongs
to Thee and not to us. We pray in Christ's name, amen. you I invite your attention back
to the seventh chapter of Isaiah the prophet. Now this is the account of Ahaz's
visit from Isaiah at the behesting of the Lord to assure Ahaz that
the enemies that had laid siege to Jerusalem would not prevail. This takes place sometime around
fifteen to eighteen years after the glorious vision that Isaiah
had of Christ in chapter six. Now here it says that Rezin,
the king of Syria, had formed a confederacy with Ephraim, which
was the tribe from the son of Joseph, and along with Pekah,
the king of Israel. You see Israel and Judah are
separated. They were about the business
of destroying Judah and putting person from the tribes of Israel
into the kingdom into the house of David but God preserved Judah
for his servant David's sake and for the Messiah's sake even
though a myriad of wicked and untoward kings did evil in the
sight of the Lord Ahab was a wicked man Ahaz was a wicked man he
was an idolatrous man he was a Baal worshipping despot who
deserved the ruin and deserved to be slaughtered and would one
day be slaughtered and his blood would be licked up by the dogs but God had covenanted with David
to uphold and protect the household of Judah because from that household
the Messiah was going to be born And it says here that the news
of serious confederation with Ephraim was devastating to Ahaz. It melted their hearts and moved
their hearts like the wind moved the trees. That's how it's described.
And I thought of those over in Hebrews who it says they're moved
by every strange wind of doctrine. And that's true too. But Ahaz was afraid and trembling
and anxious. to Ahaz because of the company
that surrounded Jerusalem, he felt like all things were hopeless. Now, being unbelievers, they
did not consider the promise of God, if he even spent time
to remember the promise of God concerning David. But God never
forgets His promise. All His promises are yea, and
they are amen in Jesus Christ. This kingdom of Judah was made
up of God's elect, chosen people. And we know the election of Israel
was a natural election, an election of a nation. And the covenant
was a conditional covenant under which they resided. And though
real in time, had no place whatsoever in the economy of the eternal,
The election of this people was typical, a type of election,
or election of a type of people, the kind of people that God had
from eternity chosen to salvation through Jesus Christ. What kind
of people were they? Well, here's the king, Ahaz,
and he's worshiping Baal. That's the kind of people they
were. They were idolatrous nations. It has even been said that when
they moved the tabernacle from place to place, that they carried
along with it a statue of Baal. Though they moved the Ark of
the Covenant, where the two cherubim stood, and where dwelt the Shekinah
glory behind the Holy of Holies curtain, they carried Baal along
with them too. I guess they were like Burt Reynolds
of old. He said, I read the Bible just to cover my bases. just
to cover my bases. God never forgets His people,
however, His elect and among this natural people there was
a very small remnant according to the election of grace according
to this very same book and regardless of the fact that this people
were rebellious and idolaters they were yet the chosen nation
among all nations and God would not forget His people whom He
foreknew. In fact, The Jews accused Paul of preaching that God had
forgotten His people. Paul said, no, He ain't forgot
His people for you. They said, He don't have any
account for the Jews, they said. Paul said, He saved me, didn't
He? I'm a Jew, and I'm a big-time Jew if you read Philippians chapter
3. So as Ahaz and the people were bent down, they were depressed
and filled with anxiety under the prospect of utter defeat,
The Lord sends His prophet with good news. He says, These armies
at Judah's door were less than nothing, an empty threat to the
mighty hand of God. He called them two tails of these
smoking firebrands. A couple of sparks left is all
they are. God says, I'm going to blow them
out. I'm going to put them out. God instructed Isaiah to meet
with Ahaz at the upper pool where years later Rabshakeh would openly
blaspheme God during the reign of Hezekiah. He was to bring
with him Shear Jezeb, his son. He's called the son of Isaiah,
but he may not be his actual physical son. It may be in the
sense that he was a disciple of Isaiah. What is important
is the meaning of his name, Shearash, Shear-Jashob, means the remnant
shall return. That's the promise in the very
first chapter of Isaiah, in Isaiah chapter 9, after saying he's
done with Israel. He's going to wipe them off the
face of the earth. They don't want to hear from
them. When they call to him, he ain't going to answer. When they lift up
their heads, he's not going to look. He's turned his back on them.
In the very same book, he said he's going to divorce them and
gives them a bill of divorcement. But he says in verse 9 of chapter
1, Except the Lord of hosts hath left us a very small remnant,
we should have been like Sodom, and we should have been like
Gomorrah. God hath left a very small remnant. What keeps this
world going today? Why is this earth still spinning? Why does
it still exist? Because there is some elect left
in this world until God saves the last one and brings him into
the fold. This world stands, but once that's
done, it's all over. And Isaiah comes with good news
concerning the looming crisis that Ahaz faces. He brings with him the gospel
in the name of his disciple. A remnant shall be saved. Isaiah
tells Ahaz that those who he deems as unstoppable are but
the last faint spark of a fire that God would soon extinguish.
says that in verses 4 through 9. The last phrase of verse 9
reveals that Ahaz did not believe that the Lord would or could
otherwise overthrow these people. In the last phrase, Isaiah says
to him, if you will not believe, If you will not believe, surely
you shall not be established. It doesn't say how Isaiah knew
he was an unbeliever, but maybe it was just his facial expression.
Maybe what he saw was, no, that ain't gonna happen. But unbelief
is intractable. Unbelief cannot believe, will
not believe, ever, ever. It cannot change. to become belief unbelief has to do with what
we believe we can do or cannot do never considering what God
will or will not do Ahaz looked at the surrounding circumstances
and knew that he could do nothing and he was right and when the promise of God was
given he did not turn his eyes away from his own ability he
still said I can't do anything about this See, unbelief can NEVER believe
God. Unbelief BELIEVES and CAN believe a myriad of falsehoods
and embrace a pantheon of false deities, but it cannot EVER believe
God. Man, as he is born in this world
with the mind, will, emotions, and conscience that he has been
given, CANNOT-C-A-N-N-O-T-CANNOT believe God! because he's born an unbeliever. When Israel refused to enter
the promised land, it was because of unbelief. The Lord said that
in Numbers 14. God had promised them absolute victory. Go in
there and take that land. I'll give it to you. I'll give
you houses you didn't build, farms you didn't till, crops
you didn't grow, all that stuff, cattle you didn't raise, sheep
you didn't raise, all that I'm going to give to you. And if
somebody comes up against you, I'll fight for you, and we'll
win the battle every time. That was the promise. They sent spies over to spy out
the promised land, and two of them came back and told them
the truth. One of them named Caleb said, those giants over
there, they'll be our lunch. We'll have them for lunch. Be
our dinner. That's what he said. But the
ten spies came back and said, Oh, there's giants in that land.
They've got big swords and big knives. They're a scary bunch
of people, them sons of Anak. I'm afraid we can't beat them.
I'm afraid we can't. God said, Go in there and take that land.
I've given it to you. But they would not go in because
of unbelief. God had promised absolute victory,
but they looked to themselves and the gigantic size of their
enemies and did not believe that they could conquer. Well, they couldn't of themselves. But the promise was not based
on their confidence in themselves, but the promise of God, which
in no way considered their strength or lack thereof. What God has
told you to do, He's never required you the strength to do it. He'll
give you the strength to do it. They did not go up and possess
the land because of unbelief. It's as simple as that. Unbelief. When Paul was talking about that
very thing over in 1 Corinthians 10, he says, Moreover, brethren,
I would not have you ignorant, how that our fathers were under
the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were baptized unto
Moses in the cloud and the sea, and did all eat the same spiritual
meat, and did drink the same spiritual drink. For they drank
of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.
But with many of them God was not well pleased, for they were
overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were for our
examples, so to the intent that we should not lust after evil
things as they lusted, neither be our idolaters as they were.
To eat this bread and drink this, oh no, wrong page there. Written, the people sat down
to eat and drink and rose up to play, and he's talking about
making the golden calf, but he's saying these are examples for
us. What does that mean? We need to look at what they
did and how they did wrong and take heed and pay attention to
that fact. Paul says the same thing in Hebrews
chapter 4 verse 11. He says they did not enter because
of unbelief. Now here we have Ahaz, a king
of Judah, an unbeliever. Then the Lord, back yonder, He
prohibited their entry because of unbelief. He turned them back
into the wilderness to die for their unbelief. What did they
do? They didn't believe. He said,
We'll put you back in the wilderness. We're not going to let you go
into the Promised Land. I promised it to you. Now you don't want
it, so I'm not going to give it to you. You can't have it.
They said, We're going to take it. Why? because unbelief will never
believe God regardless of the circumstances they simply couldn't
believe God they said we'll go up and take that land when moments
before they said we can't do that why? because when God said
they promised that they could take it they said we don't believe
it and then when God said you can't have it they didn't believe
it because unbelief never changes unbelief will never believe God
So Ahaz does not believe God. If you will not believe, you'll
not be established. You'll not be established. But
God is merciful. And as it is sometimes, as it
sometimes was under the old covenant, God offers to give Ahaz a sign. And what he said would come to
pass. He said, ask me for a sign. From heaven? From earth? From above, from below, ask me
for a sign. I'll give you a sign that this victory is coming.
That this victory is yours. But unbelief cannot believe.
And Ahaz refuses the sign under the guise of spirituality. He
quotes scripture in verse 11. Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy
God, asking either the depth or the height. But Ahaz said,
I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord. I'm not going
to tempt the Lord. That's a verse from Deuteronomy.
Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. He quoted the Scripture. How did he disbelieve God? By quoting God's Word. He said,
well, Lord, people do it all the time. People do it all the
time. He seeks to use God's Word to
deny God's promise. Shakespeare said the devil can
quote scripture for his purpose. Satan quoted scripture to Christ
in The Willingness and Temptation, but Ahaz's so-called spirituality
did not cover that he was born in unbelief and was still an
unbeliever and would die in unbelief. god will according to his purpose
fulfill the promise and decimate these kings and their confederacies
even to the point of making Ephraim not exist after a few years. You see this thing about unbelief
people think God is troubled by it. I remember someone said to me
one time I told him I was talking about the gospel and said I don't
believe in God. I told him I said well he's not
going to let me sleep over that. people think it just rings god's
heart that you don't believe you were born and believe and
he knows unbelief and he knows it very well and if he intends
for you to believe you know what he'll do he'll give you faith
and you will believe and he'll do it in a singular way through
the preaching of the gospel unbelief doesn't alter god's or frustrate
god's plan if it did he would never do anything you think about
it So God has a sign anyway. He said, I'm going to give you
a sign anyway. Here stands the prophet, a man whose name means
the remnant will return, and an unbelieving king. God guarantees
the salvation of his people, the remnant, according to the
election of grace. He said, I'm going to save my
people. You're worried, you're scared, you're afraid nothing's
going to happen. He said, I'm going to save my people. I'm
going to save my people. Verse 14 says, Therefore the
Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive.
embarrassed son, it shall call his name Immanuel, butter and
honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil and choose
the good." Now we know who that's talking about. I guarantee you
those two verses will be read in the next week at many churches
because it speaks of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
enemies are great! We seem to be overwhelmed. They're
coming at us from all sides. God's going to save these people.
The elect will not be fooled according to scripture. The Lord
goes back to the beginning to the promise made to the serpent
that the seed of woman would bruise his head. Been promising
this since Genesis 3.15. This is the promise of the Messiah. All other prophets will chime
in on this wondrous song. Isaiah will speak of him as a
child born and a son given in chapter 9. In chapter 11, he
will speak of him as the ensign to which all the gathering of
the people shall be, and the Gentiles shall come. And he will
speak of him as a suffering substitute for sinners in chapter 53. Michael
will tell of his birthplace in Bethlehem of Judah, the infant
of days and the ancient of days. And one after another, all the
prophets will give witness to this one that he is speaking
of right here. so much so that this is what
was believed by the early disciples and preached by the Lord Jesus
Christ. You know what the Old Testament is from Genesis to
Malachi? It's about what the prophets speak about Jesus Christ. Paul, when he was accused of
being a heretic, he says, well, after the way which men call
heresy, that's the way I worship God, believing all this written
in the law and the prophets, because all the law and all the
prophets gave witness to Jesus Christ. This prophecy is a sign. This sign is about a unique being,
a being that is born without the sin, the imputed stain of
Adam's sin. Mary's virginity had nothing
to do with the child being without sin. She was a sinner. But thank God, sin is not imputed
through the woman, but through the man. We died in Adam, not
in Eve. We died in Adam. Virginity spoke
of her moral chastity, the fact that she had not known a man.
It spoke of her purity, not in any way having to do with Christ
being born sinless. And the Roman doctrine of immaculate
conception is not about Jesus Christ. They believe Mary was
immaculately conceived. I don't know where they come
with that. They don't have any scripture for that, but that's the doctrine of immaculate
conception. And that's how they say Christ
was born sinless, because His mother was born sinless. No. Read Mary's swan song in the
Gospels. for saving me and being gracious
to me. Nobody says that but a sinner.
Nobody could be thankful for such a thing but a sinner. He
got his humanity from Mary. And because he had no earthly
father, he was born without the imputed sin of Adam. This virgin
will have a son, but it will be God's son, God's only begotten
son, the son given born of a woman is enunciated through the word
of God. Christ as to his nativity is never tied to an earthly father. Nowhere in scripture is he tied
to an earthly father except those who opposed him called him Joseph's
son. This child born and son given
was being like no other. His name shall be called what?
God with us? A child born who shall be called
God with us? God who's separate? God who's out there somewhere
we've never seen? God who's holy? God before whom
the sun, moon, and stars are not pure in His sight, much less
man that is born of a woman, the worm of the dust, the maggot
on a dunghill? God's going to be with us. God's
out there where He ought to be. All not mess with us, not contaminate
himself with our existence. This child is gone. It's going
to be God with us. God with us. Born of the Holy Ghost. What
does that mean? I have no idea. How does that
work? I have no idea. Don't ask, because
I don't know. And no does anybody else. The
angels were so astonished at this child who was born of a
virgin, according to the promise of God, who would be called Emmanuel,
God with us. The angels were so amazed, they
said, this holy thing, let him call it, they said, this holy
thing, born of a woman, this holy thing. His child born and
His Son given was a being like no other. His name shall be called
Emmanuel, which is interpreted God with us. He is not God apart
from us. He is not God we only know written
on tables of stones. He is not God separate from us. The unapproachably holy God who
dwells in a light where unto no man can approach, the God
whose words are written in stone, the one who, if he marks iniquity,
no one shall stand before. He is among us. He is in the midst of us, mighty
to save. He shall tabernacle in our midst.
John, in the wonder of it, said the word was made flesh. the same word who was God and
was with God, that word was made flesh and dwelt among us and
we beheld his glory as the only begotten of the Father, full
of grace and truth. The God is with us, the God-man is with
us, the man who is God and the God who is man. Why? Because He's going to die
for us. That's why He came. God cannot
die. man cannot satisfy but this one
can do both he can die and satisfy and propitiate and in doing so
will secure the salvation of his people in three hours on
the cross in a few hours on the cross his true humanity is seen
in verse 15 butter and honey shall he eat that if he know
to refuse evil and to choose good In the true promised land, Emmanuel's
land, the kingdom of God, he will grow and learn as a man.
He might perfectly qualify as the captain of our salvation.
We cannot imagine what the fullness of that means, but we know we
find him at 12 years old, talking with the elders of the temple,
discussing things of scripture, being about his father's business
at 12 years old. Who talks like that at 12 years
old? mother and father left to go back home and they were about
halfway journey and they realized he wasn't with them. They said,
great, where is he? And they run back and there he was in
the temple talking with them. They said, don't you know you're supposed
to come home with us? He said, shall I not be about my father's
business? Twelve years old. I don't know many twelve years
old talk like that to you. Well, there was never a twelve
year old like him. And in Hebrews chapter five, we find wondrous words describing
him. Here God is speaking to him from
Psalm 110 where it is quoted, And he saith in another place,
Thou art a priest after the order of Melchizedek. who in the days
of his flesh, those thirty-three and a half or so years he lived
on this earth, when he had offered up prayers and supplications
with strong cries and tears, Gethsemane, unto him that was
able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared,
that word feared is believed, worshipped, loved, honored, and
though he were a son, Yet learned he obedience by the things he
suffered. As a human being, he had to learn.
As God, he knew everything. And being made perfect, he became
the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey God,
called of God and high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
What's that speaking of? speaking of him being made as
a human being to be a perfect sacrifice without spot or blemish
or any such thing as a human being he's touched with the feeling
of our infirmities as a man nothing you go through or I go through
he's not touched by that's why he said to his disciples when
I was sick you visited me, when I was hungry you fed me, when
I was naked you clothed me. And they said, when did we do that? He
said, you've done it to my brothers, you've done it to me. Blessed being this great Savior,
this child born of a virgin, our Savior is God. Our Savior is a man. A daysman,
a substitute, a go-between. God still can't have anything
to do with us. He's holy. We're completely unholy. We can't have anything to do
with Him. We don't want to. We need somebody that can stand
between us and God, a mediator. And there's one mediator between
men and God, the man Christ Jesus. And he can, being God, can commune
with the Father fully and completely, freely. And being a man, he can
reach down to the miry pit of sin and touch a wicked thing
like me and bring us together where we can have God's Spirit
actually indwelling us. In the face of unbelief, this
sacred sign is given they has believed his own eyes governed
by what he was able to observe his unbelief did not alter God's
purpose when I would the salvation of the elect is secure behold
a virgin shall conceive this is this is this is a sign we
say today as a perfect man into this world died in the room instead
of his people in the world lies in unbelief steel Every believer
is plagued by unbelief. And without the gift of faith,
we could never believe. Many who profess faith even can
quote scripture like Ahab. To undergird their claim, yet
live bitter and angry lives, grasping this world and the things
of this world with intractable tenacity, as if what they see
governs the outcome of everything. They invest themselves in things
that are but kindling for the fire, revealing their unbelief
while professing to know and love God. God will bring to pass
what He has promised. He will save His people from
their sins. And He is not distracted by unbelief,
but gives a sign anyway. And just as religious men of
the Lord's day wanted a sign, He told them there would be no
sign but that which was already given. unbelief is instability. Belief establishes peace and
tranquility in the world. All those who have faith Isaiah
says of them in Isaiah chapter 32. In Isaiah chapter 32 verse 17 it
says the work of righteousness which is the work of Christ shall
be peace peace and the effect of righteousness, quietness and
assurance forever. Did Ahaz have any of that? Why? Because he didn't have righteousness.
He didn't have Christ. And my people shall dwell in
a peaceable habitation in sure dwellings and in a quiet, resting
place. You can count on that. You can
count on that. Unbelief is about you. It's about
you and what you can or cannot do. believe is about the one
true God and being persuaded that what he has promised he
is able to perform. Here's a sign they ask. All those
surrounding people, they're not going to be able to defeat you,
they'll wipe them out, but that's not really what I'm talking about.
What I'm really talking about is a promise of one who will
save my people, all my people from their sins. and that one
is this one born of a virgin, born under the law to redeem
them that are under the law. Praise his holy name. Father
bless us to understand and pray in Christ's name.