1 00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:02,960 Well, it's certainly good to see everybody who has made it this 2 00:00:02,960 --> 00:00:07,240 morning here with us to worship. And if you would please open 3 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:12,360 your Bibles to Isaiah Chapter 9, Isaiah Chapter 9. 4 00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:21,160 And Isaiah is a book filled with so many prophecies about Jesus 5 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:25,720 and God and, and, and so much description and, and of, of what 6 00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:28,560 we can learn about. And what we're going to read in 7 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:32,400 in Isaiah 9 is just really just a couple verses and specifically 8 00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:38,400 verse 6 and what it says there starting in verse 6 of Chapter 9 9 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:43,400 or yeah, verse 6 of Chapter 9, it says for unto us a child is 10 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:48,320 born unto us a son is given and under the and the government 11 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:51,040 will be upon his shoulder and his name will be called 12 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:55,840 wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of 13 00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:59,440 Peace of the increase of his government, the P and peace. 14 00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:02,800 There will be no end upon the throne of David and over his 15 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:06,720 Kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment and 16 00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:09,600 justice from that time forward, even forever. 17 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:13,280 The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. 18 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:21,480 A man by the name of Thomas Lie wrote this quote in the 17th 19 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:26,120 century and I wanted to he wrote it to kind of encourage the the 20 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:28,520 Christians that he was worshiping with and I want to do 21 00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:31,520 the same. It says God often brings his 22 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:35,760 people into such a condition that they don't know what to do. 23 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:41,360 He does this so that they might know that he talking about God, 24 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:45,680 what God can do. God is with his people at all 25 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:49,360 times, but He is most sweetly with them in the worst of times. 26 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:53,480 God often brings His people into such a condition that they don't 27 00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:55,840 know what to do. He does this so that they might 28 00:01:55,840 --> 00:02:02,360 know what He can do. The context of what Isaiah is 29 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:06,000 writing about here in the previous verses in this chapter 30 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:11,120 is really not a good outlook. In the experience of Isaiah, 31 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:14,200 there was a vision, if you want to say that was kind of slowly 32 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:17,560 and softly creeping into his consciousness, allowing him to 33 00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:20,040 see what others, of course, could not see because he was a 34 00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:24,240 prophet of God, making it possible, possible for him to 35 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:27,960 speak into a Dark World concerning the light that he was 36 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:30,280 seeing. And I want us to recognize that 37 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:34,080 there has been this basically a kind of an illumination in 38 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:37,400 darkness and that illumination given away to liberation, 39 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:40,760 setting captives free, that the liberation gave away also to 40 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:44,280 celebration, a joy that was virtually unbound. 41 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:48,760 And that's all wrapped in the reality, of course, in the 42 00:02:48,760 --> 00:02:52,960 incarnation of God, the wonder that is all of God, God's 43 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:56,840 answers to the dilemma then and now in this person, of course, 44 00:02:56,840 --> 00:02:59,000 that it's talking about, which is Jesus the Son. 45 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:04,280 So I want to look at the activity of or or the, the the 46 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:07,400 names that we see here concerning Jesus of that child 47 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:11,920 that is mentioned here and can by conveyed by these four names. 48 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:16,560 And we may be familiar with these in a way in the 49 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:18,360 terminology. However, we may not have a 50 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:22,360 complete understanding of what there is to know here, of 51 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:26,960 course. So the first one that we come 52 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:30,760 across here is wonderful counselor, so wonderful 53 00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:33,440 counselor. He's a counselor who is 54 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:38,520 wonderful or he is a counselor who is supernatural, or he is a 55 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:42,040 counselor who is unparalleled to any other counselor. 56 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:45,480 Earthly kings, earthly presidents, rulers of all 57 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:48,680 countries are all surrounded by advisors and councils that they 58 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:53,360 seek and go to. And they are honest to recognize 59 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:57,480 enough to recognize that the the task in front of them they of 60 00:03:57,480 --> 00:03:59,920 course cannot do on their own. So they bring all these other 61 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:03,120 people in around them to help them and support them and give 62 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:06,160 them advice. And the great distinction 63 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:10,200 between those type of people and this individual is that he in 64 00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:14,000 himself, of course, talking about Jesus is the embodiment of 65 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:18,079 wisdom. And if we look forward a couple 66 00:04:18,079 --> 00:04:21,200 chapters in Isaiah 11, verse 2 will notice that they're 67 00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:23,840 Speaking of the same individual, Isaiah says. 68 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:27,720 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of 69 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:30,720 wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel in might, the 70 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:33,320 spirit of knowledge and fear and the fear of the Lord. 71 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:37,720 So in other words, what he's saying here is he is wonderful 72 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:40,520 because he defines wonder himself. 73 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:45,840 One of the difficult is difficulties that we have with 74 00:04:45,840 --> 00:04:50,440 language sometimes is that it changes on us all the time. 75 00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:54,600 And it often, you know, language is devalued by the way that we 76 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:59,640 use terms, for example, like the word awesome. 77 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:03,120 You know, if we use the word awesome, it's it's no longer 78 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:07,560 possessive of the distinctions that it would have had because 79 00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:10,160 it's just used about everything. Like I could say, Jose, those 80 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:14,440 are awesome boots. Well, they may be nice boots, 81 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:18,320 but they're not awesome. So you see the word, the words 82 00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:22,520 are devalued because we overuse them sometimes. 83 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:26,960 And in the same way, the word wonder or the word wonderful 84 00:05:26,960 --> 00:05:30,360 here has a particular purpose in language. 85 00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:33,920 And as an adjective is certainly in the Hebrew, it means that 86 00:05:33,920 --> 00:05:38,640 which God requires. Excuse me, It means that God 87 00:05:38,640 --> 00:05:42,600 which requires which got my tongue twisted here, hang on a 88 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:46,760 second. It means that which requires God 89 00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:52,280 as an explanation, that which requires God as an explanation. 90 00:05:52,280 --> 00:05:55,280 So that when we read the wonders in the Old Testament, the 91 00:05:55,280 --> 00:05:58,200 wonders of, you know, the sea splitting in two so the 92 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:00,960 Israelites could walk across the dry ground to the other side of 93 00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:04,440 the Red Sea, the walls of Jericho coming down, the wonder 94 00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:06,920 of the people entering into the promised land, the wonder of the 95 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:11,360 deeds of Elijah and Elijah and so on, and the intervention of 96 00:06:11,360 --> 00:06:15,680 God in those contexts, those are foundationally wonderful. 97 00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:20,200 Those are something to wonder at when we see them and read them. 98 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:24,520 And This is why when we read in the Psalms, we find that this is 99 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:29,400 a recurring emphasis in Psalms 7811 through 13. 100 00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:33,720 It speaks there how the Ephraimites forgot God's works 101 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:37,080 and they forgot the wonders that he had shown them in the sight 102 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:38,760 of their fathers. He had performed wonders in the 103 00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:40,800 lands of Egypt, in the fields of Zohan. 104 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:46,600 And then it goes on to say he divided the sea and he did all 105 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:50,240 these things. And the problem for those people 106 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:53,440 was they had forgotten who God was and, and the wonderful 107 00:06:53,440 --> 00:06:56,640 things that he does. And as a wonderful counselor, 108 00:06:56,640 --> 00:07:00,960 God has a perfect plan. As mighty God, He has the power 109 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:06,960 to execute the plan. So Isaiah, when he writes and 110 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:10,120 continues in his prophecy, he eventually gets to Isaiah 40 111 00:07:10,120 --> 00:07:12,240 verse 13, and I'm paraphrasing here. 112 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:15,920 He says who has understood the mind of the Lord or instructed 113 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:18,840 him that he should be his counselor? 114 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:21,200 And the answer of course is nobody. 115 00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:25,240 The mystery of it all is that we discovered that the Lord Jesus 116 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:29,040 then embodies all of this and all this and, and more besides 117 00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:31,760 that. Of course they found him, Luke 118 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:35,160 says, as a 12 year old boy in the middle in the temple sitting 119 00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:37,920 among the teachers listening to them and asking them questions. 120 00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:42,680 And then in Luke 2 verse 47 with, you know, Luke always has 121 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:46,600 an eye for detail, he says, and all who heard him were amazed at 122 00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:48,200 his understanding and his answers. 123 00:07:48,840 --> 00:07:51,320 They were amazed because he was a wonder. 124 00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:55,640 He was a wonder like no other wonder has ever been seen or 125 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:58,720 ever will be seen. And now the the people in 126 00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:02,160 Isaiah's day knew that they needed counsel. 127 00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:05,520 The problem was they were going to the wrong people to get that 128 00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:08,240 counsel. And we go back to if you go back 129 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:12,680 to Isaiah chapter 8, we can read that and discover that the the 130 00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:16,200 oppression and darkness and the disruption in their lives in the 131 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:20,120 prospect of war that they were facing, in the reality of being 132 00:08:20,120 --> 00:08:23,240 separated from family members and so on. 133 00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:25,480 They know that they needed help and they know that they needed 134 00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:27,600 answers on what they needed to do to move forward. 135 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:30,920 The problem is they that they went to what they call mediums. 136 00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:34,280 You know, they Isaiah calls them out on it. 137 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:37,480 He says, should not a people inquire of their God? 138 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:40,280 Should they inquire on dead behalf of the living? 139 00:08:41,760 --> 00:08:46,920 And people are going to ask the question, you know, in darkness 140 00:08:46,920 --> 00:08:49,160 and the deadness and emptiness of things in the hope that they 141 00:08:49,160 --> 00:08:52,360 may find kind of what the meaning of their life is when 142 00:08:52,360 --> 00:08:56,160 they're down and out. If you want to say now, nothing 143 00:08:56,160 --> 00:08:59,520 has really changed for us, you know, despite all the passage of 144 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:03,040 time, the streets of our towns and the cities of America are 145 00:09:03,040 --> 00:09:08,520 filled with opportunities and signs for you to go and inquire 146 00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:13,680 upon if you want to say and, and go to tarot card readers and and 147 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:19,640 people who who do those things. But of course we see that it 148 00:09:19,640 --> 00:09:22,240 will only take us into deeper darkness if we do that. 149 00:09:23,320 --> 00:09:26,840 The people know they need a counselor because so much of 150 00:09:26,840 --> 00:09:30,280 contemporary life is marked by feelings of indecision and 151 00:09:30,280 --> 00:09:32,040 anxiety. Some might be feeling 152 00:09:32,040 --> 00:09:35,680 disappointed for the way that life is maybe turned out for 153 00:09:35,680 --> 00:09:37,840 them. We thought it was going to be 154 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:39,480 very different the way it looks now. 155 00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:42,920 You know, it wasn't, it's not all nice and pretty and roses 156 00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:43,960 like we thought it was going to be. 157 00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:46,840 Whatever that ceiling that we were looking for was hit, we hit 158 00:09:46,840 --> 00:09:49,800 our ceiling, whether it was a glass ceiling or a wooden 159 00:09:49,800 --> 00:09:52,480 ceiling or a concrete ceiling, we had set out and we thought 160 00:09:52,480 --> 00:09:54,360 we'd have so much more by this point. 161 00:09:55,200 --> 00:10:00,080 And as we grow older, we see that we have these little 162 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:02,640 retirements and they're just kind of wasting away all these 163 00:10:02,640 --> 00:10:05,760 pots that we've built and save for ourselves, you know, made 164 00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:09,240 sense of it all. And but at at now, they're 165 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:10,720 really not going to last forever. 166 00:10:11,200 --> 00:10:12,960 How it's all kind of dwindling away. 167 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:16,320 Somebody may have to look after us when we're older because we 168 00:10:16,320 --> 00:10:19,680 haven't life hasn't turned out the way that it we thought it 169 00:10:19,680 --> 00:10:23,160 was. And it's just a dark, gloomy 170 00:10:23,160 --> 00:10:25,720 future. Men and women know either 171 00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:29,400 disappointed, you know, at what life has brought to us or, or 172 00:10:29,400 --> 00:10:31,760 what, you know, we could be anxious about what it's going to 173 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:34,360 look like in the future. We know that we need a counselor 174 00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:39,400 and people come and they may ask you, you know, do do you know 175 00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:42,360 anybody I can talk to, you know, somebody I can talk to about a 176 00:10:42,360 --> 00:10:44,480 counselor or. Yeah, I know somebody can talk 177 00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:46,720 to a counselor. We can read the go to the 178 00:10:47,320 --> 00:10:49,560 Gospels and read the red letters of Jesus every day. 179 00:10:49,560 --> 00:10:52,560 He is our counselor. We get that kind of counsel from 180 00:10:52,560 --> 00:10:57,200 him. We read about life and him. 181 00:10:57,200 --> 00:10:59,920 We can have it in all all his fullness. 182 00:10:59,920 --> 00:11:01,720 John 1010. We read about stuff, 183 00:11:01,720 --> 00:11:05,200 materialism, and he'll point out to you that it's all absolutely 184 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:08,560 profitless exercise to try and gain the whole world and lose 185 00:11:08,560 --> 00:11:12,080 your own soul. We can read about rest and 186 00:11:12,080 --> 00:11:15,080 security, and we'll discover that He says it's found only in 187 00:11:15,080 --> 00:11:18,640 Him, that if you take His yoke upon Him and rest in Him and 188 00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:21,000 learn from Him, we will find rest for our souls. 189 00:11:21,480 --> 00:11:24,560 All of this because He is a wonderful counselor. 190 00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:30,360 Secondly, a mighty God. As a wonderful counselor, He has 191 00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:32,440 a perfect plan. As a mighty God, He has the 192 00:11:32,440 --> 00:11:36,840 power to execute the plan, and a plan in and of itself is no good 193 00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:39,880 unless it's executed. We could have it all written 194 00:11:39,880 --> 00:11:44,640 out, but if we don't do anything about it, it's of no value. 195 00:11:45,400 --> 00:11:48,880 So he says here's my plan and who are you? 196 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:52,240 He says I am almighty God. He is the one, as we've seen, 197 00:11:52,240 --> 00:11:55,360 who of course releases the captives from burden out. 198 00:11:55,360 --> 00:11:58,760 It's on their shoulders because on his shoulder represents all 199 00:11:58,760 --> 00:12:01,040 authority. His authority will never come to 200 00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:03,960 an end until he hands it back over to God the Father. 201 00:12:05,920 --> 00:12:10,600 Now again, we see when we take this and we, you know, what 202 00:12:10,600 --> 00:12:13,760 we're seeing here in in Isaiah and we Fast forward to the New 203 00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:17,080 Testament, we, we come to the Gospel records, Matthew, Mark, 204 00:12:17,080 --> 00:12:19,320 Luke and John. We realized that these, what 205 00:12:19,320 --> 00:12:22,400 these writers are doing is recording for us the life and 206 00:12:22,400 --> 00:12:24,080 death and the resurrection of Jesus. 207 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:27,720 But we need to understand that it's not just history that 208 00:12:27,720 --> 00:12:33,320 they're writing. It's it's, it is historical. 209 00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:35,120 That's a fact. But they're not simply writing 210 00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:37,480 biography, but it is a biography. 211 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:40,440 What they're doing here is they're writing a gospel. 212 00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:43,200 They're writing the gospel of Jesus down. 213 00:12:43,280 --> 00:12:45,800 They are presenting Jesus as they would have discovered him 214 00:12:45,800 --> 00:12:48,680 and all the facts and realities of his personhood. 215 00:12:48,680 --> 00:12:51,520 And they discovered him to be a mighty God. 216 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:53,560 And This is why we read the gospels. 217 00:12:53,560 --> 00:12:57,040 We discover that he's walking on water, that he's healing the 218 00:12:57,040 --> 00:13:00,120 sick. You know, he's doing all these 219 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:02,000 things that people just aren't understanding, all these 220 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:03,920 miracles. Maybe they think he's a, he's a, 221 00:13:04,240 --> 00:13:06,160 you know, a magician of some sort. 222 00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:09,320 But no, it's actually a declaration of His Majesty that 223 00:13:09,560 --> 00:13:11,960 that he's showing to them. He's establishing the fact that 224 00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:17,880 he is powerful over all forces of nature, that He is not only 225 00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:22,080 the agent of creation. As John says in his John 13, 226 00:13:22,080 --> 00:13:25,560 without him nothing was made. That he has been made, but he is 227 00:13:25,560 --> 00:13:30,040 also Lord of creation. Have we ever thought about that? 228 00:13:30,040 --> 00:13:36,120 Have we ever tried to maybe dismiss Jesus as just another 229 00:13:36,120 --> 00:13:38,680 figure in history? You know, we can't do that. 230 00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:41,720 We need to understand who He is. We think about it and there's a 231 00:13:41,720 --> 00:13:44,640 logic to it. Who would we expect to feed the 232 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:48,760 5000 with five loaves of bread and two fish? 233 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:54,720 Only He who declared himself to be the bread of life, who would 234 00:13:54,720 --> 00:13:57,520 you anticipate, could open the eyes of a bland blind man called 235 00:13:57,520 --> 00:14:00,240 Bartimaeus, except he who said I am the light of the world, He 236 00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:02,600 who follows me will never walk, walk in darkness. 237 00:14:03,080 --> 00:14:05,680 Who else could stand at the grave of his friend Lazarus and 238 00:14:05,680 --> 00:14:08,680 call him out of the tomb except he who said I am the 239 00:14:08,680 --> 00:14:12,280 resurrection of life and the wonder of wonders, miracle of 240 00:14:12,280 --> 00:14:16,440 miracles, that God has entered into creation, into our 241 00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:18,880 circumstances. That the Creator assumes the 242 00:14:18,880 --> 00:14:24,560 frailty of all creatures as a human enters into time and that 243 00:14:24,560 --> 00:14:27,800 the immortal dies. That is a wonder all. 244 00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:32,000 Because He is a mighty God, He's able to save to the uttermost 245 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:35,560 Hebrews 725 all who call upon God through him. 246 00:14:37,480 --> 00:14:41,840 Next everlasting Father. So he has a plan, He has the 247 00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:43,680 power to work it out. And then thirdly, He's 248 00:14:43,680 --> 00:14:48,280 everlasting Father. So we move from His power to His 249 00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:51,720 fraternity. Now this term everlasting Father 250 00:14:51,720 --> 00:14:56,760 here in Isaiah does not refer to the Godhead as we know it. 251 00:14:56,800 --> 00:15:02,240 It does not refer to the first person of, of God the Father of 252 00:15:02,240 --> 00:15:04,800 God the Son and and God the Spirit. 253 00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:07,920 Some people can read this and get confused. 254 00:15:08,560 --> 00:15:11,360 Well, I thought the person was the first person was the Father 255 00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:12,560 and the second person was the Son. 256 00:15:12,560 --> 00:15:15,560 And how can the second person who is the Father, be son, be 257 00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:17,720 the Father and so on. So it can be confusing, but 258 00:15:17,920 --> 00:15:19,360 that's not what it's talking about here. 259 00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:23,000 It's not a reference to the Godhead. 260 00:15:23,360 --> 00:15:26,720 What it's saying here is that Jesus as a Messiah is like a 261 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:30,600 father to his people. He's like a father to his 262 00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:33,480 people. There's an old hymn that says 263 00:15:33,760 --> 00:15:35,600 praise my soul, the King of heaven. 264 00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:39,960 And he goes on to save feather like he tends and spares us 265 00:15:39,960 --> 00:15:44,240 well, our feeble frame He knows in his arms he gently bears us 266 00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:47,320 and rescues us all from our foes. 267 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:51,160 And in other words, in having died so that we could be adopted 268 00:15:51,160 --> 00:15:55,800 into God's family, He's not going to abandon us. 269 00:15:55,880 --> 00:15:59,000 He's not going. He hasn't gone to the extent of 270 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:01,800 living a perfect life and enduring all the the pain and, 271 00:16:02,200 --> 00:16:04,840 and suffering and, and, and friggins of sins and embracing 272 00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:08,520 us and doing all these things in order to just leave us on our 273 00:16:08,520 --> 00:16:11,360 own. That's not what Jesus did. 274 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:15,000 Everlasting is not a reference to his eternal being. 275 00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:18,680 It is a reference to his never ending dimension of his care. 276 00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:23,720 He's not an everlasting father because he comes from 277 00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:25,440 everlasting and lives to everlasting. 278 00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:28,920 But it is fatherly care that never comes to an end. 279 00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:33,520 He never says, you know, as as parents we can say, you know, 280 00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:35,160 get out of here, go outside and play. 281 00:16:35,480 --> 00:16:39,400 Leave me alone for a little bit. Go do something else. 282 00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:42,920 Jesus never does that. He's always there for us. 283 00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:48,160 He is everlasting Father and when he says he for but we're 284 00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:50,000 forgiven, we are forgiven completely. 285 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:51,640 And sometimes we have a hard time with that. 286 00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:56,760 Sometimes we have a hard time believing that when we ask for 287 00:16:56,760 --> 00:16:59,040 forgiveness of sins that we're forgiven of them. 288 00:17:00,360 --> 00:17:06,680 Psalms 1O2 says he puts our sins out of his recollection. 289 00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:10,760 He chooses not to remember. And that is a great picture. 290 00:17:10,760 --> 00:17:14,200 That's a wonderful picture. You know, we ever look at the 291 00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:21,480 the ocean or the sea and we, maybe it happened to me, but 292 00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:24,280 I've lost my ring in the ocean, my wedding ring. 293 00:17:25,119 --> 00:17:28,800 We were snorkeling M and I and, and Kylie and we were snorkeling 294 00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:30,880 and we were in probably 12 foot deep of water. 295 00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:34,600 And I don't know what happened, but my ring slipped off and I 296 00:17:34,600 --> 00:17:39,040 saw it fall to the ocean floor. Now you try to find a ring on 297 00:17:39,040 --> 00:17:41,520 the ocean floor that's not going to be very easy to find to fall. 298 00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:45,320 But luckily I have a fish for a daughter who was able to see it 299 00:17:45,360 --> 00:17:48,040 and she swam down and she was able to grab it. 300 00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:56,040 Boy, I was lucky. Tom Morris, some who consider 301 00:17:56,040 --> 00:18:00,440 maybe the father of golf in some ways in Saint Andrews in 302 00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:04,240 Scotland, he was he was also capable of of designing golf 303 00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:06,560 courses. He designed a golf course in 304 00:18:06,560 --> 00:18:11,640 Ireland called Rosapenna. And on occasion that he was 305 00:18:11,720 --> 00:18:14,920 designing that golf course, history reports that on a number 306 00:18:14,920 --> 00:18:19,280 of occasions he went to a certain spot and on the grass 307 00:18:19,280 --> 00:18:22,840 and he hit golf balls into one of the largest ponds or lakes 308 00:18:22,840 --> 00:18:26,360 out there on that golf course. And as a result of that, it 309 00:18:26,360 --> 00:18:29,200 became kind of a tradition or or a thing to do. 310 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:32,120 And year after year, people would go there and they would 311 00:18:32,120 --> 00:18:35,240 sit, stand in the same spot that he stood in, and they would hit 312 00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:42,200 these golf balls into this lake. And as they hit him, of course, 313 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:46,040 it became an opportunity for onlookers or fans to go and 314 00:18:46,040 --> 00:18:50,600 dredge the bottom of that of that lake to find those old golf 315 00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:52,280 balls hit by this guy and others. 316 00:18:52,520 --> 00:18:55,080 Jack Nicholas done it. Gary Palmer has done it. 317 00:18:55,080 --> 00:18:58,240 Rory McIlroy, They all did it. And they were all there looking. 318 00:18:58,280 --> 00:19:00,240 All these people were looking for these golf balls because if 319 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:02,440 they could find these golf balls, of course they could sell 320 00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:03,760 them for maybe a little bit of profit. 321 00:19:05,360 --> 00:19:08,080 And they look, of course, in vain for the golf balls hit 322 00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:11,680 there by old Tom Morris. They are buried forever. 323 00:19:12,600 --> 00:19:15,200 That's the image, the way our sins are buried. 324 00:19:15,440 --> 00:19:20,400 If we look, if we are in Christ, we we need not spend a 325 00:19:20,880 --> 00:19:25,000 millisecond to go and dig and look for those old sins that 326 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:29,480 were forgiven of gone forever. He has buried them in the depths 327 00:19:29,480 --> 00:19:33,160 of the sea. Jesus is the only one who is 328 00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:36,120 able to mediate between our lostness and God's holiness. 329 00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:40,560 You may ask me why I'm happy, so I'll tell you why. 330 00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:44,040 Because my sins are gone. And when I look at the others 331 00:19:44,160 --> 00:19:47,280 who asked me why they are gone, I say my sins are gone. 332 00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:51,200 They're underneath the blood on the cross of Calvary, as far 333 00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:54,720 removed as darkness is from dawn in the sea of God's 334 00:19:54,720 --> 00:19:56,840 forgetfulness. That's good enough for me. 335 00:19:57,280 --> 00:20:01,840 Praise God, my sins are gone. You know, maybe there's some 336 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:05,160 here who are absolutely trapped by guilt from. 337 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:08,200 Whatever happened in our life, you know, we may go to 338 00:20:08,200 --> 00:20:11,160 counselors, they're able to help us in some manner with the 339 00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:16,480 situations that we're in, but they'll not be able to free us 340 00:20:17,120 --> 00:20:19,760 really from guilt. There's only one place that that 341 00:20:19,760 --> 00:20:22,000 can be done. It can be found and it's at the 342 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:27,440 cross of Jesus Christ and his secured work, and it's conveyed 343 00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:30,680 by the love of Christ. And all we need to do is tell 344 00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:34,200 God about it, pray to God forgiveness of our sins. 345 00:20:34,240 --> 00:20:37,000 And they are gone. They're gone the first time we 346 00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:39,560 asked if we're sincere about it, we repent of those things. 347 00:20:41,560 --> 00:20:44,400 We're not the last four digits of the Social Security number to 348 00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:45,640 God. We're not worthless. 349 00:20:45,640 --> 00:20:47,800 We're not molecules held in suspension. 350 00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:52,680 He knows us and He loves us thoroughly from everlasting to 351 00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:54,880 everlasting. The Lord's love is with those 352 00:20:54,880 --> 00:20:58,320 who fear Him, a love that takes the initiative. 353 00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:03,920 And He is so vastly different from us when He comes and joins 354 00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:07,760 us, the strength, He's not just a stranger that we may run upon 355 00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:09,880 or sit next to on a bus or a bench or anything. 356 00:21:10,280 --> 00:21:13,400 He knows us because he's our friend and our Savior. 357 00:21:14,520 --> 00:21:18,400 So when we think about him as a wonderful counselor with that 358 00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:22,520 plan, it is absolutely perfect, mighty God with a power that may 359 00:21:22,520 --> 00:21:25,920 execute that plan and His paternity as forever Father. 360 00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:29,840 So we want to deal with our guilt and we deal with it right 361 00:21:29,840 --> 00:21:31,840 here. That's where we deal with our 362 00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:35,000 guilt act. We want to deal with our self 363 00:21:35,000 --> 00:21:37,360 identity, we deal with it here. We want to deal with our 364 00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:39,600 unfulfilled longings, we deal with it here. 365 00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:44,680 And finally, he is Prince of Peace. 366 00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:50,000 Every generation in history that has confronted strife in any way 367 00:21:51,360 --> 00:21:54,400 looks and longs for peace, and we're no different. 368 00:21:55,600 --> 00:22:02,360 It happens, All the advances in science and technology, despite 369 00:22:02,360 --> 00:22:05,000 the increases of understanding of so much in our universe, 370 00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:08,720 despite our interest in health and safety, we still live with a 371 00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:10,880 little bit of frustration and alienation. 372 00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:16,000 So what are we to do about that? John Lennon and McCartney and 373 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:19,800 Paul McCartney wrote this option number one, we can work it out. 374 00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:24,000 We can work it out. Think of what I'm saying. 375 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:26,680 Do I have to keep on talking till we can't go on? 376 00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:31,200 We can work it out. In other words, just life is 377 00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:36,560 just a do it yourself project and particularly spiritual life 378 00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:38,640 is your own project. And essentially the word that is 379 00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:41,520 out there on the religious front today is all reinforced by these 380 00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:44,040 self help books that we can pick up and read. 381 00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:47,280 We listen to things on the radio as we drive and it's just the 382 00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:50,720 same old story again. Look at yourself and see what 383 00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:52,600 you can muster up in yourself to do. 384 00:22:52,880 --> 00:22:55,040 You'll find God within you. He's in there somewhere. 385 00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:58,080 If you just root around a while and find Him, and if we manage 386 00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:00,040 to lay a hold of him, then he'll sort you out. 387 00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:03,920 We can work it out. We don't need anybody from 388 00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:05,600 Nazareth. We don't need a baby from 389 00:23:05,600 --> 00:23:07,000 Bethlehem. We don't need a mighty God. 390 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:09,000 We don't need any of that. We can work it out. 391 00:23:09,200 --> 00:23:12,200 That's what we see all the time from the world coming at us. 392 00:23:12,360 --> 00:23:14,760 So we need to ask ourselves, how is that going? 393 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:23,800 How is that working for us? Let's go with a different song. 394 00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:31,120 1965 Help. I need somebody help, not just 395 00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:35,960 anybody. See, the one we need is the one 396 00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:38,800 who has come to us, the one who is described for us. 397 00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:41,000 Here is the second-half of verse 6A. 398 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:43,760 Peace that is found in him and him alone. 399 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:48,240 He's the only one who is able to mediate between our lostness and 400 00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:51,440 God's holiness. He is the only one who is able 401 00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:54,920 to take the place that we deserve to take because of our 402 00:23:55,160 --> 00:23:59,120 mess that we have created. See, sin spoils things. 403 00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:05,120 It spreads like a weed. It separates us from one another 404 00:24:05,320 --> 00:24:08,680 and from God. And you know, we see in 2nd 405 00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:12,200 Corinthians 519, God was in Christ reconciling the word to 406 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:17,880 himself. You know, as we the more we grow 407 00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:21,280 in Christ, the more we understand Him and what God has 408 00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:26,760 done for us. We what I kind of what I love 409 00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:33,680 about it is it is it it helps me more spread or talk to some 410 00:24:33,680 --> 00:24:37,840 people about it to have the courage to understand that where 411 00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:42,400 we were before Christ, before we were baptized for the remissions 412 00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:44,680 of worse our sins. When we understand where we were 413 00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:47,000 at and where we're at now because we're a safe Christian 414 00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:48,920 man. We got to get that news out. 415 00:24:49,600 --> 00:24:51,120 We got to let people know about it. 416 00:24:51,760 --> 00:24:55,080 It's not about fixing ourselves. Rather, it's a belief on what 417 00:24:55,080 --> 00:25:00,280 God in Christ has achieved. All that Christ has done for us 418 00:25:00,280 --> 00:25:03,040 and his coming and his living and his dying and his rising and 419 00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:06,600 his descending, all that Christ has done for us is of no value. 420 00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:11,520 As long as we remain outside of Christ, we don't do anything 421 00:25:11,520 --> 00:25:13,520 with it. It's of no value to us. 422 00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:18,240 In other words, a simple intellectual awareness of facts 423 00:25:19,200 --> 00:25:22,160 do not in themselves transform us. 424 00:25:23,360 --> 00:25:27,360 Just knowing it, just having the education does not bring about 425 00:25:27,360 --> 00:25:30,640 change. You know, we have engineers, we 426 00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:33,520 have architects here, those who write things down and and on 427 00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:35,080 plans and drawings and everything. 428 00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:40,280 Well, they are 0 value if those plans are not taken and they're 429 00:25:40,280 --> 00:25:47,040 used to build something. That's the reality of it, and 430 00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:50,360 this is what the truth that is conveyed here about the same 431 00:25:50,360 --> 00:25:52,760 Jesus. It's in order that we might 432 00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:57,280 accept what He has achieved. So back to our earlier quote, 433 00:25:57,560 --> 00:26:00,600 God often brings His people to the place where we don't know 434 00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:04,480 what to do so that we might discover what He can do or what 435 00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:07,720 He has done. You see, without Jesus 436 00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:10,560 possessing everything, we really have nothing. 437 00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:15,960 And with Jesus possessing nothing, we have everything. 438 00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:21,560 When we read our Bible and we start to understand it and start 439 00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:25,280 to discover, you know, the the incurable sickness of the world 440 00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:31,880 is not about economic incompetence or about economic 441 00:26:32,280 --> 00:26:35,520 equality or anything like that. The incurable sickness of the 442 00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:38,040 world, the Bible says, is about the fact that we have ignored 443 00:26:38,400 --> 00:26:41,320 the maker's plan and we are in a simple state unless we are 444 00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:46,840 reconciled to God, that is this incurable, that is the sickness 445 00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:50,360 of the world. And as Isaiah looks forward here 446 00:26:50,360 --> 00:26:53,240 in Isaiah 9 to the coming of the Savior, so we look forward to 447 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:56,120 the coming of Christ as triumphant king, as Lord. 448 00:26:56,840 --> 00:27:00,200 And God's desire for His people is that we might be content in 449 00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:03,680 His Son. Without Jesus possessing 450 00:27:03,680 --> 00:27:05,200 everything, we really have nothing. 451 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:09,080 And with Jesus possessing nothing, we really have 452 00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:15,080 everything. Philippians chapter 2, beginning 453 00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:18,560 in verse 5. Let this mind be in you, which 454 00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:22,240 is also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did 455 00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:26,240 not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself 456 00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:29,160 of no reputation. Taking the form of a bondservant 457 00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:32,680 and becoming like the likeness of men, and being found in 458 00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:36,480 appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to 459 00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:39,960 the point of death, even the death of the cross. 460 00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:45,080 Therefore God is all. God also has highly exalted him 461 00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:49,120 and given Him the name which is above every name, and that at 462 00:27:49,120 --> 00:27:52,440 the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven 463 00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:56,240 and those on earth and those under the earth, and that every 464 00:27:56,240 --> 00:27:58,880 tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. 465 00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:04,600 To the glory of God the Father, every knee will bow. 466 00:28:06,400 --> 00:28:08,760 So the question we need to ask ourselves, are we going to bow 467 00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:11,640 the knee now? Are we going to bow the knee 468 00:28:11,640 --> 00:28:15,680 later on when it's too late? Regardless, we're going to bow 469 00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:18,680 our knee, our knee, and we're going to recognize Jesus as who 470 00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:20,960 he is. So are we going to do it now or 471 00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:22,160 we're going to do it when it's too late? 472 00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:26,960 That's all I had this morning. Maybe there's someone here who 473 00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:31,640 needs to or wants to be baptized for the remission of their sins. 474 00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:37,000 We believe in, in that Jesus is who he is, that he becomes Lord 475 00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:39,680 of our life. We need to confess our sins, 476 00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:43,520 repent from our old way of life, and start turning around, 477 00:28:43,520 --> 00:28:47,520 living, living for Jesus now, confessing that he is the Son of 478 00:28:47,520 --> 00:28:50,200 God, and then being baptized for the remission of our sins. 479 00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:54,560 Also, if there's one ear who just needs to make a public 480 00:28:54,560 --> 00:28:57,960 confession in any way that has brought shame to the church or 481 00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:00,640 to Jesus, or just needs the prayers of the congregation, we 482 00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:03,040 ask you to come now, while we stand and while we.