The Mighty God

Heard that one before.

Very, very Good.

Appreciate that.

Ms. Greenwell.

Turn your Bibles to Isaiah, chapter nine.

I appreciate again our finance team and we went a little long even

though we actually met at 4 o', clock, 30 minutes earlier than

normal.

I did tell them last month, I asked them the question, I said,

you know, just a lot more to talk about now we need more time.

Do you guys want to meet on an off night or you want to just meet

a little earlier on Sunday, lose more of your Sunday afternoon

nap.

And they all said, well we're just coming earlier on Sunday afternoon,

but I sure appreciate the time.

Two hours today going through the finances and still talking about

and needing more time.

But these men appreciate their input and they've done such a wonderful

job and thankful for good men.

Isaiah, chapter nine.

We preached this morning on his name.

Wonderful.

And counselor, tonight, the mighty God, we'll touch on the everlasting

Father and these two can kind of go hand in hand and we'll note

maybe just one difference between the two titles.

I will tell you and remind you as we learn about Jesus Christ, the

more we learn about him.

This is the way the Bible puts it together so that we can know him

more right through his names, through every facets of you can think

about it gives us the opportunity to know him more.

And so these names are contained within his attributes of

who he is.

And so we'll cover those tonight.

So look again with me.

Isaiah, chapter 9, verse 6.

Isaiah 9:6

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.

And the government shall be upon his shoulder.

And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor.

The mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of

peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace, there shall

be no end upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order

it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth,

even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you.

We love you.

We look forward tonight to explaining more about you, to learn

more about you.

And I pray this morning or this evening we'd be very clear.

And Lord, we'd see you as the mighty God and the everlasting Father.

In Jesus name, amen.

Y' all pray for my mind that I can zero it back in.

I don't have much of a mind anyway.

So it's like, okay, everybody back to the subject.

I've enjoyed studying for these messages before.

We've preached on his name is wonderful.

We preached on the counselor and we preached on the mighty God.

Now, when I preached on the mighty God before, we basically used

the inference and also the text in the New Testament very clearly

showing that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh.

And there's multitudes of New Testament verses that tell us that.

But tonight, a couple of practical things again, as we shared

with you a little bit last Sunday night, of again, the reason

and the important reasons why we believe that Jesus Christ is God

in the flesh.

So Isaiah prophesied 700 years before Christ was born that he would

be born.

But this prophecy also is contained within that same time frame,

700 years before Christ was born, it's prophesied that the light

was to return to Israel.

That light that left the Mount Moriah, that light that left the

temple so many years ago was prophesied to return.

And as I said this morning, it's the reason why they asked John

the Baptist if he was the light.

John the Baptist said, I am not the light, capital L, I, G, H,

T. But I was sent to bear record of the light that all men

through him might believe.

That's why Jesus said, I am the light of the world.

And on and on and on.

So we will actually preach on that subject on Isaiah, chapter 9,

Isaiah 9:1–5

verses 1 through 5 during the candlelight service, as we do every

year in just a few weeks.

But the light then is described by Isaiah as he says, a

child is born.

Well, that's speaking of his humanity, the Messiah's humanity.

A son is given speaking of Jesus, Messiah, his divinity, his

divinity.

Again, the names that we see here talking about the future Messiah

help to describe his character, help us to understand

his attributes, who he is.

And again, the more we understand who he is, the more we

understand God, the greater it will impact our lives.

As I've quoted a thousand times.

I've quoted it a thousand times.

What we know about God or what we understand about God is the most

important thing about us.

Somebody said that.

I don't know who it was.

Aw Tozer, what you think about God is the most important thing about

you.

Paul said, grow in grace and what in the knowledge of our Lord

and Savior, Jesus Christ.

He shall be called.

Wonderful.

We covered that this morning.

Again, the root word there is wonder.

The Hebrew word is again used in other places.

And in other places it's interpreted or the words are used

marvelous or miraculous.

He is miraculous.

He is the miracle of all miracles.

He is.

He is wonder.

He is the wonder, wonders.

He is the marvel of marvels.

And we're in children's church or somewhere else.

This morning encourage you to go back and listen to the messages

from this morning.

Not because it was me, but again, covering these words.

And secondly, this morning we covered and he shall be called Counselor

Wisdom Christ, the Messiah would have all knowledge and all

wisdom.

He is the perfect counselor.

Everyone else you go to for advice.

Every counselor you'll ever see, every counselor you ever talk

to, you have to weigh their advice.

You have to mull it over and think about it.

Do I do this or I do not do this?

Do I take his advice or I don't take his advice?

Is he being truthful?

Is he not being truthful?

A lot of fake news today.

But one thing so great about the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the counselor,

is he always, always, always, always, always counsels perfectly.

He's true.

I am the way, the what?

Truth and the life.

It's always true.

This word is true from beginning to end.

I should have said it this morning, I'll say it tonight.

But this is the inspired, the inerrant word of God.

It is true from COVID to cover.

This is the greatest book on earth.

Unparalleled it stands, it's author, God.

It's truth divine, inspired in every word and line, though writ

by human hands.

It's the greatest book ever.

And it gives us the roadmap for raising our family.

It'll never steer you wrong.

It'll never lead you into a pond or a creek or a river.

Never had your GPS lead you somewhere, like, where in the world

is this going?

No, it'll never steer you wrong.

Why?

Because it's the greatest counsel, the greatest wisdom found

in his word.

And then he's the.

He is wonderful, the counselor, the mighty God.

The mighty God.

The Hebrew, there is El again, Jehovah God.

It means the strong one.

And there's many other adjectives we could use and synonyms,

but he is the strong one, the mighty God.

Referring to the Messiah, now referring to Christ speaks of his

mightiness, or we just can come out and say it.

Omnipotent one, Jesus Christ.

The Messiah was to be omnipotent.

All powerful.

All powerful that speaks of his deity.

He was God in the flesh.

God in the flesh.

All powerful.

Let me give you a few things here in that.

If he was not God, then, right?

So if he was not God then.

And I came across this one and I had never thought about this one.

If he is not God, then I am an idolater.

I just don't.

I came across this.

I'm like, that's right.

So those out there, those who would say Jesus Christ was not God

in the flesh.

And I've given you a lot of verses in the New Testament.

We know that John says of someone who doesn't believe that

Jesus Christ was God in the flesh, you shouldn't let him in your

house.

And there are many verses in the New Testament I'm trying to say.

Here's a practical look at this.

Think about it for a moment.

Exodus, chapter 20.

Exodus 20 · chapter mention

We won't turn there.

You should have it memorized or know it.

Thou shalt have what, no other gods before me.

But what else does it say?

Not to bow down to any image, any person.

In other words, the word bow means to worship.

I am not to worship anyone or anything except Jehovah.

God, the self existent one.

The I am that I am.

That's the only.

I'm only supposed to worship him.

I am only to bow down to him.

No one else.

Nothing else.

No statues, no saints.

Now I'm not to bow to anybody.

Well then you come to the logical conclusion that those who

deny that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh are accusing me of idolatry.

That's pretty simple.

Amen, you say, well, it's not that big a deal.

Yes it is.

Again, the New Testament makes it a big deal.

It says literally that you shouldn't let those guys in your

house.

Excuse me, sorry.

A Jehovah Witness comes by your house, a Mormon comes by your

house, knocks on your door, the New Testament says, don't let

them in your house.

We need to be careful as those who deny that Jesus Christ was God

in the flesh.

If Jesus Christ is not God, then I an idolater.

That's an insult.

In fact, if you take it within the context of the Old and New Testament,

especially the Old Testament, that's a huge insult because that's

what the Jews did.

They were idolaters.

And God would come and spank them and put them into captivity

and all for going after other gods.

It's a huge insult that we would fall and worship one who is

not God.

In other words, they are charging us with worshiping a man.

Oh, they'll say he's a good man.

Or they'll say he was, you know, created being of God and you

know, brothers with Satan or whatever the case is.

But no, he was more than a good man.

He was more than a great man.

He was more than a prophet.

He was the Son of God.

God in the flesh.

Idolatry.

Spurgeon said it this way.

Idolatry is the attempt to throw the eternal Jehovah out of

his seat.

I like that one.

That's a good way to describe it, isn't it?

Adultery doesn't.

And I'm just practically thinking tonight, idolatry is not

just bowing before something or worshiping some idol.

Idolatry in our own lives is anything that misplaces or pushes

God out of the seat that he's intended to sit on.

And that is the seat of your heart.

He should have control of your life.

I just thought that was such a practical way to illustrate how preposterous

it is.

If you are to say that Jesus Christ is not God, then it logically

concludes that he is a man.

And if he is a man, then we in this auditorium are being accused

of idolatry.

Secondly, if he's not God, then he was an imposter because he

claimed to be God.

He claimed to God.

He led us to believe he was the Son of God over and over again.

By the way, he said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father.

I and my father are one.

John, chapter five, or John chapter eight.

I mean, he said.

He said, I am.

I'm telling.

He.

He claimed to be the one who spoke out of the burning bush.

And when he did that, the Jews tried to stone him for it.

No, no, He.

He was not an imposter.

He.

He was and is who he claimed to be.

Co equal and co eternal with the Father.

And what's also ludicrous about this is that most Christians

in the world, because even Catholics believe and the Trinity,

most Christians, the majority of Christians by far, believe that

Jesus Christ was God in the flesh.

So when you meet a belief system, you meet a cult who believes

that Jesus Christ is not God.

They are by and far in the minority.

The minority.

Thirdly, if he is not God, then he deserved to die.

He did.

He deserved to die because he was being blasphemous.

He was making him.

They said that you're making yourself the Son of God.

Well, why did he not deserve to die?

Because he was a son of God.

He was who he claimed to be, and it frees him from the charges

they were making.

Of course, there was a lot of false charges too, they made against

him.

But one of them was that he claimed to be the Son of God.

Well, that's because he was and he is.

If he is not God, then all of this is vain.

So take, you know, just kind of stretch back in your mind out

of First Corinthians 15, when Paul says, if there was no resurrection,

then the Grace that was shown to me is in vain.

Our preaching is in vain.

Our faith is in vain.

It's all worthless.

It's all meaningless.

We're all dead in our sins.

Dead in trespasses and sins.

But it's not.

Isn't it?

I'm thankful for the resurrection.

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul says, But no, no, no.

Jesus Christ has risen from the dead.

And I will tell you that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

He is God in the flesh.

And everything we do as Christians, the works that we do,

are not in vain.

We are not yet in our sins because He's God.

All right, this may be a quick message tonight.

He is God.

By our own actions and words, he is God because we, though we don't

really realize it sometimes are calling Him God because of what

we say.

And this is actually.

Spurgeon points these out, speaking of his eternal sonship.

In other words, that Jesus and God and the Holy Spirit have always

been.

They are eternal.

Co. Eternal.

All eternal.

Eternally existent forever.

They have no beginning and no end.

The eternal sonship of Christ.

The Bible says he died for our sins before the foundations of the

world.

First Peter, chapter one, verse 20.

How many of y' all have stated that before?

I have.

Many times.

Jesus Christ died.

In other words, he wasn't surprised when Adam fell in the Garden

of Eden.

He wasn't surprised when Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden.

No, no.

The plan of the Godhead has always been that Jesus Christ would

die for our sins.

He was.

He died before the foundation of the world.

By the way, eternality is only ascribed to God.

Pretty simple.

Pretty simple.

Another one.

Jesus Christ.

Remember the New Testament verse, Hebrews 13:8.

Hebrews 13:8

Jesus Christ the same today, yesterday and forever.

It says, jesus Christ the same today, yesterday and forever.

He's immutable.

We human beings change.

Politicians change with the wind.

Or depending on what crowd they're speaking to, they change

their tune.

Right?

Because we as human beings are not immutable.

We change.

By the way, the earth changes.

The only thing, the only person ever ascribed to being immutable

is God.

It is God who is immutable.

None but God are immutable.

So there's 2, 3, and I mentioned this one last Sunday.

Matthew, chapter 8, verse 20.

Matthew 8:20

Jesus says, for where two or three are gathered together in My

name, there shall I be in the midst.

Pretty simple.

Pretty simple.

He's omnipresent.

Even when he was in his.

Even when he was in flesh on earth, he was still omnipresent.

He was everywhere at the same time, you say.

Well, he was at that he was preaching in the synagogue, or he

was.

No, no, he was still everywhere.

He didn't cease being God.

That's so awesome.

I gave you this one last week too.

Matthew 28.

And lo, I am with you alway, even unto the what end of the world.

He said that as he was speaking to them.

And yet he said, I am with you even to the end of the world.

It's amazing, isn't it?

And verse after verse, we claim and we talk about and we preach

and we teach, speaking of Christ and his omnipresence.

And we've talked about John chapter three, that while he was

here on earth, he said he was in heaven too.

It's amazing, isn't it?

Who alone can be present everywhere at the same time?

Who is the only one ascribed that attribute?

God.

That's it.

That's it, you say.

Well, preacher, I know all this.

His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor.

The mighty God.

The Everlasting Father.

The mighty God.

He was the mighty God.

First Timothy, chapter two, verse five, says there is one mediator

between God and man.

The man Christ Jesus.

This is the one.

Brother Stewart's here tonight.

I didn't know he was going to be here.

So this is one brother Stewart, over and over again.

In order to be the mediator between God and man, it meant that

he has to be man.

In order to mediate between God and man, he had to be God.

He had to put his hand on man and his hand on God.

Do you believe a man can put his hand on God?

No.

No.

No way.

No way.

Do you see that?

Only God could take all God's wrath.

Man can't do that.

Man can't take God's wrath because it's eternal.

We are finite beings.

We can't take an infinite wrath of God.

But Jesus could, because he was God in the flesh.

Have I said that yet?

Tonight.

And I know I've given you all the New Testament scriptures and

there's so many of them.

Great is the mystery of godliness.

God was manifest.

So many of them.

But just think about again the attributes ascribed to Jesus Christ

from the Old Testament and the New, from.

From the prophecies concerning the Messiah and who he would be and

what he would be like.

I'm thankful for the mediator, aren't you?

Aren't you glad that you don't live in Job's world where Job cried

out.

He said, I'm summarizing.

He said, lord, what's Going on.

I don't understand.

You know, I lose everything, and then my friends come and beat

me up verbally.

Might as well have done it physically.

And here I am in dust and ashes and sores all over just.

Lord, what's going on?

I don't understand.

I wish.

I'm summarizing again.

Crawford version.

I wish there was someone, a daysman, who could tell me who could

show me what's going on.

Aren't you glad we have one?

In Jesus Christ, the mediator between God and man.

I come through Jesus to the Father.

I pray through Jesus to the Father.

Man, what a savior.

What a mighty God.

And then this one we call Christ our Savior.

We call him Christ our Savior.

If you deny that he was God, then.

Then he was a man.

Can a man save you?

No.

I mean, again, we're just practically thinking through.

No.

It means that if you deny that he was God, then you're putting your

faith and trust in a man, your faith and trust in a man, not God.

Putting your faith and trust in someone who was created.

And that's what the Jehovah Witnesses and Mormons teach.

He was created.

And others, by the way, that's just not them, those two belief systems.

But no, he was God in the flesh.

I haven't said that yet.

He was the God man.

He was our Savior.

He could save us.

And he did save us from our sins.

Because he was God and man, he couldn't cease being God.

And because he was God and man, he lived a sinless life.

He didn't have an earthly father.

He did not receive a sin nature.

I know I'm a broken record, but I'm so thankful.

Aren't you?

The God of the universe became part of his creation, as I said this

morning.

And then lastly, he proved to be God.

How did he prove to be God?

By his sinless life.

Because only God in the flesh could be sinless man.

We're sinners.

We break the law daily, every hour, depending on how hungry I am,

right?

We do.

Thankful for a Savior.

The angels failed.

Part of them did, anyway.

Satan was tempted, apparently, and he failed.

Adam failed.

In the Garden of Eden, man failed.

Wherefore, as by one man, sin entered into the world and death

by sin.

So death passed upon all men.

For all have sinned.

And you all know the verse.

But can I tell you, when Jesus was tempted, when he was tested,

he triumphed.

And by the way, he'd been fasting for 40 days.

I would have just said, please give me some food.

I'll Say whatever you want me to say.

I'll say it 10 times if you want me to.

Right.

Human nature.

Come on.

Bunch of.

Yeah, but not the Lord.

He was tempted, but again, like we are.

Yet without sin.

He hungered.

He thirst.

He felt what it's like to be alone.

Felt what it's like to be beaten and tried and spit upon.

But he triumphed.

He triumphed over sin.

He triumphed over death.

He triumphed over the grave.

A sinless life.

He proved to be God because of his sinless life.

And then again, just a practical one.

He proved himself to be God in that by your changed life and by

my changed life again.

My favorite hymn.

I serve a risen Savior.

He's in the world today.

I know that he is living no matter what men may say.

I see his hand of mercy.

I hear his voice of cheer Just the time I need him he's always near.

He lives, he lives Christ Jesus lives today.

He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way.

He lives, he lives Salvation to impart.

You ask me how I know he lives.

He lives within my heart.

I'm telling you.

When I got saved at the age of six years old, the Holy Spirit came

to abide in me.

Christ lives within me.

The God of the universe lives within me.

Amazing.

And when he moved in, I knew it.

I love it.

One preacher said as he was preaching, he said, when that something

that big shows up, you'll know it.

You'll know it.

I would say when that something that big shows up, you'll

eventually know it.

You may not know it as you pray the prayer.

As you put your trust in Christ at that very moment.

But you ought to see the evidence pretty quick.

There ought to be an evidence that your spirit bears witness.

His spirit.

That you are a child of God.

And there ought to be a change that takes place.

There's been a great change in my life since I've been born again.

The things I used to do, I don't want to do them anymore.

I want to live for the Lord.

I want to do right.

I don't always do right, but I want to.

I want to live for him.

I want to yield my life to him.

I want to walk the road and walk with him.

I don't always do it, but I want to.

There's been a change in my life.

I have a different want to in my life.

The change in our life proves that he is indeed the Son of God.

God the Son, Jesus Christ.

Co equal, co eternal, the everlasting Father.

I didn't.

By the way.

Everlasting.

He's eternal.

And Father, how is Jesus Christ Our Father?

And I would want to develop this at some other point, but who's

the head of the human race?

Adam.

One man got us in the mess.

One man gets us out.

We had the first Adam.

The Bible refers to Messiah Christ as the second Adam.

Adam was the head of the human race.

Our Father, Adam.

Our Father's Father's Father, Father, Father, Father, Father, Father.

And then our Heavenly Father, our spiritual Father, Jesus Christ,

Our Father, the second Adam.

I'm glad I've gone from one family to the other.

I'm glad my father's no longer Adam.

My father is Jesus Christ.

Man, what a.

What a difference in the family tree.

Amen.

Everlasting Father.

Everlasting Father.

And I want to sing Father Abraham for you, but I'm not going

to do it tonight.

I did not mention this one either.

But how many times have you felt, and I think that's the right

word, the tender touch of Jesus Christ?

How many times have you known that Jesus Christ knew your thoughts,

that he knew your heart, what was on your heart?

Amen.

How many times?

How many times have you attributed that to him?

Lord, you know my heart.

Christ.

Lord, you know my heart.

You know me, Jesus, you know my heart.

How many times have we done that?

Well, you're ascribing to him the attributes of God because only

God is omniscient.

Only God can know our thoughts, can know our heart.

Jesus Christ.

God in the flesh.

And growing in the knowledge of Jesus Christ enables us, enables

us to be more like Him.

And the more we're like him, the closer we can walk with him.

And the closer we can walk with him, the more he can direct

our lives.

Empower, encourage, strengthen us and give us peace.

Just walking with Jesus.

To follow in the footsteps of Jesus again.

As Christians, we want to.

The Holy Spirit's conforming us to the image of His Son.

And he's doing so by various means.

But the greatest means is our understanding and knowledge of who

Jesus is.

Let us continue to grow in that knowledge.

Amen.

And this is one of the ways I look forward next Sunday preaching

on the Prince of Peace.

Let's all stand.