Come and See

[0:00] Good morning, everyone. It might be kind of wet outside, but it's a good morning to be in the Word of God this morning.

[0:10] And we're going to start at Isaiah chapter 9, verses 2 to 7. And as men rejoice, men rejoice when they divide the spoil.

[0:47] For thou hast broken the yoke, his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian. And every battle of the warrior is with confusing noise, the garments rolled in blood, that shall be with burning and fuel of fire.

[1:08] For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

[1:27] 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.

[1:50] Amen. Amen. This morning we're looking at the prophecy of Isaiah in chapter 9, concerning the birth of the Lord Jesus.

[2:04] He's coming into the world, and this prophecy was written 700 years before it ever happened, before God sent his son into the world.

[2:14] And for us, of course, we can look back now at that prophecy, written over 2,000, nearly 3,000 years ago, and to see that it just worked out exactly as it said.

[2:29] But we can also look forward, because in this prophecy, it speaks of the Lord's return, as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, to this world, and it will have complete fulfillment.

[2:44] And presently, we're sort of in the gap between the Lord's first coming, which happened, and the Lord's second coming, which is about to happen. But before we come to the prophecy itself, I just want to make a couple of comments on chapter 8 of Isaiah, because in there, there's a warning in verses 19 and 20.

[3:06] And it says this, to listen to God. That's really what the warning is, that we need to listen to God. And I think that's very relevant for us today.

[3:17] And that, chapter 8, goes on to say, you know, don't listen to those who will lead you astray. To beware of people that will show you a way that is not God's way.

[3:31] Because there is no light in what they're saying. But listen to the word and the testimony of God. And, you know, what we have before us this morning is the word and the testimony that God has given concerning his son.

[3:47] And it starts off by saying, the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. You know, we all start out in darkness. But there's a great light to see.

[4:00] Jesus said, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. But one of the amazing things and amazing statements in the New Testament is this.

[4:15] And it is that men don't want the light. And there is a condemnation in that for those who don't want the light.

[4:30] John says, this is the condemnation. That light has come into the world and that men love the darkness rather than the light because their deeds are evil.

[4:41] And in that verse also it goes on to say, they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them had the light shined. And it narrows down a particular place, a particular people.

[4:55] The light in that place and for that people was the people of Galilee, the people of Nazareth. Because Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, but most of his life he lived in Nazareth in Galilee.

[5:12] And the land of the shadow of death was a region of Galilee where there was much darkness. It was under much oppression. There was a lot of invasions. It was under Roman oppression.

[5:24] It was a mixture of culture between Jews and pagan and lots of mixtures. And it was a kind of a hopeless place, a place of despair. But in such a place as that, this prophecy speaks hope and salvation.

[5:40] As it does for all of us, no matter where we are today. And you know, when we remember Nathaniel in the New Testament, he was from that place. And he was from that region.

[5:51] And when Philip introduced him to Jesus, Nathaniel said, can anything good come out of Galilee? That was his attitude to the place.

[6:02] And that was the attitude of the people and the reputation of the place. But Jesus was in that place. And he was the light of that place. And he lit up that place.

[6:13] And Philip invited Nathaniel with his attitude and all. He said, come and see. Come and see for yourself. And when Nathaniel did, after meeting Jesus, Nathaniel said to Jesus, you are the Son of God.

[6:30] And that is the prophecy today that is showing us that the great light is shining. Jesus is the Son of God. For unto us a child is born.

[6:42] Unto us a son is given. And can we see there the distinction in the verse? The distinction between the child that is born and the Son that is given.

[6:54] Unto us a child is born. That's on the human side. Jesus had a beginning on the human side. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and he was born of the Virgin Mary.

[7:05] But on the divine side, he is God, the Son who was given. He had no beginning. He is from all eternity. He is the child born and the Son given.

[7:16] He is fully God. He is fully man. You know, I heard once someone said, Mary held up Jesus as a baby. But Jesus held up the world in his hands as a Son of God.

[7:28] And it was quoted already by Tom this morning, Isaiah 7.14 and Matthew 1.23. Talk about, behold, the Virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son.

[7:41] And Matthew goes on to say, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. And you know, that changes everything. God with us changes everything.

[7:53] Because light has come into the world. And when you come to the light, you will no longer walk in the darkness. You will no longer be under condemnation.

[8:05] And Isaiah 9 speaks of light, peace, joy, hope, comfort. And it's all because we see in verse 4 that he talks about the yoke that is broken.

[8:19] You know, the burden, the chains, the chains that change us. He has done away with all that. He has shattered everything that was in the way to condemn us. He broke the power of sin.

[8:31] And the weight of sin is no more. The way is opened up for us to come to God. But not all people will come to him.

[8:44] But as many as come to him, as many receive him, to them give he the power to become the children of God. Our call this morning, the call of this sermon is this.

[8:59] To come to him. Come and see for yourself. He is the son of God. And may that light up clearly today for each of us here.

[9:11] You know, God is at work in light, in the light that shines. God is at work when people see the light. And when they turn from the darkness. And they see their need of the great light.

[9:23] And God brings about a great change. A person who loved darkness now loves the light. Loves Jesus. Loves God. Walks in the light.

[9:34] And there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. The change is brought about. And this is the one who brings it about.

[9:49] The son of God. His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor. The Mighty God. The Everlasting Father. The Prince of Peace.

[10:01] And these are four titles that are given to him. It says his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor. Some versions of the Bible say Wonderful Counselor.

[10:12] Some Wonderful Counselor. He is the Wonderful Counselor. But if we break it up like this. He is wonderful. Wonderful. Is to summarize it. He is wonderful. The word comes from the word wonder.

[10:25] And what a miracle has happened in the birth of the Lord Jesus. That the son of God has come. There is a sense of astonishment the more deeper we look into it.

[10:38] There is a sense of amazement. And we will never cease to wonder at who Christ is and what he has done. He will always be wonderful.

[10:50] And I think the older we get, the more wonderful he becomes. The longer we walk with him, we can say he is altogether wonderful. He is the Wonderful Counselor.

[11:01] There is no counselor like Jesus. The Bible tells us in him are hidden all the treasures and the wisdom and knowledge.

[11:12] Colossians 2 verse 3. You know, it would be true to say he knows everything there is to know about everything. His counsel is needed in each of our lives.

[11:23] He leads us in the way to go. You know, he is the way, the truth and the life. You know, and we can bring everything to him. As a wonderful counselor, people go running to different people.

[11:36] But, you know, what a privilege it is to take everything to him in prayer. And he is the mighty God. The mighty God. And our view of him should be God Almighty.

[11:49] He is Almighty. He is the mighty God. There is nothing too hard for him. There is nothing impossible for him. When we come to him in prayer, I wonder what is my prayer life like?

[12:01] What is your prayer life like? Is it somehow that we bring the smaller things to him? We should bring the mighty things, the impossible things, to him.

[12:12] Because he is the mighty God. You know, I was thinking, I was out the other day and I was looking at this big hill. You know, when we look at a mountain, it looks mighty. And it looked mighty to me because I was down in a valley.

[12:23] And, you know, when we start going up, the mountain starts looking not as mighty as what I did. And we should never put confidence in ourself.

[12:35] We should never exalt ourself. But James tells us to humble ourself before God. We come to him as a mighty counselor. And, you know, he is a great mediator.

[12:49] He is a mighty God. God, we may, you know, he may well use us as part of the solution. You know, he might require us to move.

[13:00] And we should be ready to move if it needs to be moved. If he wants to move us. And we're available to be moved in our request for a particular problem. Or to stand still if that is what is required.

[13:14] And, you know, there might be times when we see nothing happen. But we have to still see him as the mighty God. There are times when we may not understand why this is happening to me. Why I'm going through this.

[13:25] But we look at him, the mighty God. And know that he is much mightier than me. And that whatever situation I'm in, he knows about it. And he's bringing me through this for a reason.

[13:38] And it will work out because I can trust the mighty God. The Lord thy God is in thy midst. And, sorry.

[13:50] The Lord thy God in thy midst of thee is mighty. That's a quote from Zephaniah chapter 3 verse, I think it's 17.

[14:01] I think it's 17. But, you know, I think that's a quote for Amazing Grace this morning. The Lord thy God in thy midst, in the midst of thee is mighty. I'll say it again.

[14:12] The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. When God's people are together, the Lord God is there in the midst. And that he is mighty. You know.

[14:24] And it goes on to say that he will save. It continues to say he will save. And isn't that a great promise that, you know, salvation the Lord will bring in the midst of us.

[14:36] And he will rejoice over us. So, God is rejoicing this morning as people have gathered here on this bad morning. But his people have gathered here to be in his presence where two or three are gathered.

[14:49] There he is. He is with us this morning. And he rejoices that God's people are here together this morning. And he's mighty in our midst. You know, he is the everlasting father, it says.

[15:02] He is the everlasting father. In other words, he's the source of everything everlasting. He is eternal himself. He had no beginning.

[15:13] It's not saying, it's talking about the son who was given. It's not talking about God the father. It's not saying he is God the father. God the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. In context, we are talking about the son who was given.

[15:26] Who was given. And some versions translate it this way. That he is the father of eternity. Saying, in other words, he is from all eternity. He has no beginning.

[15:38] He confers eternal life on all who will believe. And he provides eternal life. And he provides eternal care for those who believe. You know, he gives us eternal life.

[15:51] It's not temporary life. They shall never perish. Eternal life from the father of eternity. And how important it is for us to look to him in light of eternity.

[16:06] You know, eternity is going to be forever and ever and ever. Think of that with a condemnation on you. Think of that in freedom. That your burden has been broken.

[16:17] How important it is to us now here today. To look to him in light of eternity. We started off this morning. Saying, don't look to people who have no light.

[16:30] Look to the testimony of God. That is the message this morning. You know, I was thinking of Pilate. When he was faced with a decision about Jesus. Where did he go? He went to the people.

[16:41] He went to the crowd. He asked him. He said, what shall I do with Jesus? Which is called Christ. But there's a warning about that. Don't look to people who have no light. In light of eternity.

[16:53] Look to the one who is the giver of eternal life. Who is the father of eternity. And he is the prince of peace. The world is in chaos. Lately, it seems to be more chaos and more chaos.

[17:07] We are living in the gap between Jesus' first coming and his second coming. And that's a fairly chaotic time right now that we are in.

[17:18] But he has promised peace. He is the prince of peace. I met someone recently for coffee the other day. And they were telling me that they had great concerns.

[17:31] They were a young person, actually. They said they had concerns about world peace. They felt their life was okay. But it could be shattered at any moment. They were worried about Russia.

[17:42] They were worried about that. And they said to me, I think my phone has a lot to do with it. And that is probably true. But in talking to that person, one thing became evident to me.

[17:54] That that person was craving inner peace. And I think a lot of people are missing something. And that is inner peace. But the most important thing of all that people are missing is peace with God.

[18:09] Many people, you know, they give gifts this time of the year. But the greatest gift you can receive is having peace with God, our Heavenly Father.

[18:21] You know, we spoke this morning of condemnation for those who reject the light. But we're also speaking of the peace with God for those who come to the light.

[18:31] That's the great news this morning. And that's through our Lord Jesus Christ. Being justified by faith in him, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

[18:43] And I think that is wonderful news. You know, the world has all its attractions. And, you know, it has attractions that will keep people in darkness.

[18:54] They love the world because of the darkness and because of the attractions that the world gives them. But we have, as believers, we have come and we have seen the Lord Jesus.

[19:10] We have come into his word and seen the testimony of God. And, you know, Christians come to see Christ just like Nathaniel came for himself.

[19:22] Christians overcome the world by seeing the beauty and the excellency of the Lord Jesus Christ. They overcome the world by seeing something more attractive than the world.

[19:36] And what is that? It's a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Come and see who he is and what he has done.

[19:46] The people who walked in darkness have seen that great light. It lights up their life now. But it is not just for now, but it's for all eternity through him who loved us and gave himself for us.

[20:05] May these few words point us to him today. Amen. Amen. Amen.