[0:00] he paid the ransom for you so receive him receive his gift of eternal life if you have a bible i'd encourage you to open it up to the prophet isaiah and we're going back to chapter nine again to where we see a prophecy of the coming messiah and we see certain names and titles that he shall be called and studying through these finding out that they each hold uh some resent some they all they all hold some teaching and some truth they're not just words thrown out there but each particular name bears some truth and we're studying them out and today we'll continue with the rest of verse number six isaiah chapter nine verse six the bible says 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 host will perform this it will happen it will perform this it's a sure thing you can bank on it now what uh some of this verse proclaims prophetically has not been performed yet but you don't have to fret you don't have to wonder if it's true the zeal of the lord of host will perform this and it will come to pass in his second coming now his name we studied shall be called wonderful and i won't rehash that and we also saw his name shall be called counselor and studied that and asked the question of seeing that he is and bears that title and is very deserving of it is he your counselor and do you heed the counsel that he gives and the bible says excellent things are written unto thee in counsels and truth that make thee know the certainty of the words of truth and i ask you if you go to jesus christ for counsel that's a position by the way that's something kings would keep by their side as a counselor and his name shall be called counselor he is the counselor to the nation of israel and he ought to be and can be and will be to you the verse continues in the middle of the verse by calling him the mighty god he's also called the everlasting father and i'm not going to spend the time on these two i find if i did it'd be more of a doctrinal study and we could study evidence in his ministry that jesus christ was indeed divine he was god in the flesh not only does the scripture teach that but he manifests that he proved that uh one case he forgave a man's sins and they thought can who can forgive sins but god only and christ said absolutely right you're absolutely right only god can forgive sins and i just forgave his and he in fact was the mighty god now just to think on this can any human being anyone claim the title the mighty god how can any child that is born claim to be the mighty god there's only one way is if that god the mighty god became that child that's the only way it makes sense and so either the bible's grossly wrong or that's what took place god was manifest as a man as jesus christ other versions of the bible will change the words there they'll get rid of the and put a as in he's a
[4:01] mighty god just one but no the word the is the definite article stating that he is the mighty god the only one others will get rid of the article completely and it'll just say his name should be called mighty god and just getting rid of that article just takes away the definitive statement that he is the mighty god the same with the next phrase the everlasting father how could any child how any son be called a father it's kind of a paradox it's kind of a um just a backwards it doesn't work and david even brought that or brought that out in one of his psalms and christ pointed that out and we won't get into that but um the everlasting father to call a born baby everlasting these things just don't add up unless it's in fact god eternal god being made flesh john said in his gospel he was before me how is that possible he's he wasn't born before you he's born after you unless he's the mighty god and the everlasting father now i there's plenty we could say and verses we could turn to but i want to get past that to get to this last phrase verse number six another name that he shall be called is the prince of peace now when you hear the word prince you're often thinking of an heir to a throne and there's a sense of that that that he is prince of a kingdom of peace and that he's he's going to take it he will one day sit on that throne of david that's mentioned in verse seven and typically that's the way we think i've always tried to interpret the verse to be that he's the prince of peace elsewhere he's called the prince he's called in daniel messiah the prince and i've always just thought okay that means he's going to one day be the king but after studying this a little bit further i thought i don't think that's the case and just listen to this consider this from the bible i'd love to do a word study with you on this but the time won't permit that necessarily but i've changed my thinking on it and i think you should too the word prince is more commonly used to refer to authority or to headship or to leadership or even just to greatness think of this in your bible in the book of numbers when they're numbering the tribes of israel there were 12 princes these were not princes that were heirs of a of a throne or a kingdom they were not children of a king but they were heads the verse says they were princes heads over the tribes of israel and that's what the word prince means in that context um oh here's a verse it says they were the renowned of the congregation princes of the tribes of their fathers heads of thousands in israel the word prince is used in reference to judges to counselors to ambassadors to captains in an army and to in daniel the princes of the provinces and in daniel there was 120 princes of the provinces and then there were three presidents over them darius set daniel above those presidents here's one in daniel there's the prince of the eunuchs do you think some king put his son over the eunuchs not at all so the word means a a leader or a head it indicates authority in daniel i mentioned he's called messiah the prince in daniel chapter 8 jesus christ is called the prince of princes the prince of princes another case later on in in ephesians it talks about we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities powers rulers of the darkness of this world or spiritual wickedness in high places the word prince is a reference to those principalities and we could make another study into daniel with the prince of grecian the prince of persia
[8:05] coming and and that study but that takes us down another trail i hope you understand there therefore then the word prince in this case i don't believe referring to a uh a son of a king but rather the word prince meaning christ is the head of peace the authority of peace the ruler of peace he controls peace christ gives peace or christ takes peace away rather than an heir i think it's more precise to say he's the ruler or even to say he's the regulator of peace now with that in mind let's look into some things that he is the prince of peace or because he's the prince of peace there's some things we can learn and and establish first of all we learn from this passage even that there's an order to establishing world peace there's an order to establishing world peace in this passage he's called the prince of peace and the next verse of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end he's going to take over the world it's going to be a government of peace a government of righteousness and he's the prince of peace it says that he's going to order and establish a kingdom and he's going to do it with judgment and with justice that's important to note that the bible's putting some pieces out there that we need to understand there's an order to establishing world peace his government and his peace that's one in the same now turn to isaiah chapter 32 and let's see what the scripture says on this isaiah 32 and look at verses 16 and verse 17 together isaiah 32 verse 16 the bible says then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness and righteousness remain in the fruitful field and the work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever this is his kingdom of peace it's a kingdom where judgment dwells where peace is established where the work of righteousness the fruit of righteousness is peace james says that in them that so peace look at chapter 59 of isaiah and i'll kind of just give you an overview of the entire chapter but it starts by declaring that sin iniquities that it separates israel from their god in verse number two but your iniquities have separated between you and your god and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear and skimming the next few verses in verse three they're defiled there's iniquity there's perverseness verse four says none calleth for justice nor any pleadeth for truth they trust in vanity they speak lies there's mischief mentioned in verse seven their feet run to evil so verse number eight tells us the way of peace they know not and there is no judgment in their goings they have made them crooked paths whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace verse nine therefore is judgment far from us neither doth justice overtake us we wait for light but behold obscurity for brightness but we walk in darkness later it describes in verse 14 judgment turned away backward justice standeth afar off truth is fallen in the street and equity cannot enter yea truth faileth but then it describes jesus christ prophetically showing up and there's righteousness in verse 17
[12:08] actually in verse 16 and 17 and it shows up and he shows up and you can see it in verse 19 20 and 21 how the lord jesus christ shows up and establishes his kingdom there's an order to establishing world peace and it has to be done according to the scripture to where where truth and righteousness and what god calls it for justice and for judgment for those to be established but there's no peace saith my god to the wicked and the way of peace they have not known they've transgressed they're in iniquity they're in perverseness there'll be no peace to the perverse and no peace to the iniquity to iniquitous now the order is first righteousness must be given and determined and truth and justice and judgment must be in place and let me just say this never will that happen until the prince of peace takes his throne it's not going to happen you want it to happen the whole world wants it to happen but it's not going to happen until the prince of peace comes and takes his throne he regulates peace he's the authority of peace and until his his means means are met and his needs are met until the qualifications are met there'll be no peace when any president or any member of parliament or any united nations run their mouth about promoting peace or signing a bill or getting an agreement together or establishing this because it steps toward peace they're lying through their teeth or they're totally deceived they have no idea what they're talking about they cannot bring peace on this earth it cannot happen it will not happen don't get excited when a man talks about bringing peace or establishing peace he doesn't know what he's talking about he doesn't have the power no president no ruler no king no governor no house majority of either side can bring peace on earth no legislature that they pass will promote or bring peace they don't have the power to do it but oh how they try one person gets upset one person's offended so let's write this law and it just infuriates another group and there's no peace and then they establish well this person's not satisfied or this group's not satisfied with what they had so let's give them this and that's just that'll make them happy we just want them to be at peace and it infuriates this side and there's no peace and someone says we've been mistreated well we'll fix that but it never works it won't work without truth without righteousness man is not capable of establishing peace on earth man cannot establish peace on earth because he cannot regulate it man cannot institute it he cannot overrule the word of the word of god that says there is no peace to the wicked remember in luke chapter 2 when the the heavenly hosts proclaim glory to god in the highest and on earth peace goodwill toward men you remember when he said that then there's a been a kind of a famous quote that comes out of that the thought is while the angels called for peace on earth the problem is this they called first for glory to god in the highest and when there's no glory to god in the highest there won't be peace on earth man can't bring it about if you uh have a if you can find hebrews look at hebrews chapter 7 i want to read a passage there quickly and make a point here that there's an order there's an order to establishing peace and and while that order is important from what the angel said it's just another place here in hebrews 7
[16:09] there's another order that shows up it's just as important the scripture is careful to make the point that righteousness precedes peace hebrews chapter 7 and i'll start in verse number one for this melchizedek king of salem priest of the most high god who met abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him to whom also abraham gave a tenth part of all first first being by interpretation king of righteousness and after that also king of salem which is king of peace now in verse one he's melchizedek king of salem melchizedek means king of righteousness king of salem as he points out first and then after that king of peace the point is the bible order is accurate even when it's not teaching or promoting a thing about world peace the order is always there the flawless book is going to be precise first righteousness after that peace so in isaiah he's called the prince of peace christ is the prince or the regulator the controller the ruler of peace without him world peace is an impossibility absolutely not going to happen so there's an order to establishing peace secondly because christ is the prince of peace understand that there's an offer of experiencing eternal peace eternal peace and allow me to show you from the scripture ephesians chapter number two and i want to give you two places if you can romans chapter five and ephesians chapter two there's an order to establishing world peace and there's an offer of experiencing eternal peace a peace that will never end and what kind of peace is that i'll show you from romans chapter five and verse number one despite worldwide peace being currently out of reach currently out of reach there's a different form of peace maybe we could call it an eternal peace a personal peace one that can get down inside of your soul and this is something that christ established at his first coming take a look at romans five and verse one the bible says therefore being justified by faith we have peace with god through our lord jesus christ what you are is in verse 10 in verse 10 it says for if when we were enemies we were reconciled to god by the death of his son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life so there's a case where sinners in the passage there there um verse six they're ungodly and they're uh sinners in verse number eight and they're enemies in verse number 10 and this man in sin is an enemy he's at odds with a holy god and god's not okay with him he's not he shouldn't be either god is holy you need to understand what that is and when jesus christ paid the price for that sin the bible says he we were reconciled to god by the death of his son the death of jesus christ made it possible for two parties who were opposite and at odds to be at peace to come together again and when a man places his faith in the lord jesus christ
[20:10] he is justified by the blood of jesus christ and therefore in verse one he can have peace with god this is an eternal peace an eternal peace with god now look at ephesians chapter two ephesians chapter two where paul writes to this church saying some of the similar things here in verse number i'll just read the passage verse number 11 follow along wherefore remember that ye being in time past gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made with hands that at that time ye were without christ being aliens from the commonwealth of israel and strangers from the covenants of promise having no hope and without god in the world but now in christ jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of christ for he is our peace who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us having abolished in his flesh the enmity even the law of commandments contained in ordinances for to make in himself of twain one new man so making peace in verse 16 and that he might reconcile both unto god in one body by the cross having slain the enmity thereby and came and preached peace to you which were afar off and to them that were nigh so in this passage jesus christ is our peace he's not only the prince of peace he's the preacher of peace he preached peace to you which were afar off you who were gentiles in the flesh who had no connection to god none in that time you had before the cross you had to have a connection to god through israel through the covenant he made with that nation and through the laws and the ordinances you would have had to commit yourself to keeping them and what jesus christ did was abolished in his flesh that enmity that law of commandments and ordinances and he preached peace to you and he he brings you nigh by his blood there's an offer of experiencing eternal peace it's an offer that's all it is is an offer he's the prince of peace and he has the right to extend an offer to you he shed his blood he gave his life for your sins he will cover them in full and he offers you eternal peace with god if you reject that offer you'll never experience peace with god you'll still be an enemy of god what do you think god's gonna do to his enemies i can tell you what he's gonna do romans chapter 1 you're gonna get the wrath of god and you're gonna get it for eternity or you could have eternal peace with god through the lord jesus christ it's an offer it's there for you to receive jesus christ preaches peace with god to all men and points to calvary where he satisfied the wrath of god against your sin he paid for it the bible says in colossians 1 verse 20 that christ made peace through the blood of his cross that's the greatest message that's the greatest offer that i've ever known i don't have to go to hell i'll take that offer yes please where do i sign up you just believe in the lord jesus christ you stop trying to be good enough to please god you drop all of your religion you drop all of your works you you stop thinking you're something worthwhile and realize you are that filthy sinner and deserve the judgment of god and it would be just for you to be sent to hell but because of his blood because of his love because he's merciful
[24:10] he extends to you an offer of experiencing eternal peace peace with god what a blessing this is the gospel of jesus christ that christ died for our sins it's called in the bible the gospel of peace there's an offer for you if you want it this is a covenant or a treaty that jesus christ signed himself with his own blood he's never going to revoke it he's always going to honor it if you enter into this agreement with him by faith in jesus christ in the gospel of christ he'll honor what he promoted it's eternal no matter how great our sin this peace with god is greater his blood cleanseth us from all sin the bible calls us heirs of god and joint heirs with jesus christ we're heirs of eternal life through jesus christ our lord no longer enemies now we're sons and daughters no longer do we have to fear his wrath we can now know his love no longer are we strangers as this passage in ephesians says in verse 19 now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of god this passage says we've been brought nigh in chapter 1 we've been accepted this peace eternal peace is priceless this peace cannot be bought it cannot be earned it can only be received with thanksgiving as a gift from god it's called the gift of eternal life jesus christ is the prince of peace there's an order to establishing world peace he's there's the offer of experiencing eternal peace and then finally because christ is the prince of peace we have the opportunity of enjoying inner peace this is different different than this eternal peace with god we're no longer enemies but an inner peace look back at john's gospel in chapter 14 and here's some things the lord jesus christ said john chapter 14 we have the opportunity of enjoying inner peace because the giver of peace resides in us as believers and he says something in this verse he calls it my peace his own peace he will give or impart to us verse 27 of john 14 peace i leave with you my peace i give unto you not as the world giveth give i unto you let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid he says these words while informing them and leading up to the night that he'll be betrayed and suffer the anguish on the cross and murdered and leading up to that he's telling his disciples it's amazing to me of the the care and the thoughtfulness of christ as a man caring for his spoiled brat disciples telling him my peace i give unto you let not your heart be troubled his soul we read a little later is exceeding sorrowful even unto death but he's telling him don't be afraid it's okay what a what a man look at chapter 16 john 16 and come to the very last verse verse 33 again this same night before his arrest and betrayal and verse 33 these things i have spoken unto you that in me ye might have peace in the world ye shall have tribulation be of good
[28:11] cheer i have overcome the world we have the opportunity of enjoying inner peace he offers inner peace where he will reside within us and his peace will reside within us and calm fears and overtake anxiety and the peace of jesus christ within you can minister to your hurting heart and to your heavy spirit it can soothe the sorrowful it can uplift the depressed it's called the peace of god here we read these verses how christ will give peace how it will stay with you and that's realized through a personal relationship with jesus christ it's realized by his abiding presence in your person and the holy spirit of god he's called the comforter in chapter 16 of john the apostle paul claimed that the peace of god which passeth knowledge shall keep your hearts and minds through christ jesus do you know when he said that he said that when he was talking to the church of philippi about their fears and their worries and their cares and he said be careful for nothing but in everything with prayer and supplication or with thanksgiving let your request be made known unto god and while you're requesting god and praying and putting your cares on him he says then the peace of god will keep your heart and your mind when you're full of fears when you're full of tribulation as christ said in verse 33 when you're full of sorrows and anxieties if you'll take it to god the peace of god will keep your heart and mind keep like protect it'll secure it the peace of god is placed in there and god when you offer that up in prayer to him will secure that peace to stay in there you can go through these storms and the crazy circumstances the peace of god the inner peace he identifies peace in galatians 5 as a fruit of the spirit as evidence that someone's walking in the spirit there'll be peace and i'd say christian the closer you are to jesus christ the prince of peace the greater you'll know the greater you'll enjoy the inner peace that he offers in your heart the bible says in colossians 3 let the peace of god rule in your hearts in 2nd thessalonians 3 verse 16 now the lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means he's called the lord of peace he's called the god of peace and he's called the prince of peace i think if you don't have peace in your heart and if you don't have peace in your mind then i can tell you why either number one you've never received that offer of eternal peace with god and you're walking through this life on your own and you're on your way to hell and you don't have forgiveness of sin you don't know that god accepts you you don't have that resolved or secondly if you don't know peace in your heart and mind you're not walking with the prince of peace like he wants you to walk with him you're not abiding in christ something's gotten in between you if you're not experiencing peace on the inside you're gonna have to do what peter said cast all your cares upon him for he careth for you humble yourself there's the opportunity to enjoy this inner peace but you won't enjoy it if you won't humble yourself if you won't get on your face before him if you won't say god what's inside of me what's keeping me from experiencing peace in this because he promised peace he's the prince of peace and if you don't have it i'm gonna say the fault's on you it's your fault but you can have it
[32:11] and you can come and get it you can humble yourself the opportunity's there to enjoy to enjoy inner peace when paul tells people to rejoice always it's when they're in tribulation when christ said you have peace during tribulation all these things are it's not when things are good it's all good they don't why would we even bother with that that's obvious but when things are bad the bible teaches this irony things can be good and they can be great because jesus christ resides in you so we see that christ is the prince of peace he is the regulator and the giver he's the authority on peace the prince of peace without him the world will never know peace it's not gonna happen without him you'll never have peace with god you'll be an enemy of god you'll die in your sins you'll stand before him in judgment and you'll say i was a pretty good person and he'll say depart from me ye cursed i never knew you he'll kick you right out of his presence and send you to a lake of fire and he'll do it justly why because his son paid for your sins and you thought you despised that and thought who cares about that i'm a good person god doesn't want good people god died for sinners he paid for sinners sins if you'll humble yourself and come before him as a sinner he'll save your soul for eternity he'll give you the peace that you long for and christian you also have the opportunity of enjoying inner peace this season of christmas and fun and celebration and joy and hope and cheer is gonna pass and then the world's gonna go back to being the world and there's gonna be suicides there's gonna be people getting drunk left and right popping pills trying to get out of their misery and get out of their grief and their bills and their heartaches and they're gonna get rid of their pain and they can't do it but they can know inner peace they can enjoy it and you can too and you better go to the prince of peace you try to get around the prince of peace you're not gonna have any of it he's the one that regulates it and offers it to you let's be dismissed in a moment let's bow our heads together he's the prince of peace while our heads are bowed
[34:29] I ask you this question do you know him? do you know the prince of peace? have you experienced what it is to be at peace with God and to know right now where you sit that you're okay with God that your sins are forgiven that if you died right now you're justified by faith and that you're okay do you have that assurance this morning?
[34:56] if you don't have it you can get it it's obtainable the offer is good and it's still standing Jesus Christ shed his blood for your sins if you try to reject Jesus Christ you won't get far with God have you received the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ?
[35:20] I want to invite you this morning to know to come to know and in a personal relationship with that one that's the prince of peace and experience what that is it's relieving it's a blessing the peace is just a word I've said a hundred times this morning but it's it's indescribable to not fear eternity to not fear death and what's on the other side and to have assurance from the word of God that you're at peace with God and that you can enter a holy place because of Jesus Christ who makes you holy it's amazing Christ will make a sinner clean he'll wash them he'll give you his righteousness and allow you into heaven do you know the prince of peace he calls himself the door you can't get in if you don't go through the door and he won't let you in unless you come to him in faith have you received Christ as your savior
[36:33] Christian are you experiencing the peace of God in your heart or did something get between let's have some time to pray this morning we're going to sing a song here in a moment