This recording is from Willow Creek Church in Winchester Springs, Florida. We're Dr. Pete Alanson as our senior pastor. Today's sermon is by Dr. Steve Brown. It's part two in the 2006 Advent series and it's titled Mighty God. This message is taken from Isaiah chapter 9 verses 6 and 7. Now here's Steve with today's message. Father, this is your word where your people speak to our minds that we would not be silly and superficial. And then Father, drop it to our hearts that we would not be cold, hard, presbyterians. And then to our feet and our hands that we might live it and the world may hear the laughter of the redeemed. Father, you know everybody in this place and you know the stuff that's hard. The doubts that come when we're scared. You know the secrets we can't share with anybody, you know our sins and how we blush in your presence. You know the pain of the past and the present and the fear of the future. And you know we're not good, but we're here. Father, meet us in this place and may we hear the soft sound of sandal feet. Forgive the one who teaches. We would see Jesus and Him only. And we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Probably my closest friend in this world lives in North Carolina and he's a physician. He's from a family where they take everything they do seriously including playing chess. Now I have never wanted to do anything when I was playing chess except sleep. But they get really really uptight in their chess games and over the years they have lost a number of chess pieces I mean from those pieces at each other. One Christmas they were going to play chess and they didn't have enough chess pieces so they got the pieces from their grandmother's crash. My friend got the baby Jesus and he said he was moving it all over the board and they were saying you can't do that. That move is illegal. And he said what do you mean illegal? That's the baby Jesus. He can move wherever he wants to move. This morning we're going to look at the baby Jesus but don't miss this. He's a lot bigger than you think he is. As Pete mentioned we're doing a four part series together. He's doing the last two because the closer we get to Christmas the more I approach a nervous breakdown. And last week we looked at the name and Isaiah 9 wonderful counselor. We saw the wonderful means supernatural. We looked from that text about how God grows flowers in manure. And then last week we checked out some other places in scripture where the word counselor is used and we juxtaposed that with Isaiah 9 to see if we could see something of what God was teaching us. This week we're going to be looking at the second of those four names mighty God. If you have your Bible turned to the ninth chapter of Isaiah and I'll start reading as last week at the sixth verse. Isaiah the prophet writes as follows, for to us a child is born. This is written 700 years before Christmas. For to us a child is born and a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called wonderful counselor. Mighty God ever lasting Father prince of peace of the increase of his government and peace. There will be no end on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and for ever more. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. Now before we get down and look particularly at this name and what it means I want to go down one side road and I want you to see both the past and the future of Christmas. One of the most dangerous things we do as Christians is to think that at Christmas God did a brand new totally new thing. Well I suppose he did but it wasn't unconnected and it didn't take place in a vacuum. If you've listened to me teach much you know that I have a big thing for Israel. I don't believe that Israel does everything right and I don't worship at their altar but I want you to know I stand with them because God likes them and he likes people who likes them. Note in the text that the Messiah is going to establish a throne and whose throne is it? It is David's throne and notice in the last part of the text the zeal of the Lord has no will do this. We're Christians but we're Christians because of them. We're Christians because a sovereign God kept Israel intact and the best argument I know for the existence of God is the existence of the Jews. How many Babylonians live in your neighborhood? Not many and the reason is because the Babylonians were not the apple of God's eye and so we as Christians have a heritage and it's not 2000 years old. It's almost 4000 years old and God did something wonderful for you. Ephesians 2 teaches this clearly. He brought you into something that he had been doing for a very long time. We Christians have done some horrible things in the name of Christ and you should never talk to your Jewish friend about Jesus without asking forgiveness for what's been done in the name of Christ. One of my beloved friends is Yokeel Eckstein. He is the chief honcho of the Holy Land Fellowship of Christians and Jews and he's kind of our guy to then. He's an orthodox rabbi, well a conservative slash orthodox rabbi and he loves us. And he lectures at Moody, at the 700 club, at seminaries and then he goes to his people Israel and he explains us to then. One time I was meeting in Chicago with a group of Christians and you would know their names, kind of celebrity types. And Yokeel called up and said, let's get together for coffee and I said, that's cool. And I said, once you come over to the hotel, I would introduce you to some people and I thought he'd be impressed with the people I knew. And he came into the lobby and everybody was standing around and I said, Yokeel, let me introduce, I started introducing him to these celebrities. Let me tell you what happened was so bad. I think about it, I went. One of a man you would know his name, very well-known business man, said when I was young I had a Jewish partner and he cheated me. Another said, Yokeel, they said, you're completed, right? I don't want to say no, no, he's not completed, he's Jewish, he is the apple of God. And then I was watching Yokeel's face as these things were being said. I said, let's go up to my room, I can't stand anymore of this. We got to my room, shut the door and he began to weep. He said, you ever, you ever sometimes don't want to do this anymore? And I said, oh, every morning I say, God, I don't want to do this anymore. And then Yokeel, and he didn't know Jesus and I wanted him to so bad. In fact, I don't want to go to heaven if he's not there. And we knelt down by the little table in that hotel room and we prayed and we got up and I hugged him and he laughed and I thought, oh, God, speak to your people. Draw them to yourself, they are so precious. Ruth Graham, and she's a wonderful poet, by the way, wrote a book by my life in fire. I read it in Switzerland one time when I was really, really depressed, suicidal. In fact, that she hadn't written that book, I wouldn't be here today. I'd have gotten on a ski slope and killed myself. But I sat by fire and read her laughing firebook and she has a poem in that book about an old Jewish man who says, when Messiah returns, I will ask, is this the first time or is this the second time? So you look through the past, we old them to speak in love. Paul says we're to make them jealous, we haven't made them jealous, we've made them afraid. We've got to speak our message and we've got to listen to their message because we're family, ordained by sovereign God. I've done this before here, but it's appropriate at Christmas. I have just transitioned into the main thrust of this text for those of you who were sleeping. There are two great themes of human history, and this is so cool to stay awake. Some 16, 1800 years before the birth of Christ, a group of nobody's in the middle of the desert, and Hebrew means some people say, wanderer. In the middle of the desert, dirty, uneducated, unsophisticated, living with their animals in their tent, this group of nobody's came to the idea that there was one God and that God was their God and that they were God's people. They developed the highest form of ethical monotheism the world has ever known. I don't know where they got it. They lived among very sophisticated cultures, but this, I mean, you wouldn't invite them to dinner. If you've ever been to history and been out in the desert and looked at the better ones, you know what I'm talking about. And yet this group of nobody's got the idea that God was one and that they were His people and they began to move down a corridor of history. Some six, seven hundred years before the birth of Christ, there was another theme of human history. It's called the Greco-Roman theme of human history. That includes great architecture, philosophy, oh boy, beauty, power when the Romans came, when the Romans came, they conquered the Western world and they had what was called the Pox Romana, the Roman peace. And there was a common road system, there was a common coinage, and there was a common language. And that theme of human history includes Alexander and the Peloponnesian wars and all that stuff. And they moved in parallel corridors down time together. And at one point, listen to me, in all of human history, they crossed. And at that very moment, Jesus of Nazareth was born. If he had been born 50 years later, you never would have heard His name. If he had been born 50 years before, you wouldn't be here this morning. And if you think that's an accident, I've got some swamp land to sell you. If you think that's an accident, you are crazy, common language, possibility, road system, God's plan. And God planned the cultural fought forms too. In the first chapter of John says in the beginning was the word. Now, every rabbi knew about that because he had traced from the wisdom literature the idea of the word being personified and being God. And you need to know the Greeks and the Romans knew about that too. The philosophers had said, and they didn't understand molecular physics. But they said that everything would come apart, but something held it together. What was that? You know what they called it? They called it the word. And when those two streams crossed, and John said, and the word became flesh, the Greeks said, my, my. And the Jews said, oh, hey, I understand sacrifice. I don't have time to go in, but this is so cool. Did you know in every culture, on the face of the earth, in every place and every time there has been in that heritage a sacrificial system? Without the shedding of blood, there can be no remission of sin. We're not coming from it. It's in our genes. We know it. Everybody knows it in every place and every time everybody knows it. And then it funnels in Israel. And we have a lamb. And the lamb is slain. And then you move into the New Testament and we read about the Lamb of God who was slain from the foundation of the earth. And the Australian aborigines say, yeah, I got that. And the Greeks and the Romans and the philosophers and every third world country and every man and woman on the face of the earth said, I understand. And so Christmas is a big deal. And what I say, and I'd like to have sat there with him as he wrote the ninth chapter of his book. He saw something so awesome and so amazing that even the words of the prophecy aren't enough. Even the words of the prophecy aren't enough. And the second name, my, my, my, my, God. And so the first point that I have for you this morning that I expect you to take note on and remember for the exam that will be coming up. Is the astonishing choice of the name that the Holy Spirit picked through the prophet Isaiah. Now listen, I can get wonderful counselor. I have to work through that but I can, I can rationally get my, I can do that. The next two names, Pete's going to be talking about. I can do everlasting father. That means a father. I mean, I know the father thing. I'm a father. I'm a great father. And get that. I can get that about becoming Messiah. Prince of peace. I can get that too, man. It's this mighty God's stuff that drives me nuts. That I simply can't get my mind around. How can an omnipotent omnipresent and omniscient God become man? He's the guy who, a lot of people don't know his name but he has a lot to do with the prayer breakfast movement around the country. He's an old guy now like me but he, he had a tremendous impact in Washington on the fellowship. We had lunch one time and he told me this. He said, and he was in a prominent church in the Washington area and he was in the leadership. And he went to a meeting one evening of the elders and he was late and he said, guys, I hate to be late but I was down at the college campuses. You wouldn't believe what these kids, we've got to do something. You wouldn't believe what they're saying. But we don't have time to talk about it. We got to get on with the elders meeting and they said, no, no, no. We got time to ask what it is. What are they saying? And Doug said, well, you wouldn't believe it. I mean, you don't make it mad. It'll upset you. But we don't have time. And they said, no, no, no, tell us. Doug said, you know what I heard? Those kids are saying that Jesus was God. Can you believe that? One of the elders said, well, no. Somebody needs to teach them. Another elder said, well, Doug, I sort of, I guess it was wrong, but I sort of thought he was. They ran around the elders replying, I'd Doug's getting his coat and he's getting ready to leave and he's saying, where are you going? He said, I'm leaving his church. I'm not going to have anything to do with the church where the leadership doesn't believe the central doctrine of the Christian faith. No, I think he was a bit hard. And I think that was unfair. And I think he shouldn't have done it. But he made a point. And it's a good point. Listen, if Jesus is not God, then he doesn't know anymore than you do. Do you get tired of the preachers and the experts and the teachers that don't die, guys, just like you, they're doing the best they can and 50% of what I teach you is wrong. I just don't know which 50% I don't know. But go to Jesus. He's the only one who knows if he's God and if he's not God, he doesn't. Okay. When you're still in your sins, when you die, you're dead. And that's all there is to it. And there's no hope and men must work and women must weep. And the sooner it's over, the sooner to sleep. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Secondly, I want you to see not only the astonishing choice of the name, but the controversial nature of the name. Liberals and cults like to put a spin on this particular text and they say, well, it doesn't mean deity. They say what it really means is that the coming Messiah will be God-like. No, it doesn't. If you check out Ezekiel 32 and Isaiah 10, you'll find out the same words are used and they are prefaced or followed by the Lord Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel. You can't get around it. You can reject it. You don't have to believe it. I'm not your mother. I don't care what you think about it, but don't do this nonsense. This drivel that the prophecy didn't prophesy, the coming of God Himself. St. Teresa used to say, Lord, you'd have more friends if you treated the one you had a little bit better. I love that. That's my favorite quote. But I would add more to it. I'd say, Lord, you'd have more friends if you had created a faith that was a little bit more believable. This stuff's hard to believe. You ever think about it? If you've been in a church a long time, you've forgotten. You never knew. But you out there and tell the guy on the street what we believe that he's going to go and what have you been smoking? There really is a God. He may be or she may be can go along with that, but they can't do the other stuff. And that God is a loving God and a kind God and a just God. And that God has entered time and space. Really blew his nose the way we blow our nose, put on his pants the way we put on our pants was tired and lonely and afraid. Even as we are tired and lonely and afraid and then he died and a dead man got up and walked and then he ascended to heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. And we go, you've got to be kidding, man. That's crazy. But I believe it. Why do I believe something so unbelievable? You think maybe because it's true. I wouldn't make up something like that. Shoot. If I made up a religion, it'd be a lot easier to believe than one we've got. And God would be a lot different than the one we worship. Where did we get this stuff? It may be that that's in our genes too. And that it's true when the missionary to the third world country where Jesus had gone before when the missionary to the third world country told the gospel for the first time. And old lady said, I always knew that there was a God like that somewhere. And then thirdly, I want you to note not only in a stonising choice, a controversial nature, but the exciting implications of that name for centuries people have asked their questions. Is there really a God? Really? Is he a monster? Does he demand child sacrifice? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? Is he a child abuser? Does he care? Does he love? And then very hesitantly, does he love me? And the laughter of God at Christmas spills over into a sour world in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Grace, truth. Guys, if you were for him, I would be here. I couldn't survive. Camus said the only question with which modern man must deal with the question of whether or not he should admit suicide. I understand that. I really do. The only way I know, the only way I've experienced, the only way that and life is not for sissies. The only way I keep on talking is because when I look at him, that's God and that's meaning and that's forgiveness and that's acceptance and that's getting home before the dark. Then there's one other thing that I'm finished. I want you to note not only an astonishing choice, the controversy or nature of the name, the exciting implications of the name. Please note, if you will, the juxtaposition of the name. Unto us, a child is born. Okay, and his name will be called mighty God. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, child, mighty God. And therein we see the incredible love of God for us. If you're new to this thing, we're glad you're here. But the closer you get to him, the more scareder you will become. God, you don't fool around with him. He's holy. He's righteous. And you're going to stand before him. He'll scare this bit out of you. And if you've never stood before God and been scared to death, you've worshipping an idol. I've told you that before, but you didn't listen. God is scary. He's big. He's holy. He's righteous. He's sovereign. He's awesome. And we're peons. And it's a scary thing to go into presence of a holy God. God knew that. I have a German Shepherd Thor that we had to put at the vets for our staff volunteer dinner at our house the other night. Thor's sweet and kind and good, but he's a big mother of a dog. And when he grows, people tremble. I'm not even sure of him when he grows. And we were going to put him in a garage and letting bark cut down on the attendance. I have a lot more food left over than Anna made me take him to the vets. But when he grows, it is big. God does too. But God is aware in a sense that Thor isn't. God knows he scares to death. He came at all of his power with his angels and his troops and stuff. And so he came as a baby. You believe that? That is so cool. I never, you know, maybe W.C. feels, but he's the only, I don't know, anybody that doesn't, honestly, think babies are cute. Kind of like babies, some good about babies. There's never been a no-go baby. Kathy always says that. She never saw a baby that was ugly. And none of us, I mean, there's something about, and God, when he came, came as a baby. What's that? We're sparing, so he wouldn't scare us. Loving us gently, so we wouldn't run. We were in Portland a number of years ago doing a tonight seminar. We had an auditorium at downtown Portland. By the way, the worship team can come on up here as long as they listen while they're walking. We did a two-night seminar and we were in an auditorium at downtown Portland. And it was in a really bad area of Portland. And it was a fairly good crowd and I enjoyed it. I like teaching. We were talking about grace and God's not angry and neat kind of stuff. I had a worship team with me and they were singing and doing solos. And I was teaching every night the two nights. But there was one downside. There was a man, the biggest African-American man you have ever seen. He looked like your worst nightmare of a racker from the street who wants to kill white people. And he sat on the back row over on the corner. And I'm white. I'm an old white guy, man. And I kept looking at him. He scowled at me every time I looked at him and I thought, God's, he's mean. And he may have reason to not like white people. But I hope he's not mad at me. I didn't do anything. But I taught and he sat over there and he scowled open. The first night when it was over, we were going out to dinner, all the staff. And we went back to that auditorium because we were afraid that man was going to trash it. And we made sure the locks were working and everything was closed up. After we had driven off, we came back. Well, the next night, he's in the same place in the back of the auditorium. Looking just as mean or meaner than he did the night before. Well, I finished the teaching and I did what I always do. I went down front and I talked to people, I signed books and stuff like that. And the staff, they're taking down the sound equipment, getting down the book tables, putting things ready because we got early the next morning, get an airplane back to Florida. And so they had a lot of work to do. They finished their work and they're in the lobby of this auditorium just waiting for me. So I finished talking to everybody who was feeling pretty good when I looked up and I noticed that man was still there. And he was the only one left. And I thought, oh my. And he got out of his seat and he started coming down the center aisle. And I don't know if this is true. But when I think about it, I think about him walking with a limp, this big man coming at me and I thought, it's over. He's going to kill me. I'm thinking about whom I'm going to leave my computer to. I hope my wife. I hope people will say nice things at my funeral. And he got up really close to me and he reached up his arms and I said, oh it's coming. And he grabbed me and he picked me off the floor and he said, oh brother, I love your ministry. And I'm going to be supporting you and praying for you. And he put me down and I fainted. But the feelings I had after he hugged me, or you don't understand, should be the feelings you have when you consider a child is born. The mighty God. You think about that. Willow Creek Church is associated with the Presbyterian Church in America. Our website is www.willowcreekchurch.org. And our phone number is 407-699-82-11.