Counselor

[00:00:04] O Lord our God, how we thank you that you delight to meet with your people, and that when we meet with you, you speak to us, and that your words give us light and life, that we do not have to go seeking help or counsel from the dead, for a people should seek help and counsel from their God. [00:00:31] And so we come to you now, O God, out of the darkness of this world and its troubles, and we come into your presence, and we ask that by your word you would deal with our hearts, that your Holy Spirit would take this Word and apply it to our hearts, that our hearts and lives might be molded and shaped, changed, that they might be new creations, renovated and made to look more like Jesus, your Son. [00:01:07] Not only made to look more like him, but that by faith we might be drawn closer to him, our Savior. [00:01:17] That we might be filled with love for him, and that everything would flow from that love for him, our lives being transformed. [00:01:28] All this we ask to your glory, for Jesus sake. Amen. [00:01:36] We're going to read from Isaiah chapter nine. [00:01:42] Read the first seven verses. We'll be looking in particular at the title that the prophecy gives to Jesus, that his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, God's Word now for you from Isaiah 9, beginning in verse 1. But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. [00:02:04] In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. [00:02:11] But in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. [00:02:19] The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. [00:02:23] Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. [00:02:29] You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy. [00:02:35] They rejoice before you. And as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. [00:02:44] For the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken, as on the day of Midian. [00:02:52] For every boot of the trampling warrior in battle tumult, and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. [00:03:03] For to us a child is born, to us a son is given. [00:03:09] And the government shall be upon his shoulder. [00:03:12] And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor. [00:03:17] Mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it, to uphold it with justice and with righteousness, from this time forth and forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. Please be seated. [00:03:57] I'm sure most of us at some point, probably within the last month, certainly within the last year, maybe within the last 12 hours, have gone and sought advice from someone. [00:04:12] Maybe children need some help figuring something out and so they go to their parents for direction, for counsel. We may go to our spouse, a friend. [00:04:22] And when that happens, when we think about advice and counsel, we tend to think of it as maybe something that we, we could choose to listen to or not. We're looking for advice we want to hear, ideas to inform whatever our situation is. Right. [00:04:41] But we tend to think of it maybe as counsel or advice that, you know, we can kind of pick and choose if we agree with it, if we like how it sounds, we'll follow it. [00:04:52] And if we don't, you know, that's okay. [00:04:56] It's just friendly advice that we got from a friend or whatever. But if you really think about advice or counsel, it shouldn't quite be that way. [00:05:07] What we really should be looking for when we go to a friend or a parent or whoever it is a good, wise counselor. [00:05:14] We should be looking for the truth. [00:05:17] The truth and how to apply that to our situation. In other words, it, it shouldn't be something that's optional. We're not looking for, maybe I could do this or maybe I could do that. But what's really going to help us when we get good counsel and advice is we get the truth and we get advice that helps us to see how to apply it to our life, our situation, whether it's a relationship or business decision or a life decision, whatever it might be. We really should be looking for counsel that says, ah, this is what's true, this is what's right. And that gives me clarity on how to proceed in my life. [00:06:00] That's maybe a little closer. It starts to get us to the idea of the kind of counsel that the wonderful counselor is going to give to his people. [00:06:12] As we look at how Jesus is the wonderful counselor from this prophecy, Isaiah 9, 6, hopefully we'll see that, that the counsel that he gives us isn't just nice ideas, isn't just helpful things that we can bounce around, but he's actually going to give us the truth that we need in order to be delivered. Because this whole passage, you remember, is about deliverance and salvation and how we can of course, serve him as well. [00:06:43] I want to look at the counselor that Jesus is this evening. I want to briefly deal with the text, sort of explain this verse in its context. Last week we looked at the child that was born and given as a gift. And we looked at that in the Context of Isaiah 7 and the story of Ahaz and the siege of Jerusalem that was about to happen from the northern armies. [00:07:09] And we saw how things didn't go well. And God promises a future deliverance, a future salvation for his people through this child who would be born. [00:07:20] If you look at verse six and seven, we see that this child is going to accomplish that deliverance by being king for his people. [00:07:31] The government is going to rest on the shoulders of this child. In other words, like a king. He's going to reign. [00:07:39] He will be the government for his people. [00:07:43] And you see that also clearly in verse seven of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end. [00:07:51] He's going to sit on the throne of David. [00:07:54] He's going to be a Davidic king. He's going to fulfill the promises that God gave to David about the son who would reign on his throne forever. [00:08:02] And what's more, that kingdom is going to be a kingdom marked by justice and, and righteousness. And we heard a sermon this morning talking all about that, connecting it directly with the coming of Jesus as it's foretold through the angel Gabriel. [00:08:21] So this child is going to be a king. [00:08:25] And once the child is introduced, God, then through the prophet Isaiah, gives us four titles, four titles, each of which tells us something about this child who will be a king. [00:08:40] There's four of them. Each of them is made up of two words. The first is Wonderful Counselor. The second one is Mighty God. [00:08:48] The third one is Everlasting Father. And the fourth, Prince of Peace. [00:08:54] You can see how Prince of Peace is a title that attaches to a king or goes to a king, because the word prince just means ruler. [00:09:04] So the ruler of peace. [00:09:07] Now, each of these titles, they're kingly titles. They all. [00:09:11] They function the way names function in the Bible. [00:09:15] When someone's given a name in the Bible, it usually tells us the kind of person that person is going to be. In other words, these titles tell us not just what the Christ child's name is, but they tell us something about who he is and therefore what kind of a king he's going to be. [00:09:37] So each of these. We might reframe it this way. Each of these four titles is answering the question, what kind of a king is this child going to be? [00:09:48] Really briefly, we can look at an example. [00:09:51] Mighty God. [00:09:53] He's called Mighty God. [00:09:56] The word mighty here is the word that's used for a mighty warrior, a mighty soldier in the old Testament. [00:10:07] So what the title is telling us is that this king will not only be God himself, but that he will be God who fights like a mighty warrior on behalf of his people. [00:10:19] Pretty important in the context, if you remember the story of Ahaz, with invading armies coming down to Jerusalem, that Christ child who's going to be born as a gift to his people will be God himself coming as a divine warrior to fight on behalf of his people. That's a pretty comforting promise, right? So you can go through each of these titles and see how each of them tells us something about the son or the child who's to be born. [00:10:47] The one we want to look at this evening, spend our time on is the title Wonderful Counselor. [00:10:54] I've got three points for you. So if you're taking notes, here are the three points. First, we're going to look at Wonderful Counselor, who this wonderful counselor is and why we need him. [00:11:03] Secondly, we're going to question his counsel. [00:11:07] And then finally we're going to hear his counsel. [00:11:11] So first, the Wonderful Counselor. [00:11:15] A king is supposed to be a counselor. [00:11:19] Now, we may not normally associate those ideas in our minds, but it's the case, and let's try to prove it. Let's demonstrate that for you. [00:11:30] We think of kings as having counselors. David had that wise counselor, Ahithophel. Maybe you remember him, or maybe you'll learn about him when we get to that Ahithophel. And over the next few months, as we go through Second Samuel, Ahithophel was a wise advisor and counselor to King David. [00:11:52] Kings surround themselves with wise men because they have to make big decisions. [00:11:57] And when they're governing a people, they have to decide what kinds of laws should I pass, and when I make those laws and situations arrive, how do I apply those laws to my people wisely? And so they have advisors and counselors who help them apply those laws as well as make those laws. [00:12:20] But kings don't just need counselors. [00:12:23] They themselves are the chief counselor of the people whom they govern and rule. [00:12:30] Particularly among God's people. The king has to be the chief counselor, adviser, you might say, of his people. [00:12:39] In order to do this, the king needs to know not just what might be nice in good laws, but what is God's law. [00:12:48] And the king has to know not only what is God's law, but what are the needs of God's people. [00:12:54] And then thirdly, how do I bring those two together? How do I take God's law and apply it to the situations of God's people so that they would be governed well so that they would be advised and led well. [00:13:10] The people need a king who can do these things. Now, you can think of our own modern situation. And if you think about politics, you think about all of the politicians and all of the laws and all of the problems that our society encounters, I think you can see this is pretty obvious. [00:13:27] What you really want in office are wise rulers, men, women, who can lead the people well by wisely applying good laws to the situation and needs of the people. [00:13:42] We don't need people who look good, who are handsome. We don't need people who are charismatic. We need people who are good people, counselors, good advisors. [00:13:53] Now, to drive this home and prove it to you that the wonderful counselor here is referring to a king and his office especially you can look at Deuteronomy 17, 18, 19. [00:14:07] Here God gives a law regarding whoever would become king over his people, like Saul or David or King Ahaz. [00:14:16] In Isaiah's story, when the king becomes king, the first thing he's supposed to do Is this. [00:14:25] Deuteronomy 17:18. It shall be when he sits on the throne of his kingdom that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book from the one before the priests, the Levites. So the first thing the king is supposed to do when he becomes king is go to the temple where there's a copy of God's law. [00:14:43] And he's supposed to get out, I don't know, his ink and quill, whatever it was he wrote with. [00:14:50] I don't know what he wrote with precisely, but he was supposed to get his pen and pencil out and paper out, and he had to write down a copy of the entire five books of Moses. Sure, it took a while. [00:15:04] And then the law goes on. God goes on to instruct what kings are supposed to do. This copy of God's law, it shall be with him. [00:15:12] And he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, and to be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes. [00:15:23] The chief thing that the kings over God's people were supposed to do was to know God's law, to carry it with them every day, to read from it every day, to have their hearts and minds filled with God's law, so that they could rightly apply it to the situation and needs of God's people, so that they could be counselors, good counselors for the nation of Israel. [00:15:48] Now let's illustrate this. [00:15:51] Think of Solomon. You know the story of Solomon, right? He was the wisest king that ever sat on the throne in Jerusalem. [00:16:02] You remember his story. [00:16:04] He became king. [00:16:06] He's this young man, relatively young man. [00:16:10] He goes and he offers thousands of offerings before God. He worships God. [00:16:16] He seems to be seeking God's help and leading Israel, God's people, and seeking God's help as they do this. [00:16:24] And then that night, God came to Solomon. And God offered Solomon whatever he desired. [00:16:32] Whatever you want. [00:16:34] Riches, wealth, prosperity, whatever you want as a king, God says, I'll give it to you, Solomon. [00:16:41] What did Solomon ask for? [00:16:43] He asks for the very thing he needs so that he can be a good counselor, a good king for God's people. [00:16:52] He asked God for wisdom first. Kings 3. 9. Therefore, give to your servant an understanding heart to judge your people that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of yours? God. If I'm going to be a king and lead your people, the thing I most need is wisdom so that I can judge and counsel and lead the people rightly. And God gave it to him. [00:17:22] See, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall there be any like you to arise after you. [00:17:33] There you have it. The king must be a counselor to his people. [00:17:39] Solomon understood this. God granted it to him. [00:17:43] And then Solomon, at some point in his life, probably towards the end, did something remarkable. [00:17:49] He wrote the book of Proverbs, the book about wisdom. [00:17:56] And who's that book written to as you read it? Solomon. The king speaks to his son. Over and over and again. He says, my son, my son. [00:18:05] And he instructs his son in the heavenly wisdom that God had given to Solomon. [00:18:11] What's he doing? [00:18:12] He leaves a manual for how to be a godly king, how to lead God's people aright in the book of Proverbs, so that his sons and their sons will would read the book of Proverbs, understand God's law, and learn how to apply it to God's people so that they would be wise counselors of the nation. [00:18:35] That's the idea of what's going on here in this title. Wonderful counselor. [00:18:44] Israel urgently needed a wonderful counselor. [00:18:49] We've read two chapters in their entirety. Isaiah chapter seven last week, Isaiah chapter eight this week. And what you see is a people who desperately need wise guidance and wisdom. [00:19:03] And if you know the story, if you've read Israel's story, Solomon's sons, the vast majority of them, did not heed his wisdom. [00:19:12] They didn't read the book of Proverbs. Or if they read it, they ignored it. [00:19:17] The princes and elders of God's people, the people who were under the king to lead the people, they similarly lacked godly counsel. [00:19:26] And when we come to Ahaz, we find a strange man. [00:19:32] Ahaz was a shrewd ruler in worldly terms. [00:19:39] He sought to defend the people, he sought to lead the people well, but he was not wise in counseling God's people in God's law. [00:19:52] And so God says to them, I quote from Isaiah 30, verse 1. [00:19:56] Woe to the rebellious children, says the Lord, who take counsel, but not of me, who devise plans, but not of my spirit. [00:20:09] So what was the picture? We looked at it last week. In Isaiah 5 you get this picture of God's people who have turned everything upside down. They call evil good, and good evil. They call light darkness, and darkness light. Bitter is called sweet, and sweet is called bitter. Things are chaos. [00:20:32] And Isaiah 9:16 says, the leaders of this people caused them to err, and those who are led by them are destroyed. [00:20:44] Israel was urgently, desperately in need of a wise counselor to lead them in God's ways. [00:20:54] And so are you and I equally desperately in need of a wonderful counselor. [00:21:02] The same darkness of heart, the same foolishness that Israel fell into, we fall into. [00:21:12] We painted a picture of that last week, too. [00:21:15] Titus 3:3 says, we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. [00:21:32] That's the mess of our hearts and lives. [00:21:40] Everyone's born with this, this heart that leads us into foolishness and darkness. Romans 1:18 says that all men suppress the truth in unrighteousness. To whatever degree we have the truth and know it, we're born pushing it down, doing whatever we can to ignore it, and that our lives as a result are a nightmare. [00:22:05] We have the same need as Israel had for a wonderful counselor, a king who will deal with the foolishness of our hearts, our minds, who will lead us back to God. [00:22:18] And the child, the unexpected child, is that wonderful counselor. [00:22:26] As a counselor, a king, the child is going to reign with wise counsel. [00:22:32] It's a reign that verse seven tells us is injustice. And in righteousness, people are going to see when he comes because of how his kingdom is arranged and ordered in justice and righteousness, that he is a wise counselor. In other words, who. Who he is is going to be expressed in what he does, his rule. [00:22:54] He's going to instruct the people in God's law. He's going to fix and correct everything that Solomon's sons messed up, you might say. [00:23:04] But not only is he going to be a counselor and wise, he's a wonderful counselor. Now, that's interesting. [00:23:13] What do you think of when you think of wonderful counsel? Maybe you might think, well, maybe it's the best counsel I ever got. I went to someone, he told me exactly what I needed to know. And the result was that things went really well with that job or that meeting or whatever it might be. [00:23:33] You'd be led astray. [00:23:35] The word wonderful here is usually in the Old Testament, translated something like marvelous. [00:23:42] It's used again and again throughout the Old Testament to describe God's mighty works, his miraculous deliverances of his people. [00:23:53] Think of the Red Sea being parted and then crashing down to drown the enemies of God's people. [00:24:00] That was marvelous. [00:24:04] Something, you might say, that's marvelous or wonderful is supernatural. That might be a word that would capture the heart of the meaning of this word. [00:24:17] The child to be born isn't just a counselor. He's a supernatural counselor, a miraculous counselor. [00:24:26] In fact, if you look at Isaiah 28:29, Isaiah describes God's counsel as wonderful. [00:24:36] This also comes from the Lord of Hosts, who is wonderful in counsel. Counsel and excellent in guidance. [00:24:47] You might say it's heavenly counsel. [00:24:51] The two come together then in this child. [00:24:55] As a king, he is counselor. But as God, he is marvelous, supernatural. [00:25:02] And so he is the wonderful heavenly counselor. [00:25:07] And that shouldn't surprise us, because God. [00:25:13] God is the heavenly counselor. [00:25:16] God. [00:25:17] This child is God come in the flesh. He is Emmanuel. God with us. [00:25:25] God gave the law. [00:25:27] The wisdom that came to Solomon came from God. [00:25:32] And so as the counselor from heaven, who is God himself, he will perfectly and wisely instruct his people, applying his laws to their specific needs. [00:25:42] And what does Jesus, the Christ Child, do when he comes? [00:25:47] When he comes as the king of his people? [00:25:51] Think back to Matthew, chapter four and five. He goes around Galilee, the place that was in darkness. [00:25:58] He is the light that shone on the people sitting in the shadow of death. [00:26:02] He goes around and he gathers a people to himself, doesn't he? He says, repent, because the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The king is here. Turn and follow me. [00:26:12] And he gathers a people to himself. And then what does he do? [00:26:15] Matthew, chapter five. He climbs up on the mountain, or walks up. It's probably a hill. He goes up on the mountain. His people follow him. [00:26:24] He sits down and he begins to counsel his people. [00:26:28] Matthew, chapter five, six and seven. We call it the Sermon on the Mount. [00:26:33] And there Jesus speaks wonderful, marvelous counsel to his people. [00:26:41] As you read the Sermon on the Mount, what happens? [00:26:45] His words hit you right in the heart. [00:26:50] He says, in my kingdom, I am going to make my people to be righteous. Their righteousness is going to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees. Why? [00:27:01] Because it's going to be an inside out. Righteousness. [00:27:05] He's the king who comes and baptizes his people with his Holy Spirit. [00:27:10] In other words, he puts his spirit on the hearts of his people and he changes them from the inside out. [00:27:17] He takes people who used to be angry at their brothers and sisters with murderous thoughts, and he changes their hearts and he makes them to love their brothers and sisters. [00:27:27] He takes people who used to lust after other men's wives. [00:27:31] And what does he do? He changes their hearts so that they would no more commit adultery of the heart, but that they would love their own wives. And you know, as you go through the Sermon on the Mount, again and again, Jesus deals with the root of the problem, the heart issue. [00:27:48] That's his marvelous counsel. [00:27:55] Now, Jesus isn't done counseling his people. He came, he did that, he died, he rose, he went to heaven, and now he reigns. And from heaven on high, wherever his word is preached, he is still counseling his people week after week. That's what Jesus is doing. As the wonderful counselor, he's speaking to you, each of you, directly to your hearts. [00:28:21] Will you hear his counsel? [00:28:25] Many question his counsel. [00:28:28] Is it really so wonderful? [00:28:32] That's our second point. Questioning his counsel. [00:28:36] Is it so wonderful? Ahaz questioned it. [00:28:41] Christ, through his spirit, through the prophet Isaiah, sent his counsel to Ahaz. [00:28:48] And Ahaz questioned it. [00:28:52] Remember the story, the armies from the north surrounding Jerusalem? [00:28:58] What's going to happen? [00:29:02] Ahaz and the whole house of David, his royal family and his advisors, his princes, and the whole people of Jerusalem, they're shaking like wind in the trees, we would say. Shaking like a leaf. [00:29:15] And God sends his good counsel to him. [00:29:21] And how does Ahaz respond? [00:29:26] He might have said something like this. [00:29:29] You counsel me to trust a God, a God I cannot see, who promises to deliver me from the enemies that I see surrounding my city. [00:29:43] The first sign that you give to me of this promise is a child presented to me, Sher Jashub. [00:29:53] The promise is that a remnant will return, that through judgment, you, God, will preserve a remnant. And the sign of that is this child he questions. [00:30:14] What does he conclude? [00:30:17] This is weakness, not power, Foolishness, not counsel. [00:30:24] And so he rejected God with us Emmanuel. [00:30:29] He rejected Emmanuel for real power. [00:30:33] Power he could see, power he could exercise, or what he thought was real power. [00:30:41] He called down on the northern armies. He called down the vicious power of Tiglath Pileservice and the Assyrian armies. [00:30:52] This is shrewdness. This is shrewd counsel from a powerful king. A real world power play, right? [00:31:02] Real politik. [00:31:06] But then his power play backfired when the hordes of Assyrians about 20 years later flooded through Judah. That river we read about in Isaiah 8, that filled it, overflowed its banks, and it flooded through Israel, down into Judah, all the way up to the neck, such that the Assyrian king in that campaign, King Sennacherib, says in his annals, I had Hezekiah trapped like a bird in a cage all the way up to the neck. [00:31:43] Ahaz chose the foolishness of the world over against the wonderful counselor and his wisdom. [00:31:51] He couldn't see it, so he questioned it. [00:31:55] But the world questions King Jesus counsel. Today, his counsel seems far less wonderful than what they're looking for. [00:32:07] In fact, when they hear Jesus counsel, it sounds like foolishness, even weakness. [00:32:14] Why? [00:32:16] We want a counselor. We want a king who matches up to our worldly standards. [00:32:24] We want a council that advances an earthly realm, a council that brings peace, prosperity, earthly wealth, here and now. [00:32:37] And we know how this comes. [00:32:41] It comes through power plays. It comes through trade alliances. [00:32:46] It comes through military might. [00:32:49] It comes by taking and not by giving. [00:32:54] And so what Jesus counsels seems foolishness to our worldly ears. [00:33:01] Jesus counsels, give to the poor, lend to those who cannot pay back and expect nothing in return. [00:33:13] Don't be angry with your brother or your enemies. [00:33:20] Instead, love them, and when they hit you, turn the other cheek. [00:33:25] Do not repay evil for evil, but repay it with good. [00:33:29] When your enemy oppresses you, King Jesus says, you are blessed, for yours is the kingdom of heaven. [00:33:38] That's his counsel. [00:33:41] And that's the problem. [00:33:45] Our worldly minds don't want a heavenly kingdom, and we don't want a heavenly king. [00:33:53] And so we don't want heavenly counsel. [00:33:57] We're content. [00:33:59] No, we're more than content. We demand an earthly, this worldly counselor. [00:34:07] And we reject the child, the wonderful counselor. [00:34:13] What we don't get in all of this is that Jesus counsel is true wisdom. [00:34:21] It comes down from heaven. [00:34:24] It comes from the very mouth of God. Because when the child speaks, he is God in the flesh, Immanuel. [00:34:33] And because he is God, when he speaks to us about our problems, he speaks to the very root of our problems. [00:34:41] Jesus doesn't deal just with the surface issue. [00:34:45] We see poverty, we see oppression, we see wars and territorial disputes and all kinds of trouble. [00:34:56] But we see the surface. [00:34:58] When Jesus speaks, he speaks to what he sees in the hearts of sinners. And he deals with the root of the problem. [00:35:11] Think about justice. [00:35:14] Justice is a problem, right? [00:35:17] The world cries for justice. Give me justice here. Give me justice now. [00:35:24] Justice for the poor and for the oppressed, the downtrodden. [00:35:33] But what does justice mean? [00:35:35] It means not just fixing the state of oppression, setting people free, but justice also means punishing the oppressors, punishing the wealthy who take advantage of others, punishing murders, who take others lives. [00:35:53] All, all must pay for injustice and oppression. [00:35:58] There's some truth in this cry. [00:36:00] God's appointed civil governments to administer justice, right? [00:36:05] To punish evildoers, to protect the weak. [00:36:10] But as the world cries justice, it can never have true justice. [00:36:19] This life doesn't come, it doesn't give. In this life, justice, full, perfect and complete. We get a form of it, and only in degrees. [00:36:30] But as the world cries for justice, it rejects the justice, rejects the message of the gospel. [00:36:40] What does the gospel cry? [00:36:42] Not justice, but forgiveness. [00:36:46] It cries forgiveness because Jesus has satisfied justice. [00:36:52] That's the message of the cross. [00:36:54] Sinners deserved justice. Christ went and bore justice, the wrath of God on the cross for sinners. [00:37:03] And so as Christ speaks in the council of the Gospel, what does he do? [00:37:11] He says, I paid the price for you so that God would forgive you. [00:37:17] So now I call you to forgive. [00:37:21] I call you even to accept persecution and martyrdom. [00:37:27] And when you suffer it, don't demand retribution, call for forgiveness. [00:37:33] Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. [00:37:38] Why? [00:37:39] Because Jesus says, I satisfied justice and its demands. And now I give forgiveness. And I call you to give it. 2. [00:37:50] The world hears this gospel message when it cries for justice. And what does it hear? Foolishness. [00:37:59] But this foolish wisdom of Christ is the power of God to salvation for those who are being saved. [00:38:07] It is wonderful counsel. [00:38:12] You need to hear this counsel. [00:38:15] Because Jesus comes to you and he counsels peace on earth. He came and preached repentance and offered forgiveness of sins from heaven. This is still his counsel. [00:38:27] He cries out, turn to me all the ends of the earth and be saved. [00:38:33] Here you are in Arizona, clear the other side of the world from Jerusalem. [00:38:40] And Jesus calls to you, turn to me and be saved. [00:38:44] Dear sinner, you are at war with God again. Isaiah 59:2, you, iniquities have separated you from your God. Your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear. [00:39:02] Your hands are defiled with blood, your fingers with iniquity. [00:39:07] Your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perversity. [00:39:16] Like Isaiah, you face the holiness of God. He saw God high and lifted up the train of his robe filling the temple, and he was undone. That's you in the presence of God. [00:39:30] Ahaz thought his problem was the armies at the gates. [00:39:35] Maybe you think your problem is sickness, enemies at work, trouble with relatives, a dwindling bank account. [00:39:46] Your problem is your sin and God's justice which stands against you. [00:39:54] And Jesus comes and counsels you. Come, let us reason together. [00:40:00] Though your sins be red as scarlet, I will make them white as snow. [00:40:08] You deserve death, Jesus tells you, but I bore it. [00:40:13] You deserve the wrath of God for your sins. But I took all of it. [00:40:19] There's no payment left to be made for sins. [00:40:23] I paid all of it. [00:40:26] Look to the cross, See me hanging for you. [00:40:33] He counsels you further, do not put your trust in what perishes. [00:40:40] Ahaz trusted his money, trusted his power play, trusted the king of Assyria. [00:40:50] Christ counsels you, why do you spend money for what is not bread? And your wages for what does not satisfy. In other words, there's no hope for these things or for anything else that you would put your trust in in this life. [00:41:07] Nothing will save you. [00:41:11] There is no way that you can make peace with God for yourself, with earthly things. [00:41:18] Do not labor for food that perishes. He says in John 6. [00:41:26] The wonderful counselor wants to guide you, counsel you, advise you, but with the truth that needs to grip your heart. [00:41:36] It's not friendly advice. [00:41:39] It's life and death. Counsel, wonderful counsel. [00:41:45] He says, come to me and I will lead you in the way of peace. [00:41:51] Labor for the food that endures to everlasting life. [00:41:57] Listen carefully to me and eat what is good. [00:42:01] Let your soul delight itself in abundance. [00:42:06] Incline your ear and come to me. [00:42:09] Hear, and your soul will live. [00:42:14] What food, what food does he offer you that you cannot pay for that will fill your soul, give you the delights of heaven and eternal life? [00:42:28] He gave you a sign. [00:42:31] A babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a feed trough. [00:42:38] Why? [00:42:40] Because even as a child, given as a gift for you, lying in the food trough, he was crying out, I am the bread of life. [00:42:52] I am the food that I give for the life of the world. [00:42:57] Don't you see? [00:43:00] She placed him in a feed trough so that you would see that you need to feed on Jesus, the bread of life. [00:43:11] Don't miss it the shepherds didn't miss was given as a sign to shepherds and they know how you feed animals what you put in a food trough is food. [00:43:24] Jesus put the bread of life in the food trough for you. [00:43:28] And Jesus says come and feed on me. Believe in me and you will never hunger and never thirst again. [00:43:36] Let's pray. [00:43:38] O Lord our God, we acknowledge the great foolishness of our hearts. [00:43:45] Whenever we look in them we see our own darkness. [00:43:48] We see the clouds that surround us. We feel our anxiety and fear as Ahaz did. [00:43:57] And as we act out of this darkness we see its results in our lives. And we confess our utter need, desperate need for the Lord Jesus to show us the way of life. [00:44:11] O Lord our God, we ask that you would shine the light of your word in our hearts today and that you would give us new life. [00:44:20] Show us Jesus that we might receive him and believing in him that we might be saved. [00:44:27] In Jesus name we pray. Amen.