In the sermon 'He Shall Be Called...' by Scott Brown, the speaker reflects on Isaiah's prophecy about the Messiah, who is to be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. The sermon delves into the historical context of Isaiah's prophecy, a time of spiritual darkness and judgment, and highlights the comfort and hope that these titles bring to a broken society. Brown emphasizes that what individuals call Jesus reflects their relationship with Him, and that recognizing Him as 'Wonderful' has profound implications for one's life and values. The sermon also discusses how Jesus, as 'Mighty God,' offers strength and reassurance against fears, and as 'Prince of Peace,' brings peace in various forms—peace with God, peace among individuals, and peace within oneself. The expansion of His government and the fulfillment of God's promises are highlighted as ongoing and eternal, driven by the zeal of the Lord.

H1.9.6.7. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end and upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward even forever. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this Let's pray Lord we thank you for this text your word spoken to us. We thank you that you give us Give us this this text to study.

We thank You that You are the bread of life, that You give us food for our souls. We ask that You would apply it to our lives and help us to understand and learn more about You today. Amen. More about you today. Amen.

Isaiah is prophesying 700 years about the coming of the Messiah, prophesying at a time of apostasy, a time of spiritual darkness, a time of judgment where God is bringing harsh judgments against a nation that He raised up. And Isaiah here in this passage speaks of the coming of the Messiah, and there's so many elements of it in the first part of the chapter, that there will be an end of gloom in verse 1, that the people who walked in darkness will see a great light, that there will be a multiplication of joy in the hearts of people in verse 3 and in verse 4 that the yoke of sin will be broken, the yoke of bondage, and it will be like the war that God waged through Gideon where a 32, 000-person army was cut down to 300, and telling really the story that it's not by might, it's not by power, but it's by the Spirit of God that these victories are won. And then in verse 6, he speaks about this child who will be born. And when this child will be born, something is going to happen. Something is happening in people's hearts that's spoken of here.

And that is that when He comes, people will say things about Him. They will actually speak something in response to His coming. And they will say that He's wonderful. That's what it's about. It's about people who say that He's wonderful.

And everything in your life turns on what you think is wonderful. Everything. What you believe is wonderful, it makes you who you are. What you believe is wonderful really determines your schedule every day. What you believe is wonderful determines what you say to people.

What you say is wonderful. It makes all the difference in the world. And what Isaiah is saying here is that when Jesus comes, you can expect something to happen in a person's heart, and he will call the Son certain things. Well, there are actually four things that people will call the Son of God. And, you know, what you say about Him is the most important thing.

And so what I want us to dwell on today in the midst of all the different words that are here, is I want us to just ask ourselves, is He wonderful to us? Is He counselor to us? Is He mighty God to us? Is He eternal Father to us? Is He Prince of Peace to us?

Those are some of the most important questions you will ever hear. Now these are words of comfort for people in a broken society. On the one hand, God is in the process of judging his people. There's economic collapse, there's social collapse, there's collapse in every category of life. People are broken.

They're so broken. And the whole head is sick. The whole heart is faint. There's so much going wrong in people's lives. Manhood has been destroyed.

Womanhood has been destroyed. The men are acting like women and the women are acting like men. And it's a picture of a society under judgment. But here in the midst of this, God is saying it's not over. It's not over because he's going to send his son.

And he's comforting his people. And he's telling them that he will not forget his covenant. He's telling his people that no matter what happens around you, you have to recognize that God is faithful to keep his covenant. It's not over. You know, sometimes people, things happen in people's lives and they say it's over, it's over for me.

Not true. Isaiah, the prophet, stands here as a beacon of light to say it's not over even for a broken people. Now it is over for them if they can't say, he's wonderful. It is over for them if they can't say, he's my counselor. If it is over for them if they can't say, He's my mighty God.

But it's not over for those who can say that. Who when the Son comes and they look at Him and they call Him wonderful counselor. Because this is a picture of people who see Him. And, you know, all of us have had the opportunity to see Him. And the big question is, what do you say?

What are you saying in your heart when you see Him? And so, this whole first part of chapter 9, it declares the victory of his son. And then there are these great names. Now what we see here in chapter 9 also is really a microcosm of the whole book of Isaiah, because what Isaiah does is he goes back and forth between two subjects, the judgment of God and the brokenness of the people of God on the one hand, and also the mercy of God. You know, he brings a vision of judgment in almost every chapter, but also in Almost every chapter, he brings a vision of the mercy of God.

He never lets you stay in judgment without coming and bringing his gospel of hope. And here, this gospel begins with the child, verse 6. For unto us a child is born. This is the first act of the mercy of God toward a broken people, is that a child is born. You have this outline before you.

I have six glorious things about this gospel of the kingdom. A child is born, number one. A son is given, secondly. Thirdly, a government is declared. Number fourth, he will be known by what he is called.

And then we get these terms for Jesus, wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Fifth, His government will increase and sixth, His zeal is the source of all these blessings. His zeal is really the source of any blessing that anybody has ever experienced. But first of all, we see that a child is born. For unto us, a child is born.

And here, Isaiah is focusing on his birth, the act of his birth, the incarnation, that he comes as a child. And he is made like us. He is born into the world and takes on human nature, it's human flesh. And he is born into the world as a child in order to become a sympathetic high priest who has compassion on those whom believe in Him. And He is born as a man.

He is the second Adam. The first Adam was imperfect. The first Adam brought sin into the world and it was imputed onto mankind to have a sinful nature. The second Adam comes sinless and he imputes his righteousness into mankind. He overcomes the plague of the fall and he imputes his righteousness and He does save from the poisonous things of the fall.

He purges your iniquity is what He does. He cleans you out, and He cleans you out all your life long. But He is made like us. It was necessary for Him to learn obedience. And this child is born.

This is the historical reality of his birth, you know, announced by the angels, hated by Herod, you know, proclaimed by his disciples. And even his birth marks history. We make our calendars by His birth. We make His calendars on this phrase, a child is born. Isn't that amazing?

And God will not let the world forget it. You know, Reprobates have tried to change the calendar. Ain't worked, has it? I wonder why that is. God continues to press the matter that the center of history is the birth of a child.

And that's what we find here. And this prophecy was written over 700 years before he was born. And the prophets would speak about where he was born, how he would be born, to whom he would be born, why he would be born. Well, he would be born to crush the head of the serpent, prophesied in Genesis 3 verse 15. So these prophecies are now being fulfilled, as spoken of by the prophet Isaiah.

In Luke chapter 2 verse 11 we read, For there is born unto you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord, and this will be the sign to you. You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. And this is how his birth was celebrated, and so you celebrate his birth. His birth, his incarnation was celebrated with such grandeur and beauty and such emotion and such remarkable feelings that were connected with it, as even they said, glory to God in the highest, announcing this birth.

And So Jesus is this central character in history as He is born. And God is faithful. He's fulfilling His promises in this phrase in verse 6 here. And What God is doing is he is keeping his covenant, he's keeping his promise that he made to Abraham. He's keeping his promise that he made to David that he would fulfill his covenant, that there would be a government that would not ever be able to be destroyed.

In 1 Chronicles 17 he speaks of it. He says in verse 7, Now therefore, thus shall you say to my servant David, Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the sheepfold and from following the sheep to be ruler over my people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you, and have made you a name like the name of the great men who were on the earth. Moreover, I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in the place of their own and move no more, nor shall the sons of wickedness oppress them any more, as previously. Since the time that I commanded judges to be over the house of Israel, the people of Israel, also I will subdue all your enemies.

Furthermore, I tell you that the Lord will build you a house, and it shall be when your days are fulfilled, when you must go to be with your fathers, that I will set up your seed after you, who will be of your sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son, and I will not take my mercy away from him as I took it from him who is before you. And I will establish him in my house and in my kingdom forever. And his throne shall be established forever, according to all these words and according to this vision." so Nathan spoke to David.

This coming of the Son was prophesied. This whole prophecy is an affirmation of the fulfillment of God's promises to David. God makes a promise to Adam in his covenant. God makes a promise to Abraham in His covenant. God makes a promise to David in His covenant.

And Isaiah is repeating it here, that a child will be born, and this is the fulfillment of the promise. And then it says here, a son is given unto us, a Son is given. And what this means is many things, really. First of all, that He was with God in eternity past. He was not created.

He was given. He was eternally the Son of God. This is not Mormonism who says that Jesus was the offspring of Elohim and his relationship with the Virgin Mary. This is not that at all. It is that he was, he is a son who was given.

He was already the son. And the son is given to us. I think that's worthy of considering. He's given to the people of Israel. He's making a people.

He's bringing people together. God has always done that. He creates a community of people, of living stones, of people for his own possession. And that's why he says, unto us, us plural, A son is given. God gives his son to his people.

And his son becomes the center of their whole life. It's another way of saying that Jesus Christ is the center of the church. It's the center of His people. God gives His Son to His people. What is the greatest gift that the church has?

Jesus Christ. What is the center of the people of God? Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And the Son is given to the people. And that's why in Acts 2-42 you see that the people were breaking bread from house to house.

They were celebrating the Son of God. And They were happy together in their new community as they were a holy nation. But they were delighting themselves in their Savior who had been given to them. They had received something they did not have before. They had a new life.

They had a new shepherd. They had new bread. They had new wine. And it was given unto them. This is very personal for the people of God.

He was given. And then His government is declared. Not only is a child born, not only is a son given, but there's a declaration of His government. This is a statement about Him. And the government will be upon His shoulder.

That means that He will carry everything. We know that He was a co-creator with God of all things. And he also is the governor of all things as he sustains everything. The Bible actually says that he holds everything together and without him everything would fly apart. And he has the government of everything upon his shoulder.

Aren't you glad it's not on your shoulders to govern everything? Aren't you glad that you're not the controller of everything? And that you have to somehow rise up and control everything. Well, the government is not on your shoulders. Of course, he has given government to people in different stations of life.

He gives certain governments to fathers and mothers and civil magistrates and elders of churches and things like that. He does give government. But the truth is the great caring of the government is upon his shoulders. And he does that in different ways. Think about how he has governed us.

He has given us his laws. He protects us in so many ways. He gives authorities in the world. I just mentioned them, fathers and civil magistrates and elders of churches. And he has said that he has dominion over all the governments of the world.

And this should be a comfort to us. And we don't carry all the burdens of the world. He has the whole world in his hands. And that should be a comfort to us. If you see things spinning out of control, recognize, there's a governor far greater than you.

Whatever you might do in your government pales in scale and power as to the government that is upon his shoulders. And you know, he is carrying it. You know, when you think about the burden of government, the burden of doing things in the name of the Lord, Here it says that He is bearing that burden. And it's a comfort to know that He bears the burden for everything that happens in the world, and that He is the Governor of the world. He is the great and the perfect governor of the world.

And he is bearing the weight of all of that government. And what a blessing it is that he has done that. And then we also see that he will be known by what he is called. And the logic here that Isaiah is bringing to us is that when the child is born, when the son is given, something is going to happen to people who see him. They are going to call him something.

Now he's talking about his faithful remnant. He's talking about the people who love him, who love his appearing. And those who are in that category, they will call him something. Now everybody didn't call Jesus wonderful counselor. Some mocked him when he came.

Some called him Beelzebub. There were others that even called him a wine-bibber and a glutton. And there were some who called him an illegitimate son. Some saw him, and they gnashed their teeth at him. Some called him a good teacher.

And others saw him, and they shook their heads. And they said, can anything good come out of Nazareth? So when he comes, when the child comes, different things will be said. But what Isaiah is focusing in on is what happens in your heart when you love him having seen him. That you will call him something.

And he gives just four names, each collected up in two words. And he's saying that people will call him Wonderful Counsel, or Mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. That's what people will call Him from their hearts. Now it's remarkable that Isaiah just picks out these four terms for him because he has called many things. He has called the second Adam.

He's called advocate, almighty, alpha and omega, the amen, the arm of the Lord, the author and perfecter of our faith, the beloved Son, the branch, the bread of life, the captain of salvation, the chief shepherd, the cornerstone, the day spring, the door, the first and the last, the great high priest, the head of the church, the lamb of God, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Man of Sorrows, the Mediator, the Rose of Sharon, the True Vine, the True Light, the Word of God. He has called so many things, and there are many dozens of names for Jesus Christ in the Bible. But when when the Son is given and when the Son is seen by those who love Him and are called according to His purpose, They will call Him something. Now, I don't think these are names literally. I don't think Jesus Christ would write His signature necessarily, wonderful counselor.

But when people think of Him, these are the things that they will say in their hearts and with their lips about Him. They're the things that they say about Him. And, You know, if you have a certain experience with a person, you say something about them. Your experience will cause you to think about them and speak about them in a certain way. Where everybody's like that.

And We use names in our descriptions of people when we think of them. You see this in many different ways. Abraham Lincoln was called what? Honest Abe. Richard Nixon.

Tricky Dick. Bill Clinton. Slick Willie. People are, certain things come to mind and you speak of them. Now you know, Slick Willie wasn't Bill Clinton's name.

It was just something that represented what people thought of him. And this is what will happen when someone sees the Lord Jesus Christ and their heart is softened and they're born again and they say something about Him in their hearts. And so the big question that I want us to consider is, what do you call Him? What do we call him as a church? I know that to some people he's a concept, you know.

He's not really a person. He's sort of an idea. He's maybe a representative of moral categories. That's sort of what Thomas Jefferson thought. He was the greatest moral physician that existed.

So he took out all the supernatural parts of the Jefferson Bible as he took his scissors out and cut out everything that he didn't like that somehow contradicted his morality. For some he's the source of information and he's something that you think about with fascinating historical and theological categories. You know, these are sort of the unsafe theology walks that are in the church. All they ever want to do is argue about some theological position. Not that it isn't good to discuss matters like this, but you do find people who are some of the most active theological minds, they don't think of him the way that Isaiah is speaking of him here.

Maybe he's an example of kindness, but not a king. So what do you call him? What do we call him as a church? Because remember, he is given to us, So I think it's appropriate to speak of us corporately as a church. What is he to us?

And when we speak of him in the world, how do we talk about him? What comes to mind when you think of Him? You know, I was so, I was amazed. I received an email from Mala in Africa last week, and he sent me something that John Calvin wrote about Jesus Christ. And it was what Calvin thought of Christ.

And he was so taken by the Lord Jesus Christ That he spoke so beautifully of him. I'm just going to read it. He wrote this in the preface to the Geneva Bible, and the title is Christ, the end of the law. But he speaks of what comes really out of his heart in considering Jesus. He humbled Himself to exalt us.

He made Himself a servant to set us free. He became poor to enrich us. He was sold to buy us back. A captive to deliver us, condemned to procure our pardon. He was made a curse that we might be blessed.

The oblation for our sins, for our justification. His face was marred to re-beautify ours. He died that we might have life in such sort that by him, hardness is softened, wrath appeased, darkness made light, Iniquity turned into righteousness. Weakness is made strength. Despair is consoled.

Sin is resisted. Shame is despised. Fear is emboldened. Debt is paid. Labor is lightened.

Sorrow is turned to joy. Misfortune into blessing. Difficulties are made easy. Disorder made order. Division into Union.

Ignominy is ennobled. Rebellion is subjected. Threat is threatened. Ambush is ambushed. Assault is assailed.

Striving is overpowered. War is warred against. Vengeance is avenged on. Torment is tormented. Damnation damned.

Destruction destroyed. Hell burned up. Death is killed. Mortality changed into immortality. In short, pity has swallowed up all misery, and goodness all wretchedness, for all these things which used to be the arms which the devil combated us, and the sting of death are to draw us forward, turned into instruments from which we can derive profit." Well That's what Calvin thought when he thought of Jesus Christ, the end of the law.

When he thought of Christ fulfilling the law, that's what came out of his heart. The question is, what do you say about Christ in your heart. Well there are four names. Often these are broken up into five names, And I think you can make a case for that. It seems rather though consistent to make them four names.

Wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, and prince of peace. That's how I'll take them. But You can't easily get by the first word. It stops you in your tracks. You almost can't get any farther than that one word, wonderful.

He is wonderful. And the word means miraculous, out of the ordinary, extraordinary, multifaceted, marvelous, infinitely diverse, magnificently interesting, absolutely beyond wonder. In other words, wonder that you can never get to the bottom of. It's like that with the Bible. When you read His word, You never get to the bottom of.

You know, it's like that with the Bible. When you read His Word, you never get to the bottom of it. I know there are people in this church that have probably read the book of Proverbs hundreds of times, and it's almost new every time they read it. You cannot get to the bottom of it. It's too beautiful.

It's too deep. It's too high. It's too broad. He is so marvelous. He's good in every way.

And you know what that means is that with Jesus Christ you'll never be bored. Because there's just another thing to marvel at. Another thing to praise God for. Another thing to just be completely amazed. He is immeasurably interesting.

Immeasurably beautiful. Why would we want to look anywhere else to the darker things of this world that are not that way at all, the things that just sort of stop? But this word really should stop us. He is this kind of counselor. Immeasurably diverse.

Immensely helpful. Beyond helpfulness that we've ever known. He is a wonder counselor, a supernatural counselor. He's different than every other kind of counselor, inexhaustible in his richness. You know, he has laid out his counsels in so many ways.

You know, in Isaiah 6, which we're memorizing as a church, I was so struck by this this week. The Seraphim cries out. He says, holy, holy, holy. He says, the whole earth is full of His glory. The whole earth.

That's what the Seraphim see when they look out there. They see the glory of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. And everywhere they look, the whole earth is full of His glory. Wouldn't it be so good to see the earth that way with those kind of eyes, but yet our sin nature dulls our vision. But this one who creates and sustains and governs and heals the sick and feeds the hungry and casts out demons, This is the one, this is the counselor.

You know, He's wonderful in so many ways. Think of how wonderful He is in His love. Think of how wonderful He is in His compassion as a high priest. Think of how wonderful he is in his compassion as a high priest. Think of how wonderful he is in his sympathy as he has sympathized with our weaknesses.

How wonderful he is in his humility, in his patience, in his wisdom. How wonderful he was in eternity past. How wonderful in his birth. How wonderful in his life. How wonderful in his death and resurrection.

How wonderful in his prayers from heaven given to his people. He's omni-competent in all of these things. And that's why David said in Psalm 139, such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain it.

And he said that because he knew that God had searched his heart and known him, that he understood his thoughts from afar. David knew that he could not even take one step except for the Lord had preordained it and knew where he would step." He could not have one single thought unless God knew about that thought. This is the wonder of wonders of the Son of God. And He said, it's too wonderful for me. I cannot attain it.

You know, people can lose a sense of the wonderfulness of God. You know how it happens. You know one major way it happens? Well, it happens when fathers don't have a sense of wonder of Jesus, and so they don't speak of it. There's a brilliant illustration of this in Psalm 78.

Did you know that in Psalm 78 is really a record of the people who lost the wonder of God? Because the fathers were not telling the wondrous things that He had done. And the psalmist in Psalm 78 uses this exact same word, this root word for wonderful that Isaiah uses. And what happened was is that the marvelous things that he had done had been forgotten. In Psalm 78 verse 9 it says, the children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle.

They did not keep the covenant of God. They refused to walk in His law. Why? Why did that happen? Why did they fail?

Verse 11 tells you, they forgot his works and his wonders that he had shown them. The marvelous things he did in the sight of their fathers. One of the quickest ways that you can lose a sense of wonder in the church is when fathers do not rise up and speak of the wonders of God and tell of His marvelous deeds as Psalm 78 commands fathers to do. You know, Asaph in Psalm 78, he rises up and he says, follow my example. I will open my mouth in a parable.

I'll utter dark sayings of old. Don't let the light of wonder go out in your family. Don't be like the sons of Ephraim. If you're like Ephraim, your sons and daughters will turn back in the day of battle. You know why?

Because they don't call Him wonderful. They don't have reason enough to call Him wonderful, because you didn't call Him wonderful day after day. Because you didn't think He was so wonderful. And because you didn't think he was so wonderful, you couldn't speak of it. You were powerless to speak of it because you didn't think he was wonderful yourself.

And this is how the light of wonder goes out among the people of God. But when a child is given, when a son comes, and you see him, do you say, he's wonderful. He's a wonderful counselor. You know, what a blessing it is to rise up and speak of how wonderful He is. I can't think of a better thing for a father and a mother to do than to wake up every day and speak of how good God is.

You know, even saying that, I so wish more. I so wish I had done that more. I so wish I will do it more. But I do know this. Unless you think He's wonderful, you can't call His name wonderful.

You can't. Do you, in your heart, call Him wonderful? Do you? You know, if you don't, God has mercy on those who do not call Him wonderful. He softens their hearts.

He gives them an urging deep in their souls to call Him wonderful. And they start saying, I want to call him wonderful. I don't call him wonderful, but I want to. And they say, yes, I do believe he is wonderful. I do believe that God did that a child was born and a son was given.

I do believe that. And I do believe that He's wonderful. Lord, I believe. Help me in my unbelief. So if there's someone who doesn't think He's wonderful, cry out to Him.

And pray that he would give you a heart that wonders at him. A heart that says, I just can't get enough. I want more, Lord. He's wonderful. He is wonderful counselor.

Wonderful counselor. It is hard to get by that word wonderful, but he is wonderful counselor. This has to do with giving advice. It is consultation. Have you ever hired a consultant?

Have you ever not had enough wisdom so you brought somebody else in? Have you ever gone to a pastor for counsel? Have you ever paid someone, a professional, to give you counsel? Well, this is the exact kind of idea here. It's to give advice, consultation, and even a plan.

The word is even used to conspire, to conspire with, to exchange together. It has to do with really a relationship of going to someone to plan, to conspire, to evaluate, to dissect, and to determine what ought to be done. It's a collaborative kind of process where you enter into counsel, in this case with the Lord Jesus Christ. You bring your requests and He counsels. He is a miracle counselor.

He's a wonderful counselor. And He counsels in different ways, primarily through His Word. His counsels are in His Word. He counsels through His Spirit. He illuminates by His Spirit.

He counsels through His people. He even counsels in the night as He did David. David said in Psalm 16, I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel. My heart also instructs me in the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before me.

Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. My flesh also will rest in hope." This is David speaking of this wonderful counselor, the Spirit of Jesus Christ ministering to David. You know, we are a people who goes for counsel. Here's a question that comes to mind when I read this.

Are we so dependent on others for their councils? Or are we rather so much more dependent on God and His counsels and His Word? What this means here is that if you have Christ, then you will have the counsel that you need. It means that you will always have direction. It also means that His counsels are infallible.

His counsels are perfect and you can trust in them. It means that His counsels are sufficient. His counsel is all that you need. His counsel is from His Father. He knows the will of His Father.

And He makes it clear that in the Father and the Son is supreme wisdom, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." That's Colossians 2 verse 3. David said that it made him wise. That's why in Psalm 119 verse 97 he says, oh how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day. And then right after that, in the next verse, he says, through your commandments, you make me wiser than my enemies.

And then in verse 99, He says, I have more understanding than my teachers. And then in verse 100, he says that I have more understanding than the ancients. Because his counsels are so good. He has many counsels. He counsels sinners, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

To those who were brokenhearted, He said, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. To his disciples where he was going to leave them, he said, believe in God. Believe also in me and my Father's house or many dwelling places. Jesus is constantly counseling his disciples. You know, by the way, I was thinking about this last week.

Last week, my parents celebrated their 66th wedding anniversary. OK, how about that? 66 years. Boy, you know, I think that pretty much beats everybody in the room here. But you know, I was thinking about how did that happen?

You know, one of the ways that happened was it was a marriage that was fortified by the counsels of Jesus. Jesus was counseling them about how to have a marriage. You know, that's how it happened. And they tried to listen to Jesus. They tried to make Jesus Christ the center of their home and their life and their marriage.

They wanted to make Jesus and His church the center of their life. And because of that, they got a lot of counsel over the years. I don't remember my parents ever missing Sunday worship. I just don't recall it. I don't ever remember my parents staying home for any reason because they wanted the counsels of the Lord.

And so they had this marriage that was constantly being fortified by the counsels of God. How do you have a Christ-centered life? How do you have a Christ-centered life? How do you have a Christ-centered marriage? Well, it begins really with the counsels of God.

And every marriage has a supernatural counselor. And every issue that is faced in a marriage, Every single issue can be resolved by Jesus Christ and Him alone, by the proper use of His Word. And what a blessing it is to have a marriage that lasts 66 years, a 66 year happy marriage. I know, you know, by the way, it's still happy, I know, I see it all the time. You know, I walk by their little living room And I see them in there.

And it's still going. The councils of Jesus are still rolling. It's still pretty much, that's what they do every day, is they go get the council of Jesus. There's nothing better for your marriage. You know, How do you have a happy marriage?

You can't unless you make Jesus Christ the center of it. If two people have all their hopes in Jesus Christ, then they can have a marriage. If they have their hopes in one another, then that gets really hard. But if two people are focused on Jesus Christ, then they will be growing together in that direction. And he is such a wonderful counselor, but I've been rejoicing in this.

You know, I know that it's very helpful to get counsel for your marriage from other people, but I suspect that often it's very unnecessary. Because often people come to counsel because they want to continue to reject Jesus Christ and his counsel. They want to hang on to their sin. They want to keep sinning against their spouse, so they want to just talk about it more. And they want to tell somebody that their spouse sinned against them in this one way.

And then they go back and forth. But in reality, often it's nothing more than rejecting the wonderfulness of Jesus Christ's counsel. It's wonderful. It's supernatural counsel. I'm not against giving marriage counsel or sending people to marriage counsel.

Not at all. I'm not against that at all. But I do know this. After being alive a couple years As a pastor, a lot of people come to marriage counseling when they just want to continue in their sin. You know, you can, until you identify the sin in your own heart, in your own marriage, your marriage will never be fixed.

If you want to think about the sin of your wife, it'll never be fixed. But if you can deal with your own sin and be content with that and let Jesus Christ in His Word tell you how to act, your marriage will be okay. But some of you go to marriage counseling because you don't want to give up your sin. You just want to keep talking about it. I didn't get that many amens on that.

Amen. So we stand before Him in His counsel, and His counsel is effective. It's beautiful counsel. And because He's a wonderful counselor, I know that he can answer my questions. And this is the place where we go, His perfect Word.

It is sufficient. So is He like that to you? Is that what you call Him in your heart? Your wonderful counselor? Or do you just want to hear everybody else's counsel?

Well, mighty God. He's also mighty God. Now, This means several things. First of all, it means that Jesus is God. Jesus Christ is God.

He is mighty God. The Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe this. He is fully God and fully man. He is God in the flesh. So this theological point needs to be cleared before we go on.

But he is mighty God and this has to do with his strength as a warrior. The word is used here as a giant, of the valiant, of the strong, of the great, of the warrior. That's the idea that Isaiah is speaking of. You know, when we started this study, One of the things I said about Isaiah was that if you knew Isaiah, you would think of him as so brilliant. The language that he uses, the beautiful things that he says, the contours, the granularity, the vivid imagery that he brings is so remarkable.

But here, he uses this word, mighty, for God. He is almighty. And here's the question. Do you say that about him? When you see Jesus Christ, do you call Him mighty?

Or do you call all the problems of your life mighty? Who's mighty? Who's the big fish in your pond? Who's hanging over your head? Almighty God or some problem that you have.

But He is mighty. You know, we sang the song, Joy to the World, a couple times in this last few weeks. And in the song is the line, he rules the world with truth and grace. He makes the nations prove the glories of His righteousness. I love that line.

He makes the nations prove the glories of His righteousness. Yes, all the nations. Uh-huh. Even, even France, even the United States of America, even, you know, the most corrupt nations of the earth, God makes the nations prove the glories of His righteousness. He does it in so many ways.

We could recount so many ways that He makes nations prove the glories of His righteousness. When they break His laws, they're destroyed. You think of this demographic problem that exists in the developed nations of the world today. The problem was developed because they rejected God, and now God is destroying them. And He's put them into a demographic winner.

Many of the nations cannot even recover from it. The curve has gone too far, and you cannot bounce back, except over many, many, many generations. But He makes the nations prove the glories of His righteousness. When people break God's law, they are broken. And the nations prove that all the time.

Our nation is proving it in the different ways that we're breaking the laws of God. Our nation is proving the glories of His righteousness, by the way. You see the happiness of the people of God, and you see the despair of those who do not know God. He's making the nations prove the glories of His righteousness. There are so many ways that nations prove it.

And you know, you can look at all the calamity that's going on in the world, and it can discourage you on the one hand, but don't stop there. Remember that God is proving His righteousness. He is proving that His ways are pleasant ways, and that if you reject Him, He will destroy you. He will give you temporal troubles. And of course, He has promised to finally destroy everything raised up against His name at his final judgment.

But he is mighty God. I mean, do you believe that? Do you believe that God is determining all of the outcomes. You know, in the Garden of Gethsemane, we see Peter in a stage of his life where he felt that his sovereignty changed everything and was the great lever for righteousness in the world. And Jesus Christ had already shown His power.

They'd fallen back. He said, I am. And the crowd fell back. And Peter still believed in his sword. And he could change everything that way.

And Jesus says to Him, put your sword into the sheath, shall I not drink the cup which my Father has given me." In other words, He's mighty God. He's going to carry out His will. And so often we think it's really all about our might, and we don't trust God, and we fret, and we have all kinds of fears overcoming us because we don't really think God is mighty. And when we think of Jesus, we don't think that He's mighty. We don't call Him mighty.

We call the big problem, the big gorilla in the room, mighty. But His Holy Spirit, His divine power, is absolutely unvanquishable. Nothing can stay His hand. He will do His will in the kingdoms of the world. And it's such a comforting word to know this.

Because He's mighty God, I never need to worry about my weakness. Because He is mighty God, I never need to worry about this economy. Because He's mighty God, I never need to worry about office politics. Because He's mighty God, I never need to worry about this economy. Because He's mighty God, I never need to worry about office politics.

Because He's mighty God, I never need to worry about the future, because God is in control. He rules animate objects, inanimate objects, animals, the weather. He rules the wind and the waves, He rules everything, He is mighty God. And if He wants to, He can change everything about your life in a moment. Everything.

You know, most people here want something changed in their life. But when you think of Jesus, Do you call Him mighty God? And have you forgotten that if He wants to, He can change everything in your life? If He wants to, He can make anything happen in your life and through your life and for your life. God is mighty.

And yet, He doesn't do everything that we want in our own time, does He? You know why? Because He is mighty. And He's using you to glorify Himself, and He will glorify Himself. He's not so concerned about your glory, but His glory.

And because of that, He might make you wait so that you will glorify Him more. And so as mighty God, He swallows up my insecurity so that I can say, who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders. That's the wonderful God. He is so wonderful.

He's wonderful in his might So has anybody forgotten that Anybody here forgotten that he's mighty and You're just overcome with this fear and that fear somehow. God's just cut you off forever You know there's no there's no bounce back. You know There's no hope for you. God sort of like You're like the only one he's left out. You're the only guy in your industry that really can't make it happen, and it'll never happen.

You're the only young man or the only young girl here who's never, ever going to be married, ever. There's just no way. Who would ever want to marry somebody like you anyway, as the devil speaks into your ear, right? He's mighty God and he will do what he desires to do for his own glory. He will do it.

I just hope that's comforting to everybody. So is he like that to you? Is this what you call him? In your heart, mighty God. And then everlasting Father.

Jesus is everlasting Father. Now, Jesus Christ is not the first person of the Trinity. This is not about God the Father. There is one Father. There is one God the Father, there is one God the Son, there is one God the Spirit.

And so in saying that He's everlasting Father doesn't overwhelm the fact that God is in three persons. Christ is sent from the Father. Christ is the only begotten Son of the Father. It's really important to get this straight. The Father is not the Son.

The Son is not the Father. The Son is not the Spirit. The Spirit is not the Father. And the Spirit is not the Son. They are distinct persons in the Trinity.

But the Father is God, and the Son is God, and the Spirit is God. So in saying that He is everlasting Father, We do not agree with the modalists who teach that there's one God with three personalities. That's what modalism is. The one that's Pentecostals embraced this. T.D.

Jakes is one of the most popular proponents of modalism. Rather, Trinitarianism teaches that there are three distinct persons, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. At the same time, the Lord Jesus Christ and His Father are one. Jesus said, I and the Father are one. In John 1, 18, we read, No one has seen God at any time.

The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." So you have the Son in the bosom of the Father. He's one with the Father, and He is in the bosom of the Father. That's the terminology of love. You know, the Son is in the bosom of His Father. It speaks of fatherly love.

In John 14, 6, Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. So you have these two different persons. You have a person coming to the Father through the Son. They're two separate persons.

And Jesus says in verse 7 in John 14, If you had known me, you would have known my Father also, and from now on you know Him and have seen Him." So when Isaiah says that he is everlasting Father, He's not overwhelming the unity of the Father and the Son, nor is He declaring that they are exactly the same. Jesus Christ does identify with His Father. He says, I am, And he identifies with his Father. And the Lord Jesus Christ is the second Adam in that sense. He is a Father in that sense.

So he is a Father in a particular way. He is a forever Father. That's a better way to say it, or a father forever. And this is the quality of Christ toward his people. He acts like a father toward his people.

And in his oneness with his father, He takes on the likenesses of his Father, and he acts like a Father. And he is actually the perfect representation of the Father. In Hebrews 1 verse 3, he is the brightness of his glory and the express image of His person. So this unity is very profound even though they are distinct. The Son is the brightness of the glory of the Father.

So in doing so, He takes on the qualities of a father. He shares so much of his fatherhood with his father. And this is why when you think about how to be a father, you should look at the Son. Because Jesus Christ tells you how to be a father. Look at the way that Jesus Christ dealt with the disciples.

That's how fathers should deal with their disciples. If you want to know how to be a father, look at Jesus. He'll teach you how to be a perfect father. Jesus Christ was such a good father to his disciples. Well, of course, he was a shepherd, he was a light, he was a father.

But here the emphasis is on fatherhood forever. There's this hymn, Praise My Soul, the King of Heaven. Here's a verse, fatherlike, He tends and spares us, well our feeble frame he knows. In his hands he gently bears us, rescues us from all our foes." The hymn writer says that he's father-like. I think that gets it.

That explains the doctrine that's here in this text. He acts like a father. John Gill explains it like this. They will never be left fatherless. There's so many ways that He is like a Father.

He feeds, He clothes like a Father. He has mercy as a Father has mercy. He protects like a father. He helps the helpless like a father. He has patience like a father.

And He says, you know, He who began a good work in you will complete it. He is the author and the finisher of faith. He finishes what he begins. That's what a faithful Father does. He has compassion like a Father.

Psalm 103 is such a beautiful place to go to speak of that. He takes care of your future like a father. You know what that means? That He is eternal Father, everlasting Father. Let me just say it in really simple terms.

Are you ready? Hey, please don't forget this one thing, okay? I've been waiting to say this. I've been waiting all this sermon to say this. And here it is.

Because He is everlasting Father. Are you ready? Everything is going to turn out okay. How about that? Eternally.

Everything's going to turn out okay. Does He like that to you? Is this what you call Him in your heart? Everlasting Father? I mean, do you see Him that way?

Prince of Peace. He's here presented as a prince. Now, so far, Jesus Christ has been described as a child, as a son, as a counselor, as a governor, as a warrior, and as a father. And now he's characterized as A prince. A prince.

You know, he is wonderful, remember? He's multifaceted. He's immeasurably beautiful and complex. And here there's the image of a prince. You can't get to the bottom of him.

He's too marvelous. But he is a prince in terms of his leadership. He leads to peace. He is the general, the ruler, the activator, the preserver. He leads to peace.

Acts 3.5 says, He's the Prince of Life, meaning He's the Key to Life. Here, He's the Prince of Peace, He's the Key to Peace. Now Isaiah, you know, is writing to people in different eras. He's writing to people in his own time who are in a time of war. To the north, Ephraim, Israel is plotting in political alliance with Syria.

And they've done enormous damage already. And Ahaz is scared to death. He's shaking like a tree. And he wants to go get help from the world, too, from Syria, from Tiglath-Pelis. They're absolutely driven by fear.

And so Isaiah is speaking to his people, saying he's the Prince of Peace. Have peace. But he's also speaking to those who live in the times later on where peace is threatened. He's speaking of the time of the child, the time of Jesus Christ. And he is, the son that is given is the Prince of Peace.

Jesus Christ is that Prince. So he's speaking to us too. He's not just speaking to his own people, he's also speaking to you and I in the days of the Gospel. And the core idea here is that he is the master of the realm of peace. There are different kinds of peace that He is the Prince of.

And first and foremost is the peace with God. That's perhaps the most important kind of peace. Paul said in Romans 1, Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Here's a picture of being justified by faith. You're justified, you're set free, you're declared righteous, and something happens, you rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

What's that? The hope of the glory of God is about you, because you are the hope of the glory of God. And so there's peace with God. But our peace did not come easy. Our peace didn't come by just God saying to you, oh, just forget about your sins.

It didn't come like that. It's so easy. It didn't come by just saying, hey, your sins don't matter anymore. Your peace with God doesn't come like that. Because every sin must be punished.

God will punish every sin. And He punished His Son for your sins. You were justified. He punished sin by punishing His Son, punishing His scapegoat, His own Son. As your sins were laid on Him and His righteousness was laid on you and there is no condemnation and therefore there was peace like a river.

It was that well-being of knowing that God has dealt with your sin. It's a false gospel that says sin doesn't matter. It's a true gospel that says that sin is so bad that God punished His Son. And you should grieve over that, But it's your only hope. And that's the joy and the hope of the glory of God.

The second kind of peace is peace between men and women. Blessed are the peacemakers. We are called to peace. Ephesians chapter two verses 13 through 18 speak of Christ as our peace. That Jesus Christ makes peace between brothers and sisters.

They no longer war against one another because they have God counseling them. And then the third kind of peace is peace in your own heart. And the Apostle Paul says that prayer is really the gateway to peace in your heart. In Philippians 4.7 he says, Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your request be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ.

That's peace in your heart, and it's a fruit of prayer. The fourth kind of peace is the kind of peace that exists in His kingdom. In Romans 14, Paul says that the kingdom of God is in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. He is the Prince of Peace. Does He like that to you?

When you think of Jesus, is this what you call Him? Is He your peace? Has He made peace? Do you have peace in your heart? Do you have peace with your brother?

Can you call Him that? Well there you have it. Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And then you see His government will increase. And his government of peace will increase.

In other words, that his kingdom is expanding. Now, notice there are several things I'd like to point out here. First of all, this government of peace and increase, first of all, it is endless. There will be no end. Second of all, it is Davidic.

Upon the throne of David and over his kingdom. It has to do with the church. It has to do with the promises of God being fulfilled in David, which means in the church of Jesus Christ. It is Davidic. Thirdly, it is ordered.

To order it and establish it. In other words, Jesus Christ is going to order it. He is going to order his government of peace. And number four, it is just with just judgment and justice. And fifth, it is forever from that time forward, even forever.

This means that the kingdom of heaven is expanding. It's like a mustard seed, the smallest of seeds, but turns into the greatest tree. It's like leaven that expands. And the kingdom of God is going to expand until there's no room for it to expand. As the waters cover the sea, so will the peace of the kingdom of heaven reign.

And the difficulties that you see now will go away. Remember, Isaiah is prophesying that this will be launched by the Son, and His kingdom will continue to expand until there's no room for anything but God and His glory and His kingdom of peace. That's where everything is going. It's going to turn out okay. And then Isaiah tells us how it will happen.

His zeal. His zeal will be the source of all of these things. Zeal, the way that Isaiah uses this word, is used as some of the strongest desires to have something. You think of the thing you want the very, very, very most. It's stronger than that.

And it's used of envy and sexual passion and desire and jealousy. It's sometimes translated as jealousy, and it's a strong desire that cannot be overcome. It's a kind of power that cannot be stopped by any obstacle. Have you ever known someone like that? They get something in their mind and nothing can stop them.

Nothing. That's what this is. That's this zeal. Nothing will stop Jesus Christ to accomplish these things. It will climb every mountain.

It will afford every stream. There is this power of love. This is the power of the love of God. Nothing can stop it The zeal of the Lord will accomplish this. So the big question, is He like that to you?

Is this what you call Him? Because Isaiah says that when He comes, He's going to be called something. And what is He called by you? What do you call Him? Now, if you call Him wonderful in your heart, If you call Him counselor, and you love His counsel, and if you call Him mighty God, and as a result you're not frightened by any fear, And if you call Him everlasting Father, as a result you know everything will turn out fine.

And if you call Him Prince of Peace, you are blessed. You are so blessed. What a wonderful thing it is to have such a Savior as that. You know, we're here really to celebrate the beauty of such a Savior, the kindness, the mercy of such a Savior who has come. And He has made a people in the world that when He appeared, they called Him something.

I pray that God would make us speak this way so much more, to love Him so much more. There's no greater quality of a Church of Jesus Christ than to know that He's wonderful. And as a result, you just can't keep your mouth closed. As a result, you can't keep from desiring to obey His laws, from doing His will, from taking His sweet counsels to you, into your heart, and taking them seriously. How do you know it's when you love the sound of His voice and you love to obey it and go the place He tells you to go?

Is that you? I so pray it is. What a blessing it is to have such a Savior. Let's pray. Lord, You've come and sent Your prophet Isaiah to comfort your people over so many hundreds of years.

And here we are now, being comforted by these words that you gave the prophet, to tell us who we really are by what we call your Son. Oh Lord, that you would raise up in such a mighty voice to call the Son who He really is. Amen.