The ninth chapter of Isaiah. Isaiah 9, verse 6. Hark the herald angels sing. That's personally one of my favorite of the Christmas carols. One of my favorite because it is so clear. It just has so much scripture in it. We call it Hark the Herald Angels Sing because it's the first line of the song, but there's just so much in it about hail the incarnate deity. Born to raise the sons of earth. Born to give them second birth. very gospel oriented Christmas carol I really love that one and praise the Lord for the truth that is communicated the scriptural truth is communicated in it this sermon this morning I'll entitle joy to the world joy to the world another carol that was written about the same time as heart to herald angel sing is joy to the world and this time of year our Our world talks a lot about joy and rejoicing and these kinds of things. You'll see wrapping paper that has J-O-Y in big letters on it. You'll see J-O-Y at the shopping mall or at the store. And you'll see people talking about being joyful this time of year. And there's a lot of frivolity that goes on this time of year, and there's a place for some frivolity, I realize that. All right, but what we're in danger of doing sometimes is confusing frivolity with joy. And they're two different things. You know, ironically, even though this is the time of year when we put joy up and, you know, we have all the baubles and all the flashing lights, this is one of the highest times of the year. for suicides. Did you know that? Christmastime is one of the suicides peak during Christmastime, during the Christmas season. For some people, especially people who are in a difficult situation, it can be very difficult for them to watch other people being frivolous while they're in a difficult situation and sometimes they take extreme measures and harm themselves. But our world talks a lot about joy at this time of year and They have parties. They figure out how to have celebrations. They plan all night parties, lots of food, lots of drink, all kinds of things going on. But I don't think most people really have a concept of the joy that comes from embracing the message that we see in verse 6 and verse 7 of Isaiah chapter 9. For unto us a child is born. Unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His governance and peace there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David and upon His kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. We're going to see in this passage that the reason for joy is because of the birth of this child. The birth of this child makes joy possible. The first couple of verses of this chapter, verses 2 and 3 say, The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. They must multiply the nation and not increase the joy. They joy, before thee according to the joy and harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil." We see joy as a theme in this passage. And what is it that's going to increase their joy? What is it that the Lord is doing? What is it that people who are sitting in darkness have seen a great light? What is that light? It is the birth of this child in verse 6. And it's introduced by this 4. 4 unto us. It introduces the reason for the joy that is stated in verses 2 and 3. The child is promised to us. Now, that's clearly a promise to Israel on that day, but I think that applies. Today, we would say this child was given to all of us. That's the New Testament. Clearly, the New Testament message and the message of the Old Testament as well is that the Messiah was not merely a Jewish Messiah. He was for the world. This passage tells us that the child would be born to bring joy. What does it say? For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. He is born to be the Messiah, the promised one. You see, throughout the Old Testament we could go to many passages where we would see promises of a coming one who would be sent by God, who would come to save his people from their sins. Probably the best known passage is in Isaiah's prophecy, chapter 52, the last half of chapter 52 into chapter 53. All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. We did hit it, esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. That passage in Isaiah 53 that prophesies this coming Messiah who would come and would be that sacrifice for our sins. We see that he's promised to us and that he's promised to be a son. The description of this child as a son here indicates that he'll be, as it says in verse 7, on the throne of his father David, or on the throne of David, he'll be an heir of David. He's the promised heir, 2 Samuel 7, that Pastor Fournette mentioned in Sunday School this morning. And Isaiah 9-7 both talk about the heir of David coming. You see, God had promised to the greatest king of Israel in the Old Testament, David, that one of his sons would rule forever on David's throne. And that prophecy in Isaiah 9-6 and the fulfillment of it in Jesus Christ in the New Testament is what God had in mind when He promised this to David. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given." At this time of year when we celebrate the birth of Christ, it should be a time of joy for us, but not merely joy because trees look nice, Christmas trees look nice, and because the lights look good, and because the packages are wrapped, and because we're having our favorite food. But it should be a time of joy because unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given. As a believer in Jesus Christ, we have a reason for joy. Joy will increase because of the rule of this child. It increases because of his birth, but it also increases because of his rule. You see, many people like to think of the baby in the manger. There's not a lot intimidating about a baby in a manger. It doesn't demand much of me. But when we see who this son is, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, when we learn he is going to be the one who governs and rules and reigns, That matters. You don't think that matters? How many billions of dollars are going to be spent in 2012 in efforts to get someone elected President of the United States? Right? And that's just the President of the United States. Here we're talking about king of the world. The king of kings. You don't think people will be interested in that? This is the Jesus that people reject. It's not mostly the baby in the manger. They reject the baby in the manger because they don't like the implications of who he is. But the implications of who he is are that joy will increase because of the rule of this child. Folks, this is not just merely that a king of kings is coming, but the perfect king. I've said this before, and I know sometimes it shocks our sensibilities as Americans, but the perfect form of government is a monarchy. When you have a perfect monarch, if you have a monarch who knows everything and always does justice, That's a perfect form of government. Now, in a sinful fallen world with a bunch of sinful people together, we need to limit people's power. And so I think our form of government in the United States makes great sense in a fallen world with sinners who will abuse power. But if you had a perfect king who would rule perfectly, that is the perfect form of government. And that is the kind of government that is coming when this son comes, returns to rule and reign. When Jesus returns and sets up his kingdom, there will be joy in the hearts of those who have believed in him. He will be the one, and the idea of the government being upon his shoulder, we use this expression, shouldering the burden of something. In other words, the weight of the government will be upon him. He'll have the responsibility for it. He will govern Israel. The implication is that he's the king. Now, if you keep in mind that Isaiah is writing this while there is a king in Judah, whose name is Ahaz, and who is not a godly king, who is not following the Lord, you can see where a believing person reading this would say, I look forward to that time when a godly king rules and reigns. And if you've ever had to deal with the inadequacies, the bureaucracy, and the injustices of all human governments, you too look forward to a time when the king of kings will rule. I remember several years ago, there was a child credit tax cut that they passed mid-year. And they sent out checks. And I had several children, and I got the check in the mail. Excuse me, I was supposed to get the check in the mail. I didn't get the check in the mail. Other people did. And so I thought, well, no big deal. I'll just claim it on my taxes at the end of the year. So at the end of the year, I fill out my taxes, and I claim that child tax credit, and send things in. And the IRS sends me a letter and says, you can't claim this. You've got a check. So I called up the IRS office and I said, I never got the check. And they said, well, it must've got lost in the mail. You need to fill out form whatever and send in for the lost check and we'll send you a new check. But you can't claim it on your taxes because we sent you a check according to our records. Okay. So I sent the form in and I got a response back that said, we can't send you this check because you claimed it on your taxes. And it was a few hundred dollars. And I talked to my brother-in-law, who's an attorney in Michigan, and I said to him, what do I do? He said, well, it's going to cost more to pay an attorney to fight this than the money that you'd get. He said, so I suggest you just figure you're not getting that tax credit this year. I said, all right. I guess that's the way it is when you work with the bureaucracy sometimes. That's the way it works. And I think we all sympathize with that. We've all had those kinds of run-ins with government at one point or another. It's imperfect. Think of the joy of having a perfect King. One who is worthy of our love, of our obedience, of our faith. Although we may be frustrated by things like imperfect government now, we can have joy in Christ because of who He is. Now this goes on, not only is He going to be born as a child, and not only is He going to be the Son of David, and not only is He going to rule and reign, But his names, let's look at the names that are given of him here. Let me point something out. Our King James Version has a comma after the word wonderful. That should be omitted. It seems to be that what you have is a pattern here where you have an adjective and a noun. And so you have wonderful counselor, wonderful modified counselor. You have mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. So you have these pairs of words that go together. So it should not be wonderful comma counselor. It should be wonderful counselor. All right, that's how this should be interpreted. Joy will increase because of the nature of this child. Each one of these contains a divine item. All right. And a human one. Look at what this is. He's a wonderful. Now, if we went back in the Old Testament to Judges 13, 18, we'll see a prophecy. The angel of the Lord appears to Samson's parents and says the child is going to be born. Gives the prophecy about it and What do we see take place? They say, what is your name? And he says, why do you ask my name? Seeing it is wonderful. And they realize that they have seen the angel of the Lord God pre-incarnate. And so this term wonderful is used in the Old Testament as a reference to God. So the idea of wonderful here indicates that he's God and counselor. That's a function of human beings many times, right? You have this divine human pairs that go together throughout this passage. Now think about what this is saying. What this is saying is that this child will be the God man. That's the implications. Now, you may not have drawn that right from this text. We obviously have to read back some New Testament knowledge into this, but we do know that is what the New Testament teaches. I mean, we read John 1. What is it? It tells us that the man Jesus Christ was the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And no man has seen God any time, but He has revealed Him. In other words, you want to know what God is? Look at Jesus. Jesus is God. He's fully God and He's fully man. And you see, why is this necessary? Why would God do this? Why would God send His Son to take on human flesh? I mean, you really think about what we talk about at this time of incarnation when we celebrate Christmas and the incarnation. Think about it. Here is the God of the universe and not only does He take on human form, but He's not born as the Son of Caesar. He's born as viewed as the illegitimate son of a peasant girl from a small village at that time called Nazareth. Still called Nazareth, but it's a big city today. Back then it was a small village. And they're out of town, so it's not born in a comfortable place. He's born in a barn. Their barns were caves in Bethlehem. The God of the universe takes on human form and he chooses to come and be born in the most humble of situations. The most unlikely place that you would expect the king of kings to be born is where he's born. And then he lives as a peasant in Nazareth. And whereas all of us have sinned, the scriptures say, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Every one of us have fallen short of God's glory. God created us to give Him glory. We're made in His image to give Him glory. To reflect God's image back like a mirror. But the problem is we've all sinned, and so that mirror has been shattered. It's been cracked. It's been marred. It's not giving a correct image of God anymore. We've twisted the image of God by our sinfulness, and we've fallen short of what God has created us to be. We were to bring Him glory, and we no longer bring Him glory. We seek our own glory. We were to obey Him, and now we obey only ourselves. We were to serve Him, and now we're rebels. And in that rebellion, we've come under God's condemnation, but one man has lived who never disobeyed, who perfectly represented God, the man Jesus Christ, the God-man Jesus Christ. You see, he was God in flesh. Whereas you and I have limits, he was infinite because he's God. But whereas you and I have had struggles like hunger, thirst, tiredness, emotional hurt, spiritual struggles, he was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. He went through everything we've gone through as a human being, except he did not sin. And that one, the only one who didn't deserve death. The scriptures not only say that we've all sinned, but it also says that the wages of sin is death. That death comes because of sin. We know that from Genesis chapter 3. If you eat from this tree, you're going to die. You'll certainly die. And we know from Romans chapter 3 that the wages of sin is death. Excuse me, Romans chapter 6. The wages of sin is death. The price of sinning is death. What we get paid rightfully for sinning is death. But the only one who didn't deserve that death died on a cross. You sinned. I sinned. We deserve God's condemnation. But his son died on a cross. The God-man. But he did not stay in that grave. certified, if you would, that he was sinless. And he rose him, raised him, and he rose again by his own power as well. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were all involved in that resurrection. And he rose from the grave and conquered death so that Paul can say in his epistle to the Corinthians, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Death has been defeated. Jesus has conquered it. And so we see this God-man, this wonderful counselor came and he died. And so I ask you this morning, Let's get beyond the Christ child in the manger and what will you do with Jesus Christ? I don't know everyone in this room and I do not know and I would hate to assume that everyone in this room has a faith in Jesus Christ. Have you ever turned in repentant faith to Jesus Christ? Ephesians chapter 20 says with repentance toward God and faith toward Jesus Christ. That is, we've been slaves to our sin. We've obeyed ourselves. We've done what we've wanted and we've made a mess on our own. But God sent His Son to die on the cross, and if we turn to Him in simple, repentant faith, and rely alone on what He's done, God says He will save us. And so my question to you is, have you turned in that kind of repentant faith to Jesus Christ? Have you turned in faith to Jesus Christ? He is the wonderful Counselor. Now, remember, this isn't the context. He's just been talking about government. So it is in the context of government, Many times people lack joy because of this Christ child. They don't have the joy they should have because Christ is not their counselor. All right, he's not their counselor. How many people are there that are professing Christians that do not give much attention to what Christ has said, to what the Word of God says? I say professing because the scriptures say, why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say? Christ ought to be our counselor. Many times we think we can figure things out, that we have things under control, that we don't need to rely on Christ's wisdom, but folks, none of us is at the place where we don't need the Word of God. None of us ever will be. He's not only called the Wonderful Counselor, but the Mighty God. Here we have God being obviously the divine name. Mighty is the idea here of a warrior. The title indicates that he would be a mighty man who is also God. The term here used for might is the common word for a hero, or a great warrior. Jeremiah 32, verse 18 uses this word to talk about the great man of power. God says, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, or the mighty man in his might, but let him that glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me. Alright, that term for a mighty man, a great warrior, The king, now think about this, this is what you expect in a king, a man who's the great warrior who can go out to battle and lead his troops to victory. So he's called this mighty God. Yes, he is a mighty warrior, but he's the mighty God. At this time of the year, it's easy for us again to focus on the baby in the manger, but we need to look and see the purpose of the incarnation, the baby, just like Just like the child here. Remember, the baby is the child in verse 6 here. He's more than just a baby. He's the mighty God. He's the promised hero. The God-man sent to be that promised hero to destroy sin and Satan. And He is the everlasting Father. This title indicates that He is eternally a Father. Everlasting. There's God's nature. Eternal. None of us are eternal. We all had a beginning. And He's a Father. Father of eternity. The title Father here, again, makes us, it's a human term, but it also makes us think of God, right? We talk about God, our Father. God, Jesus said, when you pray, pray, our Father. The term eternal teaches that this child is eternally a father to his people. This is not saying that this person is going to be the first person of the triune Godhead, the Father. What it's saying is he's the eternal father of his people, Israel. He's the one who's eternal and the Father. The term Father had the idea of showing leadership, showing control, showing care for something. This name calls for humility on our part. Christ is our eternal Father. He's always looking out for us. He's not looking to get at us or to leave us to fend for ourselves. Ten years ago, I was in New York shortly after September 11th, and we were doing some ministry there, and it was about ten days after September 11th, in 2001, and I met a man on the street. We were handing out some tracts and talking to people and counseling them, and I met a man on the street, and I met this man, and he said, you know what? I don't want this stuff. He said, September 11th proves that God has left us to fend for ourselves. God doesn't protect us anymore. I said, no, that's not what it means. I said, first of all, God hasn't told us what it means. So we can't draw judgments like that. First of all, I know I can't draw that judgment because it's not a biblical conclusion. But there are many people that think this way. God wound up the world and let it go. But no, folks, if you are a child of God, if you've turned to Jesus in repentance, saving faith, God hasn't forgotten about you. If it says the hairs on your head are numbered, as Jesus said, if God notices when a sparrow falls to the ground and dies, He certainly notices us. He's our everlasting Father. And He is the Prince of Peace. The term peace here is a Hebrew word that you would probably most recognize. It's the word the Jews often use to greet each other, shalom. And the concept of peace is not merely that there is a lack of conflict. Alright? It's the idea of well-being. Maybe even in the midst of conflict. It's the idea of well-being. Peace doesn't mean you have no enemies. It means that your enemies are not winning. And what is he here? He's the Prince of Peace. The Prince who brings well-being. The Hebrew term Shalom has the idea of positive well-being. You see, sometimes we can have the wrong idea that there's a virtue in avoiding conflict. And there are times that we don't have conflict for silly reasons. But there are other times that you realize that conflict is inevitable if you're going to do the right thing. That sometimes in doing the right thing, people are going to be angry with you because you did right. And here is a prince that brings peace. He brings well-being. You ever had this with your children if you're a parent? You ever had a conflict with your child? They do not want to eat their broccoli. You say, well, we just want to avoid conflict. We want peace in our home. Child doesn't, I mean, you know, if I gave my children their way, they would probably not eat broccoli very often. They'd say, what do you want for dinner? Cookies. What do you want for breakfast? Donuts. What do you want for lunch? Candy. All right, some of you are like, that sounds good. But the fact is, why do we not let children do that? Because it's not good for them, right? And so, sometimes you might have a little conflict in the home and say, you know, I know you're throwing a fit, and I know you say, I'm not eating this and all this, but you know, however in your home you've decided to do it, but you say, you eat what's on your plate, we served it to you. And you deal with it, right? Now that's a small example, but I think we understand that for that child really to have well-being, he needs to eat healthy food. I'm saying he has three sons, need to eat healthy food and not candy all the time. And in the same way, there are times that there's going to be conflict in our lives because if we're going to see what's right for our families spiritually, there's going to be conflict sometimes. We're going to see what's right for our churches. You know, sometimes people misunderstand this. It's sometimes my job as a pastor is to make you uncomfortable. Did you know that? Not intentionally, not just because I want to make you uncomfortable, but it's because if there's something in our life of our church that the Lord is not pleased by, you need to know it. And we need to we need to be called on to change. And people don't like that when pastors call on that. They don't like that, they think, oh, you know, he's he's not being very nice. Honestly, you read the church growth manuals. It says, you know, don't be controversial. Just don't. You need to tell people about how good they are. And tell them, you know, here are six ways that you can strengthen your marriage. And there's good places for preaching on marriage. The Bible has much to say about it. But many of these kinds of sermons, and they're very common on television, I see them commonly. A lot of the things on television are not worth watching as far as preaching goes. they're meant to appeal to a broad audience and offend no one. But the fact is, folks, there are times, whether we're a father, whether we're a pastor, whether we're a grandparent, whether we're a boss at work, whether we're whatever, there's gonna be times that there's conflict because there are gonna be people who don't want, they're not concerned about their own well-being, they're concerned about ease and leisure. But you know what? The Lord is in this same position. He's the Prince of Peace. He brings us well-being. What was the state we were in? We were lost sinners under God's condemnation. The just judge of all the universe, God, was angry with us because we had broken His law. And He, as a righteous judge, was angry. He wasn't a gangster who was looking to get even. He was a righteous judge who was offended because the law had been broken. And his wrath had been turned, just as a judge's wrath would be turned against a criminal, a severe criminal in a courtroom. His wrath had been turned toward us. And so we certainly did not have peace. We did not have any reconciliation with God. There was not an at-one-ment, atonement. But who is it? For the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. For he's the atonement. for our sins, but not for our sins only, but for the sins of the whole world. Jesus Christ came to bring us peace. He is that Prince who brings us peace. Are you a professing Christian here today? Are you joyful? You have much reason to be joyful. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and justice from henceforth, even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform it. As we go forward the rest of this day and we celebrate this Christmas, Let's celebrate it with joy because we have a son who has been given, a child has been born, and he is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace. And if you're here today and you've not turned in repentant faith to Jesus, I don't mean you've just merely given assent to that in your mind, but has there ever been a time that you really turned in repentant faith to Christ? Not that, yeah, yeah, I know about this, but I mean, Jesus really is your Lord and Savior. If you've never turned to Christ, let me call on you to do so today. Let me call on you to do so today. You can find me. You can find Pastor Margaret. He led the singing this morning. Pastor Fernette did the announcement. So you can find most of our church members. And if you need some kind of spiritual counseling today, some kind of help, if we can help you on this Christmas day, please find one of us. We would love to show you from the scriptures. How you can know Christ is your savior. You don't understand the joy of Christmas until you understand Jesus Christ. There may be frivolity, there may be fun, there may be things that you enjoy, but to have real lasting joy is found in Jesus Christ. Let's pray.