To those who believe Jesus Christ is precious and we've come here to adore Him. And He is Christ the Lord. That's what I want to speak on this morning. I want to ask you to turn to Isaiah chapter 9. The title of my message is Christ Our Sovereign Lord. Now this will not be your typical Christmas message that you hear from most pulpits on this Sunday before Christmas. But I do want you to know that I am thankful. I am thankful that our Lord Jesus came into this world, that He was born of a virgin. And I'm thankful for what He accomplished for His people. Did you know the Bible tells us that though we have known Him after the flesh, henceforth know we Him no more after the flesh? All of God's people delight in the incarnation of Christ, in His virgin birth, in His walk on this earth, and in what He did at Calvary 2,000 years ago. But not all of those who profess to be Christians adore Him or delight in His sovereign rule over all things. Brethren, there's only one God. And there's only one blessed Lord. There's only one Holy Spirit. All believing Christians or Trinitarians We believe in one God, but three divine persons that make up that one glorious, majestic God. The Apostle John wrote these words in 1 John 5, 7. There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. Only one God. Jesus Christ is God Almighty. And God gives us a warning in Colossians, telling us this, Beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in Him which is the head of all principality and power. Jesus Christ is the head of his church, but he's also the head of all principality and power. Pastor Fortner said this, and I agree with him wholeheartedly. God has so highly exalted, honored, and magnified his son that the only way any creature can exalt, honor, and magnify the triune God is by exalting, honoring, and magnifying the Lord Jesus Christ. So determined is the eternal triune God, to make Christ preeminent in all things, that God cannot be revealed to or known by men except as He is revealed and known in Christ. The only way God makes Himself known is through His Son, and the only way God deals with men is through His Son." End of quote. Now how important is this? How important is it to know that Jesus Christ is God Almighty? Well, John wrote this in 1 John chapter 5, the last two verses, verses 20 and 21. He said, We know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Jesus Christ is the true God and to know Him is eternal life. Anyone who is attempting to worship God without knowing Jesus Christ as very God of very God, they're worshiping idols. Ralph Barnard said this, tell me who your Lord is and I'll tell you who your Savior is. In other words, you can't have Jesus as your Savior if you don't have Him as your Sovereign Lord. I can't reveal Him to you, but I can declare Him to you. I can preach Him. I can proclaim that Jesus Christ is God Almighty, and only God can reveal that to you. When the Apostle Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill, he said this to the men of Athens. He said, I perceive that in all things you are too superstitious. For as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, to the unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you, and Paul preached Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. Now I'm going to say something, and I'm probably using a conservative number, but I'm going to say it anyway. It's probably more, but I would venture to say that 90% of professing Christians ignorantly worship. They have never had Jesus Christ declared unto them as the Scriptures reveal Him. So this is not your typical Christmas message. Look at Isaiah chapter 9. Verses 6 and 7. And I'm going to say this before I read it. There are just too many wonderful truths here to declare all of them in a lifetime of messages. So I'll have to limit my thoughts to just one subject. Follow along with me as I read these two verses. For unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. Now let me stop you for a moment. The child is born refers to His humanity. Our God did become a man. He was born of a virgin. He was a baby, but He was still God. Unto us a son is given refers to His deity. So we have the God-man declared to us here in Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6 as a prophetic statement He had not yet come, but He was coming. And we read in the next phrase, the government shall be upon His shoulder. Now the government has always been upon the shoulder of God Almighty. but not upon the God-man. He had not come into this world yet. So we're reading a prophetic statement concerning the coming of the Messiah, a child being born, a son given. The government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful. We were just singing about that. His name is Wonderful. His name shall be called Counselor. And some tie the two terms together, wonderful counselor, that's fine. He is a wonderful counselor. But Jesus Christ is wonderful in everything. Everything about Jesus Christ is wonderful. So his name should be called wonderful, counselor, the mighty God. And some religious people have the audacity to say, He is a mighty God, but He's not God Almighty. How many gods do they worship? There's only one. He is God Almighty. It says He is the everlasting Father, which means the Ancient of Days. It says He shall be the Prince of Peace. God has always been the Ancient of Days. And He has always controlled everything. But He has ordained that Jesus Christ be the one who would receive all the worship and all the praise and all the glory. And that day was yet coming when Isaiah wrote this and it says in verse 7 of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform it. Now like I said there's just too much here to confine to one message. So I want to draw your attention to this very truth, this same Jesus that was born in a manger, this same Jesus that was a young boy, this same Jesus who worked in a carpenter's shop, the same Jesus during His public ministry who performed miracle after miracle after miracle, and the same Jesus that was hung there on that cruel cross, enduring the wrath of God for His people. That same Jesus is now on the throne of David. He's on His sovereign throne in glory. And the government is on His shoulder. I don't care what these preachers of today say. There's coming a day, they say, when the government's going to be on his shoulder, when he reigns on this earth, when he's living over there in Jerusalem on that throne of David in a temple made with hands. I don't care what they're saying. I'll tell you what they're really saying, is that the government's not on his shoulder right now, but it's going to be. and they're denying the deity of Jesus Christ, the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Tobias Cripps said this, he said, you must know that you're never to separate in your thoughts God from Christ. Also, you are to look upon Christ and so look upon Always, as you look upon Christ, so look upon God. Or as you look upon God, look upon Him no otherwise than as He is in Christ. Not as if there were another God besides what Christ is. For there is no such thing. And I say, Amen. Here you go, Israel. Our Lord is one. We read this in Daniel 7, you don't have to turn there, but in verses 13 and 14, the Word of God says, I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him, and there was given Him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people that all people, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom, that which shall not be destroyed. Our Savior has taken His position in glory as King of kings and Lord of lords. And by His grace and His sovereign power through the finished work of Jesus Christ our Savior, we have been delivered from darkness and translated into that everlasting kingdom of Jesus Christ. Pastor Forder said this, I quote him one more time, now listen carefully to, I can see that man standing here right now and he's not bashful. He said, now listen carefully, in time, After our Lord's obedience to and fulfillment of His Father's will as a man, Christ took His place of dominion as a man. There is a man in glory, a man sits today upon the throne of grace, and that man is Christ, the man who died for our sins at Calvary. But this world has always been under the meritorial rule of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose goings forth have been of old everlasting. That's in Micah 5 too. It is Christ's editorial rule of the world for the salvation of his elect that preserves the world from destruction by the wrath of God. Thanks be unto God. The God who rules this universe is the friend of sinners. Amen. So I want to have you turn to Philippians chapter 2, as we consider this subject, Christ our Sovereign Lord, who rules over everything in this whole universe. Our text in Isaiah 9 says, speaking of the coming Messiah, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. Isaiah was writing under the inspiration of God, speaking of that day when Christ would be exalted to His sovereign throne of power. Now listen to me, God has always worked all things after the counsel of His own will. God has always been in sovereign control over everything. Nothing has ever happened apart from God's permissive will, and we have Illustration after illustration after illustration of this very truth in the Old Testament. And I've said this before and it bears repeating. If you want to be acquainted with God and how He governs and how He rules this universe, get acquainted with the God of the Old Testament. And God is immutable. He does not change. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Before I read this passage of scripture in Philippians 2, I want to give you some illustrations of what the Old Testament says about God ruling and governing over all things. Now, Peter mentioned this. In 2 Peter 2.4, he wrote these words, God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment. and spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly, and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example unto those that after should live ungodly." And so there are three illustrations God cast down his created angelic beings who rebelled against him, a third of all of the angels that God created, being deceived by Lucifer, the angel that seemed to be the brightest of all the angels, who deceived them into thinking that he should be the most high God. They fell. And it was Jesus Christ who cast them down. He wasn't a man yet, but He was God. And it was Jesus Christ that reserved them into chains of darkness. There's no redemption for angels. Think about that the next time somebody wants to argue about particular redemption. And when God destroyed the world during the days of Noah, He did that on purpose. A hundred years plus, he told Noah what he was going to do. And Noah, moved by fear, prepared an ark. It took him over a hundred years to build that ark. God was waiting patiently for that day. And when it came, when he shut the door of the ark, Noah and his family being safe in that ark, and all those animals that God told him to take aboard, Then the fountains of the deep broke up, and water came from above, and covered this whole world, and everything on this earth that was not in that ark. Not just men, women, and children, but every living thing died in those flood waters. Jesus Christ is the God who brought the flood, This Christ isn't known today. Jesus Christ is God, He's always been God. I'm not denying the Father, I'm not denying the Holy Spirit, but God is of one mind who can turn Him. And I can just, in my mind, imagine men, women, and children as they struggled till they took that last breath. And Peter calls them a world of ungodly people. And Sodom and Gomorrah, God destroyed them with fire and brimstone from heaven because of their ungodly homosexual lifestyles. And not only that, but other evil sinful ways as well. He delivered just Lot, of course his two daughters and his wife, but his wife was turned into a pillar of salt when she completely ignored and disobeyed God. She looked back But it was Jesus Christ who rained the fire and brimstone from heaven. He's God. And not just Sodom and Gomorrah, there are a couple of other cities also. And we have so many other illustrations that we could give. Consider Joseph going down into Egypt It was wicked brothers who sold him into slavery, but it was God's purpose. We read this, God controls everything. It was God's purpose to cause Pharaoh to dream the dream that he had twice. Two different dreams that differed one from another, but with the same meaning. And it was God who gave Joseph the wisdom to interpret the dream, saying to Pharaoh there would be seven years of plenty, and then seven years of famine. to store up food during the seven years of plenty so you'd have food during the seven years of famine. It was God who brought the seven years of plenty. It was God who brought the famine. And it was God who moved Pharaoh to exalt Joseph to the position of prime minister where he was more powerful than any man in Egypt except for Pharaoh. God did that. And it was God who kept Israel down in Egypt for over 400 years when they became a mighty nation. So much so that Pharaoh and the Egyptians feared that they would overthrow the Egyptians. And God raised up that mean, wicked Pharaoh to impose hardships upon his people, treating them like slaves and beating them. It was God who purposed that. We read that God raised up Pharaoh for this very purpose to destroy him. Anybody in their right mind would have given up way before Pharaoh did. All of those plagues that came upon Egypt, and God's in control of all things. He sent the lice, He sent the flies, He sent the frogs, He turned the water into blood, the rain of cattle, the darkness, the killing of the firstborn. There were 10 different plagues. That God is Jesus Christ. He controlled all of those things. Those frogs wouldn't have jumped up out of the river and went into the homes and the dwelling places of the Egyptians if our Lord Jesus had not directed them to do that. So He's always been in control. And it was God who hardened Pharaoh's heart so that when the Israelites did leave and God allowed the Israelites to spoil the Egyptians and He shut the mouths of the dogs, not one dog barked. Not one dog barked as Israel left Egypt. Can you stop a barking dog? From barking? God can. He shut their mouths. That God is Jesus Christ. And it was God who hardened Pharaoh's heart after Israel had left. He gathered his army and he went after them. Can you imagine a fool doing that after all of those plagues that he had been bombarded with? But God hardened his heart. This was God's purpose. And that God is Jesus Christ. And it was Jesus Christ who parted the Red Sea, caused the land to dry up so that the Israelites could pass over without getting mud on their feet. But did you know that when the Egyptians went down between those two walls of water, and I've said this more than once, it would have taken something bigger than a man to get me to go down there. But there was something bigger than a man that moved those people to go between those two walls of water. As they went down through those walls of water, their chariot wheels were falling off, and they knew that God was against them, but it was too late. And God drowned Pharaoh and the whole Egyptian army right before the eyes of the Israelites to make His power known that God is Jesus Christ. He sent Joshua to destroy Jericho and cause the walls of Jericho to fall down and told Joshua to go in and kill every man, woman, and child except for those who were in the home of Rahab the harlot. And that home was on the wall and that's the part of the wall that didn't fall. I still remember Henry Mahan's message on that very thing. But Jesus Christ is the one who told Joshua and the Israelites to go in and kill all of those people. And 31 kings in different cities fell under the leadership of Joshua, the same command. Kill every man, woman, and child. That sound like the Jesus that's being portrayed from pulpits today? No. Why would God do that? Why would He have Joshua and the Israelites kill those people? They were ungodly people, bowing down to gods of their own imagination. And listen to me. Listen. This Jesus that's being preached from most popes today is a God of their own imagination. He doesn't even exist. They don't bow down to His Lordship. They don't bow down to the God who brought famines and floods and different kinds of things upon this world that we read about in the Old Testament. And we read clearly that it's God who did it. They don't believe that. Well, listen to this. If you're in Philippians, Look here in Philippians chapter 2, starting at verse 5. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not something to be grasped at, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. Now folks, we're talking about the incarnation of Christ. This is what we read about In Isaiah chapter 9, verses 5 and 6, or 6 and 7, I think it was, this is what Isaiah wrote about. There's coming a day when a child would be born, when a son would be given. Well, Paul writing to the Philippians is talking about this very same thing. Christ came into this world. He laid aside His glory for a little bit, but not His deity. He was still God. He thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but He made Himself of no reputation. He became a servant. That's what God's people are. From the pastor, right on down to the last one that was brought in, were all sinners, saved by the grace of God, serving the Lord Jesus Christ for His glory. Let that mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus. But listen to this. It says in verse 8, being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, verse 9, wherefore, because of that, because Jesus Christ was obedient unto death, I mean, obedient in all things, He did always that which pleased God the Father. Because He obeyed God, even unto the death of the cross, because of that, God also has highly exalted Him and has given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, Every knee should bow of things in heaven, things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. That's the only way any sinner can glorify God the Father, is by acknowledging His Son, Jesus Christ, as the supreme controller. That's what the word Lord means. It's taken from the Greek word Kurios, which means supreme controller, Jesus Christ is our sovereign Lord. And He is in control of everything in heaven. At the name of Jesus, we're to bow of things in heaven. That's not just referring to heaven where He sits on His throne. It does include that. All of the elect angels behold His face, ready to do His bidding. Anytime He bids, they're ready. Whatever He says do, they do. When He says go, they go. And all the saints that have gone on before us are around the throne of grace, worshiping the Lamb of God, who suffered and bled and died for their sins. So He's sovereign over everything in heaven. But there's another heaven under that. I call it the second heaven. I don't know if it is or not. That's the third heaven, in my opinion. The second heaven, I believe, is what we refer to as outer space. He's in control of all of that, too. All of those stars and planets and everything that's up there, the moons, they're upheld by the Word of His power. Every once in a while, we'll hear about a comet or see a falling star. Nothing falls from outer space except when our Lord Jesus allows to fall. Will you believe that? He's in control of that. But not only the third heaven and the second heaven, but that heaven that we know as our atmosphere, where sometimes we see big, white, puffy clouds form and we see things that we We say, well, that kind of looks like a big, fluffy poodle. We just make images out of the big, fluffy clouds and delight in seeing those clouds. And sometimes they're dark, stormy clouds that rumble with thunder and lightning, storms, severe storms. That's not Mother Nature. I don't care what people say, that's not Mother Nature. That's the sovereign power of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He makes the clouds His chariots. He rides on the clouds. He moves them as it pleases Him. The three ladies we have nothing to do with. Mother Nature, Lady Luck, and Miss Fortune. Get those words out of your vocabulary. We're just sometimes foolish, blurring out words. Well, I was fortunate. No, you weren't. That's giving credit to misfortune or fortune. If you have anything that you're blessed with, it comes from Jesus Christ, our Lord. So He brings the stormy clouds. He's in control of everything in heaven, this atmosphere. Tornadoes, hurricanes, typhoons, all of these different things that come through the winds that He Himself knows, sometimes killing thousands of people. At the name of Jesus, every knee is to bow of things in heaven, things in earth. Famines, those things that come that we have no control over, Christ controls them. Those things that happen in the lives of men and women, sometimes incurable diseases come upon them, sometimes they fall and break their leg, sometimes they're involved in an automobile wreck, Sometimes they're on the mountaintop of success and have good health and good money in the bank, while others are financially distressed and without enough money to buy a Christmas present for their children. Christ controls all of that. Jesus Christ is God Almighty. He gives as it pleases Him. He withholds as it pleases Him. There are no such things as accidents. They're all controlled by Christ, our Sovereign Lord. Things under the earth, I don't know what's under there altogether. I know there are faults, which when the earth shifts a little bit causes an earthquake. That's the same God. brought an earthquake during the days of Moses when Korah and his followers and their wives and their children rebelled against Moses. God just opened up the earth and swallowed him and closed it right back up on him. That God is Jesus Christ. He controls those faults, that burning lava that makes volcanoes that sometimes spews out the Things that come from an exploding volcano, rock and debris and molten lava. Sometimes people are killed during those things. That's the purpose of Jesus Christ our Lord. So at the name of Jesus, every knee is to bow of things in heaven, things in earth, and things under the earth. And every tongue is to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Now folks, I want to have you turn over to 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. Our text in Isaiah 9.6, speaking to us of Christ, says, The government shall be on His shoulder. And all of God's preachers declare this God-honoring truth. Jesus Christ, our sovereign Lord, rules over everything, working all things after the counsel of His own will. This is the Christ of God this world does not know. And those who do not know Him not only trouble those who do, they're in more trouble than they realize. Look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 starting at verse 7. And to you who are troubled, And there are things that do trouble us. There are things not only that trouble us, there are people who trouble us. But to you who are troubled, rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. They might trouble us in this life, but they're in more trouble than they realize if they don't know God. If they don't know Jesus Christ, they don't know God. And He's coming in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God. They go through the motions. They claim to be followers of Jesus. Yet in their works they deny Him. They have a form of godliness, but deny the power of Jesus Christ our Lord. And from those people, we're to turn away from them. Our Lord tells us that. So there's a day coming. When our Lord Jesus shall return, He's going to show that He is a blessed and only potentate, King of kings and Lord of lords. All power in heaven and earth belongs to Jesus Christ, our Lord. That God-man that's on His throne right now is the same God that we read about in the Old Testament. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Well, let me take you over to Romans chapter 10, and I'll use this as a closing passage for this morning's message. All of what I have brought before you concerning Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, is true. But there's something else that is equally true about our Sovereign Lord. And if I just left you with these truths concerning His awesome, majestic power, I would be wrong. The Apostle Paul said, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. God is a merciful God. He's not only a sovereign despot who kills and makes alive. He's not only the one who commanded Joshua to kill all those people. God is a merciful God. God forgives sinners. God loves some sinners, but there's only one way our Sovereign Lord can show mercy on a hell-deserving sinner, can have compassion on a hell-deserving sinner, can love someone who has sinned against Him. And we need to know this. There's only one way, and that's through Jesus Christ, our Sovereign Lord. We need to know that He did come. Isaiah said, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder. We need to know about Him. We need to know His awesome, majestic power. But we also need to know why He came into this world. And He proved who He was during His public ministry. He proved without a shadow of a doubt that He controls the wind and the waves, didn't He? He told His disciples when they were on that boat and they thought they were going to drown. Actually, He displayed His power by standing up and saying, peace, be still. And even the winds and the waves obeyed His voice. That's God. After his disciples had fished all night, commanded the fish to go under their nets so they couldn't hardly even get their nets pulled under their boat. He has control over it. Did you know he told Peter to go to the water and cast in a hook because they didn't have any money to pay tribute? And Peter cast in the hook. I don't think he had to use bait. And the Lord directed the fish to his hook. And I don't know if he had already picked up the coin or if he picked it up on the way to Peter's hook, whatever. The Lord directed that. And when Peter caught that fish, there was the money for their tribute. And to deny that he's God. And over and over and over again, many, many, many different illustrations of his sovereign power. He opened the eyes of the blind, unstopped the ears of the deaf, gave legs to men who were born lame. He raised the dead. And those unbelieving Jews still would not believe on him. And they cried out, crucify him, crucify him. And Pontius Pilate said, why? What has he done? This is your king. And they said, we have no other king but Caesar. And they were telling the truth. They would never have crucified the Lord of Glory if they had known Him. The Scripture says that. They didn't know Him. And today's people who profess to be Christians, most of them don't know Him either. So they're just going through the motions. But when we do know Him, when God does reveal Himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ, we see love displayed at Calvary that cannot be put into words. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." We need to know why he came into this world. He came into this world to die. He said that. And he came into this world to establish a righteousness for his people. He came into this world to endure the wrath of God in our room and in our stead. He came into this world to establish not only righteousness for us, but to perform a perfect work of redemption for His people so that God can be just and justifier of those who believe. We must believe that Jesus Christ by Himself purged our sins. If we had One thing to what He has done, we've destroyed it all and we're on our way to hell. We must rest in Christ and only in Him. We must take to heart the words that He uttered on Calvary 2,000 years ago. It is finished. And enter into His finished work. We must believe that if it was finished, it was a done deal. And we're complete in Christ. And not one thing can be laid to the charge of God's elect. If we don't believe that, then we have missed it. So that has to be made known. But listen to this. In Romans 10, starting at verse 13, we read, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And that's just as true today as it was when the Apostle Paul wrote those words, inspired by God to write them. Whosoever, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Have you called upon Him? I'm not talking about this phony Jesus that we hear preached from most pulpits today that's done all he can and the rest is up to you. I'm talking about Jesus Christ who is the sovereign Lord over everything, who redeemed His people with His own precious blood. Have we cried out for mercy in that name which is above every name? Well, look what it says in verse 14. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? You will not call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ if you don't believe that He is Christ the Sovereign Lord. Even in Paul's day, he wrote of another Jesus being preached. We must know who He is. We have to believe that He's very God of very God. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And I might add this. Nobody's going to believe unless God gives them a new heart. Miracle is performed under the preaching of His gospel. Read on. How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? They have to hear. The people we preach to have to hear about Jesus Christ. He's the creator of everything. The government. has always been on His shoulder, but not as the God-man. This God-man is on His sovereign throne of power. How are we going to call on Him if we don't believe that? And how are we going to believe that if we don't hear? We must declare Him to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. Jesus Christ came out of that grave with all power and heaven and earth belonging to Him. He said that. He told His disciples that. We must. We must preach Him as a sovereign Lord, but as a sovereign Lord who has mercy on those who call upon Him. And we have to preach Him. It says also, how shall they hear without a preacher? I wouldn't walk across the street to hear a free will preacher. I would not do that. But I'll drive hundreds of miles to be with those who love the Lord Jesus and worship Him. Wouldn't you? How and how shall they preach? It says in verse 15, except they be sent. God sends his preachers. He sends his preachers to preach his gospel. That's our primary business. And I brought out Friday night that there are things that might be important but not as important as preaching the gospel for every pastor that's sent from God. We do socialize. We do in our walk here on this earth have dealings with others apart from the church that we pastor. But our primary purpose in this life is to feed God's sheep. Feed God's sheep. We preach the Gospel. And that's the Word of God that we feast upon. It points to Christ. Our message is Christ and Him crucified. The same message we preach to feed the sheep is what God uses to call His sheep out of darkness. So, God sends us. He sends His preachers. And that's our primary business. And I leave you with the Word of God that I quoted earlier. From 1 John, chapter 5, we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding that we may know Him that is true. And we are in Him that is true, even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. To know Jesus Christ is eternal life. To know Jesus Christ is to know that He loves His children with a perfect, pure, eternal love. And perfect love casts out fear. We don't fear the wrath to come. We've already endured that in our substitute. To know Jesus Christ is perfect peace, knowing that He by Himself purged our sins. To know Jesus Christ is to acknowledge Him as our sovereign Lord with a desire to follow Him according as He moves us, accepting His sovereign purpose and His sovereign will in our lives. To know Jesus Christ is to love Him, knowing that He first loved us. To know Jesus Christ is to love His Gospel, His people, and His providential hand upon our lives, bringing those things our way for His glory and for our good. To know Jesus Christ is to love righteousness and hate sin. To know Jesus Christ is to have a heart filled with praise and adoration for Him, to worship Him in spirit and truth, giving Him all the glory for everything. I ask you this question. Is Jesus Christ your Sovereign Lord? He is whether people acknowledge it or not. He's Lord of all. He's Lord over everything. Thank God that unto us a child was born. Thank God that unto us a son was given. Thank God for the government being on the shoulder of our Lord Jesus Christ who loved us and gave himself for us. He will never stop loving us, and He which hath begun a good work in us will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ, till He returns. Thank God for the gift of faith to believe His Gospel, true saving faith that enables all of God's enlightened children to put our complete trust in Christ our Sovereign Lord. who has complete control over all things. The government is on his shoulder. Amen.