"Jesus Is The Wonderful Counselor”

“Jesus is The Wonderful Counselor”

Jesus was sent as a baby to be everyone’s “Wonderful Counselor.” Isaiah 9:6

Many at Christmas give gifts. We give to show our love for each other. How much does a person spend each year in hopes that they will give the right gift? How do we know what to give? We have a tradition in our family to send out lists of things we need. Have you ever been disappointed in the gift that was given to you? Have you ever seen it on the face of another that the gift you gave was not what they really wanted? God shows the greatest of gift giving. It involves four gifts for you and me in the scripture given today and they are Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. God’s Christmas list for all is found in Isaiah 9:6. Let us look at God’s first perfect gift made just for you: Jesus is the Wonderful Counselor.

I. He is Wonderful

1. The fact that He came to this earth is truly wonderful. We have no record that Jesus went to any other planet or place in the universe. That makes us a people very important in the eyes of God.

2. Jesus Himself is all of the wonder of God. In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis says, "A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic, on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg, or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any shameful nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us." Jesus could only have been one of four things: a legend, a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord our God. There is so much historical and very old evidence to support his existence that every honest historian agrees he was not just a legend. If he were a liar, why would he die for his claim, when he could easily have avoided such a cruel death with a few choice words? And, if he were a lunatic, how did he engage in intelligent debates with his opponents or handle the stress of his betrayal and crucifixion while continuing to show a deep love for his enemies? He said he was Lord and God. The evidence supports that claim.

He claimed to live a sinless life: Jesus could look at a crowd of people angry at his claims to share God’s nature and ask, "Which of you can point to anything wrong in my life?" Even more amazing is that none of them could give a reply! No human being has ever lived a sinless life, except for Jesus.

He claimed to be the ONLY way to God: Not one of several ways, but the one and only way. He did not teach the way, but He was the way to God. Nobody has ever made claims like that before and backed them, but Jesus did through his love, balanced life, and miracles.

He claimed to have shared the glory of God in Heaven. Jesus claimed to have pre-existed with the people he talked to. The apostle John, who shared bread with Jesus, wrote that Jesus was with God in the very beginning, and that "all things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being."

He claimed to be able to forgive sins: One of the reasons that the Jewish leaders were so angry with Jesus was his continual practice of forgiving people’s sins. The religious leaders understood clearly that since sins were rebellion against God Himself, only God could forgive sins.

He claimed to be a Heavenly king: JN 18:36-37 "Jesus said, ’My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.’ ’You are a king, then!’ said Pilate. Jesus answered, ’You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.’"

He claimed to be able to give everlasting life: He didn’t just tell people how they could find everlasting life, or deepen their own life experience. He actually claimed to give life himself.

He claimed that he would die and come back to life.