His Name Shall Be Called…“The Mighty God”
Chuck Sligh
Series: His Name Shall Be Called
December 2, 2018
A PowerPoint slide presentation of this sermon is available upon request at chucksligh@hotmail.com.
Adapted from a sermon by Alan Perkins on SermonCentral.com.
TEXT: Isaiah 9:6 – “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, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
INTRODUCTION
Illus. – Two women stopped in front of yet ANOTHER store window at Christmastime. In the midst of all the merchandise was a little Nativity scene. One woman remarked to the other: “Well, what do you know! Even the church is trying to horn in on Christmastime.”
Illus. – That’s similar to another woman’s attitude when she complained, “Most of the Christmas songs are too distressingly theological!”
Oh, how I wish people understood how very theological Christmas really is! In popular culture, Christmas is all about Christmas trees, decorations, carol-singing, gift-giving and family. But at its very CORE, it’s also about a very theological truth—that God became a man. That’s emphasized in the Christmas passages in Matthew, chapters 1 and 2 and Luke chapters 1 and 2, as well as many other places in the New Testament. But it’s also intimated in several places in the Old Testament as well—one of which is in today’s text.
We’ve seen the last couple of weeks that our text is a prophecy about the long-promised Messiah, whom the New Testament proclaims is the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah gives us five titles for the Messiah, which tell us a little what He would be like. We examined the first two over the last two Sunday mornings: First, He would be called WONDERFUL—and oh, how wonderful He is! Next, He would be called COUNSELOR—and what a wonderful counselor He is!
Today we come to the third name in Isaiah’s descriptive messianic prophecy—the Messiah would be called “The Mighty God.” This name tells us two important things about Christ, with some challenging implications:
I. FIRST, THE MESSIAH WOULD BE GOD—HE’S THE MIGHTY GOD.
The Messiah—Jesus Christ—always was, now is and always will be fully God—
…God in all His wisdom, and power and might.…
…God in all His infinite goodness, and grace, and mercy.…
…The God who has neither beginning nor end of days—who EXISTED from eternity PAST, and who WILL EXIST into eternity FUTURE.…
…The God who created the universe, with its billions of galaxies, each containing billions of stars, and who even now sustains all of creation by His power.
Jesus Christ is THAT God! This fact—that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh—is a familiar idea to most Christians, but the Jews didn’t understand it—not in the time of ISAIAH, nor in Jesus’s day. Though alluded to in some Old Testament scriptures, they had no concept yet of a Trinity—a Triune God of Father, Son and Holy Spirit—one God in three persons. So, when Jesus came and began to teach with such authority, and do miracles, and even spoke of Himself as being one with God—they reacted violently. They even tried to kill Him for committing the sin of blasphemy.
Look with me at John 10:30-33 – “[Jesus said:] I and my Father are one. 31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. 32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from my Father; for which of those works do you stone me? 33 The Jews answered him, saying, ‘We do not stone you for a good, but for blasphemy; and because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
You see, Christ had and has all the power of God—all of God’s STRENGTH, all of God’s ABILITY, all of God’s MIGHT—because He WAS and IS God. Whatever God can do, Jesus can do—because He is God.
It’s important to remind ourselves of this, because although intellectually we may understand that the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit all have the same attributes—that is, each one is equally omniscient, and omnipotent, and omnipresent and all the other “omni’s”—yet, in practice, because of their different roles in salvation, we tend to forget this. We think of God the FATHER as being the strong, forceful one; the Creator; the Warrior; the Judge. We think of CHRIST as being the kind, gentle, compassionate one; the Good Shepherd; the Healer; the Savior. And we think of THE HOLY SPIRIT as being the mysterious, mystical one; the inner voice; the counselor and guide.
But in fact, each of the members of the Godhead is ALL those things, because really there is only one God. God the FATHER is loving and caring, as is the Holy Spirit. God THE SON—JESUS—is powerful and mighty, as is the Holy Spirit. They’re ALL one in being and essence, and so they all possess equally each of the divine attributes.
II. SECOND, THIS TITLE IN ISAIAH 9:6 TELLS US THAT AS GOD, THE MESSIAH WOULD BE MIGHTY—HE IS “THE MIGHTY GOD.”
The Bible tells us in the Old Testament that God the Father has unlimited power.
• Jeremiah 32:17 says, “Ah Lord GOD! behold, you have made the heaven and the earth by your great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for you.”
• Daniel 4:35 tells us, “And all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing: and he does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can hold back his hand, or say unto him, What have you done?”
• There are scores of similar verses scattered throughout the Bible.
Did you hear those verses?—“NOTHING is too hard for You, God”; “You do WHATEVER You please.” In other words, “God, your power is UNLIMITED. When you want to do something, you simply do it. There’s NO force that can resist you, NO enemy who can succeed in opposing your will. You are sovereign over ALL.”
No wonder Christians like to sing “Our God is an Awesome God; He reigns from heaven above; In wisdom, power and love—Our God is an AWESOME God.” Or Chris Tomlin’s song, Our God, where the chorus and bridge go, “Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other. Our God is Healer, Awesome in Power, Our God! Our God! / And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us? We love to songs like these because they profess that God is the MIGHTY God!”
Now, those passages we just read from the Old Testament about God the Father can also be said about God the Son—Jesus Christ, the Messiah that Isaiah prophesied about. Jesus also possesses unlimited power—because HE also is fully God:
• Matthew 28:18 tells us, “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.’”
• Philippians 3:21 says, “he [speaking of Jesus] is able even to subdue all things unto himself.”
• In the same way that God the Father possesses all power and might, so also Jesus Christ—God the Son—possessed and possesses all power and might.
Christ even has power over the created world—the physical universe, like God the Father. In Matthew 8:23-27 we read of the disciples and Jesus in a boat on the sea during a tempest that threatened to destroy them. All the while, Jesus was sound asleep. When they awoke Him and apprised Him of the danger, Matthew says that with just a word He “rebuked the winds and the sea.” They marveled at Jesus’s power saying, “What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!”
What manner of man is this?—The kind who can be addressed as “MIGHTY God.”
APPLICATIONS
God’s power is absolute and overpowering in every sphere, but I’d like us to focus our thoughts for the rest of our time today on His power in our lives, and in our church. The thing I want you to leave with this morning is the truth that His power is AVAILABLE to us—that the power which brought the world into existence, and which now upholds and sustains it; the power that raises up kings and world leaders (and brings them down again); the power that conquered death and brought Christ up from the dead—that same power is available to us—to work in and through our lives through the HOLY SPIRIT.—
• In Acts 1:8, we read, “But you will receive POWER, after the Holy Spirit comes upon you…”
• In Romans 15:13, Paul said, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, through the POWER of the Holy Spirit.”
• And Ephesians 3:16 says, “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man.”
How does Christ dwell in the hearts of us who are believers?—Through His Holy Spirit. And His Spirit is a spirit of POWER—
power TO LOVE—even the unlovely…
power TO FORGIVE—even those we deem to be undeserving of our forgiveness…
power TO TRUST—even in the dark…
power OVER fear, and addiction, and anger, and worry, and lust, and guilt…
power TO PERSEVERE in the midst of suffering and mistreatment…
power TO OVERCOME discouragement and disappointment…
power that can cleanse us from sin, even when a sin has such a grip on our hearts, it seems we can never break free…
power to give us hope and joy even in the midst of difficulty and, heartbreak…
power to replace grumbling and complaining with gratitude and thanksgiving…
…in short, power to accomplish real, lasting CHANGE in our lives—to make us more like Christ and give us the abundant life He promised.
Does that sound good to you? Do you want that kind of power? Now don’t answer too fast, because when God enters our lives in power, it sometimes doesn’t look like what we expected.
Look with me at Matthew 8:28-34 – “And when he came to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two demon-possessed men coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no man could pass by that way. 29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, ‘What have we to do with thee, Jesus, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?’ 30 And there was a good way off from them a large herd of swine feeding. 31 So the devils begged him, saying, ‘If you cast us out, allow us to go away into the herd of swine.’ 32 And he said to them, “Go.” And when had come out, they went into the herd of swine, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters. 33 And the herdsmen fled, and went their way into the city, and told every thing, what had happened to the demon-possessed men. 34 And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their regions.”
Jesus had just performed a great miracle. He had cast demons out of two violent men. He had released them from their torment. And how did the people react? Were they amazed, and happy and thrilled? Did they ask Jesus to stay longer and teach them—to perhaps do more miracles?
No, not at all—they were TERRIFIED! They requested that He go and do His work somewhere else! Why?—Why the fear; the desire to be rid of Him as quickly as possible? Because they didn’t know what He would do next! A predictable Messiah or a wise teacher they could live with. Even a healer they could handle—someone who would cure the occasional epileptic or open the eyes of the blind. But this?—Someone who had power over demons, whose word could send a herd of pigs stampeding into the ocean? They weren’t prepared for that. It didn’t match their expectations.
At this point, I know some of you are asking, “Chuck, where are you going with this?” Let me ask you a question: When God starts working in your life, how do you respond? Do you say, “Yes, Lord, do with me WHATEVER you want”, or if He needles you in an area you’re not too happy about Him dealing with, do you say, “Jesus, no offense, but could you do your work somewhere else?”
You see, when we invite Christ into our lives, He doesn’t always follow our plan. You may say, “God, I’d really like you to work on my SHYNESS. Help me trust people.”
And God may say, “Hmm. Not so sure about that. We’ll see. But FIRST, let’s take a look at your critical, judgmental spirit, and then let’s talk about what you watch on TV, and then I want to deal with your thought life, and then let’s talk about your deceptiveness, and then I want us to examine how you spend your time, and while we’re at it, your church attendance, your giving and your service in your church.”
And you say, “No, wait a minute, God! I hadn’t bargained on dealing with those things. I LIKE those things just the way they are, thank you very much!”
And God responds, “Well, I’m not really asking your permission. I’M God, right?... and YOU’RE to obey ME—not the other way around”…and off you go on a journey toward greater holiness, and obedience, and ultimately greater JOY and PEACE; but not necessarily the journey YOU had planned or the route YOU had mapped out.
Illus. – Since it’s Christmastime, look at Joseph and Mary as an example. Their agenda was to have a typical marriage and someday have a typical family. But God had a different agenda for them. God impregnates Mary with God the Son before she and Joseph came together in sex or marriage. Joseph is not asked if he wants his wife to have a virgin birth! God just informs him in a dream They had their own plans and agenda…but God had a different one, one infinitely more difficult, but infinitely more rewarding.
Brethren, here’s an important truth: God has His OWN agenda in your life. Sometimes you won’t understand what’s happening, but God has a plan for your life, and it’s a whole lot better than the one you have for your own life. What’s happening is that God’s power is changing you and working in your life to make you more like Christ.
Illus. – I consider myself to be somewhat widely read, but I went through almost all my life having never read C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia. I have read all of Lewis’s non-fiction books, Pilgrim’s Progress, The Imitation of Christ, and Calvin’s Institutes (well…most of them; Calvin’s Institutes is like the War and Peace of the Christian world), and a bunch of other stuff. Knowing how often it is quoted by both Christians and secular thinkers, about three years ago, I read each book in the series.
In the fourth book in the series, The Silver Chair, a girl named Jill walks into an opening in the forest. She’s very thirsty, and not far away she sees a stream of cool, clear water. But instead of rushing forward to drink, she hesitates in fear—because lying there on the ground next to the stream is a huge lion named Aslan, who in Lewis’s fantasy represents Jesus Christ. As she ponders what to do, he speaks:
“Are you not thirsty?” said the lion.
“I’m dying of thirst,” said Jill.
“Then drink,” said the Lion.
“May I—could I…would you mind going away while I do?” said Jill.
The lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience. The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.
“Will you promise not to…do anything to me, if I do come?” said Jill.
“I make no promise,” said the Lion.
Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer.
“Do you eat girls?” she said.
“I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms,” said the Lion. It didn’t say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it.
“I daren’t come and drink,” said Jill.
“Then you will die of thirst,” said the Lion.
“Oh dear!” said Jill, coming another step nearer. “I suppose I must go and look for another stream then.”
“There is no other stream,” said the Lion.
Lewis captures a key Bible truth in this quotation:
Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life.
There is NO OTHER STREAM.
There is NO OTHER SOURCE OF LIFE.
There is NO OTHER WAY TO GOD than through HIM—Jesus, the Lion.
But here’s the catch: When we give ourselves to Him, He makes no promise not to “do things” to us.…In fact, we can be sure that He will. Yes, He’ll soothe our thirst, but what else He may do no one can tell—because He’ll do in us what He deems best for you and for His kingdom’s sake. He’s not a tame lion; we cannot control Him. But He is good—very, very GOOD—and He can be trusted.
Will you put your trust in Christ this morning? (EXPAND)
Perhaps you’ve already trusted in Christ for salvation, but you still haven’t opened up your life for Him to change you and make you into what He wants you to be. Perhaps you’re still holding back, fearful of what He might do if you yield yourself completely to him—or determined to hold on to some sin you hold dear.
If that’s the case, then I urge you, turn your life completely over to Christ! Open yourself up to WHATEVER He wants to do in and through your life. Why don’t you pray, asking Him to do whatever He wants in your life, no matter what?
Finally, let me ask this:
• Do you want to see this kind of unlimited power in our church?
• Do you want to see the power of God, through His Spirit, transforming lives; calling lost people to Himself; building fellowship; reconciling relationships; making this church a refuge, a lighthouse, and a witness?
• Do you want to see us growing in numbers, but also in spiritual depth, and influence for Christ?
• Do you want to see the presence and power of the Holy Spirit?—in our worship, and our fellowship and our witness?
Then pray that Christ would whatever He wants in our church and ask God what HE wants you to do to serve in our church and support it and uphold it. Pray that God would continue to bless us with a spirit of unity and love. Pray that God would do things in our midst that go beyond anything we could have asked for or even imagined—wonderful, exciting, amazing things. And then pray, “Lord, where do I fit in your plans for Grace Baptist Church? Where can I serve? How can I be used? What can I do to minister to others, strengthen others, build up others?”And then get busy doing what God tells you to do.
