Scripture: Isaiah 9:2-7

December 26, 2004

On this day after Christmas I want to share with you the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ as prophesized by the prophet Isaiah many years ago as he was preaching especially to the southern kingdom, warning them of the impending judgment. He was preaching for them to come back to the Lord, but especially he was looking into the future of seeing a Messiah that would come one day. It is that hope that I would like to share with you today.

I was watching TV early this week and they had a couple on there; Katie Couric was talking to them. They were new parents and they were nervous, as oftentimes people are on television; they are not used to that, especially national television. The young man was trying to get his wife to the hospital. She was great with child, as Mary was. In fact, she was really great with child. In fact, the child wanted to come; the child didn’t want to wait until they got to the hospital. They replayed the 911 call.

He called 911 to let them know, “I’m on the way to the hospital. My wife’s getting ready to have a baby.”

Well, the baby wanted to go ahead and be born and you could just tell that she is … well, she’s making a little noise in the background. She’s not real happy, in fact she’s yelling about the baby coming. And finally the EMS person tells them, well — instead of trying to find out exactly where to locate them — “You need to get off the road right now because you’re going to deliver the baby. “Oh God.” That’s the first thing he said, because he needed God’s help. The good news though is that he did deliver the child, and the child was all right and it was quite a life-changing event for them.

When this child was born in Bethlehem, it was a life-changing event. The Messiah was to be born. It was the great hope of Israel that finally one would come who would deliver them from slavery to sin — the one that was prophesized by Isaiah as a Wonderful Counselor, a Mighty God, an Everlasting Father, a Prince of Peace.

I was coming home from Christmas Eve Communion, which is a great highlight for preachers. It is like Easter Morning — everybody comes; it’s great. Preachers love it when people come to Church, but it is a very special time, and a holy time. As I was coming home I caught on one of the radio stations the Hallelujah Chorus, so I was just singing along with them and I was just real pleased. I could remember the bass parts of the Messiah; at least I thought I could because I thought I sounded great. But with the London Philharmonic, anybody sounds good. But I was at Smith Crossroads, singing, “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” I really didn’t care, because that is the great hope that we have at Christmas — that the King of King and Lord of Lords has come.

But, you know, isn’t it possible, isn’t it very possible, to come through this whole season, have family come together, have too much food, have parties, but miss Jesus? That He really hasn’t entered our hearts like we’d like Him to. Or maybe He came, but then, as the New Year comes, we go back to the way we were living.

I want to share with you four gifts that you will certainly want to enjoy this New Year. I remember working at Sears when I was in college and used to sell paint, but at Christmas time they would just put you anywhere, which wasn’t too bad before Christmas because you stayed busy and it was stressful, but what was really stressful though was the day after Christmas. People wanted to bring things back; they wanted to exchange them and you would have to bring out this big book and fill out a change order. I just couldn’t stand it. But I want to share with you four gifts that you will not want to bring back. They are four gifts that God wants to give us in this New Year.

And the first gift, Isaiah describes this Messiah as a Wonderful Counselor, that is that God wants to give the gift of guidance to you in this New Year. In the Bible the guidance that we often times overlook, especially come to us in Proverbs. Proverbs is the book of wisdom, especially the wisdom of Solomon. In the first Proverb, verse 7, it says,

In the second Proverb, verse 7, it says,

So when we have a reverence to God and love Him and then we come to Him — and remember He has all wisdom — when we don’t know what to do, He especially knows what to do and can guide us and give us the wisdom that we need.

In Proverbs 3:5 and 6 it says,

That means that God will give you the gift of His guidance.

What a great gift that God wants to guide us in His will and His plan for our lives in this New Year. Some of the greatest wisdom we will find comes from the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus is speaking about the Christian life. How does it begin? Well, it begins with having a Christian attitude, the Beatitudes.

5 Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

These Beatitudes are the attitudes of a Christian. An attitude of a Christian is an attitude, more and more of a servant, that is that we think in terms of how God can use us to touch other people’s lives. We don’t think so much about what’s in it for me; what’s God going to do for me, but we begin to think about how God can use us.

You may think, I don’t have much of a hunger for God. Pray for it and God will give it to you and you will hunger and thirst for righteousness.

And in the Sermon on the Mount, right after that, it talks about being the salt of the Earth and the light of the world, that God wants to use your personality, your life, your gifts and your talents to influence others, just as salt brings seasoning to food. Just as light brings a light to a dark room, God wants to use you to influence others with His love and His kingdom.

Karl Menninger was a great psychiatrist. He had a counseling center out in Topeka, Kansas and he was a very devout Christian. Oftentimes he said what was needed most in a good counselor — you want someone that listens well; you want someone that understands basic psychology — but you want someone that cares for you. You want someone that you can tell: they are bringing forth love; they really want to see your life touched by God. That’s what happens when we come to this Wonderful Counselor and receive this gift of His guidance in the New Year. He is a Wonderful Counselor, this Messiah.

And then Isaiah also says, “He is a Mighty God.” Have there been times, especially in this past Advent time when you lacked strength, you’ve lacked God’s power? God wants to pour out His power upon you; God has this power. He is a Mighty God. In Exodus we see it demonstrated as Moses went back to Pharaoh and ten plagues came upon them to especially demonstrate the power of God, and it was especially demonstrated with the death of the first born of the Egyptians and God delivered the Israelites into the Promised Land. God is still mighty to deliver today. Any sinful habit or attitude that we have just given up on, if we allow God, His power can come in and cleanse us and set us free to serve Him with joy. His power is certainly demonstrated in the miracles of Jesus. When you look in the Gospels, there are so many miracles; let me share just a few. Certainly He has miraculous power when it comes to healing.

I think of the Centurion that came to Jesus and said, “Lord, you just say the word and it will be done.” And Jesus replied, “I haven’t seen such great faith in all of Israel.” And he went back and the Centurion’s servant was made well.

I think back of the man who was paralyzed; he was brought to Jesus, let down through a roof; his friends brought him to Jesus. What great friends to bring him to Jesus. He told him his sins were forgiven and that man got up and walked and made up his bed. His life was never the same. Jesus healed several people that were blind. I think of blind Bartimaeus. Other people wanted to, “Oh, just leave him alone.”

“What do you want?” “I want my sight,” and the Lord touched him and he could see.

Jesus certainly had power over nature. We think of these big strong fisherman; when the storm came up on the Sea of Galilee and they said, “Lord, save us. We perish,” and He has been sleeping, and He said, “Peace, be still,” and it is still.

Or I think of one time in the night, they thought He was a ghost. He was walking on the water. Another time they had gathered together to hear Him preach, and preach He could. “What are we going to do? How are we going to feed all these people?”

“Well, what do you have?”

“Well, we have a little bit of bread and a little bit of fish.” Jesus prayed and five thousand were fed miraculously. Another time four thousand were fed miraculously, plus women and children. He has power over nature. And then, He certainly has power over the dead. Think of Jairus’ daughter, the ruler’s daughter. He didn’t really care that his friends and colleagues didn’t want him to have anything to do with Jesus. His daughter was dying; he wanted Jesus. On the way Jesus is told, “The child has already died.”

“No, she’s just sleeping.” He goes to her, says, ”Little child, get up, arise,’ and she gets up.

There is a funeral procession going on. A widow from Nain, a great mourning. Jesus goes over and touched the pallet that the boy is on. The funeral procession is over. It’s rejoicing; the child lives. We think of Lazarus who has been in the tomb and Jesus cries out, “Lazarus, come forth.” And he comes forth. Jesus still has that miraculous power today.

And especially the way it works in our lives today is through the power of the Holy Spirit. I think in the book of Acts where they were told to wait in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. And then the Holy Spirit came upon them and empowered them to be bold for Jesus Christ. God still wants to pour out His power upon us today to live holy lives. William Booth of the Salvation Army says that the greatest tool of evangelism is a holy life.

Is there some way in your life that you especially need God’s power in this New Year? He is a mighty God and our Lord would like to give you the gift of His power.

He also would like to give you the gift of the Father’s love, that is, He is an everlasting Father. Two of my favorite stories from the Bible are about fathers. The first one is found in Genesis, chapter 22. Here is Abraham. Abraham has waited a long time to have this child Isaac. He is the apple of his eye, to say the least. And then God tells him to do something that doesn’t seem to make sense to him. But that’s how it is, oftentimes, when your faith is tested. God is calling you to do something for a reason; you don’t quite understand it but you know, I want to be faithful. So he goes up on the mountain. He is ready to sacrifice his son, but God provides the ram as a sacrifice. Especially, God shows us His love by His faithfulness. That’s one thing you can count on. That great hymn, “Great is Thy Faithfulness, morning by morning, new mercies I see.” God will do that. We can count on it.

Another wonderful story that we see God’s love, especially as his love and His forgiveness: that is the story of the prodigal son. There is a father who has a younger son and the younger son leaves. He takes his inheritance; he squanders it; he wastes it. He finally, though, realizes the way he has been living. He comes to his senses. He comes back home. He has a repentant heart. The father receives him with love and compassion, with forgiveness. The boy’s older brother does not receive him with love because he doesn’t receive him with forgiveness. One of the things you can count on: this is a gift that when we sin, we can come to the Father. We don’t run from Him; we don’t hide from Him; we come to Him and we learn the truth that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.

In the Upper Room on Christmas Day they had this story about a father. As Jane Woods remembers:

The Lord wants to give you the gift of the Everlasting Father, the gift of the Father’s love. And also He would love to give us the gift of His peace. When Jesus came in to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, they cried, “Hosanna, hosanna.” Great expectation, great hopes that He would be the Messiah, but especially a Messiah, a king like King David, a military leader to overthrow the Romans, to restore the military might of Israel. That wasn’t to be. It was a different peace that He spoke of. It was the peace that would come in the hearts. It was the peace that only a Savior can bring.

In John, chapter 14, Jesus, before He died said,

The Apostle Paul wrote of that prayer when he knew that the temptation to be anxious about so many things is very real. He said:

Isaiah said in chapter 26:3:

Back in 1953 a young evangelist named Billy Graham wrote a book called, Peace with God. Very basic, but it became a classic. It is still being reprinted to this day. Why? Because he was talking about the peace that comes from a relationship with Jesus Christ. This man who has preached to more people than anyone in the history of Christianity, was simply writing a Biblical answer to the question, How can I have peace of mind? And it is peace with God.

In what way would you like the Prince of Peace to come into your life in this New Year? What worry would you like for Him to come and to help you with and to give you peace? The peace that He comes to bring is as Jesus said in this book, “You have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” It is peace amidst problems.

God has given us these four gifts:

What is our response? What would God want most of all from us? You know, in my household, as we gathered together, I did very well. I’ll be the best smelling, best dressed preacher in Caldwell County for this year coming up. It was a wonderful time but as I think back on that though, if I had only received those presents and didn’t have family, it wouldn’t have been a whole lot of fun, for that is really what meant the most: having family around, the people that love you the most, the people that are dearest to you.

What does God want most of all? He wants us. He wants our hearts. He wants us to love Him, and especially God wants us to share this in the way that we live. When Jesus ascended, what were His last words?

As we receive these gifts, we share these gifts: The gift of His guidance, the gift of His power, the gift of His love, and the gift of His peace.

Let us pray: