Amen. Right, so, Isaiah chapter 9, great chapter of the Bible there, we're going to look just at verse 6 in case you're wondering.
Isaiah 9 and verse 6, where Isaiah prophesies this, he says,
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.
And the title of my sermon today, or this afternoon, is The Complex Nature of Christ, The Complex Nature of Christ.
I'd like to pray before we continue with the sermon.
Father, thank you for just this great verse here that I'm going to preach from that just tells us so much about the Lord Jesus Christ,
your Son, God in the flesh, who came to this world, you know, and lived that perfect life, died on the cross for us.
There's so much more to him than, you know, salvation alone, so much more to his character that we can learn hopefully this afternoon.
Help me to preach this accurately and boldly and clearly, Lord, in Jesus' name we pray all this. Amen.
Right, so, this is a great verse of the Bible that is shared a lot at Christmas time.
You probably have seen or received maybe messages with this, you might have seen it.
You know, different sort of, around different Christians, everyone, you know, a lot of people love this verse of the Bible.
And if you notice with this how the Christ child being born was noteworthy, wasn't it?
Notice that the Christ child, the birth of Jesus Christ, that first Christmas was a big deal, wasn't it?
A cause for celebration, you could say.
As I said, for unto us the child is born, unto us the Son is given.
And, you know, I say that just because, you know, it comes in little waves of these sorts of things
and the holier than nows types love this sort of anti-Christmas thing.
This is kind of the latest one I've come across this year.
A little bit more, I didn't really hear it much last year.
This year I started getting the messages coming up, you know, the YouTube type stuff.
You start hearing these little whispers, you celebrate Christmas like you...
And, you know, the types of people that do that, you know, I was joking about this last week.
There was someone, you know, and again, you don't have to give too much credibility to people that like to troll you on YouTube.
But it is quite interesting, isn't it?
It's interesting that you have someone start talking about yule, you celebrate yule, you know.
It's always like to try and lift themselves up against you spiritually, isn't it?
It's like I know something, I'm spiritually more mature because I don't celebrate yule.
Yet the vast majority of people that don't celebrate Christmas usually don't go to church and don't do much for the rest of the Bible either.
So it's always just the typical holier than nows stuff, you know, the kind of straining at nats, swallowing camels type stuff.
However, here we see that it's a cause for celebration, isn't it?
It was a cause for celebration 700 years before.
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.
He didn't say, well, unto us is going to be this, forget the birthday, you know, in another 30 years there's going to be the death on the cross.
No, the child being born was important, wasn't it?
And these people often will celebrate other birthdays.
They'll celebrate their own birthdays, they'll celebrate families' birthdays, they'll celebrate their children's birthdays, but they don't want to celebrate Jesus Christ's birthday.
But how do we know it's the 25th? Well, we don't know it's the 25th of December, but let's celebrate on the 25th.
Because none of these people are celebrating any other day of the year, are they?
Okay, so I'm happy to celebrate the birthday.
We had a nice celebration, didn't we? That was a nice birthday celebration.
I hope the Lord Jesus Christ was honoured by that.
He said here, for unto us a child is born.
And yes, this is definitely referring to the Lord Jesus Christ.
John 3.16 says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but ever will last in love.
Jesus Christ is that only son begotten of the dead, isn't it?
And he said here, unto us a son is given.
That child is born, that son is given, obviously referring to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He was born a child, he was given to us, yet he came carrying full authority, didn't he?
The government, it said, shall be upon his shoulder.
This child, this gift, was also the boss.
Okay, he was also the boss.
And then we have these names or characteristics of Jesus Christ.
And just to make it clear, in the English language, there is only one name that saves.
Okay, so in case they're, oh, right, well, you know, as long as I, you know, start preaching the counselor or start preaching the wonderful or something else.
Well, no, there is only one name that saves.
Acts 4.12 says, neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
Okay, there is only one name, that's Jesus Christ, yeah.
Philippians 2.10 says that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth.
So, look, if you speak English, you're saved by the name of Jesus.
Not Yahweh, not Yahushua or Yeshua or anything else to try and sound as holy and spiritual as you possibly can to sound like you know something everyone else doesn't, that you've got the special name for him.
No, we're English, we have the King James Bible.
The King James Bible says at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow.
Yeah, not at the name of something bizarre that no one ever knew before until the last however many years where people try and sound all holy and spiritual with it.
Okay, and with that, it's just another Yehath, God said, isn't it?
That's just another Yehath, God said his name's Jesus?
Or have you all been conned for the best part of 2,000 years?
No, we haven't, it's at the name of Jesus, okay, and we're English, we speak English at the name of Jesus at every knee should bow, okay.
Now, it's the same spirit with that as it is with the whole, you celebrate Christmas, it's the same sorts of people, isn't it?
It's the same ultra spiritual clowns that like to have their special name.
Not much different to the Jehovah's Witnesses with their own special name that they have that you're not holy enough to have.
Same with the Yeshua, Yeshua, Yeshua, Yeshua.
Okay, it's all the same, isn't it?
Yeah, I'm so sick and tired of these people and they always work salvationists, aren't they?
How often are they not work salvationists?
They always follow false Bibles, they always believe in some sort of works, I'm sick of them.
However, here in Isaiah 9-6, what these are are characteristics of ourselves, so they're not new little names that we can have our own little pet name.
Oh, don't worry, I've got my own special name because I know more than you, because I'm more spiritual, because I know the Hebrew,
because someone revealed to me that in fact we've all got it wrong.
No, these are characteristics of our Saviour, which make him so much more complex than the mainstream image.
Because what's the mainstream image of Jesus?
Just like some hippie kind of happy-go-lucky, nothing phases, judge not, judge not, do what you like,
you know, and I'm just going to walk around going, I love everyone, you know.
And that's about as complex as his nature gets, I think.
But here we see that this verse alone just tells us so much more about the Lord Jesus Christ.
It wasn't just his death, his life on earth, the Gospel accounts teach us so much more about him, don't they?
OK, this verse just highlights what we're taught through the Gospel.
Now, you could spend a sermon just highlighting all these parts of the Gospel, but it'd be a very long sermon.
This verse kind of encapsulates it all.
OK, and we learn this, obviously, if you read through the Gospel accounts of him.
The complex nature of Christ.
It says, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
So we're going to look at point number one.
He's wonderful. He's wonderful. Jesus Christ is wonderful.
His name shall be called Wonderful, which literally means full of wonder.
OK, that's the literal meaning of the word wonderful, full of wonder.
Everything about Jesus Christ is wonderful, isn't it?
From his miraculous birth to a virgin, to his amazing sacrifice on that cross and everything in between.
Turn to Matthew chapter 21.
Psalm 40 and verse five says, you turn to Matthew 21, Psalm 40 and verse five says,
Many, O Lord, my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us would,
they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee.
If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.
He said many, many, O Lord, my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done.
OK, he's done a lot of wonderful things, isn't he?
In Matthew 21, we see Jesus, we're going to look from verse 12,
where Jesus made his triumphant entry, his final entry, that is, into Jerusalem.
It says in verse 12,
And the children crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David.
They were sore displeased.
So healing the blind and lame was wonderful, wasn't it?
Yeah, the healings he did were wonderful.
Can you imagine being there and seeing that, seeing people that have been blind from birth,
just getting healed by the Lord Jesus Christ, just by touching the Lord Jesus Christ, just by him saying, be healed.
All these people possessed by spirits from young, vexed with spirits,
all these people with all these different sorts of illnesses and sicknesses,
you know, issues of blood for 12 years, all these things,
and Jesus Christ just hitting them left, right and centre.
That must have been wonderful to see.
What a wonder.
Miracle, all the miracles, imagine seeing those miracles.
And these weren't miracles, but even the more kind of awe-inspiring miracles,
the walking on water that his disciples saw.
Imagine seeing that, raising people from the dead,
raising Lazarus from the dead.
What an amazing sight to see.
They're multiplying a couple of fish and a few loaves into meals for thousands upon thousands of people.
Just absolutely amazing.
But so was also casting out those that made the Temple a den of thieves.
Okay, they're talking about the wonderful works here.
One of those was just casting out all these wicked people, overthrowing tables and seats.
Because, look, no one else was doing that, were they?
No one else was going in and saying it for how it was.
No one else was going into the Temple and just casting people out, overthrowing tables,
and doing what really should have been getting done a long time before.
They were all wonderful works, weren't they?
Psalm 107 says it on four different occasions.
You don't have to turn now, I'm just going to read it.
It's the same verse four times in Psalm 107, which says,
O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men.
Oh, if only they would, but here the chief priests and scribes were sore displeased.
O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men.
Isaiah 9, 6, we saw that he's wonderful.
And you can go back there, nothing was more wonderful than giving his life for all of us, right?
But so many still won't praise him for it.
How many now still just will not praise him for what he did, will not praise him for that?
Where now, like we talked about last week, Christmas has just become about this basic joke in the sky.
You know, this just big joke, this big lying joke, rather than for what Jesus Christ did for us.
And I was talking a bit about how he's kind of stolen the hearts and minds.
And really, Jesus becomes a disappointment to not just the children, to people of this day,
compared with the Satan clause image.
Yeah.
O, he said, O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men.
If only people would, eh?
Right, Isaiah 9, 6 said, for unto us the child is born, unto us the 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.
A complex nature of Christ to look at.
One, he's wonderful.
Two, he's a counselor.
He is the counselor.
So on one hand, he's doing these amazing things, miracles, wonderful works.
Then on the other, he's a perfect counselor.
In fact, Isaiah 28 and verse 29, if you're quick, you can go there.
Isaiah 28, 29 says that he's wonderful in counsel.
So not only is he wonderful, he's wonderful in counsel.
It says this also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, Isaiah 28, 29, which is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working.
So a counselor is someone who directs you by giving advice, opinion or instruction.
Yeah, that's what a counselor is.
And many of his wonders do counselors, don't they?
So he is wonderful.
He does many wonders and many of those wonders do counselors.
So lessons we can learn from his miracles.
You know, there are so many lessons as we've been preached through the Gospel of Matthew,
looking at so many of these miracles that Jesus Christ did that we're learning just from the miracle itself,
just from the thing he did and the pictures we can see in that and the lessons of counsel we received from that.
But also from trying to emanate his wonderful works.
OK, we get counsel through trying to emanate Jesus Christ.
And yet you might not be able to raise people physically from the dead, but you can spiritually, can't you?
And so many other parts of what Jesus Christ did, we try and emanate ourselves.
But when many of his many of his wonders do counselors, turn to Proverbs chapter 19,
because there are many people that set themselves up as counselors in life, aren't there?
And there are many people that want to be counselors.
You know, for many, sadly, it's ego, isn't it?
They love to tell you what to do.
They love to try and give advice when it's not really sought for.
And a lot of people love giving advice, don't they?
And that's a bit annoying when you don't really want the advice, when you're not really asking for it
and people love to give it.
And there are many in different areas of life, governments love to give advice, don't they?
How many times does our government like to try and advise us on things which really has got nothing to do with them?
And sometimes it's not just advise us, it's to force us to do things.
There's a lot of governmental advice.
But how often does that change?
How often does the last government advice from yesteryear get disproven by the latest government advice?
It constantly changes, doesn't it?
TV producers love to give you advice through their various shows, their various, you know,
whether it's from, you know, newscasting or whatever else it is.
There's many types of people that try and advise us in life that nowadays it's more the sort of YouTube celeb, isn't it?
And if you've got famous anyway, it doesn't seem to matter how you've got famous, does it?
You could be famous for literally being, sorry, you know, it's a bit crude, but a literal whore, yeah, will get famous.
And then suddenly they're just giving everyone advice.
Some idiot gets famous for whatever it is, sometimes it might be a sport, he's good at the sport,
so suddenly he's giving you life advice.
And obviously we saw that a lot with the whole Covid thing, didn't we?
Where there's all these random so-called celebrities advising you to get a vaccine that was untried and untested.
In fact, even worse than that.
But, you know, a lot of people like to give advice, but there's a difference with the counsel from the Lord, isn't there?
You turn to Proverbs 19, verse 21 says, there are many devices in a man's heart.
Nevertheless, the counsel of the Lord that shall stand.
The counsel of the Lord is the one that stands, isn't it?
Now turn to Psalm 33, 11 says, the counsel of the Lord standeth forever.
The thoughts of his heart to all generations.
It stands strong, doesn't it? It doesn't change with the latest fashions.
God's counsel, you don't have to change it because, well, we are in the year 2022 now.
OK, we need to, you know, I'm going to forget this this time next week, aren't I?
I'll be quoting 2022 for a little while, like many do, but it doesn't change.
It doesn't change whether it's 2022 or 2023 or whatever it is.
God's counsel stands from then to now and will continue to stand.
It said in Psalm 33, 11, to all generations,
which means that whatever he said thousands of years ago still applies.
It still applies. It doesn't matter if you feel that, well, times have changed, you know, in life.
Whatever he said still applies. Whatever he said in many different areas of life,
whatever he said is an abomination and whatever he said isn't,
whatever he said we should do and whatever he said we shouldn't,
whatever he says we must do and whatever he says we must not, all still stands, isn't it?
Apart from the things which are clearly done away.
So people are like, oh, follow the Old Testament.
Well, yeah, the meats, drinks, you know, divers, washings, carnal ordinances.
No, we don't. However, the moral law still stands, doesn't it?
Everything which is to do with morality still stands.
God doesn't change. He hasn't changed about that.
Jesus Christ, his counsel, the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.
It standeth forever, said Psalm 33, 11 as well.
And all of the counsel that he gave in the Gospel still stands.
How to live, how to behave, how to treat each other.
Now, he didn't change anything. He didn't come along and go, OK, well, you know, in terms of morality.
But he did expand upon things, didn't he?
He did take something and go, well, actually, I'm going to teach you how we go even further with that.
Yeah, you've heard that you shouldn't commit adultery. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
However, you even look at a woman to lust after you committed adultery in your heart.
And he expands and he shows us, really.
You know, he went into more depth about so many of the teachings of the Old Testament.
But all of it stands, doesn't it?
Oh, well, if he said it, unless he said it in the New Testament, then it doesn't count.
Well, that's nonsense. Can you imagine how big the New Testament would be?
And there was no need for that.
Certain things expanded, other things, they just stand, don't they?
They're the same.
Jesus Christ is saying, yes, they today are forever, all right?
I was clear about that.
Turn to 2 Timothy 3, because it's not just what Jesus was recorded as saying in the Gospels,
with a few other direct quotes from other books, OK?
That's not just the counsel of the Lord, is it?
2 Timothy 3 and verse 16, 2 Timothy 3, 16 says,
All scripture, all scripture is given by inspiration of God
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction,
in righteousness. That's all counsel, isn't it?
Yeah, that's some of that strong counsel, some of that is more gentle counsel,
but it's all counsel that the man of God may be perfect,
thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
So his counsel will make you complete, won't it?
Prepared for good works.
And that's all scripture.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God and Jesus Christ is God.
All scripture is given by inspiration.
OK, that's from Old Testament through to the end of the New Testament.
OK, it's all given by inspiration of God.
His counsel does make you complete, does it?
It makes you prepared, therefore, for good works.
And that's the whole point of being here, isn't it?
That's the whole point of being here, to serve the Lord Jesus Christ with good works.
And that's why Psalm 119 verse 24 says,
Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsel.
So every testimony, everything from the beginning to the end is all our delight and our counsel.
And obviously, you need to rightly divide the word of truth, OK?
It's not just, oh, well, you know, this person in this book of the Bible did this,
so that must be how I'm meant to behave.
No, rightly divide it.
Is that what God wanted that person doing?
Is that ordained of God?
But when it's scripture, when it's us saith the Lord,
when it's through his prophets saying exactly what God wants to say through a prophet,
then that's something that we have to take heed to.
That's counsel of the Lord.
They're the testanies of the Lord, which should be our delight and our counselors.
Isaiah 9, 6.
So we've just seen, well, let's read it.
It says, 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.
So Wonderful and a Counsellor, the complex nature of Christ.
Number three, he's a mighty God.
He's the mighty God.
Yep, Jesus Christ is God.
Okay, that's how he was able to pay for our sins.
Turn to John 8 whilst I read Mark 10, 18.
You're turning to John chapter 8.
Mark 10, 18, it says, and Jesus said unto him,
Why callest thou me good?
There is none good but one that is God.
Now, Jesus Christ was stating his deity.
Only God could have lived a sin-free life.
You know, some of the witnesses like to go to verses like this.
Okay, see, he's not good. Well, was Jesus Christ not good?
Jesus Christ was good, and there's one good that is God.
Jesus was sometimes less direct in the Gospels, wasn't he?
In John's Gospel, he makes the famous I Am statements.
He said, I am the bread of life in John 6.
I am the life of the world in John 8.
I am the door of the sheep in John 10.
I am the good shepherd in John 10.
I am the resurrection of the life in John 11.
I am the way, the truth, and the life in John 14.
I am the true vine in John 15.
And in John 8.58, he makes it even clearer.
It says in John 8.58, Jesus said unto them,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am.
That's referring to God's name in Exodus 3.14.
You don't have to turn it, which says,
And God said unto Moses, I am that I am.
And he said, Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel,
I am have sent me unto you.
Okay, so Jesus Christ said here, before Abraham was, I am.
Okay, Jesus Christ is clearly stating his deity here.
He's clearly stating that he is God.
However, it's the works that he did that bore witness of him.
John 10.25, if you want to jump forward to John 10.25 says,
John 10 and verse 25, Jesus answered them,
I told you and you believe not,
the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.
Okay, so works that he did in his Father's name
that bear witness of him.
Notice how he said my Father's name, not the Father, my Father's name.
Because who's had those Muslims try the old,
Jesus never said that he was the Son of God.
Anyone had those when you were out soul winning?
Yeah, he never said he's the Son of God.
You know, a good, and I need to sometimes take heed of this advice.
Usually I'm good with this,
is usually to not get into that in the first place.
And then once they start going down,
you know they're not trying to listen at all.
But it's tempting sometimes, isn't it, to just try and crush them.
But really, you kind of just want to move on, don't you?
But sometimes they pull you in like, oh, yeah, yeah,
oh, I'm interested to see what the Bible says and then they're like,
Jesus never said that he was God, right?
Well, Jesus said, just said here before Abraham was, I am.
Yeah, he just said the works that I do in my Father's name,
they bear witness of me.
However, turn to John, sorry, turn to Mark 14.
Mark 14 is for me the clearest.
Mark 14 and verse 60 we're going to look at,
or from verse 60, Mark 14 and verse 60,
where it says here, Mark 14, 60,
And the high priest stood up in the midst,
and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest thou nothing?
What is it which these witness against thee?
But he held his peace and answered nothing.
Again the high priest asked him and said unto him,
Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?
So the anointed, the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed,
that's the Son of God.
What did verse 62 say? And Jesus said, I am.
And you shall see the Son of man sits you on the right hand
of power coming into clouds of heaven.
Jesus said, I am the Christ, the Son of the Blessed, didn't he?
Yeah, that's a nice place to go,
if you ever need to deal with that with people.
Not that it really gets you anywhere anyway,
because they'll just try and find a way out of it anyway, won't they?
They'll find, oh, well, yeah,
but he didn't actually say I'm the Son of God.
He said he's the Son of the Blessed, isn't he?
But you've got to say it the way they word it,
because the way they word it has already been looked into,
that it doesn't say that in the Bible, right?
You know, so that just, it's a bit of a nonsense.
However, it's nice to see you can,
if you ever feel the need to, without a you want to,
you never know, you might have a Muslim
that's maybe just been kind of brainwashed with this stuff
and just needs to be, needs to have it pointed out to them,
and maybe they might be more open,
but it is rare, unfortunately, when you start going down that route.
Verse 63 said, then the high priest rent his clothes and said,
you never said that you're the Son of God, though.
No, he said, what need we any further witnesses,
ye have heard the blasphemy, what think ye?
And they all condemned him to be guilty of death,
because just like the false prophets of those days,
they hate the fact that Jesus is the Son of God.
That's the truth, isn't it?
They hate the fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of God,
that they even need a saviour in the first place,
they don't want to accept that,
so then they'll just say, well, he didn't say it this way,
he didn't say that way, whatever way they want to say,
you know, whatever their kind of, you know, their parameters are,
whatever, you have to say it their way, okay,
but he said it that way, he said, I am, yeah, I am.
Okay, so, and of course there's many places in God's
highly preserved word which state that Jesus Christ is the Son of God,
yeah, that Jesus Christ is God.
Okay, and such is here in Isaiah 9-6, which said,
for unto us the child is born, unto us the 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.
And that's Mighty God with a big capital G,
but he has more complexity if you think about it,
so on one hand he's counselling us, yeah,
he's directing us with advice, opinion, instruction,
however, he's God, he's God, he's the mighty God,
he doesn't owe us anything, does he?
Jesus Christ doesn't owe you or me a thing,
yet he still counsels us.
He's God, he's a mighty God, he's wonderful,
and he still gives us advice to help us through life.
He still gives us advice not just for serving him,
not just for getting other people saved,
he gives us advice just to get through life itself,
just to have a happier life,
he gives us advice for just to basically have a happier family,
have a happier marriage, have a happier child,
be a happier child, he gives us all this advice,
and it's not as simple as you think, is it?
He's a counselor, and he is the mighty God.
We're his creation, yet he became a part of his creation, didn't he?
A little baby in a stable, laying in a feeding trough.
That's amazing, isn't it?
Jesus Christ is the mighty God,
and he came and became a baby in a feeding trough.
He came and submitted basically unto being,
having parents in this life as a little baby,
yet he's a creator of the world.
It's absolutely amazing when you think about it,
it's mind-boggling, really, it's hard to even get your head around it.
The complex nature of Christ, number one, he's wonderful,
number two, he's a counselor, number three, he's a mighty God,
and number four, he's the everlasting Father,
he's the everlasting Father.
Now, hold on, does this verse cancel out the tons of verses
talking about the Son of God?
It must do, it must just cancel it all out, right?
God's only begotten Son, Jesus praying to the Father,
talking of his Father, which is in heaven,
and that happens many times in the Gospels,
although some would like to pretend that doesn't happen.
Of course not.
And of course there are downhill heretics out there
which would teach junk like that.
Turn to Matthew chapter 3.
Here's the thing about that, yeah, turn to Matthew chapter 3,
because people like to mock a strong stance on the Trinity.
Have you heard these people before?
They like to mock it as if,
oh, yeah, you know, your Gospel presentation,
you must spend an hour teaching the Trinity
because if someone doesn't understand it,
you've got a problem with them.
Well, no, it's not that we believe that if you don't have
a full understanding and be able to word it exactly perfectly,
you must be unsaved.
I believe that many believers find it hard to explain properly,
but if you're saved, if you're saved,
and you're shown clear scripture, like here in Matthew 3,
when Jesus was baptised, verse 16 says,
And Jesus, when he was baptised,
went up straightway out of the water,
and lo, the heavens were opened unto him,
and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove
and lighting upon him, and lo, a voice from heaven saying,
This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.
You start to understand the Trinity, don't you?
Yeah?
You don't look at that and go, yeah, Jesus is the Father.
It's ridiculous, isn't it?
But if you're unsaved, I mean, you look at all sorts of verses
and don't understand them, do you?
Or Matthew 28 and verse 19,
So you don't look at verse like that and go, yeah, no,
Jesus is the Father, Jesus is the Father.
It's ridiculous, isn't it?
Verse after verse, you don't see verses where he's talking to God,
praying to God, you know, not my will but thine be done,
et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, and then go, yeah, Jesus is the Father.
You do when you're unsaved.
Or you do when you might just not understand,
you might be, look, if someone's newly saved,
oh, right, they must know exactly which verse to go, do you know?
But as soon as they're shown, they're going to get it, aren't they?
They're going to get it if they're saved.
Verses such as, you know, when you look at that,
along with verses such as 1 John 5-7,
for there are three that bear record in heaven.
Three. Three.
Not there's one that bears record in heaven
and he just kind of morphs into different forms.
Three that bear record in heaven,
the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one.
And, look, sometimes it can be hard to explain properly for many,
and sometimes it's hard to get your head in.
The Bible does call it a mystery.
It's a mystery of godliness.
However, it's given to us,
it's shown to us in the scriptures, isn't it?
The mystery of godliness.
The saved person comes away saying, one God, three persons.
The unsaved comes away with all sorts of versions of God's,
Jesus is the Father, and, you know,
and all this, and these versions of modalism and oneness
and all this sort of junk.
So how should we explain the Trinity, though?
Look, I'm going to say something here, yeah.
I've never had trouble just showing someone a couple of verses
from the Bible, usually 1 John 5-7,
and anywhere from John chapter 1 and verses, you know,
maybe 1 to 3, and show them verse 14.
Showing them 1 Timothy 3-16, maybe showing them, you know,
from Colossians 1 or Hebrews 1, if need be,
and usually we don't even get that far because people just accept it.
A lot of the time, 1 John 5-7 had an explanation pretty simply of,
there's God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost,
God the Father isn't God the Son,
God the Son isn't God the Holy Ghost, however, all three are one God.
People just go, yeah, OK.
And, you know, I know some people like to start using analogies and stuff.
Look, it's not the end of the world.
I'm not a big fan of eggs, and the rest of it,
because, Jesus, God isn't an egg.
I know, like, I've heard quite a lot of people have started doing it.
Look, if you really want to do an egg, sure, but I'm not a big fan.
I've never needed to kind of start talking about eggs
when I talk about God, OK, because God ain't an egg.
OK, so, and I understand some people want to give a visual
and stuff like that, but for me, the verses show it, you know.
Otherwise, maybe Jesus might have said we're kind of like an egg.
You know, I don't know.
So, look, for me, a couple of verses explain it clearly,
and people just go, OK, yeah, that's a bit of a mystery,
but I see what the Bible's saying there, yeah, OK.
So, that's how I like to explain the Trinity anyway.
And, look, all that spirit, soul, body, and people,
oh, water, and, you know, it's just like, just, look,
three persons, one God, the Trinity, you know.
I don't think any of it does it justice, that's my point, yeah.
And none of it does God justice, yeah.
And people start going away going, God's an egg.
They could do, couldn't they, OK.
If they think God's an egg, they ain't saved, all right.
I need to preach against this egg doctrine, right, OK.
So, OK, so, with that in mind,
why does Isaiah 9-6 then call the child, yeah, the son,
the son, the everlasting father?
Anyone ever wondered that?
Because it's one of the qualities of Jesus Christ,
it's part of his complex nature.
Turn to John chapter 12, and I read Mark 10-24.
You turn to John 12, Mark 10-24 says this.
And the disciples, OK, we're talking about disciples here,
were astonished at his words,
but Jesus answerth them again,
and saith unto them, Children,
how hard is it for them that trust in riches
to enter into the kingdom of God?
So he's talked to the disciples,
and by the way, Jesus is like 30-odd years old at this point,
and I'm guessing that these grown men
are somewhere around those sort of ages as well,
from what I can tell, right?
And he's calling them children,
because he was a father figure to them, wasn't he?
Jesus Christ was a father figure to them.
The way he interacts and the way he talks
and the way he behaves with them,
he is like a father to them.
John 12, is that where you've turned, yeah?
John 12 verse 36 says,
While ye have light, believe in the light,
that ye may be the children of light.
These things spake Jesus and depart
and just hide himself from them.
Now, who's the light? Jesus Christ.
I know that's a bit of a literal kind of interpretation of that,
but they do act like his children.
They behave the way that the relationship is,
as if they're a child of him,
that they may be the children of light.
If you jump forward to chapter 13 and verse 33,
he calls them little children.
So it's like he's 30-odd years old,
and obviously that's, you know,
God in the flesh is 30 years old,
but he's from everlasting,
but he says little children, John 13, 33,
Yet a little while am I with you, ye shall seek me.
And as I said unto the Jews, whither I go,
ye cannot come, so now I say to you.
So his relationship with the disciples,
that of a loving father with his little children, wasn't it?
And we see them described as like babes, yeah?
They're babes in Christ.
Turn to Matthew 9,
because it wasn't just his disciples either.
It wasn't just the 12.
It wasn't just those that were clearly following him
along with them, maybe the 70 and others.
In Matthew, you turn to Matthew 9,
I'm going to read Matthew 18, 3, where Jesus said,
Verily I say unto you,
except ye be converted and become as little children,
ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
So Matthew 9, 22, where you've turned,
having healed the woman, she's a woman, not a girl,
the woman with an issue of blood 12 years,
so she's clearly not a young girl,
but Jesus turned him about,
and when he saw her, he said, daughter.
So he calls this woman daughter.
Remember again, physically 30 years old,
between 30 and 33, daughter, be of good comfort,
thy faith hath made thee whole,
and the woman was made whole from that hour.
So again, she's a woman, he's calling her daughter.
Jump forward to chapter 23,
because Jesus Christ's nature was that of a loving father,
and that didn't start 2,000 and something years ago either.
That's his nature.
Matthew 23, 37 says this, Matthew 23, 37,
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets
and stonest them which are sent unto thee,
how often would I have gathered thy children together,
even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings,
and ye would not.
That's why he's called the everlasting father.
He's like a parent to us.
That's how he behaves, that's his character, his nature.
He's a mighty God, yet he's a loving everlasting father as well.
So we're looking at the complex nature of Christ.
Number one, he's wonderful.
Number two, he's a counselor.
Number three, he's a mighty God.
Number four, he's the everlasting father.
And of course, the Bible gives enough rope
for these sort of heretics to hang themselves with.
However, when you just compare with the whole of the Bible,
it's quite clear what Jesus Christ is and what he isn't.
And number five, he's a prince of peace.
He's a prince of peace.
And sadly for many, this invokes images of the hippie type Jesus, doesn't it?
Floating about, smiling at sin, just another sinner,
another sodomite, another cross-dresser.
Isn't it great, you know?
Judge not, judge not, peace, peace, you know.
That's what people think, the prince of peace.
Jesus was peace, Jesus was love.
And you hear all this, and this is obviously the fake image of Christianity.
He's literally walking around just chanting,
judge not, judge not, judge not, judge not.
That's sort of the image our world gives of Jesus Christ, right?
Turn to Matthew chapter 10.
And I would guarantee you that right now,
or at least at some point today around this nation,
there were probably countless effeminate sounding vicars,
priests and similar talking about the message of peace to the world,
weren't there?
Peace to the world, Jesus, the message of Christmas
is peace between nations.
I reckon I'm doing a good impression of someone I don't even know right now, yeah?
Peace between families,
peace between people of different backgrounds and sexualities.
And I always like to bring that all together,
peace between races and sexualities, yeah, or something like that,
because it's all the same, isn't it?
This is the sort of crap you'll hear around the world, right?
And around this nation especially, that has gone on this morning in churches,
if they can be bothered to do an evening service,
they'll be saying the same as well, rinse and repeat,
rinse and repeat, peace, peace, peace, that's the message of Christmas.
They'll be the arch villain of Canterbury standing up there behind the camera
at some point in front of the camera, and behind probably as well,
you can only imagine where he gets.
Probably saying things like, you know,
the message of Jesus Christ was peace to the world,
we need to go and invade Russia, or something else,
you know, because the poor you create is peace,
or some other political message based on a load of old nonsense,
but is that what Jesus Christ is preaching?
Is that what the Prince of Peace is about?
Was it peace between nations?
Was that really what he came for?
Was it peace between religions?
Did Jesus Christ come to go, look, guys,
you need to stop being upset about all those false prophets, yeah?
I just want peace.
We should just open our doors, it's Christmas time,
and just invite in those Catholics,
invite in those child-sacrificing Satan worshippers,
because it's all false religion, isn't it?
Invite in, you know, the Repent of Your Sins,
Wicked Church down the road, Shockgate Baptist,
come on in, guys, peace at Christmas, that's what Jesus Christ...
That's why Jesus Christ came, didn't he?
Jesus Christ came so we can all have peace
with a load of damnable heretics.
We can all have peace with a load of wicked false...
Is that why Jesus Christ came?
Was that what the Prince of Peace was about?
Of course it wasn't, was it?
Peace with those... Yeah, that's the one, isn't it?
The poor discriminated members of society.
Some will be a little bit more subtle about it,
because they're like, yeah, old Mrs Miggins at the back there,
she's probably going to leave if I go too much about the sodomites.
Discriminated against in society, there should be peace between.
Peace with all of those, so that way you're kind of, well,
the more kind of woke ones, you know,
although I don't even know if they have that in the old C of E church anymore,
but any of those, you know, they might understand what he's talking about.
The older ones might be like, oh, yeah, racism's bad, yeah, and all that.
And then between them all, they can all get their own message from it.
But that's not what he's talking about.
Peace with your unrepentant enemies, is that what he's talking about?
Peace, do you know, anyone that's ever crossed you, just preaching peace.
It's peace at Christmas.
Let's ring up, ring up the old family member that ripped you off
and never said sorry and still hates your guts.
Ring up, you know, whoever it is and just peace.
No.
Look at Matthew 10 and verse 34.
Jesus said this, think not that I am come to send peace on earth.
What?
I came not to send peace, but a sword.
For I am come to send a man at variance against his father and a daughter,
against a mother and a daughter-in-law, against a mother-in-law,
and a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
Wait a second.
That's not what the Archbishop of Ecumenicalism said, was it?
That's not what Pope Bible Correctus said, is it?
What about peace at Christmas? Well, turn to Romans 5.
Well, I read 1 Timothy 2.5.
You turn to Romans 5.
1 Timothy 2.5 says, for there is one God and one mediator between God and men,
the man, Christ Jesus.
So the mediator is to bring two sides together, yeah?
The peace is between God and people.
That's why there's a mediator needed to bring that peace,
to bring those two sides back together.
That's God and mankind.
Romans 5.1 says, therefore, being justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what Christ provided, wasn't it?
That's what the message of peace at Christmas is.
It's the gospel, the good news of being justified in God's eyes.
We're justified in God's eyes. How? Why?
Through Jesus Christ's death on the cross.
The mediator.
There's no mediatrix. There's a mediator.
The mediator is Jesus Christ, OK?
Jesus Christ died on the cross.
He rose again.
That paid for our sins, which means we can have peace with God.
Is it automatic?
Is it automatic peace because Jesus Christ came and died on the cross?
No.
The peace comes when you put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
when you trust him, when you trust in what he did
to have paid for all your past, present and future sins,
you have peace with God, peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what the peace at Christmas is about.
And that's what we're celebrating.
That's why we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ,
because Jesus Christ's coming meant that we can have peace with God,
even though we are all sinners,
even though we are all owed an eternity in hell.
And that's why we celebrate Christmas.
That's what the peace at Christmas is.
That's why he's the Prince of Peace.
And how many, turn to Luke chapter two, how could so many,
so many so-called Christians, theologians, religious leaders,
all these clever, wise ten years of study at some place of education
or other people that have got literally a whole closet
full of religious dress-like garments.
How can they be so wrong?
How can they be so wrong about what that message of peace is?
How can they be so wrong about what the gospel is?
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God.
See, he came to bring peace,
but the carnal mind doesn't have peace with God.
And look, we've all got the carnal mind,
but thank God that we also have the Holy Spirit.
And they don't have the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 2.14 says,
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness unto him,
neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
The spiritual discernment comes after you have peace with God
through faith in Jesus Christ.
No one here had the discernment before.
No one here was just clever enough, wise enough,
you know, to just... I just sussed it out.
I just read my Bible and just realised there's something wrong,
you know, and then I just worked it out for myself.
No, if you think that, you're probably not saved, OK?
Or you're a liar, because, look, you needed faith in Christ
to be able to understand the Bible, OK?
Because you are a natural man, like everyone else is,
without faith in Jesus Christ,
and the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness unto him,
neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned,
and the Spirit, the Spirit, the spiritual discernment
comes after you have faith in Jesus Christ.
That's why he's the prince or principal, the boss of peace, OK?
He provides the ultimate peace, which is with God, yeah?
That's ultimate peace, isn't it?
I don't get... Look, and many of us here,
I will happily go my whole life
if it means my whole family end up hating me
over the next several years and on more, I don't care, really.
On the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really matter
as long as we have peace with God, yeah?
Because that's the one that counts.
That's the only peace that really matters, doesn't it?
Yeah, look, our nation could go to war with everyone.
Yeah, who even is the prime minister? Rishi Suna.
He could somehow get support and just wage war with him,
you know, leading from 50 miles behind, probably,
and send them in, you know?
And we go to war with everyone, yeah?
No more peace, no more peace with anyone,
the whole place, civil war in the UK.
None of it really matters in eternity, does it?
As long as you have peace with God.
And Jesus Christ, the prince of peace,
he provided that, he provided that through dying on that cross,
through shedding his precious blood for our sins,
through going to hell for us and through rising from the dead.
So, Luke, did you turn to Luke 2 and verse 7?
He's just been born.
Luke 2 and verse 7 says,
And she brought forth her firstborn son,
and wrapped him in swaddling clothes,
and laid him in a manger,
because there was no room for them in the inn.
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field,
keeping watch over their flock by night.
And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them,
and the glory of the Lord shone round about them,
and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not,
for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people.
All people. See that?
No, we weren't at plan B.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a saviour,
which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you,
you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel
a multitude of the heavenly host praising God,
and saying, Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.
And how many Christmas cards have that printed on it?
How many sermons today have had that message preached
and completely missed the point?
Completely gone off to the wrong place,
talked about goodwill between men,
have talked about on earth peace between nations,
peace between this, peace between that,
and haven't even mentioned the Gospel.
And haven't even understood,
and haven't even made any reference
to the fact of what that peace was,
and how that peace was given to us between us and God
through just putting your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
death, burn and resurrection, paying for your sins.
And it's as simple as that.
And that's what that peace is.
That's how easy it is.
It's not your own works. It's not your own goodness.
It's not your own continued goodness.
It's not your own previous goodness.
It's got nothing to do with you.
It's all about Jesus Christ.
That's why he's the Prince of Peace.
That's why there's peace created from that first Christmas.
And, of course, those before then had peace with God,
could have peace with God by faith in the coming Saviour,
and we now have peace with God through the Saviour that came.
And that's why we celebrate him coming to this earth.
That peace was made possible by Jesus Christ,
but he had to be born first to eventually die, didn't he?
Yeah? And I know I'm kind of hammering home this point a bit.
It just seems to be a bit of a theme this year
as the kind of Christmas party poopers, you know,
the people that just want to, you know,
constantly criticise celebrating Christmas.
But he had to be born, didn't he? Yeah?
Look, I'll tell you what, there's more reason
to celebrate Christ's birth than your own miserable births.
I include myself here as well, by the way.
You lot are miserable, myself.
Look, there's more reason for that, isn't there?
More reason to celebrate Christ's birth
than there is our children's births, isn't there?
Because, look, sorry, kids,
but Christ's birth means a lot more to mankind than your birth.
Yeah? However good you might be when you're older, OK?
And I want to celebrate Jesus Christ's birth.
I'm going to keep celebrating Jesus Christ's birth.
We can keep doing that.
And the world can turn it into Satan claws,
they can turn it into merry little elves,
and all the rest of their magic and nonsense,
but I'm going to keep celebrating Jesus Christ's birth,
because it was a big deal, wasn't it?
Yeah, it was a massive deal.
Which is why we celebrate Christmas.
And, by the way, the shepherds celebrated Christmas, didn't they?
Yeah, they seemed like they were celebrating.
They seemed pretty happy, amongst many others.
And do you know who else celebrated Christmas?
The prophet Isaiah, 700 years before Christmas.
I mean, he was early to the party, wasn't he?
What did he say here?
It sounds pretty happy, yeah?
Sorry if I'm reading in happiness there.
I don't think he was depressed when he said it.
That's a pretty complex nature, isn't it?
Yeah, it wasn't just a hippie swanning around in a dress.
In fact, it wasn't a hippie swanning around in a dress.
It was the Lord Jesus Christ.
He was wonderful, but he was also a counsellor.
He was also the mighty God.
He was also the everlasting Father.
He was also the Prince of Peace.
Jesus Christ, what an amazing, what an amazing world God that we serve.
The complex nature of Christ.
Number one, he's wonderful.
Number two, he's a counsellor.
Number three, he's a mighty God.
Number four, he's the everlasting Father.
And number five, he's the Prince of Peace.
And on that, let's pray.
Well, thank you for, well, thank you for Christmas, Lord.
Thank you that we've been able to celebrate.
Thank you that you provided what we need to be able to celebrate, Lord,
and maybe many others couldn't have had such a, you know, such good food
and have, you know, just a nice building to celebrate in,
to have all this space, to have, you know, all these many, many blessings
that we have, Lord, and we thank you for everything that you provide for us.
We thank you that you provided for us.
We thank you for everything that you provide for us.
We thank you that you provided eternal life for us, Lord,
that all we had to do was believe on your son, on the Lord Jesus Christ.
We thank you for that.
We thank you that we have this church to worship you in as well.
We hope that we've, you know, just gloried you at Christmas like we should
and help us to not just forget about these things now,
to keep thinking about you, to keep thinking about our verse of the week,
to keep thinking about, you know, the messages that we've had from your Word today,
to take it into this week, Lord, to keep you at the centre of it
and help us to all return back safe and sound on Wednesday for the midweek service.
In Jesus' name, pray all of this. Amen.