The Mighty God

It is good to see you and uh just want to give a shout out to all of our volunteers who helped out yesterday with our affordable Christmas uh incredibly successful event. Um I think we I could be wrong on the numbers, but I think we're around 85 kids that were served um during that to be able to provide some Christmas for them this year. Uh which is amazing, but it's also not just about providing the gifts under the tree. It's about connecting with these families. so that we can share with them just the love of Jesus because we've received the greatest gift of all. We want to be able to give gifts but also give the greatest gift uh the gift of Jesus.

And so we're praying that as we continue to follow up, as we continue to connect with these families um that the Lord would just continue doing what he does, which is pursuing, which is drawing people's hearts to him, uh and ultimately redeeming and rescuing and restoring them back into a relationship with God. That's why we do what we do. That's why we're here on Sunday mornings. That's why we are in this neighborhood is because we know that the gospel is needed here because we needed the gospel and because we've received it, we want to be able to take it to others and help them out with it as well. And so again, just thank you for everyone who came out and and served in that way. as we transition to our series uh that we're walking through right now in Advent.

Um again, Advent is just a fancy word uh from the Latin word Adventist, which means to the the arrival or awaiting period uh where the people of God waiting on the first arrival of the Messiah, the chosen one, the promised one, the one who's going to come and rule and reign and fix everything that was broken. And they were waiting for him. And as they were waiting for him after he did come as the baby in the manger, church history said, "Hey, we don't want to forget this event. We want to make sure that we have time to observe it and remember it." And so they started this thing called the lurggical calendar where it puts in events that help us remember all that Christ accomplished for us. So it's not a legalistic thing to follow Advent.

It's not a legalistic thing to follow Epiphany in January or Lent heading up into Easter, but those are just good moments to keep us anchored to the true events in history that actually shook and changed the entire world that changed history. And that's why we observe it. And so as we're entering into this season, we're in our second week of Advent, and we're walking through this verse, Isaiah 9:6, with four titles that were given to this child to be born, this son to be given, the fact that he's wonderful counselor, he's mighty God, he's everlasting father, and he's the prince of peace. And so all four weeks are covering those topics. And so we looked at wonderful counselor last week. Today, we're going to be looking at mighty God.

Uh, next Sunday, Mike's going to be unpacking um the everlasting father. And then on our Christmas service Sunday, which will be December 21st, we'll be looking at Jesus being ultimately the prince of peace. And so, as we walk through that, Advent lands in the season of Christmas. It's Christmas time. All right? We're all decking the halls.

Uh we're all listening to the music. We're all eating everything that's peppermint flavored. Um Mariah Carey is receiving her annual paycheck that she gets. Um but it's the season where we observe the coming of Jesus. Again, we sing the songs, we wrap the gifts, we put the trees up, but Advent is more than just sentimental vibes. Advent is more than just the season or the feel of Christmas.

Advent is about the intentional intervention known as the incarnation. That's what it's about. That's what it's about. Everything else is a shadow of the greater substance. It's about the God man who is the light being born into darkness. That's what it's about.

It's about a world that couldn't fix itself receiving a king who can. Many significant children have been born throughout history, but none as significant as the child who's Christ. The child who is Christ. The child to be born, the son to be given. So I want to read that one more time. Isaiah 9 6-7.

Not because John didn't do a great job. Did a fantastic job. But I want to read it one more time for us. For to us a child is born. To us a son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulder.

and his name shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace, and of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end. For on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forever more. And it's the zeal of the Lord of hosts that will do this. You see, Isaiah 9 is written to a people in their context who are drowning in despair. I mean, this is a nation that's falling apart. Their leaders are corrupt.

Their en their enemies are numerous. Their hope is thin. Basically, it's the Old Testament version of the Dallas Cowboys. All right, that's what I really feel like at this point. You know, there's the there's very slim chances, you know, but there's always still a chance. But into this darkness of culture surrounding Isaiah, right into their deep darkness, God speaks through Isaiah and he tells them this promise.

For to us a child is born. To us a son is given. And there's two things that happen in that. For to us a child is born, showing that he's a human, full of humanity, but he's also a son given revealing his divinity. In theological terms, we call this the hypothatic union where Jesus is not half and half. Jesus is 100% man and he's also 100% God existing as one.

And this God man's arrival is so explosive, so world altering that he will carry the weight of the world on his shoulders. Not just the shoulders of a politician, not just the shoulders of an influencer on or a podcaster. Not the shoulders of a king who will fade and crumble like all other kings do, but the shoulders of the son of God. Because this child, this son is given the name mighty God. Mighty God. And today we're going to see four truths in the context of this verse that Isaiah gives us about the mightiness of this child who is God.

And the reason why the reason why I want to talk about the mightiness of this child, the fact that he is mighty God, is because we as humans, we are designed to extend trust. We're designed that way. We cannot live independently. We have to live independence upon outside sources and resources. You drove here today by trusting the engineering manufacturing of Honda or Toyota or Chevrolet and so on. Some of you have more trust if you drove here today in Dodge.

Some of you are drinking coffee right now that you trust was ethically sourced or roasted efficiently or ground finely and brewed clearly, cleanly. You're sitting in a chair right now. You trust has four legs that are going to be strong enough to hold you while you listen to this message. Every day we exercise and extend trust because we were designed that way. We're designed that way. In 1967, there's this little town in in Point Pleasant, West Virginia.

There's a bridge, the Silver Bridge, that thousands of people every single day would drive back and forth across this bridge connecting West Virginia and Ohio. Um, if there's any Ohio State fans in here, um, bless your heart. All right, go IU. um but connecting Ohio and West Virginia. And so people would drive across this bridge every day going back and forth to work, going, you know, shopping for Christmas. And in December of 1969, during rush hour traffic as cars passed over the bridge from both sides, the whole thing collapsed into the Ohio River, killing more than 45 people.

Um, and I've actually driven across over the last couple of years, probably half a dozen times, we've driven across this bridge. And every time we're coming up to it, I remind Kelsey of this story. She's like, "Why are we talking about this?" Um, and there were different theories out there as to why this bridge actually collapsed. Some of the crazy, more supernatural theories out there have to do with the Moth Man. If you've ever heard of that story, that's Point Pleasant, West Virginia.

Um, but engineers, uh, and as they went and looked at this, what they ended up finding was one little piece of metal had a tiny unseen flaw, a microscopic crack. And under the weight of the traffic, over time, that little flaw turned into a catastrophic failure. And here's the sobering part. That bridge looked fine. It looked great. It looked strong.

It looked trustworthy. But because of its flaws, it couldn't handle the weight that was placed on it. And church, this is a picture of what happens when we place the government of our lives or our world or our hopes on the shoulders of anything other than the child known by Isaiah as mighty God. It's going to have fractures. It's going to have cracks. It's going to have times where it's trying to look strong and it's not going to be.

And I think that's one of the reasons why God tells Isaiah, "This child to be born, this son who is given is not just a wonderful counselor. He's not just an everlasting father. He's not just a prince of peace. He is mighty God. someone that you can have 100% confidence in putting your trust in that it will never fail. Human shoulders crack under pressure.

Human governments buckle. Human leaders fall. Sometimes they fall suddenly, sometimes slowly, but either way they fall. It's why right now you cannot just go become the citizens of the Roman Empire. It's gone. But Isaiah said the government will be upon his shoulders of which there will be no end.

No end. Meaning his shoulders don't crack. His kingdom doesn't collapse. His mic doesn't have micro fractures. And so let's walk through Isaiah's description of him. So I can show you in the context of this passage why he is mighty God.

Looking at verse six, the government shall be upon his shoulders. The first thing I want you to see here is that Jesus was born with broad shoulders. Broad shoulders. My dad used to always say whenever we would see someone doing something that looked strong, whether they were lifting something or moving something, he would always say, "That boy's got broad shoulders." I never even knew what that meant. I just thought, is that are people born with bigger shoulders than other shoulders?

Like, but now I know what he means. That boy was born with broad shoulders. It just means that there it's an extension of strength. that reveals strength. And the word for government here that's given is misra, which means a rule or dominion. It's what you are in charge of.

It's what you're responsible for. It's what you steward. It's what you manage. Every household in this room, every household has a misra. It has a government to it. It has a rule or a dominion.

Every person in this room has a misra, a place where they exercise your dominion. Even my kids, we give them dominion, misra over their bedroom, their beds primarily, and they do not steward it well. As husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, you are stewarding. You are governing your households as head and helper, governing your finances, your family, and the flourishing of your future. And there's a wise way to do it and there's a foolish way to do it. But beyond a household, there are cities, there are states, there are countries that have leaders who misro they govern, they steward, they manage their territories in hopes of creating a society that is flourishing.

At least that's what we would hope that they are doing. They place it upon their shoulders and they take responsibility for the citizens of their country. But because of sin, there are times of war in the misra. And because of God's common grace, there are times of peace in the misra. But this child who is to be born, this son who is given, the government of not just the country, not just the state, not just your household, but the government of the world is placed on his shoulders. meaning he ain't no weakling but has strength to actually govern and promise that it will succeed.

That it will succeed. Let me translate that in modern language. Here's the presidential campaign slogans in the last five elections that won 2008. Yes, we can. No, we can't. That's how we say 2012 forward.

Without Jesus, we're moving backward. Period. 2016. Make America great again. A godless nation is not great. Period.

2020. Build back better. Remember Babel? That building project didn't end so well. 2024, make America great again. Maybe it didn't work out in 2016.

Still got to get the same slogan, make America great again. Without Jesus, no one is great. No one is great. The only campaign slogan that truly matters is the one coming from the child that says, "It is finished." It is finished. The only candidate that truly matters is the one who says, "I'm carrying the government on my shoulders."

The government of the world. Your worries, his shoulders can handle it. Your shame, his shoulders have already paid for it. your unknown future. His shoulders wrote wrote the end of the story before your beginning even began. He is called mighty God because he is strong, mighty, and he is divine God.

And he carries us from a state of hell on earth to a state of heavenly bliss in his son. That's what he's carrying. That's why his shoulders are broad. Let me back this up a little bit with scripture so you don't think this is just ethereal hogwash. His shoulders carry the lost. We see this in Luke 15 1-7 where in the story tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to him.

Again, that's what we're praying happens by the existence of this church in this community. We're praying that the spirit of God amidst this church is drawing sinners to come and see what Jesus is all about. That's why we're here. That's why we did what we did yesterday. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them." So he told them this parable.

What men of you having 100 sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the 99 in the open country and then go after the one that is lost until he finds it. And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, "Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost." Just so I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over the 99 righteous persons who need no repentance. You see, Luke 15, the shepherd doesn't scold the sheep for being lost. He doesn't shame the sheep.

He doesn't give the sheep a GPS and says, "Find your way home." He puts the sheep on his shoulders and he carries it home. Some of you are still here today. only still here today because Jesus has been carrying you whether you know it or not. Praise Jesus. He is a mighty God.

The second thing, his shoulders carry our sin. Isaiah 53:4-6 puts it this way. Surely he has borne our grief our griefs and carried our sorrows. Carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, spent by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds we are healed all weak like sheep who have gone astray like the one. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all. So he has carried our sin.

Meaning the weight of sin that was crushing you was transferred and crushed him. His shoulders carry our sin. And what a relief that is. What a relief that is, man. Praise God for that. How did he carry it?

By carrying a cross. His shoulders carried the cross. John 19:17 puts it this way. He went out bearing his own cross. When looking at presidential candidates, we want to know what they've done in their past before we entrust them with our future. That's what we want to know.

Before his shoulders held the government of the world, his shoulders held the instrument of your salvation. He carried death so that you don't have to. He carried the cross so that you don't. You see JFK once famously said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." [snorts] It sounds novel, but Jesus shows up and says, "Actually, it's the opposite. Ask not or ask what I have done for you before you ask what you can do for me."

You see, religion that is worksbased is us saying, "What can we do for you in order to earn what you've done for us?" And Jesus is saying, "That's not the way that I set this up. I want you to first ask me what I have carried for you before anything is ever been required of you or requested of you in getting into the ministry and mission of what Jesus has accomplished. He bore the wrath of God so that you instead would receive and carry the grace and mercy of God. That's what you get to carry is the grace and mercy that he extends to us. The fourth thing there is his shoulders carry the world.

Colossians 1:17 says, "In him all things hold together." Hold together. Man, we look at politicians in our world and it's like, man, you promised one thing and that never came through. You said you were going to do this and you never did it. Or you said you were going to do it this way and you chose to do it a different way. Jesus says, "What I promise and what I covenant, it's going to happen.

And it's going to go the exact way that I say it's going to go." When your life feels like it's unraveling, Jesus is the one holding the thread because he is the strong and divine. He is the mighty God. Jesus picks up this theme in Matthew 12 when he says, "How can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man?" Meaning when God sends a savior, he sends someone strong enough to plunder the enemy's house. In other words, Jesus is stronger than the uh than the prince who is ruling and roying and reigning the domain of darkness, Satan himself.

So when God is looking to send a mighty God, a son to be given, a child to be born, he sends God himself. He sends Jesus because Jesus is the only one strong enough to actually enter into the domain of darkness, our world, who is ruled and reigned at the time by Satan himself, and bind him because he is stronger. He is the strong and divine. Isaiah, I want you to know that your king is strong enough to enter the enemy's house and bring you out safely. He's strong enough to carry the world. His shoulders are broad.

And if Jesus can carry the weight of the world, then he is also the one, the only one worthy to carry the kingdom. The kingdom. And that leads to the second point. Jesus was given a broad kingdom. A broad kingdom. Isaiah 9:7 says, "Of the increase of his government and of peace, there there will be no end."

No end. Every earthly kingdom and king has a shelf life. Every government and [clears throat] governor has an expiration date. Every single one of them. Roman Empire fell. British Empire shrunk.

Egypt gone. Babylon gone. Persia gone. Soviet Union gone. America, we're going to conquer the world, right? That's what we think.

We're We're Roman Empire 2. 0. Here we go. No, we'll be celebrating our 250th anniversary as a America, a country next year. And I don't know that we make it to 500. I wonder what the draft king's odds are on that.

The Roman Empire in all its glory ran for about 1500 years if you include both the western in Western eastern kingdoms depending on how you read history. But I don't know that we get anywhere close to that. But Jesus's kingdom, no expiration date, no boundaries, no setbacks, no shrinkage, only increase. That's what it says. Jesus himself said, "The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. He shows up on the scene.

It's small, but it grows and it's going to continue to grow and increase." Daniel in Daniel chapter 2:35 he says Daniel saw it as a stone that [clears throat] becomes a mountain filling the whole earth. History shows it spreading to the nations overturning empires transforming cultures shaping civilizations and reaching our city today. I mean we're here today because of the increase of his kingdom has no end or boundaries. It's the only reason why you're in this room worshiping Jesus because it didn't start in America. It started on the other side of the world and has continued to expand and move.

Listen, Christianity is not a fragile movement hanging on by a thread as some like to think. It's a movement led by a mighty God. It is the unstoppable kingdom of the risen Christ. It doesn't bend to history. history bends to it. And if Jesus is the king of a kingdom that never stops expanding, what guarantees that?

What guarantees that? What keeps it moving? What fuels it? Well, Isaiah gives it to us. Jesus burns with a broad zeal. A broad zeal.

Look at this in verse seven again at the end of the verse. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. I love it when scriptures give absolutes. The zeal of the Lord of hosts hopes to accomplish this. Nope. The zeal of the Lord of hosts can do this.

Nope. will do this guarantee. Not the faithfulness of the people, not the prayers of the nation, not the morality of society, not the commitment of the church, not what you can do for your country, the zeal of the Lord. I think the way the kids are saying it today is won't he do it? If salvation depended on us, salvation would have lasted about eight minutes. if it lasted, if it was dependent upon us, right?

But God wasn't mildly interested in redeeming the world. He wasn't half-hearted. He wasn't waiting to see how bad things got. He moved toward us with burning zeal. The word for zeal in Hebrew is kenar. And through and though the word alone means passion and or jealousy as I consulted with Mike this week that it also embodies God's unwavering commitment to bring about his covenant between the Messiah and his people.

That's why the Bible echoes all throughout the scriptures. The steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. That's what fuels his zeal. The steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. That zealousness is what brings his covenant to completion. Meaning, there's nothing lacking in his love for you because it is steadfast.

There's never a moment where he secondguesses anything because his character is also on the line. When he says he's going to do something, [clears throat] when he says he's going to have a covenant with us, when he says he's going to bring salvation, when he says he's going to restore what's been broken, it can't get there 98% of the way. It can't be 99%. I was joking yesterday about coffee. I walked into a Starbucks one day when we were actually meeting at the fashion mall at the church in the movie theater there and they had a Starbucks downstairs and we'd go in and they had this um poster up on the wall that said, "Our coffee is 99% ethically sourced." And I looked at that and I was like, I mean that you you almost got there, but I don't think it communicates what you actually think it's communicating because what it's communicating is one out of every 100 cups is totally unethically sourced.

And you go through a lot of cups. Then it was like I actually had a conversation with the manager and then like the next week the poster was down. God is not 99% zealous as mighty God. It's 100% and it's 100% every single time because the steadfast love of the Lord endures forever. His his deal is greater than just mere passion or motivation. And you need to know that because in our passion and motivation is fleeting.

It's fleeting. Come January, you're all going to have resolutions that are going to last until about January 19th. Because our zealousness doesn't come with 100% guarantee, but his does. His does. God's zeal is anchored in steadfast love that communicates an unwavering and unfailing commitment to fulfill all that God has promised and covenanted. That's why Jesus came.

That's why Jesus lived. That's why Jesus died. That's why Jesus rose. That's why God sent the Holy Spirit to apply all that Jesus has accomplished. because the mighty God is going to finish what he started and he is zealous to see it through to see it through. And so we're looking for a place to extend our trust.

I don't know if you've ever seen the movie um oh draw blank Chris Farley selling brake pads Tommy boy. If you've ever seen the movie, there was an issue in selling the brake pads is the fact there was never a guarantee on the box. He's like, I slap a guarantee on the box. And I can't quote the rest of it because it's inappropriate, but but God is literally the only one who can slap a guarantee on anything. Period. 100%.

And here's the thing, that zeal is not distant or theoretical. It is here. It is local. It is right where we live. Because Isaiah isn't describing a king for ancient Israel only. He is describing a king whose throne transcends time and territory from Bethlehem to Broadripple.

And so, can you guess what the last point's going to be? Jesus is king of Broadripple. Of Broadripple. Isaiah says, as you see at the beginning there at verse 7, he will sit on the throne of David. That's where this mighty God sits is on the throne of David. That was a real throne in a real city among real people.

And we need to know that Jesus's reign is not just abstract. It comes to neighborhoods. It comes to families. It comes to cities. It comes to Indianapolis. It comes to Broadle.

It comes to your home. It comes to your heart. His throne is everywhere. He's not just king of heaven. He's king of here. He rules the places we shop, the streets ride, the homes we live in, the griefs we carry, the sin we hide, the possibilities we dream of.

He is not a regional deity. He is Lord everywhere. He is. And if you didn't know, we call that omniresent, meaning he is everywhere at all times in his fullness. And in Ripple, he didn't come to take sides, liberal versus conservative. He came to take over.

This means your past is not king. Your trauma is not king. Your fear is not king. Your addiction is not king. Your anxieties are not king. Your political views are not king.

Your denominational preference is not king. Your biblical doctrinal preference is not king. Your neighborhood district representative is not king. The child to be born, the son who is given is king. And he's the mighty God. He's Jesus.

And bride ripple belongs to him. Man, how much more our confidence would it be in sharing the gospel if we believe that? If we believe that. So, how do we respond to a king like this? A king with broad shoulders. A king with a broad kingdom.

A king with broad zeal. A king who reigned over our city and our over our lives. How does one properly respond to a king? They bow down. They bow to him. They bend their knee to him.

They surrender their will to him. They joyfully joyfully submit their lives to the rule and reign of the king. And the way we do that is we remember him. We honor him. We come to his table because the cradle always leads to the cross and the cross always leads us back to the table. We get to see what our king was willing to do.

And so as we come to our time of communion today, I want us to remember that the shoulders that carry the government first carried the cross. It carried the cross. The king whose kingdom never ends, let his body be broken in weakness. God whose zeal burns for you poured out his blood so your sins could be forgiven. I want to close with a story. It's not a true story.

It's just an allegorical story. But there was once a king who ruled his land with absolute fairness. Absolute fairness. Crime had begun to increase in his land. And so to restore order, he issued a new law. Anyone caught stealing would be publicly whipped with 40 lashes.

40 lashes. Which in Roman Empire times was so specialized in their um uh giving of torture and and ultimately crucifixion would kill a person. 39 lashes could survive. 40 lashes kills a person. So this is a death sentence. Not long after the law went into effect, someone stole from the royal treasury of the king.

And so the king was furious and commanded that the thief be found. And after an investigation, the guards brought the thief before the king. And to his surprise and horror, it was his own daughter. His own doctor. The king faced an agonizing dilemma. If he spared her, he would violate his own law and lose all moral authority in the kingdom.

If he punished her, he would be seen as harsh and merciless. But the sentence was set. The whole kingdom gathered to see whether the king would uphold justice. And when the time came for the lashing, the king did something shocking. He walked to his daughter, bound and awaiting execution. He embraced her.

He took his royal cloak off and he wrapped it around her and then lay himself over top of her. Then he ordered the executioner administer the penalty. The blows fell, but they fell on the king's back and not hers. Justice was upheld because the penalty was paid. And mercy was was given because he took her punishment in her place. And that's what Jesus did for his bride, for his church.

The zeal of the Lord accomplished this for you. And communion reminds us that the mighty God was also the suffering servant. He was also the suffering servant. If you belong to Jesus, if he is your king, if you believe that he lived the perfect life that you could not live, he died the death that you deserved and he rose three days later because God was satisfied with his payment for your sin. This table was for you. Let's remember the mighty God.

this child to be born, this son who is given that is mighty God but also became our suffering servant. Let's go and stand together. Father, we thank you so much this morning for your good news. We thank you for your word. We thank you Lord that there's absolutely nothing that we can do to accomplish this in our own strength. Father, though we deserve death, though we deserve the punishment for our sins, [snorts] you as a good king, as a good God, as a gracious and merciful God, you sent Jesus to be born, to die.

And we want to remember that this morning for it is the only reason why we are now able to have life because our debt has been paid. And if we believe in you, we believe in the child to be born, son to be given, we follow the wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace. We trust him with our lives. In that we receive salvation from you. We receive forgiveness of our sins [music] and we are restored to a right relationship that is not just for the here and now but is for all eternity. And the way we express that gratitude is we bend our knees to you every single day.

We surrender our lives to you every single day. We follow you [music] every single day and we worship you by saying thank you. Thank you God. Praise God. for he's a mighty God. In Jesus name we pray.

Amen. Would you go ahead and stand? You are standing. Good job.