November 30, 2008

The Christ We Know
"Wonderful"

Know1.mp3
Pastor Wade Burleson
Emmanuel Baptist Church
Enid OK

Isaiah, son of Amos, prophesied in the land of Judah 770 years prior to the time of Christ. No prophet of old wrote so fully and clearly of the person, offices, and kingdom of Christ. John the Baptist began his ministry quoting Isaiah 40:3 (Matthew 3:3). Jesus preached his first sermon from Isaiah 61:1-2 (Luke 4:17-21). The Ethiopian eunuch was reading from Isaiah 53:7-8 when he was converted (Acts 8:28-35). There are more citations from Isaiah in the New Testament than any book but the Psalms. Isaiah is a book that details for us Christ.

1. Christ's coming was so certain that the prophet speaks of it in the present tense.
   "For unto us a child is born." God says it . . . that settles it. His promises are sure.
2. Christ's coming to earth was for one singular purpose -- He came for His people.
   "For unto us a child is born." Christianity is not an institution, it is a relationship.
3. Christ's coming to earth is a great mystery of the universe -- God in the flesh.
   "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given." God came to earth as a man.

The Infinite became an infant. The son of God became a child of man. But who is He? He shall be called "Wonderful." To know Jesus as "full of wonders" is to know Him.

"Give thanks to the Lord . . . to him who alone does great wonders" (Psalm 136:1a, 4).

1. God makes it a practice of doing miraculous things for us.
   The word "wonders" means "something that is astonishing, or a miraculous event." To be "wonderful" is to be "full of wonders," and to do miraculous things for us. We read of God raising Lazarus, and God parting the Red Sea, and God causing water to flow from a rock, and other miracles; but do you really know Him?
   
   
2. God alone makes it a practice of doing miraculous things for us.
   "Give thanks to the Lord . . . to him who alone does great wonders." Too often we get to that place where we lose sight of God in the midst of our daily routine of life. We get sick, and we think it is the doctors upon whom we must depend. We have loved ones in need of the Lord and we think it is the preacher who can help us. We get in financial need and we think it is a family member who can bail us out. We have forgotten that it is the Lord alone who does great wonders. Of course, God can use intermediate means to accomplish His ultimate, wonderful plan, but it is God.
   
   
3. God alone makes it a practice of doing miraculous things for us.
   "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. (He) shall be called Wonderful." Notice the plurality of the pronoun us. God doesn't play favorites with His children. Notice the power of the pronoun us. The "us" in this text are undeserving sinners. "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has the light shined" (Isaiah 9:2). We are the "us." You may be here this morning and you have blown it nine ways down the highway. There is very little for which you can be commended and a great deal for which you can be condemned. To know Jesus is to know the God who will do great wonders!