The music of Christmas.
We have been through Thanksgiving and in no small thanks to the National Retail Federation's
online arm.
We've been through Black Friday, small business Saturday, Cyber Monday, and Giving Tuesday.
We are moving into the Advent season, and with this season comes music.
On satellite radio, there is a channel for traditional and contemporary Christmas music.
You hear it in the malls, in hotel lobbies, in airport terminals, on television commercials,
and on streaming apps of every sort.
In 2012, the BBC published a documentary called The World's Top 10 Richest Songs.
Three of the highest grossing songs in the world are Christmas songs.
In 1934, a publisher in New York City approached a lyricist named Havin Galepsby and asked
him to write a Christmas song because he had a vocabulary that a child could understand.
In the end, he wrote some lyrics on the back of a napkin in 15 minutes.
And together they came up with the song, You Better Watch Out.
You Better Not Pout.
You Better Not Cry.
I'm telling you why.
Santa Claus is coming to town.
That song has made $27 million.
The families have a copyright on that song until the year 2029.
Every time we hear it, they make some money.
Without a song, the day would never end.
Without a song, the road would never bend.
When things go wrong, a man ain't got a friend without a song.
I got my troubles in the world, but as long as I know the Jordan will roll, I'll get
along as long as a song is down in my soul.
I'll never know what makes the rain to fall.
I'll never know what makes the grass grow tall.
I only know there ain't no love at all without a song.
Music has the power to move us.
Black women walk like they're listening to music.
Their hips sway from side to side as though there's some music in their head.
Black children, before they can speak, they know how to dance because we are musical people.
One of the ways you know that you're saved, the Bible says that there is melody, there's
music in your heart.
Music compels us to act.
It gives us the power to even change our mood, which brings us to our text this morning in
Isaiah at chapter nine.
Isaiah nine is not a letter.
It is not a story.
It is not a vision.
Isaiah chapter nine is a song.
It is the music of Christmas.
Brothers and sisters, this morning, it's important to understand the text in its context.
In 725 BC, the northern kingdom of Israel faced an ominous situation from an evil and
aggressive Assyrian empire, which had reached the zenith of its power and was now poised
to attack a morally bankrupt and militarily weakened Israel.
Yet into the helplessness of their darkness, in the midst of their hopelessness and despair,
they receive a word from God that shined the light of God's deliverance in their dark
situation.
Their gloom would turn to rejoicing.
Their distress would turn into joy.
Their oppression would turn to a broken yoke.
Their darkness would turn to life, and the shadow of death would be overcome.
Seven hundred years before the wise men opened their treasures.
Seven hundred years before the angels sang on steel Judean hills.
Seven hundred years before the shepherds bowed to look down into heaven.
Isaiah explains what Christmas is all about in a text that is called the cornerstone and
the centerpiece of Old Testament prophecy.
Like the people in this text, we know something of bondage.
We here this morning know something of difficulty, distress, and hardship.
In a congregation this size, somebody here knows the experience of the pain of divorce.
Somebody here this morning knows of being a survivor of abuse.
Someone this morning has experienced debilitating depression and crippling anxiety.
Somebody here this morning needs to heal from hurts in your past.
The loss of a loved one.
Now maybe you are battling some affliction.
The poet Dean Young writes, you start with the darkness to move through, and then the
darkness moves through you.
But brothers and sisters, I've got some good news for you this morning.
And the good news is for unto us, a child is born.
Unto us, a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder.
And his name is wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace.
I only want to deal with this wonderful counselor this morning.
Look with me in verse six.
He is marvelous.
It's imperative that we see the flow of Isaiah's argument.
From the virgin birth of Immanuel in Isaiah seven, to the king with four names in Isaiah
nine, to the rod from the stem of Jesse in Isaiah 11, Jesus is God's Messiah, the promised
deliverer of Old Testament prophecy.
Yet there's something marvelous in his coming.
There's something mysterious that only through the eyes of faith can we see what God is up
to.
He came in earthly humanity for a child is born.
Literally, a child has been born for us, for our good, a child is born.
This speaks of his earthly beginning.
Galatians at chapter four and verse number four reads, but when the fullness of time
had come.
I wish I had a Bible reader.
God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law.
Hebrews chapter two and verse 14 reads, for as much then as the children are partakers
of flesh and blood, he also himself became flesh and blood and took part of the same.
He came not only in earthly humanity, but he's marvelous in that he came in heavenly
deity.
God's gift came in a person of deity wrapped in a package of humanity.
The birth in Bethlehem, the birth in Bethlehem was not Jesus beginning.
He was born in Bethlehem, but he didn't begin in Bethlehem.
I wish I had helped to preach it.
There was a time when Jesus was not, but there was never a time when the son was not.
The great mystery of the manger is that God should be able to translate deity into humanity
without discarding the deity or distorting the humanity.
Listen to me brothers and sisters.
The incarnation was a true and genuine wedding of perfect divinity and sinless humanity.
He was older than his mother, yet the same age as his father, because John chapter one,
verse one and two says, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the
word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
He's marvelous, but not only is he marvelous in that same verse, he's majestic.
Dr. Jerry Vines says that Isaiah chapter nine, verse six is the greatest single verse
in all of scripture about the Lord Jesus Christ.
With more than 250 names and titles scattered from Genesis to Revelation, Isaiah brings
together four in a tight, concise package that appear nowhere else in all of scripture.
He is a wonderful counselor.
Literally wonderful counselor means wonder of a counselor.
It's a wonder that he counsels with us.
It's a wonder that he puts up with us.
It's a wonder that he died to save us.
It's a wonder that he blesses us.
It's a wonder that he hears our prayers.
It's a wonder that he comes to our deliverance.
It's a wonder that he wakes us up in the morning.
It's a wonder that he watches over us while we sleep at night.
It's a wonder how he guides our footsteps and it's a wonder how he made us a little lower
than the angel.
Oh Lord, I love how excellent is your name in all the earth.
I wish I had helped to preach it.
When I consider the heaven, the works of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou
have ordained, what is man that you're so mindful of him?
And the son of man that you would even visit him, you've made him a little lower than the
angels.
You have crowned him with glory and honor.
Wonderful counselor.
He is one who gives wondrous counsel and unfailing wisdom.
Listen to me right here.
We live in the day of counseling.
We live in a day of the psychiatrist.
Like my husband, Beaumont said, a psychiatrist doctor.
We live in a day of counselors and psychiatrists and psychoanalysts and therapists.
Do not misunderstand me, brothers and sisters.
Mental illness is real and needs proper treatment.
But the inherent fallacy of human wisdom is derided if it is void of spiritual insight.
It has been said, I didn't say this, it has been said that a counselor is someone who
will help you organize your hangups so that you can be unhappy more efficiently.
I didn't say that, it has been said that a psychologist, a counselor is one who helps
you to organize your hangups so that you can be unhappy more efficiently.
Listen to me, beloved.
The reason why we need a wonderful counselor, it was by a counselor that we fell in the
sea.
Satan got Eve involved in psychoanalysis.
Eve got Adam involved in group therapy.
And together they plunged the world into insanity.
Jesus is the wisdom of God.
Jesus knows that in weakness is strength.
Being surrender is victory.
In death is life.
This wonderful counselor is a wonder because his counsel goes beyond human wisdom.
Not only is he marvelous, not only is he majestic, but verse 7 tells us he's mighty.
Our God is a promised keeper.
He promises.
He will perform.
He will rule completely.
His rule will be universal, unending, and unparalleled.
No one will vote him in.
And no one will vote him out.
His rule is complete.
His rule is eternal.
There shall be no end.
Queen Elizabeth II sat on the throne of Great Britain for 70 years.
But the other day, her reign came to an end.
King Charles took her place.
There will be nobody to take his place because he's in a class all by himself.
And if you like me, the more I call him, the sweeter it's signed.
He will rule completely.
He will rule eternally.
He will rule powerfully because the zeal of the Lord shall perform this.
I'm running out of time here.
My brothers and sisters, let me hurry and help us to understand that history records
the birth of some famous people.
In January, Franklin Roosevelt was born.
Paul Riviere, George Washington Carver, Mozart was born.
Edgar Allen Poe, and Isaac Newton were born in January.
But we don't celebrate them.
In February, George Washington was born, Abraham Lincoln was born, Thomas Edison and Charles
Dickens and Charles Darwin were born in February, but we don't celebrate them.
In March, Alexander Graham Bell was born.
Michelangelo was born in March.
David Livingstone and Albert Einstein, but we still don't celebrate them.
In May, Harry Truman was born.
John F. Kennedy was born in May.
Florence Nightingale and Queen Victoria, Ralph Waldo Emerson were born in May, but I'm not
here to talk about them.
In June, Robert Louis Stevenson was born and Harriet Beecher Stowe, John Wesley and Helen
Keller, but I'm not here to shout about them.
In July, Julius Caesar was born.
Henry David Ferro was born.
In July, Rembrandt was born.
Mussolini and Isaac Watts, John Calvin of the Protestant Reformation, but I'm not here
to talk about them this moment.
In August, Alfred Lord Tennyson was born.
Napoleon Bonaparte and Leo Tolstoy in September, Alexander the Great, who conquered all the
known world was born, but we are not gathered this morning to celebrate Alexander the Great.
In October, Dwight Eisenhower was born.
Gandhi was born.
Daniel Webster was born in October.
In November, Martin Luther, Andrew Carnegie, Winston Churchill and Mark Twain were born,
but I didn't get up this morning because Martin Luther or Andrew Carnegie was born.
In December, Beethoven was born.
Charles Wesley and Rudiott Kipling was born.
Walt Disney was born in December, but I didn't put these clothes on to talk about Walt Disney.
I'm here this morning because for unto us, a child is born, not just any child.
I said not just any child.
This child has a name that's above every name.
You're going to help me talk about him, won't you?
This child is the ancient of days.
This child is a desire of all nations.
This child is a linear of the valley.
He's the bright and the morning star.
This child is the rose of Sharon.
He's a root of David.
He's a stem of Jesse.
This child was born in Bethlehem, reared in Nazareth, baptized in the Jordan, performed
miracles in a desert place, wept over Jerusalem, prayed in Gethsemane.
This child turned water into wine.
This child made lame men to walk.
He made deaf men to hear.
This child was walking along one day and a woman had an issue of blood and grabbed his
clothes and when he stopped, the blood stopped.
And he told the woman, your faith has made you whole.
This child went to a wedding feast in Cana of Galilee and turned ordinary water into
extraordinary wine.
This child went to Jairus' house one day and Jairus' little daughter was at the point of
death.
Jesus put everybody out but Peter, James and John.
Jairus and his wife and took the girl by her hand and she came back to life again.
If you just celebrate Jesus in a manger, you will miss what Christmas is all about.
If you just shout over a baby, you will miss what salvation is all about.
I'm glad he was born in a manger but he couldn't save me in a manger.
I'm glad Mary and Joseph brought him to the temple but he couldn't save me in the temple.
I'm glad Jesus came to 42 generations.
I'm glad he sported a nine month nature train and stopped off in Bethlehem of Judea.
Go out in the vestibule and look at that beautiful manger scene that's out there.
Admire him as a baby in a manger but don't stop with admiring as a baby because you will
miss what the season is all about.
I'm glad that child grew up one day and walked to a hill called Calvary and died for my sins
and rose for my justification.
And because he lives, I can face tomorrow because he lives, all fear is gone.
I wish I had a witness this morning who knows that there's power in the name of Jesus.
Come on help me call that name.
Come on help me talk about him a minute.
He's a rock in a weary land.
He's a shelter in a time of storm.
He's a friend when you're friendless.
Bread when you're hungry.
Water when you're thirsty.
Y'all know him don't you?
He's God's only son.
He's Mary's baby boy.
He's James and Jude's older brother.
He's Matthew's king.
He's Mark's suffering servant.
He's Luke's great physician.
Y'all know him don't you?
He's John's word made flesh.
He's arch coming of the Holy Ghost.
He's the only begotten of the Father.
He's the blessed and the only potentate.
He's the faithful and the true witness.
Y'all know him don't you?
He's Adam's redeemer.
Abel's vindicator.
Abraham's sacrifice.
He's Noah's ark.
He's Dave's music.
He's Solomon's wisdom.
He's Jeremiah's balm.
He's Ezekiel's wheel.
Y'all know him don't you?
If you know him
and you're not ashamed to testify.
If he saved you
and you don't care who's looking at you.
If he brought you
and you don't mind testifying.
If he laid his hands on you
and you don't mind being a witness.
Now is a good time
to tell God thank you
for letting Jesus be born.
But more than that
thank you
that one Friday
on a hill called Calvary
he died
didn't he die
but
Sunday morning
he got up
didn't he do it?
If he saved you
why don't you grab somebody?
Why don't you shake somebody's hand?
Tell him for unto us
come on use your preaching voice.
Untill us
a child is born
tell somebody else
unto us
a son is given
ask them right now
aren't you glad
he was born
aren't you glad
he died
aren't you glad
he got up
aren't you glad
he's coming back
thank you
and oh he's alright
now unto him
who is able
to do exceeding
abundantly
above all
we can ask
or freak
according to the power
working in us
come on help me preach it
now unto him
who is able
to keep you from falling
and to present you faultless
before the presence of
with exceeding joy
to the only wise God
who is our savior
be glory
and majesty
dominion
and power
and alright
and oh he's alright
child is born