Introduction:
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.
~Isaiah 9:6
Three Reasons Why Jesus is The Wonderful Counselor (Isaiah 9:6):
- His counsel is Timeless . (Isaiah 46:9-10)
- His counsel is Personal . (Hebrews 2:17-18 | Hebrews 4:15)
- His counsel is Life . (John 12:46 | John 8:12 | Matthew 11:27-30)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
-
01:20-01:42
What a year, huh? What a year. I mean what didn't happen? I mean where do you begin with this disease, rampant fear and dread and conspiracy theories everywhere, a coalition of political forces threatening to tear everything down and delivering ultimatums. If you're not for us, you're against us.
01:43-02:10
Empty shelves, hunger, economic ruin, people profiting off of others' misery and taking advantage of crises while others suffered and lost their livelihoods. Unrest, riots, oppression, turbulent youths causing dissension. There's foreign and political intrigue involving large sums of money and bribes and corruption at all levels of government.
02:10-02:15
A great economic and military power in the Far East threatening the nation's security.
02:15-02:41
Worship, where it actually happened, was characterized by fearfulness, compromise, worldliness, and outright ungodly practices. The destruction of children, injustice, and there's really a topsy-turvy society where evil is called good and good is called evil. And people so fearful about the future that they're looking everywhere for answers, even consulting mediums to talk to the dead.
02:42-02:56
You could find out what's going to happen next and over all of this just gloom and darkness. What a year. I'll tell you there there are people, there were people who just could not wait for 735 BC to be over.
02:58-02:59
Wait, did you think I was talking about 2020?
03:00-03:32
No, no, if we're gonna talk about 2020 you got to add hurricanes and massive wildflower flower wildflowers wildfires cancel culture censorship and government shutdowns now all the things I mentioned are described in the first eight chapters of Isaiah he has had just become the king of Judah and the kings of Israel and Syria well they wanted a Ahaz to join them in a war against a superpower, Assyria, far to the east.
03:33-03:38
And then when Ahaz refused to do that, Israel and Syria came down and they attacked Jerusalem.
03:39-03:47
And Isaiah counseled Ahaz, look, trust God, ask him, ask him whatever you want, as high as the heavens, as deep as Sheol, whatever you ask, he'll give it to you.
03:47-03:50
And Ahaz is like, nope, nope, I'm not gonna do that.
03:51-04:06
Instead, Ahaz goes to Assyria and pays out all the gold and silver in his treasury and in the temple to the King of Assyria to come down and attack Syria and Israel and drive them away.
04:07-04:08
And he was more than happy to do that.
04:09-04:26
And after he got the King of Assyria's help, Ahaz went off to Assyria and visited the king there and was so impressed with Assyria's pagan worship practices that he replaced the bronze altar in the temple with a copy of the one in Damascus.
04:27-04:35
And then when the king of Assyria visited Jerusalem, he himself goes into the temple and offers sacrifices on this altar.
04:36-04:43
Ahaz made other alterations to the temple to please the king of Assyria, and he even sacrificed his own son by fire.
04:44-04:51
You can read all of this in 2 Kings 16, And it's obvious Ahaz was not going to take God's counsel.
04:51-04:54
He was not gonna do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God.
04:55-05:11
See, Ahaz may have thought he had appeased the king of Assyrian and that he would be an ally, but in Isaiah chapter eight, the prophet warns that Assyria would soon wipe out Syria and Israel, ultimately carrying the 10 northern tribes off into exile.
05:12-05:15
And eventually, Assyria is gonna come for Jerusalem.
05:16-05:20
Isaiah describes what's gonna happen next in chapter eight, verses 19 through 22.
05:21-05:29
It says the people will grow to despise God and will instead consult mediums and conduct seances so they can find out from the dead what will happen in the future.
05:30-05:34
So Isaiah rightly asks, "Should not a people inquire of their God?
05:35-05:37
"Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?
05:38-05:39
"To the teaching and to the testimony.
05:40-05:43
"If they will not speak according to this word, "it is because they have no dawn.
05:44-05:54
"They will pass through the land greatly distressed "and hungry, and when they are hungry, "they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously "against their king and their God "and turn their faces upward.
05:54-06:08
"And they will look to the earth, "but behold distress and darkness, "the gloom of anguish, "and they will be thrust into thick darkness." Isaiah urges the people to turn to God and his commandments, but the people will have none of it.
06:08-06:10
They wanna go their own way.
06:10-06:12
They wanna do things their way.
06:12-06:16
The result will be distress, darkness, hunger, and contempt for God.
06:17-06:21
Whether it's 735 BC or 2020 AD, the result is the same.
06:22-06:23
Gloom, anguish, thick darkness.
06:24-06:35
If you turn to Isaiah chapter nine in your Bibles, you see in the midst of all this bleak, black darkness, Isaiah makes a startling promise.
06:36-06:38
I'm gonna read verses two, six, and seven.
06:39-06:42
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.
06:43-06:47
And those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them a light has shown.
06:48-06:58
For to us a child is born, for to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor.
06:58-07:06
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, and of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end.
07:06-07:15
On the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and uphold it with justice and righteousness, from this time forth and forevermore.
07:17-07:19
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
07:20-07:29
Over the next four weeks, we're going to unpack Isaiah 9.6, the promise of a Messiah who is the absolute divine sovereign king over all things.
07:29-07:36
And yet, a fully human child born to us, the Son of God given to us.
07:37-07:40
Messiah has given four descriptive and meaningful names.
07:40-07:43
This week, we're gonna focus on the first, Wonderful Counselor.
07:44-07:47
We should ask, why is Wonderful Counselor the first title listed?
07:48-07:53
Well, in Hebrew, the words translated Wonderful Counselor are Pele Ya'atz.
07:54-08:08
Now, we say things are wonderful if we like them, or if they're pleasing or beautiful or kind of lovely, but Pele refers to something extraordinary, incomprehensible or inexplicable.
08:08-08:15
It refers to a phenomenon lying outside the realm of our explanation and separated from the normal course of events.
08:16-08:21
Jesus is wonderful in a way that is mind boggling and beyond our full comprehension.
08:22-08:24
And then, "yahatz" means to give counsel or to advise.
08:25-08:29
In the Bible, it refers to a wise leader or a king like Solomon.
08:30-08:37
So together, these words show us that the child given to us is an extraordinary advisor, both in his appearing and his counsel.
08:38-08:42
Wonderful counselor is listed first because God knows that's what we need.
08:43-08:45
We need counsel to gain understanding.
08:46-08:51
There's never been a time in your life that you haven't received counsel of some sort.
08:51-08:57
You call it parenting, training, rearing, teaching, coaching, even preaching.
08:57-09:00
It's all been a form of counseling.
09:00-09:04
But if we want to understand God and his purposes, We can't just get any counsel.
09:05-09:09
We need awesome, miraculous, life-transforming counsel to understand him.
09:10-09:16
And that's why God sent a baby, and not just any baby, but a child who is a wonderful counselor.
09:17-09:23
Now we of course know that this child is Jesus, the Messiah, and we know it because Luke tells us so.
09:24-09:29
The angel said to the shepherds, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy "that will be for all the people.
09:30-09:41
"For to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord, and this will be a sign for you, you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.
09:42-09:46
This morning we're going to look at three reasons why Jesus is the wonderful counselor.
09:47-10:02
The first is that his counsel is timeless. What do you think of when you hear the word counselor? Maybe a therapist, you know, someone you go to and they listen to you and they to give you some things to work on until you come back for your next appointment.
10:02-10:09
Or maybe an attorney, like a counselor at law, or a school counselor who advises you on the classes to take and helps you with your schedule.
10:09-10:17
Or maybe a person who's an advisor, you know, like a life coach, or one of those internet influencers who claims they can help you get your life together.
10:17-10:18
And why do we seek out counselors?
10:19-10:25
Because we recognize we need help with our finances or our careers, our health, for instance.
10:26-10:29
But we also seek out counselors because we crave direction.
10:30-10:31
We want control.
10:31-10:38
We want to know what's gonna happen, especially in a really fearful and irrational world that's gone mad.
10:38-10:43
We gravitate towards those people who we think know what they're talking about.
10:43-10:44
We think they know something.
10:44-10:51
Anything that can explain in a simple way what's going on in the world and perhaps give us assurance that things are gonna be okay.
10:52-11:00
But the problem with all of these counselors is they all have limitations that prevent them helpful over the long run or even in the short term.
11:00-11:01
They have limited knowledge.
11:02-11:04
They have limited perspective, limited experience.
11:05-11:14
And most of all, their advice is limited by sin, such as pride and selfish ambition, self-interest, and really what do they have to offer?
11:15-11:16
Self-help programs.
11:17-11:20
10 steps to this or that, seven highly effective habits.
11:21-11:24
Pep rallies topped off by walking through hot coals.
11:24-11:30
And all for a very low price, payable by credit card and easily monthly installments.
11:31-11:35
You know, neither these counselors nor we know the future.
11:35-11:39
We don't know what's gonna happen in, say, 10 years, let alone the next 10 minutes.
11:40-11:48
We can put things on our schedule, but we have no assurance those things are gonna happen, and that we're even gonna be alive to do them.
11:49-11:51
But Jesus is not limited.
11:52-11:57
Jesus' counsel is not limited by time or circumstance or culture or anything else.
11:57-12:01
As the wonderful counselor Jesus, the Messiah's guidance can be trusted.
12:02-12:08
His view of things is always true because he's eternal, because his counsel is timeless.
12:08-12:13
It's an understatement to say that he takes the long view of things because he knows all things.
12:14-12:20
Isaiah 46, verses nine and 10 says, "I am God, there is no other.
12:21-12:35
"I am God and there is none like me, "clearing the end from the beginning, "and from ancient times, things not yet done, "saying, my counsel shall stand, "and I will accomplish all my purpose." We see this in scripture.
12:36-12:38
We see timeless counsel.
12:38-12:42
The counsel he gave to Abraham about his offspring, timeless.
12:42-12:47
To Moses from the burning bush, or up on the mountain, or in the tent of meeting, timeless.
12:48-12:51
To Elijah when he was hiding in the cave, Timeless.
12:52-13:00
The counsel to David that inspired the Psalms, convicted David of his sin with Bathsheba, and promised to David that he would have a son that ruled forever?
13:01-13:02
Timeless.
13:02-13:06
His teachings and counsel to his disciples by the Sea of Galilee?
13:07-13:09
Beloved, it's as timeless and relevant today as it was then.
13:10-13:11
And how do I know?
13:12-13:13
I have it right here.
13:14-13:19
We have the oracles of God from all history at our fingertips.
13:20-13:22
How marvelous, how wonderful.
13:23-13:31
You know, throughout the coronavirus, we have had a multitude of counselors and advisors and experts all telling us different things.
13:31-13:33
The virus lives on surfaces.
13:34-13:35
Sanitize, sanitize everything.
13:36-13:39
Oh, nevermind, it doesn't persist on surfaces.
13:39-13:43
Hey, we're gonna have 100 million deaths or more.
13:43-13:46
Oh, nevermind, nevermind, that was a faulty model.
13:47-13:50
If you follow the science, you don't need to wear a mask.
13:51-13:54
But if you follow the science, everybody needs to wear a mask.
13:55-13:59
You know, we have to close everything down to prevent the disease from spreading.
14:00-14:03
But protests and looting and riots, that's an exception.
14:04-14:08
We got to close all the restaurants and all the businesses and everybody stay home.
14:09-14:18
Except if you make the rules and you're the governor or the mayor and you got a swanky birthday dinner or a wedding to go to. That's okay.
14:19-14:22
I mean you get the gist. Who can you trust?
14:23-14:32
I'll tell you who you can trust. You can trust Jesus, the wonderful counselor who knows all things, who knows the end from the beginning, the alpha and the omega, the first and the last.
14:34-14:40
His counsel alone can be trusted because in Jesus we have a perfect and reliable counselor.
14:41-14:50
Jesus always leads us according to that which is good and right, and his timeless counsel is rooted in his eternal existence.
14:51-14:56
Next, Jesus' counsel is personal. Look again at verse 6.
14:57-15:18
"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given." You know, perhaps because we have heard it so much, because, you know, we set up our manger and little baby Jesus, And it's also familiar that we don't fully appreciate that when Jesus appeared, he didn't come as a fully mature human being.
15:19-15:28
He didn't come as a high-born ruler, but as a newborn dependent upon the parents he created and sustained.
15:29-15:38
You see, by experiencing human existence from its beginning to its end, Jesus endured and went through the same things every one of us goes through.
15:39-16:04
In Hebrews 4.15, we are told, "He is able to sympathize with us because in every respect, he has been tempted as we are, yet he was without sin." And in Hebrews 2.17 and 18, that "He had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
16:04-16:10
For because he himself has suffered when tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.
16:11-16:12
What does that mean for us?
16:13-16:17
Simply it means that whatever you're going through, Jesus has been there and done that.
16:18-16:20
Are you grieving the death of a loved one?
16:20-16:21
You know, he gets it.
16:23-16:29
Remember a couple of weeks ago, Jesus weeping with Mary and Martha and weeping for Lazarus.
16:30-16:33
You've been betrayed, he gets that too.
16:33-16:35
He was betrayed by a good friend.
16:35-16:38
Have you been falsely accused or despised or ridiculed?
16:39-16:40
He knows what that's like.
16:41-16:43
Are you sharply tempted in some way?
16:43-16:44
Well, he has been too.
16:45-16:48
Do you experience distress over unsaved loved ones?
16:49-16:55
I'll tell you, his sorrow for the lost exceeds that of all humanity combined.
16:56-17:05
You see, Jesus is able to counsel us on our level with understanding and empathy for our situation in our circumstances.
17:06-17:13
He knows everything about us, our fears and our insecurities, our hopes and desires, our situation and our sin.
17:14-17:18
And yet he comes alongside to patiently and humbly counsel us.
17:18-17:25
After John the Baptist was born, his father, Zechariah, praised God in a song and concluded with these words about the Messiah.
17:26-17:54
In Luke 1, verses 78 and 79, Zechariah is saying that because of our God's merciful compassion. The dawn from on high will visit us to shine on those who live in darkness and the shadow of death to guide our feet in the way of peace." Do those words sound familiar? The light of dawn from on high coming down to shine on those who live in darkness and to guide our feet in the way of peace?
17:56-19:30
It's exactly what Jesus does as a wonderful counsel. He illuminates everything for you with the light of his truth and guides and instructs you how to walk in peace. Peace with God the Father and peace with others. How so very good of God to guide us and save us not with a multi-step program, not with a self-improvement program or habits of highly effective people, not even a system of social justice, but with a person. Jesus Christ, the light of the world who illuminates our lives with his truth. Jesus, God in the flesh, is the wonderful counselor who comes to show us that all his ways are better than our ways. His thoughts are better than our thoughts. His wisdom is far higher and better, more beneficial, more beautiful than all the wisdom of all earthly counselors combined. Finally, his counsel is life. I've spent 35 years in government service as an attorney and occasionally someone will call me counselor and that makes me feel like my counsel is appreciated and followed. But I also had a commander who after I provided some what I thought was sound legal advice, he'd say, "I appreciate that advice, counselor, but this is what I'm gonna do. You've probably heard that too, right? From co -workers or bosses, your kids, your spouse or significant other. Unless your counsel lines up with what they wanted to hear, they don't want to hear.
19:31-20:52
The best counsel is useless unless you act on it. And you may have listened to this whole sermon and you may understand that the counselor promised in 735 BC was actually Jesus and you may even think he's sort of wonderful but if your response to this astounding message in Isaiah is yeah I'm not so sure it applies to me today you got anything else to tell me about God anything that will soothe my conscience while I do things my own way as a matter of fact no there really is nothing else there is no other truth no other way besides Jesus there is only Jesus the wonderful counselor. There's no plan B, as Pastor Jeff often reminds us. There is no other way out of darkness to God. And I tell you, living life your own way is darkness and death. Just consider the past year. A whole society pursuing only human counsel. I don't see much human flourishing going on, do you? I see dread and fear and despair. I see oppression wreck lives and businesses. I see a In a world full of idols that have proved vain and unable to help or save, I see a nation in almost the same situation as Judah in 735 BC.
20:53-20:56
People greatly distress. People are starting to go hungry.
20:57-21:04
People are enraged and they speak contemptuously to each other, to their government, and of God.
21:05-21:08
People are not looking to God but to the earth.
21:08-21:16
"And behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish, "we're gonna be thrust further into thick darkness." You've heard that somewhere.
21:17-21:18
It's gonna be a dark, dark winter.
21:19-21:23
You see, I see very few people advocating that we should cry out to God for help.
21:24-21:29
And I only recall a few people this year suggesting we ought as a nation to corporately repent.
21:30-21:34
But you know, that is the very first thing that Jesus counsels all people to do.
21:35-21:36
He commands them to repent.
21:37-21:51
In Mark 1, verses 14 and 15, at the beginning of his ministry, we read that Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.
21:52-22:05
"Repent and believe in the gospel." Now at this point, you probably expect a brief recitation of the gospel as Jesus dying on the cross, according to the scriptures, and then he was buried, and then he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures.
22:05-22:11
And all of that is true, and those singular events in history make possible and guarantee salvation.
22:12-22:17
But we're pondering Jesus in his advent, and Jesus is the wonderful counselor.
22:18-22:32
And there are many, many, many things I could recite that Jesus preached about and counseled his disciples on during his three years of ministry, but I would like to draw your attention to three statements that align with Isaiah chapter nine.
22:32-22:37
Three statements from Jesus by which he identifies himself as the wonderful counselor.
22:37-22:41
So to ask you, what would it be like if you went to Jesus for a counseling session?
22:42-22:45
More likely, he would come to you because he makes house calls.
22:46-22:47
He would meet you where you are.
22:48-22:49
What would he say to you?
22:50-22:52
What counsel will he give you?
22:52-22:56
Well, first, he will counsel you to believe in him.
22:57-23:08
See John 12, verse 46, where Jesus says, I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.
23:09-23:12
Second thing he would counsel you is to follow him.
23:13-23:16
See John 8, 12, where he says, I am the light of the world.
23:17-23:21
Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
23:22-23:29
You see, whether you were among Jesus's listeners in 33 AD, or you're hearing him today in 2020, his message is clear.
23:29-23:33
The light promised in Isaiah chapter nine is Jesus.
23:33-23:38
Not simply a light in the world, but the light of the world.
23:38-23:41
And if you believe in him, you're delivered from the domain of darkness.
23:41-23:50
And if you follow him, that is if you listen to his wonderful counsel, you will no longer walk in darkness, but you will have life in his light.
23:50-23:54
You have ears to hear and eyes to see these two verses.
23:55-23:56
Jesus is calling you.
23:57-24:05
He is counseling you right now come out of the darkness into his marvelous, life-giving counsel in the light.
24:06-24:08
And 30 will tell you to learn from him.
24:09-24:16
This is the counsel that penetrated my heart over 35 years ago and opened my eyes to the life that Jesus affords.
24:17-24:20
It's found in Matthew 11, verses 27 and 30.
24:21-24:53
Jesus said, "All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. Now listen to this. "Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and my burden is light.
24:54-25:03
These verses show us why exactly Jesus is the wonderful counselor, because his counsel produces real change.
25:03-25:07
I said 35 years ago, I was in the darkness.
25:08-25:13
Let's take my word for it, I was a wicked, despicable person.
25:14-25:23
And I was destroying myself, but worse, I was destroying and had destroyed other people and their lives.
25:24-25:27
And this was all piling up on me.
25:28-25:32
And then I read these verses and I said, this is what I'm looking for.
25:33-25:38
I am, I'm heavy laden, I'm burdened.
25:39-25:41
I need someone to take this off of me.
25:42-25:46
Sometime after reading that, I was sitting in the back row of the church.
25:47-25:48
The message had been preached.
25:49-26:12
An altar call had been given, sitting in the back row with my head in my hands, and in an instant, I guess I would call it a vision, an instant I'm looking into the abyss of the blackest darkness I could imagine, but it was the abyss, and I knew this is where I am going.
26:12-26:37
Jesus was right there, and he said, "Come now, I won't call you again, And I'll tell you, dear heart, it didn't take another verse of "Just as I am" to convince me, no, no, I bolted down that aisle to the pastor and I said, "I need to confess my sins." And he said, "Which ones?" I mean, like, "All of them." What do you mean, which ones?
26:37-26:37
All of them.
26:38-26:45
And my life changed that day and I have been learning from Jesus ever since.
26:46-26:47
Those three things.
26:48-26:50
Well, four, you include repent.
26:51-26:56
Those things, repent, believe, follow, learn.
26:57-26:59
That's not just good counsel.
27:01-27:02
It's not even excellent counsel.
27:03-27:06
Beloved, that is wonderful counsel.
27:06-27:16
Whether you are a new believer or you have been walking with Christ for most of your life, that is wonderful counsel.
27:16-27:28
Because we live in a dark and a sin-wrecked, irrational and wicked world, in which Satan seeks to beat us down and load us with fear and despair and shame and guilt, anger and hate.
27:29-27:32
But Jesus, our wonderful counselor, calls us out of that darkness.
27:33-27:34
Learn from Jesus.
27:35-27:39
Take his counsel, and you will find rest for your souls.
27:39-27:46
His yoke is indeed easy, and his counsel will direct you in the way of light and life and rest.
27:47-27:47
Let's pray.
27:48-27:51
Oh, gracious Father, thank you for our wonderful counselor.
27:52-28:10
Thank you for instructing us and teaching us, but most of all calling us through your son, Jesus Christ, out of the darkness, for giving us a wonderful counselor who comes alongside and directs our path and gives us life, and that's life abundant.
28:11-28:13
We thank you for this and celebrate him.
28:14-28:15
We celebrate you, Lord Jesus.
28:16-28:19
In your great name, we praise you and bless you.
28:20-28:20
Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read Isaiah 9:6
What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
Why are we prone to take counsel from “experts” whose perspective is limited?
Does the timelessness of Jesus’ counsel affect the value you place on it? Why or why not?
Can you recall a time when Jesus gave you counsel, e.g., through the Scripture, through a sermon, during prayer, etc.? What was that counsel, and what did you do in response?
Light and darkness are recurring themes in Scripture. What does light make possible? What does the light of Christ do to or for us? (John 12:46)
What is the relationship between light and counsel? (see John 8:12)
Breakout
Pray that God will illuminate the Scripture and your mind more and more to better understand and apply Jesus’ wonderful counsel.