Isaiah 9:6
I. Introduction (Isa 9:6; Lk 2:14)
A. Whoever this ‘child’ is in Isaiah 9, he is said to be the mighty God! And more than that, he is said to be the Prince of Peace! Now THAT’S worth noting!
B. What is amazing is that Peace has come to earth – not because we “earthlings” have found a way to live at peace with one another in harmony with nature, etc. But that Peace Himself has come, interrupted all our wars, fightings, and sinful nature, and been able to bring real peace on a person by person basis
C. Let me say at the start, Jesus did this by upsetting things, turning things upside down, and generally causing a lot of commotion! But then, that’s what you would expect if the Lord God of heaven actually did come in the form of Flesh
D. For the remaining time before Christmas, I want to sit in awe at the Birth of Jesus. We have a Christmas hymn titled, What Child Is This?
What Child is this, who, laid to rest, On Mary’s lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet, While shepherds watch are keeping?
This, this is Christ the King, Whom shepherds guard and angels sing;
Haste, haste to bring Him laud, the Babe, the Son of Mary.
1. These words would be the ones spoken by the Shepherds as they peered into that stable. What an amazement must have filled their minds
2. I want to try and answer their question – what Child is this?
3. And to do it, I want to look at Three or Four things, leading up to our Christmas Day meeting here on Thursday, 25th of December:
a. We looked last Sunday at “The Incarnation” - the singular miracle of the Birth of God in Flesh
1) The ‘Incarnation’ doesn’t mean “X-Mas Trees, expensive gifts, Santa and dangling stockings”.
2) It means “GOD WITH US” “God in Flesh”. That was a miracle!
b. Today, we are going to ponder “The Interference Jesus Caused”
c. On Christmas day, we will sit back and wonder about The Immanuel that Jesus Is
E. Now, whether you like it or not, God directly interferes with our lives! Aren’t you glad?
1. If He didn’t, none of us would be saved – salvation is not of ourselves
2. If he didn’t interfere, I wouldn’t be preaching here in Ireland
3. If He didn’t interfere, an awful lot wouldn’t have happened in our lives
4. God interferes – and He does it on purpose!
F. Looking at the Birth of Jesus shows us that God HAS to interrupt our normal life, and interfere in order that something good will come out of it
G. Remember how that Isaiah 9:6 calls Jesus the prince of PEACE? Evidently, only Jesus is the Maker of real peace in someone’s life! AMEN!
A. The Coming of Jesus Christ Interferes with the Home (Mt 1:18-24)
1. Interrupted the PLANS of this young couple
a. They were In Love
b. They were Engaged
c. They had everything ahead of them
d. Then came the news – Jesus was coming!
2. It put Joseph and Mary under great PRESSURE
a. Life’s got all kinds of pressures
b. But the birth of Jesus was going to be pressure
c. Things were not going to be easy
1) People wouldn’t understand their rush to get married
2) People would end up gossiping
3) Joseph and Mary would struggle to trust the Lord through all
3. This new baby became the centre-piece of their lives and home
a. Most children become the centre-focus of a home – but it’s not right
b. Children today have taken the place of the Lord, and themselves been allowed to become LORDS of their homes – spoiled brats
c. Folks, JESUS is to be Lord of every home
d. This baby was EMMANUEL – GOD with us!
e. You can’t tell GOD to go to His room with no supper!
4. Let Jesus Mess With Your Home (Acts 17:6)
a. Let Him start your home
1) Decide your mate
2) Decide whether you are to even marry or not
b. Let Him Save your home – make it a Christian home
c. Let Him Purge your home – clean it up, like a good Spring cleaning!
1) Clean out your idols: TV, Cable, Satellite, Internet; radio stations
2) Your Books and Magazines
3) Your Laziness – not being busy, serving the Lord
d. Let him Build Your Home
1) Give you children – they are the blessing of the Lord
2) Give you a spiritual purpose
3) Give you the backbone to take responsibility for the spiritual well-being of every person in your home!
5. Joseph and Mary never were the same – their home was totally different than they had ever planned, or even expected – but it was blessed!
B. The Coming of Jesus Christ Interferes with the Government (Mt 2:1-6)
1. Briefly, notice how the coming of Jesus was not just a religious event – His coming interfered with the day to day operations of governments
2. Jesus was not just called GOD, but called KING! A dominion title
3. Here was competition for authority at the highest places of government
4. And here was competition from the very BIRTH of a child – not when He was older – a threat from His very birth
5. But, the coming of Jesus Christ was not just competition, but was the solution to societies’ problems
6. His coming forced even Government officials to search the Scriptures
7. Let’s get Jesus back into Government
a. They must bow to the Lordship of Jesus Christ (Phil 2) King of kings
b. Their laws are to be based upon the laws of the God of the universe
c. God’s people should not shy away from being public worshippers of Jesus Christ just as these wise men were!
d. Constantly remind even government officials of the commands of Scripture - John the Baptist did
e. Also remind them of the promises and hope of the Scriptures
8. Let’s STOP the deleting of Jesus from the halls of Government
C. The Coming of Jesus Christ Interferes with Worship (Mt 2:11)
1. God hates a heartless church meeting! Mt 15:8
2. Worship is either real, or it is dead
3. Jesus changed worship forever
a. Simple – just worship ONE person
1) All worship, all reverence, all love goes only to Jesus
2) All knees bow only to Him
3) All prayers are in HIS name – not the name of a saint
4) All of life lived for HIS glory
b. Submitted
1) Here are kings, wise men, wealthy people submitted to a baby
2) Submitted enough to travel 600 miles just to bow before Jesus
3) They submitted their life to do whatever this Jesus needed done
4) That’s the mark of a Christian – not rebellious, but using all their talents; their time; all their love for the glory of such a Saviour
c. Sacrificial
1) Worship does not happen without a sacrifice
2) Under the OT system, you had to bring your best animal to God out of love for God and sacrifice it
3) Under the NT, the Lamb has now been slain, but the giving of a sacrifice is still our responsibility
4) These men were not sacrificing for sins, or trying to pay off some sins
5) They were demonstrating their love
6) There is no worship unless it costs you something!
d. Scriptural
1) These guys were not just worshipping some new ‘god’ they had just heard about
2) These men were worshipping the promised Messiah as declared in Daniel, and the Book of numbers, and Psalms
3) Worship is not a DIY kind of act
a) What “I” get out of church
b) What “I” want for Christmas
c) God save us from this ME generation, and give us some people who want to worship JESUS again!
4) All true worship is only accomplished “by the Book” – God is VERY specific about how to approach Him, and worship Him
e. Passionate
1) All this is not to say we are to come like statues ourselves
2) The very word WORSHIP means “of the heart”
3) Jesus said we need to either be Hot or Cold – never lukewarm
4) Excited, passionate, Emotional
5) Our worship must have heart in it
a) A lot of AMENS
b) A lot of HUNGER and THIRST for righteousness
c) A lot of anticipation to beat our enemy the devil
d) A lot of forgetfulness about our past
4. Worship was never the same after the birth of Jesus
a. Jesus “over-turned the tables” in the Temple
b. Jesus took the crowds away from the stale, dry, empty Priest-led religious crowd
c. Jesus put the common man back into the driving seat and told them to go into all the world and preach the Gospel
D. The Coming of Jesus Christ Interferes with Business (Luke 2:8-17)
1. Notice how the birth of Jesus upset the business world
2. The Shepherds were SUPPOSED to be minding their sheep
3. But instead, because of the coming of Jesus
a. Made Jesus more important than their own livelihood
b. Risked their sheep to be at church – risked their financial stability
c. Took time to worship the Lord Jesus
1) You MUST take time away from the job
2) You MUST worship the King of kings
3) You MUST shut down your business for HIM
d. They then took time go out and tell others – proclaimed the Gospel
1) Didn’t leave it to Pastor, or to Mary and Joseph
2) Didn’t leave it to the intellectuals like the wise men
3) THEY went everywhere stirring up interest in the Saviour
4. Jesus had a habit of interfering with business:
a. Messed with pig sales in Gadera – 2,000 lost
b. Messed with Diana Doll sales in Ephesus
c. Messes with Babylon’s control of the world economy in the future
5. Let Jesus Interfere with your Work as well
a. Never work on a Sunday, unless a bona fida emergency
b. Never sterilize your job from the Gospel – always be a light, and salt, and a clear Gospel witness for the Lord
c. Always pray about everything – quit worrying, and trust the Lord, even for work-related problems!
E. The Coming of Jesus Christ Introduces New Troubles (Mt 2:16,17)
1. The coming of Jesus is not only going to fix problems
2. He brings problems into our lives, on purpose
a. Caused the deaths of dozens of infants in Bethlehem
b. Caused the concern of Mary and Joseph when Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem at 12 years old
c. Caused a lot of hardships for the Apostle Paul
d. Caused jealousy in the hearts of the Jewish nation so that they would get mad enough to go and search the Scriptures and find out they were so wrong, and then decide to repent and get saved!
3. The coming of Jesus is God’s call for His people to suffer for His great name’s sake (2Tim 3:12)
4. The next time you are going through a really hard time… THANK GOD
a. The Lord wants you either SAVED
b. Or DIFFERENT than you currently are – moulds and makes you through trials – no other way!
F. The Coming of Jesus Christ Interferes With Our Sins head on (Mal 3:1-3)
1. Even though Jesus already IS King of kings, and Lord of lords, He rules by degree – little by little
a. Most kings rule from the outside in
b. Jesus starts on the inside of every individual, and works His dominion outward
2. His first foe to conquer was not the Romans, or the British, or the Iraqis
3. His first enemy of mankind was our record of sins
4. Jesus comes SUDDENLY to crush:
a. Sin’s Pre-eminence – outshines all the beauty of this world and its sin
1) People LOVE their sin – full stop (2Tim 3:1,4,5; Jn 3:18-21)
2) Sin is more important to them than the truth, than preaching, than godliness, than God’s honour, and Christ’s name
3) Jesus came to defeat SIN’s prominence – it is everywhere, whereas JESUS is supposed to be all and in all
4) Jesus crushed sin’s pre-eminence by upstaging sin, by allowing SIN to kill Him
5) But amazing, Jesus took sin’s glitter and dragged it to the grave, and then left it there! AMEN!
b. Sin’s Penalty and Power
1) Sin has a power that is almost limitless
2) People don’t realize how hard it is to say NO to sin’s temptation
3) Jesus unplugged sin at the cross
4) He had come to completely unplug the grip of sin on this life
5) Sin’s power was death – it killed everyone it touched
6) Sin’s penalty was not the grave though – it was an eternity in hell
7) Christ saves us from sin’s power over us – that’s what Romans 6 is all about
8) There is therefore now no condemnation!
c. Sin’s Person - Here is the best part
1) When Jesus came, He was after just one enemy – Satan
2) Jesus’ coming interfered with Satan’s control of this world
3) That’s why Satan had Caesar cause the whole world to go back to their birthplace to be taxed – to kill the unborn Jesus
4) That’s why Satan had Herod kill off all the infants in Bethlehem
5) That’s why Satan tried to get Jesus to jump off the Pinnacle of the Temple
6) That’s why Satan tried to kill Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane
7) That’s why Satan stirred up people to stone Jesus time after time
8) Because JESUS is a threat to SATAN!
9) HALELUJAH!
5. Why don’t you just let Jesus interfere with your sin this morning
a. He can wipe the record clean and white as snow
b. His blood can wash away the darkest stain
A. Let Jesus Mess With Your Home (Acts 17:6)
B. Make Sure Jesus Christ is Allowed to Interfere with the Government. Let’s get Jesus back into Government
C. Let Jesus Christ Interfere with Worship (Mt 2:11)
1. Keep it Simple – just worship ONE person
2. Submitted; Sacrificial; Scriptural; Passionate
D. Let Jesus Christ Interfere with Your Business (Luke 2:8-17)
E. Let Jesus Christ Introduce New Troubles (Mt 2:16,17)
F. Most Importantly, Let Jesus Christ Interfere With Your Sins