Mighty God

Andrew Dyck

His Name • Sermon • Submitted 5 months ago • Presented 5 months ago

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Transcript

Intro

Begin with story of armwrestling Silas; “Don’t use all your might”

“Mighty” is a word we often associate with super heroes

From comic books: The Mighty Thor, the Mighty Avengers, the Mighty Captain Marvel

From TV shows: the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, the Mighty Hercules

From… hockey?: the Mighty Ducks (at least in 2007)

There is a challenge to take a word and title used so casually and apply it to God

Isaiah 9:6 declares that Jesus is Mighty God

As we will see, this is far more spectacular than comic book super heroes and California-based hockey teams

Pray

God

The prophesied Messiah in Isaiah 9 would be… God

This is a claim to divinity, make no mistake

Further evidence found in Isaiah 10:21 “A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.”

Mighty God in chapter 9 = Mighty God in chapter 10

Interestingly, it appears that the Messianic expectations at the time of Christ were different

NOT expecting God Himself

Instead expecting the “Anointed One” (meaning of Messiah)

Someone (fully human), specially anointed and called by God to deliver His people

This led to allegations of blasphemy when Jesus claimed to be divine

Cf. John 10:22–39

John 10:22–39 ESV

At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.

Perhaps the Jews needed to re-read Isaiah 9:6 and remember that the Messiah is called mighty GOD

Jesus is fully God and fully man

We refer to this as the “incarnation” = God made flesh

Certainly a focal point of our Christmas celebrations

Cf. John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Jesus = born as a human baby into the course of human history; Jesus was fully human

Yet the incarnation did NOT strip Jesus of His divinity

He is the Son of God, and this did not change (just look at those claims in John 10)

He did, however, willfully limit some of His divine attributes in order to live the complete human existence

Cf. Philippians 2:6–7 “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”

“emptied himself” = gave up His “God card”

Use the credit card illustration

Jesus was FULLY God and FULLY human (2 natures in 1)

Not 50/50, or sometimes one and then another. God and human.

Mighty

Perhaps it seems redundant, but as God, Jesus was declared Mighty

Share story of wathcing body builders in my old youth group; highlight phone book (make fun of old phones and dial-up internet

Mighty is directly used to describe the strength of Christ

Hebrew “gibbor” is used elsewhere in the OT to describe those who are valiant in battle

Military prowess was part of the context for Isaiah

Israel and Judah were under threat and seige from Assyria, they couldn’t possibly win

The only thing that would make any difference would be someone STRONGER than the strongest empire in the world

Refer back to scaring off Grade 3 bullies in Grade 4

This is exactly why the Messianic king needed to be called “Mighty God”

God alone could claim to be mightier than the Assyrian empire (or any other threat)

Cf. 2 Kings 18:32–35 “until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey, that you may live, and not die. And do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’ ””

2 Kings 19:35–36 “And that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh.”

Proof! God ALONE is strong, enough, and mighty enough, to overcome the greatest of enemies.

Mighty God

Jesus, rightfully declared as Mighty God, is the ONLY one strong enough to deliver us from our enemies today

Not talking about other people (though perhaps we still may find ourselves opposed in this way)

Jesus is the one who delivers us from our greatest of enemies: sin and death

And this was ALWAYS His mission; this is the might foretold by Isaiah and fulfilled at Jesus’ birth

Cf. Matthew 1:20–23 “But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).”

God with us = incarnation = Jesus is divine

Mighty = He (alone) will save his people from their sins

“Jesus” means “the Lord saves”

Of course, the Christmas story was just the beginning

Explain the gospel with the focus on Jesus’ power to save (power looks different in light of the cross)

Here is an important point, listen up! Jesus didn’t just come to save us from the consequences of sin, He came to save us from the power of sin.

Not just a “get out of hell free” card!

OUtline the danger of continuing to live under the power of sin by only being concerned with escaping the consequences.

Jesus is mighty enough to help free us from the bondage of sin completely

Cf. Romans 6:1–4 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

We have been set free from sin; we can walk in newness of life

Doesn’t necessarily mean we will never sin again (we all know this isn’t the case)

It DOES mean we now have the ability to choose differently

Briefly share about Layton’s teaching at the Men’s Feast

Cf. Colossians 1:29 “For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.”

We are empowered to toil and struggle

The Spirit of the Mighty God is giving us the energy we need to live free from sin

Conclusion

In what area of your life do you need deliverance?

Are you relying on the Mighty God to empower you to overcome the power of sin in your life?

Are you “toiling and struggling” to live in the reality of the newness of life Jesus has given you?

Pray