The Wisdom We Need

All right, dear friends, brothers and sisters, if you would grab a Bible and open with me to Isaiah chapter 9, Isaiah chapter 9. You can have a seat for just a minute. The book of Isaiah was written during a time of great threat to the nation of Judah in the shadow of Assyria, Isaiah. The son of Amoz came to write a word of warning to Judah, a word of warning to say, hey, heads up.

God is true to his word, and if you do not walk in faithfulness to him, you too, just like Israel to the north, you too will be judged. And Isaiah prophesied that there will be one Cyrus of Persia. Who one day will free the exiles to go back to the land, and he foretold things that it, that weren't to happen yet for hundreds of years.

And here in the eighth century bc Isaiah has something even to say to us today. I wonder if you have ears to hear it.

If you're willing and able. Stand with me and we will read Isaiah chapter nine verses one to seven. Don't let it fall on deaf ears that men and women have died to have the Bible translated from Greek to Latin, Latin to English. They've given their lives so that you could understand it with such ease, and so please pay attention to it.

Give it your attention. It is given to you in love, and we stand on the shoulders of giants who have allowed us to have such access to God's Word.

But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. But in the latter time, he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.

Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. You have multiplied the nation. You have increased its joy. They rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, and the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.

For every boot of the trampling warrior, and the battered toolmolt, and every garment worn, It rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. 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.

Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end. On the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but God's word stands forever.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. Please, Father, open our hearts, redirect our affections to the beauty of the truth. We are desperate for wisdom. Would you provide it? We are desperate for counsel. Lord, would you shed it abroad in our hearts? And so, oh Father, would you help us now to see the beauty of your Son given for us, that we may walk in newness of life.

In Jesus name, amen. What a

Cristiano Ronaldo, Selena Gomez. Mr. Beast, Lionel Messi, and Justin Bieber have in common. Anyone?

Those are the top five most influential people in the world. Did you know it? The top five most followed people on social media. They are the gurus of our age. These five people have the attention of Nations, if you look at their TikTok followers. Teenagers follow them by the millions. And it's interesting to look at the trends of who we actually listen to for advice, isn't it?

Because they're not the kind of people that you might expect. They're the entertainers, they're the athletes, they're the singers and songwriters, and these are the people that People listen to for advice and we live in a time where people are starved for wisdom, aren't they? We're bombarded with advice from countless sources including these five and others People make their living today just to be a social media Influencer who has zero credibility except that they're really good at marketing their social media channels sucking us in to listen, hanging on their every word.

Today we follow people on MSNBC. I visited some of your homes and you have the stock market almost always on. Looking for the latest advice on how to make investments? Some of you even are influenced by AI chatbots and you don't even know it. Starving for wisdom we are as people. They're asking and trying to answer the biggest questions for us.

What should we do with life? How can we fix problems? What are the solutions to our deepest ailments? And despite all of this advice that we could possibly be giving, we as a culture are lost now more. More than ever, it seems. Jonathan Haidt, a professor who's written a book called The Anxious Generation, says that in our generation today, there is more wisdom to be found, and yet there's also more anxiety to be experienced.

Is that true of you? Our world is noisy. It's chaotic. And the truth is that much of the advice that we are given, much of the advice that passes for sage wisdom, is utterly and completely flawed. Why? Because it comes from a human mind.

Humanity was broken by the fall. There are no etic effects of the fall. That is, that our mind, even our logic, can be flawed in how we understand what is true and beautiful and good. And God has given us this amazing gift. He has given us the beauty of the gospel. Which, as we've said many times, is not just a truth to be believed, but it is a lens through which you view everything about life.

Life from the way that you make your investments to the way that you work Monday through Friday to the way that you raise your Children to the way that you worship on Sunday. God's word is there to provide the lens through which we understand everything to the life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen? You are Christians, which means you define your life through the lens of the finished work of Jesus. And despite all the short sighted, ultimately powerless wisdom that we deal with, even the wisdom, the brokenness of our hearts, Isaiah steps in to speak into this chaos, into this confusion. He prophesies about a king who will come in the midst of the darkness.

He will bring light to the nations. He will provide wisdom and he will provide a way out as though we are in Plato's cave, trapped, and all of a sudden you see light and you're attracted to the light. Follow it. I wonder if you know.

Isaiah gives words for this one who comes to bring the light. And today we're going to look at the first description of him. He calls him a wonderful counselor. What does wonderful counselor mean? Why is Jesus the wonderful counselor? Why do we need him to be our wonderful counselor? And how do we respond to him as our wonderful counselor this advent season?

That's where we're headed in Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6. You ready? First, what does a wonderful counselor do? Now, Isaiah chapter 9 comes to the very end of a very dark part of Isaiah. The people had rejected God's counsel instead of trusting Him. They had turned to their own human solutions. They had made alliances with pagan nations.

They had relied on their own flawed wisdom. And chapter 8 ends. It says they will look to the earth, but only behold the stress and darkness. And verse 22 of chapter 8, and the gloom.

Sounds like a culture that I know, doesn't it? How about you? And into this gloom and darkness Isaiah says, there is one. Chapter 9 begins with a stunning promise. There is one who has come. There are people who have walked in great darkness, but they have seen a great light. They have seen the royal hope.

They have seen the promise of the coming king, back to 2 Samuel chapter 7, when the Lord prophesied to David, there will be one who will come to sit on your throne, whose throne will be from everlasting to everlasting. And in Hebrew idiom, Isaiah speaks of this future hope as if it already happened. He says in the past tense, a child is born, a son is given.

Why does he speak in the past tense, even though this was a future event for Isaiah? Because he says that God's promises to his people are as good as done. But do you live like that?

Last night, um, there was a wonderful time of indoctrination in my family. I introduced my children to the hallowed event of the Texas A& M vs. Texas football game. Some of you know, I could not have resisted it. And here we are. I, Lauren will tell you, I geeked out for 24 hours showing them old videos of the A& M Texas game.

And I'll admit, my alma mater, A& M, didn't even show up for the game. But, nevertheless, at the end of the game, after A& M lost to Texas, okay, okay, hook them horns. John Nadig. That'll be the only time you ever see me do that. I, I couldn't find Augie. And, and when I found Augie, he had his 12th mantel over his face, and he was crying.

And, and I went up to Augie, and I said, Augie, I've been there.

When I was your age, it was so hard. And, and I looked at Augie, and I said, Augie, do you know what the greatest news in the world is? That that was just a football game. And it really affects us. I had to get my sermon done before the game. But you know the good news of the gospel is that in the real world, Jesus has won the game.

And imagine if those Aggie players were to go out on that field and they were to run the routes and they were to blitz and they were to, you know. If they were to play the game as though they knew the score was already gonna be in their favor, how much more fun would they have playing the game? And this is the way we have to live.

We get to walk in obedience and sing and give and lay our life down for our brothers and sisters and take the punches of other people and to forgive when it's hard to forgive. One, because we've won the game. And here's Isaiah saying to us, a son is given. As though it's already in the past tense. It's a Hebrew idiom to say, it is good as done.

Even 740 years before Jesus was actually born.

Alec Moyer, a commentator on Isaiah, says that you see this repeated pattern in Isaiah chapter 9. You see what God does, and then you see what the people enjoy, and you see the implications that follow. Isn't that the gospel? What God has done for us. He has laid his life down on the cross and what we get to enjoy, the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.

Friends, we've won. In Advent, we look back to the cross and the resurrection where we see Jesus proclaim his victory. In His ascension, where He ascends as our anointed King to sit at the Father's right hand, interceding for us. This very moment, as you hear my voice, your Savior in heaven is interceding for you, because He knows every one of your anxieties and every one of your problems.

And He doesn't just love you, you know what? He likes you. He likes being with you. And I wonder if you know that this morning.

Faith is not the absence of thinking. It is thinking intensely about the certainty of God's promises. And Isaiah invites us to think deeply about this hope, to see the light of Christ even when the world feels dark. And so Isaiah lays up for us this wonderful phrase, Pele Yo Eitz, in Hebrew. Wonderful.

Counselor. The Hebrew word palah is used 15 times of human action. It's used 54 times of God's action in the Old Testament. It means wonderful. It means something that is extraordinary. It means wonderful in the sense that something, sometimes you see it translated as marvelous, as miraculous, as too great for words.

Utterly beyond this earth, as though it leaves you in awe. Jonathan's love for David was described as wonderful in human terms.

Antiochus's power to do evil was described as wonderful in Daniel chapter 8. Isaiah uses the word wonderful to speak of God's wisdom. In chapter 28, Isaiah says this also comes from the Lord of hosts. He is wonderful in his counsel. He is excellent in his wisdom. And echo back to Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6.

Isaiah speaks of God's acts of grace being wonderful. Almost too good to describe. And the Lord said because the people draw near with their mouth and they honor me with their lips while their hearts are far from me and in their fear, they do the commandments taught by men. Therefore, behold, you think he's going to heap judgment down upon him, but notice what it says.

Behold, the Lord says, I will again do wonderful things with this people with wonder upon wonder. There's the Hebrew word and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish in the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden. Oh Father, would you do wander upon wander in this church? Would you help change us by the power of the gospel so that we are able to lead lives that defy the English ability to describe radically generous, deeply compassionate, caring for the poor and the needy.

Deeply committed to scripture when it costs us something. The psalmist describes this term wonderful when he says in the sight of their fathers, he performed wonders in the land of Egypt. In Isaiah 119, the psalmist says, In chapter nine, Isaiah isn't just saying that this child would simply be a good counselor.

He is saying that he would He would be divine and a wonder. He would be miraculous. He would be extraordinary. He would be indescribable.

This sets him apart, of course, from the rulers of Isaiah's time, like King Ahaz, whose worldly decisions just led to his own ruin. This child's wisdom would be supernatural. It would be rooted in the infinite wisdom of God. And of course, 700 years later, there was a child who was born, wasn't there? Oh, the depths of the riches and the wisdom of the knowledge of God.

How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable are his ways. A manger,

an unwed teenage mother betrothed. Who would have thought it? At the point in time which the Roman roads connected the known world through trade, and the trade language was, quote, a Greek. At that point in time, when the Romans dominated the known world, this Prince of Peace, this mighty God, this wonderful counselor,

And he is wonderful indeed. In Colossians chapter 2 verse 3, Paul writes that, In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom. Innale Pele. Wonderful. Yo eights. Counselor. The word counselor refers to one who gives advice. He gives direction. He gives guidance. And in the ancient world, like David had Ahithophel as his advisor, in the ancient world, advisors gave kings the wisdom to make the right decisions, and they affected the course of nations.

Advisors were the ones who were considered the yo eights to the king, the counselor, the one who told him what is wise and what he ought to do. But oftentimes, as we know, our human Wisdom is flawed. It's self serving. It is prone to fail, but not with Jesus, because He's the perfect counselor. He's the perfect counselor because He created everything together with His Father in the Spirit.

He knows everything by His Spirit. He is everywhere, including in this very room right now, changing us by the power of His Word. He knows the end from the beginning. Jesus is sovereign over all things, and he doesn't just offer us wisdom in human form, like the sages of his day did. Jesus himself is the logos, the word of God.

He is true wisdom, according to the Greeks. He is the true counsel of God, embodied in human flesh, come to live among us. It's as though the Lord said they will never believe it unless I actually show them in the flesh what true wisdom looks like. And even then, our hearts were so darkened, even then we didn't believe it.

I wonder if you do.

I have a friend whose name is Daniel Stier. He lives in Atlanta, and Daniel has made his living for many years as a coach to C suite executives in very large companies. And Daniel offered to help coach me at one point in my ministry. And so Daniel and I met, and he was just, he was amazing. His ability to pinpoint issues that I had that I needed to address was just profound for me.

And he would work with me to set up a game plan of how I was going to address some of these issues. And the funny thing about As good as Daniel Steer was, and as desperate as I was for his coaching, week after week after week as we continued to meet, there was a consistent pattern. And it was that even though this plan that I had helped create was wonderful and perfect, and it could be executed so easily, I didn't have the strength to always do it.

Why was it that the plan was there, I could do it, but why couldn't I always execute it? Because the problem goes deeper than just our ability to execute. And this is why the problem goes deeper when you go to churches, and they just tell you five things to do because of what the Scriptures say, and you walk out of there totally guilty.

You feel guilty. Why? Because you haven't yet heard the gospel. Jesus isn't just our wisdom by giving us sage advice. He is true wisdom in that he died on the cross for us. And the only way that you gain wisdom is by placing your faith, looking to that cross again and again and again, and running to it with all of your best laid plans of mice and men.

And you lay it at the foot of the cross and you say, Lord, renew me and remake me. I run to you. I've given you all of myself. Amen. Jesus says, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. We have etched it into the stone above the, on the mantle of the fireplace in the building next door.

Why? Because that is the good news of the gospel. Hallelujah. But we are a restless people, and we consistently need to come back week after week after week to the gospel to find rest. I wonder if you. Know that rest.

Jesus provides us wisdom in that he gives us wisdom embodied. He gives us wisdom of the cross. The ultimate display of Jesus's wisdom is the cross. In first Corinthians chapter 1, Christ is called the power of God and the wisdom of God. When Paul describes him going to the cross, he says the cross looks like foolishness to the world, but it is the greatest act of God.

act of wisdom in history. Through death, Jesus defeated and He secured our salvation. In Isaiah chapter 9, there's this little nod, there's this little throwaway line in verse 4 that you have broken as on the day of Midian. And men, if you're in Bible study on Judges on Tuesday mornings, you know this passage.

On Wednesday nights, you know this passage. This is the story of Gideon in Judges 6 to 8. Do you remember the story of Gideon? Gideon has 32, 000 mighty men of valor, and God says to him, uh uh, not enough. Not enough? Not enough. What do you mean not enough? I want you to depend upon me, not your resources. And so the Lord takes away 22, 000 of those men, leaves him with 10, 000.

And then Gideon says, well surely this is, this is what we need. And God says, no. And he gets it down to 300 mighty men. And with 300 mighty men, they go to battle. And they beat the Medianites, under whom they've been in oppression for seven years. Isn't that just what God does on the cross? God says, Aha!

You think that you've got me, but he dies on the cross for us, and he shocks the world. And He does so because He is our propitiatory sacrifice. He died for you, infinitely God, therefore He could pay the infinite debt, fully human because He died in your place. Children, do you know that good truth? That truth is not just a doctrine to be believed, but it shapes, it is the lens through which you understand all of life.

And you begin to therefore grow in wisdom because you look through the lens of Jesus's death and resurrection and glory to begin to put the pieces back together. How are we to respond to this wonderful counselor? Well, there's at least three ways. The first is that you rest in Christ's wisdom. During Advent, we were reminded that we are invited to rest Looking at His first coming and anticipating His second coming, you're invited to rest in this grand story.

That is your story, O Christian, and I wonder if you own it. Your story is not, how do I get my kids through college and out of debt to live a successful life with a white picket fence. That pales in comparison to the greatest story that Jesus came and is coming again to make everything new. Does that define you at the deepest, deepest level?

We should rest in Christ's wisdom. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own, Understanding. Are you willing to trust Jesus's wisdom even when it contradicts your instincts or the world's wisdom?

Alexander Solzhenitsyn, in 1984, he gave this very famous Harvard commencement address. You may have read it. And he says, there's a line where he says, you know, Alexander Solzhenitsyn was this great defender of democracy amidst the communist regime of Russia at the time. He had suffered in the gulag, this amazing author, and they invite him to Cambridge to give this speech.

And so he comes in asylum to give this speech. And he says, If only we could find the source of evil and separate from it. And if only we could just take the good and cultivate it. But the problem is the dividing line of good and evil, he famously says, cuts right through the human heart. And which of us has the strength to divide his own heart?

And Jesus came and he, as he says in Ezekiel, puts skin on the bones of a dead heart. And he puts flesh and sinew on those bones. And he breathes life into us. And he says, O Christian, live. For unto us a son is given. Unto us a child is born. Hallelujah. Rest. In Jesus's wisdom. Secondly, follow the wonderful counselor.

In light of the gospel and what he's given to us, we've won the game. So follow the counselor. Christ's counsel challenges us to live counter culturally. It values humility in a world of pride. It values service in a world of selfishness. It values self sacrifice over worldly ambition. It is our upside down kingdom in which we live.

How does Jesus wisdom shape the priorities that you have this season? Jesus speaks today through His Word and His Spirit. Do you know His Word? Jesus says in John 14, 16 and John 14, 26, I'm leaving, but I'm going to give you another counselor. It's a very particular word in Greek, a paraclete. I'm going to give you an alos paracletos.

I'm going to give you another counselor to give you wisdom. Do you listen? Here he is. And one of the ways you know if you listen is, if you love me, Jesus says, and you'll obey my commandments. Are there areas of your life that you've said, Jesus, you can have all of me, but secretly in your heart, you've taken one thing off that shelf and you're clinging to it.

What is that one area? And oh, this Advent season, Jesus wants to bless you and He wants you to open your hands to Him. You rest in His wisdom. You follow the wonderful counselor. And lastly, you proclaim His wonder. It is miraculous. It is extraordinary. It is almost indescribable. The incarnation. And the imminent return that awaits us are our story bookends.

So let us proclaim the good news that Jesus is for us, not just a sage that has come to provide advice on how we need to pull ourself up by our bootstraps, but he is wisdom himself who died on the cross and rose again on the third day, so that by placing your faith in that, then you're able to rest in his wisdom.

Then and only then are you able to follow him as a wonderful counselor, and then is your life able to proclaim his wonder. So this Advent season, oh friends, in a world. That is starved for wisdom. Let us be reminded that the child born in Bethlehem is not just a Savior. He is our wonderful Counselor. And He steps into the noise, into the confusion, into the frenetic pace of your life.

And He provides us what is supernatural, what is perfect, what is life giving, because He gives us Himself. And while human wisdom leaves us restless and disoriented, The deepest level and the questions that we ask at the heart of the heart of those deep questions. Jesus offers us what no social media influencer could ever offer.

He offers us himself. Truth embodied that has come to set sinners free. Here is the wisdom of God made flesh guiding us with divine counsel. And so let us therefore this advent come to Jesus not just as a seeker of wisdom, but let us come and bow before the one who is. Let us trust his counsel. Let us seek his wisdom.

Let us follow him as a wonderful counselor. Let us proclaim his wonder. And may we, may we, in the strength worthy of our trust, with a love that we crave, and a peace that we long for, look to him as our light. And the darkness hallelujah. Let's pray. Father, we know that in you is all the light we long to see.

And we confess that we live in darkness and that we are foolish by nature. And so father, would you help us to see that Jesus fulfills the role of being our wonderful counselor, both in his wisdom, in his teaching and through his cross in his death. Jesus, just as you exposed the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, No one ever spoke like you.

Would you expose our own hypocrisy, and would you point us again to the beauty of the gospel, which provides true wisdom? Prepare us now, Lord, as we give of our tithes and offerings for your glory, and help us as we come to your table to come in joy, communing with you, O wonderful Counselor. In Jesus name we pray.

Amen.