Jesus is Wonderful

It’s no secret that I just love kids. Kids of all ages. I especially love the stage of life that the young children are in. A stage of life that includes so much wonder and awe. That wonder and awe is especially evident this time of year. In my house at time it turns into uncontrollable excitement.

What happens to us when we get older? Why do we as adults often lack the wonder and awe of the children? I think it’s because we act like we’ve seen it all before and we take it for granted. I find myself in that kind of view of the world sometimes. It’s not until I spend time with a little one that I get that perspective back.

When was the last time you heard something or saw something in a new way that just caused you to have an emotional reaction? One of those aha moments that changed how you see the world…For most of us I expect it has been a while.

I had a dream the other night where the details were very blurry and unclear, but the message of it was. It was as if I was watching myself holding a Bible and someone I couldn’t see opened the Bible to a passage in the New Testament…I believe. There were a lot more pages stacked on the left than there were on the right.

Then I heard indistinguishable voices… I couldn’t understand the words, but I knew the ‘me’ I was watching could hear. It seemed as if I was being told something about the passage - teaching perhaps. And then the ‘me’ I was watching sat up straight as if startled or shocked and then immediately slumped over in tears. Not sadness tears, but the tears as if I understood the depth of God’s love for me in a way that I’ve never understood before.

As I reflected on that dream the last few days, I realized that I don’t read God’s word with this possibility in mind. The possibility of being awed again. The possibility of having a new or deeper understanding of God, of Jesus, of the Holy Spirit…Is it my pride of what I know getting in the way. Maybe. This passage came to mind as I contemplated this:

Matthew 18:3 NIV

3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Become like little children - seeing Jesus as if for the first time. With a sense of awe and wonder. And not just with our first encounter with him…with every encounter with him.

***SERMON TITLE SLIDE***

Today we are finishing up our Christmas series “Joy to Your World” with the truth that Jesus is Wonderful. We’ll divide this up in three parts - Jesus is Wonderful Yesterday, Today and Forever.

Turn with me to John 1 as we talk about how Jesus is wonderful in the past.

John 1:1–4 NIV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

These few verses here are talking about Jesus. Jesus as present in the beginning. Jesus as the Word, Jesus as God. Jesus as the creator of all things and the source of life.

This is one of the great wonders of Jesus. Some might try to say that Jesus came into existence at his earthly birth, but Jesus always was and is and always will be. There really isn’t any human way of fully describing this characteristic of Jesus. We operate in the straight line of time. That is our understanding, but according to this passage, there was a beginning of the world as we know it and Jesus was already there. So, what came before the beginning? God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit as one being in three persons.

It’s passages like this that I can get so familiar with and read over without a second thought, but when I stop and contemplate what this means…my mind is blown with the true lack of understanding I have of the depth of who God is and what he is capable of.

We see where Jesus was present in eternity past, and then as part of the redemption of mankind, he comes in the form of a human baby…turn with me to Luke 2...

Luke 2:8–20 NIV

8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” 15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” 16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

The wonder of this birth of Jesus stirred in the hearts of not only the shepherds, but Mary also. She treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. She was in awe of what happened, and she didn’t know the fullness of the story.

Jesus would grow up and at the start of his ministry would pick 12 misfits out of this world and intrusted the church to them. He would raise the dead, heal the sick and wounded and he confounded the wisdom of the wise.

He would go to the cross bearing the weight of the sins of the world on himself. He would in humility submit to the cross where he was hung, brutally mocked and beaten and his blood spilled out. He did this all out of love for us.

My sin, your sin up on that cross. The wrath of God that we deserved was poured out on Jesus and satisfied that day. It’s really all too much for our minds to fully understand. It is too wonderful what he has done for us.

No only did he die on the cross, but he rose again on the third day conquering sin and death once and for all. He told John in the book of Revelation this:

Revelation 1:18 NIV

18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

My Savior and Lord Jesus is alive and he holds the keys to death and hell. That brings us to the present. Jesus is wonderful in the present.

When Jesus rose bodily from the grave, he spent 40 days with the disciples, encouraging them in their upcoming mission to reach the world. Then he ascended into heaven. I want to just read a passage out of Romans 8 to you. Let’s see what Jesus has for us in the present...

Romans 8:31–39 NIV

31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Quickly, A few things we can see about how wonderful Jesus is in the present...

He is alive - Verse 34

He is at the right of the Father and intercedes for us. He is pleading our case and intervening on our behalf.

He promises that nothing will separate us from him.

With his help, in Him we are more than conquerors.

This doesn’t mean we are exempt from trouble, but we’ve got Jesus on our side when it comes.

I fear that we read these words out of Romans 8 and we no longer see the wonder in these words. The joy in these words. If someone came to our door with balloons and a check that offered to pay off our mortgages, car loans, credit card debt, medical debt, student loans…and filled our bank account, what would our response be?

We’d say that so wonderful, or awesome or great…and yet these debts are so small compared to the debt paid for and covered by what Jesus did.

Lastly, let’s look at how Jesus is wonderful forever. Turn with me to Isaiah 9. Isaiah got a glimpse of Jesus in a vision and wrote these prophetic words about him...

Isaiah 9:6–7 NIV

6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

First, we see the prophecy about his birth, and a few names given him: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Then we see the future reign of Jesus as his rule or government and peace will have no end. When it is established it will go on forever.

A few weeks ago, we read from Revelation 21 about the new heaven and new earth. How the new Jerusalem is like the garden of Eden restored. I want to read a little more from Revelation 21…let’s start in verse 9...

Revelation 21:9–27 NIV

9 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. 13 There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. 14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15 The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. 16 The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. 17 The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits thick. 18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. 19 The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass. 22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

This is the picture of what we will be someday. Our deeds made us unworthy to be written in the book of life, but because of the Lamb, Jesus, He has written our names in that book - those of us who have put our faith in him as Lord and Savior. If you haven’t placed your faith in Jesus, please don’t leave today without doing so. I would like to talk with you privately about this step. I’ll pray with you and help you understand what it means to follow Jesus.

***SERMON TITLE SLIDE*** - Start to get the children for the closing

I want to close with a quote from Spurgeon from a message he preached on Isaiah 9 in 1858. If you want to look it up - it is sermon 214…he closed with this:

“There have been times when you and I have said of Christ, His name is wonderful indeed, for we have been by it transported entirely above the world and carried upward to the very gates of heaven itself. I pity you, beloved if you do not understand the rhapsody I’m about to use. There are moments when the Christian feels the charms of earth all broken, and his wings are loosed, and he begins to fly, and up he soars till he forgets earth sorrows and leaves them far behind, and up he goes even further till he forgets earth’s joys and leaves them like the mountain tops far below, as when the eagle flies to meet the sun. And up, up, up, he goes with his Savior, full before him almost in beatific vision. His heart is full of Christ. His soul beholds his Savior, and the cloud that darkened his view of his Saviors face seems to be dispersed. Well, how is that rapture produced? By the music of flute and harp, other instruments? No. How then does this transport occur? By riches, by fame, by wealth, absolutely not. Does it occur by a strong mind, by a lively disposition? No, not at all. HOW THEN? By this and this alone, by the WONDERFUL name of Jesus, ministered to you by the Holy Spirit, that one name is all-sufficient to lead the Christian into heights of transport that verge upon the region where the angels fly in cloudless days.”

Close in Prayer

Introduce Closing song

Luke 2:10 NIV

10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.

Isaiah 9:6 NIV

6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Revelation 4:11 NIV

11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”

Psalm 68:35 NIV

35 You, God, are awesome in your sanctuary; the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God!

Psalm 139:14 NIV

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Revelation 7:12 NIV

12 saying: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”

Psalm 24:8 NIV

8 Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.

Revelation 19:1 NIV

1 After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,