In this sermon, Pastor Chuck Smith teaches about the significance of the word of God and the identity of Jesus Christ. He emphasizes that Jesus is Emmanuel, God dwelling among man, and that his name Yahshua signifies his purpose to save the world from death. Pastor Chuck also discusses the power and control that God has over our lives, including our breath and bodily functions. He encourages listeners to obey God's word and follow after truth, praying for God's kingdom to come. The sermon is part of The Word For Today radio ministry, taught by Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California.

Welcome to The Word for Today. The Word for Today is a continuous study of the Bible taught by Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California. Pastor Chuck is currently teaching from the Old Testament. And for those of you following along in your Bibles, we'll be continuing today in Isaiah chapter 7, beginning with verse 1. As we continue with an in-depth message entitled, The Sign of Emmanuel, part 1. 1 One thing is needful, O my Father, 1 One thing is needful, O my God, 2 That I sit at your feet and pour out my love. This thing is needful, O my God. And now with today's study. Here's Pastor Chuck. That Rezin, the king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Ramaliah, the king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but they could not prevail against it. Now, he was an extremely wicked, evil king. And his evil reign brought destruction to the nation of Judah. He was a godless man. And as the result of it, during his reign, the enemies began to prosper against Judah. Israel came against Judah, and in one day, they killed 120,000 of the frontline troops of Judah. They took away 200,000 hostages, who were later returned as a result of the intervention of God. During his reign, the Edomites began to attack their cities in the south. During his reign, the Philistines began to take the coastal cities. It was a time of national deterioration and peril as the result of the sin that he committed. Sin is always destructive. That is the character and nature of sin. If you are living in sin, you can be sure that sin is destroying you. It is destroying you spiritually, it is destroying you emotionally, and it will ultimately destroy you physically, because the effects and the result of sin are always destructive. The wages of sin is death, the final consequence of sin. But there is the spiritual death long before the physical death. For a person who lives in sin is dead unto God and the things of God. And that's eternal death, that is, that separation from God. So, it came to pass during the days of this very wicked king, King Ahaz, that an alliance was made between Syria and Israel, the northern kingdom. Reason, the king of Syria and Pekah. Now, Pekah will be only called the son of Ramaliah from now on. Why he didn't like to refer to Pekah, I don't know. But from now on, he doesn't even honor him by calling him by his name, but just says the son of Ramaliah from this point on. And it was told the house of David. Now, that is, the house of David is Judah, because David was of the tribe of Judah and that's the southern kingdom. And so, it was told the house of David, saying, Syria has confederated together with Ephraim. Ephraim, of course, was the major tribe of the northern kingdom. And so, Judah, the major tribe of the southern kingdom. Ephraim, the major tribe of the northern kingdom. And so, Syria had confederated together with Ephraim. And the heart of Judah, the people of Judah, was moved. As the trees of the wood are moved with the wind. The shaking of the hearts of the people, like the quaking aspens when the wind blows the leaves, a shaking. And so, the people were trembling, they were frightened, because Syria was a powerful nation. Ephraim was a powerful people. And they confederated together to attack Judah. And then said the Lord to Isaiah, go now and meet Ahaz, you and Shir Jezeb. Now, that was the name of one of his kids, and he really tacked some interesting names on them. Shir Jezeb, or Jezeb, actually means, a remnant shall return. Now, they were going to go into captivity, and that was basically the message that Isaiah was warning them of. Their destruction, and going into captivity. But, a remnant would return from that captivity. In other words, God was not going to just forsake them utterly and forever. God would bring back a remnant. The nation will be kept alive, a remnant shall return. And so, the name of his son was a constant witness of what was going to happen. And so, take your son with you, and meet the king at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, in the highway of the fuller's field. So, this upper pool that supplied Jerusalem with water, there at the highway, go and stand there and meet the king. And say unto him, take heed, now be quiet, that is an inner quietness, don't fear, neither be faint hearted, for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, that is for the Ephraim and Syria confederacy, don't be faint hearted because of the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of resin with Syria and the son of Ramaliah. Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Ramaliah have taken evil counsel against these saying, let's go up against Judah, let's vex it, let us make a breach therein, that is let's tear down the walls of Jerusalem, and let's set a king in the middle of it, even the son of Tebiel. So, what they were planning is to come down and to destroy the city of Jerusalem, to kill Ahaz, and to set up a vassal king upon the throne in Judah. But thus saith the Lord God, it shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass. So, don't be afraid, don't be faint hearted, because God is promising that it won't happen. Though they have plotted this, it's not going to happen. For the head of Syria is Damascus, that is the capital, the head of Damascus or the ruler over Damascus is resin. And within 65 years, Ephraim will be broken and not even be a people. And of course, that was literally fulfilled, the Assyrians took the northern kingdom, Ephraim and the northern kingdom, carried them away captive and they ceased to exist as a nation, never did rise again as a nation. And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, that is the capital city of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Ramaliah's son. If you will not believe, surely you will not be established. Now, here is the promise. God says, don't be afraid, they plotted this against you, but it's not going to stand. Their plot is going to fail. But here is the condition, if you will not believe, you will not be established on the throne. Now, he was 20 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned only for 16 years. He died at the age of 36. And so, he was an evil king and his reign was really cut short. Now, moreover, the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God. Ask it either in the depth or in the height above. So, when Isaiah gave to him this message, don't be afraid, don't be fainthearted. Though they have conspired together and confederated together to attack you, their plot is not going to succeed. They won't be able to destroy you. And the king probably looked a little incredulous at this, and so Isaiah said, well, then ask the Lord for a sign. In other words, the questioning or the doubting whether or not Isaiah was really giving him the word of God. The questioning of this was actually God's promise that was being related to him by the prophet. So, Isaiah said, well, ask for a sign. Either in the world around you or in the heaven above. Now, there are many times that God gave miraculous signs. Hezekiah, who is the son of Ahaz, and we'll come to him as we move along in Isaiah. He was dying, and the Lord promised to give him 15 more years of life. And as a sign of that promise, the Lord moved the sundial back so many degrees, so that the sun actually went back in the sky rather than setting. It sort of moved back a little bit before it set, just as a sign to him. And so, a sign in the heavens above. So, what kind of a sign do you want? You want the sun to stand still as in the days of Joshua? You want it to go back on the sundial? Ask for a sign. You want God to do something spectacular in the world around you? However, Ahaz was so wicked that he refused even to seek a sign from God. He really wasn't interested in the help of God. He was fearful that if he relied upon God for help, and God delivered him, then he would be obligated to serve God. And his heart was so against the Lord that he would rather be destroyed than serve the Lord. It's difficult to conceive a person whose heart can be so bitter against God and the things of God, but he is not alone. I have met many people of the same ilk whose hearts are so against God that they're afraid to ask God to do anything for them lest they be obligated to God and feel an obligation to God. Now you're obligated to God whether you like it or not. When Daniel was rebuking that wicked king Belshazzar, he said, the very God in whose hand your breath is, you have not glorified. Now the lungs are one of those involuntary muscles of the body. It's not attached to the body skeleton and it doesn't take a conscious thought to cause your lungs to work. You have voluntary and involuntary muscles in your body. Many of the muscles of your body are voluntary muscles. That is, they are controlled by the brain. Your brain sends a message for the muscles to contract and all, and you have those voluntary muscles, but you have involuntary muscles too. They're not attached to your skeleton, not controlled by a conscious effort of the brain. Your heart is an involuntary muscle. Your lungs are involuntary muscles. Those muscles upon which your life and survival depend, God keeps control of those. He doesn't put those in your feeble brain to control. He knows that you wouldn't last long if you had to think for your heart to beat or if you had to think for your lungs to work. So He keeps control. And that's basically what Daniel was saying to the king. The God in whose hand your very breath is, He's the one that controls the lungs, those involuntary muscles to keep them working, to keep them like bellows working, to inhale the air and to exhale the air, to take in the oxygen and to exhale the carbon dioxide, to keep that fresh supply of oxygen for your blood that it can feed all of the cells of your body. Keep you going. The God in whose very hand your breath is. And so you're obligated to God whether you like to acknowledge it or not. You're obligated to God for every heartbeat, for every pant, as God controls those involuntary muscles of your body. And yet he didn't want to feel that sense of obligation to God. And thus he refused to ask for a sign. He said, I won't ask for a sign. Neither will I tempt the Lord. And so he said, all right. Isaiah responded to him. You won't ask for a sign, but tell you what, God's going to give you one anyhow, like it or not. Here now, O house of David, that is, he was a descendant of David, sitting on the throne of David. Is it a small thing for you to weary men? But will you weary my God also? Here the king had a reputation of just being a bore to man. He troubled men. He brought problems on the people. But will you also weary God? You've defied the people. Are you going to defy God too? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted means God with us, Emmanuel. And so the sign that God was going to give, a remarkable sign, a virgin will conceive and bear a son, call his name Emmanuel. When Jesus was born of Mary, according to Matthew's account, Joseph, when he found out that she was pregnant and they were in that period of engagement, waiting for the day of their wedding and he found out that she was pregnant and he knew that he was not responsible. And so he was greatly troubled. He loved Mary, but yet he felt totally betrayed by her. How could she do this? She said she loved me. And so according to the Jewish law, for her to be pregnant out of wedlock meant stoning by the people. And so if he publicly would expose the fact that she was pregnant and say, hey, it wasn't me. And yet we were engaged to be married. She would have been stoned by the populace of Nazareth. He thought about that, but he couldn't bear the thought his love was too deep. And so he thought about just sending her away, sending her to relatives someplace else. And while he was thinking on these things, the angel of the Lord came to him at night and said, Joseph, don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she's going to bear a son and you're to call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. And Matthew said, now all of these things came to pass in order that the word of the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, which said a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and call his name Emmanuel. So Matthew writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit tells us that the birth of Jesus by the Virgin Mary was the fulfillment of this prophecy of Isaiah. The sign that God promised that he would give. The virgin conceiving and bringing a son. Now the word Emmanuel means God with us. Why didn't then Mary and Joseph name him Emmanuel? Why is it that the angel told Mary when he announced to her that she was going to have a son? Mary, you've been highly favored by the Lord. You're blessed above all women. For you're going to bear a son and you're to call his name Jesus. And he's going to sit upon the throne of David. And God is going to give to him the throne of his fathers and he shall be great unto the ends of the earth. And Mary said, how can this be? I've never had intimate physical relationship with a man. And the angel said the power of God is going to come upon you and the power of the highest will overshadow you so that that Holy One that is born of you will be called the Son of God. But his name was to be called Jesus and the angel told Mary and Joseph both that his name was to be called Jesus. Now the name Jesus is the Greek name for the Hebrew name Yahshua. And the Hebrew name Yahshua means Yahweh is salvation. So his name Yahshua signifies his mission. Emmanuel declares to us what he is. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God, the same was in the beginning with God and all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. And the Word became flesh and he dwelt among us. Emmanuel, God dwelling among man. So that is the reality of who Jesus is. God dwelling among man. But his name is Yahshua which signifies the purpose of his coming to save the world from sin. Pastor Chuck Smith will return with a few closing comments. But first I'd like to remind you that today's message is available in its unedited form on cassette or CD. Simply write or call and ask for ordering details on tape or CD number C-3245. Again that's tape or CD number C-3245. Well it's that time of year again. It may seem innocent but the symbols of Halloween like black cats, jack-o-lanterns and trick-or-treat all have roots in sorcery and Satanism. We would never knowingly get involved with anything related to Satan. But many Christians don't understand what's really behind the pagan holiday. The Word for today would like to offer you a presentation hosted by Pastor Chuck Smith called Halloween Trick-or-Treat that traces the pagan origins and history of Halloween. This powerful movie uncovers the mystic rites and ceremonies of Satan and will forever change your opinion of Halloween. Every year as the end of October approaches we are faced with the dilemma of family and friends pressuring us to participate in the celebration of this pagan holiday. This documentary will definitely challenge you to decide whether or not you'll continue to participate in this tradition. If you'd like more information on Halloween Trick-or-Treat then simply write or call and ask one of our operators for the ordering details. Again, it's called Halloween Trick-or-Treat. And right now if you place an order The Word for Today would like to bless you with Pastor Chuck Smith's pamphlet How Can a Man Be Born Again? Absolutely free. Instead of just giving candy this year the pamphlet is the perfect tool for Christians to share the gospel with loved ones and friends. Available in both English and Spanish. Again, it's free when you call right now. To order Halloween Trick-or-Treat for yourself or for a friend you can call The Word for Today at 1-800-272-WORD or write to us at P.O. Box 8000 Costa Mesa, CA 92628 Once again, that number to call is 1-800-272-9673 And for those of you that would like to visit our website you can do so at www.twft.com Or if you would like to email us you can do so at info at twft.com Well coming up next time on The Word for Today Pastor Chuck will be continuing his fascinating study through the book of Isaiah That's coming up next time on The Word for Today And now with a few closing comments Here's Pastor Chuck Father we thank you for your word But we thank you for your promises that you've made For those who will live godly lives And so Father help us We can definitely see there are two categories here Those that followed And those who closed their ears to the truth Did their own abominable practices Defying your word Lord we want to be those that obey your word And follow after truth Lead us Lord into your truth Guide us by your spirit Lord our hearts long And we pray thy kingdom come And thy will be done In this earth Lord Even as it is in heaven Lord let me love you Face to face