All right, let's take our Bibles and let's go back to the old part of the book, Isaiah, again, as we continue with the Immanuel theme from Isaiah 7, 8, and 9.
We're in chapter 8 this morning. And how enthralled I've been afresh with the wisdom, power, and perfection of God to give these words that meant specific things for ancient Judah, but how they're full and final fulfillment in the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And both are fully met in these texts of Scripture.
You remember the context. Ahaz is king of Judah. Ahaz is something of a compromising king. He's leaning toward, bent toward, not trusting in the Lord. The Lord's way didn't seem to be as simple as that.
It would work. So he's kind of taking things in his own hands to protect himself because Israel's divided now. There's the northern kingdom, called Israel typically, and then the southern kingdom, supposed to be the godly remnant. That's Judah. That's where Ahaz is. He's king of the southern kingdom, Judah, the godly remnant, but he's not acting very godly. And the northern kingdom, Israel, has made an alliance with the Arameans, or the Syrians. Reason is the king up there. And so Reason, the king of the Arameans or Syrians, has joined forces with the northern king of Israel, and they're going to march down on tiny Judah and topple Judah, remove Ahaz, and put a puppet king in his place. And so here King Ahaz is pacing the floor, literally pacing around his country, literally wringing his hands, holding his head.
What am I going to do? And he comes up with a compromising plan to trust his wisdom and his way and his power instead of trusting God's wisdom and God's way and God's power. After all, God's ways are not our ways.
Have you figured this out yet? About the time you're sure the way the Lord would do something, he showed you in the Bible. He didn't always do it that way. Just in the illustration I used a little few moments ago with this poor woman who'd been so healed and forgiven and cleansed by Jesus, and she anoints his feet with that very, very costly perfume, about a year's wages.
That's not the norm, perhaps. That's not to be the pattern, but in that case, that was the right thing. Judas Iscariot rebuked certain things that could have been given to the poor. Jesus affirms her and says, she's preparing for my burial. About the time you think, this is the way Jesus would approach this, he doesn't do it that way. And now that's the way Ahaz is.
Ahaz says, I need the sign from God that there's a mighty, strong force that's going to protect me from these two kingdoms that are coming down to devour us. And God says, I'll tell you what I'll give you. A baby. That's your sign. A baby.
A child. Whoa, that's not what we expected, God. You're almighty. You can speak the Word and destroy everything that is. God said, well, my ways are not your ways. My wisdom's not like your wisdom.
My thoughts are not like your thoughts. So the saga continues, chapter eight, we'll read verses one through ten. Isaiah the prophet is writing, and he says, Then the Lord said to me, Take for yourselves a large tablet and write in ordinary letters. In other words, this is going to be a big placard Isaiah's going to carry through the land.
And here's what he writes on there. Swift is the plunder, speedy is the prey. What's the point? This big placard is saying, Those enemies you dread, King Ahaz of Judah, I'm going to swiftly plunder them and make them my prey. They're not going to bother you.
They're not going to touch you, if you'll trust in me. Verse two, And I will take to myself faithful witnesses for testimony. Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jebrechiah. So two honored men of the nation are called to also bear witness that this is what God is saying.
I will not let those two kingdoms to the north come upon you and destroy you. Verse three, Here we come with this child motif again. So I approached the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. Then the Lord said to me, Name him, may her shall I'll hashbaz. Now some scholars say it should be, my her shall I'll hashbaz.
But up there in southern middle Tennessee, where I come from, you can say, may her shall I'll hashbaz. And then verse four, For before that boy knows how to cry, my father or my mother, the wealth of Damascus, that's Syria, and the spoil of Samaria, that's where the northern kingdom settled, that's northern Israel, will be carried away before the king of Assyria. There's going to be a baby boy born, Isaiah, name him, my her shall I'll hashbaz, which means swiftly God's going to plunder and swiftly God's going to make those two kingdoms that are coming upon you to be destroyed. Verse five, And the Lord spoke to me further saying, Inasmuch as these people have rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloh, and rejoice in reason, the son of Remaliah, or rather, and the son of Remaliah, that is, they rejoice in reason the Syrians, and in Remaliah peak are the northern kingdom, and the fact that they think their plan to defeat them is what brought them their safety and perfection or protection. Verse seven, Now therefore behold, the Lord is about to bring on them the strong and abundant waters of the Euphrates, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory, and it will rise up over all of its channels and go over all the banks. Uh-oh, but look at verse eight. Then, it won't just destroy northern Israel, it won't just destroy the Arameans or the Syrians and keep them from attacking you, Judah. Verse eight, Then it will sweep on into Judah.
It will overflow and pass through, it will reach even to the neck, and the spread of its wings will fill the breath of your land, O Immanuel. Be broken, O peoples, and be shattered. Give ear all remote places of the earth, gird yourselves, yet be shattered, gird yourselves, yet be shattered.
You could say plundered. Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted. State a proposal, but it will not stand. For God is with us. I've entitled this section, Immanuel, God is with him. Trust him when you fail.
Trust him when you fail. God is with us. God is with us. God is with us. God is with us.
Immanuel, God is with him. Trust him when you fail. Trust him when you fail. Now, are any of us not a failure before God? I mean, you can line yourself up beside a lot of people in a lot of situations and feel pretty good about your performance, but when you line yourself up beside the Triune Holy God, we're all failures. And God, in effect, calls out to all of us in the person of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and says, all of you failures, trust in me. I'm the God who forgives failure. I'm the God who heals the broken. I'm the God who saves those who miss the mark.
Well, let's unpack this together. Look at Roman numeral one in our outline, the failing servant. Matter of fact, the theme of the whole book of Isaiah could be the servant of God. In effect, God calls Abraham from Ur the Chaldees. They form a great nation, Israel, and God says, Israel, you're my servant in the earth to manifest my light and my truth to the world, to the nations.
But there was a problem. Israel failed. She failed as God's servant. And so the message of Isaiah ultimately is, okay, Israel, you failed, so I'll just raise up my own servant.
And that's Jesus. He's the true Israel of God, the true servant of God, the true representative of God in the world. So that's basically the theme of the whole book of Isaiah, so it kind of folds in here also. So here we see in chapter 8 verses 1 through 10 some aspects of what happens when we fail to trust the Lord. Remember the context, northern Israel and the Arameans are threatening tiny southern kingdom Judah and King Ahaz. God's prophet has told Ahaz these two kingdoms will not attack Judah.
God's going to destroy them first. And God's given you signs, Ahaz, to remind you that you can trust him. Remember over in the previous chapter, Isaiah has a boy named Shear-Jashep, which means a remnant shall return. Now in this chapter, Isaiah has another boy named Maher-shalal-hash-fast, which means swift to the plunder, speedy to the prey. So God sent you two baby boys to be assigned to you, Judah, that he will not let those guys, the northern kingdom and the Syrians, attack you and destroy you.
Trust in him. So Ahaz decides, you know what, I just can't look at those two baby boys and believe that God's somehow going to protect me. I tell you what I'm going to do, I'm going to be smarter than God.
I think I have wisdom God doesn't have. I'm going to go directly to the king of Assyria, Tiglath-Pileser. Don't ever trust a guy named Tiglath-Pileser. And me and Tiglath are going to sit down, we're going to have a cup of coffee. And I'm going to say, Tiglath, and here's literally what the Bible says, I'm your servant, blasphemy. He's to be the servant of God and God alone, not some pagan Syrian king. Tiglath, I'm your servant. I'll give you gold and treasures and blessings and honor you if you'll just destroy northern Israel and the Syrians and not let them attack me. And Tiglath says, okay, yeah, that's what I'll do.
I'll take you up on that. Don't you worry about those two little guys, they're nothing to me. And by the way, the Assyrian army of that day was the most fierce and feared army in the world.
They just crashed and trampled over everyone. So Ahaz is this failing servant who decides he's going to trust in an alliance with mighty Assyria to protect him from those other two kingdoms. When God said, no, don't make an alliance with Assyria, just trust me. I'm giving you a child as a son. This is my wisdom. This is my power.
This is my strength represented in these children. A, subpoint, unto the failing servant, Judah knew better. Ahaz, king of Judah, the people of Judah, knew better.
And by the way, so do we. Just as a side note, we have this one boy, Shear Jaship, a remnant shall return. We have this new boy in our chapter, my heart shall all hash fast, swift to the plunder, speedy to the prey. But in between that, in Isaiah 7 14, you have this mysterious child of intrigue that you can't quite put your finger on.
Who is he and where did he come from? A virgin shall be with child, he says in Isaiah 7 14. And she'll give birth to this child and his name will be Immanuel. Immanuel means God with us. Now, in one sense, those other two boys are Immanuel children.
In other words, they're signs that God is with Judah and God will keep her and protect her. But there's mystery and intrigue about this middle boy that he don't quite fit. The mayor shall all hash fast, doesn't fit to be the true Immanuel child and Shear Jaship of the previous chapter doesn't fit truly to be this Immanuel child of 7 14. So maybe you got three children, the one in the middle is the Immanuel name, child on the other side, Shear Jaship the other side, may her shall all hash fast.
So we're left kind of lingering with who's this middle boy called Immanuel? God is with us. Let me say three things about this child motif that we see here that's true of the two boys, Shear Jaship and may her shall all hash fast. Number one, it reminds us again God's wisdom and strength is not like ours. God's wisdom and strength is seen in a little child and that's not the way we would view it. Isaiah 55 8, for my thoughts are not your thoughts nor your ways my ways declares the Lord. 1 Corinthians 1 25, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. You look at these boys, you think that looks foolish. These mighty armies are attacking us, so we got a little boy to look at? That looks foolish.
That's not strong. No, because the way you figure it out that it ought to work is not usually God's way. So number one, God's wisdom and strength is not like ours and another reason I think we have this child motif is because the protection and victory is going to come through a child.
Very simply, come to a child. Isaiah 9 6 reminds us a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, but not only is God's wisdom and strength not like ours and the protection and victory is coming through a child. Thirdly, they are signs as I've said earlier of the Immanuel truth that God is indeed with them, and I'll say a lot more about this in a moment.
Here's the point. Israel didn't start this thing. God did. Israel didn't pick Jehovah. Jehovah picked Israel.
Israel did not initiate a relationship with the true God of heaven. God chose a relationship with Isaiah's descendants, the nation of Israel, and God made a solemn elect covenant with that people, and he will complete it. He will keep them. He will save them. He will protect them.
He will preserve them. So here we come to verse four of our text, and Isaiah's already approached the prophetess, speaking of his wife. She's given birth to this other baby, this Mahershala Hashmas boy, and notice the imminent nature of how quickly God's going to destroy the two enemies that were going to overthrow Judah. For before the boy knows how to cry out, my father or my mother, the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria. So what we need to understand is this threat is imminent, and all of your compromise, King Ahaz, and all of your disbelief, and all of your failing to trust in the Lord and His Son is not going to work out good for you, and it's your fault. Church, your sin is your fault.
Your lack of trust is your fault. Your lack of obedience is your fault, and so is mine. James 1, 13, and 14 tells us how we are like King Ahaz, and we are without excuse. Let no one say when he is tempted, I'm being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil. God's not responsible for my wrongdoing, in other words.
He himself does not tempt anyone, but each one is tempted when he is enticed, and he's carried away by his own lust. So Judah knew better. King Ahaz knew better, and God said, what Assyria is going to do is imminent.
Assyria is going to conquer those two enemies. I told you they would. I told you those two enemies would not conquer you, and I'm doing exactly like I promised. You should have trusted me.
You should have believed me. Now the sinful compromise is further exposed. When you look at verse six, we have these metaphors just oozing out of this text that are so powerful. Read verse six, chapter eight, and again the Lord spoke to me further saying, inasmuch as these people have rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloh. Now Shiloh was a central area in the promised land, and it was the area where in ancient days the 12 tribes of Israel would come into that area, and that's where they would meet with God. So get the metaphor there. He's talking about this Emmanuel motif. God's with us, and then he says, you don't want the gently flowing waters of Shiloh where you used to meet with me.
No, no, no. You're too enamored with the mighty Euphrates, the great river that runs through Assyria. You're impressed with the mighty Euphrates because it's raging and strong and powerful. When it floods, it devours everything around it. You think that's where your salvation is because when you look at me, all you see are the gentle little trickling unimpressive streams of Shiloh.
Is that where you are? You want to live your life your way, the way you think is best, the way the world thinks is wise, the way the world thinks is strong, the way the world defines success, and you look at the things of God and think, that don't impress me. I have a word for you, fool, foolish. I'm getting ahead of myself, but when that little baby was born that first Christmas morning, he was King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Didn't look like much. For the spiritual sermon, that was the wisdom and the power of God. So God, in effect, is saying through the prophet here, yeah, I know I look unimpressive to you, but there's a way which seems right to a man. Proverbs 16 25 says, a way which seems right, it looks right, but the end is the way of death. So you've made an alliance with mighty Assyria to defend you instead of trusting me, God is saying through the prophet. You're impressed with the mighty Euphrates, the great mighty river of the Assyrians, but understand something, when you put your trust in that raging river, it's got its way of turning back on you and devouring you too.
Anything we look to and trust in other than God turns on us, and it's our undoing. Jesus came in lowly, did he not? Seemingly, a helpless child born in Bethlehem, laid in a feet trough in a hewn-out enclave in the side of a hill. When he came into Jerusalem before his crucifixion, they were crying Hosanna, but he comes in, John 12 15, and says, John 12 15, seated on a donkey's colt, not a mighty stallion. So here we have their compromise exposed, their rejoicing in Assyria, not the gently flowing waters of Shiloh. And the phrase at the end of verse six, and rejoice in reason, the son of, and rather the son of Remaliah, reason again is the king of Syria, or Aram. They're rejoicing that the Assyrians have destroyed reason in Aram. They're rejoicing that the son of Remaliah, which is Pekah, the northern kingdom's king, they're rejoicing that Assyria has destroyed them, so they're complimenting themselves. They're rejoicing over their wisdom to trust Assyria, and Assyria has taken care of these two northern kingdoms that were threatening them.
So all of Judah is congratulating themselves and congratulating their wise king Ahaz, that he made an alliance with Assyria to protect Judah, and they're so proud of it. You know what church? When you first try to trust the Lord in an area, and I reflect on this as a pastor, when we first tried to start reforming this church to be more biblically sound, it didn't seem like it was going to work.
It looked like all the other approaches worked better. It looks like that, but you just got to stay with trusting the Lord, because as Psalm 73 reminds us, as the psalmist was reflecting back on how he trusted the Lord and didn't seem to prosper or do well for so long, but then he said ultimately things shook out, and trusting the Lord was the right way to go. Matter of fact, he says in Psalm 73 16 and 17, when I pondered to understand this, how did the wicked seem to be doing so well, and God's people don't do so well? I as God's child don't seem to be doing so well as those who are compromising and trusting the world. When I pondered this, it was troublesome in my sight until I came into the sanctuary of God, until I finally saw it the way God saw it, and then I perceived their end. They don't end up well, but the righteous end up wonderfully well. Well, King Ahaz and the southern kingdom of Judah are congratulating themselves. Their compromise is fully exposed here.
They're just so full of themselves and so proud that they were so smart to trust in Syria, but notice Roman number two. We've talked about the failing servant. Now let's talk about the faithful Savior. The faithful Savior, first of all, he's faithful to bring correction.
That's a in the outline. Notice the correction he brings on his elect remnant. Verse 70, if we will, now therefore behold, don't miss these next two words, behold the Lord is about to bring on them the strong and abundant waters of the Euphrates. Assyria is going to turn after Assyria conquers Judah's enemies. Assyria is going to turn and march south and then run over Judah, and it's the Lord who sent them.
Did you get that? Assyria is a tool in the Lord's hands to bring correction to his people. When Assyria comes, God brings her.
He uses the phrase there, metaphorically speaking, the strong abundant waters of the Euphrates, even the king of Assyria, because Assyria was like the Euphrates, strong and had devastating power. Ancient Assyria was like the Germans in World War II. They had such a devastating approach to attacking their enemies.
They would have that blitzkrieg of their fighters and their bombers, and then their massive armies would just swarm over the earth. They were intimidating to everyone, and that's the way Assyria was in this day. Everybody was fearful of them, but King Ahaz, when he made the alliance with the Assyrians, instead of trusting God, he let loose the torrent. Did he think Assyria was going to stop just when she came to the banks of Judah?
No. Once Ahaz let the water out of its banks, it would go as far as it possibly could. When we trust anyone other than our Lord, it becomes a cruel and conquering taskmaster. Sin never stops where you want it to. Ahaz had it in his mind, now we'll just compromise this far, and Assyria will just come so, they'll just conquer our two enemies. When I make this alliance and give them all these treasures and all these gifts, they'll just stop right there, and old Tiglath-Pileser is laughing his head off in his inner chamber. As soon as I get rid of your enemies, Judah, I'm gonna come get you.
I want to take it all. James 1 15 says, when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. In other words, when you compromise, when you don't trust the Lord, it never stops where you want it to stop.
Listen, it never stops where you want it to stop. What did the old evangelist used to say? Sin takes you further than you want to go, sin costs you more than you want to pay, and sin keeps you longer than you want to stay.
That's what Ahaz and Judah are about to find out when they put their trust in Assyria, because Assyria is not going to stop with just conquering their enemies, Assyria is coming on them too. Hebrews 12 29 reminds us, our God is a consuming fire. So you have this circular, if not reciprocal, thing going on here. When you sin, then it begets more sin, and that fuels more sin, and that fuels more sin.
It costs you more, it keeps you longer, it makes you pay more than you thought you were gonna have to pay. And then not only that, God's a consuming fire. God says, I'm getting in those circles. So God starts pursuing you with his consuming fire of chastening and correcting, and that's what we're talking about now. These are God's elect children, Judah, the southern remnant, the godly remnant, and God is correcting them. Because listen to me, God only corrects his own. He judges others, but he corrects his own. And so he's bringing this strong hint of correction. And then let's go to the second sub-point. Not only is he a faithful Savior to bring correction, but he's a faithful Savior to fulfill God's purposes.
And I couldn't decide in us or for us, so I put both of them, because both are true. I'm gonna have to walk on this little black part. I don't have the stability I used to have years ago. A.S., you blew it. Judah, you blew it. What proud fools to congratulate yourself on trusting a Syrian and trusting God. But God has an everlasting covenant with his elect children that, no matter what, I will fulfill my purposes in you and for you. He may have to take you to heaven early if you get too out of line, but he will fulfill his promise to his elect children to keep you forever, for time and eternity. This is one of those, y'all know brother Tom Clay came out of a kind of a Pentecostal background.
I sent him a video the other day. These guys were running up down the aisle swinging their coats and shouting and running. One of them ran and jumped in the baptistry. And I forgot, Tom texted me back and said something about, yeah, you know, something about, you know, there's just, if they had sound doctrine, it'd be better. I said, it's a sound doctrine that makes me want to do it. I don't know about you, but I'm a failing servant. I don't measure up, but God, our faithful Savior, will fulfill his purposes when he initiated the covenant relationship with me as his elect child. That's why I love him. That's why I want to serve him. That's why I want to do my best for him. Not because I'm afraid of what he might do to me, because I can't get over all that he's doing and going to do for me on his own initiative.
Completely unmerited favor. I'll never get through this if I don't go on. In verse eight, he's talking about the correction here. He says, then it will sweep on into Judah. It will overflow and pass through.
It will reach even to the neck. So the metaphor again of this mighty Assyrian army is marching south, coming toward King Ahaz and the remnant, the kingdom of Judah, and the flood waters are going to be of such massive force and height, Judah's going to be like this, and the water is going to go up and up and up and almost, and then it's going to stop. God said, I'm not going to completely destroy you because I made a covenant that you're mine. I'm correcting you, but I'm going to fulfill my purposes in you.
If you've believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, he is going to finish his purposes in your life, and nothing in hell or heaven or anywhere in between can possibly thwart our God in that purpose. I'm sorry. You're saved. It's over. You're his. You can't check out. You cannot stop what you did not start. You're his. The metaphors roll out continually, last part of verse eight, and the spread of its wings will fill the breath of your land, O Immanuel.
Why does he say it like that? First we have the metaphor, this great bird of prey, this great predatorial bird sweeping it. You've seen those videos? There's eagles that can pick up like goats and fly off with them. I didn't know that, and that's the picture here, massive bird of prey sweeping down over tiny Judah with his sharp talons and sinking them in, and the wings cover everything. There's just one problem when that mighty eagle of Assyria comes flocking down over God's chosen elect people. God's not rather going to let that bird fly away with the lamb. It's his land.
Do you know the text? It's your land, O Immanuel, and here's what God's saying. Oh, I'm just going to use Assyria for my purposes for my people. I'll not let the eagle completely get them.
They may think he's going to completely get them, but I'm not going to let that happen. Brothers and sisters, that's the Christmas message. When Jesus was born, he's saying, I've come for you. I've come to you. I've come to keep you. Nobody's going to devour you.
Nobody's going to possess you as such. We can trust God to be with us in any age and against any enemy, and even when I failed, I can turn back to God if I confess my sin. He's faithful and righteous to forgive us of all of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. What a goodness and what a grace we see coming out of this passage. So no matter what happens, he's going to fulfill his purpose for me and in me. Philippians 1 6, for I'm confident of this very thing.
He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Judah may be the pawn of the nations. Her sins may have plunged her into the midst of their plottings, but when all is said and done, all of these plots will come to nothing. Now if you will look at verses 9 and 10 and we're done.
Now things shift over. Now the prophet is writing as if God were speaking to Assyria or any who want to possess, destroy his elect children. So he says, Be broken, O peoples, and be shattered. Give ear all remote places of the earth, gird yourselves, yet be shattered, gird yourselves, yet be shattered. Now Colin Daylage were German scholars of the Hebrew and Aramaic and they have a good amplification of what this is actually saying.
Here's the way Colin Daylage put it. Exasperate yourselves, O nations, and then go to pieces. Give it your best shot. But I'm not going to let you destroy my peoples. What do you say? Exasperate yourself, O nations, and then go to pieces.
And all you nations who are all over the world, you watch and see how I protect my people and how I will not let those nations destroy them. Gird yourselves, but go to pieces. Girding is the idea. When men fought in that day, they gird up their loose garments so they could fight effectively. He said all the mighty Assyrians can gird up their garments and they're going to try to take my people, Judah, and watch me blast them to pieces. That's the German scholars' interpretation of the text.
This is good stuff. But Jeff, what's going to happen to us if these radicals and these liberals take over our country and want to lock us up? God's not going to let them prevail. God's church will be just fine.
Amen? God's church will be just fine. As a matter of fact, God says, just assemble everybody. Let them watch.
That's what he's saying here. Look at verse 10. Devise a plan, Assyria, enemies of God, nations who oppose the will of God and the work of God in the world. Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted.
State your proposal, but it will not stand. Last phrase, do you see it? God's with us. That's Immanuel.
That's what Immanuel means. God's with us. So in this context, this powerful favor and assurance points to one thing and only one thing that is God's sovereign elect choice to preserve Judah, which is a type of the church. As it parallels and applies to us today, Judah is his elect nation, and he will perform in them and for them all that he has ordained. Brothers and sisters, getting back to where you and I live, all of our enemies are God's enemies.
The anti-God, anti-Christ world kingdom will be wrecked on the land of Immanuel, and this is the great glory of Christmas. Jesus is born, gently flowing waters of shallow, just insignificant, yet through him, God's with us. God is with us.
Let our enemies rage. Our destiny is not in the hands of sinful men or Satan. Though sin may require God to bring corrections and disciplines into my life from time to time, these judgment corrections work out my salvation because God is with me through Jesus Christ. So brothers and sisters, Christmas is the powerful assurance that God has come to us and that God is with us. His divine favor is toward us.
That's what God was saying. God sent Jesus in this little incarnate baby package to say, I've chosen to specially favor you. Unmerited favor. You didn't earn it or deserve it.
You should be judged like the rest of the world. However, for my own glory and purposes, I've chosen to favor you, and I'm sending this precious baby that is God himself, because I favor you and I want to save you. When necessary, I will correct you, but I'll always protect you, and I'll keep you as mine for time and eternity. That's basically his message to Ahaz, the failing servant, and praise his name.
That is his message to us. Just one little word of exhortation. Don't focus so much on your failing. Focus more on the faithful Savior, and then you'll fail less.
Are you hearing me? Turn your eyes upon Jesus, but fall in his wonderful face. The things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and his grace. Well, that's the Christmas story. Emmanuel. God is with us.
