For unto us a child is born, a son is given, a son is given.
The Messiah. Pour to see him, to see him
high, and lift it up, shining in the light of your glory.
Pour out your power and love as we sing.
Holy, holy, holy, Pour unto us, a child is born, a son is given,
a son is given. Four or two.
As a child is born, a son is given, a son is given.
The Messiah All to see him, to see Him high and lifted up,
shining in the light of the glory.
Pour out your power and love as we sing holy, holy, holy.
You are high and lifted up, shining in the light of the
glory. Pour out your power and love as
we sing holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy holy.
You are holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy.
For unto us a child is born. You are holy holy, holy four and
two. As a child is born, holy, holy,
holy Four and two as a child is born, you are holy, holy, holy,
Four and two. As a child is born, you are
holy, holy, holy. Amen.
He is holy. This comes from Luke. 2IN those
days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the
world should be registered. This was the first registration
when Quinarius, the governor of Syria and all, went to be
registered, each to his own town.
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of
Nazareth, to Judea, Judea, to the city of David, which was
called Bethlehem, because he was at the house and lineage of
David to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was
with child. And while they were there, the
time came for her to give birth, and she gave birth to her first
born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him
in a Manger, because there was no place for them in the end.
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field,
keeping watch over their flock by night.
And an Angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory
of the Lord shone around them. And they were filled with great
fear. And the Angel said to them, fear
not. For behold, I bring you good
news of great joy that will be for all of the people.
For unto you a son is born this day in the city of David, a
Savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you.
You will find the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying
in a Manger. And suddenly there was with the
Angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and
saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace
among those with him. He is pleased.
When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherd
said to one another, Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this
thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.
And they went with haste, and found Mary and Joseph and the
baby lying in a Manger, And when they saw it, they made known the
saying that had been told them concerning this child, And all
who heard it wondered at what the shepherd's told them.
But Mary treasured up these things, pondering them in her
heart, and the shepherd's returned, glorifying and
praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been
told, them praise God for Christ.
We're going to continue to sing to the Lord and God.
I ask that as we sing to you, that you continue to make
yourself known. We give you praise and glory
this morning Christ's name. Oh come, oh ye faithful, joyful
and triumphant. Oh come he oh, come to bed life
come and behold him born a king of angels.
Oh come, let us sado, oh come let us sado oh come let us sado,
he writes the Lord sync wires of angels singing exaltation,
singing all these citizens of heaven.
Glory to God, glory in the highest.
Oh come, let us sador. Oh come let us sador.
Oh come, let us sador him, Christ the Lord.
Yeah, Lord, we greet thee on this happy morning, Jesus.
To thee, Lord again Word of the Father, now in flesh appear.
Oh come, let us adorn. Oh come, let us adorn.
Oh come, let us adorn him, Christ the Lord.
Oh come, let us settle him. Oh come, let us oh to him, oh
come, let us settle him. Christ the Lord,
shore to the world. The Lord is gone.
Let earth receive her key. Let every heart repay him.
Room and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing.
And heaven and heaven and nature.
So to the world the Lord has come
their songs in the world, while fields and floods, rock, seals
and flames. Repeat the sounding joy.
Repeat, Repeat the sounding
'cause we sing to you, Jesus, the King of Creation.
We give you our praises. Oh join to the world, 'cause we
sing to you, Jesus the King of Creation.
We give you our praises. Oh join to the world.
He rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations
prove the glories of His righteousness and wonders of His
love and wonders of His love and wonders.
Wonders of His love. And wanders, wanders all is love
and wanders, wanders all is love.
Because we sing to you, Jesus, the King of Creation wants to
give you our raises. Oh, joy to the world.
Joy to we Sing to you, Jesus, the King of Creation, the King
of our raises world join to the world.
Join to the world. Join to the.
World. Amen.
Let's give him praise this morning where he is good.
I'm going to pray one last time for us.
God, we thank you and we give you praise.
Thank you for allowing us to sing out joyfully, triumphantly
to you today. We love you and we ask that as
your word is preached to us this morning, that that that your
scripture is revealed to us. And that is more so than ever,
that we can focus on you today and you alone.
You get the glory and the honor and the Praise Christ Jesus
name. Amen.
It's so good to see. You.
Well? Good morning to you.
Merry Christmas. It's good to see you.
You're visiting today. My name is Kyle.
I serve as lead pastor here. I want to welcome you to New
Life Community Church. As you're finding your seat.
I just want to commend everyone who worked so hard last night
for our EVE service. What a tremendous night it was.
Amen. Can we give the Lord a hand?
Clap of praise for all the hard work.
I thoroughly enjoyed hearing from our choir, who worked so
hard over the last few weeks at the direction of Wesley and
Allen and Patricia and so everyone who participated in
that, let's give them a round of applause.
We thank you so much. That was that was a lot of fun.
And hopefully we can do similar things moving forward.
Amen. Would that be OK with you guys?
We do some of those kinds of things more often.
All right, So three of them are in.
That's all it takes. OK, That's all it takes.
That'll give us a good start to require.
Anyway, if you have your Bible, would you open to Isaiah Chapter
9? Isaiah Chapter 9 today is the
last sermon in our series with an Advent.
Light has dawned through the series.
We've heard about the light of hope.
We heard from Mr. Meadows about the light of peace.
We heard from Mister Jack about the light of joy.
Last night we heard about the light of love.
And today we will hear about the light of Christ, hoping to kind
of bring all these things together in the person in work.
The gift of Christ, Isaiah was a prophet to Judah.
Judah is the Southern Kingdom after the split which happened
around 9:30 BC And so Isaiah contains prophecies about many
of the different aspects of Christ coming.
How will we know who the Messiah is?
Isaiah is seeking to let the people of Judah who are
struggling, as we saw last night and we'll see again today, They
are in darkness. But he's seeking to let them
know. God is seeking through his man
Isaiah, to let his people know that hope belongs to them.
That light is on the way and it will be in it will come to them
in a person. This person will be the Messiah,
the long-awaited Messiah. Emmanuel, God with us.
And so there's prophecies in Isaiah concerning the last days.
There's prophecy concerning Emmanuel, God with us.
We see prophecies about the branch in the root of Jesse
which would also be all of these, sorry, are pretending to
who the Messiah was. We talked.
We see in Isaiah the Savior waited for we see that He is the
foundation stone. We see that the way of the Lord
is prepared for Him and what his ministry will look like.
We see, and Isaiah 53, the man of sorrows, that suffering
servant who will go to the cross to redeem his people from their
sins. We see the Redeemer to come.
In a word, we see the Messiah. This is the beauty of the book
of Isaiah. Lord Willing, I'll preach
through it one day. But today we are looking at the
Savior. Waited for The Savior waited for
because you and I exist in between advents, we have the
first Advent, which is Christ coming as a child, born in a
Manger, born to save his people from their sins, as we've heard
many times over the last few weeks.
And we await yet another Advent. We await the coming of a king.
Amen. We await the coming of the Lord
of Lords, the King of Kings, the one who will establish the new
heavens and new earth. He will reign in righteousness
and justice forevermore. We will be His people.
He will call us His people, and He will be our God.
Amen. We see you though in this text
today, the beginning of such a rain.
How will that thing begin to take shape?
So if you would, I ask that you stand to your feet as we read
the word of the Lord this morning, when I'm finished
reading, I'll say this is the word of the Lord, and you can
respond. Thanks be to God.
I'm going to start in chapter 8, verse 22, just above verse one.
There, in Chapter 9, and we'll read through verse 7 today, and
they will look to the earth. But behold the stress and
darkness, the gloom of anguish, and they will be thrust into
thick darkness. For 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. First to hear the people who
walked in darkness have seen a great light.
Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness.
On them has light shown. You have multiplied the nation,
you have increased its joy. They prophesied 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 the rod for of his oppressor.
You have broken, as on the day of Midian, for every boots of
the tramping warrior in battle to mold, and every garment
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. This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you
for your word. We thank you, Lord, for the the
prophecy we hold here in our hand.
Words which you gave to your man Isaiah to speak to your people.
Words that are meant to be a hope and a joy, an anchor for
their souls as they traverse deep darkness.
Lord and in Christ we have seen that light has indeed dawned.
We praise you for Christ Jesus. We praise You, Lord, that we
read these words as those who exist on the the backside of of
the fulfillment of this prophecy.
As Christ has been born and peace has come, it's come to all
with whom you were pleased. And so, Father, we pray now that
as we open the scriptures, that you would open our hearts and
our minds to receive your word. By the power of your Spirit,
would you transform us? Help us to be men and women and
boys and girls who think biblically, who trust you
deeply, who understand that no matter what darkness may come,
there is a steady anchor for us and your promises.
We love you, Lord, and it is our joy to proclaim the excellencies
of Christ Jesus this morning. Amen.
You may be seated. So I I teased this out just a
little last night, somewhat unintentionally.
But what you have in verse 22 is it's it's really a diagnostic
verse of what's taking place here in the Southern Kingdom.
They look to the earth. Behold, there's distress and
darkness, gloom of anguish. They're thrust into thick
darkness. It's obvious that the people are
dwelling in darkness, right? I mean, it's plain to see
They're separated from God, They're in captivity.
There's likely anger with the Lord because of their state.
There's frustrations with the people who have been sinning who
have caused this. There's a faithful remnant who
likely is tempted to look at the others and say this is your
doing. And yet the though the darkness
has come, we see in nine, one through 7, that God gives Isaiah
a word to proclaim to his people for their hope, for their joy,
that there is the birth of the Messiah coming, a savior will be
born. And so the thing that I'm going
to try to teach today from this text really is just this in a
sentence. That God fulfills his promise to
destroy the darkness through the birth of Jesus Christ.
That this is a promise not only for those who dwelled in deep
darkness here in Isaiah 9, but it's those.
It's a promise for us as well, that Christ has come.
And so therefore, through the light of Christ, darkness has
been dispelled. It's being put away more and
more, and we'll see that as we go, and they will look to the
earth, but behold the stress and darkness, the gloom of anguish,
and they will be thrust into thick darkness.
There will be no gloom for her who was in anguish.
In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebia
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 nation. So there is gloom.
And then in verse one, it's a. Nevertheless, there will be no
gloom. Do you see that it's there?
I mean, if you're present in the moment, you would say, But
that's just blatantly false. There is gloom here.
There is thick darkness. We've been thrust into it by
you, Lord, your hand has caused this.
It's just and it's right. But we don't like it.
And yet, nevertheless. But there is no gloom for her
who was in anguish. God is speaking through Isaiah.
He's announcing an end to the gloom.
He's announcing an end to the darkness.
At one time, God would deal with his people's rebellion in wrath
through their destruction in the Promised Land of Driven Out.
They're in captivity. They're having a really tough go
of it for the last hundreds of years, but a time is coming
where he will rescue them in His grace and it will come through
Galilee and it will affect the nations or the Gentiles, those
previously thought to be outside of God's people.
Really, when you read those verses, there's kind of, there's
there's two things that we should observe.
One is there's a an immediate call to unbelievers here.
There's an immediate appeal to the unbelieving that anyone who
sits in their sins, anyone who is unrepentant, anyone who sets
themselves as Lord of their life, anyone who is in a
sentence without faith in Christ, that that person sits in
grave darkness, their soul is in danger.
And so what's the call? Well, the call is that when the
gospel is proclaimed, when there's the nevertheless, when
there's the But her who was in anguish, she'll be in anguish no
more. When that comes, when that's
proclaimed to someone and they receive it, and they receive it
by repentance of their sins and by faith in Christ, then what we
see is a great light shines on them.
It's the light of Christ. It's the lot of love, it's the
lot of peace. It's a lot of joy.
It's a lot of hope. It shines on the unbelieving as
they are given the gift of repentance and faith in Christ.
Once in deep darkness, now they know anguish no more.
Praise God. They gladly welcome the light
then, and it grows in them, and they begin to shine brighter
with each new day. Not because they're amazing and
they're awesome and they have pretty smiles or any of the
sort, but because the Holy Spirit has resurrect them to new
life, and now he works the life of Christ into them.
And as they stare, and so we see in 2nd Corinthians 3 and 4th,
they stare and behold the glories of Christ Jesus.
They're transformed from 1° of glory into another.
They're gone on and on from now until their final breath into
the same image of Jesus Christ. The Spirit bears witness that
they are God's people. Amen.
We praise God for this. This light shines through the
regenerate person. It's the evidence of a
transformed life. It's one that this life is one
that's been removed from darkness.
It's been brought into marvelous light.
The second. Peter.
Sorry. First.
Peter. Two.
Nonsense. It's a sweet light.
It's a beautiful light. It's one that carries the
brightness of eternal life. Once in anguish, now full of the
Lord's joy, once walking in death, now walking in life.
That's the call that we see here to unbelievers.
But there's a call to believers here as well.
There's an an encouragement, I should say, to believers here,
just in this opening two sentences or these opening 2
verses. There's a there's that call to
unbelievers, but there's this encouragement for believers that
in the darkest of moments, remember there's a remnant
present. And when they hear this, there's
going to be hope. It's like Adam and Eve after
they sinned. And in Genesis 315, God
pronounces a curse to the serpent, and he says, I'm going
to put enmity between you, Satan and the woman, between you and
her offspring, and he will bruise your head and you will
bruise his heel. He's going to crush you, though
you might harm him. And Adam and Eve walked out of
the garden facing the just punishment for their sins.
But they walked out in hope, and they begin to tell the stories
to Seth and to Cain and Abel I assume as well.
But Seth believes, and from the lineage of Seth we get Christ,
the offspring of the woman, the suffering servant, the promised
Messiah, the light that would dispel darkness.
And so, in the darkest of times, God's people always have in
Christ, and nevertheless you have a but because you have
hope. And it's AI can look and I can
see that what's happening in front of me is a tragedy.
It's a terrible situation. It's something that no one would
ever sign up for. Nevertheless, Christ is on its
throne. Nevertheless, God is sovereign
and in complete control of all things.
Nevertheless, my heart may fail, but my hope will stand.
Man. In my mind, I'm driven crazy by
all that happens around me, by the pain, the anguish and the
things that we experience. And yet, in my mind, I'm rock
solid because I know that God's word is true.
It's the only thing that gets you through tragedy.
It's the only thing that gets you through difficulties, to
trust that the Lord, that the light of Christ will shine in
that darkness. And so there's always a
nevertheless that you can comfort yourself with.
There's a a promise of sustaining light, which is to be
a balm for your distressed soul in your troubled hearts.
In those moments, Christ helps his people.
The Spirit comforts. Why are you troubled?
Christ says to his disciples before he goes away from them.
I'm going to send to you one who is better.
It's better that I go so that the Comforter can come.
You have not been left alone. You have been given the
Comforter, the Holy Spirit of God, to dwell in you.
You're not without hope. You're not without comfort.
No matter what, no matter what troubles you may face, though
you may be persecuted, you were never forsaken.
Listen to the words of Paul in Second Corinthians 489.
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed.
We are perplexed, but we are not driven to despair.
We are persecuted, but we are not forsaken.
We are struck down, but we are not destroyed.
That's courage. That's great courage.
That's great biblical strength and courage.
But you know what fuels courage? Hope, Peace.
Joy, right. Love.
All these things fuel courage in a word.
What we're saying is Christ in you fuels your courage.
Christ in you gives you the ability to keep pressing
forward. Christ in you is your great hope
no matter what. Again in 2nd Corinthians 6.
Let me just tell you this. If you're struggling at all in
life to wonder if there is a reason to remain hopeful or
wondering if God can truly comfort you or any of the sort,
read the book of Second Corinthians.
It starts out with a bang as you read in Second Corinthians one,
verse three, that we have the God of all comfort.
That means that every comfort belongs to God.
Whether an unbeliever feels some sense of comfort in a friendship
or what what have you, it doesn't matter whether you're
believing or unbelieving. Any comfort that comes to
mankind comes from God. But believers have at the ready
the greatest comfort available because you have the Spirit of
God, the comforter in you. All comfort belongs to God and
it says that he comforts us in every affliction so that we
might be able to comfort others in their afflictions with the
same comfort which we have received.
I'm going to sidetrack pastorally for just a second
because there's something you need to know about what those
verses are saying. You live in a world that is full
of darkness, and in a world full of darkness, what people want
you to believe is that you have to have the same experience as
them to be able to comfort them. You have to say, have the same
experience as them to be able to speak to their situation.
This is a lie from Satan, and Christians should not live with
that mentality. In other words, you do not have
to lose a child to be able to comfort Patricia and I.
You do not have to lose your job to comfort a friend who has lost
their job. Why?
Because you are to comfort with the same experience you have
received. Is that what the text said?
No. You are to comfort others with
the same comfort you have received.
And so in any way that you've been comforted by the Lord
through your afflictions, you offer that comfort to others.
Amen. This is how the body of Christ
works. This is how we comfort one
another in every affliction. Whether we've experienced it or
not does not matter. I'm not saying there's not some
wisdom that may come with that, some wisdom of traversing the
valley, of the shadow of death that others may not have.
I understand that. But what I'm saying is you carry
the same comfort. Comfort to others.
Comfort. Amen.
All right, back on track here, 2nd Corinthians 610.
We are, as always, sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.
And so when life seems to be at its darkest, it's a comfort to
us to remember that he who forms the light and creates the
darkness has appointed to both of them their boundaries.
And he alone can shine a great light upon his people.
They're walking in great darkness because of God's
judgment on them. And yet God says your darkness
will not last. I'm going to bring you light.
He alone. He alone can shine the light on
his people. Amen.
Look at verses two and three. The people who walked in
darkness have seen everybody said.
That's past tense. You didn't say it.
Past tense, all right. The people who walked in
darkness have seen a great light.
Those who dwelt in the 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.
The reason I wanted you to. Notice the past tense is because
the tone changes here. Isaiah now speaks as.
Though this has already happened, but it hasn't.
They're in darkness, but he's speaking, God is speaking, and
Isaiah is proclaiming. You have multiplied the nation.
You have increased its joy. They rejoice before you as as
with joy at the harvest, even though there's no harvest yet,
as they are glad when they divide the spoil, even though
there's no spoil to be divided yet.
Isaiah now speaks as though this.
Has already happened. And that is because when God
makes an announcement about something, you can depend upon
it. You can trust him because God
makes a guarantee and we. Know that part of the character.
Of God is that he cannot lie, and he guarantees his oaths by
none other than himself. Because what greater thing could
you guarantee an oath by nothing?
He is the greatest. He is the highest.
He's the only one who will not fail us.
Amen. And so when God makes.
An announcement. We should depend on it.
We should see that thing as though it's already happened.
A great light has shown on those in deep darkness.
This is why we say to you often around here that we live.
Yes, in between these what we call to this morning, these two
advents, but you live in between the coming of Christ and the
second coming of Christ. But you can bet your bottom
dollar that that second coming is coming.
It's going to happen. And there will be a new heavens
and a new earth, and there will be people from every tribe,
tongue, and nation of multitude, too many to number, who will not
be afflicted by sin or pain or death or tears any longer.
But we will go on and on and on into all eternity, singing the
praises of God and learning something new about his grandeur
for the rest of eternity. It's going to happen, and So
what do you hope for? Now well you hope in this Christ
is building His Kingdom. His rule will never end.
He's extending his Kingdom to the ends of the earth as the
gospel goes forward through faithful men and women and their
sons and daughters as they proclaim the word of God in all
the nations and people believe, and they get new life from it.
And they too will join with us and a heavenly multitude once
again singing and praising the name of God forever.
And there will be no end to this.
I'm just looking at your faces to make sure you're convinced
it's your hope. It's it's the greatest light you
have in the worst darknesses that may come to you.
Is to. Know that this.
Will not be this way forever. You have to trust.
I don't even know where I stopped at.
The people who walked in darkness have seen this light.
Oh yeah, here I am. I want you to remember what the
Apostle John wrote concerning the birth of Jesus Christ.
Now this is some 700 years after this prophecy.
All right. So if you doubt whether or.
Not the scriptures are real. The scriptures always attest to
themselves. Amen.
The prophecies of the Old Testament are fulfilled in
Christ. One of the easiest ways to see
that you can find them all throughout the New Testament.
One of the easiest books to read where you can where Matthew's
just blatantly saying this was to fulfill the scripture written
in and he quotes it. All right, but even a good Bible
with cross. References will show you how
these things are being fulfilled.
But some 700 years later? The Apostle John writes the
light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome
it. Now that light he's talking
about, there is the Word becoming flesh and dwelling
among us. The Word who was with God, and
the Word who is God, The second member of the Trinity, Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, became flesh and dwelt among us.
And he is the light. That shines in the darkness, and
the darkness shall not overcome. It.
How do we know? Well, because the nation is.
Being multiplied, you see here that he, he, he says, You, you,
God, have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy.
But this is crazy, because in 822 there's anguish, There's
deep. Darkness, but he's.
Saying you have increased the nation, the nation has actually
just been decreased. It's been split in two.
There's. Only a remnant and.
And they're hard to find. But the prophet Isaiah is saying
from the word of the Lord, no, no, no, no, no.
You have increased the nation. You have been increased.
It's joy. You've multiplied the nation.
No longer does it contain a small remnant of Jews that now
includes people from all nations and tongues and tribes.
In Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile.
There's neither slave nor free, right.
These are the things we begin to see fill out for us in the New
Testament when it describes the new nation, which we would say
is the Church. In Christ there is neither.
Jew nor Gentile, and so we are all one family.
Isaiah saying this is a message of great victory.
You've increased you've. Multiplied the nation, you've
increased its joy. This is victory.
And it's a victory that brings. Great joy.
The Gospel of Christ. Spreads throughout all the
earth. Now again think about it.
When Christ arrives on the scene, the very first message
that he preaches is repent. For the Kingdom of heaven is at
hand, the Kingdom of heaven is at hand and.
And the very last. Message that we see him preach
is to His disciples where He says to them.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations first.
He says All authority in heaven and on the earth has been given
to me as He's risen from the dead.
He's been restored to his pre Incarnate state where He rules
over everything. Everything belongs to Him.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.
Well, what's the end of the age? It's when Christ returns.
And when Christ returns we'll be with him.
But even now, he says I am with you.
Even to the end of the age. He's carrying out what the
building of his Kingdom, the Kingdom of heaven, is at hand in
the Kingdom is extending. The gates of hell will not
prevail against. When we say gates of hell, we're
not talking about an offensive weapon, are we?
When you establish gates, that's not an offensive weapon, right?
The gates are pretty stationary, walls are stationary.
And So what are you saying? We're defending ourselves, but
we will plunder hell, brothers and sisters.
As we proclaim the gospel. Of Jesus Christ, there will be
people who were previously captive, just as you and I were,
who we brought out of darkness and into the marvelous light of
Christ Jesus. They too will be a holy people,
a royal priesthood. He'll be part of the city on A.
Hill that Christ talks about in Matthew 5.
They'll become salt of the earth and light of the world, just as
you and I are. He's advancing, his Kingdom
advances. In Acts 18 we see a very similar
message here, but you Jesus again talking to his disciples,
telling him to go back to Jerusalem, they want to know
when are you going to establish your Kingdom.
And he says listen, listen. It's not for you to know.
Here's what I want you to know. You will receive power when the
Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the
earth. And guess where they started.
And guess where they went. To Judea and Samaria and to the
ends of the earth. And we're still going to the
ends of the earth. Amen.
Axe Chapter 29 is still being written.
But it's advancing. The word.
Of the Lord goes forth. And people are called out of
darkness into light. And So what was prophesied long
ago in Isaiah 9 has been commanded by Christ here in
Matthew 28 and Acts 18. It's what he was preparing his
disciples for. And so after his resurrection,
we see the fruit of this begin to take place in the book of
Acts as those men go and proclaim the gospel of Jesus
Christ and people respond to it. And so 2000 years later, plus
you and I sit here as fruit of this, this promise in Isaiah to
a people who were dwelling in great darkness, Is that not
incredible? The Lord does not forsake His
people. The Spirit of God is at.
Work for his word. It's at work for the people
going forward. It's setting captors free.
It's saving people from their sins.
It's making them brand new again.
I've said it enough, but I'll say it again.
Light is dispelling the darkness, just as God has said
that it would. I don't.
Care what the news says. I've told you before that the
news feed in heaven looks drastically different than the
news feed here on Earth. It doesn't look the same.
You're reading the wrong news feed if you walk around worried
all the time. If you walk around stressed out,
you're reading the wrong news. If you're afraid, trust in the
Lord, look at verses four and five for the yoke of his burden
and staff, for his shoulder. I'll spend very minimal time on
these two verses because I've said a lot about them already.
It's just kind of proving the point for the yoke of his burden
and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor.
You have broken, as on the day of Midian for every boot of the
tramping warrior in battle to mold, and every garment rolled
in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.
What's he saying? Your enemies will receive
destruction. That's why you and I have to be
very. Careful about.
How we fight battles. Because of the Lord has said to
us, vengeance is mine. Vengeance is mine.
Doesn't mean. There's no fighting to be.
Done doesn't mean there's no preaching.
There's absolutely preaching to be done.
There's sharing to be done. There's spreading the gospel and
love with Christ all over the world.
To be done, absolutely, we need to make disciples.
But we should be careful about not taking vengeance into our
own hand. That belongs to the Lord.
And trust me, those who have done great evils, should they
not repent and believe that Christ is Lord, they will
receive a just. Punishment.
It's not something you glory in. Necessarily, other than Christ
gets the glory, it's not something we revel in.
What we see though, is that this isn't some simple deliverance
from oppressors. God announces the breaking of
the bondage of sin on mankind. Here, it's the removal of
darkness, it's the removal of bondage, and it's coming to the
people of the Lord God. Announces that peace.
Is coming. He's announcing an end to the
wars. He's announcing an end to the
evil in the world. And man, I.
I I have no idea. And so it's careful, you know,
we want to be careful with any sort of conjecture.
But I I I'm not quite sure what the people who were hearing this
for the first time would have reacted like.
But I imagine around verse 5 here, I'd have been a bit on the
edge of my seat, leaning in, wondering what in the world is
going to happen next. How?
How will he bring this about? Right.
The end of the oppressors, every boot of the tramping warrior and
battle to mold, and every garment of theirs will be rolled
in blood and will be burned as fuel for the fire.
Do you not see us, Lord? We're in anguish here, right?
I mean, I'd be on the edge of my see what's next?
Who's coming? What nation is going to save?
Us from this, what king is going to rise up?
But in verse 6. You get a baby.
For to us. A child is born.
What? No, no.
No, no, no. Go back to verse.
Five. You were saying something about
the war, Isaiah and all these things that we're going to come
to an end and and now and Isaiah, no, no, no.
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.
And I don't know, there's probably mixed reactions when
you hear that the summer were like.
Oh my goodness, who's it going to be?
What king are we waiting for? Who's going to arise?
But wait, wait, wait, said Everlasting Father, Mighty God,
a Prince of Peace. Wonderful counselor.
This is describing some. Wonderful man.
That we've never heard of. You see what I'm saying?
I mean, there would have been real question here, but what God
offers is not another human king who will destroy the Kingdom,
not another human king who will rule in selfishness who might.
You know, man, just reading the stories of the kings over and
over again this, this year? OK, this coming year, 2024, grab
a chronological Old Testament Bible reading in a year and read
it. It's like 2 chapters a day, but
your heart will be devastated when you get to the Kings and
Chronicles. And as you just begin to read
story after story. And every now and then there's a
blip on the radar of a man who loves the Lord, and then those
who rise up after him really stink it up.
And so the promise is. There's a new king coming.
There's a divine gift coming. I am going to give you.
I am going to give you a true king.
And so God looking into. The darkness of the sin scarred
world, he essentially says this here is my son.
Here is my son, the marvelous. Light of the Savior to save you
out of great darkness to deliver you from your sins, and by His
life you will know what I am like.
By His death you will know true life.
He will save His people from their sins, and He will grant to
them eternal life as just a mass gift of grace, of no doing of
their own Son of God born to save sinners.
One man called him the invincible figure striding
across the world stage. Isaiah is prophesying.
About the coming of Christ, but he's speaking as though it
already happened. And Isaiah, 53, he's.
Going to become the lamb who is slain, but here he's the child
who's born. This is the light of Christ.
Most prophecies in the Old Testament are about judgment and
rescue. You're going to get a lot of
judgment. You're going to see a whole lot
of righteous judgments, and you're going to get blips of
rescue, blips of redemption, blips of the work that God is
going to do on their behalf in spite of their total awful
behavior. And you and I have received the
same. Thing in.
Spite of totally. Awful behavior.
We've received grace in Christ Jesus.
He's going to rescue his people from.
The Darkness. It's not just a baby being born.
He also tells us what this baby will be like, what he'll
accomplish, and he does so in giving him four names.
One is he's going to be the wonderful counselor.
He's wonderful because he's. Both God and man He's counselor
because he is intimately acquainted with the counsels of
God from eternity, and so therefore He gives wise counsel
to his people. No one teaches like Christ.
He's full of wisdom. He makes the wisest decisions.
He has wisdom beyond human capabilities.
We see here also that he is the. Mighty God, this is a title of
the Lord Himself, that he is God Almighty.
Yet in his birth we see his humble estate.
I said last night that the infinite.
Became an infant. Mighty God, yet a child.
Born to us, given to us as a ransom for sinners.
In John chapter one later there we see that he We saw that the
light shines in the darkness. But we see that that light is
none other than the glory of God revealed to us.
We see there that he is full of grace and truth.
And Hebrews one, verse three, we see that he is the exact imprint
of the nature of God. He is God with us.
Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man.
Christ being born to us as the foundation of all of our hope.
It is a fountain of great joy and times of great fear and
grief. He alone is mighty to save His
people. We see also that he's given the.
Title Everlasting Father doesn't mean.
That he is. That He is the Father, though he
and the Father are in perfect unity.
We would not say that the Son is the Father, nor would we say
that the Father is the Son. Rather, we would say they exist
in perfect harmony as everlasting Father, though he
gives eternal life to his people.
Dustin preached a few weeks ago that he's the first born of all
creation. He's certainly the first born.
Of all of us who will be newly created.
Amen. He is.
Our brother. And He gives life to us by His
death. We have been born again because
of the acts of Christ. He is also their benevolent
protector. He is like a father for all
eternity. In Hebrews 4 we see that we can
come boldly before the throne of grace and receive mercy and
grace in our time of need because we have a sympathetic
High Priest in heaven, Jesus Christ.
Who has been tempted in all? The ways that we are yet without
sin, and so we can come to Him. Just like you might come to.
A really great earthly father, even better is Christ.
This is the task of the ideal King is to be like a father.
We see also that he's the Prince of peace.
He is our peace. He brings peace.
He grants peace when the angels announce his coming.
They announce that peace on earth has come to all with whom
God is pleased. He is the ruler who will bring.
About peace because the nations, those in the nations will rely
on him for peace with God. He gives peace to all who call
on his names, on his name. Now these titles show that Jesus
will be the best kind of king because he will be a gift of
divine grace. No one in the Davidic line of
kings will even come close to what Christ is.
And then in verse seven we read of.
The increase of his government and the peace.
End 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.
And so Isaiah here focuses. On the messianic hope.
An heir of David who would? Extend His rule from Israel to
include all the gentile nations, bringing to them the blessing of
knowing the one true God. He would do what Israel could
never do, and this empire of grace will forever expand every
moment better than the last. God's mission to save His people
through His Son will not be stopped.
It will be. Accomplished with a passionate
intensity of which only God can accomplish.
In other words, though we live in a Pagan society, we live in
one that seeks to redefine marriage and gender by their own
terms, or by no terms for that matter.
One that seeks to murder human life in the womb, one that seeks
to ignore and reject altogether God's truths and wisdom.
And we could go on and on and on to talk about the darkness, but
what I want you to know is light and that we remain though all
that is taking place. We remain a people of good
cheer, Amen, and Advent reminds us that light has shown.
Light has dawned, and as you feast with your families, as you
look at Christmas lights, as you look at your trees in the living
room, and as you open presents, we do all of this, celebrating,
all of these festivities unto the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ, who has given us the ability to feast and to
celebrate and to enjoy the company of family and friends,
and especially of brothers and sisters who are like minded.
And so, raise your toast. With joy tonight sing carols.
With joy praise the name of the one who has come to rescue his
people from their sins. He is worthy the gospel, the
coming of Christ Jesus to die for the salvation of sinners.
That age-old faithful gospel message still saves.
Paul wrote that it is the power of God unto salvation.
It exalts Christ alone and he It exalts Christ who alone is able
to save to the uttermost all of those who draw near to the
Father through him. Hebrews 725 And by it sinners
are saved by the gospel. Redemption flows into the world.
By the gospel God has worshipped in all the earth, though kings
and kingdoms will fall, though kings and kingdoms will pass
from time to time to time to time, right from one era to the
next. The gospel will not pass away.
The gospel is invincible. The gates of hell will not
prevail against the gospel of Christ.
The light of Christ has shown. It's shown in the darkness and
the. Darkness has not, nor will it
ever overcome it. God fulfills his promise to
destroy the darkness through the birth of Jesus Christ.
In Matthew chapter 4, verses 12 through 17 we read this.
Now when he heard that John had been arrested, Jesus withdrew
into Galilee, and leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in
Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and
Naphtali. So that what was spoken by the.
Prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled the land of Zebulun
and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea beyond the Jordan
reality of the Gentiles. The people dwelling in darkness
have seen great light and for those dwelling in the region and
shadow of death on them light has dawned.
Praise God, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you
for your word, which goes forth like a double edged sword and
pierces. To the depths of.
Every man, woman and child. And.
We ask, Lord, that you would Pierce our hearts with such hope
and joy and peace and love that we have received in Christ.
Forgive us, Lord, if we have overlooked your son the season.
Forgive us if we have made. This about presence and lights
and performances and clothes and parties and whatever else.
Today, hearts are still before you, and we recognize that
Christ is Lord. And so we.
Repent of our sins, whatever they may be.
We trust that the Spirit will reveal to us our sinfulness, so
that we might repent and faithfulness and be drawn deeper
into relationship with your Son. Through your Spirit and Father.
We beg of you, fill us with joy. Fill our hearts with hope that
sustains in any tragedy, in any difficulty, no matter whatever
pain or heartache or hurt what have you we may experience in
this life. We trust you.
We ask that you would mature us in Christ, that you would grow
us up into the fullness and stature, that we would become
more mature men and women of God.
Lord, we thank you for your word.
Today that light has shone on the people dwelling in great
darkness. We recognize that we are such
people. And though we have not seen you.
We love you, though we do not now see you.
We trust you. Hope is in you.
Lord, I do pray for anyone who doesn't know you who.
Has not yet repented of their. Sins and placed their faith in
Christ. Would you save them by your
marvelous grace today? Would you help them to see?
Christ anew afresh. Maybe it's an old story for.
Them, but it's not yet captivated, their heart and
their mind. Would you awaken them by your
spirit to be captivated to see and to savor Jesus?
To profess him as. Lord.
And to live in such a way that it becomes obvious that he's
Lord. Would you help them to come into
your light? I'm going to give you a moment
to keep your head. Bowed.
You can spend a few moments in prayer.
Here. I ask that you would confess any
sin. Repent of your sins.
There's anything that was preached today that you struggle
to believe. I encourage you to pray.
As the Father who had a sick child in the Gospels, Lord, I
believe, help my unbelief. He will.
He longs to help you. Take a moment.
God, I want to close this. Time in prayer now and just
thank you. For your people's.
Pursuit of Christ. I pray, Lord, that those who
are. Seeking now will find him.
I pray that those who are knocking them, the door will be
answered. I pray that those who are asking
in your name that those things will be given to them, would you
feel them? It's all that they need in
Christ. Strengthen.
Father, we love you. We thank.
You that you care. So deeply for us that you have
given us your Son Jesus. We celebrate that today.
Amen. Amen.
And invite you to stand as we prepare to receive the Lord's
Supper today. If you're new here, we.
Practice close communion, which means that so long as you were a
believer in Christ Jesus who's been baptized, we invite you to
receive the Lord's Supper with us today.
However, if you have not professed faith in Christ,
whether you were a child or an adult, we ask that you would
refrain from receiving the Lord's Supper today.
The worship team is going to. Sing for us, and I invite you to
sing along with them now, as the ushers pass out the elements.
Let's do that. Into our hands.
God. With.
Us. Here in our world.
Bread. And wine, God be coming.
We. Receive your mercy, Lord, even
the hands that we're holding you in even the hours.
And behold, all that we have and we hold is your gift.
All that we're made of is yours. Give us the body and give us the
blood. Give us the heartbeat and
breath. Give.
Us love yourself nothing here, one by our hands.
All. Is grace.
Nothing we've earned. Here.
Like poor shepherds, we stand, we receive your mercy, Lord.
Even the. Songs that we're praising you
with, even the offerings we bring.
All that we make and we do is your gift.
All that we give to our key. You are the body and you are the
blood. You are the heartbeat and bread.
You are love itself. Let let your gifts loathe
through our hands. From.
Your heart into the world, reaching out to every land we
receive your mercy, Lord. Even the roads.
That we travel today, even the golden number.
Even the smoke. Rising up as we pray, these are
the gifts you confer. Live in our bodies and live in
our blood. Live in our heartbeat and bread
Jesus brings in US.