1 00:00:06,720 --> 00:00:10,360 This is ERC Sundays, the messages at Emmaus Rd. 2 00:00:10,360 --> 00:00:14,240 Church in DeWitt, Iowa. ERC is a Church of people 3 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:17,320 striving to grow in Jesus and make him known to others through 4 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:21,560 our faith, words and actions. Find out more about our church 5 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:30,600 at emmausrdonline.org. Here's this week's message. 1122 6 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:33,640 presents real men of Christmas. Real men. 7 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:40,280 Of Christmas. Today we salute you, Mr. Too 8 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:42,080 Many lights on your house, guy. Too Many lights. 9 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:46,120 On your house. Guy, For 11 months out of the 10 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:48,760 year, you're cool, calm and collected. 11 00:00:49,160 --> 00:00:52,560 But after Thanksgiving, you flip the switch. 12 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:53,680 It's your. Time to. 13 00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:57,560 Shine. Most men have one tub of lights. 14 00:00:57,800 --> 00:01:01,000 Not you. You took being the light of the 15 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:03,480 world literally. It was just. 16 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:09,840 You don't just hang lights, you go to war with darkness. 17 00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:15,960 Why worry about fiscal responsibility when Santa is 18 00:01:15,960 --> 00:01:20,480 counting on you? Is it over the top? 19 00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:22,920 Yes. Do your neighbors kind of hate 20 00:01:22,920 --> 00:01:24,200 you? Probably. 21 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:28,600 But we know under the lights, power cords and authentic 110 22 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:32,640 scale blow up reindeer set is a heart for making Christmas 23 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:34,200 magical for your family. Thank. 24 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:35,840 You. Thank you. 25 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:37,680 Thank you. The wise men might have brought 26 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:42,440 gold, frankincense, and myrrh, but you lit up the whole 27 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:51,000 neighborhood. There's the too many lights on 28 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:51,880 your house, guys. Yeah. 29 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:52,440 Amen. Amen. 30 00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:56,080 OK, here's the thing. I first of all, I want to thank 31 00:01:56,080 --> 00:01:59,640 our friends at the Church of 11/22, which is down in Florida. 32 00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:02,160 I want to thank them for that video because I saw that and I 33 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:04,840 was like, it's perfect. It's perfect for a number of 34 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:08,240 reasons, not the least of which is you probably know somebody 35 00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:13,520 like that or in a room with this many people, you there probably 36 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:16,120 is somebody who is that person. So Lord bless you. 37 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:17,760 Good for you. Way to light up your whole 38 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:20,600 neighborhood and make sure your neighbors can't sleep because 39 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:23,840 it's too bright. Well, here's the thing, I, I 40 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:27,040 love that video also because it's, it points us directly. 41 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:29,920 Well, kind of what we're going to be talking about tonight. 42 00:02:29,920 --> 00:02:31,200 We're going to be talking about light. 43 00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:34,440 We're going to be talking about the light of the world in Jesus 44 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:40,920 Christ and, and how only through him do we have any opportunity 45 00:02:40,920 --> 00:02:45,520 to overcome the darkness that so often hits US in our in, in our 46 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:48,360 own lives. And so, friends, I'm excited to 47 00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:51,040 bring you God's word tonight. Now, I am also going to give you 48 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:55,720 another gift, one in the same. It is the gift of brevity. 49 00:02:56,320 --> 00:03:00,200 I am not going to try and be particularly clever tonight or 50 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:03,000 speak very long because you know what? 51 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:06,040 It's dinner time, isn't it? Unless you guys have already had 52 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:07,720 all of the Christmas food. Is that a thing? 53 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:09,280 I have. I didn't. 54 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:10,880 I didn't even have any of the cookies yet. 55 00:03:11,040 --> 00:03:12,800 Were they good? Yeah. 56 00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:17,000 Good for you. That's awesome. 57 00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:19,840 All right, you can give me one after this service, huh? 58 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:23,560 All right. Well, so, yeah, I, I, I want to 59 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:26,920 be brief tonight. We're just going to, yeah, pick 60 00:03:26,920 --> 00:03:31,240 up on this very real theme that Jesus Christ is the light of the 61 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:32,840 world and, and what that means for us. 62 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:37,120 And so we're going to read Isaiah 9, verses 2 through 7, 63 00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:41,480 just six little short verses. And this is the word of the Lord 64 00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:45,080 to us. The people who walked in 65 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:49,880 darkness have seen a great light, those who dwelt in a land 66 00:03:49,880 --> 00:03:53,000 of deep darkness, On them has light shined. 67 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:57,480 You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy. 68 00:03:57,800 --> 00:04:02,400 They rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are 69 00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:06,600 glad when they divide the spoil for the yoke of his burden and 70 00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:09,920 the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his persecutor. 71 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:13,080 You have broken as on the day of Midian. 72 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:18,120 Every boot of the trampling warrior in battle tumult, and 73 00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:21,440 every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the 74 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:25,840 fire. For on to us the child is born, 75 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:31,960 to us son is given, and the government shall be upon his 76 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:34,920 shoulders, and his name shall be called. 77 00:04:35,360 --> 00:04:40,680 Wonderful Counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of 78 00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:43,560 Peace. Of the increase of his 79 00:04:43,560 --> 00:04:47,560 government and his peace. There will be no end on the 80 00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:52,440 throne of David and over his Kingdom to establish it and to 81 00:04:52,440 --> 00:04:56,120 uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time 82 00:04:56,120 --> 00:04:59,240 forth and forevermore. And the zeal of the Lord of 83 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:02,560 hosts will do this. Here ends the reading of God's 84 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:11,760 word in verse 2. We here we read that the people 85 00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:16,000 who walked in darkness and it also says those who dwelt in a 86 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:23,120 land of deep darkness three days ago was literally by light 87 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:27,400 standard the darkest day of the year for us living in eastern 88 00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:28,720 Iowa. Hear what you probably 89 00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:32,040 experienced if you paid any attention was there was a 90 00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:37,080 complete Max of about 8 hours of light and that includes sunrise, 91 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:41,640 sunset, but that means that 2/3 of the day it was just dark. 92 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:47,240 Now that literal darkness is a little bit different than what 93 00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:50,040 Isaiah is talking about here and what the Bible typically talks 94 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:51,600 about. Because typically in the Bible 95 00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:58,760 darkness is a is a metaphor for sin and evil and suffering and 96 00:05:58,760 --> 00:06:01,240 death. And in the case of Isaiah's 97 00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:05,280 writing, when he uses the phrase deep darkness, that actually 98 00:06:05,280 --> 00:06:10,360 literally means impenetrable gloom or a death shadow. 99 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:13,920 If you reverse those words, which it's the same compound 100 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:16,840 Hebrew word, what you'll find is in Psalm 23, that's what we 101 00:06:16,840 --> 00:06:18,560 hear. For though I walk through the 102 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:21,920 valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are 103 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:26,480 with me now. The original hearers of this 104 00:06:26,480 --> 00:06:30,760 text, when Isaiah is writing this, they're in deep, deep 105 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:32,360 darkness. Why? 106 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:36,640 They were exiles. They were by force, pulled out 107 00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:40,160 of their homes, pulled out of their country, brought to a 108 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:43,040 different place, their friends and family killed. 109 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:46,560 The only people left are the ones who are forced into a new 110 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:50,000 country, forced into a place where they don't know what's 111 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:51,560 going on. This is not home. 112 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:53,880 They have no idea. And you know what they're told? 113 00:06:53,880 --> 00:06:56,720 They're told, get used to it. You're never going home. 114 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:02,120 This is your life now. These people are in deep, deep 115 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:06,600 darkness, that which we can probably barely understand here 116 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:09,600 in the West. Now, all of those things that 117 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:13,280 happened to them, those were just outside forces that they 118 00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:17,200 had no control over. And that happens to us sometimes 119 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:20,320 too. Sometimes we, we call it seasons 120 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:23,440 of darkness and things happen in our lives and they happen to us 121 00:07:23,440 --> 00:07:27,200 and our loved ones, and we have literally no control over those 122 00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:29,880 things. Give you an example. 123 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:33,520 This is not super dark, but it's relevant in my world right now. 124 00:07:33,760 --> 00:07:37,520 Let's say you park your car in front of your house and you wake 125 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:39,040 up the next morning. That's not funny. 126 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:44,960 That's not funny. You wake up the next morning and 127 00:07:44,960 --> 00:07:47,760 you go out to your car and the just the front end is smashed. 128 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:52,080 No, no, nothing. There, There we are. 129 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:54,560 You now have a new financial problem. 130 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:57,280 Yay. Totally outside of you. 131 00:07:57,280 --> 00:07:59,920 Totally outside of your control. There's nothing you can do about 132 00:07:59,920 --> 00:08:01,360 it. There's there's nowhere to go 133 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:02,920 except for your wallet. Good luck. 134 00:08:04,320 --> 00:08:06,480 And that happens sometimes there's there's these things 135 00:08:06,480 --> 00:08:10,040 that happen outside of our control and sometimes that looks 136 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:13,920 like a relationship issue. You had no idea it was as bad as 137 00:08:13,920 --> 00:08:16,040 it was. You, you, in your heart of 138 00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:18,120 hearts, you don't know what happened. 139 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:21,040 It's outside of your control. The person has just walked away 140 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:23,080 from you. That can happen. 141 00:08:24,120 --> 00:08:27,200 And, and there's of course, the bigger geopolitical issues and, 142 00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:30,880 and all those things that as we look at them and we ponder them 143 00:08:30,920 --> 00:08:34,559 as we live through them, it can, it has the potential to pull us 144 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:37,400 into seasons of darkness. And in those seasons, what 145 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:43,080 typically happens is we lose peace, we lose joy, we lose 146 00:08:43,080 --> 00:08:46,040 assurance, we lose all these things that normally are part of 147 00:08:46,040 --> 00:08:48,840 our daily lives that keep us moving forward. 148 00:08:49,720 --> 00:08:56,520 But having said all that, I know, I know that there is a 149 00:08:56,520 --> 00:09:00,920 darkness that needs to be dealt with far more than the darkness 150 00:09:00,920 --> 00:09:04,280 that comes from the outside in. And that darkness is the one 151 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:08,360 that resides in US. It resides in us. 152 00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:11,880 Now, you might be thinking to yourself, I didn't come to 153 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:14,720 church on Christmas Eve to be told I'm a terrible person. 154 00:09:15,280 --> 00:09:19,680 Well, hello, welcome. But it's true. 155 00:09:20,200 --> 00:09:21,920 It's true. There is a darkness that resides 156 00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:25,520 in US called sin that is more powerful than we give it credit 157 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:29,240 for. I got to tell you, I fully 158 00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:33,160 believe that most people I ever meet, including myself, from 159 00:09:33,160 --> 00:09:37,760 time to time, we are capable of far worse than we would ever 160 00:09:37,760 --> 00:09:40,800 imagine. Now, for the best of us, you 161 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:43,320 know what happens that stays in our heads. 162 00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:47,560 We have terrible thoughts about people, awful things that we 163 00:09:47,560 --> 00:09:49,960 would never say out loud because then nobody would ever talk to 164 00:09:49,960 --> 00:09:53,440 us again. That kind of darkness and it's 165 00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:55,760 real and it's and it's right there in all of us. 166 00:09:57,000 --> 00:09:59,960 If you think about it, if you could do a thought experiment 167 00:09:59,960 --> 00:10:03,840 with me for a moment. If you could think of every 168 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:08,600 problem that you had in the year 2025, every single one of them. 169 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:13,480 I am willing to vet my bank account that 99% of them were 170 00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:18,280 not outside forces working in that those things were created. 171 00:10:18,280 --> 00:10:22,840 Those problems were created by either the sin that is in with 172 00:10:22,840 --> 00:10:26,520 it within each of us, or the sin that is in somebody else like 173 00:10:26,520 --> 00:10:31,480 you who perpetrated that on you. That's where that stuff comes 174 00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:33,680 from. It comes from greed and pride 175 00:10:33,680 --> 00:10:37,560 and lust and vanity. All of those things and, and so 176 00:10:37,560 --> 00:10:40,720 much more. They all come to us from a deep 177 00:10:40,720 --> 00:10:43,320 dark place in ourselves and other people. 178 00:10:44,040 --> 00:10:45,560 So let me give you a couple examples. 179 00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:49,760 Maybe, maybe, maybe you're having a hard time sleeping at 180 00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:52,080 night. I've had that. 181 00:10:52,920 --> 00:10:54,480 Why do you think I came up with that example? 182 00:10:56,040 --> 00:10:59,560 And in that, maybe it's because somebody said something to you 183 00:10:59,560 --> 00:11:02,320 or about you. And deep in your heart, you know 184 00:11:02,320 --> 00:11:07,720 it's true, but it hurts. It hurts because your pride, 185 00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:12,680 that sinful thing that says I'm not that bad, your pride says I 186 00:11:12,680 --> 00:11:14,520 can't believe they would say that about me. 187 00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:21,080 Well, is it true? Maybe, but that hurts us and 188 00:11:21,080 --> 00:11:25,120 then we lose sleep over or maybe we lose sleep because man, I, I 189 00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:27,040 should be somewhere else in my life. 190 00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:28,680 I was supposed to have a better career than this. 191 00:11:28,680 --> 00:11:30,160 I'm more talented than that person. 192 00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:33,400 I can't believe they got the job in front of me and all that 193 00:11:33,400 --> 00:11:36,960 pride wells up in US and it creates hate and anger. 194 00:11:38,200 --> 00:11:41,800 Or I mean, gosh, maybe you're dealing with self loathing. 195 00:11:43,680 --> 00:11:46,520 The self loathing that happens when we look at ourselves in the 196 00:11:46,520 --> 00:11:52,840 mirror and instead of seeing what God sees, instead of 197 00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:56,880 leaning into the fact that he knit us together in our mother's 198 00:11:56,880 --> 00:11:59,120 womb and he made us just the way he wanted to. 199 00:11:59,240 --> 00:12:02,120 You can't accept it. You look at yourself, you look 200 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:05,600 at your actions and you say I I'm not worthy of anything. 201 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:08,760 But how dare you? How dare you do that? 202 00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:12,160 Because quite frankly, God has designed you and created you 203 00:12:12,160 --> 00:12:16,800 just the way He wanted you to be for a purpose for a time. 204 00:12:17,760 --> 00:12:23,040 We don't get to tell him he's wrong, not without breaking his 205 00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:26,640 law. Now, I'll have to tell you that 206 00:12:26,840 --> 00:12:29,120 we can go on all night, although I don't want to. 207 00:12:29,680 --> 00:12:31,680 We can go on all night kind of pointing fingers and saying, 208 00:12:31,680 --> 00:12:34,160 well, this is terrible and this is my fault, and that's their 209 00:12:34,160 --> 00:12:36,080 fault. And yeah, we're all just kind of 210 00:12:36,080 --> 00:12:38,880 broken, messed up people. But I would rather spend the 211 00:12:38,880 --> 00:12:42,200 rest of our short time together figuring out how then do we get 212 00:12:42,200 --> 00:12:44,760 a fix? How do we fix this thing that is 213 00:12:44,760 --> 00:12:47,720 so broken and so dark with inside of us? 214 00:12:47,960 --> 00:12:51,920 What would that even look like? Well, Second Corinthians 46 says 215 00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:56,760 it this way. For God who said let light shine 216 00:12:56,760 --> 00:13:02,160 out of darkness has shown in our hearts to give the light of 217 00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:06,480 knowledge of glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 218 00:13:08,160 --> 00:13:11,840 Friends, I have to tell you that if we want to live our lives 219 00:13:12,080 --> 00:13:17,520 with joy and peace and, and, and in a sense of everything can be 220 00:13:17,520 --> 00:13:20,880 OK despite my circumstances. If we want to do that and we 221 00:13:20,880 --> 00:13:25,480 want to throw away that rod of oppression that bends down on us 222 00:13:25,480 --> 00:13:28,440 and it feels like it's going to break us that Isaiah talked 223 00:13:28,440 --> 00:13:32,040 about in verses 3 and 4 here. If we want to do that, what we 224 00:13:32,040 --> 00:13:36,720 need to do is we have to allow God's light to shine in the 225 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:41,760 darkest corners of ourselves. Do you know what I mean by that? 226 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:45,520 What I mean by that is we have to be real. 227 00:13:46,160 --> 00:13:48,680 We have to be honest. We have to be authentic. 228 00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:52,280 And I'm, and I'm not saying that you go on the street corners and 229 00:13:52,280 --> 00:13:55,160 you start shouting out every stupid thing you've ever thought 230 00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:58,120 done or said. But what I am saying is that we 231 00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:02,440 get real honest with God and we let Him shine his light into our 232 00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:06,280 hearts and our minds and our souls, exposing those things 233 00:14:06,440 --> 00:14:10,520 that we are so scared to tell anybody that we are, that we are 234 00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:12,400 ashamed of, that we are afraid of. 235 00:14:12,400 --> 00:14:15,440 Because if they knew that they would never talk to me again. 236 00:14:16,320 --> 00:14:20,400 Well, friends, you're not alone if you think that you are not 237 00:14:20,400 --> 00:14:23,840 alone. Every single person you meet is 238 00:14:23,840 --> 00:14:27,120 a Sinner saved by grace who needs the light of Jesus Christ. 239 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:30,560 Every single one. And so we have to be willing to 240 00:14:30,560 --> 00:14:35,760 start getting honest, owning our faults, repenting, exposing 241 00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:38,600 those things to the light and mercy of Jesus Christ. 242 00:14:38,600 --> 00:14:42,200 And then, and only then will we be free. 243 00:14:43,480 --> 00:14:49,560 Will we be free to live in joy and peace and exit that toxic 244 00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:54,040 pride within us that does so much damage to ourselves and to 245 00:14:54,040 --> 00:14:56,640 other people. And here's the thing about 246 00:14:56,640 --> 00:14:58,240 Christianity. It's beautiful. 247 00:15:00,160 --> 00:15:06,320 My pride is destroyed by the fact that God tells me someone 248 00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:09,160 had to die for me. That's how bad I am. 249 00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:11,760 It destroys, it does. It decimates my pride. 250 00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:14,320 But you know what else it does? It doesn't leave me there. 251 00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:17,400 It doesn't leave me squashed into the ground because that 252 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:21,600 same God who said I needed my son to die for you, that's where 253 00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:24,160 you are. That same God who knows all my 254 00:15:24,160 --> 00:15:27,120 faults, who knows the darkness of my heart, he also looks at 255 00:15:27,120 --> 00:15:29,440 his son and you know what? And he says, you're going to die 256 00:15:29,440 --> 00:15:35,240 for him because I love him. So while Christianity, while the 257 00:15:35,240 --> 00:15:39,200 lost, puts us down into the ground, it also pulls us right 258 00:15:39,200 --> 00:15:43,680 back up out of death and says, my son died for you. 259 00:15:43,680 --> 00:15:47,200 Don't waste it. Don't waste it, don't live in 260 00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:51,800 darkness when He has shown His glorious and merciful light all 261 00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:54,000 over your life and all over your total existence. 262 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:57,600 And you know what? When you start doing the hard 263 00:15:57,600 --> 00:16:02,400 work of that self examination of exposing those deep corners of 264 00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:05,840 darkness, exposing that to God's light and His mercy and His 265 00:16:05,840 --> 00:16:07,280 forgiveness, you know what happens? 266 00:16:09,320 --> 00:16:15,480 You become His child. You become a child of light. 267 00:16:16,640 --> 00:16:21,120 First Thessalonians 55 says it this way, for you are all 268 00:16:21,440 --> 00:16:24,440 children of light and children of the day. 269 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:27,920 We do not belong to the night or to darkness. 270 00:16:28,360 --> 00:16:31,320 Friends, if we want joy, if we want peace, if we want freedom, 271 00:16:31,320 --> 00:16:34,760 we need to seek Him first. But seeking Him does mean 272 00:16:34,920 --> 00:16:39,920 exposing those things that we are so ashamed of because when 273 00:16:39,920 --> 00:16:43,400 they're exposed to the light in the mercy of Jesus Christ, we 274 00:16:43,400 --> 00:16:45,040 can then move forward in freedom. 275 00:16:46,040 --> 00:16:51,560 That's how that works. Now, second and last point, last 276 00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:55,840 point, how did God choose to bring light into an otherwise 277 00:16:55,840 --> 00:16:58,760 Dark World? Well, I would prefer that you 278 00:16:58,760 --> 00:17:01,200 think about it this way. Let me put an illustration in 279 00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:03,880 your brain. Parents, listen closely. 280 00:17:04,520 --> 00:17:06,119 This should resonate a little bit. 281 00:17:07,319 --> 00:17:12,000 So you are in one side, 1 room upstairs, downstairs in the 282 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:14,599 house. You're lovely, beautiful, 283 00:17:14,599 --> 00:17:17,000 fantastic, perfect. Little children are somewhere 284 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:18,640 else in the house. And you know what they're doing? 285 00:17:18,960 --> 00:17:22,160 They're fighting, they're poking each other, they're annoying 286 00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:23,800 each other, they're taking each other's stuff. 287 00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:25,880 And what do you do? Your first response, you're 288 00:17:25,880 --> 00:17:29,640 like, dude, I'm in bed. I Nope. 289 00:17:29,880 --> 00:17:32,080 And So what do you do? You yell across the house, you 290 00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:33,800 yell down the stairs. You say knock it off. 291 00:17:34,560 --> 00:17:38,120 I have had it. Stop poking each other, stop 292 00:17:38,120 --> 00:17:40,120 stealing each other's stuff. Stop doing all this junk. 293 00:17:40,120 --> 00:17:42,200 Please. Just get along. 294 00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:47,760 And you yell, you use your voice and you know what happens? 295 00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:50,160 Nothing. They keep fighting. 296 00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:52,960 They they keep poking. And actually sometimes they do 297 00:17:52,960 --> 00:17:56,960 it more quietly, like they just keep at it. 298 00:17:57,440 --> 00:18:00,400 So you try to use your voice from a distance and it doesn't 299 00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:02,640 work. It doesn't work at all. 300 00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:06,400 And so eventually, once you just hit your limit, what do you do? 301 00:18:06,640 --> 00:18:09,680 You get off your chair, you get out of bed, you go downstairs, 302 00:18:09,680 --> 00:18:11,840 you walk across the hall and you're like, I swear, if you 303 00:18:11,840 --> 00:18:13,640 don't stop, I'm going to beat you both. 304 00:18:14,320 --> 00:18:15,440 I don't know, maybe that's just me. 305 00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:17,840 Maybe that's just me. Maybe that's just me. 306 00:18:17,840 --> 00:18:22,040 I'm sorry. You know, you'll have to ask my 307 00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:23,680 kids. You'll have to ask my kids. 308 00:18:24,120 --> 00:18:29,800 But here's the thing, in some ways God is not much different. 309 00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:36,440 Here's what I mean by that. God, before he sent his Son 310 00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:39,000 Jesus, he gave us the Old Testament. 311 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:41,920 He gave us his word. He gave us the law. 312 00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:44,200 This is how you live in order to flourish. 313 00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:48,640 He gave us his prophets who came and said thus says the Lord. 314 00:18:49,280 --> 00:18:51,280 He gave us all of that. And you know what we did? 315 00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:55,160 We kept poking and fighting. That's what we kept doing. 316 00:18:55,640 --> 00:19:00,320 So God in response, like every good parent, he got involved. 317 00:19:02,120 --> 00:19:05,840 He got off his throne in heaven and he came down and he got 318 00:19:05,840 --> 00:19:12,200 involved because that's the only solution that says this verse 6 319 00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:16,640 for on to us a child is born, a son is given. 320 00:19:17,680 --> 00:19:21,600 You see, God our Father, not content to let us stumble in the 321 00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:25,520 darkness and and stay in our sin and our shame, he gave us a 322 00:19:25,520 --> 00:19:30,120 great light. He gave us His Son and Jesus, 323 00:19:30,120 --> 00:19:33,720 fully knowing His role in what He was called to do in this 324 00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:37,040 world. This is what he says in John 325 00:19:37,040 --> 00:19:39,880 1246. I have come into the world as a 326 00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:44,600 light so that no one who believes in me should stay in 327 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:52,000 darkness. Every single one of us have this 328 00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:57,560 opportunity right in front of us to no longer kind of grope and 329 00:19:57,560 --> 00:20:00,640 feel our way through the darkness, lacking assurance, 330 00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:03,440 lacking certainty of what's going to happen to us. 331 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:05,200 But that's what we do often times. 332 00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:08,560 But God says, no, you don't have to live that way. 333 00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:11,760 You don't have to live in the darkness because my Son has come 334 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:16,720 to bring you light. And then Jesus Christ, born in 335 00:20:16,720 --> 00:20:22,080 obscurity, born in a Manger, he came to light our path all the 336 00:20:22,080 --> 00:20:27,200 way home, all the way home. In verse 7 it says this of the 337 00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:29,400 increase of his government and peace. 338 00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:33,880 There will be no end. So what Isaiah is telling us and 339 00:20:33,880 --> 00:20:37,760 what the rest of the Bible is telling us that Jesus Christ is 340 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:41,760 establishing a community. He is establishing a home for us 341 00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:46,000 that is full of peace and justice and righteousness and 342 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:51,960 light that never goes out. I want you to think about this, 343 00:20:52,840 --> 00:20:57,320 another thought experiment. Think about it this way, at your 344 00:20:57,320 --> 00:20:59,800 home or a home at Christmas time. 345 00:21:00,240 --> 00:21:03,680 If there is, if there are presents being handed out, 346 00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:06,720 Here's the thing, Before all those are being opened, you can 347 00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:09,800 see the floor. You can walk without tripping 348 00:21:09,800 --> 00:21:12,440 and falling over the place and banging your head on the end 349 00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:15,400 table. I haven't done that yet, but 350 00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:18,080 it's coming probably. So you can walk. 351 00:21:18,080 --> 00:21:21,800 You can see the whole floor. But then as people are giving 352 00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:24,360 and receiving gifts and they're tearing them open and they're 353 00:21:24,520 --> 00:21:27,360 there's paper and there's bows and there's ribbons everywhere. 354 00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:29,840 And you know what? I'll tell you what, if you ever 355 00:21:29,840 --> 00:21:32,680 get me a gift and it's wrapped, there will not be more than two 356 00:21:32,680 --> 00:21:35,880 or three inches of that wrapping paper in one piece because I I'm 357 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:37,800 just that guy, man. I'm going to RIP that thing. 358 00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:39,880 There's paper everywhere. And looks like the Tasmanian 359 00:21:39,880 --> 00:21:41,840 devil's going crazy. Yeah, that's me. 360 00:21:42,520 --> 00:21:45,280 Well, guess what? By the time maniacs like me are 361 00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:48,120 done opening presents, you can't see the floor anymore. 362 00:21:48,120 --> 00:21:56,120 It is completely covered. Well, the light that God brought 363 00:21:56,120 --> 00:21:58,360 into the world. It did. 364 00:21:58,360 --> 00:22:03,680 It started small, started vulnerable, started weak, 365 00:22:04,720 --> 00:22:09,760 started as a baby, started as baby in Bethlehem. 366 00:22:09,760 --> 00:22:15,240 Who's shining this small light, just this tiny little light in 367 00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:18,280 the night in Bethlehem, a town that nobody was terribly 368 00:22:18,280 --> 00:22:22,400 concerned with. But then this king in his light, 369 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:24,560 in his Kingdom grew exponentially. 370 00:22:24,760 --> 00:22:27,800 And as he grew and became a man, he lived. 371 00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:32,440 And then he died for our sins. He lived a life that we cannot 372 00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:35,120 live. He, he took on all of our 373 00:22:35,120 --> 00:22:38,520 darkness upon his own shoulders. How did he do that? 374 00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:41,480 How do we know that? Well, as he is being crucified 375 00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:45,880 in the middle of the day at noon, the whole world goes dark. 376 00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:48,960 The whole world goes dark. Why? 377 00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:52,680 Because that is God. Not just using a metaphor, but 378 00:22:52,680 --> 00:22:56,560 God straight up showing us that this darkness that is with 379 00:22:56,560 --> 00:22:59,880 inside us that needs to be lit up by his grace, it is all being 380 00:22:59,880 --> 00:23:03,320 compacted and pound down on Jesus Christ, his Son. 381 00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:10,800 That's what he did. He took it all, but then, but 382 00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:15,760 then he was put in a tomb that was meant for a dead person, and 383 00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:18,360 that tomb was awfully disappointed on the third day 384 00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:22,600 because it was empty. He rose to life because of the 385 00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:26,120 light that was within him. The darkness could not suppress 386 00:23:26,120 --> 00:23:27,920 it. It could not overcome the light 387 00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:31,720 of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. It could not do it, and it can't 388 00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:34,760 do it in you if if you believe in Jesus Christ, it cannot. 389 00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:38,280 Neither height nor depth, nor hell, nor heaven, nor anything 390 00:23:38,280 --> 00:23:41,200 in between can separate us from the love of God that is in Jesus 391 00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:43,080 Christ as we believe in Him. Amen. 392 00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:51,240 And here's the thing, He came once and he's coming again. 393 00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:57,240 He's coming again. He will be back and the promise 394 00:23:57,240 --> 00:24:00,760 of his rule and his reign and his ever expanding House of 395 00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:04,960 light and his government, it's, it's coming to all believers. 396 00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:07,240 It will return. And just like that wrapping 397 00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:10,600 paper on, on Christmas morning, on the covering the whole floor, 398 00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:14,400 his light and his government will cover the entire world and 399 00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:17,720 those who believe in him will be brought into their home. 400 00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:21,080 And that's just it. That's just it. 401 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:28,200 Jesus is the only way and the only light that can guide you 402 00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:31,600 home. He's a gift. 403 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:36,640 Do you believe that? Because if you believe that, all 404 00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:39,680 you have to do is receive it like a gift. 405 00:24:41,840 --> 00:24:45,720 That's it. I pray that you'd receive that 406 00:24:45,720 --> 00:24:50,800 gift tonight. If that hasn't been your life so 407 00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:52,800 far, I pray that you would take Him as your own. 408 00:24:54,120 --> 00:24:58,800 And if it has been man walk out of here and joy and peace and 409 00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:01,400 light because he's done everything necessary for you to 410 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:03,440 go home. Let's pray. 411 00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:10,160 Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the light that you 412 00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:11,840 brought into this world through your Son. 413 00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:20,080 Lord, I pray that as we consider Jesus Christ, that we wouldn't 414 00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:24,640 just look at him as a teacher or a really nice guy, but we would 415 00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:28,800 look at him as Lord and King, that we would light his, that we 416 00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:32,600 would let his light shine into the depths of our souls and set 417 00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:39,120 us free. So Father, work in light in 418 00:25:39,120 --> 00:25:42,600 every single person's heart who's sitting here tonight that 419 00:25:42,600 --> 00:25:45,680 you might light them up with the gospel and give them your 420 00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:48,440 freedom and your peace so that they can come home. 421 00:25:48,600 --> 00:25:51,520 Lord, we pray all these things in Jesus name, Amen. 422 00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:00,480 Thanks for listening to ERC Sundays. 423 00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:03,960 To support the work God is doing an Emmaus Rd. church, visit 424 00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:06,960 emmausrdonline.org/giving.