Christmas Unwrapped - Session 1: Hope | Pastor René Dekker

Welcome to ECB's Weekly Sermon Podcast. ECB is an international church in Bangkok, Thailand,

with dozens of nationalities worshipping together. We invite you to connect with us from wherever

you are through our website, ecb.asia, or our mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed

by this week's sermon. We're going to start a four-week sermon series called Christmas Unwrapped

today. In the next four Sundays we want to unwrap the themes of hope, peace, joy, and love,

looking at scripture, looking how Jesus came to fulfill all of these things. Are you ready for

that? We start today? Because today I want to kick off this series by looking with you, unwrapping

with you the promise of hope that Jesus has fulfilled. Hope is very important to your life.

Someone once said that you can live for 40 days without food, four days without water,

four minutes without oxygen, and only four seconds without hope. I don't think that these numbers

were taken to be precise or exact. Don't try this at home, especially not the oxygen one, please.

But the bottom line is this. We can't live without hope. When spouses lose hope, they give up on

their marriages. When leaders lose hope, they give up on their people. When teenagers lose hope,

they give up on their studies and sometimes even on their lives. Hope is important to us.

On a more positive note, Harvard University did some research on human flourishing,

and they found that people who have hope have better physical and emotional health,

a better social community, and a longer life. Sounds good, right? Same research done by Harvard

University shows that having hope leads to fewer chronic health problems, less depression, less

anxiety, and a lower risk of cancer. If that is what hope gets you, I want more of it. Don't you?

Hope is important to our lives. The thing is that we need to make sure that we base our hope

on the right things. Why? Because if we put our hope in things that are not able to carry those

hopes, you know we will have sad lives, disappointed lives, we will have a lot of frustration

in our lives because it turns out to be false hope, unreliable hope. The thing is there's a lot of

promising things in your and my life to put our hope in, right? There's people, there is careers,

there is lots of stuff that we can put our hope in, but how easy are those promises of hope broken?

We live in a world of broken promises, and whenever a promise is broken, our hope is shattered.

A child that promises his mom or her mom to clean up his room, her room, here is room, her room,

whatever, every week but never does it, let me tell you, it shatters the hope of a mom and her mom,

it shatters the hope of a mom and dad that they will ever find a tidy room, and I speak from

experience here. An employee that got promised a promotion by her boss but ends up not getting it

because the boss had found someone who is more qualified, leaves that employee deeply discouraged.

That friend that promised you that he would stay by your side no matter what and now ends up betraying

you, leaves you at a place of disillusionment. If you put your hope on things, in things,

that come with the risk of promises to be broken, you run the risk of losing hope and actually

ending up hopeless, you may have discovered that in your life. Actually broken promises and

hopelessness, it's not a new thing, it's not a new phenomenon. If you look at the story of the Bible,

you can see that it was actually relying on a false promise that brought hopelessness into the world.

Right after God was done creating beautiful things, everything that he created, he allowed for the

first two people, Adam and Eve, to live in an amazing place, it's called the Garden of Eden,

you name it what you want, it was there at the Garden of Eden, probably not PlayStation 4,

not yet, whatever you needed for a full and a rich life, it was there and God had said,

I want you to enjoy it, I want you to have a full and rich life, but it comes with a couple of

principles to live by and God had said, you can eat from any tree, any plant in the garden,

but don't eat from this one tree because if you eat from it, you will die. God had good things in

store for his people, but at a certain point the devil in the form of a snake entered the stage

and this happened, you won't die, the serpent replied to the woman, God knows that your eyes

will be opened as soon as you eat from it and you will be like God knowing both good and evil.

The woman was convinced, it sounded like a good promise, she saw that the tree was beautiful and

its fruit looked delicious and she wanted the wisdom it would give her, so she took some of

the fruit and ate it and then she gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate it too.

At that moment their eyes were opened and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness, so they

sewed thick leaves together to cover themselves. Although God had promised them a rich and generous

and joyful life, the two first human beings chose to take their fate in their own hands, they chose

to believe in a false promise by no one less than the devil. They bought the promise, thought there

was hope in it, but you saw how it ended, the consequences were devastating. Suddenly they

realized they were naked and they felt ashamed, never had they felt shame before. God didn't create

us with shame or for the sake of fame, never had they felt it before, so what did they do?

They covered themselves with the leaves they could find and a couple of verses later we we read that

they actually hid, they were hiding from God. Because of believing a false promise, sin entered

the world and ever since that moment people are blinded for the purposes of God, trying to figure

out life on their own terms and let me tell you that doesn't work out well, does it? It's a sobering

picture, it's a sobering story, it may be a story that you recognize your own story in, I don't know

all of your stories, but you may have placed your hope in a promise. You thought that validation,

you thought that power, you thought that career, you thought that that one relationship would bring

you fulfillment for your life, but hey people have let you down. Circumstances in your life have made

your life very inconvenient and that ideology, that religion that you put your faith and your all in

turns out to be a very shaky foundation and instead of finding hope fulfilled you find

yourself disillusioned, discouraged and you may even wonder is real hope even a thing?

Well God had some very hopeful things to say to the people of Israel and to us. Right after the fall

God began to make his own series of promises, promises of hope, promises that were anticipating

a solution that he himself would put in place for intimacy between him and us to be restored

and for us to live a life of fullness again. Promises that all pointed to Jesus as the hope

for our redemption. In the Old Testament, that's the first part of the Bible if you don't know it,

more than 500 times did the Old Testament speak about promises about Jesus exactly describing

where he would be born, the kind of life that he would live, the fact that he would die for us and

would be tortured for us and even the purpose for why he came. What was that purpose? To save us,

to save you and me from our state of hopelessness and today we will be looking at one of those

promises that we read in Isaiah chapter 9 but before doing that, before reading those words of

Isaiah 9 · chapter mention

Isaiah we need a little bit of context to understand these words, the depth and the

seriousness of these words. Isaiah had a tough crowd to preach to, let me tell you that. I believe

it's easier to be a pastor at ECB than to be a prophet in the days of Isaiah. He lived in

Jerusalem about 700 years before Jesus came and he had to preach to the people of Israel, Israel

and Judah. You want to know what that crowd was like that he was preaching to? No? Or yes?

The answer is yes, yes. This was his crowd. Oh what a sinful nation they are, loaded down with a

burden of guilt. They are evil people, corrupt children who have rejected the Lord. They have

despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him. That's the crowd that God had for

Isaiah. Thank you very much God. You're welcome Isaiah. The people of Israel were morally

and spiritually bankrupt. Although God had over and over revealed and showered his love on them

and over and over committed to them, promising them a life of blessing, a life of protection,

a life of peace, a life of provision. Despite all of that the people of Israel had turned their backs

on him. And later we read in the book of Isaiah that he describes it as the people were walking

in darkness. They decided they could do without God and figure out how to do life on their own.

Let me tell you that did not go well. There was social injustice everywhere, political unrest,

people were walking in fear, there was oppression. And what didn't help is that those people,

they kept looking for solutions in the wrong places. It was so obvious right to turn back

to God but they kept looking for solutions that they want to figure out themselves.

This is what they did. Let's ask the mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead.

With their whisperings and mutterings they will tell us what to do. Really? So you have God Almighty

who is your God and he likes you to be his people and you're going to consult the spirits of dead

people to tell you what to do? Really? Well that's the question that Isaiah has as well.

Shouldn't people ask God for guidance? Should the living see guidance from the dead?

Look to God's instructions and teachings. People who contradict his word are completely in the dark.

They will go from one place to another weary and hungry and because they're hungry they will

rage and curse their king and their God. They will look up to the heaven, they will look down at the

earth but wherever they look there will be what? Trouble, anguish and dark despair. It's not that

the people of Israel weren't desperate okay. They were desperate about their darkness and they were

desperately looking for a way out but instead of looking for the obvious solution turning back to

God they kept ignoring that and all they found was trouble, anguish and dark despair. Well

God had some very hopeful things, very hopeful things for the people of Israel back then

as well as for you and for me today. What we will hear the prophet Isaiah speak in a couple of

moments is as valid and true for them as it is for you and for me today. So would you open your ears

especially would you open your heart for what God will be speaking through the prophet Isaiah

Isaiah 9:1–7

chapter 9 verses 1 through 7. Nevertheless that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever.

The land of Zebulun and Naphtali will be humbled but there will be a time in the future when Galilee

of the Gentiles which lies along the road that runs between the Jordan and the sea will be filled

with glory. The people who walk in darkness will see a great light for those who live in a land of

deep darkness a light will shine. You will enlarge the nation of Israel and its people will rejoice

they will rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest and like warriors dividing the

plunder. For you will break the yoke of their slavery and lift the burden from their shoulders

you will break the oppressor's rod just as you did when you destroyed the army of Midian

the boots of the warrior and the uniforms blood stained by war will all be burned they will be

fueled for the fire. For a child is born to us a son is given to us the government will rest on his

shoulders and he will be called wonderful counselor mighty God everlasting father prince of peace

his government and its peace will never end he will rule over the world and he will rule over the

world he will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity

his government and its peace will never end he will rule with fairness and justice from the throne

of his ancestor David for all eternity the passionate commitment of the Lord of heaven's

armies will make this happen. What do you say of this? This is hope and I mean this is the real

deal kind of hope this is not the wishy washy stuff the real deal you know why? Because whenever God

says he will do something he will always do it always. Hoping God's promises is never ever wishful

thinking it's the assurance of things that will happen because he said it will happen and whether

those promises are still to be fulfilled or have already been fulfilled it's going to happen

because God has said so. In the words we just read in Isaiah 9 we find four promises of hope if you

will four things four amazing hopeful things that we find in Jesus and I want to unwrap these four

things with you before we're going to eat downstairs if you're okay with that. I know I'm in between

you and lunch that's always a hard place to be but still I'm going to do it so open your ears

four things four promises of hope here's the first promise that Isaiah shares a new beginning

against all odds that's what we find in Jesus. You need to know that the area of zebulon and

neftali that Isaiah speaks of in verse one was an area that was insignificant it had no meaning to

the nation of Israel there were just a few people and they had no contribution to the success of

Israel at all insignificant not only that this area zebulon and neftali was an area where enemy

armies coming from the north would first enter the country on their way to Samaria and Jerusalem

what would they do they would kill the men they would bring the women and the children with them

they would burn those villages completely to the ground they would steal everything leaving nothing

behind insignificant beaten up that's what the region of zebulon and neftali was known for

no hope why do why are we even alive what are we here for that's what the people must have thought

all of that changed when Jesus entered the stage do you know where Jesus began his ministry on earth

guess was the area of zebulon and neftali Matthew four speaks about that not only that Jesus lived

in the area of zebulon and neftali in the town called netherrath that sounds silly if God wanted

to do big things why not start in Jerusalem or or Rome for that matter no no no no the area of

zebulon and neftali people without hope people insignificant and beaten up were the first Jesus

minister to were the first Jesus gave gave hope to and ever since Jesus has continued to engage with

people the least likely of the people like you and me for example

it's possible that some of you here today feel like the people of zebulon and neftali

insignificant nobody sees you people have rejected you what am i even alive for

beaten up because life has been hard on you and you find yourself at a place of desperation

wondering i have no more hope i want to tell you that just like Jesus brought hope and glory

and brightness and a future and a new beginning to the people of zebulon and neftali he desires

to make a new beginning for you against all odds but he can he will if you put your hope

if you put your hope in him second corinthians 5 says this if anyone is in Christ the new creation

has come the old has gone the new is here i know that for many of you in this room this is the

testimony of your life amen if you know Jesus you know this is true if you don't know Jesus yet this

can be true for you the old is gone the new is here put your hope in Jesus here's the second

promise of hope that Isaiah tells us about Jesus is the light into our darkness the people who walk

in darkness as verse 2 will see a great light for those who live in a land of deep darkness

a light will shine what is this darkness that Isaiah is referring to well this this goes back

to Isaiah 8 it's the spiritual brokenness and the immorality of the people of Israel in those days

they were bankrupt they had turned their backs on God and therefore their minds and their hearts

were dark because they were disconnected from God they were dark and as a consequence all of

their relationships and society was dark as well and that's what it was distress and injustice and

abuse of power you know always when there is a disconnect vertically between God and people

inevitably it lead to a disconnect between people horizontally always this is why we live in a world

that is filled with greed and self-centeredness and abuse and power and all of that stuff it's

because there is a disconnect vertically between God and people which always transpires horizontally

if this is the status quo we were like we should be like the people back then filled with despair

with what was the anguish despair and there was something else darkness or so but with Jesus

that is not the scenario we're looking at you know what happens when Jesus enters the stage

darkness has to leave always that's the case when lights and darkness meet light always wins think

with me for a moment you're sitting inside it's 8 p.m. at night so it's dark outside someone knocks

on your door you open the door question will the darkness from outside make your living room dark

right away yes or no no what will happen the light from the inside will actually spill over to outside

and and and light the area in front of your front door that's what happens when light encounters

darkness darkness is simply the absence of light because whenever light appears darkness is gone

that's scientific reasoning but it's as much true when Jesus comes into your life darkness has to

leave John one says it like this in him that is Jesus was life and that life was the light of all

mankind the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it by the way will never

overcome it whether your darkness has to do with your sin your shame your anger your bitterness

your suffering or even with death Jesus has overcome it all light in the darkness he has

he has overcome hallelujah when you put your trust in him you no longer have to walk in darkness

because you have the light of life what a hope what a promise fulfilled in Jesus Isaiah continues

in Jesus we also find abundant joy Israel may have seen seemed irrelevant in those days just a

small country it was not a big country at all it still is not a big country but although it seemed

irrelevant God chose the nation of Israel to launch his kingdom here on earth he chose the nation of

Israel chose to enlarge it so that the message of the kingdom of God would go out and today we have

clear evidence that God kept his promise how well I think there are Christians now in all countries

of the world all continents and the latest count is 2.4 billion Christians everywhere in the world

why God has enlarged the nation look around you today this is a testimony I don't think we have a

lot of Jews in the room so we are a testimony that God enlarged the nation of Israel and that actually

the news about the kingdom of God and the invitation to enter came to us Gentiles sorry we're

Gentiles we're not Jews we're crafted in to the royal olive tree and when Jesus was born in

Bethlehem when Christmas came all of that was launched incredible joy was the result for the

people back then the people us and here Isaiah describes what kind of joy this really is it's a

kind of joy that the people back then felt when they had an abundant harvest hallelujah we can

eat and drink for one year again because their life depended on it the same kind of joy when God had

delivered them from one of their enemies thank you God we're alive you have saved us the kind of joy

that Isaiah speaks about here is is is a deep joy bubbling in your soul because of the abundance

and the victory that we have in Jesus and and don't misunderstand this kind of joy please

this is not the kind of joy that comes as a result of the good things that Jesus is giving us like

oh thank you Lord a day at the pool I love pool I love sunshine I love cocktails I feel joyful wow

but tomorrow it's gone because we have to go back to work again that's not the joy that Jesus

speaks about here the joy that Jesus gives no no the joy that Jesus is is not circumstantial

it doesn't depend on your circumstances it is consistent whether or not you are at the pool

or whether or not you're going through some really hard times in your life look at what Jesus says

about this joy in John 15 I have loved you even as the father has loved me remain in my love

I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy yes your joy will overflow

abundant joy irrespective of the changing circumstances in your or my life comes from

being one with Jesus many people who don't know God think that once you become a Christian your

life is over I mean all those restrictions and rules it's the complete opposite you see what Jesus

wants to give you he wants you to overflow with joy is that a boring life that's not a boring life

actually that's an essential for life I speak for all of us when I say that we long for joy yes or

no probably it's a yes where does it come from a day at the beach um oneness with Jesus oh yeah

joy will overflow a promise of hope for those who are in Jesus

lastly one more promise of hope that we find in Isaiah 9 freedom from oppression

that's what Jesus gives us did you know that God is a fighter did you know that the Bible calls him

a mighty warrior it's not that God endorses violence or loves war it's just that he is so

passionate about us about his people that he is willing to pick up a fight whenever that is needed

the thing with God is whatever battle he picks he always wins even when it seems unlikely that he

will can I say that again whatever God battle God picks he always wins even when it seems unlikely

that he will Isaiah speaks more about this he refers to the destruction of the army of Midian

if you don't know the story we find this in Judges chapter 7 Israel was again at war they were at war

Judges 7 · chapter mention

a lot of times this time it was against the Midianites and there was a point in time where

God called Gideon you may know him to be the leader of the army that would be fighting against the

army of Midian so Gideon smart as he was and probably strategic in his thinking he formed an

army of 32,000 soldiers you may remember that story in that number you know what God did he

brought that number 32,000 down to 300 can I tell you winning a battle against an army of 135,000

an army of 135,000 well-trained soldiers of the country of Midian with an army of just 300

is not so likely okay but whenever God fights a battle he always wins even when it seems unlikely

that he will so what happened Israel won with 300 people and God set the people of Israel free

from the oppression of the army of the Midianites this is the exact same promise of hope that we

find in Jesus freedom from oppression Jesus is a mighty warrior and he has already won the battle

you're fighting today and the other battle you will be fighting tomorrow he has already won

in Luke 4 we hear Jesus speak about himself in this way he says the spirit of the Lord is upon me

for he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor he has sent me to proclaim that captives

will be released that the blind will see that the oppressed will be set free and at the time of the

Lord's favor has come whatever your oppression looks like Jesus has what it takes to get you free

if your oppressor is called addiction Jesus can get you free

if your oppressor is called anger or rage Jesus can get you free when your oppressor is called

shame or guilt Jesus will get you free when your oppressor is called an unpleasant memory or

regrets about the past Jesus can set you free from that oppression when your oppressor is called the

devil himself because he is harassing or oppressing you Jesus will get you free that's who he is

the promise of hope that Isaiah speaks about that Isaiah 9 has been fulfilled in Jesus you can trust

him because he always wins so that's what Isaiah wants us to know promises of hope that we find

fulfilled in Jesus a new beginning against all odds lights in your darkness abundant joy

freedom from oppression it's available to anyone who puts his or her hope in Jesus

and as I said before this this is not just the wishy-washy kind of hope

this is rock-solid kind of hope this is reliable hope because it is grounded in the reality

of who Jesus is Williams Shakespeare in one of his plays Romeo and Juliet asked the question

what's in a name do you remember that question have you heard that question what Shakespeare meant

to say is actually there's not much worth in any name that anyone has I do appreciate Shakespeare

but I violently agree disagree with him on this matter what's in a name is not worth in any name

on this matter what's in a name everything is in a name especially when it involves the name of

Jesus you know who he is what his name is he is the wonderful counselor so he has wisdom that no

one else had so he is able therefore to guide us and advise us on any matter in life he's the

wonderful counselor he's also the mighty God who is able to do abundantly more than we can even

begin to think or imagine all things are possible with Jesus he's also the everlasting father the

one who will love you and accept you in ways that you will never be able to fully understand

and so much better than anyone else you will meet in your life will be able to do in your life

and Jesus is also the prince of peace who is able to give us stability and quietness in a crazy world

of chaos and restlessness that we do life in what's in a name everything is in the name of Jesus

of Jesus this is why our hope is so reliable hope in Jesus put your hope in him and God is deeply

committed God himself is deeply committed to see the hope of Jesus come true in your and in my life

God is passionately pursuing us because he loves us and he has so clearly expressed this by

allowing his son the son that Isaiah talked about spoke about his son Jesus to die on the cross you

know why he did that because he said I want you back I want us to have this intimate friendship

and relationship again I want you to enjoy the fullness of life again that I had for you from

the very beginning God has gone all out to do his part passionately pursuing us but but he does need

a response for us to be placing our hope in Jesus so this is what I'm going to close with

a question for you what is keeping you from putting your hope in Jesus you've heard me say

no no you've heard Isaiah say and he got it from God that Jesus has everything that you need to

find hope hope that will not disappoint he will never fill you he will never leave you he will

never discourage you what is keeping you from putting your hope in Jesus he's the one who came

to proclaim the kingdom of God the message of the kingdom of God he is also the one who invites us

into that kingdom of God so friends put your hope in Jesus friends trust him with your life

stop your lonely fight and and invite Jesus to become your fighter he has already won the

battle you're in and also the battle you will be in the rest of your life put your hope in Jesus

he won't fail he has never has and he never will all the while would you please consider one question

will I put my hope in Jesus

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