Advent | Week 4

For unto us a child is born, a son is given, a son is given.

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 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

Isaiah 9 · chapter mention

9? Isaiah Chapter 9 today is the

Isaiah 9 · chapter mention

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.

Matthew 4:12–17

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.