Shining Light Isaiah 59 RJ Shope

Yes, you have one of these flashlights.

So you know how obnoxiously bright this little thing is.

So I bought this flashlight for work because sometimes working in a car it's very hard

to see what you're looking at because it's dark and there's a lot of shaded areas especially

when you're underneath of a dashboard.

It's extremely hard to see.

So I brought this flashlight because it's small and it's easy to stick somewhere.

However, when I bought this flashlight I did not realize how obnoxious this thing was and

how bright this thing was.

So this little thing is very bright.

It's got a brighter setting too.

It's kind of hard to see because it's bright in this room but you can still see the light.

So when I use that flashlight at work and I'm underneath of a dash it literally lights

up the entire underneath of the dash.

It's cool but sometimes it's a little too much.

So the reason I wanted you guys to see this is because when you're in a dark spot you

have to have light to see.

We can't see in the dark.

We don't have night vision.

We're not like cats.

We don't have good sight at dark.

You can also use this as an example.

If you're driving down a country road with no street lights, trees on both sides and

you have no headlights, would you be able to see where you're driving?

No, probably not.

A couple years ago, more than a couple years ago, quite a few years of trip to Mohican

which is for those of you who don't know is in southern Ohio.

And once you get down into southern Ohio it gets very tree covered.

You get a lot of winding roads and we were in my little jeep which didn't have very

good headlights but it ended up getting very dark and extremely foggy to where we could

barely see the road we were driving down.

And if for some reason my lights would have went out for like five seconds I probably

would have crashed.

It was that dark.

You could not see anything.

It was crazy.

So it's amazing how much just even a little bit of light can help you see and how it will

fill an area.

Like I said, the example I had when I'm underneath of the dash of a car and I need light to see,

I use my flashlight.

I light up so I can see what I'm doing so I'm making sure I'm doing the right thing.

But we also have to understand that not only does light spread but darkness also spreads.

So if you take the light out of something the room will start filling with darkness.

We shut all the lights off.

We put blackout curtains up on all these windows and all those windows it will get very dark

in here.

So not only does light spread but dark spreads as well.

And this will come into play a little bit later.

So when I was reading through the text for today I got convicted of myself because I

realized that there's things that I'm not doing right which happens every time I preach.

But almost every time I read the Bible I realize that there's more to what the Bible says than

just literally what it says.

If you actually get the chance to study it and dig into it a little bit it can help you

even though it was written a long long time ago.

It's still so relevant to today's world and it's crazy how that works.

So we are going to be reading from Isaiah chapter 59.

Isaiah 59 · chapter mention

Thanks Ron.

Isaiah 59.

Yes!

Alright that worked.

So like I said when I was reading through this it's difficult.

It may hurt some feelings.

It may step on some toes.

But it'll be worth it in the end.

It really opened my eyes to a few different things and we'll get to it.

You know I'm going to enlist people to read.

Who wants to start reading?

Go ahead Ron you can read all the way up to four.

Actually you can read all the way up to eight.

Including eight.

Alright.

Surely in the arm of the Lord is not too short to say, nor is ear too dull to hear.

But your iniquities have separated you from your God.

Your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt, your lips was spoken falsely.

excuse me, your lips have spoken falsely and your tongue mutters wicked things. No one

calls for justice, no one cleans a case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments, they

utter lies. They conceive trouble and give birth to evil. They hatch the eggs of vipers

and spin a spider's web. Whoever eats their eggs will die and when one is broken an adder

is hatched. The cobwebs are useless for clothing, they cannot cover themselves with what they

make. Their deeds are evil deeds and acts of violence are in their hands. Their feet rushed

into sin, they are swift to shed innocent blood. They pursue evil schemes, acts of violence

mark their ways. A way of peace they do not know, there is no justice in their paths.

They have turned them into crooked roads. No one who walks along them will know peace.

Okay, so right away you can see how in these first couple of verses that it explains that

the problem is sin. So we have separation from God, that separation came all the way

back from the very beginning with Adam and Eve. When Eve decided to eat the fruit in

the garden, that sin brought the separation between us and God. And that has been the

problem ever since then. So we are now separated from God because of sin, because of the evil

things we do. We now cannot walk with God in His presence like we should be able to.

God wants us to be with Him, He wants us to walk with Him, He wants us to be there, but

because we have sin we cannot walk with God. We have a separation, that separation is always

going to be there. Also we need to understand that that separation from God spreads from

person to person. And unfortunately, this is where it gets a little, like it will hurt

your soul a little bit, unfortunately we are the reason that sin entered the world. It's

not racism, it's not drugs, it's not the LGBTQ, it's none of that. We are the reason that

sin came into the world. It is our sin that we now have that separation from God. You

can't blame politics or anything like that, it's us. It's our own human fleshly desires

that separate us from God. When I first read that it hurt because I was like, okay I know

there are plenty of things in my life that I do that are not good things that I've been

working on and working on and working on and I've gotten a lot better at it, but I know

there are still things in my life that I shouldn't do, but it's so hard to not do them because

it's what I'm used to. And this is the problem that we have as people, as flesh, where we

are weak compared to our own wants and desires. So, like I said, we have to understand that

we are the problem. That's part of the sermon title, we are the problem, we are the reason

that sin has entered the world. And later we'll figure out how we're supposed to fix

this, because it's up to us to fix it too. But first we have to realize, anyone know

how you realize there's a problem, first you have to realize, or how do you fix a problem,

you have to realize what the problem is. We are part of that problem, our sin is part

of the problem. Anyone else want to read? You want to try this? Okay. Read 9 to 11.

Yeah.

Alright, I'm going to pick up from there.

Okay.

This goes back to the flashlight and life

lighting up a room. We have to understand that sin affects everyone. You may tell one

lie and that may not affect you personally, but it's going to affect other people in

your life. If I tell my kids a lie, they want to believe it because they think, you know,

I should know, I should know what to do, I should know how to do things. And they'll

believe that that's truth. This is part of the problem with the world we're living in

now. There's so many lies that people are trying to force us to believe is truth when

it's not true. And we can see how that sin can spread and spread and get worse and get

worse. Part of the problem I think is we took God out of too much stuff. We have excluded

God in so many things now. One of the biggest things that I think should never have happened

is we excluded God from schools. No, I never heard anyone in my school all throughout my

high school, elementary, all of that. I never heard anyone say that, you know, Jesus is

real or any of that. I never heard any of that in schools. And you look back even just

a hundred years ago and that was a teaching in pretty much all schools that God is real.

And we have taken that away from people. We've taken that away from young kids. And it's

going to be the young ones that are going to have to rise up and be the ones to run

our nation at some point because everyone dies. So we have to train the young ones how

to do what's right. And how are we going to train them to do what's right when we're

not doing what's right? So if we are the ones that are doing the wrong things and we are

the ones that are causing the sin, how are we even going to think that we are going to

raise kids to do the right thing? Now I know personally, I know myself, I am not a perfect

father. I know I have my mistakes. I have got plenty of flaws. I know I have my mistakes.

I have got plenty of flaws and I know that and my kids know that and I have told them

that many times that I am not perfect. I make a lot of mistakes and they know this. So I

tell them all the time, I know I have told them that a lot, that don't try to do what

I do all the time. You do what God tells you to do. And the only way that you are going

to know that is by reading your Bible, by studying your Bible and listening to what

God says. So it is up to us to get this younger generation to understand that everyone makes

mistakes, everyone is not perfect, but with God we have that understanding that, like

Ron said, we have that understanding and that peace that doesn't make sense to us. Like

you can be extremely calm in intense situations or you can understand something that you shouldn't

be able to understand but you know what it is. So one of the things that I heard recently,

I think it was Jason that told me this, is in his school they are starting to teach that

there are more than two genders and it is wrong, but this is the stuff our schools are

trying to teach these kids now. And they are trying to say that a boy can go into a girls

bathroom and that is wrong, but our world is trying to get us to believe that these

are real and this is truth now. And it is up to us to tell people, no this is not right.

We should not be out supporting the fact that people want to kill innocent babies. We should

not be out trying to support the fact that a boy can somehow become a girl. This is not

stuff we should be sitting down and just letting happen. I have seen churches accept gay marriage

because that is what society wants them to do. And this is in a sermon about now that

I am just using it as an example that there is evil in the world that there are so many

people trying to force us to believe it is truth and it is not. If you want truth you

read the bible, you get it from Jesus. That is truth. Does anyone want to read? Alright

go ahead and read 16 to the end.

He said that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene. So his

own arm achieved salvation for him and his own righteousness sustained him. He put on

righteousness a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head. He put on garments

of the sun that were of the earth's glory. For you will come like a pent up flood, said

the prophet of the Lord and drives the water. The redeemer will come to Zion, to those in

Jacob who protected their sins, said the Lord. As for me, this is my covenant with that,

said the Lord. My spirit who is on you will not depart from you and my words that I have

put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children, on the lips

of your children, and on the lips of your children.

So does anyone know what that is telling us? Not a rhetorical question, anyone?

It's a prophecy of Jesus.

Exactly. It's one of the prophecies of becoming a Jesus. So it is telling us that there is

a savior that is going to save us from the sin and that person was Jesus Christ. So Jesus

Christ did come, He died on the cross to save us from our sins so we can no longer have

that separation from God. So that we can actually walk with God in the Holy Spirit and feel

that presence that we never had. But it took Jesus Christ to do that. Because it says that

God saw that there was no man, there was no one person that had the ability to save everyone.

And this is a couple thousand years ago. And if you look at today's world, that is exactly

how it is today. There is not one person on this earth today that can save every human

being. There is no one that is going to be able to stand out and step out like Jesus

did and live a sinless life even though there is so much evil around. There is not one person

today. In Romans 3.23 it says, For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

For all. That doesn't exclude anyone, it's all. That's why it's written, For all have

sinned. So there's three things. First off, we need to understand that we were part of

the problem. That it is our sin that we brought into this world that separates us from God.

You can't blame anything else. You can't blame nothing. It's sin. Every major problem that

we have in this world all boils down to sin. So, excuse me, I'm a mechanic. I've been

working on cars for a long time. Some days I love it, some days I hate it. But if I had

a car once that I was working on a couple years ago, yeah, and the car had a misfire,

there's hundreds of things that can cause a car to have a misfire, but it's really three

things that make an engine run. You need fuel, you need combustion, and you need an ignition

source. So it was missing one of those three things and I figured it out. There was low

compression on a couple of the cylinders. So I was like, okay, well, it's going to need

a motor. But the car only had, I think it was like 16,000 miles on it. So I was like,

okay, there's got to be a reason that a 16,000 mile one-year-old car needs an engine. So

I had my board camera, I stuck it down in there and I could see that the cylinder walls

were all scored and this was causing low compression. So I was like, okay, well, obviously it's

definitely going to need a motor. So I recommended the motor, get it all rode up. And then when

I pulled the motor out, I happened to accidentally, this was completely accidental, I didn't even

mean to, but I glanced down inside of the converter and the converter bolts directly

to the head of the car. And the way cars are designed nowadays, I can get into more detail,

but I'm not going to for time's sake, but the way cars are designed today, the intake

and exhaust valves are for a very brief period of time open at the same exact time to help

with emissions and whatnot. So what I found is on this converter, the whole top of the

converter was like this really flaky metal because the converter had started deteriorating.

So what was happening is it was pulling metal into the motor and it was causing the metal

to sit in the combustion chamber and scrape up the cylinder walls. So if I would have

put another motor in it and left it like that, it would have went on its way and another

year or so it would have been back for the same exact problem because I didn't find out

what the root cause of the problem was. And if you look at today's world, this is a perfect

example of it, the root problem of everything going on right now, the root cause is sin.

That is the problem. We have to stop blaming all this other stuff. We have to start blaming

the real thing and that is sin. Too many times have I heard that, oh well, you know, it's

the government's fault or it's so and so's fault. No, it is not. Sin is the problem.

So we have to fully understand this before we can even begin to try to fix it. And the

second thing we need to understand is sin spreads like a disease. Sin is probably the

worst spreading disease out there. It's worse than COVID because COVID may physically kill

you, but sin will spiritually kill you. And to me, that's worse than physically dying

because at least if I die and I know I'm saved and I know Jesus loves me, at least when I

die, I know where I'm going in the end. I'm going to heaven.

That's right.

So, but we have to understand that our sin does not just affect us. Our sin affects everything

around us. I've heard Dan say this countless times and I love it because I can see it,

that the earth is groaning, that all of creation groans for the coming of Jesus. All the stuff

that happens is the earth groaning and creation groaning because of all the sin in the world.

I mean, I would have loved to have been back in Adam and Eve's day where we could walk

around freely and not do any work and just enjoy life like it's supposed to be. But

unfortunately, because of sin, we can't do that no more.

And the last thing is, we have a Redeemer. We have Jesus Christ now. Jesus said there

was, I think something like 300 prophets that Jesus fulfilled from the Old Testament, which

is insane. So in here, it says that Jesus is going to, that there is a Redeemer coming,

but then you can have the argument, oh, well this was a couple thousand years ago, whatever.

Well it also says we're going to go to Hebrews. Didn't mark it. I didn't mark it. My Bible

has two bookmarks and I didn't mark it. We're going to go to Hebrews chapter 9. I think

Hebrews 9 · chapter mention

that was it.

Alright, so we're going to go, I'm going to read Hebrews chapter 9 verse 28. It says,

Hebrews 9:28

So Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, he will appear a second

time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await him. Notice how

it says eagerly await? So we have proved that there is going to be a second coming of Jesus,

but we also have to understand that we have to wait for him. And then in Revelations chapter

Revelation 22:12

22 verse 12 says, Behold, I am coming quickly and my reward is with me to redeem, to render

every man according to what he has done. We have proved that Jesus is going to come again

to redeem his world once and for all, to put an end to sin for the last time. But the scary

part about this is, when Jesus comes again, where are you going to stand? Are you going

to be part of the problem or are you going to be part of the problem that's trying to

help fix it? Because let's be real, as Christians, how many times do we still get it wrong?

How many times have you tried something and still gotten it wrong and still failed to

follow God to the fullest of your ability? Exactly, too many times. But yet, God still

loves us so much that he sent Jesus to die. And he loves us so much that he is going to

send Jesus again to take us home. So we need to, what we need to do, what God is telling

us to do is to help fix that problem by shining the light in the world. The more light we

shine, the brighter it gets. But we can't do it without Jesus. We can't do it without

God. We want to be a part of the solution and fix the problems that we have caused with

our sin that we have to have God do it through us. Because there's no way that we are going

to do this on our own strength.

Okay. So what is, what happens when you leave a hot cup of water in a cold room?

Exactly, it starts to get colder until it gets to room temperature. How do you heat

that glass of water up again? Put it in a microwave, put it on a stove, get it to a

warmer environment. So water, liquid, temperature I guess you can say, temperature always goes

from hot to cold. The only way to get it hot again is you have to add a heat source. It's

part of the reason why it's so cold in space. But I had to look that up too because I wanted

to make sure I was right on that. Because I was, when I thought about this I was like,

you know, is that really true? I've heard it before in school so I started looking it

up and it's true that there's a lot of things I read that say the exact same thing, that

temperature always goes from hot to cold. No. It never goes from cold to hot. I can

explain more but I'm not going to. If you want to look it up on your own, fine. It's

really cool, it's really interesting, I recommend you do. I learned something new from it. But

the point behind it is, for us as Christians, when you first got saved, what was it like?

I was on fire, man. I was ready to do stuff. I was ready to be different. And then about

two years later it kind of leveled off. Because that's how we are. We need that source behind

us to keep us on fire for God. We need that push. We need that fire. Because when I first

got saved, I was ready. I was like, let's go. I want my life to be better. I want to

be a better person. I want to be a better father. I want to be a better husband. And

then about two years later it kind of leveled off and I just kind of went meh. And it still

happens. And it's been over ten years now and it still happens. There's days where I'm

like, let's go. I want to do this and I'm on fire. And then it just kind of levels off.

And part of that is because of the world we live in. We live in a room temperature world

and our bodies are trying to adjust to what we have around us. Our flesh wants what it

wants. So a little bit of a recap here. If you feel that God is trying to get you to

do something, stop fighting against him. Let God work through you. Because we are all in

this together. All of us. There's no one person that can do it by their self. We are a team.

We are a body. That's how the Bible describes it. We are a body. We are to work together.

We can't do this alone. We need everyone. But the other thing we have to understand

is, every one of us is part of the problem. And that every one of us can help fix this.

We can help fix it. We may have caused a problem but there's nothing like causing a problem,

breaking something and then being able to go, you know what, I can fix this. So us as

Christians need to be out there fighting against what was bad. I mean look at Jesus. Jesus

hung with sinners all the time. Jesus hung with prostitutes. He hung with tax collectors.

We need to be out in the world explaining to the lost people of this world that there

is a better solution and that is Jesus Christ. Our better solution is Jesus Christ. Our better

solution is God. We need to let people understand this. Because then maybe, just maybe one day

we can finally see the world become at least a little bit better of a place to where there's

not so much evil. But it's going to take all of us working together, not fighting against

each other. We have our differences but we can put those differences aside if it means

standing for God and letting God reign. God created each individual person different for

that reason so we have different skills and different abilities to work together to grow

his kingdom. Not to fight against each other because I like this color and you like that

color. That is not what we're here to do. We are here to build the kingdom of God. We

are here to step out and be that light. But we can't do it without Jesus. We can't do

it without showing people that yes, you are part of the problem. You are a sinner but

guess what? So am I. I am not perfect either. I have my issues. But you know what? How about

we work together and fix this? Because like I said, because then just maybe, just maybe

we can see a world that is slightly better than what it is right now. At least we can

at least try to get people to understand that with God we can really make a change in this

world. But here's part of the problem. How many people would like to admit that they

are the ones that caused the problem? How many people will step out and go, you know

what? I didn't do this. This isn't my fault. This is so and so's fault. It's so hard for

us to admit that we are the ones that caused this problem so nobody wants to change. Nobody

wants to follow God because they don't want to admit that they are the reason that the

world is failing. I didn't get saved until I was in my twenties because I refused to

admit that I had problems. I was blaming it on my parents that it was their fault that

I was the way I was. But no, it was my choices that I made. It was the things that I did.

And it's like that with every single person in this world. It is the choices that you

make. It's the things that you did that caused it. So we have to be willing to admit that.

And it's so hard to admit that you are the problem. But guess what? You are also part

of the best solution ever. You are part of the greatest solution. The greatest thing

that could ever happen is you finally admitting that you have a problem and that you have

the ability to fix it. So I don't want anyone to sit here and think that I'm trying to make

you feel bad or make you feel depressed because that's not what this is about. This is about

you understanding where everyone lies. This is not singling anyone out. This is everyone.

Everyone in this whole planet was like 7 billion people. And it's probably higher than that

because there's tribes and stuff that most people don't even know exist.

But the point being is I don't want to sit here and feel bad. I'm not trying to bad mouth

or anything like that. I'm just trying to get all of us to be on the same page here.

Because us as a church, if we are not all on the same page, we are not going to do what

God is calling us to do. Part of the very basics of getting saved is admitting that

you are a sinner. You have to admit that first. But then we become the greatest solution this

world has. And that is preparing people for the coming of Christ. The second coming of

Jesus. That's what John the Baptist did. John the Baptist was there to prepare people for

the coming of Christ. All of us now, that is our job. All of us as Christians, as churches,

all of us now have that same job John the Baptist did. And that is to prepare the world

for the second coming of Christ. Because eventually He is coming again. No one knows when, no

one knows the exact date. I mean there are so many stories out there. I was watching

2012 a couple nights ago and Jason was watching it with me a little bit. Was it you or was

it Caleb? It might have been Caleb. But he was asking me a bunch of questions about it.

But the point is no one knows exactly when Jesus is coming again. But we have proof in

the Bible that He is coming again. So we need to be ready so when He does come, He is not

going to say to us, get away I never knew you. Instead He is going to say, welcome my

good and faithful servant. Which is one of the scariest things I have ever read in the

Bible by the way. The fact that Jesus could come again and you could look at Him and hey

look I tried to follow you and He is going to be like no you didn't and get out of here.

That is one of the scariest things I have ever read in the Bible and I have read quite

a bit so far. I have never read the whole thing. Getting close. But the point is that

it is really terrifying to think about. Alright so with all this being said, I want you guys

to look into your lives and realize that yes we are all sinners, yes we are all failures,

we are broken people, we are all broken people, we come from broken backgrounds or maybe we

come from a good background but we still have issues. All of us are broken people but we

have the greatest solution and that is Jesus Christ. He is the reason why we are all still

here today because let's be real, if God really wanted to He could wipe the earth out again.

He has done it once and He said He will never do it by flood again. But that doesn't mean

He won't wipe the earth out again. He has the power to do so. But God wants us to spread

His word. He wants us to get people closer. So if you can look into your own life and

look at what you have done and look at the things that you are doing, use those for God's

benefit. Don't use them to benefit you. In my job I go to work to make money to supply

for my family and that is hard for me to stop thinking about it that way but that is how

I think. I go to work so I can make a paycheck so I can pay my bills and make sure my kids

eat. But that is not why I go to work. That shouldn't be the only reason I go to work.

The reason I should go to work is because God gave me that job so I should be glorifying

Him in that job. God gave me the ability to wake up and go to work because there are people

that don't have that anymore. My mom will never be able to work again because of the

surgery she has had. And my mom has worked all of her life and she is going bonkers right

now because she is so used to working. I should be grateful that I have a job. Not just oh

great I have to go to work again. I should be grateful. If you are alive right now you

should be grateful. So we are supposed to use all of this, all of the stuff in our life

as a benefit to God. And if you haven't done that, if you haven't used everything that

you have to benefit God in some way, somehow, then you need to look into your life and realize

that you are doing it wrong. Excuse me. I got a headache. But as a way of closing and

we are going to have our invitation, I want you guys to see how one sin can affect the

lives of many. And how your one sin affects more than just you. Even if no one else is

around, even if no one else is in the same room as you, it can still affect other people

because it can change the way you feel, it can change the way you act. I know when I

am starting to get down and I am starting to realize that I am starting to get really

angry very easily and it is because I am not doing what God wants me to do. So then I start

yelling at my kids more, I start yelling at my wife, I start putting off things I should

be doing because I realize I am not doing what God wants me to do. And that is not where

we should be. That is not how we should be living. So if that is you, you need to repent.

If you don't know the Lord, you should really pray and see what God can do. Because I am

telling you, making the choice to follow God was the best decision I have ever made in

my entire life. And I will not deny that one bit. I can't stress how important it is to

understand that God wants us to have that relationship with Him. He doesn't want us

to be separated no more. He has never wanted us to be separated from Him. So much that

He sent Jesus to die on the cross so we can be close to Him again.

I love you.