Christmas Lights | Donovan Rillion | Light Brings Peace

So last week I told you that I'm scared of the

dark. I have no shame in that. But even though

I'm scared of the dark, I told you I love daylight

savings time where it gets dark at 5 p .m. because

when it starts getting dark early, it tells me

one thing, and that means Christmas time is here,

and that means I get to see all the pretty Christmas

lights. I love Christmas lights and cold weather.

I was just talking to someone this morning about

how much I love cold weather. I grew up on the

beach. I don't care for the heat. I mean, I spent

18 years plus in it, and then I lived in Montgomery,

Alabama, which isn't much cooler. So I'm done

with the heat. I'm glad to be up here where it's

cool all the time. It's awesome. So cold weather

and Christmas lights come out. When it gets to

daylight savings time. And so when I was a kid,

no matter what was going on around me, no matter

what chaos was surrounding me or my family, or

what fear I had of the dark in general, I knew

that at Christmas time things were going to be

better. I could always count on that. Because

there was a season of goodness. I don't know

what causes people during Christmas time to just

be nicer. Even people that don't believe in God,

that don't celebrate Christ, they believe that

there's something, or maybe they don't believe,

there's just something comes over them. That

in this season, they become nicer people. So

Christmas time brings about some good feelings.

And in this series, we're looking through this

amazing little passage in this Old Testament

book of Isaiah. Isaiah is one of the prophets,

meaning that this is God's words spoken through

a man. Through a human. And so what Isaiah says

in this prophecy is, well, I want you to hear

this first. When you hear prophecy today, when

I say the word prophecy, I want you to not think

of some mythical, mystical message that you hear

that you have to interpret. I want you, when

you hear prophecy, to think of promise. Okay?

Prophecy doesn't always mean promise, but...

Today, when we're talking about this prophecy

from Isaiah, we are getting a promise from God

through Isaiah. So in this promise, I want you

to hear God's words in Isaiah chapter 9, verses

Isaiah 9:1–7

1 through 7. We're going to read it this morning,

then we'll pray, and then we'll get into the

message. But 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. The people

who walked in darkness have seen a great light.

Those who dwelt in a 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. 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. Let's pray.

Father God, we are so grateful for Your promise,

for Your promises. We're grateful that you have

proven to be a promise -keeping God, that you

have proven to be a faithful God. And today,

in this season where we celebrate the birth of

Christ, we know that that birth has already happened.

But we know, and I hope that we believe and we

trust, that because of the birth, the coming

of the Messiah, we now have access to your kingdom.

And we can know and be sure that your reign of

justice and righteousness will reign forevermore.

God, today we celebrate that. We praise you for

it. And I pray that we will believe and trust

in the peace that it brings. It's in Jesus' name

we pray. Amen. So what exactly has God promised

Israel? I told you prophecy today is going to

equal promise. But what's the promise? Well,

he starts out in Isaiah chapter 9 with verse

Isaiah 9 · chapter mention

1 saying, There will be no gloom. I don't know

about you, but some people, I don't. Some people

feel like dark days. cold and gray days is gloomy.

And gloom equals sadness, right? It's this kind

of depressing feeling. And some people are just

naturally gloomy people. I've been told that

I'm just a naturally sad person. I'm okay with

that. I like sad stuff. I like sad music. I like

sad movies. I like sad TV shows. I like sad stories.

I'm okay with that. But what God promises Israel,

he says there's not going to be any more sadness.

Sadness isn't going to be a part of your life.

You might not even know the word sadness anymore.

There will be no gloom. The people of God, the

Israelites, in this context, they have been suffering

because they've been invaded. They've been suffering

through war and invasion and feeling unsafe and

unsettled. They have no security. And so you

can imagine there's a lot of sadness. Because

maybe there's a father who didn't come home from

battle. Maybe their grain has been burned. Maybe

their food savings have been pillaged. All of

these things that have been happening and all

of this uncertainty has led to sadness. And so

God starts the promise saying, no more. There

will be no more gloom. All the things that make

you sad, they don't have any rain anymore. No

more gloom. And so then he says in verse 2, there

won't be any more darkness. Why? Because a great

light has shone. I was kind of disappointed this

week. Last week I ordered some Christmas lights

because I needed more Christmas lights. And I

got on Amazon, like every person does nowadays,

and I just looked up Christmas lights. And I

come across 400 and something feet of Christmas

lights. First of all, I should have measured

the house. Because I didn't need 400 and I think

it was 436. I didn't need that many lights, okay?

So I get the lights, they come in, they're LED

and the picture on the, you know, the listing

shows like this bright scene, right? And so I

go and I hang them up and I had to do like three

laps because they were so long. So I hang them

up and I endured the cold to do this, right?

And then I, you know, as you do, you plug them

in. And I plug them in, and it's daytime, so

I'm like, okay, you know, you can't really see

them because it's daytime, right? Nighttime comes,

and I'm so excited because the boys have been

at school all day. Eliza's been to work all day.

And so I'm like, they're going to come home and

see these awesome Christmas lights. We get home,

you can't see Jack. Nothing. I was so mad. I

was so mad. I was like, where are my lights?

Right? I spent all that time in the cold putting

up these lights. So I took them down. I'm going

to send them back to Amazon. I had a lot to go

to Walmart and buy traditional Christmas lights

because, you know, you can trust Walmart. You

can't trust Amazon. But in our darkness, we had

no light. And it was so disappointing. And I'm

not going to lie. I was kind of sad about it.

I was bummed. And Easton was bummed because he

wanted to take a picture in front of the lights.

And he was so excited about it. And so today,

this afternoon, that's what I'm going to do.

I'm going to hang up some Christmas lights, and

tonight we're going to see some really good stuff.

But Israel has been suffering. And they've had

people come along and say that they're hope,

that they're the bringers of hope. They've had

people come along and claim to be the Messiah,

that have claimed to be the light. And they all

don't really pan out. They're not who they say

they are. They don't match the listing. But what

God promises here in Isaiah is He says the light

is shown. It's shown. There's no more darkness.

This is the real deal. A great light has shown

for those suffering, those people in these dark

times. God is promising light. He's saying that

there is going to be something that lights up

the sky. And you won't have to be in darkness

anymore. There will be no more sadness. I'm a

firm believer that every bit of the Old Testament

gives a foretaste of what's to come in the New

Testament. It's a foreshadowing of the promise.

The truths revealed to the Israelites are amplified

for us in the gospel of Christ. And I say that

because I do believe that we Christians We believe

that this promise made to the Israelites by a

perfectly promise -keeping God was fulfilled

in the birth of Jesus Christ. Jesus came as promised

and did exactly as promised. See, last week we

talked about how Christ's coming brought hope.

Because when it's dark and you can't see and

you don't really know where you're going, you

can't find your way, you get a little scared,

right? And you start to feel a little hopeless

and you feel like you're never going to get out

and you're never going to find your way. But

when the light comes in, now you can see the

path in front of you. Now you can see where you're

supposed to be going. This week we're going to

focus on verses 4 -7 and the peace that this

light brings. Because light brings peace. I told

you before that I didn't have the best childhood

growing up. It wasn't the worst by any means,

but it wasn't great. And so there was always

a lot of chaos. But one thing I could know for

certain is when Christmas time came around, things

were going to be a little bit better. And I could

be at peace knowing that things would be a little

bit better. And we'll take a little bit better

when life is chaos, right? And you know that

feeling when things just seem to never be good.

You'll take okay. When things just always feel

bad, you'll take all right. And so when Jesus

comes and he brings light, that light brings

peace because you can have peace knowing that

things are going to be just a little bit better.

Let's read verses 4 through 7 again. 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. We'll talk about that later

because that's important. For every boot of the

tramping warrior in battle to molt, 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. Think of the

fear you feel when walking through your darkest

times. The uncertainty. Not only the fear, but

the anxiety, the stress. I'm afraid of the dark

because I'm anxious and unsure about what's there.

I don't have really any fears of things that

I can see. Because if I can see you, I can handle

you. And we'll leave it at that. If I can see

the thing, the bear, the scary thing that's in

front of me, I can handle that. I can't handle

things I can't see. Things I'm not prepared for.

Things I don't know about. And so it brings this

anxiety, and your heart gets to racing, and you

start sweating, and your head just can't think

straight, and you're starting to stress. That's

what happens in darkness. And so when you have

this darkness around you in life, The circumstances

that you can't control, the things where you

don't really know what's going on, the things,

the moments where you can't explain what's happening,

where you don't have control. I'm a control freak.

I like to be able to make sure that what I need

to happen or what I want to happen happens how

it's supposed to happen, right? Anybody else

like that? Just me? All right, well, pray for

me. I like to know that I've got a little bit

of control, and when I don't have control, it

terrifies me. But the truth is, is that's how

life is. We don't have control over everything.

I used to get so mad when football coaches would

say, control what you can control. Do your 111th.

No, coach, I want to make sure everybody else

is doing what I need them to do. But that's not

how life works. And so we have to deal with the

things that happen that we can't control. And

that is terrifying. The Israelites didn't have

a lot of control. They didn't have a lot of control.

Ways to explain why these things that are happening

were happening. They couldn't explain why they

could never have peace. They couldn't explain

why they could never just have a good night's

sleep without having to worry about their town

being raided. They did not have the control over

their circumstances. And the truth is, this is

probably not what they thought was going to happen

when they found out that they were entering into

the promised land. Because they were now living

in the promised land, this place that God had

taken them out of Egypt and they had wandered

through the wilderness for and they had endured

all of these battles for to get into the promised

land, flowing with milk and honey of splendor.

This is probably not what they expected. But

this is the life that they have to live. This

is the cars that they're dealt. Even in this

wonderful home that God had given them, the truth

is they were still on earth and they were still

human. And as long as we are on this earth and

as long as we are human, we'll have to deal with

war. As long as we're on this earth and as long

as we're human, we'll have to deal with death.

We'll have to deal with fear. We'll have to deal

with anxiety. We'll have to deal with uncertainty.

We'll have to deal with poverty. As long as we're

human and as long as we are on this earth, we

will have to deal with that wicked nature. Because

on earth, nothing and no one is safe from greed.

Nothing and no one is safe from evil. It's always

going to be that way until Christ comes. So the

Israelites, they're no strangers to this wickedness.

This is a life that they've become used to. Their

enemies have invaded. They're trying to wipe

them out. This is a constant thing for Israel.

And we know that to be a constant thing for us.

In this life, you'll have pain. We know that

to be true. But what God promises in Isaiah,

he says, the weight your oppressors have put

on you, I'll break it. The staff used to control

you, I'll break it. The rod used to harm you,

I will break it. He says, just as on the day

of Midian. So if you get the reference, God is

referring to way back. to Gideon in the battle

of the Midianites, where it's just Gideon and

his 300 men and they battle the Midianites and

there are 32 ,000 men. And because of God's power,

Gideon's army is able to have victory. It's only

by the power of God. That's the only way you

can explain it. I mean, we did the math. We talked

about this a few months ago. If you took the

32 ,000 and divided that by 300, you get a really

large number per person, right? And so Gideon's

army is way outnumbered. They don't have any

reason to have victory, but because of the power

of God, Midian is broken. God says, I'm going

to break the arms of oppression just like I did

back then. Think of all the times that God has

provided you victory. Think of all the times

that God has led you out of the darkness, all

of the times that he's taken you out of captivity,

all of the times that God has proven to be faithful

and merciful. The promise to the Israelites then

is the same promise we have now. God says, I'm

going to break those chains. I'm going to take

you away from that danger. I'm going to destroy

the things that seek to destroy you. And this

defeat over the enemy is going to be final. See,

the Israelites, like I said, they're no strangers

to conflict. They're no strangers to war. Because

it just keeps happening. They keep having these

battles. But this victory that God promises,

this victory, this breaking of the staff and

the breaking of the rod and the breaking of the

weight, this victory is final. Verse 5. Talks

about every boot, every blood stained garment

being burned. Well, burning something reduces

it to a state that cannot be healed. It can't

be restored. If you burn a log and it gets down

to ash, you can't make it back into a log. God

is saying everything that has sought to harm

you, everything that has hurt you, everything

that has taken you from your home, everything

that you have fear of, I'm going to destroy it.

Final, complete. It will be gone. Which brings

us to the heart of today's message. Verses 6

-7. Because a child is born. 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, there's

the word, peace. Of the increase of his government.

And of... Peace. There will be no end. It won't

end. It won't go away. 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. When Gideon defeated the

Midianites, It was a strong fought battle between

Israel's 300 men and the Midianites' 32 ,000

men. This was a very unsuspecting victory. Because

it doesn't make sense. You hear in sporting events,

like you watched football yesterday, and you

have the on paper, this team should win. Going

into the football season, I thought on paper,

LSU should win the national championship. Boy,

was I wrong. On paper, I have all the ability.

You know, you look at your resume. On paper,

I have all of the ability and all of the experience

and all of the talents to get the job, but you

don't get the job. On paper, my bill of health

is as good as it can be. I should live until

fill in the blank, but you don't. You have these

things where on paper it makes sense in a logical,

worldly sense, but it doesn't. And what happens

here is on paper, Midian should destroy Israel,

but Israel wins. What Isaiah is prophesying,

what he's promising here is going to be God's

best work because God loves to work in the unsuspecting.

God loves to be on the side of the on paper loser.

God works here through a baby, a child that is

going to reign. Can you imagine? I love the movie

Boss Baby. Don't ask me why. I don't know. But

I just think it's really funny that this little

fat baby runs the show. A baby is going to reign.

The government is going to answer to him. He'll

be called Wonderful Counselor. Mighty. Everlasting.

Prince. Those are royal, extravagant, spectacular,

high and mighty. And this is what we're going

to call this child everlasting. Prince. But did

you notice what he's going to be prince of? Prince

of, say it with me. Peace. Christ's coming is

a promise of ultimate peace that will have no

end. Raise your hand if you'd love to experience

some peace that has no end. I would. Because

I know every single day there are things that

stress me out. There are things that make me

fearful. There are things that terrify me. There

are things that make me angry. And I just don't

know if I can say that every day I experience

unending peace. I know I should. I know I need

to. And I know that I can with the help of the

Holy Spirit. But the truth is, I don't feel that

all the time. I want to. We talk about the fruits

of the Spirit. Fruit, singular, of the Spirit.

And one of those flavors of that fruit is peace.

Christ's coming is a promise of ultimate peace.

Now I can imagine Israel hearing this message

from Isaiah and knowing what they're going through

and experiencing what they're experiencing and

feeling what they've been feeling. And I can

imagine them hearing him and saying, whoa, whoa,

whoa, stop. Pause on that word. Peace? Do you

not? see what's going on around us? Do you not

smell the smoke of all our buildings that they've

burned down? Do you not see the blood in the

streets from the people that they've killed?

Do you not see the children crying because they're

hungry because we don't have food anymore? How

can you talk about peace when this is what we're

dealing with? And preachers get up here on Sundays

every year or every day or every Sunday all over

the world and they talk about peace and people

say, do you not know about the children that

are starving? Do you not know about the women

that are being abused by their husbands? Do you

not know about the people that are being killed?

In other countries, do you not know what's going

on around us? How can you talk about peace? And

Isaiah says, my God, who has proven over and

over and over and over and over again to keep

his promises is promising you peace. So guess

what you're going to have one day? Peace. How

can you talk about peace? Because my God says

so. And he has kept his promises for all time.

And I believe that he's going to keep them still.

So what will I have one day unending? All of

that fear. All the stress, the worry. Gone. I

told you, I believe the Old Testament is a foretaste

of the future. And I mean that when I say it.

See, Isaiah is looking forward 700 years later.

That child is going to be born. Isaiah sees that

promise because God has allowed him to see it.

He sees that promise kept clearly even though

neither he or Israel can actually feel it just

yet. But then in the darkness of Roman rule,

in a world of fear, of division and political

tension, light breaks in. The promise is kept.

The Messiah is born. This is where the New Testament

picks that promise right back up in Luke chapter

Luke 2:8–14

2 verses 8 through 14. 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. Hey, there's that word again,

shone around them. And they were filled with

great fear. And the angel said to them, hey,

don't fear. For behold, I bring you good news

of great joy that will be for all the people.

For unto you 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 a baby

wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude

of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying,

Glory to God in the highest and on earth. Peace,

peace among those with whom he is pleased. Of

all people, I find it funny that God goes to

the shepherds first. Notice he doesn't go to

the influencers. He doesn't go to the kings.

He doesn't go to the officials. He doesn't go

to the religious elites. He goes to the shepherds,

these ordinary guys, just trying to make it through

another night shift. I can imagine they're sitting

there. They're drinking their coffee. They're

watching the sheep, hoping nothing comes to try

to eat the sheep. And they're just chilling.

And all of a sudden, big white... Angel, hey,

don't be afraid even though this is a really

terrifying sight. A child is born. The Savior.

The Messiah. I can imagine they spill their coffee

and they're freaking out. They're trembling.

And then it says the heavenly host appeared.

God kind of pulls back the curtain and shows

them, hey, this is for real. This is serious.

The light has come. You don't have to be afraid.

You can have peace. Peace. The exact thing Isaiah

said would have no end. The exact thing Israel

had been waiting for and hoping for for centuries.

And honestly, the exact thing that we're all

craving right now. Because I know every single

one of you, including myself, wherever you're

sitting, you've got your thing that you're dealing

with. You've got your thing that you're worried

about, that you are stressing about. And right

now, it's probably running through your mind.

And Christ comes and says, you can let that go

because you have peace. But notice what the angels

don't say. They don't say peace will come once

you get control. They don't say peace will come

when your enemies love you and stop trying to

kill you and they leave you alone. It doesn't

say peace will come when everything finally works

out the way that you think it should. No, it's

not that because Isaiah and the angels, they're

not announcing a feeling. They're announcing

a person. They're announcing a presence. And

that is the holy presence of God among us. Peace

has come because Christ has come. Because the

light. The Apostle Paul later says it this way

in Ephesians 2, verse 14. He says, he, talking

Ephesians 2:14

about Jesus, himself is our peace. He doesn't

say Jesus gives good advice that will help you

have a peaceful life. He doesn't say Jesus helps

you find peace. He doesn't say Jesus will show

you how you can obtain peace. peace. He doesn't

say Jesus will accept money from you so that

you can have peace. He just says he is our peace.

Peace isn't something you chase. Peace isn't

something you earn. It's not something that you

can go out and find. Peace is someone who is

chasing you, who has found you, who has grabbed

a hold of you. And when you allow him to, you'll

have peace. And then Jesus, near the end of his

ministry, tells his disciples in John 14, verse

John 14:27

27, Peace I leave with you. So the presence,

you know, Jesus is going up to heaven to stay

until he's time to come, come back. But he says,

Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you.

Not as the world gives do I give to you. And

when I read that, what I think he's saying is,

you know, the world gives peace that depends

on circumstances. Peace, according to the world,

depends on quotas. Peace, according to the world,

depends on the paycheck. It depends on the diagnosis.

It depends on the drama settling down. It depends

on the person accepting you. But Jesus gives

a peace that lasts even when the circumstances

aren't right, even when nothing else makes sense,

just like Gideon's victory. Just like Isaiah's

prophecy, just like a baby in a manger saving

the world, because that makes zero sense. But

when Jesus says, this is the peace that I'm giving

to you, he means it. Because again, Jesus is

promise keeper. And our God has proven over and

over and over again to keep his promises. So

here's what I hope we can see this morning. If

Isaiah tells us that peace is coming. and the

New Testament tells us that peace has arrived,

then the question we have to ask is this. Have

we actually allowed the prince of peace to rule

in the places where fear still rules us? Because

back in Isaiah, he says the government will be

on his shoulders, as in... He will be over the

government. He will have reign there. His kingdom

will have no end. He will be the prince of peace.

Again, he is royal. He is high and mighty. So

if he has reign, then why don't we have peace?

Because if I don't have peace, then I have to

ask myself, does he really have reign? And I

think the truth is, for me, I won't speak for

you. The truth is, There's a lot of days where

he doesn't reign. In fact, I would say there's

a lot of moments in days where he doesn't reign.

At least maybe not the Prince of Peace, Jesus.

You know, I love the Jesus that cleanses me from

my sins, Jesus. I love that one. I love the Jesus

that promises me everlasting life. I love that

one. I love the Jesus that says, you can keep

doing what you're doing. I'm going to forgive

you. And then one day you'll be with me. I love.

That Jesus. But for some reason, the Jesus that

says, hey, calm down. Stop worrying about everything.

Quit stressing over what the government's going

to do. Quit worrying about what your enemies

are going to do. Quit thinking about all of the

things that could go wrong at work and stop fearing

every little inconvenience and just let me reign.

The Prince of Peace, Jesus, let that one reign.

Because the promise wasn't, hey, life's going

to get easier now. The promise wasn't, you're

going to not have any trouble. The promise was

of the increase of his government and of peace,

there will be no end. Where Christ's rule increases,

his peace increases. When I surrender control,

his peace grows. When I trust him with every

moment and every circumstance of my life, his

peace roots. See, Christmas isn't just the story

of God coming into the world. It's not just the

story of a baby being born in a manger. Christmas

is the story of God coming into your world. God

stepping into your home. God stepping into your

stress, your schedule, your fears, your unanswered

prayers, your unknowns. And he speaks the same

word now that the angel spoke then. Say it with

me. It is a scary, cold, and dark world out there.

You don't have to be scared. You don't have to

be cold. You don't have to live in the dark.

Because the true light, not the cheap LED junk

lights from Amazon, the good old incandescent

lights, Christmas lights from Walmart, like they're

supposed to be, Those lights, that true light,

the Messiah, the Savior has come to bring. And

that light is available to us all. If you're

worried about something, if you are fearful today,

if you are stressed because life is not safe,

if you're worried because you just don't know

what life holds for you tomorrow, if you're not

sure what life holds for you today, if you need

anything. if there's a fear and anxiety in you

because you don't know where your soul lies,

we want to pray with you. We want to pray for

you. We want to love on you and support you.

Wherever you're at today, if you just need the

peace of Christ, I shouldn't say just, if you

need the peace of Christ that never ends, that

reigns forever, we offer you an invitation to

come and receive prayer. Be prayed with.