Christ Methodist Church Memphis
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Christ Methodist Church Memphis
The Promise of Hope
God’s promises pierce the darkness; hope begins with trust in His word. Into a world crushed by fear and deep darkness, God promised a child whose light would break oppression and restore hope forever.
[0:18] Today's scripture reading will come from Isaiah chapter 9, verses 2 through 7.
[0:24] 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 spoils.
[0:52] For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, for every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult, 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 God for the people of God.
[1:50] God. And amen and amen. I greet you this morning in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. My name is Paul Lawler. I'm the senior pastor of Christ Methodist. We welcome you today. So I'm going to teach faithfully, but I also want you to know I comfort you with these words. I will do a more brief sermon in light of Messiah being presented this morning. But let me begin by affirming that these words that you've heard, just read from the book of Isaiah, come out of a period of deep darkness and brokenness among the people of God. These verses actually paint a picture of when Israel is oppressed by an outside foe. Isaiah had delivered this message to the people of Judah during the reign of King Ahaz, who was afraid of a powerful army.
[2:44] That army was coming from the nation of Assyria. Now let's take just a brief pause here.
[2:52] When you read the Old Testament and then you read the New Testament, there are some contrasts and similarities. The similarities are this, that the patterns remain the same. There are different types, but the patterns remain the same. And the pattern that we see in the Old Testament and the New is that fear is not a factor that should reign in the life of God's people. Fear distorts our perceptions of God. Fear distorts our perceptions of God's availability. Fear weakens our trust in God. Fear prevents us from seeing that there's something more.
[3:35] And so Ahaz led the nation in a way where they failed to trust God in a crisis. Fear is a great enemy to the believer. And Israel is now under the dominion, oppression from a nation known as Assyria. They're surrounded. They have surrounded Assyria on, excuse me, Israel on three sides. And as they've done so, the armies of Assyria have destroyed towns, raiding and killing men, women, and children, as they also have shipped off exiles that have survived from northern Israel into Babylon. And so the darkness that Isaiah describes in this passage is much deeper than, eh, we've had a bad day.
[4:26] Think on what these human beings are going through church family try to put yourself in their place this morning the loss of loved ones fathers mothers children grandparents all tragically think on the darkness that this brings to the human heart think on the despair the oppression the hopelessness that bears down on your soul as you put yourself in the first person, Think on the horrors of war that surround them. When I was a child, my stepdad, who fought in World War II, once or twice a year would wake up in the middle of the night with the most blood-curdling scream. It would cause the hair on your back to just rise up.
[5:14] And we learned, as my mom had remarried very quickly, what was happening and that he too, like many in the greatest generation, we didn't understand PTSD the way we do now, but he was suffering from the effects. He would dream of landing on an island in the Pacific during World War II, fault in the landing on Minden now. I'm reminded of something that my eighth grade teacher would drill into us when we would read about wars in history. She would say, students, war is hell. Never romanticize war. War is hell. And all of its dark effects affect the deep psyche of human beings. And all of this is symptomatic of the fallenness of the human condition on our planet. And we're mindful as we read this episode out of the history of God's people.
[6:14] Israel, and how this oppression has come upon them. We're mindful that all of us in this room and the fallenness of the human condition have encountered dark times as well. Think about the broken relationship that you grieve deeply or the childhood trauma that's difficult for you to talk about, or the depression that just won't let up, or the grief you navigate over a loss or broken dream. It might be the darkness that you can't seem to get your finger on, and it eludes you in terms of how to explain what's going on. Sometimes it's a secret you carry inside yourself, something you personally find difficult to talk about. And we're reminded That as we read this passage, that Isaiah has no illusions about the reality of despair that can cripple God's people. For God's people in Isaiah's day, despair and hopelessness, darkness of the soul became a way of life.
[7:19] But Isaiah has a word for God's people, and it's not an opinion that Isaiah offers. No, it is a word from God Almighty.
[7:33] He writes, verse 2, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who have dwelt in the land of deep darkness, on them a light has shown. And Isaiah is doing something so counterintuitive here. He's telling God's people that regardless of the gravity of their circumstances, the despair that grips their heart, that God is birthing not a make-believe hope, but a real hope. God is declaring an end to the suffering that his people have undergone. Isaiah declares that the reality that, okay, you've been walking in darkness, but there is a light about to down, to unfold upon you. A new dawn is arising. And then he describes it with specificity. Verse 3, you've multiplied the nation. You've increased its joy. They rejoice before you as with joy of the harvest. They are glad when you divide the spoil. And what he's doing here is painting a picture of a stunning reversal. They're going to experience great joy, not because they've become the conquerors, but because their conquering enemy upon their lives will be no more. It reminds us of what Jesus said in the New Testament. You've got an enemy.
[8:54] And he comes to steal, kill, and destroy, to render you in a way where you feel anemic and weak in your Christian walk. But Jesus says, I've come that you might have life and you might have it abundantly. Then Isaiah goes on to describe verse 4 for the yoke of his burden. And then he goes on to describe the rod of the oppressor. God, you have broken on the day of Midian. And what he's describing is that God's people will no longer be burdened. and they will no longer be oppressed. This parallels what the Messiah says when he says, come to me all who are weary, heavy laden. You're carrying a big yoke of anxiety. My yoke is easy, my burden is light. Take my yoke upon you, learn from me. We recognize verse five, Isaiah paints this picture that the war will cease and the destruction.
[9:51] The soldiers' uniforms would be before them. As he says, for every boot of the trampling warrior in battle of tumult and great garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. He describes with great detail that all these things will be burned as fuel. In other words, their burning means such violence that the people have known when they've been oppressed will come to an end. It reminds us of what Isaiah wrote in chapter 2, they shall beat their swords into plowshares and they shall beat their spears into pruning hooks. So what we see, church family, is that the reason for this extravagant hope is the advent of a new ruler who is described in verses 6 and 7, a wonderful counselor that's coming, a prince of peace. But Isaiah delivers this message during the time of King Ahaz, who was afraid of the Assyrian army. Fear governed his decision-making, and Ahaz failed to trust God, and fear drove him to seek compromise through an alliance with Assyria. And so what we recognize is that this prophecy has a dual fulfillment. That is.
[11:14] Its partial fulfillment happened through Ahaz's son who came to Israel as Hezekiah. And Hezekiah was a godly ruler, and he partially fulfilled what took place in this passage. However, here's what Hezekiah could not fulfill. His reign was not eternal. In other words, only Jesus' reign is eternal. Let me give you a pointer here as you study the Bible. When you read prophecy many times in Scripture, it has two kind of a dual meaning. It has a present tense meaning in the context in which you read it, but it also has a future meaning that will be fulfilled in the years to come.
[11:59] And that's what's happening in this passage, because only Jesus' rule lasts forever. And so as we get to the New Testament, we recognize that when Jesus comes, he too comes into humanity in an hour of great difficulty, darkness, and despair. People are living in dark times. They're oppressed by the Romans. Jesus is born into an atmosphere of imperial violence. You.
[12:30] That things are so dark that when the king hears that this new king has been born, that he orders the death of all male children two years old and below. Deep darkness. This is the world Jesus is born into. Jesus, the light of God, into the midst of utter darkness and despair. And now God declares unto us, a child has been born, God in our midst. The government will be upon his shoulders. In other words, he has supreme authority. The Bible tells us he's the firstborn of creation. The Bible tells us he created Jesus, the heavens and the earth. His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor. Jesus, who would have ultimate, absolute, infinite, unlimited, perfect wisdom in every circumstance. He is mighty God, powerful and divine. I remind you, we serve a God who cannot exaggerate. He is mighty God. Not only did he create the heavens and the earth, he alone has the might to deal with the three biggest issues in your life as a Christian. Your sin.
[13:51] And that is that Christ went to the cross to bleed and die and atone for your sin, the devil, because Jesus alone has the power to overcome him, and your death.
[14:02] Only Jesus can birth you into eternity, and these enemies are too strong for you to conquer on your own. He is mighty God. He is everlasting Father. He is the author and source of everlasting life. He is the Prince of peace. He's the source of your peace between you and God, because you cannot have peace from God until you are at first peace with God. This is why the Bible tells us in Ephesians 2.3 that in Christ you are delivered from judgment. You're delivered from God's wrath who must judge sin. Romans 5 tells us before you came to know Jesus, you were an enemy of God. And 1 Thessalonians 1.10 tells us Jesus alone rescues us from the judgment of God, from the wrath of God. And when you're at peace with God because you trust that Jesus Christ has atoned for your sins and you've turned to him in faith and repentance, the Bible declares that God births you into the kingdom. And when you are birthed into the kingdom, you are now at peace with your creator. And now you have access to the peace of God. This is why Paul writes in Ephesians 2.14, for Jesus himself is our peace.
[15:22] Peace is a person. And of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end, the scripture says. This is where Handel was inspired to write the words that the choir will sing over us as an act of worship in a few minutes. He shall reign forever and ever and ever. I would sing it for you, but the place would empty out early.
[15:50] But, loved ones, all this points to the reality. There's something more than just a naturalistic worldview. There's something more. I remember after I had become a follower of Jesus, I was inviting a worship leader who happened to be my cousin to sing and to lead worship in the church I was pastoring. And I said, we'll pray together before the services. And then he said, Paul, you need to know something about my wife. She's an intercessor. I didn't know what an intercessor was at that time. And he says, you have to understand, sometimes God will burden her heart. She'll go into our bedroom, close the door, and she will not leave that room until God lifts the burden. I was like, okay. I didn't know what to think about that. But on a Saturday night, we set up all of my cousin's equipment for him to lead worship. and then we joined hands in that church plant. And we began to pray for the services the next morning. I felt something at my feet. I looked down and my cousin's wife was at my feet. She was holding my feet. She was praying for me. And I began to sense, this is hard to put into words, church.
[17:12] But I began to sense some things lift off my spirit. I felt fear lift off me. I began to sense God's presence and God's peace. And there were some things as this intercessor was praying for me, there were some things that I don't even know that I have a category for. I don't know what to call. I just felt these weights lift out of my life.
[17:40] And what it tells me is that in Christ, there's always something more. It's always good. One of the most popular psalms in the Bible is found in Psalm 61. It says this, lead me to the rock that's higher than I.
[17:58] Dr. Tim Tennant, former president of Asbury Theological Seminary, writes about that psalm. Why do Christians love this psalm so much? Well, the iconic phrase, lead me to the rock that is higher than I, captures in a single phrase the entire Christian worldview. It is the joyful abandonment of the naturalistic worldview that says there is no reality above or higher than the autonomous self.
[18:24] And I want to encourage you on this day, as the choir and this orchestra has beautifully honor God today and is about to, again, as we close,
[18:35] to be mindful that there is a rock higher than you. And he is a wonderful counselor. He is a mighty God. He is the Prince of Peace. He is the everlasting Father, and he shall reign forever and ever and ever. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.