Sermon Tone Analysis

CALL TO WORSHIP

The Psalmist said, “For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand outside.

I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

O Lord of hosts, How blessed is the man who trusts in You!”

I want to invite you to stand as we worship the Lord in song this morning!

SONG “Good Good Father”

ADVENT

This Sunday is the first Sunday of advent season.

The four Sundays leading up to Christmas are called ADVENT which means: coming.

Each Sunday leading up to Christmas we will light an advent candle which represents one of the symbols of Christmas.

And then on Christmas we will light the final candle that represents Christ.

Today is the first day of advent and today we observe the theme of hope.

The coming of Christ is a great hope found in the OT biblical narrative.

Light the candle

SONG “King of Kings”

SERMON INTRODUCTION

Today we will be in Isaiah 9 and our topic this morning is hope

Let me set the context of this passage and the day in which Isaiah lived in.

Isaiah lived in a time where there was great wickedness in Israel.

There was so much wickedness that judgement was inevitable sight for Isaiah.

The people mistreated one another, they took advantage of one another, they oppressed one another, they went through the motions spiritually but their hearts were far from God.

Isaiah is called by God during this time to call backslidden Israel back to faithfulness to God.

And if you read Isaiah, you will find that it is a very dark book that can almost get depressing.

Over and over God promises that judgement is coming upon his people and all those who are wicked in His sight, BUT in the middle of all that judgement there is beacon of light that shines bright in chapter 9.

Chapter 9 is a prophecy about a day that is coming when all things will be changed from sadness to joy.

When the people will be freed from their oppressors and have peace.

A time when a kingdom will come that is marked with justice and righteousness.

A time when a great Light will shine and the gloom would be turned into gladness.

Prayer of Illumination

The situation in Israel

Isaiah 8:22 “Then they will look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be driven away into darkness.”

These were dark, gloomy, and hopeless days for God’s people.

Israel was not dark because God had forsaken them, it was dark because they had forsaken God

It was dark because of the path they had chosen to walk down.

They had stopped relying upon God

They no longer desired His wisdom or direction,

They looked to themselves for guidance

They practiced evil deeds

They were acting just like the pagan nations around them

They had chosen disobedience and even came to a point where they no longer acknowledged God as the true God.

I want you to back up to 8:19 and see how wicked Israel had become

Isaiah 8:19 “When they say to you, “Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,” should not a people consult their God?

Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?”

These were the people God that were now seeking answers for life among the dead.

Today we would refer to them as devil worshipers.

Because any spirit that is not of God’s Spirit is an evil spirit.

These are the people whom the Lord had circumcised to show they were in covenant with Him, whom He had saved from the house of slavery in Egypt, whom He had given the Promise Land to that was flowing with milk and honey, and now they will not even acknowledge God.

BUT despite all of this, God sends them a beacon of hope

(v 1) "But there will be no more gloom”

(v 1) “in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious”

In the middle of this darkness, God’s grace is shown

And it is not just a possibility of hope, but an absolute surety of better days ahead

Look at the next verse:

When is this verse referring to?

What part of the future?

This is the same verse that Matthew used in reference to Jesus

So the great hope of the people foretold by Isaiah was the coming of Jesus Christ

And the time that Isaiah is referring to is the age in which we live in today!

It is the the age in which the Light of the world had dawned

Church we are living in the days of hope!

The light has dawned!

We do not have to wonder what God’s salvation will be, we get to experience it like no other period of biblical history!

If one were to ask me had I rather lived today or 2700 years ago, I choose this day in which we live a thousand times over!

No matter how bad things get for me today, I have that hope that only Jesus Christ can bring

The entire Old Testament is pointing forward to this climax of The Deliverer that God would bring to save His people

Jesus is the great hope of Israel

And Jesus is the great hope for us today!

Isaiah then gives three reasons why these people in darkness can hope in this future

And each one of them is introduced by the word “for” (v 4,5, and 6)

1) Because the Lord will free them from their oppressors

Israel was under the rule of Assyria at this time

They were forced to pay heavy tribute

They were forced to serve them

They were under obligation to them.

Assyria owned them, unless they rebelled against the treaty and then they would be forced to fight.

And Israel could do nothing about it

Assyria was bigger, stronger, and had already whipped about every surrounding nation

Unless God saved them, they were hopeless

And that is exactly what God did

In 701 BC They rebelled against the treaty they made with Assyria

AND Assyria lined up around the walls of Jerusalem and it looked like certain death

But a man of God was on the throne at that time

And Hezekiah cried out to the Lord to save Jersualem from certain destruction

And in one night God wiped out 185,000 Assyrians

God saved the Holy City from certain destruction

2) Because peace will come upon them

The boots and the cloak represents battle garments

And the burning of the boots is a figurative way of saying these things will no longer be needed in Israel

All of this speaks of a time of peace that would come upon the nation

Israel had spent most of their lives as a nation at war

They had to fight to possess the Promise Land

They had to fight the nations to stay in the Promise Land

But God said, peace was coming

We know that Israel has never been in complete peace

After Assyria, Babylon came

After Babylon, Rome

But there is coming a day when God’s people will find everlasting peace

A time when wars will end, and sin will be no more

3) Because a child will be born