REDEMPTION FROM THE DARKNESS OF SIN

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - wrote the hymn “ I heard the bells on Christmas day” after some very difficult personal events.

He had lost his wife due to serve burns due to accident in their home - in which he was unable to save her from

His son was shot and nearly paralyzed during the Civil War

While in Washington D.C. he sat to write a poem expressing the heaviness of his heart, when all of a sudden he heard Christmas and the lyrics of peace on earth being sung

The great hymn was birthed out of this experience.

We live in a desperate day

I heard stories this week of child neglect

Murder

Sexual abuse, etc...

Political posturing and bickering

But the most disturbing thing I was confronted with was something that is within me and you

There is something that we have in common with all these people

It is something inherited, and incurable for a mere human

It causes wars, suffering, and broken families/relationships

It calls for the wrath of God on us!

It is called sin! We have all rebelled against God and all the issues we find around us, but even more so in us is due to this condition!

What can be done? Do we wring our hands? Do we surrender to sin?

I come as a bearer of God News! God has acted on Behalf of us to redeem us from sin and restore us to himself!

Isaiah sees the judgement of God due on Israel (8) but in Chapter 9 God shows him this isn’t final — there is hope for sinners!

My prayer is that all here would receive redemption from sin in Jesus and rejoice in God for his glory and our salvation.

Let’s look at the first two aspects of this redemption.

Nevertheless - a conjunction - but, although

Points back to chapter 8 - The coming of the Assyrians and judgment through them on Israel

The Gloom - an atmosphere of depression.

There is an air of depression that feels the attitudes, thoughts, and interactions of the people who are under the judgment of God due to their sin

The Distressed Land - an oppressive state of physical, mental, social, and economic adversity.

They are suffering under the hand of God’s judgment — he sent the Assyrians

They have rejected him and looked elsewhere for help (8:19)

They have failed to keep the commandments - they have sought our other gods and have failed to honor Yahweh as holy.

They see only darkness: 22 They will look toward the earth and see only distress, darkness, and the gloom of affliction, and they will be driven into thick darkness.

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), .

God warned long ago that this would bring judgment/a curse: 20 The LORD will send against you curses, confusion, and rebuke in everything you do until you are destroyed and quickly perish, because of the wickedness of your actions in abandoning me. 21 The LORD will make pestilence cling to you until he has exterminated you from the land you are entering to possess. 22 The LORD will afflict you with wasting disease, fever, inflammation, burning heat, drought, blight, and mildew; these will pursue you until you perish. 23 The sky above you will be bronze, and the earth beneath you iron. 24 The LORD will turn the rain of your land into falling dust; it will descend on you from the sky until you are destroyed. 25 The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will march out against them from one direction but flee from them in seven directions. You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 26 Your corpses will be food for all the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the earth, with no one to scare them away.

Those who had the covenants, the testimony/Word of God, the Temple, and called to be a kingdom of priests, due to their sin were suffering in every way!

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), .

Sin ushers in death! There is pain and depression and defeat experienced in sin!

14 But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. 15 Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), .

Don’t let Satan fool you and don’t fool yourself - sin still leads to death and slavery not freedom!

34 Jesus responded, “Truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), .

Depression seems to be an epidemic during a time when we have more and more access to things and each other! It is linked with a rebellion against God!

Maybe you are here today and you know you are rebelling against God. You may be trying to walk according to your desires and find yourself more miserable and possibly in a state of suffering — sin has enslaved you and stolen life from you!

You are dead in sin, lost in sin, enslaved in sin — and we all have sinned.

It is not a life of glamour but of clamor!

Nevertheless!

Will not be like that of former times:

Humbled the land of Zebulun and the Land of Naphtali: These were the first places the Assyrians took over

The Assyrians were ruthless and treated people like they were of no value

God had sent them to show Israel what they were without him — the same as us — nothing!

Humbled - (hifil) to make one be treated lightly or despised

- the high society women of Samaria go from luxury to dragged out of the the city walls with fish hooks in their noses!

But - there is a contrast to what has been and will be!

In the Future he will bring honor - lit. to make glorious

This says more about God than the people/ than us!

God is willing to fill with value those who are his!

What sin has marred and ruined God will make glorious — He is faithful to his promises!

The shame of sin is overturned by God for those who are his!

To the way of the sea, the land east of the Jordan, and to Galilee of the nations:

This is where the majority of Jesus’ earthly ministry was done!

This is where the kingdom is tasted and seen!

God is willing to forgive and restore, redeem!

You aren’t remembered for your sin but his salvation!

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!

God desires to redeem and rescue even you - maybe you have turned on him — you don’t even want to be here today and your heart is far from here — know God is willing pursue you!

5 The LORD spoke to me again: 6 Because these people rejected the slowly flowing water of Shiloah and rejoiced with Rezin and the son of Remaliah, 7 the Lord will certainly bring against them the mighty rushing water of the Euphrates River—the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will overflow its channels and spill over all its banks.

6 Because these people rejected

the slowly flowing water of Shiloah

and rejoiced with Rezin

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), .

and the son of Remaliah,

7 the Lord will certainly bring against them

the mighty rushing water of the Euphrates River—

the king of Assyria and all his glory.

It will overflow its channels

and spill over all its banks.

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), .

These people rejected him but he promised redemption to them!

Ill. The greatest showman - poor, hit it big, he went from shame to fame, dishonor to being before the Queen of England

The people walking in darkness - they are living in their sin, with no light, no hope of a new day!

Have seen a great light; a light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness:

Seen - as though it has already happened

Land of Darkness - this is a place that is depressed, hopeless, a place of death and destruction

A Light has dawned, a great light - an exceeding light, beyond what they had seen or could have imagined!

Seen - as though it has already happened: healing, and wholeness are before them!

In the place riddled by sin and unable to do anything about their condition a light has come!

Light is a person - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. 4 In him was life,,g and that life was the light of men. 5 That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.

5 For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’s sake. 6 For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ. .

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), .

You don’t have to live in darkness the light has dawned!

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), .

You have enlarged the nation — what was just a remnant is now ever expanding!

31 He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It’s the smallest of all the seeds, but when grown, it’s taller than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches.” 33 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and mixed into fifty pounds of flour until all of it was leavened.”

31 He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It’s the smallest of all the seeds, but when grown, it’s taller than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches.”

33 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and mixed into fifty pounds of flour until all of it was leavened.”

The kingdom of God looks small - starts with a man preaching in the wilderness, then a man who performs miracles and preaches with authority with his 12 followers - but now is world-wide and has been expanding ever since!

And increased its joy - What was gloom and depression is now gladness!

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), .

They people have rejoiced before you:

God is not hiding his face any longer

17 I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob. I will wait for him.

who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob.

I will wait for him.

People can now come into the presence of God again — one way Jesus ()

Sinners can come! You can come to God today because he has chosen to give light and restore Joy to sinners!

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), .

Instead of death - there is life, instead of hunger and dejection their is joy and plenty(8:21)!

Like at harvest time or when dividing spoils:

There is provision from God and victory!

God gives us these through Jesus!

The Bread of life and victor! (Jesus feeds the 5,000 and has defeated Satan)!

How has this happened?

You = God

Shattered their oppressive yoke and the staff of the oppressor:

Shattered - (hifil) to break/destroy the integrity of something by force, causing it to separate into pieces or fragments

The yoke of slavery and the staff of oppression (burden) have been destroyed beyond repair

There is a finality to this — You are free for good! The oppressor has no way to control you now!

34 Jesus responded, “Truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. 35 A slave does not remain in the household forever, but a son does remain forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.

You no longer have to obey sin! You are free!

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), .

Satan wants you to believe you are bound in sin but Jesus has come and set you free if you have believed and him and you no longer must sin!

If you are still in bondage you can be set free through Jesus!

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus,,am 2 because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 What the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering,,as 4 in order that the law’s requirement would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their minds set on the things of the Spirit. 6 Now the mind-set of the flesh is death, but the mind-set of the Spirit is life and peace.

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), .

No more war - the wars that Israel had been in since arriving in the Promised Land were due to sin.

They became a vassal state - humiliated by Assyria

But now there is no more fighting — because the root cause has been taken care of — sin!

What a wonderful and impossible thing to have in this life on our own — peace!

Yet there is no more war!

War with who? Others, yes! But the biggest reason there is war is that we war against God!

He has made the way of peace and is the source of it!

Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 We have also obtained access through him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

How wonderful! God has ended the war we started with him, which is the source of all war! And, He has announced it to us!

8 In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: 11 Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: 14 Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people he favors!

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 2

8 In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: 11 Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger.”

13 Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying:

14 Glory to God in the highest heaven,

and peace on earth to people he favors!

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), .

You may be on the run from God, but you can be at peace with him today!

8 In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: 11 Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger.”

8 In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: 11 Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying:

13 Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying:

You may be rebelling and hostile toward him but in Jesus the one he has sent you can be at peace! Free!

14 Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people he favors!

14 Glory to God in the highest heaven,

and peace on earth to people he favors!

We see these things as Jesus teaches, heals, forgives sins, and takes on the religious establishment of his day — the kingdom!

You can be a part of it in him!

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), .

Ill.

We are fallen people in a fallen world - we suffer due to sin

Left on our own we are doomed, living in darkness, and when we die we will be cast into the outer darkness forever!

But God is merciful and mighty and desires to redeem!

He has promised redemption and has made good on his promise — there is hope, joy, freedom, and peace available to us through Jesus God the Son who has come for us!

Have you recieved him? Do so! Respond to the light and receive his glorious salvation!

Rejoice before him church! We act too often like we are famished and enslaved instead of living in his bounty and freedom! We are too troubled instead of at peace!

Be redeemed

Be baptized

Be a part of this fellowship

Be joyful and worship

Be broken and pray

REDEMPTION FROM THE DARKNESS OF SIN

INTRODUCTION:

I. THE PROMISE OF REDEMPTION (1)

A. The Gloom of Sin

B. The Glory of Salvation

II. THE PURPOSE OF REDEMPTION (2-5)

A. Hope Restored (2)

B. Joy Restored (3)

C. Freedom Restored (4)

D. Peace Restored (5)

III. THE PERSON OF REDEMPTION (6-7)

A. The Gift of A Baby Boy (6a)

B. The Gift of A Governor (6b)

C. The Gift of An Awe Inspiring Counselor (6c)

D. The Gift of A Divine General (6d)

E. The Gift of An Eternal Provider (6e)

F. The Gift of A Peace-Keeping Ruler (6f)

G. The Gift of A Long-Promised Kingdom (7)

CONCLUSION:

Summation:

Invitation: