06AM December 10 Isaiah 53 1_6
December 10, 2006—Morning Worship
What Christmas Really Means – Part 3
A Root Out of Dry Ground
Soils in Which the Savior Can Grow
Isaiah 53:1-6
Intro: The grass that grows in my back yard is very similar in many ways to the hair that grows on my head. Let me explain—you see; each blade of grass is similar to each strand of hair. Each blade of grass must have a root system & each strand of hair must have its roots. The ground in which my grass grows supplies the nourishment needed to sustain a good stand of grass & the skin in which my hair grows supplies the nourishment needed to sustain healthy hair.
But sometimes the ground does not supply what is needed for grass to grow. Sometimes the ground is dry & hard. Sometimes my skin does not supply what is needed to grow hair. Sometimes it’s dry or scaly & hair just won’t grow.
Jesus told a parable about different kinds of soil, using the gospel as the seed & the soils as the seedbed. But it was Isaiah, through the word of the Lord that came to him, who 1st used this illustration as he related the impact of the life, death & resurrection of Jesus Christ. One of the amazing facts related to Christmas is that Isaiah made these prophetic utterances roughly 750 years before Jesus was born as the Babe in Bethlehem.
Now, our text for today is usually read at Easter as we speak of the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the Cross. But today, we want to use these vv. as a spring board into the 3rd message of our series “What Christmas Really Means.” Let’s read our text today from Isaiah’s prophecy found in chapter 53 of the book that bears his name, in the 1st 6 vv.
READ Isaiah 53:1-6
Isaiah spoke the prophetic words of v. 2: "For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, & as a root out of dry ground." The "dry ground" of which Isaiah spoke consisted of the humble circumstances of Jesus’ birth, His growth & development, His nationality, the politics of His day, & the disciples whom He trained. Yet, the "root" sprang up & continues to spring up & thrive in the hardest & driest of soil. So, let’s reflect on the "hard soil" in which Jesus takes root & thrives.
We will speak 1st of the hard soil of…
1. The Human Heart.
The Lord Jesus never finds the human heart to be fertile soil. It’s characterized by darkness, greed, envy & pride. In the human heart He finds not sickness, but death. This has been illustrated through the ages by the dramatic conversion of people like…
A. Saul of Tarsus AKA the Apostle Paul.
1. Saul of Tarsus, the great persecutor of the early church, his hard & callous heart became the seedbed of the gospel.
2. In his own testimony Paul said that he felt as if he was doing service to God when he was persecuting Christians
3. He arrested them; tortured them; imprisoned them; beat them & killed them
4. & yet, after Paul’s conversion, God used him mightily in the development of the church
5. In fact, Paul is the author of 13 NT books & his life & words have inspired many believers throughout the centuries to walk w/God through a personal relationship w/Jesus
6. But even in all that, Paul said that he was chief among sinners & that in his flesh nothing good dwells
7. What an encouragement to someone who feels his heart is too deeply stained for God to accept him!
8. & what an encouragement to someone whose current place in life might be characterized as dry & barren!
9. God took Saul of Tarsus from the dry & barren desert of religion & placed him in the lush & fertile fields of grace through Jesus Christ
10. & if God could do it w/someone like Saul of Tarsus, He can do it w/you, too!
But it’s not just Biblical characters whose hearts are hardened that God reaches. Let’s look a little closer to modern history at the life of…
B. Augustine AKA Augustine of Hippo
1. Up until the age of 31, Augustine had lived a life of hedonism
2. A technical definition for Hedonism is, “the ethical doctrine that pleasure, variously conceived of in terms of happiness of the individual or of society, is the principal good and proper aim of action”
3. Put more simply hedonism is, “the theory that a person always acts in such a way as to seek pleasure and avoid pain”
4. IOW hedonism is “the self-indulgent pursuit of pleasure as a way of life”
5. Before our conversion to faith in Christ, every one of us was a hedonist
6. & Augustine lived it to the max; he lived w/a woman for many years who was not his wife & to them a son was born
7. In his book Confessions written after his conversion, Augustine writes about the youthful lusts that enticed him & deceived him
8. His heart was consumed w/hedonism & hardened w/indifference to the faith of his mother who prayed constantly for him
9. However he knew what he was doing was wrong but he was still unwilling to give it up & at one point even prayed, “Oh, Lord, give me chastity but do not give it yet”
10. After God saved Augustine, he went on to be known as one of the greatest theologians in early church history & was a great inspiration to the Reformers, like Martin Luther & John Calvin.
11. If God could do it w/someone like Augustine, He can do it w/you, too!
But it’s not just Bible characters & early church fathers whose hearts God changes. It’s also everyday people in contemporary life like…
C. Dennis AKA your Pastor.
1. My Mom & Dad were both believers & took my brother & I to church regularly
2. At the age of 5, during an invitation at a Sunday night service, I told my folks I wanted “to go down to the front”
3. My Mom asked my Day & said, “Let him go” & so I did
4. Apparently I told the pastor that I wanted to be baptized & he called my Dad down to the front & asked him what to do & my Dad said, “Baptize him”
5. So I was the youngest person ever baptized at 2nd Baptist Church, KM
6. No one ever told my about repentance & I doubt I would have understood it
7. Sometime between the ages of 10 & 12, at another invitation time, I came under deep, heavy, tons of conviction but I would not move or submit to God’s drawing
8. Sometime after that, the pastor preached about “sinning away your day of grace” which meant “there will come a time when you resist & God will not draw you anymore”
9. I was convinced that since I didn’t respond to God’s call before, that I was now doomed to Hell – but somehow I was convinced that it wasn’t going to be that bad
10. From time to time during my teen years I felt a little twinge of conviction, but I chalked it up to a guilty conscience – which I definitely had
11. After Patricia & I were married & had kids, she wanted to get our kids in church
12. & so to keep peace in the family, I took them to different churches but I knew before I walked in that I was going to find something I didn’t like so I didn’t have to go back
13. We went to Sandy Plains & Richard Brown preached that day on eternal security but I didn’t believe a word of it
14. & then we came here several times & several people visited us at home & I hated every minute of it – but God was using all of it to draw me to Himself
15. One night I sat under conviction in my own living room & prayed for God to save me – but nothing happened
16. The next Sunday we came to church & God in grace & love called again & gave me sense enough to respond
17. & last Sunday was the 12th anniversary of this church calling me to be the pastor
18. If God could do it w/someone like me, He can do it w/you, too!
Now that’s just a brief look at the hard soil of the human heart, but Jesus Christ can take root & grow in that kind of soil & Jesus can also grow in the hard soil of…
2. The Human Culture.
Evidence surrounds us that our culture is barren & dry; & to see that you only need to survey the world of entertainment. Examine the ugly side of the Internet or the content of much of this culture's popular music. Whether it be on television or in the curriculum of a typical secular university, you find much barren & dry soil. The living Christ, however, takes root & thrives in the dry soil of an ungodly culture.
This has always been true & can be seen in…
A. The History of the World to Christ’s Coming.
1. Since Adam fell by choosing to sin; choosing to disobey God’s word, the world has been plunged into sin
2. Romans 5 18a …through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation
3. John 3 18 "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, b/c he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
4. Romans 5 19 For…by one man's disobedience many were made sinners
5. John 1 10 He was in the world, & the world was made through Him, & the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, & His own did not receive Him.
6. They did not know Him & did not receive Him b/c they did not know Him
7. & speaking to Pilate, Jesus said in John 18 37b …Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice
8. & so it was as it has always been revealed in the Bible, God always has His remnant of true believers
9. But the world was lost in sin w/o hope w/o Christ & God sent His Son into the world, “that the world through Him might be saved.”
10. & so even in that hardness of soil of rebellion, rejection & resistance, Jesus took root & grew
But then the Church fell into error & hardness grew again as we find…
B. The History of the Church to the Reformation’s Coming.
1. The Church in those days would not let the common people read the Bible
2. It was only for those w/training; only for those w/understanding
3. & yet those very people; the leaders of the church, had led the average person further into disbelief & error than into faith & faithfulness
4. They taught that a person went to purgatory, a hellish holding area, until they were either prayed out or bought out.
5. You see, it happened that St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome needed renovations & to raise the funds to do it, the church sold “indulgences” – kind of like “get out of jail free” cards
6. Johann Tetzel, the commissioner of indulgences in Germany had said, “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.”
7. This infuriated Martin Luther & on Oct. 31, 1517, he nailed his 95 Theses on the door of the Church in Wittenberg demanding a “disputation w/the Archbishop”
8. That began the long road of recovering Scriptural authority, a fight that still goes on today even in our own denomination
9. But God tore away the blinders in those days & opened the Bible to the common man for him to learn about God
Those dark days gave way to…
C. The History of this Time until the Lord’s Coming.
1. As the Reformers planted the rediscovered gospel of grace, the living Christ sprang up as a vibrant plant.
2. Think about David Wilkerson proclaiming the gospel in the barren territory of New York City gangs—only to see lives changed by the living Christ who sprang up in the most unlikely places.
3. Think about God sending Herbert to Africa to witness about Christ to the lost in that dark place
4. Think about God sending many of us to Romania to share the good news of Jesus Christ w/those in the hard hearted land of oppression & unbelief
5. Think about God sending the Riedles to minister to the Muslims in Chad, Africa; Ed Lacy to Communist Cuba; Randy Lowe to El Salvador; the Clarks to Papua New Guinea; & the list goes on & on
6. So we should not lose heart. The seed is planted & watered even in the hardest & driest of soils.
7. & then, in His own time, Christ springs up & grows, changing lives & cultures.
8. You see, it’s not just OUR culture He changes – but it’s the HUMAN culture of anytime & anyplace in this world
Christ can enter into the hard soil of the human heart & the human culture &…
3. The Human Experience.
There are certain areas of the world where the soil is unusually hard & dry. But speaking…
A. Spiritually, it’s exciting!
1. The resistance to the gospel is strong & sometimes met w/hostility.
2. There are places where the messenger is in grave danger as he seeks to plant the seed.
3. But, in God's time, the seed sprouts.
4. Think of China enslaved for decades by oppressive Marxism during the twentieth century. Yet as doors began to open late in the century, it became obvious that the living Christ had taken root & flourished there w/literally millions of believers
5. God is able to do abundantly, exceedingly above all that we can think or imagine
& so speaking…
B. Emotionally, it’s taxing!
1. Think of the drift of the modern church in some parts of the world toward ministries totally devoid of the historic gospel message.
2. There are even churches like that in America & even here in our own county
3. Those of us who attempt to remain faithful are inclined to develop an Elijah complex, assuming that all hope is lost.
4. & you don’t know how easy it is to become discouraged & think that you’re the only one left!
5. Yet the history of the church is full of stories of the living Christ springing up in the midst of the sleepy, drifting church.
6. Ladies & gentlemen, we need to pray that God would move in our midst; that God would take root & spring up in the church in America today
7. Speaking emotionally, it’s taxing
But speaking…
C. Physically, it’s demanding!
1. Think of families that appear hopeless: the husband totally consumed in patterns of destruction to his marriage & family
2. Think of marriages that are in disarray & on the verge of dissolving
3. Think of children in rebellion. Only the eyes of faith could see the living Christ taking root in places such as these.
4. Ministry is demanding physically – it won’t keep you in shape physically but it will demand that physically you go whenever you’re needed—to help wherever you can
5. & we need to remember that all of us are called to ministry
6. Every member is a minister for the glory of God to help shoulder the load & share the love of Christ w/those in need
& that’s why, speaking of it…
D. Completely, it’s amazing!
1. Testimonies abound of the gospel doing what trained counselors could never do as the living Christ is embraced
2. We hear every Sunday night how God is at work in us to reach others & provide for the needs of the Body
3. God is amazing! His grace is sufficient! His mercy endures forever! His word is sure! His promises are true! His truth endures to all generations!
4. & God sent His Son Jesus, to come into this world & take on flesh & to spring up before Him as a root that miraculously grows out of dry, barren, desert ground
Conclusion: This is the message of Christmas: no circumstance, no matter how hopeless, is beyond the reach of the One who takes root in the most barren & driest places imaginable. Nothing is too hard for Him! Nothing is impossible for Him! & He came just for you; to save you; to redeem you; to draw you & claim you as His own!
Offer Him the soil of your barren, broken & hopeless circumstances. & then expect Him to do what He has done through the ages—grow up as a tender plant & overshadow your life & circumstance w/His grace.
Invitation: Prayer: O God, if there is someone here today w/o a personal relationship w/You through Jesus Christ, I pray You would call them to Yourself today & that they would respond w/repentance & faith. & God if there is someone here who has strayed away from the pathway on which You placed them, I pray You would call them back to repentance & back to a close walk w/You right now.
God, I pray that You would be glorified in this time & through this people in Jesus’ name.
Would you come to Jesus by faith by repenting of your sin & asking Him to forgive you? Would you come today & seek a renewed relationship w/God?
My prayer today is that you would come & worship the King w/your life as we stand & sing…
Hymn 16 O Worship the King