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
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
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
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
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
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.