Isaiah 9 Sermon - Dr. Joel Gregory

0:08 Well, bless the Lord, O my soul, that all that is within him bless, bless his holy name. Would you be seated in the presence of the Lord? It's such a grace and a joy to be invited yet once again by my dear friend, your founder and senior pastor from Graffty West, senior thank you, Pastor, for inviting me to come this way and be part of the church this morning and to join those not only here but beyond here. You might be surprised to know across this country as I'm here and there and there preaching east, west, north, and south, how many people join in your worship by the thousands and thousands across this country. You're a blessing. And surely the Lord inhabits the praises of His people. Have we not been blessed by this music, by these children, by this ensemble?

1:06 God does inhabit the praises of his people. I want to ask you this morning to join with me on this front porch of the Christmas season with Thanksgiving behind us and the Advent season ahead of us in Isaiah's ninth chapter. If you turn over in the Old Testament to this statesman prophet, this seer who saw clearly eight centuries before the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, so clearly in chapters 7, 9, and 11 and elsewhere, that it's stunning to read these promises made in the eighth century before Christ, 2,800 years ago from us concerning our Lord's coming, predictive promises. I'm going to read to you from this ninth chapter and see how it speaks to us about that coming somebody.

2:11 From the first verse of Isaiah 9 and following. there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time, he brought contempt, the land of Zebulun and Naphtali. But in the latter time, he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. People walked in darkness. They've seen a great light. Those who lived in a land of steep darkness, on them a light has shined. You've multiplied the nation. You've increased its joy. They rejoice before you as with a joy at harvest. These people exult when dividing plunder.

3:05 The yoke of their burden and the bar across their shoulders. the rod of the oppressor you've broken as on the day of Midian all the boots of tramping warriors all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for fire that's what God will do but who will do it for a child has been born for us a son given to us authority rests upon his shoulders And he's named wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace. His authority shall grow continually and there shall be endless peace. For the throne of David and his kingdom, he will establish and uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time onward and forevermore.

4:04 the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. This is the word of God. Let's pray. Eternal God. we've adored you and praised you magnified your name in song and praise now we ask as we wait before you believing that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God may we so hear that it reconstitutes our faith each one of us I pray these words written by this poet prophet so long ago might catch fire with the Spirit of God leap off these pages of pen and ink and be the living Word of God for us today for we plead it in Jesus name Amen please be seated in the presence of the Lord a coming as somebody I was being driven back from a church in St. John's Parish, River Parish in Louisiana, to the New Orleans airport. When looking out of the car, I saw a billboard for a spiritualist. You know, one of those soothsayers, palm readers, you know the kind of place, but this was a little sign. It was a billboard. I told the pastor, this must be a very successful soothsayer. And he said, well, really not. I said, how so? Well, said her husband disappeared and she needed to find him. So she hired a private detective. And when her customers found out that she couldn't soothsay where her husband was and used a private detective, it put her out business. If you're going to be a prophet, you need to be a prophet for yourself.

6:09 Now, sometimes predictions can be funny, or sometimes they can just be fun. You look at sports predictions. Some of you remember Super Bowl number three in 1969 when the Colts were the prohibitive favorites. The young quarterback for the New York Jets said, we will win. the Super Bowl and Broadway Joe Namath entered into American history because of that sports prediction that came true. Not a football player in 1929, the World Series. The Cubs and the Yankees were at one of the throat. They were talking smack. Babe Ruth had had it. He pointed to the flagpole in center field and then hit a curveball 490 feet. Ever since then, it's been called the called shot. It was a prediction. Those kind of predictions are just fun. Now, some predictions are too far off. I was listening to an astronomer the other day, and he said, five billion years from now, our galaxy is going to run into the Andromeda galaxy and nothing will be left.

7:23 I'm not real worried about that myself five billion years from now. But then spiritual and religious predictions can have a more serious impact. Back in the 19th century, 1843, William Miller, who had studied Daniel and Revelation for 12 years, said Jesus would return within a year. the Millerites and that included Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists all sorts of people by the tens of thousands repented, confessed got ready to meet Jesus and he didn't come so Miller said well I've miscalculated it actually will be October 21st of 1844 he didn't come they called it the great disappointment when you come to biblical promises, however.

8:24 Like those in the prophet Isaiah, you're standing not only on more certain ground, you're standing on astonishing ground. Eight centuries before the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Son of Man, in this passage, did you hear it? this prophet said light will come into Galilee. There's 69 mentions of Galilee in the Bible. Nine of them are in the Old Testament. But this one here says when times are as dark as dark can be, God will intervene in this tiny place called Galilee. Now, let me do a comparative thought experience. Just stay with me just a minute.

9:19 Here's a thought experiment. Let's suppose in A.D. 1200, 800 years ago, some prophet had written down that when things were as bad as bad could be, when one of the evil men of all of history wanted to conquer the earth, there would be an invasion on the coast of Normandy in France that would be the end of him. That is, that prophet would have predicted D-Day, June 6th. Why? If that were to happen, if you found a manuscript 800 years old that predicted death, it would startle the whole world. It would be top of the news. It would be a stunning event. And yet you're holding exactly the same thing right here. 800 years before the birth of Jesus. It was predicted.

10:15 Now the context of these times is set in verse 1 and 2. Ahaz was the king of God's holy people. That had shrunk down to a tiny kingdom, Judah and Benjamin. He was the 12th king since David, and he was an awful king. He had stripped the temple of its gold and silver and given it to the Assyrians, the worst enemies of God's people. But even more than that, on Sunday morning in any collective group, I couldn't even describe what he had done to the worship of the living God. On every high and holy hill, there was a shrine to immorality. it was to put it in today's colloquialism as if you were having a church in some kind of triple x store it's unspeakable what he had done the times were so dark that you can't even describe them in a Sunday morning service but look what the prophet says the prophet says in the darkest of dark times.

11:29 God's promises shine the brightest. Now we're living today in clouded times. All you have to do is turn on the news. In that very land where this was prophesied, isn't it interesting? All of these 2800 years, since then the attention of the world is where? On Israel. This same place. And that's having an impact on our own country. A close friend of mine who's pastor of one of the largest churches in New York City is so certain that something is about to happen there that he has put aside a month of food for his own large church staff. And he's drawn out of the bank a month's salary in cash because he's so certain that something's going to happen once again in that city. We're not living in easy times. But I wanted to come back from this biblical prophecy to tell you whatever it may be, God's promises shine the brightest when things look the darkest. And that's got somebody's name on it here. I'm not here to give a history lesson today about 2,800 years ago.

12:50 And I want to throw this verse in somebody's lap. Somebody just had a thankless Thanksgiving. Truth be told out of the thousands of people here and beyond here. So anything for you to be thankful about? I don't know why. Your own life, alienation in the family, loss, division, maybe bank account. Empty, misunderstanding, at work, wherever. It was a thankless Thanksgiving. Now we're on the front porch of Christmas. One somebody listening to me saying, as far as I'm concerned, I wish Christmas was past too. This is a word for you. And I want to underscore that when things for you are the darkest. that's when God's promises shine the brightest.

13:47 Verse 9 starts in a minor key, not a major key, a sad, dolorous key. It says there'll be gloom, there's no gloom for those who were in anguish in the former time. You know, if you went up there, the very corner of this cathedral, and if you lit a birthday cake candle, and if this were totally shut down and there was not a light in here and you couldn't see your hand in front of your face, do you know you'd see the light of that candle? The fact is physically, darkness does not quench light. The very nature of light is to shine into the darkness. And for that one somebody you hear right now who says, I'm stumbling around and lost, there's light in that darkness.

14:46 Now think about this. This names the place where Jesus was born. Look at the Galilee of the nations. You have to understand when we think of Galilee, we think of a sweet place where Jesus ministered, walked on the water, stilled the storm. That's not the way Galilee was looked at at this time. It was in the far north, and it was considered way off from the capital in Jerusalem. It was considered a place of contempt because the people who lived there were the first to be invaded by Israel's invaders. It was considered to be a marginalized place because the people who lived there had to intermingle with Gentiles and the greatest hatred in the ancient world was between Jews and Gentiles and the folks who lived in Galilee had to deal with Gentiles. And not only that, They just sounded different.

15:40 You remember when Peter was denying Jesus, one of them said, you must be from Galilee. You've got that kind of accent. It was a place of contempt and marginalization and darkness and foreignness and alienation. But the word says at that place is where the Lord Jesus Christ came. He didn't come to Rome, the center of the empire, to Athens where the philosophers were, even to Jerusalem where he came to Galilee. Somebody here this morning is living, as it were, in that kind of Galilee. You know, when you think of this promise, just think of this. There are 57 million square miles of dirt on this planet. I don't know who measured it, but that's what they say. 57 million square miles of dirt. In Israel, there are only 8,500.

16:37 hundred. Isaiah could have predicted anywhere on this planet that the light would shine. But instead, he said in this tiny place called Galilee, out of the gloom and darkness, someone's going to come to say, I myself am the light of the world. You know, we celebrate Christmas because of that light. What appeared? A star that was so bright, astrologers followed, angels speaking to shepherds in the light what happens to the one who came there he came we celebrate it at in the solstice of the winter the winter solstice when darkness lasts is the longer what was the most characteristic thing jesus did he healed the blind so they could see and then he said, I am the light of the world. Consider that promise made these 2,800 years. Now Isaiah was looking forward to it. We look backward at Isaiah looking forward to that event. It was eight centuries before it happened. We look back 2,000 years to that event, but then we look over it at Isaiah who predicted it. The light of this promise shines all the way from the pages of that promise 2,800 years ago. If you go out in West Texas where there's not any ambient light out around Marfa or Alpine or where the McDonald Observatory is, you can look up and see the stars in the Milky Way. In fact, you can look into the constellation of Gemini and you can see a cluster of 200 stars with your naked eye do you know how long it took that light to get to your eye 2,800 years just as long ago as Isaiah made this promise and I didn't come to give an astronomy lecture, but listen. When that light hits your eye, it took it as long as it did for Isaiah's

18:49 prophecy to hit your ears. But that light is the light of the world to this very day. God's light shines brightest when things seem to be the darkest. Go back to the front porch of your Bible, Genesis. When Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden, it wrote a death sentence on their life and on the human race. But right outside that garden, the light shined. God spoke to the talking snake. You remember the talking snake spoke to Eve? Eve spoke. God talked to the talking snake and there was light. He said, snake, you bit their heel. But before I'm finished, they're going to have a son whose heel will crush your head God has always spoken light when there's no you don't like that think of Passover Passover feast death of the firstborn midnight the angel of death passes over but what's the light everyone who put the blood of a lamb on that door post top to bottom either side it's the shape of a cross they were saved at Passover.

20:09 God's promises always shine brightest in the darkness. Now what do we mean when we say you're walking in darkness? Well, if you walk in the dark, you lose your way. If you're walking in a place where you hardly see your hand in front of your face, you lose your way. What does it mean to walk in darkness? It means to stumble. You don't see the impediments and the frustrations of life. It's like they rise up and they surprise you. For those of us who are over 65, we have to be very careful about stumbling. What does it mean to walk in darkness? Enemies lurk in the darkness. People who won't come out in the light of day come out under darkness. And I didn't come, I said, to give an ancient history lecture about Isaiah because when it talks about people walking in the darkness, that's got somebody's thumbprint on it listening to me.

21:09 You're walking in the darkness. Somebody has lost your way you didn't mean to. It wasn't your intention, but your moral compass has been lost, and it no longer points to any north star. And the further you go, the further away you are. You're walking in darkness. You stumble in the darkness. This can happen to any of us. we wake up one day not expecting to strike our foot against some impediment in life. And then you're stumbling at home, at work, at play, at school. And you've also discovered that there's enemies lurking in the darkness.

21:48 The prince of the power of the air works in the darkness. This isn't just about Galilee 2,000 years ago. It's about the life of all of us and the fact that Christ alone brings the light of life. This message has somebody's thumbprint on it today. You needed to come by and find out how is there a way out. The same God who made this accurate promise eight centuries before it happened is the same God who says to you, if you will draw near to me, I will draw near to you. It's the same God who said he's able to save those to the uttermost who come to him. He's the same God who says, I'm not willing that any should perish. You see, the devil doesn't fight fair.

22:42 He'll put you in the dark. You'll stumble, you'll fall, and the enemies will come out of the dark, and he will tell you it's too late for you. That's a lie straight out of hell. It's not too late for you today, and if you came in here this morning, the word of God is the same God who promised his first coming is the God who can promise his coming right into your life right now now that's what he's going to do but let me tell you how he's going to do it and I'll sit down that's that's the sweetness about this you you can you can read this passage before verse six and it has the Lord Jesus and the church all over it you you read verse 2 that you have multiplied the nation the israel nation was depleted by this time they'd been carried off in exile he would begin his holy people all over the world with the church you've increased its joy that's the fruit of the spirit the yoke of a burden has been lifted jesus said come to me all you that labor and are heavy laden and i'll give you rest he's all over this but but But look at these names.

23:55 When you come to this, God will do it all through a son. And the interesting thing in verse 6, for unto us a child has been born. Unto us a son has been given. He writes of a future event by using the past tense. Now, I didn't come by to be a grammarian either, but God's promises are so sure that he can write of what will happen eight centuries in the future as if it had already happened in the past.

24:29 This seeing prophet looking toward that cradle, that Bethlehem, says to us, a son has been born. To us, a child has been given. It has already happened and it was 800 years in the future. Now, you're familiar with these four names. This is the heartbeat of Christmas. What wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace. You know, kings get to have more than one or two names. King Charles III of England is actually named Charles Philip Arthur George. If you're a king, you get more names because you're the king. Well, if that's true of Chuck III, how much more is it true of the king of kings, Lord of lords?

25:32 His name is what? Wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace. In fact, you can't run out of names for him. He's Savior. He's Master. He's Lord. He's Messiah. He's the bright and morning star. Revelation says when he comes again, he'll have a name nobody even knows yet. Well, here you've got four of these names. Would you camp here just a minute with me? First of all, literally it says he's a wonder of a counselor. You ever think about this? Jesus never asked for counseling himself. In fact, he didn't ask for advice, did he? In the four gospels, did he ever scratch his head and say, now what will we do next? No, he's a wonder of a counselor. Now counseling is good and we need it and can use it.

26:28 I have, some of you have, but let me say this. The wonder of a counselor is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Over in John 14, 15, 16, where he's called the paraclete, the comforter, it means someone called. alongside to help. You know, we measure human greatness by how many counselors and advisors a person can have. We do. CEO has a whole floor full of vice presidents. President of university has a whole cabinet of vice presidents and council general has a whole staff. Anywhere you touch humanity. A king has courtiers around his throne advising him. Humans are great because of the number of counselors they have. Jesus is great because he didn't have any counselor. He was the wonder of a counselor. That's a promise to you. But look at this next thing. He's named, and remember this is an orthodox Jew writing this.

27:32 Isaiah. He's called the mighty God. Now Judaism is a religion of monotheism they say. But here this Jew in Jerusalem, a Hebrew person, looking 800 years in the mess, said this mighty God has an eternal son and he's going to come in the flesh. And when you see those little fingers of that baby in the crutch, those are the fingers of Almighty God in human flesh. When you see that tiny forehead and the baby's locks on it, that's the mind of Almighty God. When you see that man in a boat stilling a storm, that's Almighty God who made every ocean there ever was. When you see him fronting that gathering full of demons, that's Almighty God. This promise is not the coming of a religious genius.

28:27 It's the promise of coming of the incarnate Son of God. Then look at that third name. There it is, the everlasting Father. Sometimes that's translated the Father of eternity. That means there never was a time when Jesus was not. What does John 1 say? The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. I think we skip over that too quickly. there never was a time when he was not. And there never will be a time when he will not be. That's why he would say before Abraham was,

29:09 I am. He's the eternal father. We mere finite mortal dying fathers leave here one by one. Many families, the death of a father is one of the biggest markers in the life of a family. It was in mine, maybe in yours. Seven out of ten women at the cemetery are widows bearing a husband, children bear a father. The fact of human fatherhood is it's finite. It's limited. Human fathers, good or bad, leave. What we need is an everlasting father, figure, protector, guide, guard. He was given that name. And then look at this last name, the Prince of Peace. He was the one who said, blessed are the peacemakers. They'll be called the children of God. You know, princes are usually distinguished for being exactly the opposite of that. I think about one of the greatest princes in history, Alexander the Great. His father was king of Macedonia. Alexander was raised to bring war. His father said, kill the Persians. I want you to kill the last Persian left. Alexander became famous killing Persians and then he couldn't quit.

30:34 He just kept on going all the way to India. He was a prince who brought anything but peace. He died at the same age Jesus died. Alexander the Great died in a drinking bout in Babylon, drunk himself to death at age 33. He was a prince of war. The prince of peace died at the same age on the cross and made peace with God and peace for you and me. He's the prince of peace. And if you're ever going to know, you know, we're dealing today with the absurdity, the insoluble difficulty of this war in Israel. The Israelites and Hamas. If you go back in history, that very place where the Prince of Peace came has been the site of one absurd conflict after another. It really has.

31:30 One of the worst wars in the West ever was the Crimean War, 1853 to 1856. Awful war. And you know what started it? It's absurd. It started over the silver star in Bethlehem over the birthplace of Jesus. Here's how perverse humanity is. An Eastern Orthodox monk stole the silver star in 1847. It led to a war where Russia and Turkey went to war with England and France and the Roman Catholic Church versus the Eastern Orthodox Church, a war over the star where Jesus was born. That's how addicted humanity is to conflict.

32:20 But wait a minute. There's something more absurd than that. And that's the war going on in me. there's a war going on every one of us I can speak about it in the first person there's a war inside joy there's a war between spirit and flesh there's a war between greed that wants to grasp and generosity that wants to let go there's a war between pride look at who I am and humility.

33:00 There's a war between wanting to do it my way and wanting to do it his way. There's a war. I could go on and make the list as long as you want to make. For me standing and talking about a war 2,800 years ago is not the point. The point is there's a war inside of me and you too and you won't know peace until the Prince of Peace brings his authority to your life. Out of the thousands of people here and those of you listening beyond here somewhere, this has your DNA on this message. You are a walking civil war. And the gavel is not in anybody's hand in the parliament of your personality. The good news is he's the Prince of Peace. And before he left, he said, my peace I give to you.

34:00 Not as the world gives, give I unto you. In fact, every phrase in this echoes the gospels, Jesus. This says to us, a child has been born. what did the angels Gabriel what did he tell those shepherds go and you're going to find a what a baby a child or unto us a son is given what did that voice say when Jesus was baptized you are my son the beloved one what does this this scripture say it says he's going to have authority endless authority well what did he say just before he left all authority is given to me in heaven and in earth what does this passage say he's going to be a son of david when you look at his ancestry.com in genesis and luke through his legal ancestry of joseph a descendant of david through his biological ancestry a descendant of david through mary the dna of david everywhere where you touch this.

35:19 He's the fulfillment. But the most important words in this entire passage, I think, for you, are the words for us. In the Hebrew, they're in the emphatic position in the front of verse, for us. See, I want to put my name there. It doesn't make me any difference if it's for everybody.

35:43 But put your name there. For Joel, Put your name there. For you, a wonderful counselor. For you, a mighty God. For you, an everlasting Father. Write your name there. That's what makes the difference. A friend that passed and I knew, Russell H. Dilday Jr., was on the committee to revise a Baptist hymnal in Nashville, and some high-colored musician decided they ought to kick the song blessed assurance out and he ridiculed the song he said look how egocentric this is this is my story this is my song praising my savior me me me my my russell listened to all that dr dilday when the man was finished said oh yeah it's terrible it's just like that old 23rd psalm the lord is my shepherd. I shall not walk. He makes me walk. Look, all of these promises are promises not to everybody, but promises to you. For you, a child was born. You said, didn't God too busy to think of that? No. If you had been the only you, he did that for you. And you say, well, you sure say, I'm sure about this, says Joel. Yes, I'm sure, but how's this going to happen?

37:16 Does it depend on the church? Well, really? No. Does it depend on a legislator to legislate or a king to make an edict? Or does it depend on society of itself just getting better and veteran? No, no. Did you see the last verse in my text? The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. Our certainly doesn't rest in our performance, thank God. The zeal, the passion of the Lord of heavenly armies will do this. That's why we sing that song, His name is wonderful. His name is wonderful. His name is wonderful, Jesus, my Lord. He is the mighty king, the master of everything. His name is wonderful.

38:12 I want you to know this. The same God whose promise came true eight centuries after it was made is the same God whose promises are true for you right now. What's that great word? At the name of what? Jesus. Every knee shall bow. Did you ever take that apart? Every Republican knee and every Democratic knee.

38:46 Every Western knee and every Eastern knee. Every Southern knee and every Northern knee. Every PhD and every ignorant knee. Every billionaire knee and every poverty knee. Every knee. Well, bow. And for you, right now, for you. come close to me it's not enough just to say isn't this a beautiful promise in history unless it's a promise for you one somebody I know in this upper level all around here I don't know one somebody maybe a single person maybe a husband and wife holding hands together one somebody you walked in here lost your way stumbled enemies coming at you from the dark this is a word for you that one somebody in a moment we're asking you to stand up from where you are come down this aisle to this altar and in so many words to say for me this child was born for me this son was given and to make this personal.

40:18 God, God exalts the humble, but he stands in full battle ray against the proud. Somebody here needs to stand up and say this message had my name on it. You know who you are, and this is your moment to say he's my