The Hero Brings Hope

Man, one of my favorite things about Sunday mornings is what just happens right there. You know, for us to be able to get up and chat with some folks and say good morning, how you doing, and what’s your name, I love all that. So thank you so much.

Man, it’s good to see everybody. It’s good to see everybody. We have a good weekend so far? So far? All right. A little different question. I got a major question for you, okay? Has anyone in the room ever felt hopeless? Man, we’re zero to 60 emotionally at this point. Anybody in the room ever felt hopeless? Yeah, I got a couple.

I think about myself. Back when Becca and I first got married and we had began seminary, we were up in Wake Forest, North Carolina. And we were just kind of doing the Dave Ramsey financial plan and the Dave Ramsey diet because we just kind of had to. Becca was working full-time. I’m in school full-time, and I’m working Chick-fil-A just kind of outside of school hours. And we get a check in the mail. Or not a check. We get a bill in the mail for tuition for much more than we had in our bank account. And it’s like, man, like, this money has to get paid. And I felt helpless. And I also felt incredibly responsible because it was my being in school that warranted that bill.

I think about when I was 14 and I’m getting ready for school one day, and I go to the kitchen to get a glass of water. Something feels a little funny. And I look out over the sink, and then I just black out. And I wake up to my dad, my brother, and my mom standing over me screaming, and I can’t hear them at all. I felt helpless in that moment. So has anybody in the room ever felt helpless before?

You know, I think when life is hard, we look for something to hope for. We look for something to help us. You know, but there’s a lot of false hopes. There’s a lot of false helps in this world. You know, I think about the false hope of financial security. Man, if I just get this better job, if I just make a little bit more money, then I’ll be okay. Or the false hope even of family. If I just get married, I’ll be okay. If I just have some kids, I’ll be okay. The false hope of self-care that’s big for my generation. If I just had this experience, if I just had this encounter with somebody, if I just eat this food whenever I get the kids down, I’ll be okay.

Or you think about the false hope of historical and communal desire. Man, if we just, this thing, I’m giving tons of, does this sound better? I’m a little less poppy. Thank you, y’all. If I just get, if we as a community just get back to the golden days, we’ll be okay. Or if more industry comes in, we’ll be okay. If more jobs come in, we’ll be okay.

I think about the false hope even that church can offer. If I just pray a certain prayer, we’ll be okay. If I give a little bit more or if I start giving, I’ll be okay. If I just go to that Wednesday night supper, I’ll be okay. Now, it’s not to say that there aren’t things in the world that can’t help us, but these ultimately are false hopes. And when we trust in false hopes, we get hopeless and helpless.

This morning, as we are beginning our Advent series, we have lit the prophecy candle. This is the candle that is all about hope. So this morning, that’s what we’re talking about. We’re talking about hope.

Now, there’s a group of people back in the Bible that needed some hope. This is the people of Judah. So if you open, you can open up your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 9. Scripture will be on the screen. We’ll get to that in a minute. But the people of Judah were a group of people that needed some hope. You see, God placed the total group of Israel in the promised land. And things went okay for a little while. And then they asked for a king because they wanted to be like all the nations. And when they wanted to be like the nations, they lost their distinctiveness as a group of people. And that’s when the trouble started.

So eventually, the total nation of Israel separates into two kingdoms. You had the northern kingdom of Judah up top. You had the southern kingdom of Israel down below. That northern kingdom of Judah eventually gets conquered. And the nation that conquers them, we call that Babylon. Now, see, the people of Judah, they were hopeless. They became financially devastated as this conquering, invading kingdom started extorting taxes on them and taking all of their resources away from them. They were relationally devastated as this invading kingdom were slaughtering their family and friends and deporting others. They were nationally devastated as their identity as the people of Israel was being demolished with every one of their memorials and all their stuff being destroyed. And they were spiritually devastated as well as their worship of Yahweh, the one true God, was not just being disrupted or distorted, but ultimately devastated.

That was a group of people that needed hope and they needed help. And God wanted to give them hope. And God’s hope is certain and strong. And the hope that He offered to the people of Judah through the prophet Isaiah thousands of years ago, it’s got importance for us here today.

So I want to ask you something. This Christmas season, what are you hoping in? What are you hoping for? Are you hoping for a family gathering to go a little smoother for Christmas than it did Thanksgiving? Are you hoping to be able to make some ends meet a little better this month than last month? Are you hoping in a better prognosis next year than you got this year? What are you hoping in? I believe that God’s word to us this morning has something of substantial hope that you can base your life on.

So let’s pray and let’s open our Bibles and look at it, all right? Pray with me. Lord, thank You. God, I don’t take it lightly that I am standing up here and I’m opening Your Bible and I’m saying this is what the God of the universe has for the people of Sauldam Baptist. Lord, please do not let me get carried away with my ideas or my thoughts, but Lord, speak through me. I’m begging You. Father, there are folks in this room that feel hopeless, that will feel hopeless soon. And I pray that this morning would root us in Yourself and provide a stronger foundation than anything this world where our own creativity can create. Lord, I love You. And I just want more people to love You more deeply too. Thank You, God. Amen.

Well, hey, there’s a, like I said, there’s one main point, one main foundational truth I want us to take away from today. It is this. The promise of Jesus Christ to us creates hope inside of us. And I think that by the end of my sermon, you’ll understand what I’m saying. The promise of Jesus Christ to us creates hope inside of us.

So let’s do this. Let’s open up to Isaiah chapter 9, verses 2 through 7. I’m going to read the scripture. It’ll be on the screens if you don’t have your copy of the Bible with you. Isaiah 9, starting in verse 2. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. A light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness. You have enlarged the nation and increased its joy. The people have rejoiced before You as they rejoice at harvest time and as they rejoice when dividing spoils. For You have shattered their oppressive yoke and the rod on their shoulders, the staff of their oppressor, just as You did on the day of Midian. Every trampling boot of battle and the bloodied garments of war will be burned as fuel for the fire. For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on His shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. The dominion will be vast and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over His kingdom to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of the Lord of armies will accomplish this.

Now see, this passage in Isaiah has four pictures of hope. Four pictures of hope. And immediately we see that God’s promise starts with the presence of hope inside of us. Verse 2, that’s what that’s talking about, the presence of hope. The word says that people walking in darkness in a land of darkness. Now I think this darkness points back at the devastation that the nation of Babylon was putting on to Judah. It was a dark time, y’all. Whenever you’re in prosperity, whenever you’re in financial success, you never call that dark, right? But whenever you are in dire straits, when you wake up and people are over you screaming and you cannot hear them, you call that dark. See, essentially all darkness is spiritual darkness. Every societal, personal, national, historical, communal, relational, financial, and health issue we could ever have stems from the darkness that entered the world whenever Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sin comes in. Sin comes in and it makes things dark, which also means that we contribute to the darkness we experience.

You and I are like the people of Judah walking in a land of darkness. And we keep stubbing our toes on the Ottomans and on the couches and on the Legos of our own issues that we’re making in this world. And that’s what we’re experiencing. And I just ask, where’s the darkness around you? Where’s the darkness of your life? Are you full throttle walking in a land of darkness because you don’t actually know the light and the hope of Jesus? Where’s the darkness?

But for the people walking in the darkness, they have seen a great light. Now see, through Isaiah, God is offering light to the people of Judah. He’s speaking about a day of light that will come. And God’s word is so sure and His plans are so certain that it’s as if it’s already happened. It says a people walking in darkness have seen a great light. Two different tenses there. You don’t have to be an English whiz to understand something’s happening there. People experiencing darkness have already seen a great light. And that’s coming through this prophecy. And that’s coming through these promises of God’s word.

And it’s really clear that God’s presence is light. In John chapter 8 verse 12, Jesus said, I, I am the light of the world. In creation, God speaks and says, let there be light. And He makes light. When God enters, light comes with Him. Which means for the dark places and the people’s walking in darkness, what they need is not empty, false hope. What they need is not to get married because that won’t solve their problems. What they need is not to clean up their act because that’s not what’s going to solve their problems. What they need is not to return to the golden days or to try to bring golden days on. That won’t solve their problem. But for the people walking in darkness, they need God’s presence with them. They need light. And when Jesus enters a person’s life, He brings light. His presence shines in light and darkness cannot overcome it.

One of my favorite things about living in the parsonage right now is that when I wake up in the morning, I’m reading my Bible and I’ve got my coffee. I look out of the back windows and I get to watch the sunrise over that field. In the earlier part of this week when it was so cold, there’s even frost on the ground. And I could watch the sun burning the frost off the ground. And I was thinking about, man, the power of sun. The power of the sun dawning on a dark world. Warmth comes with it. Joy comes with it. Happiness comes with it. Hope comes with the sun. That’s what God has for His people. He has warmth. He has newness. He has hope. He has life. He has His own light.

To that first picture of hope in this passage that God is offering is the hope, presence of light. But the second picture that God wants to offer as a light-filled presence of hope would naturally lead to a new perspective of hope. For all of our note takers, perspective of hope. Verses 3 through 5. Isaiah says that you have enlarged the nation and increased its joy. People have rejoiced before You as they rejoice at harvest time and as they rejoice when dividing spoils. Again, you don’t have to be a theologian or an English whiz to understand. God is talking about joy here. He’s talking about some of the happiest moments that the people of Judah would have understood.

Now, these were farmers. And when farmers bring in the harvest, they have joy. Any amens from any farmers in the room? Any amens from any hobby gardeners in the room just trying to protect your cucumbers from all the deer around here? Like, any amens from somebody that’s labored over fruit and vegetables? And you get to bring that in. And you’re like, look at this harvest. We can eat. We can sell. We can buy. We have hope now. And God compares the hope that He places inside of us to the hope that someone would have at a harvest time. But He also compares it to the joy, sorry, the joy that someone would have in dividing the spoil. Now, see, there’s another aspect of the people of Judah. They weren’t just farmers, but they were also warriors. It is a different time. War and battle and bloodshed is just a part of life. And whenever a nation would battle another nation or a tribe, another tribe, there would be spoils. There would be what you get out of the battle. There’d be armor. There’d be weapons. There’d be money, clothing, all sorts of things. And the winners get to divide all that up and say, I want that and I want that. You can have this. There’d be joy in that moment. And interestingly, God compares the joy and the hope He puts inside of us as to that. Stumbling on riches and spoils. Risking and gaining. That’s the hope that He has for us.

But the interesting thing is, these were words given to people suffering without harvest and without spoils of war. Remember, these were words given to a group of people, a nation that’s been conquered. They weren’t experiencing the joy of harvest because all of the bumper crops, all the excess and much of what they needed would have been given to the conquering nation. They weren’t enjoying the spoils of war because they were the ones defeated. All their stuff is taken away. So why would God say these things to this people? It’s because God wants to make a promise. He’s saying, I’m going to break this yoke off of your shoulders. I am going to destroy these destroyers. The ones oppressing you, I will oppress them. I will take care of this for you. And when I do, you’ll be free.

Now put yourself in those shoes. You are utterly hopeless. You are utterly helpless. And someone that can change your situation, someone that can help, tells you they’re going to help. What’s that do for you? It’s going to give you joy. It’s going to give you some confidence. It’s going to make you a little bouncy on your steps, right? You find yourself with a bill for tuition for thousands of dollars. And someone mails you a check for the exact amount of money. What’s that do for you? You go to the doctor later that day and they run tests and they say, freak accident, nothing happened. What’s that do for you? Makes you a little lighter on your feet, right? That’s the hope that God wanted to offer His people. And gaining that promise would have created a different perspective in them. God did not immediately change their circumstances. But He did change how they felt about their circumstances. He offered them hope.

The third picture for us in this passage, we’ve already seen the presence of hope. We’ve seen a perspective of hope. Now we see the person of hope. Verse 6. I’m going to read it for us again. A child will be born for us. A son will be given to us. The government will be on His shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, and Prince of Peace. I think God wants to communicate to you this morning that hope is not just a concept for you to think about. It’s not just a warm thought for you to ruminate over while you’re drinking your coffee. Hope is not just something you say, I hope for this. Hope is a person. Hope has flesh and blood. Hope has this desire to embrace you. Hope is someone to wait for, to know, to love, to trust in. Hope is the son that God was promising. Hope has a name, and His name is who? Jesus. God did not offer empty hope to His people, but He gave His own son as the person of hope.

This is God’s doing. When God’s people were the most destroyed, the most hopeless, He did not say, I’ll check my calendar. He didn’t say, I’ll talk with the others to see if we could do something. God said, I’m making this personal. I’m going to send my boy to you. We’re going to take care of this. That’s the type of hope that God wants to offer us, and God calls this hope, this child, some interesting things. He calls Him the wonderful counselor. What in the world does the wonderful counselor mean? At least that’s the question that I had, and I found this in one of the commentaries. God will work in and through this son to demonstrate His extraordinary wisdom to plan wonderful, miraculous things. A counselor, you go to a counselor because you need advice, you need perspective, and you need someone that can solve some problems, and God was going to send the wonderful counselor so that the problems that God’s people were facing could be solved. The one of wisdom was coming, but not just wisdom, the mighty God. God Himself was sending Himself to His people. Hope is not just an emissary from God or an ambassador from God or a prophet of God. Hope is God Himself. So when that Son would come on the scene, we would recognize Him as the God of the universe.

But hope is also the eternal Father. And what in the world does it mean that the Son would be the Father? It means this, that the Israelites thought of God as a ruler. They thought of God as a protector, but a father is far more intimate. A father wants to put his arm around you and say, boy, I love you. Let’s go for a walk. God was sending the Son to be a father to us. He was sending His Son to be a prince of peace. The people of Judah had no peace. They had no ruler. They were conquered and devastated by the Babylonians. And God said, I’m going to send peace to you. Someone that will calm the chaos that you are experiencing. I am sending Him.

So the composite image of these aspects of the person of hope would be like this. The Lord Himself will give you a sign. See, the virgin will conceive and have a son and name Him Emmanuel. That’s Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14. The craziest thing, think about our faith. As Christians, we really believe that a virgin gave birth to God. You think about that for a second? Take off your hat of growing up in church. Take off the hat of assuming all of these things are true. And think about this. We believe a virgin gave birth to God. If we’re being honest with ourselves, that sounds, what adjective do you have there? Amazing. What else do we have? Absurd. I think those two capture my heart. Amazing and absurd. Too good to be true. Too good to hope in, right? Here’s the deal. Christ, God was born through a virgin. It really happened. God completed His promise.

And that’s just extra. I was just meditating on that this morning. I couldn’t get over the fact that God, speaking to the people of Judah in utter devastation and desolation, said, don’t worry, I’m going to send a baby. That’s not exactly what I would have wanted in that moment. But God knew what they needed. And He knew the words to offer them. And He said, don’t worry. I see you. I know your experience. I know what you’re going through. I am offering you real hope. He’s going to come. But you’re going to have to wait a little bit.

And that takes us to the fourth picture of hope in this passage. I call it the place of hope in verse 7. Verse 7 starts by saying, The dominion will be vast and its prosperity will never end. He, that Son, will reign on the throne of David. The Son that God was promising will reign in a kingdom far greater and larger than what the Judean people had or what the conquering Babylonians had or what us here in America have. The Son would come and inaugurate a kingdom that would experience unending prosperity and security, forever authority and flourishing. That’s the kingdom that Jesus Christ was going to bring and did bring. It’s His kingdom. It’s the kingdom of the Son, which means that God was sending hope as a person to reign on His own terms.

It’s Jesus’ kingdom. And this is important enough for us that we’ve got to study this. So coming up in January, we’re going to do a new series through the Gospel of Mark, and we’re going to end with the resurrection on Easter Sunday because I can’t get any more creative than that. But we are going to look at the kingdom that Jesus was bringing and started and that we at Sauldam Baptist Church have stepped into. Because we have got to remind ourselves, who and what am I living for? Jesus was starting a kingdom on His terms. And if we want real, lasting and actual hope, then we need to become citizens of that kingdom, not just let Jesus into our kingdom. I think sometimes we confuse doing things for Jesus because we’re allowing Him into our lives and doing things for Jesus because our lives are centered on Him. You can read your Bible in the morning because you’re allowing Jesus to have five minutes into your day. Or you can read your Bible in the morning because you want to recalibrate yourself according to what He says. You can come to church because you want to allow Jesus an hour of your time because for some reason it checks off a box. Or you can come to church because you know that gathering with God’s people is good for your soul and you need that. You can tell people about Jesus because you think that He deserves a little bit of your conversational space. Or you can tell people about Jesus because you love Him and He’s the very essence of your life. Are we allowing Jesus into our kingdom? Or are we warm-blooded, full-throttle citizens of His kingdom? He was coming to bring a kingdom. But the kingdom He was bringing is not of this world. It’s not. Christ’s place of hope involves a kingdom but not in the way that we think about it. 1 Peter 1 gets at this. And Kingston read it for us earlier and it’s going to be on the screen for us this morning. 1 Peter 1, as I’m starting to wrap up, verses 3 and 4 says this: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of His great mercy, He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.

Christ came and He brought a kingdom. He completed that promise that God made through the prophet Isaiah back thousands of years ago. But He brought a kingdom that is not fully realized today. And we see that. There’s parts of our community here that we would say are dark. There are places here dominated by sin and the darkness that comes with it. There’s facets of our lives that are still dominated by darkness. There’s an ongoing war for us as individuals with sin and the things that God does not love. But here’s the question. Are you living for Christ’s kingdom or not? I think that what you hope in reveals the kingdom that you live in. Earlier, I mentioned some false hopes. Financial false hope. If I just make a little bit more money, if I just get this different job, I’ll be okay. Man, that’s the kingdom of anxiety. Always trying to get and gain and gather because what you have is not enough. Or the communal false hope. Man, if we just go back to the golden days, the old days, or hey, if we can start the golden days, then we’ll be okay. Man, that’s the kingdom of wanting. That’s the kingdom of maintaining. Or you think about the church false hope. If I just pray a little bit more, if I just say a certain prayer, if I just get baptized, if I just give, if I give a little bit more, if I just come a little bit more, maybe I can save myself. What you hope for reveals what your kingdom is. So I come back to that major question, what are you hoping for? Our ultimate allegiance as Christians is to Christ’s kingdom. And our ultimate hope is in His personhood.

So this Christmas season, as we are going through Advent, as we are singing the songs, as we are buying the presents and planning the gatherings, what’s at the center? What is your hope? We celebrate the arrival of the hero who brings hope. The promise of Jesus Christ to us, it ought to create hope inside of us. Hope that would outlast darkness. Hope that would outlast circumstances. Hope that would remain firm even when life feels flimsy. Hope that can withstand the trials of today. So, Sauldam Baptist Church, are we a hopeful people? Are we a hopeful people? We’re a happy people. Man, we’re a warm people. Are we a rock-solid foundation hopeful people? I think if we were hopeful, we would continue to take risks and steps of faith for God because we’re walking with Him. I think if we were hopeful, we’d be deeply concerned about offering hope to the community around us. If we were hopeful, then people in Ravenel, Hollywood, Summerville, and West Ashley would come to us in droves asking for help because we would be ready to offer it. I think Friday afternoon was a great demonstration of the hope that we do have as a church. Getting to open our doors to the community to mourn the too early passing of a friend. I do not hope for funerals every Friday. What I do hope for is that we would be a group of people ready to make that happen if it’s needed. Are we a Hopeful people? Has the promise of Christ created hope for you? Pray so. Let’s pray together.

Jesus, what I have to offer, I’ve given You. I’ve given these people. Lord, I confess I am culprit number one at harboring these false hopes. God, I confess when I get frustrated with my kids, Lord, I’m thinking about the sweets that I get to eat that night when I put them down. God, I confess that when money feels tight, I am hoping in the bank. God, I confess that when I get down about life, I think about the golden days that I want to bring into my life. God, I confess that I am just as inclined to hope in all the wrong things as anybody else.

God, thank You for holding me. Jesus, thank You for coming and making a way for my hope to be transformed because of what You’ve done. God, make us a hopeful people. Please, Lord, make us more concerned about sharing the good news of Your arrival and Your coming return than we are about anything else, Lord. God, I pray that this Christmas and Advent season, we will be distinctly marked by hope. We love You. We want to love You more.