Sermon Tone Analysis

Darkness to Dawn…

Intro

Preaching at Christmas…some say this is the most difficult time of year to preach since they have done it so often…What is the cause what is the cause ??

Personal Reflection and devotion to the Lord

Along with the many traditions that come with Christmas…Christ must be included

Because the more you consider the reality of what happened when Jesus, the Christ was born, the more your mind is awed and your emotions are excited and your life is challenged.

And so that’s my prayer for today

Christmas disrupts the normal pattern of life for a good reason.

It shows us that we are not the center of the universe but that God is.

What he is doing for the redemption of the universe has entered our world of sin and death.

God unveils what is most true about reality on holidays.

Christmas speaks of the transcendent, majestic God becoming human and living among us—that “God was pleased as man with man to dwell.”

This season provides us with the means of praising God, giving thanks, and speaking of his joyous entrance into the world, to start a new year right!

The centerpiece of all the Christmas prophecies, , was written nearly 700 years before Jesus’ birth.

Isaiah promised it would be a miraculous event, unlike any the world had ever known, and the details Isaiah gave were fulfilled precisely.

R-Isaiah 8:19-9:7

Title/Pray

As we look at scripture today we will see that in many ways the condition of the hearts of people in the time of the prophecy parallel what we see today

I began to look at 9:6-7 which detail for us the coming of this child, I became interested in what followed or what preceded those verses and became carefully involved in studying the previous chapters.

And I came up with a very interesting parallel to our own day.

2Oth century America is just as great as it was in the day of Isaiah, just as great as it's ever been in the history of man.

The darkness of man's heart hasn't changed one wit.

In fact, man has only become cleverer in his devices and Satan has learned as history has gone on how best to dilute the person of Jesus Christ.

And yet it's a strange thing because all throughout the history of man in his darkness and his unwillingness to respond to Jesus Christ he has always wanted a Savior, he has always wanted a deliverer.

Whether it's historical Israel or whether it's modern day America…the world has always looked for a Savior, a deliverer, a peacemaker, somebody who could right the wrongs and make the injustices just.

I see sometimes the rants on FB that cry to the government for saving and it is so sad because that is not where anything is ever going to be made right / The vast majority of leaders in this country are in great need of a savior, deliverance, humility and to come to the true knowledge of the truth

Somebody who could equalize and make the world what it ought to be…men have al cried for a Savior, men from every culture.

God has sent a has Savior but men refuse that Savior that God sent.

And it's a sad thing to realize that the Bethlehem babe was the worlds redeemer, but as the Bible says, "Men love darkness rather than (what?

than) light.

Because their deeds were evil."

The Bible tells us that God sent the Savior at precisely the right time.

Galatians chapter 4 tells us, That in the fullness of time, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made unto the law."

Exactly at the right moment in history Jesus Christ was born, at the right conflux of events, at the right strategic point in the history of man Jesus Christ arrived.

Isaiah said, someday at the right time God will send a Savior.

Ever since that Savior came it has always been the right time to receive Him and acknowledge Him.

Messiah Christ the Savior of the world has been available to men every moment of every day since He arrived, two thousand years ago.

And yet men continue to reject Him, continue to refuse Him.

So in the reading today I want to point out three things…Present Condition, Personal Cost, Promised Messiah

I…THE PRESENT CONDITION…8:19-20

Now as we go back to Isaiah keep in mind just kind of the scattered thoughts that I've given you because we're going to pick them all up as we look at this prophecy.

It's the same kind of a dark world, it's the same kind of a God mocking world like we live in, to which Isaiah promises by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that there is coming a great redeemer.

And in the prophecy beginning in chapter 8

Ahaz was the king and he was wicked to say the least, he was rotten to the core.

He had introduced idolatry into Israel, he had introduced the worship of a god, Molech who was the savage god of the Ammonites.

He had established the work of Molech...the worship of Molech in the Mount of Olives, which is the east of Jerusalem in the valley of Hinnom, a place near Tophet which is right by the wall west of Jerusalem, so the city of Jerusalem was surrounded with the worship of Molech.

And on the location of Tophet in the valley of Hinnom he erected a statue of this god and put a furnace at the feet of this god in order that they might throw children into the fire and burn them as offerings to this god.

This is what was going on in Israel.

Superstition was everywhere, gold and silver statues were worshiped in the homes of the children of Israel.

Ahaz finally shut the temple door and barred it closed and left the whole temple to go to decay and waste.

Under him true worship was totally extinguished.

…He hits home with a question for then and now…

Are we when we abort a child not offering that child to evil…maybe Molech

As many times before they were involved in Idol worship / The Psalms says “The gods of the nations are idols

16 They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominations they provoked him to anger.

17 They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded.

The practice of necromancy or communicating with the dead was prohibited in .

King Saul breaks this prohibition when he visits the medium of Endor

Here was a generation of people again who were worshiping demons.

The psalmist very carefully lays this out in , the same basic principle, he says this beginning in

…They have no dawn

So this is the present condition

II…THE PERSONAL COST…8:21-22

Associated with our deeds are costs and payments this has always been and will always be

This is very descriptive and notice it has not changed

In their distress they will look up to God and curse Him and look to the earth where they will face distress and then be thrust into … darkness

10 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness.

People gnawed their tongues in anguish

All this is due to the false worship of false gods / Demons

Peter shows us in 2 Peter that following false teachers and false gods is nothing more than…

17 These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm.

For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved.

Darkness and emptiness is the payment for looking to other Idols in our lives

Ps 107:10-14

So the condition and the cost and now God steps in and tell Isaiah to give them the message of the ages, a message of great hope, one that would shine light on the darkness that they are in

III…The PROMISED MESSIAH…9:1-7

Everything looked black and ominous.

A spirit of anguish and distress gripped the hearts of people.

They felt completely helpless, for they were living in a war-torn nation.

Most of the nation had already fallen to the Assyrians, who had swept across the land

And soon He would allow Assyria to invade the promised land to humble His people.

When the Assyrians launched their invasion, the first to feel the brunt of their attack would be the land of Zebulon and Naphtali, which thereafter would become known as Galilee of the Gentiles.

All the land of Galilee would be honored.

This is a clear prophecy concerning Jesus Christ, a prophecy that was fulfilled when Christ chose His disciples and carried on a large part of His ministry in Galilee ().

13 And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali,

14 so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—

16 the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”

The Messiah, the Son of God Himself, honored this land by His very presence and ministry.

4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

So here we have this darkness and the antidote is the promised Christ the light that lights the way

12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

He that believeith in me shall not walk in darkness

God commanded the light to shine out of darkness

Christ shall give you light

The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear

Vs 2..Don’t miss this church people who are walling in darkness have hope the light is there…speak to them about this light, be bold for the cause of Christ

Vs 3…The Messiah would enlarge (protect) the nation of believers and increase their joy

Due to the ravages of war, the population had been drastically diminished.