Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction/Background

Good morning and welcome back.

If you would, start turning in your Bibles to .

This morning, as we celebrate the first official Sunday of Advent we are going to start taking a little bit deeper dive into the promises and the hopes that the Israelites had in the coming Messiah.

If you were able to be with us last week, you will remember we looked at and the “The First Promise” and how even in the darkest hour for all humanity, when sin entered the world.

That as quickly as sin entered, God was right there with a promise of deliverance.

A promise of hope.

A promise of salvation.

But, the key aspect and hang up, if you will, was the fact that they had to wait on God.

Part of the reason they sinned to begin with was that they tried to get ahead of God.

Which is also one of our main hang ups as well.

We sometimes tend to get in front of God and grow inpatient, which in the end causes more trouble than good.

And this morning, where we will be picking up in our Scripture is a few thousand years later, when Israel has now found itself in a big mess.

They had done very well in allowing their human nature and own flesh play out in their lives for a very long time.

They had gotten way ahead of God on many occassions.

And now they find themselves living, not as God’s unified people, but a divided nation.

They had split up in to the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah.

And in our Scripture for this morning, we find not only division among the people but also the Northern Kingdom already being carried off into captivity by the Assyrians, and the Southern Kingdom soon to follow, which is what Isaiah is warning them about.

So, the entire message is a warning to the people about their coming destruction.

About how they had refused to listen to God.

Refused to obey God.

Refused to wait on God.

And now it would all catch up to them and there would come great suffering.

However, even through this, the darkest hour they had faced, God is with them.

Isaiah’s message is not only a message of warning, but also a message of hope.

The hope that they could rest assured that regardless of how bad and how dark times get, God is with them.

God still loves them.

God still longs for them.

And God will not abandon them.

God will send a deliverer.

For Israel and for us as well.

So, if you have found in your Bibles, I’d invite you stand with me as I read, starting in verse 1.

Scripture Focus

Deliverance is Coming (vs 1-5)

So, we see starting out exactly what I was talking about in reference to God offering hope to His people even in the midst of their darkest times.

Again, going back to verse 1 . . .

Isaiah 9:1

And really to get a good idea of how ad things had gotten we need to back up to chapter 8 and read just the end part of it . . . .

Isaiah 8:

Now, the rest of chapter 8 talks about many of the different ways they had abandoned God and had refused to be God’s people, but here we see things getting to the point that they were totally distressed.

They had been killed and cut off by the Assyrians.

They were going hungry and roaming the land trying to find anything to eat.

And instead of listening to their prophets who were telling them the reasons for their calamity.

Instead of repenting and following God, they do the exact opposite.

They become enraged and looking upward will curse their king and their God.

Even though God had warned them time and time again, they thought the best thing to do would be to curse the God of the universe.

Why not, after all they hadn’t listened up to that point anyway.

So they cursed the king, but also God Himself.

And as a result of their curse . . .

In a nutshell they were just digging themselves into a deeper hole.

And we look at these things and think to ourselves, “that’s crazy, why would they do that?”

After all God is telling them what they need to change.

God is warning them over and over and over again.

Why won’t they listen?

Well, why won’t we?

It is no different.

God is constantly trying to warn us, advise us, help us.

But a lot of times we just don’t want to listen.

And the results of our actions do not lead us into captivity by a foreign government, but we are captive no the less.

Our master is sin and the author of sin, Satan.

But even through all of this God is offering us hope.

Picking back up in chapter 9 . . .

Isaiah 9:2

You see, even through all of the darkness and all of the hopelessness, not everybody was sucked into this life of sin.

There were some that stayed true to God.

And for those, they have seen a great light....in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.

And remember last Sunday night we talked about walking in the light, because God is the light.

These people have understood God and understood who God is.

And they have chosen to follow God.

And be

The Coming Messiah (vs 6-7)

And because of their choice to follow after God there is hope for all people.

There is hope because they are there to share the message of hope.

They are there to teach the others about the hope and how to place their hope in the One who offers all hope.

and Isaiah goes on to tell them . . .

And we, thousands of years later know that Isaiah was describing Jesus to these people.

However, they didn’t initially understand that they would have to wait on this deliverer.

They were in bondage right then and there and they were looking for their Messiah to come then.

And they kept looking.

But as they kept looking, they also grew more and more complacent where they were at.

They began to just accept things as they were, and even as Peter tells us, there were some that began to scoff and mock the coming of the Lord.

And when he did show up, they missed it.

They were so far away from God they couldn’t even recognize Him standing right in front of them staring them in the face.

But, what about us?

Are we any different?

Jesus came and through His coming he offered us hope, salvation, eternal life, but have we grown complacent?

Have we just accepted things as they are?

Or do we seek after God with all our heart, our mind, our soul?

Are we anxiously looking for His second coming?

There are many out there who, during this holiday season have no hope.

And we are the key to hope.

We know and understand who Jesus is and what Jesus is all about , but do we share Him with others?

In fact, do we still believe ourselves?

Is Jesus our Lord and our Savior?

We often get lulled to sleep by our own lives.

The hustle and bustle of everyday life.

To going “to and fro” as Paul warns us.

And we forget who Jesus is and the hope that only Jesus can offer us.

Judgment to those who Reject (vs 8-21)

And if we are not careful we will get sucked into a life of sin and a life of bondage.