← ArchiveIsaiahAn Unexpected KingdomDateOctober 6, 2019SpeakerDr Josh BurnhamTextIsaiahTranscriptMachine transcribed · click any line to jump0:00*Music* There we go0:28There we go Thank You Lord For thousands of years People preach without microphones And yet here we are saying Lord we can't preach without a microphone anymore So how foolish am I and are we sometimes Okay let's restart Good morning Let me say several things before we start To our youth you might not know but under Brad's leadership They've been going out in inner city downtown Birmingham They've been serving the homeless0:56They've been serving the homeless And today they led them into worship Or a part of a worship service in Birmingham So we're proud of you guys for serving Those that are in need Brad and under Brad's leadership That's fantastic So continue to serve Continue to see Christ move Secondly I want to share with you again This green connect card It's not just for those who are new If you are new Please fill this out We want to be able to pray over you this week We're not going to sell your info to Russia1:24We're not going to sell your info to Russia We're not going to send spam Your inbox We simply want to pray for you If you have a prayer request Put that on this connect card If you're a covenant member Do that We pray over these regularly And I want you to know one of the ways that I prepare for this sermon every Sunday Because I pray over our church And I pray through these requests on Wednesday Just to get my heart right Because I want to know how the word is impacting you If you need to get baptized This is a great way for us to follow up If you've given your life to Jesus Christ1:53If you've given your life to Jesus Christ And want a pastor to connect with you Again, fill this out You will have all sermon And then at the end You can put it in the bucket with our ushers As we conclude our service So let us pray for you this week That is our gift in Christ to you as a church If you have your Bibles with you I'm Josh, by the way, lead pastor here Turn to Isaiah chapter 9 Isaiah chapter 92:19Isaiah chapter 9 Whether you know it or not You as a church Stand in the legacy of the Christian community And the community of faith For thousands of years of gathering together To hear the word of the Lord Think about that In the Old Testament God's people gathered on the Sabbath To rest and to worship In the New Testament God's people gathered on the Lord's Day2:47God's people gathered on the Lord's Day The Resurrection Day Sunday to gather and to worship So if that's true Then what we're doing today Is a sacred gathering It's a solemn gathering God's people gather So well done May we gather in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ We're continuing a sermon series called Yahweh saves Isaiah's name means the Lord saves And so for the next month or two We're going to be in Isaiah3:15We're going to be in Isaiah This is our third week in Isaiah As we look at chapter 9 And before I read this passage I want you to think about this with me for a second What if right now Seth right Wade I told him I was going to call them out earlier They're not in trouble parents They're not This is a good This is good for them What if God gave you a vision Right now Some of you are thinking Yes this Baptist preacher is talking about visions3:44Yes this Baptist preacher is talking about visions Some of them Some of you are thinking No this Baptist pastor is talking about visions What if the Lord gave you a vision And this was the vision Right Josh Write With pen On a green connect card These words Pillage hastens And looting speeds That's an odd vision Right So God You're going to pillage something4:12You're going to pillage something And And Something is going to be looted And it's going to be quick And In case you forgot the vision This is what I want you to do You're going to have a son And This is what you're going to name him Pillage hastens And looting speeds Can you imagine Going home to your wife and saying Dear I got a name We're going to call him4:38We're going to call him Pillage And And Loot And Don't worry This is a vision From God That's exactly what's happening In Isaiah chapter 8 King Ahaz is reigning And his vision comes to the prophet Isaiah And this is what exactly happens He's given this vision He's told to write And he's told to name his son And the reason this is so5:07And the reason this is so Is because many in the land Are so dejected And so hungry That they need this message Which will ultimately show them That there will be hope one day But don't miss the fact that this vision from Isaiah Would be difficult to relate Go home Just try Men Go home and try to convince your wife5:35Go home and try to convince your wife To rename one of your children that And then tell the nation You have so rejected the Lord your God That he is going to bring judgment upon you And it's going to be quick And it's going to be hasty And gloom is going to be such That you would not even imagine This is the vision 2700 years ago Under Ahaz6:03Under Ahaz And as dark as that might be I believe some of us Are still walking in that darkness today And let us not Be ignorant And think that this judgment Could not happen to the country we live in Josh, write this vision Because the people have rebelled against me There is moral decay And your leaders are corrupt Sound familiar?6:32Sound familiar? And the people have God Have lost their heart for me So write this vision Isaiah This could easily be written in 2019 And as we look at that gloom The light of Christ breaks forth And Isaiah's answer to the Lord here In Isaiah 8 is Isaiah 9 And so what we are going to read today Is God saying that7:00Is God saying that My kingdom is radically unexpected Some of you think that we have God figured out But you don't We will never have God figured out The gospel is unexpected It is full of grace and mercy To us who don't deserve it And God is still giving grace To people who do not deserve So don't be surprised When God gives mercy to people who don't deserve Because we are the chief This is the unexpected kingdom of God7:30This is the unexpected kingdom of God So let's look at this glorious In Isaiah 9 verse 1 Nevertheless The gloom Of the distressed land Will not be like that of former times When he humbled the land of Zebulun And the land of Naphtali But in the future He will bring honor to the way of the sea And the land east of the Jordan And to the Galilee of the nations8:00And to the Galilee of the nations The people walking in darkness Have seen a great light A light has dawned on those in the land of darkness You have enlarged the nation You have increased its joy The people have rejoiced before you As they rejoice at harvest time As they rejoice when dividing spoils For you have shattered their oppressive yoke And the rod of their shoulders The staff of their oppressor Just as you did on the day of Midian8:30Just as you did on the day of Midian For 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 upon his shoulders And he will have a name Wonderful Counselor Almighty God Everlasting Father And Prince of Peace His dominion will be vast And his prosperity will never end8:59And his prosperity will never end Let's pray Father, we so desire the day Where this will eternally be true The day that where all of our darkness All of our brokenness All of our sadness Turned to rejoicing That our joy will increase That we will see That the boots of battle Will be burned in the fire Because the Prince of Peace has come9:29Because the Prince of Peace has come Lord, we long for that day But Father, until we wait We will not wait with idle hands We will not wait with idle hearts We will serve you, Lord So help us strengthen our hands That we would do the work of ministry Right now Lord, may we not hear only But may we be doers of your word And may this world see that we are different That we are unexpectedly different Because we serve an unexpected God9:58Because we serve an unexpected God In an unexpected kingdom Lord, may we be distinct We pray this in Jesus' name Amen And amen So let's look again at verse 1 So this unexpected light Have you ever been in a place in your life Where there is just darkness? That you look around And you see darkness in your life Now I have an interesting perspective Because I am a pastor And I really10:27And I really It didn't hit me until recently I had a friend call me One of my roommates in college And he said He said, Josh, I just need you to listen And I said, that is hard for me to do But I will listen And he was with someone who was in surgery And during surgery And during surgery They found out that she had cancer And he said, Josh, how do you do it? And I said, do what? And then I realized That I have been in the delivery room With people And I have received a call That someone else has passed away10:56That someone else has passed away Then I realized how many dark times I have experienced in my life And I realized, wow, God There is a lot of brokenness in this world And I am firmly convinced That what the people of God need to do When we see brokenness We need to weep But when we see people weeping over cancer And weeping over dementia And weeping over hurt and sadness We don't need to turn a blind eye We need to weep And we need to cry out also That there is darkness and gloom in this world11:26That there is darkness and gloom in this world And we need to cry out and say, God, where are you? It has no end Am I the only one that has experienced that? I mean, we live in dark times And we live, if you are not in a dark time right now There will be times in your life That you look up and all you can see is darkness You see, Zebulun and Naphtali were those people Zebulun and Naphtali were the northernmost parts of Israel You might be thinking, well, what does this even matter?11:56You might be thinking, well, what does this even matter? So when Israel would have been attacked by other neighboring countries Rome, later on Rome And Assyria and Babylon They attacked from the north By the way of the sea From the east of the Galilee Or north of Naphtali and Zebulun These were the places that received destruction first They were like the Murphy's Law of the Israelite tribes If something could go wrong It was going to go wrong to Zebulun and Naphtali first12:25It was going to go wrong to Zebulun and Naphtali first Anyone else feel like that? Anyone feel like a living Murphy's Law? If something's going to break, it's going to be me That's how I feel like sometimes If there's going to be a register that stops at the grocery store It's going to be the one I get into If there's going to be someone who has this unique clearance item And they have a coupon and it just won't work That's my line You want something to break? Invite me to your house That's Zebulun and Naphtali12:55That's Zebulun and Naphtali But this is what we also need to know The darkest places in Israel Were also known by other names They were known by Upper and Lower Galilee They said, well why does that even matter? Why are you talking about geography? The place where Jesus spent the majority of his ministry? In Galilee The places in Israel that were the most dark13:22The places in Israel that were the most dark Were the places that received the first light Did you get what's going on here? The places that were darkest in the community of faith Were the places where God shone or shined his light the first And this is the unexpected good news of Jesus Christ It's not that you and I clean up our lives So that when we're good enough God will then accept us13:51God will then accept us It's when you were at your darkest and worst God demonstrated his love While we were sinning Jesus died The darkest places in your life The places where you say, don't go there That's We'll deal with that at Judgment Day That's the place where God says I'm going to shine my light there first So may we never dare to look at someone And say, man, God can't help you14:21And say, man, God can't help you May we never dare look at our lives and say You know, that's beyond God's control Because God's word proclaims to us That the darkest places in our life Are the ones that need the most light And the darkest places in our life Are often the ones that receive the first light What a glorious, unexpected light this is So let me just ask you right now What areas in your life And don't verbalize this We're not going to have open mic day14:51We're not going to have open mic day But what areas really in your life need light right now If I gave you a connect card and said Hey, write the top three things you want me to pray for And then write the top three things you don't want anyone to know about you Don't do that But those three things that you don't want anyone to know that God knows already What places in your life does God need to illuminate right now?15:20What places in your life does God need to illuminate right now? Because until we open up our hearts to Him The dark recesses we will never grow in our faith Until we tear down this religious facade We will never grow in our faith And Naphtali and Zebulon are calling us to say God will give you light If you'll just let Him illuminate you Oh, praise God for the unexpected light15:48Oh, praise God for the unexpected light Verse 2 This walking in darkness The people walking in darkness means they were living out their lives So the people of God must decide by what experiences they live They're walking in darkness But Isaiah gives them an option By what experiences are you going to live? Are you going to look at your hopelessness? Are you going to look at your darkness? Are you going to look at your shattered dreams And conclude that God has forgotten you?16:18And conclude that God has forgotten you? Are you going to hear the word cancer? Are you going to hear the word Alzheimer's? And are you going to say God I can only see the darkness You're not here Or are you going to say God all I can see is darkness But I know that you're light God I need that light This is the unexpected light of the good news And Isaiah continues16:47And Isaiah continues He said the people who have been walking in darkness A great light has dawned Verse 3 You have enlarged the nation You have enlarged the nation You have increased its It's joy It's okay to say that word in church I know sometimes we don't act like we're joyful But we should be The Lord has increased his joy The people have rejoiced before you As they rejoice at harvest time17:16As they rejoice at harvest time As they rejoice when dividing it spoils We should be rejoicing people This is the unexpected joy of the gospel What a beautiful picture of the Lord's grace on his covenant people It might surprise you but God through his son Jesus Christ Does not decrease your joy I know it surprises certain religious people It looks like God has stolen your joy away17:45It looks like God has stolen your joy away It's true And God does not maintain your joy God through his son Jesus And through his spirit in your life does what? He increases his joy in you So your face should reflect your heart We should be joyful people We should be unexpectedly joyful Spurgeon says it this way He says when your heart is full of joy It always allows its joy to escape18:14It always allows its joy to escape It is like the fountain in the marketplace Whenever it runs full It runs away in the streams And so soon as it ceases to overflow You might be quite sure that it has ceased to be full The only full heart The only full heart is the overflowing heart Is your heart overflowing with unexpected joy right now? Some of you are like Mmm18:44Mmm I am joyful pastor Really? Have you? I am not going to say that No, we will move on That is called discernment Lord sanctify me in your midst We should be joyful people And I am speaking to myself When I look in the mirror Do I see a face that has been with the Savior? I see a person who has joy in his heart Because God has answered the most central questions of my life19:14Because God has answered the most central questions of my life Think about what scripture says about the joy of the Lord Zechariah 2:10 Yeah, I just believe that the scriptures warn us Surgeon General's warning, right? The scriptures warn us that joy is a side effect of following Jesus If you don't want to be joyful, don't follow Christ Because joy is a side effect You say, "Pastor, how do you know that?" Zechariah 2:19:44Zechariah 2: Daughter of Zion Shout for joy Say clap Whisper for joy Shout for joy And be glad For I am coming to dwell among you This is the Lord's declaration Now this reminds me This is another aside But someone in our church has gone to the back of the church in this field And marked out the tabernacle The exact dimensions of the tabernacle So if you go, this would be It's that way, right?20:14It's that way, right? So the blue facing the wooded area Is the eastern side That would be the gate that you enter in So if you have time after service today Walk out to that field and see the tabernacle God dwelling among his people It's a neat experience Matthew 2: When the wise men see the star When they saw the star They were overwhelmed with joy Baptist people, did you hear what the wise men said?20:42Baptist people, did you hear what the wise men said? They were overwhelmed with joy And it's not just the wise men But even the shepherds in Luke Then the angel said to them Don't be afraid For look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy That will be for all people That's us Joy is a side effect of following Jesus Christ This is the unexpected joy And when was the last time someone looked at your life and thought21:12And when was the last time someone looked at your life and thought Wow! What joy they have! Wow! Man, the world is falling apart But there's something in there There's something in their life that's joyful And it doesn't make sense Israel is going to be destroyed by Assyria How can they be joyful? Because we know that our God reigns This is the unexpected joy21:43This is the unexpected joy And some of you today need to be affected again by the joy of Jesus Christ This is the unexpected kingdom Not only is there light Not only is there joy Isaiah says Now remember, this news is following the vision of chapter 8, right? Looting will come quickly And pillaging is hastening22:12And pillaging is hastening But Isaiah says Wait, don't be terribly discouraged Because look at verse 4 For you have shattered their oppressive yoke And the rod of their shoulders The staff of their oppressor Just as you did on the day of Midian See, Isaiah turns their attention back to two historical passages Two significant events in the life of Israel So the first thing that Isaiah is pointing our attention back to22:41So the first thing that Isaiah is pointing our attention back to Is Egypt Now listen to the words that are said Oppressive yoke Rod on their shoulders Staff of their oppressor All of those words are pointing back to this horrible time of bondage in Egypt Why would God want his people to remember such a difficult time? Because he wants them to look back and say23:09Because he wants them to look back and say If I delivered you then I'll deliver you now Right? Josh, just look back Look back to the most difficult day in your history Remember that moment And remember how faithful God was And if he can deliver you then He will still be with you today And not only Does he say remember the curse Remember the bondage23:38Remember the bondage Remember the oppression Remember, church, the addictions Remember the sins Remember the habits Remember the hang-ups Church, remember the overwhelming burden That your sin That your sin Has created for you When you remember that Remember this Isaiah says this about Jesus He shatters that yoke Did you hear what Jesus does? Is anyone awake?24:08Is anyone awake? Other than me, right? He shatters He doesn't He doesn't tear it God doesn't Push it out of the way The power of our God Shatters Our sin Shatters Our addiction Shatters Our struggles This is the unexpected gospel That it shatters And gives us Unexpected peace I don't know about you24:38I don't know about you I don't want a God that puts a bandage On my life I want a God that shatters the difficulty And brings me complete peace This is the prince of peace And not only that Not only Maybe you're thinking right now Well, pastor I need There's this in my life And it needs to be broken Jesus can do that Maybe you're simply overwhelmed And so for that If you're overwhelmed in your life25:08If you're overwhelmed in your life And you think there's not a way out For that Isaiah asks you to think about another Historical event And that's Midian In verse 4 He says remember As you did on the day of Midian You say well who is Midian Those are the Midianites In Judges chapter 6 through 8 The Midianites were oppressing God's people They numbered easily 120,000 Because 120,000 died So let's say 150,000 And God raised up a judge named Gideon25:37And God raised up a judge named Gideon With about 32,000 people strong And God looks at Gideon and says Gideon, you're going to attack the Midianites But Gideon, here's a problem You have too many people So tell the people that don't want to follow you Just go home And so they did And then God looked at Gideon and said Gideon, there's another problem You have too many people And so you take them down to the river And figure out they're going to lap like a dog26:05And figure out they're going to lap like a dog They're going to slurp or they're going to use their hands And then we're going to divide And at the end of the day Only 300 people remained Against 120,000 And by faith they went to battle And by faith that very night The scriptures say 120,000 Midianites were slain 300 men could not have done that by themselves26:35300 men could not have done that by themselves It's not by sleeping It's by the power of God So why would Isaiah remind us of this? Because when we are weak He is strong So Isaiah is asking you, church To think about a place in your life Or a time in your life Where you say God, this will not happen with human hands God, this is impossible with me And God says, you're right27:05And God says, you're right Think about Midian Think about Gideon Think about Egypt Think about places in your life That only God can do what he needs to do Now give that over to the Lord today What places in your life where you're struggling You say, God, only you can accomplish that And it's at that moment God's going to say Josh, I thought you would never ask Now by faith, trust me This is the Prince of Peace27:34This is the Prince of Peace This is the unexpected peace So great is the peace of God in our life That one day every trampling boot of battle will be destroyed Think about that We only have historical records roughly since 1400 A.D. But since 1400 A.D. 3,000 wars have been fought, give or take And estimates say that 200 million to 1 billion people have died in war since 1400 A.D.28:00And estimates say that 200 million to 1 billion people have died in war since 1400 A.D. And you know what God says about those wars? Look at verse 5 Look at the peace of God Look at the peace of Jesus Christ One day every trampling boot of battle will be burned This is the peace of Jesus Christ Only Jesus can do this This is unexpected28:29This is unexpected And this is the unexpected gospel That the peace of Christ will rule in our hearts Oh, we need this peace Wow, what peace we have in Jesus Christ When you see a war on TV today May you long again for the peace that Jesus will bring When you see images that sear into your memory Of little boys and girls who have been devastated28:58Of little boys and girls who have been devastated Who are orphaned because of battle Pray, God, come quick Because I know when you come The Prince of Peace will end all of this And when you feel like your heart is warring with God Pray and say, God, send your spirit upon me Because I need this battle to cease I need Jesus in my life I'm tired of this holy rebellion I need the boots of my battle to be burned in the fire29:26I need the boots of my battle to be burned in the fire This is the unexpected peace of God This is the hope that Isaiah points us to But it doesn't end there Look at verse 6 He says, now this is how it's going to happen God's going to raise up Caesar God's going to raise up a president God's going to raise up a military general That the world has never seen before29:54That the world has never seen before Now Isaiah says, listen to me, church You're not going to believe it But look at verse 6 You ready for this? There's going to be unexpected peace There's going to be unexpected light There's going to be unexpected joy And it's all going to happen because of verse 6 For unto us a... Really? Can you, can you not hear Isaiah saying to God30:23Can you, can you not hear Isaiah saying to God God, I can't deliver this message They'll never believe me God, I'm in with the light thing God, I'm in with this joy thing God, I'm ready for battles to be over God, you're going to raise up someone Let's go to war And God says, I'm going to send you a child Why would God send us a child?30:51Why would God send us a child? The most vulnerable creature that the world has ever known I mean, even baby deer try to walk when they're born Our kids have to wait months Think, think about baby humans They are the most vulnerable creatures the world knows They are fully dependent Why would God send such an unexpected savior?31:21Why would God send such an unexpected savior? Because he wants us to know several truths in this One, the virgin birth demonstrates that there is no contradiction in the idea that God can take on human nature God sent his son to take on human form to walk in our shoes so that we would know that there is a path back to God God wants you to know that he understands how you feel He understands your humanity, he understands your flesh31:49He understands your humanity, he understands your flesh That's why Hebrews says, we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness But one who has been tempted in every way Because he's fully human, he came as a child and he grew up as a youth and he grew up as an adult Without sin, therefore let us approach the throne of grace with boldness God sent his son as a child that one day you and I might approach his throne with boldness32:16God sent his son as a child that one day you and I might approach his throne with boldness What an unexpected savior Jesus Christ is But what a glorious savior Jesus is Not only did God send his son so that he would know how we feel He would demonstrate that But God demonstrates through his humanity That he is knowable32:45That he is knowable There is something about a child That makes you That tears down walls and tears down barriers There is something about a little baby that brings joy to your heart I have seen families that were fighting That when that child was brought forth into the world That it restored whole families There is something about the vulnerability of a child that brings us near And God sent his son Jesus as a child to let you know that you can approach him boldly33:13And God sent his son Jesus as a child to let you know that you can approach him boldly I was walking with Andy today and we were walking in the tabernacle that set up behind us And we were walking and he was we were talking about the tabernacle and we were walking and we got to the Holy of Holies And I looked at him and said I don't want to go in You first But then my next comment was but because of Jesus Christ We can33:42We can We can we can go into his presence And the child reminds us that God wants us to know him He is an unexpected savior because he wants you to draw near to him He wants you to know he is a personal God Yes, he is high and lifted up But he is not so high and he's not so lifted up that you cannot know him personally and intimately This is the purpose of the virgin birth This is the purpose of God taking on flesh34:12This is the purpose of God taking on flesh And live the sinless life that we might find our way back to God This is the unexpected savior And lastly We see in Christ this unexpected God Let's look quickly at the names of Jesus here For he will be named wonderful counselor This word means wonderful or marvelous or amazing extraordinary And it could mean hard to understand34:42And it could mean hard to understand Why would the Bible describe this child as being wonderful? Because I believe it's in this Messiah that we regain our sense of wonder I think some of us have lost our sense of wonder We have grown mundane and we've grown bored with Christianity We've grown bored with our salvation And it's Jesus that restores that in our life Christianity following Christ is anything but boring35:11Christianity following Christ is anything but boring We should be the most all filled people in the world Because of this child See, Jesus is the answer to spiritual boredom Jesus is the one that calls us to declare our satisfaction And I just ask that you would pray right now God, may I never lose my sense of wonder At my sin and at your salvation35:41At my sin and at your salvation And Lord, let me constantly find thanksgiving in your mercy This is the wonderful counselor that we worship But there's more Not only is he wonderful counselor, but he is what? He is wonderful counselor He is what God? He is mighty God He is not some God designated with weakness But he is the God of strength This word is used for a mighty warrior36:11This word is used for a mighty warrior You see, the Christian life The Messiah life And if you identify with Jesus Christ You are identifying with his strength Because our Messiah is not a weak savior Yes, he died But he died because he willingly gave up his life Yes, he was buried But he rose again And so in Christ we do not live lives of weakness He defeated the greatest enemies the world has ever known36:40He defeated the greatest enemies the world has ever known Our sin Death He was raised to life And now he sits at the mighty right hand of the Father So let me ask If we worship a mighty God Why do we live as if we are powerless Against our cravings? Why do we live as if we are powerless against sin? Why do we live as if we are powerless against our addictions37:08Why do we live as if we are powerless against our addictions Or our relationships Or our enemies? Why do we watch the news and we say God, the world is falling apart As if we are weak and God is saying Josh, don't you understand one of my names? It's one of the names because I'm so much more than this But one of my names is mighty God Don't you forget it We serve a God with strength And because of the Holy Spirit we serve in his strength37:38And because of the Holy Spirit we serve in his strength Church, live in the unexpected strength of the Messiah Not only is he our wonderful Counselor Not only is he our mighty God, but he is also what? He is our eternal or everlasting Father Now why would Isaiah remind us that he is our everlasting Father? Because Father is a paternal or familiar, familial term38:08Because Father is a paternal or familiar, familial term It's a reminder that God is personal, that he is loving, that he cares for you He's not some abstract concept He's not made of stone He's a Father because he has sons and daughters He's a Father because he adopts us in righteousness He's a Father because He loves us like a Father would love us And for those of you who don't have a Father in your life38:37And for those of you who don't have a Father in your life Or maybe have had a difficult concept of Father I want you to know that Jesus is a perfect Father He's not like this earthly Father who is sinful He's the one who loves you unconditionally He's the one who welcomes the prodigal home This is the everlasting Father Eternal Father because nothing can break the bonds of his fatherly love for us39:02Eternal Father because nothing can break the bonds of his fatherly love for us Nothing In Christ, not even my rebellion or back siding Because the Holy Spirit is going to bring to my remembrance Conviction and I can repent of that And he will be faithful and just to forgive me Church, remember there is no one greater than your eternal Dad There's no one greater than your eternal Dad39:28There's no one greater than your eternal Dad So what? There's all this unexpected glory of the kingdom, right? There's unexpected light And there's unexpected joy And there's unexpected peace And there's unexpected Savior And there's unexpected love of a father And there's this unexpected prosperity And this unexpected wonder that he gives us And there's this unexpected strength39:57And there's this unexpected strength So what do we do about it? I want to close with this quote from C.S. Lewis I share this on Wednesday night But Lewis has such a way of capturing our imaginations Capturing our wonder Listen to what he says about Jesus Written during world wars Written in a time that would mimic Isaiah's time And Lewis says this About Jesus40:27About Jesus Among these Jews There suddenly turns up a man Who is talking as if he was God He claims to forgive sins This Jesus says that he has always existed And he says that he is coming to judge the world At the end of time Now let us get this clear Among pantheists Among the Indians Anyone might say that he was part of God Or one with God40:57Or one with God And there would be nothing very odd about it At all But this man Jesus Since he was a Jew Could not mean that kind of God God God in their language meant that being outside the world Who had made it And was infinitely different than anything else And when you have grasped that When you have grasped what Isaiah is saying You will see that Jesus Simply41:27Simply Is the most shocking And unexpected thing That has ever been uttered by human loads But what Jesus was saying Who he said he was Was the most unexpected thing the world has ever heard That's exactly what Isaiah is saying Lewis continues A man who is merely a man And said these sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher He would be a lunatic41:57He would be a lunatic On the level of a man who says he was a poached egg Or the devil of hell So you must make a choice And so listen to this Either Jesus was and is the son of God Or he was a mad man or something worse You can shut him up for a fool You can spit at him and kill him as a demon Or you can fall at his feet And you can worship him as Lord But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense42:27But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense About him being a great human teacher He has not left that open to us And he did not intend to If what Isaiah says is true This is the most unexpected good news the world has ever heard And if you're here right now And you've never put your trust in Jesus Christ42:55And you've never put your trust in Jesus Christ We invite you to do that today You can pray a prayer like this It's not the words that saves you It's Jesus that saves you But it's praying a prayer of faith with a humble heart You just say God I know that I'm a sinner I know that there is darkness within me But I know Jesus died for that And today I believe I believe that you died on the cross for my sins43:22I believe that you died on the cross for my sins I believe that you rose again I believe that you will give me unexpected light And unexpected peace And unexpected joy I believe that you are my wonderful counselor I believe that you are my mighty God I believe that you are my everlasting Father And I believe I want to follow you The power of the gospel is that if you With a humble heart and a heart of authenticity Pray that Your heavenly Father will hear43:52Your heavenly Father will hear And he will save you And we want to celebrate that with you today Maybe you're here and you don't see much light Maybe you're here and you don't see much lightMore from Isaiah →
