Jesus Is Coming Series

“JESUS IS COMING” Isa. 9:2-7

FBCF – 12/5/21

Jon Daniels

INTRO – One of Vicki’s favorite Christmas songs is “It’s the Most Wonderful…” Saw an article in CT magazine – “The Most ‘Jesusy’ Time of Year.” Probably is time of year that we hear about Jesus the most.

Hear a lot about Jesus this time of year. In church. Outside of church. Sing the carols in church services. Hear them in stores. End of secular movie “Fred Claus”, hear beautiful rendition of “Silent Night” by Sinead O’Connor.

There are a lot of different ways that people respond when they hear the name of Jesus.

- Some respond in anger

- Some respond in crude, vulgar, profane ways

- Some respond in confusion & w/ questions

But for us, the Church, how do WE respond when we hear about Jesus?

- In worship – Already this morning, we’ve proclaimed:

o [8 & 11] His glory – “Hark the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King…”

o His reign & His rule – “Crown Him King of kings, Crown Him Lord of lords…”

o [REFUGE] His joy – “Joy, Unspeakable joy”

o His faithfulness – “I count on one thing, The same God that never fail, Will not fail me now”

- In obedience –

o Kevin & Kristina has shared w/ us & challenged us w/ their obedience to the call of Jesus on their lives

o Some of you have already begun having “beautiful feet” as you’ve shared Christ w/ someone this week

- In repentance & faith as you call out to Him to be saved today

People have been hearing about Jesus for a long time. 700 years before He was born, people were hearing about Him through the OT prophet, Isaiah.

EXPLANATION – Isaiah 9:2-7

The world needs a Savior, a Rescuer, a Redeemer. People who live 6000 miles from here in Moscow, Russia, & people who live less than 6000 feet from here in Flora, MS. Today, we preach & proclaim that Jesus is that Savior, Rescuer, & Redeemer & that He has come. And nearly 3000 years ago, Isaiah was preaching & proclaiming that Jesus was coming.

Then, like now, times were desperate. The people of God were rotting internally from moral & spiritual rebellion & corruption. And on a national level, multiple enemies were threatening to attack the nation of Judah. People were panicking, turning from God, turning to superstition & occultic practices to try to find some sense of safety & peace. Even the king sacrificed his own son to a pagan god (2 Kings 16:3).

Into this hopeless, godless atmosphere, the Spirit of God led Isaiah to interject a prophetic word of hope. Hope was coming & it was coming in the form of a baby that would be born in a tiny village named Bethlehem. It would be a while before that actual event would happen. But when you KNOW that hope is coming, you can hang on b/c your perspective changes.

APPLICATION – The advent of Jesus into the world changes our perspective on everything!

“advent” – arrival; an appearing or coming into place

Let’s consider some of the blessings of the Advent of Jesus:

HE DISPELS DARKNESS – v. 2 – Over & over in Scripture, “darkness” is equated w/ sin, evil, our godless world system.

- Ephesians 6:12 – “For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against persons without bodies—the evil rulers of the unseen world, those mighty satanic beings and great evil princes of darkness who rule this world; and against huge numbers of wicked spirits in the spirit world.” (TLB)

- John 3:19 – “This is the judgment—that light has entered the world and men have preferred darkness to light because their deeds are evil.” (Phillips)

- John 8:12 – “Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, ‘I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.’” (NLT)

- Romans 1:21 – “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” (ESV)

Physically walking in the darkness is dangerous. Spiritually walking in the darkness is deadly. Take heart, brothers & sisters! How awesome that Jesus has come to dispel the darkness of sin & lead us into His eternal light & into eternal life when we trust Him to save us!

HE DIRECTS OUR LIVES – “Wonderful Counselor” – Ron Mumbower – good friend. Counselor. Called & trained to help give guidance to people in times of difficulty, confusion, & pain. So good to have someone like him to go to when we need direction.