5 Ways That God Shows He Loves You Series (Part 1 of 5)
He Knows Our Need
Isa. 9:1-7
Nov. 26, 2006 FBC, Chester Mike Fogerson, Pastor
Introduction:
A In a "Peanuts" cartoon strip, good old Charlie Brown says to Linus, "Life is just too much for me. I’ve been confused from the day I was born. I think the whole trouble is that we’re thrown into life too fast. We’re not really prepared."
1 Linus asks, "What did you want . . . a chance to warm up first?"
2 The Advent season is supposed to be our chance to warm up.
a The word Advent means to await – we await the coming of the King, Jesus Christ.
b It’s that time to prepare our hearts and homes for the birth of the Christ child.
B Historical background
1 Nearly 800 years before the birth of Jesus.
a The nation is divided in two: Judah (2 southern tribes) & Israel (10 northern tribes).
b The people had put their trust in politics, alliances with other nations, man.
2 Israel was attacked in 733-32 BC by Assyria (Tiglath-Relesser III) & became a vassal state of Assyria.
a In 701 BC Judah was attacked, enslaved to Assyrian king Sennacherib.
b Isaiah urged the people to trust in the Lord...they didn’t.
aa Looking for David, military expert, leader...Messiah
bb Expecting an earthly king to solve all their problems.
c In our text, Isaiah is counseling Israel concerning Assyria.
C Isaiah 9:1-7 (NASB)
1 Isaiah encouraged a rebellious Israel by assuring them that God knew what they needed (essence of the text in a sentence).
a God has lovingly provided a way for our greatest need to be met (essence of the sermon in a sentence).
b I pray you’ll allow Jesus to give you more than you expect-salvation, yes! Break your yoke, rod, staff, too! Rule in heart (objective).
2 What need is Jesus offering to meet in your life today? (Probing question)
a Let’s look at 2 aspects of Isaiah 9:1-7 that can help us allow Jesus to give more than we expect (transitional sentence).
b Pray
I Plenty of problems vs. 1-5
A Israel was about as low as people can possibly become.
1 Isaiah described the peoples’ needs in great detail.
a Gloom, anguish, contempt (v. 1), walking & living in darkness (v. 2), under a yoke of burden, staff, & rod of oppression (v. 4), and v. 5 says there was a military presence that enforced the yoke/staff/rod.
b These people had troubles by the dozen & heartaches by the number.
2 God allowed (brought) these problems because the people refused to be faithful, obedient, trust in Him.
a The purpose was to discipline, not destroy (v.1). Anguish to honor.
b They chose their way vs. God’s way, pray vs. prey, canopy of God’s protection vs. object of wrath.
B Our own sin /rebellion against God brings us plenty of problems, too.
1 Our sin has landed us in the confusion, uncertainty, & darkness that comes when we choose our own way over His way (our will/glory over His).
a Chose to deny Jesus Lordship, & we wonder why nothing goes right.
aa Defile the marriage bed & wonder why divorce rates are over 50%, babies having babies.
bb Take God/10 Commandments/prayer out of school & wonder why we have to put metal detectors at the gate
cc Rob God of His tithe & wonder why we’re always broke.
b Disobedience to God brings problems!
2 Those problems (sins) put us in bondage (yoke, staff, rod).
a We become enslaved to them, serve them, & submit to Satan.
b We can’t solve this problem on our own! We need a solution!
C If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent an educator.
1 If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist.
a If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist.
b If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer.
b But since our greatest need was forgiveness, God sent us a
Savior.
TS: Just as bleak is the picture our problems paints, God’s promise points us to a bright horizon.
II Promise of provision VS. 6-7
A The prophet assured Israel that God would come through for them.
1 "But there will be no more..." (V. 1)
a Gloom, anguish, contempt will be turned to honor/glory.
b Living in dark will see a great light (v.2)
c Yoke/rod/staff...broken! (V.4)
d Soldiers: boots/cloaks will be firewood (v. 5)
2 How will God accomplish this? (Angelic army? King? General? Miraculous overcoming of the enemy?)
a We know how, don’t we?
b V. 6 "...a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us..."
c The people were told that the Messiah will come as a child.
B In Bethlehem, some 800 years after Isaiah’s prophetic ministry ended, God made good on His promise! (Come, O Come Emmanuel) Aren’t you glad He did?
1 "God with us"-what a promise!
a If he was mean, demon, monster, this promise would be one of endless terror.
b The Good News is that the God who is with us wants to turn our dark into light, conflict into peace, loss into abundance, despair into joy.
2 He left the throne of heaven to be "enthroned" on a cross in Jerusalem.
a He promised to break our yokes of burden, staff & rod of our oppressor...give us freedom!
b The Gospel breaks us free from the guilt, penalty, power, wages of sin!
C A woman who was obviously frustrated and frazzled was needing to get to the next level of the mall to continue her Christmas shopping.
1 As she waited for the elevator, she was bumped, shoved, pushed from passerbys and her mind was racing calculating how much she charged up on her credit card.
a The elevator arrived, the doors opened and exposed its full interior. She made a loud sigh, and the folks made enough room for her to get on.
b She said, "Who ever thought of this Christmas thing should be hunted down, strung up, and shot. (Many nodded in agreement.)
c Then from somewhere in the back a voice said, "Don’t worry, lady, They already crucified him."
2 He came to bring us the greatest gift, and it was given to us by God Himself from the cradle, cross.
Conclusion
A Isaiah encouraged a rebellious Israel by assuring them that God knew what they needed (essence of the text in a sentence).
1 God has lovingly provided a way for our greatest need to be met (essence of the sermon in a sentence).
2 We’ve looked at two aspects of Isaiah 9:1-7 that can help us allow Jesus to give us more than we expect.
a Plenty of problems
b Promise of provision
B I pray you’ll allow Jesus to give you more than you expect-salvation, yes! Break your yoke, rod, staff, too! Rule in heart (objective).
1 What has you in bondage today?
2 What is your greatest need?
C What need is Jesus offering to meet in your life today? (Probing question)
1 (IL) Woman with electricity who only used it to see to light her candle/oil lamp.
a God’s promises are true, awesome, & are plenty!
b You’ve been (or maybe not) set free from dark to light...He’s got more for you!
c We can stop at verses 1,2, 3, 4, and not see the promises in verses 2,3, 4, 5.
d Where His promises led us to is in v. 7 There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.
aa Have we allowed the Child King to take over the government of our lives?
bb Only then can we know the benefits of "God with us"
cc We can’t have the glory, joy, abundance that He promises any other way.
2 What need is Jesus offering to meet in your life today? (Probing question)
Notice to Sermon Central Users:
My name is Mike Fogerson, and I pastor a Southern Baptist Church in Chester, Illinois. I have been a long-time user of Sermon Central and truly appreciate its content and contributors. Some of the best sermons I’ve ever preached have been reworked material from this website. As you use the material from my sermon bank, understand that it is work that has been done from not just myself, but from hundreds of other pastors as well. If you see part of your message, or a bunch of your message with my name on it and this upsets you, please email me and I will quickly respond and cite you as the main source. My intent is not to claim someone’s work as my own. I am disclaiming up front that I use the resources from Sermon Central and appreciate the tool. I simply want all those who use my work to know that some of these messages were inspired by the Holy Spirit working through other pastors. Because I do use the messages of other pastors I waive all claims of originality or origin of creativity for the messages posted under my messages. I pray God blesses your preaching ministry for the glory of His Kingdom.
Respectfully,
Mike Fogerson
