The End Of Sin’s Oppression-1

THE END OF SIN’s OPPRESSION—Isaiah 9:6-7

Attention:

I was watching a well-known, nationally televised, morning news program one day.

A special guest was an author of a book, in which he described the difficulties that his young family had undergone, particularly in the loss of one of their young sons.

Both the author & the TV anchors mentioned a few times that they sincerely believed their anger was rightly placed against God for taking the son’s life.

*Folks, that’s NOT the END of sin’s oppression...That’s the DEFINITION of it!

Their discussions revealed that they all had an indifferent ignorance of sin. And that neither of them had any kind of accurate concept of:

1)The unavoidable prevalence of sin’s reach among men,

2)The depth of the deceptive subtleties of sin’s reach—potentially touching every decision of every person,

3)The utter destructiveness wrought by sin’s reach.

They blamed what they determined to be ‘bad things’ on God! What a monster they must suppose God to be!?!

Need:

To grasp the significance of sin’s oppression & effect on our lives.

To recognize that the only solution for sin’s oppression is from God!

THE END OF SIN’s OPPRESSION—Isaiah 9:6-7

The prophet Isaiah reveals God’s plan for alleviating the oppression of sin among mankind.

God has a plan for ending the oppression of sin.

BUT--What is God’s plan for ending that oppression?

—OR—

How will God bring an end to that oppression?

8 cumulative works, bringing an end to the oppression of sin.

‘OPPRESSION’—“Prolonged cruel or unjust treatment or control.”; “The state of being subject to unjust treatment or control.”

1—The promise to end sin’s oppression comes thru...

A PERFECT CONTEXT(8:19--9:5)

Explanation:(8:19--9:5)Human limitation potentially drives you to repentance

8:19—TRUST RIDICULOUS ANSWERS:

“And when they say to you, “Seek those who are mediums & wizards, who whisper & mutter,” should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living?”

It is surely nonsensical to seek those who are “dead” in order to determine the welfare “of the living.” Such action directly opposes YHWH, who’s very name stems from the Hebrew verb “to be,” & is translated as “I am”—Ever-present, self-existent, & eternal.

8:20—DIRECTION To The LIGHT Is AVAILABLE:

“To the law & to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”

In seeking truth God’s people should go “to the “testimony” He has left them—to His law—NOT the law of men, NOR the faulty & wordy interpretations of God’s law.

Those whose speech does not originate from, & in alignment with, God’s revealed word, ironically & in reality reveal that there is, “no light in them”(of God or truth) Their light is darkness.

•Luke 11:35—Jesus said,—“Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness.”

8:21-22—CONFINEMENT Within HUMAN INABILITY:

“They will pass through it hard pressed & hungry; & it shall happen, when they are hungry, that they will be enraged & curse their king & their God, & look upward. Then they will look to the earth, & see trouble & darkness, gloom of anguish; & they will be driven into darkness.”

*Confined to the limitations of human ability, because they are separated from Christ.

•How ironic that men will “look upward,” looking for rescue, yet will refuse the very God who openly reveals His utter majestic awesomeness, combined with a constant offer of tangible hope!

9:1—“GLOOM”/dimness(ultimate frustration) REMOVED

“Nevertheless the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed, As when at first He lightly esteemed The land of Zebulun & the land of Naphtali, And afterward more heavily oppressed her, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, In Galilee of the Gentiles.”

At this writing, Israel is “distressed/vexation/anguish” by their spiritual & physical/political situation thru their Assyrian oppressors.

•Any land influenced by illegitimate cultures/religions is in spiritual & physical anguish, no matter how ‘temporarily’ ‘happy’ they may be.

9:2—“DARKNESS” REMOVED

“The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined.”

•Ps. 23:4—“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”

•To “walk in darkness” is to live your life unaware of spiritual dangers &/or the available godly pleasures in your path. Unable to comprehend reality. If the God of the Bible does not cement your reality then you live in a false reality!

•God’s “light” of full-awareness “has shined” because it is God’s desire to make it so for the sake of those who will choose to be His people!

•We have one daughter has never professed Christ. Our discussions generally end with her being reminded of her ‘narrow-mindedness.’