The Hope for Darkness

I love that. My name is René, I'm one of the pastors here. It's wonderful to welcome you. Whether you're watching here in the auditorium, we've got a whole bunch of people over in Venue in Munskey Hall watching via video. And you know I should mention that the church services here are also watched on video in other churches now all around the world. This doesn't happen by our plan. We just discovered that congregations six different churches in Brazil are subtitling our sermons in Portuguese. They have live worship, live pastor, and then they watch our sermons as part of their church services. Churches around America, there's a congregation in Fresno that actually some of them are here today at congregation in San Luis Obispo. They're here today too. So let's just welcome all those people wherever they watch online and on video. That's awesome to see what God is doing.

Now you might notice that something is different here on stage today. It's all set up as Val said for the Lincoln Brewster concert tonight. I was here for the concert last night by the way. It is amazing. Do not miss it. But I especially love this giant football stadium sized Diamond Vision Arena screen. That's actually what this thing was originally designed for, was to be used in a sports arena. It's stunning and while I'm happy I get to use it for the sermon. You know being a sports fan I would kind of really like it to do what it was originally meant to do and show something like this. Doesn't that just make you feel all warm and tingly inside? You know that's just beautiful.

You know but seriously it is Advent and during Advent we remember that a very important person will be returning soon, Madison Bumgarner, to the Giants. But you know but seriously many of us are going through dark times right now especially Niner fans the way they've been playing and we need to remind ourselves of an important and timeless truth here in church today. This is very important for comfort in these tough times. Wouldn't you agree with that? I agree with that. It just looks right. It looks right Trent.

But really today we really are doing something related to Christmas. We're starting a Christmas tradition here at TLC. It's been a tradition for centuries all around Christendom but in my 21 years here as a pastor we have never done the traditional Advent and I'll explain that more in just a second. But part of what Advent means is that every weekend in December and for the four weekends leading up to Christmas a different family from the church will light that week's Advent calendar on the wreath and read the scripture for that week and so today let's welcome the Dunbar family as they do that for us right now.

First is from Isaiah 9. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. For to us a child is born to us a son is given and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called wonderful counselor mighty God everlasting father prince of peace of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. Amen let's thank these guys great job that was beautiful I love that very very nice.

Well this morning what we're gonna do is do some detective work all right and investigate those verses that you just heard the Dunbar's read from Isaiah 9 and look at the hope for dark days that they offer. But first here's what I want to do grab your message notes that look like this and since we are starting this new Christmas tradition here at Twin Lakes Church let's talk a little bit about Christmas traditions and let's just take kind of a show of hands audience poll here how many of you growing up had some sort of a Christmas tradition in your household or let's say holiday tradition more broadly did anybody have something like that some kind of a Christmas tradition they may be so close to you you don't realize their Christmas traditions for example how many of you hung up stockings by your fireplace every Christmas season okay that's a Christmas tradition how many of you opened at least one present every Christmas Eve anybody do that Wow how many of you it was always pajamas can I see that how many of you resent that to this day because I know I do personally right Christmas traditions are fascinating I do I encourage you to talk to each other about this later on today.

But in our family we had what I thought was a Christmas tradition that everybody did because we did this every single year and now I realize it's just weird it's some kind of an odd Swiss custom that goes way back to Middle Ages or maybe even further back and here is what we did one person in the family usually a young man would play the part of the Pied Piper and he would play on a penny whistle or maybe a recorder this haunting kind of Renaissance fare like tune and he would go dancing and weaving in and out of every single room in the house and if you were in the rooms where I went I mean all the bedrooms the dining room the living room the hallways then what you had to do is put your hand on his shoulders or the shoulders of the person in front of you and in doing so he would form this human train that would kind of just sort of weave around the house and then it would end up at the Christmas tree where we would all hold hands.

Now I associate that tradition with Christmas now looking back as an adult I realized it was probably some sort of ancient pagan custom you know for like exterminating the evil spirits from every room in the house at the end of the new year or something like that but but that's what we did we thought it was normal then right after that we'd sacrifice the goat but everybody does that you know no we didn't do that but my point is you may be looking at advent and you're going okay so we're starting this advent tradition how many of you did advent calendars candles rather growing up how many of you did that not maybe even the majority so so I didn't do it growing up so some of you are looking at this tradition going what is this all about and why are we doing this as a church what does this actually mean.

So let's talk about it what is advent? Well the word advent simply means the arrival of an important person or the beginning of an era yet like you could talk about the advent of the internet right but when it's used at Christmas advent refers to both the first and the second coming of the Messiah. All right his first advent is what we celebrate at Christmas when Jesus Christ was born that's the first advent and we live between that and the second advent that will be in the future when Jesus the Messiah returns and all things will be made right again on the whole planet you know the lion lying down with the lamb and and all wars stop and all disease and and advent the advent season is about remembering both advents really the promise of advent and the reason that we celebrate it by lighting candles is because it can be summarized in one sentence and that's this this darkness will not last.

Would you say that phrase out loud with me this darkness will not last you know I look out on the crowd that's here right now and I don't know everybody's story but I know some of your stories because some of you send me prayer requests and I know some of you as friends and some of you come in for prayer Thursdays with the pastors and some of you in this room are going through some tough times right now the promise of advent for you suffering with physical illness for you going through a relational problem for you going through maybe deeper darkness than you have ever known in your life the promise of advent is say it with me again this darkness will not last no say it like you mean it come on this darkness will not last that is what the candles of advent shout out to a dark world.

Now the advent season happens the four weeks before Christmas and that's when Christians all out around the world light weekly advent calendars in their homes on an advent wreath like this one on our stage to symbolically remember say it again this will not that's right and to help us remember this and do this together as a church since this is something brand new for us as a church we have put together an advent devotional booklet our small groups pastor Jim Jocelyn and our women's ministry director Kim Bruninger helped me put this together and what this does is this takes you through every single day of advent and it gives you a scripture reading you'll need your Bible but if you need one we have free Bibles available for you too and that gives you some questions to discuss just meditate on yourself or discuss with your family and what you do is you light a candle and every week there's another candle added to the Advent wreath every every week before Christmas then there's finally the Christmas Eve candle and this takes you all the way through to Christmas Day.

Now I want to say something you do not have to make this complicated or expensive you don't have to go buy some expensive wreath and expensive candles in fact Jim Jocelyn our small groups pastor who helped put this together in his family they just found a big branch that fell down in the storm outside their house and they drilled five holes into it and plugged in candles they already had and stuck this on their mantle on their fireplace and this is what they're using so Advent doesn't have to be store bought it can be very organic and homemade and we've got some other tips here in the book you can pick up again for free after church but you may be asking why celebrate Advent why do all this and I know some of you are asking because some of you are even suspicious of candles in church you're like it's like New Agey or liturgical can you really love Jesus and do this so I really want to address this Advent is really all about one word and here it is anticipation.

Do you remember how much you anticipated Christmas as a kid? In fact here's another audience poll show of hands how many of you ever did this before Christmas when nobody was looking you snuck under the Christmas tree and tried to figure out what was inside the packages anybody ever do that right you couldn't stand the way all of us did that but here's another question how many of you actually unwrapped any of the presents and wrapped them up again and had to fake surprise on Christmas morning wait keep those hands up keep those hands up these are the latent criminals in our group right now beware of them kids love anticipating Christmas grown-ups almost dread Christmas right but Advent is a way to recapture the childlike wonder and anticipation.

You know there's a character in the Bible mentioned in the Gospel of Luke an old man named Simeon and shortly after Jesus is born he sees the baby Jesus and Luke describes him this way says Simeon was waiting for the consolation of Israel that means he was a Jew waiting for the advent of the Messiah. Now check this out the word waiting there is a compound word in the original Greek that literally means waiting forward don't you love that waiting but not with a sense of it's never gonna happen may as well give up hope because nothing's gonna change no Simeon was waiting with a forward lean he knew God had a plan God was in control and he never gave up hope and I just want that whole concept to encourage you right now because all of us in this room are waiting on something right and it's easy to feel like God has forgotten you but God is going to come through on schedule he has a plan don't give up wait forward.

Advent brings hope why? Because listen advent is not just about remembering the story advent is about remembering my place in the story that we live between the first advent when Jesus came to give us hope for salvation for our souls and hope for salvation for the world and we live between that and the second advent when we know that hope will be firmly established we live right between the two we live in the tension between the two but the second advent is as promised and is as sure of a thing as the first advent was that is the big picture that remembering advent gives me and I love that it gives me hope because it gives me a sense of perspective that is so easy to forget right and so with that introduction to advent with that picture of what advent is all about let's dive into the classic advent verse you heard it earlier from the Hebrew Scriptures what we call the Old Testament Isaiah 9:2 and I want to start by reading this verse out loud together all right everybody in here let me hear your voices the people walking in darkness have seen a great light on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.

Now let me just stop for just a second and go what who who who is this even talking about what people what lights you know remember what we just finished 40 days in the word right and what remember what we learned about understanding Scripture you've got to read in what context so what's the context of this verse historically what exactly is this verse referring to? Let's look at the problem that this verse solves and it's very easy all you've got to do is look at the verses right before this the last two verses of Isaiah 8 look at these verses distressed and hungry they will roam through the land when they're famished they'll become enraged and looking upward will curse their king and who their God and so they're looking upward and they're cursing God remember that and then they will look toward the earth and they will see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom and they will be thrust into utter darkness.

And what's happening here historically in Isaiah 8 is the people of Israel have been invaded by the merciless Assyrian army and the Jews are kicked out of their homes they're scattered their refugees they have lost everything and consequently they feel crushed and broken-hearted and devastated by evil and suffering and this verse in the Bible has resonated with people since that this was written six centuries before Christ and so this has been in the Bible for 2,600 years and for 2,600 years people have related to this because no matter who you are you have felt like this this relates to anybody in the whole world there's times when all of us look around and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom in fact maybe you feel like that right now there's been a run of bad breaks or a bad test result or confusion in a relationship or maybe you just look at the news you know you're addicted to headline news or whatever and it's just gotten you thinking how dark this planet is and at times you and I just might curse the king and curse God.

But the cool thing in Isaiah check this out the cool thing in Isaiah is that God doesn't curse back instead he gives a promise that darkness say it with me this darkness will not last Isaiah 9:1 nevertheless people are cursing God but nevertheless there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress now this is so good because watch the detail here in the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations by the way of the sea beyond the Jordan those people the people walking in darkness have seen a great light on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.

Now again what is he talking about what's the way of the sea beyond the Jordan what is Galilee of the nations? When you really look at the context this amazing verse it's already amazing but your mind will be blown check this out a map of the Mediterranean in Bible times there were empires like Rome and Greece and Persia and Egypt that were the dominant superpowers and what they did was they built a road along the coast of the Mediterranean tying all their empires together and this main trade artery was called the Via Morris or translated in English the way of the sea that road is what this verse in Isaiah 9 is talking about.

Now there was one tiny little spot where the route that this road went through got very very narrow and all the nations and empires tried to control that one little spot because they knew if they controlled that bottleneck then they could control the trade of the whole entire world so let's zoom in a little bit closer on that one tiny spot the northern coast of a lake called the Sea of Galilee this is in the northern part of the land of Israel and the Via Morris or the way of the sea road ran at one point right between the lake the Sea of Galilee and the Galilean mountains and so check this out the whole region was called Galilee of the Gentiles or Galilee of the nations even though it was part of Israel because all those different empires went to war over this tiny area century after century after century and one would conquer it for a little while then some other Empire would kick them out and the locals what do you think was happening to them in this process they were just getting beaten to a pulp by all these giants you know these mammoth empires and armies crowding this territory.

But that is why still today you find ruins of pagan temples all over this land even though it's from the land of Israel you find Egyptian ruins you find Roman ruins you find Greek ruins you find Persian ruins ruins from every culture really in Western civilization are found right there why? Because all those people established themselves for a while in this area and this is why the Jewish people who really were headquartered further south in Jerusalem despised this place when Isaiah was written they considered it defiled by centuries of all of this pagan influence so it was Galilee of the Gentiles the land of darkness but now watch this because God does something with a bad situation the place where the way of the sea road gets the very narrowest is a little city a little village called Capernaum does that sound familiar?

The trade route of the whole world passed right through this little town and this becomes the center of ministry for Jesus why? Well there is no better spot on earth from which to influence the whole planet without going to a big city like Rome because in this little town of Capernaum the whole world is literally washing up on your doorstep every day because of the trade route so whatever happens there is gonna get carried like seeds in the wind to the far parts of the planet and that is the place that this verse is talking about Galilee of the nations the way of the sea up north beyond the Jordan River this was known as a place of spiritual darkness a place of physical suffering but Isaiah is saying the Messiah will arise a life for the whole world will come out of a place of deep darkness and you see what hope this gives to you and me first of all what whatever circumstance you are in no matter how dark it is health wise relationally any other way it is never so dark that God cannot be glorified through it because people looked at this place and it's just like this is just it's like maybe what's happening in Syria or something now only it happened there for centuries and centuries and centuries war torn but Isaiah is saying ah but God's going to use that to make it a place where the Messiah can spring up and influence not just Israel but the whole planet.

And there's a second thing that's astounding about this and that's here in Isaiah written six centuries before Jesus Christ Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah will arise in this part of the land on this road he's basically giving the street address to the headquarters of Jesus Christ stunning and then Isaiah goes on to talk about what this person will be like in verse 6 and I'm gonna camp out here for the few minutes we have left because Isaiah says for unto us a child is born to us a son is given now let me stop there because first we see the Messiah will be a human child this is very important he won't be just an emanation he won't be just a manifestation of God he won't be an angel he'll be a human being but this human there will be some unique things about him to say the least he goes on and says and the government will be on his shoulders in other words he'll be the Messiah and watch this he will be called read the rest of this verse with me those four descriptions let me hear it he will be called wonderful counselor mighty God everlasting father Prince of Peace four descriptions of the Messiah and there are four things that we know the Messiah will do to bring us out of our darkness to it ensure us say it with me that this darkness what will not last these are on page two of your notes number one it says he guides me he guides me and he will be called wonderful counselor you know maybe right now you need that desperately because again something's going on in your in your finances or in your private life or there's a sin you're struggling with what makes him so effective as the wonderful counselor Jesus is the ultimate counselor because being human he knows how I feel and being divine he knows what I need right being human he knows how I feel the Bible says he was truly human he was tempted in every way just as we are and that means he when you say Jesus I am really struggling with anger I'm really struggling with lust I'm really struggling with this temptation he will never hear your prayer and go you are what that is disgusting I cannot understand you human beings he gets it he's been here he's sweated drops of blood resisting the temptation to run away from the cross he gets it he sympathizes but being God he knows exactly the right prescription to lead you out of your darkness which will not last forever.

Now we could talk for an hour just about this but it gets even better because this verse Isaiah 9:6 also says he rescues me he not only guides me he rescues me it says he'll be called mighty God stop right there just for a minute because that is just mind-blowing just on its surface would you just think about this for a second a child will be born and this child will be called mighty God what? Here's six centuries before Jesus Christ you see this hint of Christian theology that Jesus is 100% human he's born and yet he is also mighty God truly divine now let's dig deeper because this is so cool the root word here from mighty used in Hebrew my friends who are Hebrew speaking tell me means hero or heroic a doer of great things now let me just ask you to think about this just for a second when you hear the word hero what image kind of immediately pops to your mind probably these days in American culture somebody like Captain America right or maybe Iron Man one of the Avengers right but what did the Jews reading this for the first time think of when they thought of a hero the Messiah they thought maybe somebody like Moses somebody like David in other words all of us are thinking of human beings but watch this this verse means the Messiah will not just be a human hero right that is the best hope that people living in this land of darkness in northern Galilee could possibly conjure up something a great warrior will arise like Moses or David but this is guess what the Messiah will come and he'll be human but he will be your hero God.

I love that because it's the best possible combination hero of all the one who created every star in every galaxy all across the universe became a little baby unto us a child is born a son is given who is mighty God mind-blowing and specifically the word for hero God implies the one who brings order out of chaos listen do you need somebody to bring order out of the chaos of your life the hero God can do it.

I want to show you something since we've got this beautiful big screen behind me I want to show you the classic Christmas painting that this year I become sort of obsessed with all right this is by Rembrandt and and I love this painting I mean I've looked at this over and over and over again for several days and there's a lot of reasons I love this because he doesn't over sentimentalize the nativity he doesn't over spiritualize it nobody's got any halos on their head there's no glow except the glow from their fire very human based in reality you see Mary and Joseph and the baby they're in a cave which is probably what it was not just a human wooden stable rather it was it was a cave there and the only light is a some light from the stars and the light of their campfire and you see there a little shepherd boy and some animals and as your eyes sort of adjust to the darkness of the picture you can see another shepherd way off there in the distance starting to come with his staff because he and his buddies have just heard the angels just over the hill but it's very subtle and it's all very fragile and I love how you see this from a far distance because this is just how inconsequential and small the birth of Jesus must have seemed so fragile and little.

Now you combine this with some of Rembrandt's paintings of Christ on the cross and then you get the heart of Christianity Mary's tiny baby is the hero God who became heroic in his human fragility and in that fragility did the greatest act of heroism ever he paid for the sins of the world and God did this because he loves you and wants to save you you know all the other religions of the world or most of them have some sort of story of human beings going on a quest to find God but as far as I know only in the Bible do you have the awesome story of the quest that God goes on to find you the Bible is not a story about human quests the Bible is a story about God's quest because he loves you so much.

Now this is good already but it gets even better because the third description means he adopts me he adopts me it says he'll be called an everlasting father again mind-blowing head of future Christian theology right the child is called the father there's so many places I could go with this but for now think of the best things about a father compassion strength encouragement coaching right good loving discipline teaching I know some of you are thinking huh not my dad maybe your dad was not there for you maybe your dad left the family maybe there was a divorce maybe your dad died maybe your dad was just a dysfunctional dad like you never knew what kind of a dad you would find he'd be good dad in the next day or the next hour he'd be bad dad and so you're always didn't know whether to wince or to hug him but do you see what this word means God is the everlasting father he always lasts as the good father this means he will never ever leave you ever he will never hurt you ever he will never forget you ever because God as a father lasts forever and he wants to enfold you with that love.

And so as a light from my darkness Jesus guides me he rescues me he adopts me this is this mind-blowing description of the Messiah that puts him in another category far beyond just the political hero that everybody in the world at that time thought they needed Isaiah's like you have no idea what he's gonna do for you because finally the fourth description here at an Isaiah 9:6 is this he calms me calms me anybody need to hear this today it says he'll be called the Prince of Peace you know they say the season we're about to enter is the most stressful time of the year it's the most stressful time of the year right but the Messiah is the Prince of Peace and yeah I gotta again kind of plug that little Advent book it's very simple it's free but you've spent some time in the word and the Messiah will bring you peace and not just the kind of peace you feel when you look out say at a beautiful Aptos sunrise one of our great TLC attenders Heidi Heath-Garwood sent me this picture last week of this amazing sunrise and when you look at something like this and you know Jesus and you think the God who made this sunrise loves me and knows my name you feel blissed out you feel happy to be alive that's great it seems like peace can't go deeper than that but it does because the top peace robber is guilt over actual sin you've been there I've been there maybe that's robbing you of peace today listen you don't have to let your guilt today rob you of peace because the Prince of Peace can deal with it once for all.

Look at Romans 5:1 and I want us to read this verse out loud together let me hear you we have what peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ what Jesus did on the cross brings you peace with God forever that peace starts in your heart and then one day at his second advent the Prince of Peace will put an end to all war and bring total complete peace to every atom of the universe forever and we really need that hope today too.

Look at the screen NFL player Benjamin Franklin who plays for the New Orleans Saints posted something on his Facebook page a few days ago it's since gone viral and I'd really encourage you to look up the whole thing it's remarkable but I want to show you just a part of what he said he says at some point while I was playing or preparing to play Monday Night Football the news broke out about the Ferguson decision well here are my thoughts and he's an African-American player he says I'm frustrated because pop culture music and movies glorify these types of police citizen altercations and promote an attitude that continues to get young men killed I'm fearful because in the back of my mind I know that although I'm a law-abiding citizen I could still be looked upon as a threat to those who don't know me I'm sympathetic because I wasn't there so I don't know exactly what happened and he goes on but then he ends with this I'm encouraged because ultimately the problem is not a skin problem it's a sin problem sin is the reason we rebel against authority sin is the reason we abuse our authority sin is the reason we're racist and sin is the reason we riot loot and burn but I'm encouraged because God has provided a solution for sin through his son Jesus and with it a transformed heart and mind one that's capable of looking past the outward and he says the cure for the Michael Brown Trayvon Martin Tamir Rice and Eric Garner tragedies is not just education or exposure it's the gospel and so finally I'm encouraged because the gospel gives mankind hope don't you love that that's the hope of the advent he's talking about that's the answer it has to start from a conversion in each individual human heart as we let the peace the Prince of Peace reign and then at the second advent we have hope that that will be perfectly realized.

You know what I wanted I want to show you the best TV commercial of the year so far yes I'm gonna take a break from my sponsor here from my sermon but I want to show this to you this was put out about a week ago by a store called Sainsbury's in the UK and I love this because it's a dramatization of a true story this is well documented this is something that happened up and down the trenches during World War one between British and German troops on Christmas Eve a hundred years ago this actually happened watch the screen check it night Oh My brother Oh My name is Jim my name is Otto please to meet you Rose Soon Oh Happy Christmas.

Don't you love that what a beautiful scene historians say that there's all sorts of letters from people on the front both German and British soldiers writing home saying to their families you will never believe what happened on Christmas Eve They said it's like the spirit of Christmas took over and all along the front lines we gathered together and just played and sang songs and had a good time and then when it was over the war resumed and all human beings our hearts just resonate at the dream of when it doesn't end the dream of when the spirit of Christmas just takes over for good for real and the promise of the first Advent is that that will happen at the second advent that one day just as surely as Christ came He'll come again and the Prince of Peace will rule the world and bring his peace to every heart everywhere and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Are you looking forward to that because my heart cannot wait for that. They can't wait for it The day will not only all war but all cancer all disease all Alzheimer's all MS everything all relationships will be healed. It'll all be over as the resurrection reigns.

And you know what's interesting if you really listen to the words of our familiar Christmas carols you'll find something surprising that you may have overlooked many of them are actually more about the second advent than the first Joy to the world listen to the lyrics. It's about the second advent. I heard the bells on Christmas Day that's about the hope of the second advent when Christ Jesus will reign indisputably as the Prince of Peace.

And what I need to do is I need to wait forward like Simeon did he waited forward for the first advent. I need to wait with forward lean for the second knowing that say that line with me again can you remember it that this darkness will not last.

But I have a question if all this is what the Messiah came to bring why don't I always feel it? Why don't I always feel guided? Or feel like God's my hero or my father. I don't always feel calm. Why aren't we experiencing it all the time? Let me close with this. The secret is in the overlooked phrase and the government shall be upon his shoulders do you get that the key is that I allow God to rule in my life? One day all government would be on his shoulders but it happens one heart at a time like 12-step groups say I turn over control of my life to his power and then I will experience all these things more and more. I will resonate with his guarantee that this darkness will not last forever.

Let's pray together. Would you bow your heads in your hearts with me? Lord, thank you so much that this is your promise to us God we look forward to the coming light. We celebrate the light that came at Christmas. We realize we're living in between those two. So help us to wait with forward lean not hopelessly.

Now as our heads are still bowed, I want to invite you to make this verse personal pray something like this. Maybe for the first time maybe as a recommitment God, thank you that you love us so much that you became our hero and so I'm asking you today guide me rescue me adopt me calm me I place my trust in the Messiah in his past and future advent and his current advent in our hearts help us wait forward in your name we pray Amen.