Joy Has Dawned
Transcript
Well, good morning. Festive seasons greetings to all of you. I hope everybody had a good Thanksgiving. I was invited early on in November to a Friendsgiving, and so I got to go eat Thanksgiving-type meal then, and then our community group had a Thanksgiving meal on Tuesday, and then we had a Thanksgiving meal at our house on Thursday, and then I went to my parents' house and had one on Saturday, and that was great, and I plan on doing that every year from now on. And I just wanted to throw this out there. If any of you are having Thanksgiving things and would like to invite me, I absolutely will try to come.
Eat turkey and drink gravy at your house. So I hope everybody had a good Thanksgiving. I hope you got to spend some time with friends and family. I want to take a quick poll. I want to kind of see where we land in the room, because I think there's really three types of Black Friday shoppers. So I just want to find out.
I want to see who's in the room. So three types. The first type is this. Oh, heck yes. There's good deals. I'm going to shop for 24 hours straight.
I will camp out. I will buy an expensive tent just to camp out so that I can save less money than I spent on the tent. I will fight a grandmother over an Xbox. She shouldn't be out if she can't handle it. Stay home. This is Black Friday.
Who's kind of in that zone like you get into Black Friday shopping? Really? Nobody. Nobody gets into it. All right.
My brother, he camped out because a friend of his told him that Cabela's was giving away guns, and the least amount you could get if you were in the top 600 was a $100 gift card. So he went and slept outside. They gave him a $15 gift card. He looked at his friend and said, I'm going home. He actually went and slept in his truck and then went to work, and that was it. That was his Black Friday, but nobody camps out here.
Who is in the second category, which is I will Black Friday shop, but I'm going to sleep, and I'll go for a little bit if there's a specific thing I want, but I'm not trampling anybody. Who's kind of in that zone? You will Black Friday shop. Okay, the third category is nope. Yeah, okay. My kind of people.
That's the zone I'm in. Again, I know some people are like, well, I'm going to Cyber Monday shop. That's good. You do that. Use the Internet. But I just kind of want to see what had happened, who's already been kind of out there in the world shopping and doing stuff.
So here's what happens. We have Thanksgiving. We have this week, this moment of like everybody just appreciate what you have until about 6 p.m., and then let's go get more stuff, and let's like be aggressive about it. Like that's kind of like that's the tone. That's kind of our culture is like let's be thankful, but not for too long because we're going to get some stuff. Like so our stores are opening at 6 p.m.
Like Black Friday is immediately the day after Thanksgiving where it's like, did you say the stuff you were thankful for? Cool. Get new stuff. Throw that stuff away. You can be thankful for this stuff next year until this moment, and then you've got to get new stuff and throw that stuff away. So that's kind of the zone.
And so when we come to Christmas season, we always do a give series, which is intentionally reminding ourselves what Christmas is about, taking a few weeks to just remember what we've been given, what we've received from God, and then intentionally leveraging our resources, our time to be generous, to not just get caught up in the consumer frenzy that is American Christmas, but to actually take a moment, take some time, and appreciate what's been given to us, and then try to leverage our time, our energy for some generosity, for some things that will last and will matter. And it's one of my favorite things that we get to do every year together as a church family, and excited that we're getting to start that this week. I love Christmas. I love Christmas.
I'm not one of these, like, I'm into it. I love Christmas. I'm not anti-Christmas. I am anti-Christmas until after Thanksgiving. So I know some of y'all were like busting out Christmas decorations before Turkey.
Like, let's appreciate the day we eat food. Like, why are we skipping past this? It's a wonderful holiday. But after Thanksgiving, I'm listening to Christmas music in my car. Like, I love Christmas music. Like, my, we got Christmas coming up with my family, and Archer and I, Archer's my eight-month-old son.
We have matching, horrendously ugly, Ninja Turtles Christmas sweaters that we are going to wear at Christmas. Is that a waste of money? Yes. Will it be great? I think so. I think it was worth it for us to, just to be able to celebrate some Christmas with some ridiculous stuff.
And one of the things I love about Christmas this time of year is that collectively, our entire culture is like, peace and joy. Good cheer. Good cheer? When do we ever use that phrase? But people will be like, be of good cheer.
It's like, what on earth are we talking about? Like, we're singing that where, we have this, this collectively, we're all just, joy. Like, you go to Dunkin' Donuts, and I think now Starbucks, I think they caved, because people threw a fit, about their red cups. But, go to Dunkin' Donuts, you get a cup of coffee, and it just says joy on the side. How nice is that? Like, we just, you hang up in your house, you just hang up the word peace.
You guys, peace. Look, it's bedazzled. Like, this is kind of our, our cultural attitude, is like, joy, and peace, and hope, and forgiveness, and happiness, because it's Christmas. And what's really funny to me, be of good cheer, what's really funny to me, is that, if you got a cup that said joy on it, in June, your name had better be joy. Like, why is that on my cup? Like, if they give you that cup, and you're like, why, are these cups old?
Like, what it, y'all way ahead of the game, or way behind it, why does this cup say joy? I just want to drink coffee. Don't tell, don't tell me how to feel. Give, give me another cup. I don't feel joyous. It's June.
Like, we push that, like, movies, and your mom and your grandma, but we'll talk about movies first. Then we'll talk about your mom and your grandma. Movies. A lot of movies, Christmas movies, have this. Something terrible happens. Somebody steals.
Somebody hurts somebody. Somebody does stuff. And then at the end, they go, but it's Christmas. TV shows. Just horrible shenanigans and hijinks. And then, at the end of it, they go, but it's Christmas.
The person said they're sorry. Let's forget. And this, this happens with your mom and your grandmother. You're, you're at Christmas. People are getting aggravated, and they'll go, mm-mm. No.
None of that. It's Christmas. And this is a valid argument. We're like, oh yeah, good point. That's the argument. No, you made a good point.
No. Grandma's right. The calendar. That's the argument. It is this time of year. This, this two, kind of two, three week zone.
Mm-mm. Mm-mm. No, sir. No, sir. You can get drunk, and argue with people, and spread everybody else's business, some other time of the year. Not at Christmas.
You can throw a fit, and be really rude, any other time you want to. Not at Christmas. Or we'll just be like, you have to forgive. It's Christmas. And all we're really doing is saying, see the calendar? If you want to do this in January, perfectly acceptable.
Start an argument. Be mean to people. Don't forgive. Whatever. Sorry. It's in the two week window.
It's Christmas. Joy. Look at your cup. Look at it. Drink it, and shut your mouth. It's Christmas.
This is our attitude. And we all are like, mm-hmm. Good point. Why? We have collectively, as a culture, decided, this is the time of year we're happy. We've painted smiles on everything.
We've painted smiles on ourselves. It's Christmas. And then what really happens is, if you're not happy, it's like way more sad. Did you notice that? Like your cup says joy, which makes you feel worse, if you don't have joy. Like if you're sad.
Like, okay. If I eat Taco Bell, and watch Die Hard, on a random Tuesday, that's a good night. If I eat Taco Bell, and watch Die Hard on Christmas Eve, I feel sad inside. Because it's like, it's Christmas Eve. I should be doing Christmas-y things. Even though Die Hard is kind of a Christmas movie, you guys.
John McClain. Putting it out there for Christmas. Here's the thing. Culturally, collectively, we have all decided, this is the time of year we're going to have joy and peace. And we're going to have good cheer. And we're going to have forgiveness.
If you keep asking questions though, if you keep asking why, why are we doing that? Why do we have joy on our cup? Why do we have good cheer? Why? What? Why?
The answer, without Jesus, is, we've decided to. That is the answer. If you keep asking why, and you eventually pull the curtain back, there's nothing there. Just that, we collectively have decided this is the time of year that we say peace, and we're not hippies. Collectively, this is the time of year that we put joy on our cups, and our name isn't joy. Like, that's what, we've just decided that.
And if Jesus isn't behind the curtain, we're really not a big foundation for joy. Really not a big reason for peace, and for good cheer, and for good forgiveness. It's really just that culturally, we've all decided, sure, sounds good. We'll all be on that team. And that's okay. I mean, I think people can get on board with the cultural decision, but it ends up being a lot more hollow, a lot less real, if there's nothing behind it.
And so one of the things we want to do is take a few weeks to actually see where that joy comes from. To actually show that scripturally, biblically, for us as Christians, we have a real reason for joy. You can have it on your cup in June. We have a real reason for joy, a real reason for peace, a real reason for forgiveness, and good cheer. We can all be of good cheer because we have a real reason. And so that's what we're going to celebrate.
That's what we're going to look at. And so we're going to look at, over the next couple weeks, we're going to look at some Old Testament passages that point to this coming Messiah. Some Old Testament passages that are pointing to this coming Redeemer, this coming Messiah, and what He's going to do, and what He's going to accomplish, and then how we get to celebrate that at Christmas. So, I'm going to pray and then we'll hop in. We'll be, well, I'll tell you in a second, we'll pray. God, we thank You for Your goodness.
We thank You that we actually have a reason for joy, that we actually have a reason for peace, that we actually have something to celebrate as we gather here this morning. That it isn't just a smile painted on, that it isn't just the word joy written on a cup that otherwise would just be a cup. God, it is actually real joy, real peace, and something real to celebrate and to get excited about. And so, God, we praise You. Pray that You would help us to see how good You are and then join in the generosity and join in the love and join in the sacrifice as we try to get behind that opportunity this year in our gift series.
And so, God, we praise You and we thank You. In Jesus' name, amen. We'll be in Isaiah chapter 35. So, Isaiah chapter 35. Isaiah was a prophet to Israel and he would, prophets in the Old Testament do a couple of things. They speak to, they speak like into their time, into their culture, and then they speak about things that are about to happen, currently happening, about to happen, or are going to happen sometime further in the future.
So, they're speaking right into what's currently happening, what's about to happen, and then sometimes they're speaking into things that are going to be ultimately fulfilled in Jesus, ultimately fulfilled further in the future. And sometimes it's both. Sometimes it's about to happen, and there's a bigger, greater, later fulfillment. And so, there's a couple places in Isaiah. We read one where he talks about there's going to come a child unto us, a child is given unto us, a son is born, and on his shoulders will be the government, and he'll be called Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. He'll be called God.
At one point, he says he actually will be called God, so it can't be just a human. It's got to be something bigger, something later. At one point, he says that there will be a virgin who gives birth to Emmanuel, and Emmanuel means God with us. That's what we just sang. We were singing, Emmanuel, O come, O come, Emmanuel. And that God is with us.
God has joined us. And so, these are prophecies that would be spoken into, and everybody in the culture started looking for, when's this going to happen? Is it now? Is it going to happen now? So, my brother's a really big South Carolina fan. I'm a South Carolina fan.
On Friday, he and I were hanging out, and I looked at him, because we were going to be hanging out as a family, and eating a Thanksgiving meal, and watching the game, and then hanging out with each other. And I looked at him, and I said, Vince, are you mentally and emotionally prepared for what is going to happen tomorrow during the South Carolina-Clemson game? And he was like, he goes, you and my wife. And I was like, what? And he goes, you going to pout all day tomorrow? You know?
He tears him up. So I was like, dude, you got to be prepared. South Carolina, look at my face. South Carolina is not going to win. I love South Carolina. Not going to happen.
And he looked at me and went, okay. And I said, and that little voice inside of you that just said, but maybe let it die. And he busted out laughing. And he goes, I did just think that. You know, it's a rivalry game, and it's like, no, none of that. But here's what South Carolina has done all year.
South Carolina has been just good enough to lose all year long. That's it. They've been just good enough to lose. They've lost by a touchdown. They've lost by a point. They've lost by, that was to the Citadel.
They lost by a field goal. They've been just good enough to lose. And so every game, they get your hopes up though if you're a Carolina fan. So I was telling everybody, don't get excited. They're just going to play well and lose. And then when we got within like three points, when it was 25 to 28, I was like, everyone get your hopes up.
Please. Like Carolina just wants to get you in that area so they can crush your soul. And here's what happens. Every time I watch one of those games, I'd be like, oh. I'd be telling people, don't be excited. But inside I'm going, maybe we'll do it.
Like every single time and every single time they were like, are you excited? No. None of that. That's kind of how the nation of Israel felt over and over again with these prophecies. There's this, is it going to be, is it coming? Is it this time?
Is this, is this the one? Is this going to be fulfilled now? Is it like, there was this national longing, maybe a little more dull, but definitely dragged out and definitely over time there's this, when is God going to come? When is this prophecy going to be fulfilled? When is this going to happen? Is it now?
Is this the time? There was this national, oh, is this it? Kind of thing going on. And it's because of prophecies like this. And so we're going to see some of the promises that were given to the people of Israel, some of the promises that were given about what the Messiah is going to do when he comes, what it's going to look like when God joins us. And so we're going to see four promises and then we're going to look at some of the implications for the redeemed, for those who are saved, for those who are rescued by this Messiah.
We're going to see four promises about the Redeemer and then we're going to talk about kind of some implications for the redeemed. So Isaiah 35, verse 1. The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad. The desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it.
The majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord and the majesty of our God. Okay, so the first thing we see, the first promise about this coming Messiah is that the Redeemer brings life. What it says is that the desert will rejoice and be glad. The wilderness will break out in joy and singing. So it's some colorful imagery to talk about how the mood, what's actually going to happen, where he's going to take desert, he's going to take what's dead, what's dry, where there is no life and it's going to be vibrant.
It's going to be overwhelmed with joy and singing. So the desert is going to break forth in singing. So it's just this colorful picture of when this Redeemer comes, areas that are depressed are going to see economic renewal, areas that are broken are going to be fixed, areas where there's just death and sadness and guilt and shame are going to be renewed, are going to be given life. One of the things that I think is beautiful here is he says, the desert will bloom with the crocus. This is the crocus. that's pretty. I mean, that's a pretty flower.
I consider myself pretty manly. When I look at that, I'm like, oh, that's a pretty flower. Let me show you, he says it'll bloom abundantly. This is a field of crocus and you can just Google crocus and there are pictures of fields after fields of just that. So that's what he says.
He's going to take the desert, he's going to take dry, broken, dusty land, he's going to take what's parched and dead and turn it into that. He's actually going to make things more beautiful. Or you're going to walk out and just feel renewed, feel life, so that the Redeemer, the first promise is that he brings life. The other thing it says is the glory of Lebanon, so he's talking about the desert and the wilderness, the glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. So he picked kind of well-known places that were known for their economic activity or known for their beauty and says, I'm going to take the wilderness and turn it like that.
It would be kind of like Columbia, it's a nice place, I like Columbia, it's really hot and it's not the prettiest city. I like Columbia, but nobody's like, oh Columbia is so beautiful. People just don't say that about Columbia. They say other things about Columbia, but they don't say that. And so it would be like him saying, I'm going to take Columbia and I'm going to give it the prestige of New York, the beauty of the Rockies, and the life of New Orleans, the kind of celebratory life of New Orleans. So it's kind of, he's taking the wilderness and saying, but I'm going to bring this over because Lebanon was known for its cedars, Sharon and Carmel were known for their economic activity and one of them was these two mountains that were next to an ocean.
And so he's like, I'm going to make this beautiful. And so the Redeemer, when he shows up, the first promise that's made in Isaiah 35 is that he's going to bring life. He's going to bring vibrancy with him. Verse three, strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, be strong, fear not, behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.
Recompense means repayment. He's going to come and make it right. Behold, your God will come with vengeance and recompense. What he just did was he looked and said, all of you who are weak, all of you who are outcast, all of you who've been pushed to the fringes of society, all of you who have no voice, no power, don't be afraid. God's going to come with vengeance and repayment. And so what the promise is is that God knows what's happening.
He sees it and the guilty will not get off scot-free. The oppressors will no longer be able to be oppressive to those under them, but he will bring vengeance and justice that this God will take up the sword when he comes. That wickedness will have no place in front of him. And all the things that have been stolen, all the things that have been broken, all of that that's been taken will be repaid, will be given back. And so the second promise that's given is that this Redeemer brings justice. This Redeemer, when he comes, is going to bring justice.
He's going to level it out. He's going to rescue the weak. He's going to defend against oppression and tyranny. One of the pictures I have in my mind is like every Robin Hood movie so if you, I mean, I'm talking the one with Kevin Costner, I think even the one, the more recent one was Russell Crowe, Robin Hood Men in Tights, if that's your thing. I think one of the best examples of this is the Disney version where it's like a fox is Robin Hood. One of the things that happens in these plot lines is King Richard is gone.
The rightful king is gone. And in his place is his whiny little brother, Prince John. And while King Richard is gone, Prince John starts abusing his power. He starts overtaxing people. He starts just everything he can do to oppress and to steal. And so that's where Robin Hood shows up as this kind of anti-hero where he begins to steal from the government to give it back to the people.
So he's stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. And he's helping level everything out. And what happens in those movies though is as soon as King Richard gets back, everything gets straightened out. As soon as King Richard gets back, there's this celebration where King Richard takes his brother John and gets him off the throne and begins to let equality reign again where he begins to not oppress people where the kingdom gets set back right. And that's kind of the promise here is that this Redeemer is coming. And when he shows up, all the false gods, false saviors, all the false leaders, all those who've oppressed, all those who have been tyrannical are going to be removed and justice is going to be there.
And he's going to reign and rule with justice. He keeps going. So Isaiah prophesying about this coming Redeemer. He says, Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
For waters break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand shall become a pool and the thirsty ground springs of water. In the haunt of jackals where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. The Redeemer is going to bring healing. So he's going to take the desert and water's going to pour forth where the sand would burn anybody who decided to walk on it, anybody who dared ventured out in this desert.
He's going to turn that into an oasis. It'll be cool pools of water. But he says, The blind will see. The deaf will hear. The lame will leap like a deer. And the mute will sing for joy.
He's going to heal that that's unhealable. He's going to take what's broken beyond repair and repair it. That's a heavy promise. That's the kind of healing that this Messiah is going to bring. I watched a video recently of a deaf boy and he had to be, he was a baby, he had to be six months, eight months and they were able to go in and do some kind of a hearing aid implant thing and he heard his mom for the first time and it's the coolest video. It's really short but his mom starts talking to him and he looks at her and he goes like this and then he just starts crying and he's like a six month old baby.
I could understand an adult crying by being overwhelmed by hearing for the first time because they mentally know their deaf. Like they know there's something off and they know kind of, but this kid's six months old and you can tell that he's had this moment of this is how it should have been the whole time. There's something that he recognizes in that moment. He's not scared. He's like he just, he's like he can't handle what has just happened to him and that's the promise of this coming Messiah. That he's going to set it right so that there's moments for all of us where we go, this is how it was supposed to be the whole time.
This is what it was supposed to be like. You know that feeling that we all have that the world just isn't the way it ought to be. Even people who would say there is no God, there is no, they don't look at the world and go man this is great. We are crushing this right now. Turn on the news. You don't come away with that feeling.
If the news is not, turns out puppies are more snuggly than ever. Like that's not the news. We look at stuff and it's, we realize the world isn't the way it's supposed to be and this redeemer is going to show up and take what's broken beyond repair and fix it to the point that where it's the way it ought to always have been. Fourth promise of this coming redeemer. And a highway shall be there and it shall be called the way of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it.
It shall belong to those who walk on the way. Even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. No lion shall be there nor shall any ravenous beast come upon it. They shall not be found there but the redeemed shall walk there. and the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing. Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads and they shall obtain gladness and joy and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. This redeemer is going to bring salvation.
He's going to open up a way of holiness. He's going to open up a highway and the redeemed will get to return. The ransomed will come back. When the Bible talks about a highway, so in this time they didn't have machinery so they mostly just had kind of paths that were worn out as people walked on. My mother-in-law recently moved to the northeast side of Columbia. She was talking to me the other day and Two Notch Road runs right past my house over in West Columbia and she lives on Two Notch Road in downtown on the other side of northeast Columbia and she said to me, I saw Two Notches over here.
Would it be just quicker and easier if I just followed Two Notch all the way to your house? And I was like, no. That would be terrible. That's a horrible idea because Two Notch I think originally started as like a path that people took their feet over and horses. Like, it's like we're going to go around the big tree and then there used to be a creek here so it just cuts and runs like this for a while and then that rock's really recognizable so we'll turn right there. Like, that's Two Notches this like old path that eventually just turned into a road.
We have highways now. You don't take Two Notch. You got I-20. Just hop, just come on around. Like, it just comes straight. Two Notch is like this windy and so that's how paths worked and then they cut highways which were the king's highways that they could travel armies over and what they do is they lower hills, they dig them out, they raise up the ground and they make a path that you can't get lost on.
It's not walk till you see the recognizable rock so that you're walking and going, is that a rock? That seems recognizable if you've seen it before. You should have had them draw me a picture. It's not that. Like, if I had to explain to her how to take Two Notch all the way here, it's not follow Two Notch. It's like, you gotta turn here and you gotta, like, they have highways now.
A way of holiness is gonna be opened up. It's going to be clear and evident and then it says the redeemed will return and the ransom will return. Redeemed means that he takes what's broken and he fixes it. He renews it. He makes it right so that people will be renewed and made right and then the ransomed means that he buys them out of slavery. That a price was paid for them to be set free.
It's like in Hunger Games where they have the, they draw the little names out of the hat on who's gonna have to go into the dome and die is basically how that thing starts off and they draw out that little girl's name and Katniss Everdeen, if you don't know anything about Hunger Games, she's the one on the cover holding the bow and arrow. She says, I volunteer as tribute because it was her sister. A tribute had to go so she took her place. That's the idea of ransom here. That a payment had to be made but that those who were going to be enslaved, those who were going to be crushed, those who were going to have to pay have been set free.
This is the promise that's given. That there's going to come a redeemer, there's going to come a savior who's going to bring life, who's going to execute justice, who's going to bring healing, and who's going to bring salvation and that promise is made over and over and over and over and over again. So there's this, this, is it now? When's it coming? Put your finger in Isaiah 35 because we're coming right back. Flip over to Matthew chapter 1.
This is your first time. You may be surprised. Turns out, this promised Messiah is Jesus. If you're a part of our church family, you knew we were coming to Jesus. We're always going to make it to Jesus. Matthew chapter 1, verse 18.
It's on page 523, if you're in the Bible, it looks like this. Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way when his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph. So they're basically engaged. Before they came together, that means they had not slept with one another yet, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. So the way they did betrothal was you were technically married, like you couldn't just break off an engagement.
You had to actually go through like a divorce process, but you're not married yet. So betrothal was more intense than it is for us. And so he decides, because she's pregnant and he knows where babies come from, he decides, I don't want to be marrying you because that baby's not mine. That was his decision making. But he also cares about her, so he doesn't want to put her to shame or have her harmed because there were some rules, some very strict rules against that in their time.
So he just decides to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. That's the prophet Isaiah. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us.
When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. He took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son, and he called his name Jesus. Back to Isaiah 35. Jesus is God with us. He is the fulfillment of all of these prophecies. He is the fulfillment of all these things that have been promised over and over and over and over again.
And Jesus fulfills all of this. Here's what Jesus does. He lives a perfect life and then goes to the cross for us. That's where he bought us back and made us right. That's where the ransom was paid. That's how we are redeemed.
And so these promises for the redeemed and for the ransomed are for us who have placed faith in Jesus and are offered to everyone because Jesus went to the cross on our behalf. So let's look at this quickly and see how these promises are open to us and given to us through Jesus. So Jesus brings life, which means that in us, he takes shame, but he took it to the cross. And so now our shame and our guilt and all the things that had weighed us down and brought death to us, all of our depression and pain, because of Jesus, because this Savior did come, becomes glory. So he takes a desert and he gives to it glory.
Becomes glory because what it does is all of your guilt, all of your shame, all of your sin, all of your depression points to the greatness of Jesus as your Savior. The greatness of the salvation that's been given to us. So Jesus brings life to us. He takes all the darkest places in you and shines light on them, but not to shame you, to set you free from them. And so he brings life. He turns your desert life into that beautiful purple flower.
So Jesus does in us. He beautifies. He takes what's broken and he makes it right. The second thing he does is he brings justice. Read that again. Start in verse three.
Strengthen the weak hands. Make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, Be strong. Fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.
Say that to those who have an anxious heart, who can't stop worrying, who have let fear take up residence in their soul. Fear not. To those who are burdened with every possibility of what could go wrong and are continually asking the question, Does God know? Does God see? Does he realize what has happened to me? Does he know what's been done to me?
And what Jesus says is, Fear not. Fear not. Vengeance belongs to me. And repayment belongs to me. That's the promise given to us in Christ through the cross. He brings justice.
Jesus brings healing to us. The eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute shall sing for joy. Waters will break forth in the desert. All of us have something in our souls that we think this will be with me forever. This will Mark me forever.
This is unfixable. I saw a commercial recently of, well not recently, some years ago. Sorry. In my family, we say the other day, and that means any time past yesterday. Could be seven years ago. The other day I was in first grade.
Like that's how we do that. I think it was during the Super Bowl, and it was a commercial about some kind of medical something, and Christopher Reeves, who was Superman, way back in the day, back when Superman could go around the earth backwards and actually reverse time. That Superman? He was in an accident. He was paralyzed from the neck down, and in this commercial, he rides his wheelchair up on stage, and then he stands up and walks across the stage. And that stuck with me because I was like, is that real?
And it was not. They were just indicating kind of where they were headed. The progress that was going to be made. That has not happened yet. We haven't gotten to that point yet. But there was this moment where you see him stand up that it's like, can that really happen?
And currently the answer is no. Not outside of Jesus. But all of us have stuff that we think this is permanent. And with Jesus, no it's not. He can repair the unrepairable. He can fix broken relationships that are beyond repair.
He can heal what is so broken in you, so dark in you, so hidden in you. Jesus can bring life back to it. That's the promise given to us on the cross because Jesus died and came back to life and he can heal anything. That's open to us because Jesus became a man and went to the cross for us. I love the fourth thing that is true for us. A highway shall be open there and it should be called the way of holiness.
That's in caps in most of the Bibles. That's because that's Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He's the way of holiness that's opened up for us that will get us back to God. The unclean shall not pass over it because Jesus makes us clean. It shall belong to those who walk on the way.
Even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. That is beautiful. It's my favorite verse in this whole passage. Jesus is going to do everything. Morons can't mess it up. Do you know how good news that is?
Some of you, that needs to be your life first. Write that in soap on your mirror. Even fools cannot go astray. You can't get lost even if you're a moron. For a lot of us, our past is littered with bad decisions. Horrible, I feel this in my gut, horrible gut calls that led to disaster, broken relationships, pain.
There hasn't been a thing that we haven't messed up. Even fools won't get lost. That's how big and beautiful this highway is. Get on the highway. Then what?
Keep going. When do I turn? You don't have to. Should I write this down? No. Just get on the highway.
That's all you gotta do. Jesus has done everything that needed to be done for us to be saved. We don't have to earn it. We don't have to religion it. We don't have to be good enough. We don't have to be smart enough.
We don't have to accomplish it. We don't have to climb the mountain. We don't have to meditate enough. We don't. Trust in Jesus because Jesus has paid everything with his blood and even fools can't get lost. And then it says that no lion shall be there nor shall any ravenous beast come upon it.
They shall not be found there but the redeemed shall walk there and the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing. Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain gladness and joy and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Because of Jesus joy is given to us. You can have it on your cup year round. Because of Jesus.
Because he was born as a man and died in our place to ransom us to redeem us to open up a way back to God that we can't mess up. This is not a book of rules for you to follow. It is a book about a coming savior that is promised over and over and over and over again in the Old Testament and then in Matthew 1 where it turns into the New Testament we get told that promise is fulfilled. This was this happened so that Emmanuel that prophecy could be fulfilled and God could be with us and accomplish everything he said he was going to. Jesus is our redeemer and we can place our faith and our trust in him and he takes care of everything and he gives us joy and sorrow and sighing aren't allowed.
When he eventually returns and calls us all home everything is made right and he's already done everything that needed to happen for us to be made right with him. So the first implication of who this redeemer is in Jesus is that he does all this for us. The second thing is that he does all this through us as his church. We actually get to join him in bringing life. Join him in executing justice. Join him in bringing healing and join him in bringing salvation.
That he actually uses his church to join in on this mission. So we get to bring life. That means digging wells. It also means making things prettier like those flowers. It means that we can Christians can be graphic designers and architects and can do things to just help life flourish. It means that we volunteer at clinics because we get to join him in bringing life.
Executing justice it means we take up the cause of those who don't have a voice. We're at the margins of society. We defend the weak. Bringing healing it means that we work to fix relationships. We should be counselors and people who make peace among our friends and nurses and doctors and people who work to fix what's broken. Rescue workers.
We get that opportunity as Christians to join in with all that God's doing on earth and bring salvation which means that we proclaim the gospel to everyone which is there is a way that's been opened through the cross and life is given to us through Jesus. So for our Give Series that's what we're celebrating. That joy and peace have actually been given to us. That's who Jesus was. That's why he came. That's what he accomplished for us.
That sorrow and sighing flee away because we have hope in him forever and we get to join him in that. So that around Christmas we don't just celebrate the things that we can get. We don't just celebrate trying to get the best gift for people in this consumerism stuff. We actually get to remember that joy has come in the person of Jesus to give us salvation and hope and that he gave everything to rescue us and that we get to join him in that mission. And so I'm really excited. We try to take around this time of year we pick some different things to just try to leverage our energy for and the truth is we could do the same thing every year.
In most cases we could pick something and just say we're going to do that every year. But we want to intentionally try to do some different things. Just pick something each year and say this is where we're going to pour our energy, this is where we're going to pour our time, this is where we're going to put our money and hopefully maybe God works in you and it's something you want to keep doing but we're going to pick something every year and kind of get to pour some energy in it. And this year we're doing two things. God kind of worked it out and we kept praying about it and looking at it and we decided there's going to be two things that we're going to pour our energy and our effort into.
And we're not a huge church so that means we're going to have to be on it to pull off two things. But here are the two things we're doing this year that's very exciting. One is we're part of the grassroots network where we want to see more churches planted. And two weeks ago or three weeks ago Kent Bateman was here and they are planting a church in Knoxville, Tennessee. And so as a church we want to leverage some of our finances to help them get started. And so we are going to be pouring money into City Church which is going to be in Knoxville.
And what's beautiful about that and I was thinking about the other day it feels like cheating. And here's why. We get to do different projects to help serve people on the marginalized people or people that need help or do different work in our city all the time. And we try to do this through our groups and we rally towards it at Give. If we give to a church in a part of the country that we aren't going to live or be or build relationships we're giving into all of the things that they'll get to do. All of the Give series that they'll get to have.
All the times that they'll get to serve. All the people that they'll get to build relationships that we never get to build relationships. All the ways that they'll get to bring justice and healing and life and salvation to that area of the country where we'll never be. So we can actually leverage some of our money to help them do that and basically make a down payment on eternity for people that we'll never meet. And that's really cool. And we love church planting because we think that Jesus works through his church.
That's plan A and there is no plan B. and so it is exciting that we get to help them get started by taking some of our money, some of our finances, some of our energy and giving it to them. So that's the first thing that we're going to do. We're going to try to rally to put some money specifically towards City Church in Knoxville and we've got a couple of different specific things we're working on that we're actually going to say this is what we're going to try to pay for for y'all. This is what we're going to try to accomplish. And so we're talking with them and we'll have more details as the weeks come.
The second thing that we're going to do is we've gotten in contact with the South Carolina Baptist Convention and some of the people who have been affected by the flood locally. We had some people give us money specifically when the flood happened for us to be able to help victims and we are going to pour some of our energy and our effort into doing some work for at least one family that we've already been working out with and talking to to go clean their house, help pull off some work that they wouldn't be able to pull off on their own. So we're going to give money to City Church and we're going to give sweat and energy to help them do some work here. We're going to give money too but we've already raised money for that to give to help work on somebody's house who had surgery right after the flood and has not been able to do any of the work that needed to be done.
Doesn't even honestly know what work needs to be done. And so we're going to say alright we're your team. And we're going to have people around and we're going to come work and we're going to come do stuff. And what's beautiful is that we all get to do both. Some people just got really excited about giving money. Thank Jesus for you.
Some people just got really excited about putting in some work. Some people got excited about nothing. You need to start praying. Jesus will work in you. You got excited because you think I think he's wrapping it up. Um.
Um. But the truth is we want to all do both. We want to all begin asking how can I work and how can I give. And even if it's just a little bit we want to all do both as we leverage some of our energy some of our effort. Let me tell you something. I'm going to buy Christmas gifts.
I'm going to celebrate if if uh sugar cookie eggnog is back this year. I wrote them a letter last year just so y'all know I don't usually do that. I sent them an email because they didn't have it last year because they want to have regular eggnog and I was like what you're sitting on a gold mine which is sugar cookie eggnog and y'all are making regular eggnog. Get it together. It was nicer than that and they gave me a really lame response. But if sugar cookie eggnog is back I'm going to that's like half my budget over the next month is going to go to sugar cookie eggnog because I got to stock up.
But that's not going to last. When the Bible says that we're going to spend eternity with Jesus and that only certain things are going to make it there. Sugar cookie eggnog isn't. Oh it'll be in heaven but me buying it now won't make it there. But the money that Anna and I sit down and look at our budget and intentionally give to City Church and the days that we spend going over and working with this family that's going to make it.
And we always want to take some time around this time of year to say I want to be a part of something that is beyond the next month. That makes it past the calendar moments where I have to be nice to my family. I want to give in to something that's going to matter and it's going to last and the truth is as we get to rally for a church plant. Every penny of that. And as we get to spend our energy and our effort and give up some of our time and take a day off from work to go do some work for somebody who can't get this work done on their own. Every second of that.
And all of it gets to be a celebration that this Redeemer came. All of it as we do this over Christmas and maybe even into January with some of the work gets to be a celebration that he brought life to us. That he brought justice to us. That he helped us when we were weak and we couldn't help ourselves. That he brought healing into what was broken and we didn't know how to fix it. And that ultimately he brought salvation which means that we have an eternity to celebrate with him.
Band's going to come back up and here's what we're going to do. We're going to sing again the song Joy Has Dawned. We just sang it a minute ago. But we're going to sing it as we remember that everlasting joy crowns us. That the desert breaks forth in joy and singing because this Redeemer has come. That sorrow and sighing flee.
That justice is executed because we have hope and joy given to us through Jesus and we actually have something to sing about and we actually have something to celebrate at this time of year. And you can have joy on your coffee cup for the rest of the year if you want. Because we have something real given to us through Jesus. Y'all stay and let's sing. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you.