Unto Us a Son is Given

[0:00] So one of the things about your pastor taking a vacation is you get to hear from other godly men who come and proclaim the word of God. And this morning we have Davis Morgan.

[0:15] And I am a big fan of Davis Morgan, partly because when I asked him, I'm going to introduce you today, what is it that you want me to mention? He said, I am a native Texan.

[0:26] And you all know how I feel about that. And he also said, and I said, well, how are you adjusting? And he said, I miss Texas barbecue.

[0:38] So you know how that makes me feel as well. But he is the pastor of Westside Church. He's been there about six months, I think we decided. And we are just so gifted that he has chosen to come and preach to us this morning.

[0:56] He is the father of three, June, May, and Asa. And his wife's name is Tiffany. So thank you so much for blessing us this morning.

[1:06] And please come forward. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.

[1:17] It is so good to be with you, Cheyenne Mountain. Greetings from one of your sister churches here in the city. As Jim said, I am the pastor of Westside Church. And we have worship on Sunday afternoons.

[1:29] So I'm free to come and bring God's word to you this morning. And it is an honor to do that. So I want to invite you, if you have your Bibles, to open with me to the prophet Isaiah.

[1:40] Isaiah chapter 9. Isaiah chapter 9, verses 1 through 7. And you may be thinking, well, isn't this a Christmas passage? And I will admit that most of the time that we hear this passage, it is around the Advent season, around Christmas time.

[1:59] But we as a church have been going through Isaiah this summer. We've been going through Isaiah 1 through 12. And I'll speak more on that here in just a moment. But it has been such an encouragement to us going through this monumental book this summer.

[2:14] And our plan is to go through it over the next five summers, actually. So we're cutting it up into five pieces. And so today, I actually preached the last sermon there from Isaiah chapters 11 and 12 before we go into the fall.

[2:28] But I preached this sermon just a few weeks ago. It was a blessing to me. It was a blessing to our people. And I pray it is a blessing to you. So draw your attention to the reading of God's word, his holy, his inspired word, given to us for everything regarding life, faith, and godliness.

[2:45] Isaiah chapter 9, verse 1. But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali.

[2:56] But in the latter time, he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.

[3:08] Those who dwelt in the land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. You have multiplied the nation. You have increased its joy. They rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil.

[3:21] For the yoke of his burden and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. For every boot of the tramping warrior is in battle to molt, and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.

[3:37] For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

[3:51] Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end. On the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.

[4:05] The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. This is the word of God. Amen. Let's pray real quick for our time in his word. Join me, please. Lord God, we do thank you for this word.

[4:16] We thank you for our time in it. Lord, it is a privilege that we have getting to hear this word, getting to sit under the preaching of your word, your primary means of grace, the way that you have chosen, Lord, to reveal the glory of Jesus to mankind and to us, your people.

[4:33] We pray that you would help us have eyes to see, ears to hear, a heart to receive the truth of your word. We also pray for the children who will be listening as well. We pray that you might give them the gift of illumination, the gift of understanding, Lord.

[4:47] We confess that apart from your grace, apart from your mercy and the work of your spirit, Lord, these things remain distant to us. They remain folly to us. And so we pray and ask that you would be gracious to your people now, that you would pour out your spirit and you would give us revelation of who Jesus Christ is.

[5:05] We pray this. We ask this in his name. Amen. Well, it's coming. Are you ready? It's 72 days, 8 hours, 28 minutes, and 43 seconds away.

[5:20] 42 seconds. 41 seconds. Ready or not, it's coming. Can you handle it? What is it, you ask? It is the 59th time in the history of our country that the presidential election will be held.

[5:35] And with rioting and protesting in every major city or many major cities, the social, the civil tension in our country at levels not seen in 50 years, the political landscape looking more divisive than ever.

[5:50] We could say that it appears that the stakes have never been higher. On top of that, we are right in the middle of a global pandemic. As of today, there have been 5,068 million cases of the coronavirus in our country.

[6:08] Nearly 5,800 in El Paso County alone. There have been 176,000 deaths in America. 151 of those have been in El Paso County.

[6:21] A stunning 54 million Americans have filed for unemployment since March. 665,000 of those are in our state, which is nearly one-fifth of our state's workforce.

[6:34] And on top of that, we are still faced with the unknown about when a vaccine will be developed to mitigate the virus to the point that life can, or if life can, return to normal pre-coronavirus.

[6:47] As Bob Dylan said, the times indeed are changing. We just don't know what they are changing into at this point. And around the world, while trust in government is at an all-time high around the world, in America, in a recent poll of 34,000 adults, 76% of those said they were more trusting of Amazon, Clorox, General Mills, and Hershey than our federal government.

[7:16] I'd take chocolate over the government right now as well. But in all seriousness, when we dig a little bit deeper beneath the surface of our country, what do we find?

[7:30] We find approximately 3,000 abortions are performed every day in our country. That's roughly 616,000 so far in 2020.

[7:43] 40% of all pregnancies in our country end in abortion. Among minorities, those numbers are even more staggering, with 1,000 of those 3,000 daily abortions being performed on minorities.

[7:57] 35% of children under the age of 18 live in homes with only one parent, with the percentage among minorities double that, nearly 70%.

[8:09] There are 443,000 children in foster care in our country, and more than 123,000 of those are awaiting adoption.

[8:20] Since March, there have been 1,600 shootings in Chicago, with nearly 340 of those resulting in murder. In New York, there have been nearly 600 shootings and nearly 200 killed.

[8:34] There have been 24,000 gun-related deaths halfway through the year. 10,000 of those have been homicide. 14,000 of those have been suicide. And to give you an idea of where those are typically at for the year, for the year, we average 15,000, and we're already at 24,000.

[8:53] Human trafficking organizations estimate that there are 40 million people, 40 million, who are in some form of slavery in the world, whether that is labor, whether that is sexual, whether that is child exploitation.

[9:09] In America, there are an estimated 220,000 to 250,000 children who are at risk for human trafficking or sexual exploitation.

[9:22] What about faith in God? Faith in God is at an all-time low in America, with only 60%, 60% of those in the latest polls convinced that God exists.

[9:34] That is down from 80% a decade ago. This is reflected in the increase. Maybe you've heard of this demographic. The nuns, N-O-N-E-S.

[9:45] The nuns, which stands for no affiliation, is now at 20% of American adults. This is at an all-time high, of course. And at the same time, church membership in our country is at an all-time low, with only 50% of Americans who say they belong to a church are actually members of that church.

[10:08] And I found out this recently in the six months since the coronavirus, that one-third of those who were previously attending church are no longer attending church, not even online, not even the live stream.

[10:23] Why do I share all of that with you? Well, as if you didn't already know, but to draw all this together, the outlook in our country is grim. There is darkness over our land.

[10:35] And it can be very easy for hopelessness and for despair to set in. Is it not? But the reason I share that with you is because much was the same for the nation of Judah in Isaiah's day.

[10:51] We come to Isaiah chapter nine, and at the end of chapter eight in Isaiah, the words that the prophet had was distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish over the land.

[11:06] That is where Judah, that is where Isaiah, that is where the nation of Israel was at the time. And up to this point in the prophet Isaiah, the questions that have become clear that Isaiah wants us to understand is one, who is man or understand the nature of man?

[11:25] And the example that God used was his own covenant people. His own covenant people. And right away in chapter one of Isaiah, we find that they are ignorant of who God is.

[11:36] They are full of sin and iniquity. They have turned away from God. And again, that is his chosen people. Those were the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

[11:47] And the result was a society that was much like the society I just described of ours. A society that celebrates evil, intolerant of the good.

[11:58] In chapter five, verse 20, many of you may know that verse, where God says, woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness.

[12:11] That is where Judah was at in Isaiah's day. The other question that is apparent when you read Isaiah chapters one through 12 is who is God?

[12:23] Who is God? God is the Holy One of Israel. He is absolutely sovereign. He is absolutely holy. And he is absolute just.

[12:35] He is absolute just. And as a result, he sends Isaiah. He sends Isaiah, who is, as it were, his covenant attorney, his prosecutor that is going to the nation.

[12:47] And he is bringing God's indictment to the people. And he's saying, you are guilty. This is how you are guilty. And if you don't repent, what was going to happen? Judgment was going to happen.

[12:59] Judgment was imminent. For Israel, the northern kingdom at the time, God had sent the prophets Hosea and Amos. They had pleaded with the people. They had warned the people.

[13:10] And Israel refused to listen. So then God sends Isaiah primarily to the nation of Judah. And Isaiah brings that same message. That judgment is imminent.

[13:23] But there is time to repent. There is time to repent. Darkness and distress over the land, he says at the end of chapter eight. And the chapter ends with this darkness over the land.

[13:37] And the question, the question that appears apparent is that the Davidic dynasty, the dynasty that God had promised to David, the dynasty that would be an eternal dynasty, that someone would sit on David's throne, that his throne would never cease to have someone seated upon the throne.

[13:57] That seems in jeopardy because the kings that had come after David, for the most part, had not followed in the ways of David. There had been a few good ones, of course.

[14:08] But overall, the kings are leading the people further and further away from God. So the question, what of the Davidic promise? What of the promise that God had made to his people?

[14:22] From a human perspective, if we read the first eight chapters of Isaiah, it appears bleak. It appears that there is no hope from a human perspective that this kingdom is going to continue.

[14:39] But what of the divine perspective? What will God do with the promises that he has made? And that's when we come to chapter nine of Isaiah.

[14:50] God will answer and he will answer emphatically. He will answer so that his people are yet reminded that he is the Lord and besides him, there is no God.

[15:03] Now, what is that emphatic answer? The emphatic answer is found in Isaiah nine, verses one through seven. Our passage breaks down. Here is the outline that I'm using if you would like to take notes.

[15:16] In verses one through three, we have the hope described. We have the hope described in verses one through three. We have the hope explained in verses four and five.

[15:27] And then we have the hope realized in verses six through seven. The hope described, the hope explained, and the hope realized. Now, look with me in verses one through three.

[15:41] The first thing that I want to point your attention to is the darkness is reversed. The darkness is reversed there in the first few verses. It says this, but there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish.

[15:54] In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. This was the northern kingdom of Israel. After Solomon had died, Saul, David, and Solomon, these were the kings under the united kingdom of Judah and Israel.

[16:10] And after Solomon died, when his son Rehoboam took the throne, rebellion ensued, and the kingdom was split in half. And Jeroboam took the northern kingdom, took the northern kingdom of Israel, and Judah remained loyal to the Davidic throne.

[16:28] And so God is saying here that it's going to start, it's going to start in the place where the people had initially turned away from God, where the land was the darkest, we could say.

[16:40] It says in the latter times, he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. Israel, you may recall, fell to Assyria in 722.

[16:51] And Assyria came down along the coast into this very land that Isaiah is saying, light is going to dawn in this very place. More than that, the northern part of Israel was where in the books of Kings, for example, this is where idolatry and false worship were the deepest seeded in the land.

[17:14] You remember Jeroboam, the first thing that Jeroboam did when he took the northern kingdom away from the southern kingdom is that he set up two calves. He set up two calves in the land of Ephraim so that people would no longer travel down to Jerusalem.

[17:29] And by doing so, Jeroboam called the sacrificial system that God had put in place. At the very beginning, he set up this false worship. And if you remember what happened at Mount Sinai, when Aaron made the golden calf, it really brings to light the depths of the depravity, the depths of the idolatry where this was happening.

[17:50] And God says that the light is going to dawn there in that very land. Friends, this is a great reminder about the sovereignty of God.

[18:04] That he is able to make glorious, to use the language of verse one, that which was an ugly scar on the history of the nation. And may that be a great comfort to you and to me.

[18:17] Our scars, our shame, our sins. What is the Lord able to do with those things? He is able to make out of you and out of me something glorious. No matter how dark it may be, no matter how grim it may be, no matter how enslaved we may feel that we are, his light is brighter, his grace is greater, and his power is mightier than that sin in which you struggle with or that I struggle with.

[18:46] This passage reiterates the fact that his light is able to dawn into the darkest of places. The light has dawned, it says there in verse two.

[18:57] And notice how he describes, he talks about those that were in deep darkness. Deep darkness, a great light has dawned. In the Bible, deep darkness is talking moral, it's talking spiritual darkness here.

[19:12] It's talking about the nature of the heart. This is total depravity, we could say. The depravity that was rampant in the land, the sin and the rebellion that the people had had against God.

[19:24] And of course, light, light is associated with the presence of God. The presence of God in history, the presence of God interceding or intervening into history to step into our dark world so that the devastation might give way to glory and hope.

[19:42] And it says, in the land beyond the Jordan, in Galilee of the nations. Now, what's significant about that is that this was the land that was lost in the exile.

[19:54] God's work is that he's going to bring light into a place that there had not been the presence of God in a long time. More than that, it tells us that this is not only going to be for his covenant people, for the Jewish people, for Jews and Gentiles, but the Galilee of the nations.

[20:10] Again, this light, this light is going to start there and then it's going to expand and it's going to encompass the nations. Verse 3, we have the darkness reversed and then we have the joy multiplied.

[20:25] Look at verse 3 with me. It says, you have multiplied the nation. You have increased its joy. They rejoice before you. Who is the subject? Who is doing all of these things, friends?

[20:38] It is the Lord. You have multiplied the nation. You have increased its joy. They rejoice before you. Joy. Joy multiplied at the dawning of this light.

[20:51] What comes to your mind when you think about the work of God? Is joy. Is it joy? Does joy, does your heart fill with joy? Joy in him. Joy in his sovereignty.

[21:02] Joy in his word, his promises and his work in which he has done. Joy is one of those words that can be hard to define sometimes. Typically, we associate it perhaps with happiness or welfare, prosperity, but that's not biblical joy.

[21:21] Biblical joy is rooted, it's grounded, we could say, in the Lord, in the person of who he is. you see life through the lens of him.

[21:34] You see life through the lens of God's glory, through his work in redemptive history. The dawn of light and joy in what God is doing in us.

[21:47] So, here's a question. Based off everything that I shared with you at the beginning, how is your joy right now? Are you struggling? Are you despondent about how the world is right now?

[22:01] About how our country is? Are you spiritually parched, down, famished? Are you overwhelmed by life? Our God, friends, our God has something for us.

[22:18] It is to see his grace in action. It is to see his grace in action. The light that has dawned in history through the redemptive work in which he is accomplishing.

[22:31] And he has included you in that. He has invited you to that. You are here today because you are included. See that light. Fight for the joy that is yours by faith.

[22:44] It's there for you, dear Christian. Fight for the joy. It's yours. And when we say that, we're not just talking about on the good days. But especially on the bad ones.

[22:57] When the burden and the oppression of sin feel almost unbearable, remember, remember what it says here in Isaiah 9. The light, the joy, and then in verses 4 and 5 it talks about what it all means that this light has come.

[23:14] The hope explained in verses 4 and 5. It says, for the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, the Lord has broken as on the day of Midian.

[23:25] The Lord has broken the yoke. The Lord has lifted, lifted the burden, the oppression he has done. There's freedom, there's life here.

[23:37] The burden of guilt, the stains of shame, friends. God has removed those. This is like Christian in The Pilgrim's Progress, that classic by John Bunyan, where he sees the cross and he runs up the way of salvation.

[23:55] And here's what Bunyan says. He says, though the hill is high, I still desire to walk up it. I don't care how difficult it is because I understand that it is the way that leads to life.

[24:08] Leads to life. The power of grace, the power of God's work to destroy the burden, the guilt of sin, the oppression of shame, the power of grace to bring victory in what we share in is what he says there in verse 5.

[24:25] Look at verse 5 with me. He says, for every boot of the tramping warrior in battle to molt and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. And here what Isaiah is foreseeing down the road is that the enemies of God, the enemies of God will be defeated.

[24:45] And the example that he gave, he talked about as the day of Midian, he said there at the end of verse 4. And that was when Gideon, if you remember that story in Judges chapter 6, this is when Gideon started initially with 20,000 warriors and God withered that away to 300.

[25:06] And through the work of the Lord, he brought victory when they were outnumbered five to one. It was a great victory for Israel at the time and it was something that they would reflect upon because they had no business winning that victory.

[25:22] That was the point. It was God who did it and he will do this great work yet again, friends. Light into darkness, joy at the breaking of the chains of sin and slavery and he will also defeat the enmity that exists, the enmity that exists in the world, the language of warfare there, Isaiah sees.

[25:47] And what Isaiah, in verse five, what Isaiah is essentially seeing, friends, is this. He is seeing, God has given him a picture of all down the corridors of history.

[26:03] Isaiah is seeing, is seeing this hope, this hope that is described in verses one through three, it's now being explained what is this light going to eventually do?

[26:14] What's going to be the end game? Isaiah sees it, that the enemies of God will be defeated. And why is he telling Isaiah this? It's so we don't miss when the hope is finally realized.

[26:30] In verses six and seven, the hope realized, the light, the joy, the victory, they are coming, declares the Lord. How are they coming?

[26:44] For unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. Now here's what I want you to see. God's promise of victory, it's not through an earthly conqueror by sword and oppression.

[27:04] Do you get that? It's through a child. It's through a son. That is absolutely incredible. This is completely counter to the way our world thinks about ambition, about power, about how do you set up, how do you rule over people.

[27:29] It must be through the sword, it must be through oppression, it must be through fear. That is not the way that God is going to accomplish his victory. What is he going to do?

[27:44] First of all, it says he's going to set up a kingdom. It says the government shall be upon his shoulder, and if we take with what it says there at the end of verse 7 as well, the throne of David, his kingdom will be established, it will be upheld with justice and righteousness from this time forth and forever more.

[28:02] This is the coming of God's kingdom to earth. That is what he is going to do. He's going to set up his kingdom. Now, who is this son? The description that we're given in verse 6, at the end of verse 6, he is wonderful counselor.

[28:22] Literally, his wisdom is unmatched. He is mighty God, the warrior God, we could say. His courage, his strength is unmatched. He is everlasting father.

[28:34] Now, what is the meaning of this? This is covenantal language. This is covenantal love, covenantal power. His concern for his people is as though he is a father over his children.

[28:49] Prince of peace, the increase of his reign, and peace there will be no end. On the throne of David and over his kingdom, establish, uphold, with justice and righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.

[29:03] The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. The zeal, it is this burning desire that God has that this is going to be the answer. This is going to be God's answer to his people's predicament.

[29:16] Not only his people, but for the world's predicament. For unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. Little did Isaiah know that it would take 700 years for this to happen.

[29:33] But what do we know? In the fullness of time, God sent forth his son. And we read in Luke chapter 2, almost verbatim with Isaiah 7.

[29:45] You know the passage. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. He is the Messiah.

[29:57] He will be great and he will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom there will be no end.

[30:10] Unto us, friends, a child has been born. Unto us a son has been given. Why has this son been given? So that anyone who believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

[30:23] For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved. And how would he do that? How would he establish his throne?

[30:38] He would do that by taking on the form of a servant. And Isaiah later in chapter 53 he sees this same son as a man of sorrows.

[30:52] He becomes a man of sorrows fully experiencing the pain and the darkness of this life. You have to keep that in mind because when we keep that in mind that Jesus experienced the darkness of our world first hand it brings it really emphasizes it magnifies what he said in John chapter 8 where he said there I am the light of the world whoever believes in me shall not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.

[31:26] And what that means for us is that Jesus is able to overcome our darkness he's able to overcome our darkness no matter what it is example after example in the gospels of those who were in darkness the dregs of society drunkards tax collectors prostitutes even even even the self righteous and the proud like Peter who fell the hardest among his disciples the darkness that we all know is there the darkness that we are even unaware of that we are blind to in our lives Jesus is the great light that God promised through Isaiah that he would dispel the great darkness in us the great darkness that loomed over mankind and here's what that means we can bring our sin to Jesus and with confidence know that he can handle it that you are not too sinful for

[32:27] Jesus I am not too sinful for Jesus he will not cast us off but instead he will embrace us and he will shine his light and dispel the darkness in each one of us he can do that friends because he took the darkness of sin upon himself the wrath the condemnation of God he paid he paid the full price with his life as he hung on the cross and darkness covered the land when the enemies thought that they had triumphed over him he was triumphing over them as he said in his final words it is finished and then to demonstrate the reality of what he accomplished what did he do he rose from the grave and the apostles say the reason he rose from the grave is because it was impossible for the grave to hold him down and he has been given all authority in heaven and on earth his reign is come his reign has come repentance the forgiveness of sins are offered to you this day in his name for all who will believe so where are you looking for answers what are you hoping for in 2020 how are you hoping that 2020 is going to end because one day it will end one day 2020 will end but whatever our outlook your king is reigning and ruling even now until that final day

[34:07] Isaiah saw that final day when the enemies of God would be defeated with him you have perfect righteousness you have justice he will make all wrongs right perfect peace in him the day has arisen the day or the day is foregone the light has come look up dear people of God for your redemption draws near your king has come and he is coming again amen amen let's pray together lord we thank you for this time we thank you for the promise of isaiah chapter nine lord it is not only a promise that unto us a child is born unto us a son is given lord but that that promise has been realized in history in the humble first coming of your son lord we marvel at what Jesus has done for us we marvel at the fact that lord there is great darkness over our land there is great darkness even over our lives to this very moment lord we confessed our sins earlier to you lord nothing in our hands do we bring simply to the cross do we cling and we long for the day when our king does return until then lord help us to be steadfast help us to see the world through the lens of king jesus help us to share that hope that treasure that we have with others around us as well lord we thank you for this time this covenant meeting as your people we pray that we would go out from here comforted transformed and our hope renewed that is found in your son and your son alone and it's in his name we pray amen and for a especially you 声 and our speech and our hy ovat have been the left to his eye and forth our others can or have his wants to see in