Better Days Are Ahead, Because a Better Ruler is Coming.
- Better days are ahead. (Is 9:1-5)
- Misery will be over. (Is 9:1-3)
- War will be over. (Is 9:4-5)
- Because a better ruler is coming. (Is 9:6-7)
- He's perfect in His Character. (Is 9:6)
- He's perfect in His Leadership. (Is 9:7)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
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Open up your Bibles with me please to Isaiah 9.
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And we're in the middle of a series we actually started last week.
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But the series is called "Incomparable God." And the series revolves around one verse.
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And it's Isaiah 46:5 where the Lord says, "To whom will you liken Me and make Me equal?
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And compare Me that we may be alike." God is incomparable.
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And we kicked off last week talking about God's incomparable holiness.
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There is nothing and no one like the Lord.
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Today in Isaiah 9, we're going to see that He is incomparably just.
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And this is a message that Israel in these days needed to hear.
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And this is a message that the church in 2016 in America needs to hear.
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Just to set the context and the kind of culture in which Isaiah was living.
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In Isaiah's day, the people were content with empty religion.
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And it was a day of immorality and self-centeredness and threats from enemy nations and huge questions concerning the political landscape of the nation there was a change in leadership.
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That sound familiar?
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Let's just run down the checklist.
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Does this sound like America today?
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People by and large are content with empty religion.
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Check.
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Immorality.
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Check.
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Self-centeredness.
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Check.
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Check.
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Threats from enemy nations.
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Check.
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What about huge questions concerning the political landscape of our nation as there's a change in leadership?
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Check.
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Check.
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Check.
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Look at Isaiah 9.1.
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It says, "But there will be no gloom for her
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(speaking of Israel)
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who is in anguish.
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In the former time, He brought into contempt the land of Zebulun in the land of Naphtali.
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I want to stop there.
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There's changes ahead, obviously, you can tell by the tense of the passage.
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But look at the words that describe where Israel was at that point as a nation.
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Gloom and anguish and contempt.
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And what's that all about?
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If you go back to chapter 8, you see that this came about from the Assyrians.
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The Assyrians was this enemy nation that was coming to conquer and it was fulfilled in 734 B.C.
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You can read about it in 2 Kings 15.
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When the Assyrians came in, they conquered several regions and the first regions to suffer was Zebulun and Naphtali like it says in verse 1 here.
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It was a time of suffering in Israel from violence and oppression towards God's people.
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It was a time of wicked leadership.
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And I would ask you again, does that sound familiar?
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Can you take a giant step back?
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You know, when we watch the news and we tune in CNN or we get online and read what's happening in our country and in our world, and there's really one word that can be a banner over everything that's happening globally, The word is injustice.
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Injustice.
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Violence and oppression.
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Wicked, oppressive leadership.
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Sometimes, church, we can fall into this mindset where we like the world.
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And sort of throw our arms up and say does God even care?
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Has God abandoned us?
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Does God notice what's going on?
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Do you think God even cares?
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I mean, how much more of this are we going to watch?
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And it makes us cry out as a church when we see all this injustice and all this suffering.
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It makes us cry out, God, aren't You going to do something about it?
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You're like, well, what kind of things are You talking about?
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I'm going to share some things with you.
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These things are going to be hard to hear.
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But I assure you they're extremely hard to say.
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These things that I'm going to share with you are things that I've read just in the past week.
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This wasn't going back into the archives of things that I've studied over the last 20 years.
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These are things that I've read just in the last week.
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Let's talk about violence and oppression towards God's people.
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You know, right now in Iran, the authorities infiltrate house churches to arrest and imprison Christians.
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Iran's Ministry of Intelligence monitors the activities of Christians and arrests house church leaders.
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And when these house church leaders are arrested, they're tortured for weeks.
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And then they're placed with violent criminals and denied any medical care.
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I read a few days ago some of the things that are happening in Syria, some of the outbreaks of violence.
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I read of an extremist mob that beheaded a man.
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And then they played soccer with his head.
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In Syria, they're throwing children into ovens.
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They're assaulting women and leaving them lay in public.
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My witness reports say sometimes they see ten men assaulting one woman.
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I read this past week of an elderly Christian couple.
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The husband was 94 years old and his wife - wheelchair bound - 85 years old.
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The Islamic extremists broke into their home and assaulted the woman in front of the husband.
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I read this and I'm like, Aren't you going to do something about this?
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I read in India, the sixth Indian state has debated passing anti-conversion laws which not only discourages evangelism in India, but Christians can be arrested simply if somebody complains about them.
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In Nigeria, the Islamic extremists are kidnapping high school-age girls and they're selling them to militants as brides.
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A quote from the one man perpetrating this horrific act.
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He said he was doing this in the name of Allah.
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This is what we do in the name of our God.
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We kidnap little girls and we sell them.
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North Korea tops the list of persecuting Christians.
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It's estimated there are somewhere and 70,000 Christians in prison camps.
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But North Korea is such an isolated country, we don't really know the extent.
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That's just a guess.
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We could go on and on about the horrific acts from Al Qaeda and ISIS, more violence in the name of politics and religion, and sadly, we live in a day that you can watch it online.
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We see these horrific acts being done to God's people in this world of injustice, and we say, "God, aren't You going to do something?" Like well, at least that kind of wickedness and injustice isn't happening in America, right?
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Wrong.
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We are wicked at the highest levels of leadership.
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way I can describe the state of America right now is we are experiencing a plague of insanity.
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Just this last week I read in Charlotte, North Carolina, they're working on passing laws to protect the LGBT community from discrimination. Part of this ruling is they want to allow allow people to use any restroom that they want to use.
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Those of you that have young daughters, how comfortable would you be letting your daughter go into a public restroom knowing anybody who wants to use that restroom can use that restroom?
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Wicked. It's insane.
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And I read that this week, and I said, God, aren't You going to do something about this?
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in New York, did you hear about this?
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I think in New York they're pushing for heroin injection sites.
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How many people saw that?
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They want to have a safe place for people to shoot up heroin free from consequences.
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They're actually going to have a nurse on staff to administer the injections.
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If you smoke marijuana, or you're drunk in public, that's still illegal, and that should be.
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But if you want to do heroin, He will help you do heroine.
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You look at the leadership transitioning out and the potential leadership transitioning in, and my question is what leader is going to look at this insanity and right this ship?
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Any of the leaders looking like they're going to turn this around?
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Any of the leaders look like they're going to stand for justice and righteousness?
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Anyone?
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God, aren't you going to do something?
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If you've felt that twinge of despair, I have some very good news for you.
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I want you to jot some things down in your outline.
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Better days are ahead.
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Better days are ahead because a better ruler is coming.
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First rule number one, better days are ahead.
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Well, the prophet here is going to speak of future events as if they've already happened.
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You see that a lot in the Bible.
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And that's just the surety of God's Word.
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He says God says this is going to happen, and even though it hasn't yet happened on the calendar, He talks about it in the past tense to say, "You can take this to the bank." Let's pick up where we left off in chapter 9, verse 1.
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but in the latter times, we talked about the gloom, the anguish, the contempt, but in the latter times, He has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
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The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.
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Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.
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You have multiplied the nation.
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You have increased its joy.
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"I rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, and they are glad when they divide the spoil." First of all, Isaiah points out that the day is coming, that misery is going to be over.
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The darkness, the gloom, the anguish.
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You see the words he used to describe how things are going to change.
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He talks about the light that is coming.
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He talks about the joy that we're going to experience.
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I love this last phrase in verse 3.
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It says, "They are glad when they divide the spoil." What's that all about?
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Well, when you're dividing the spoil after a war, that means two things.
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That means the war is over.
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And that means you won.
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See, he's giving a picture here that someday the misery is all going to be a memory as God's people live in eternal victory.
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not only will misery be over, look at verses 4 and 5.
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He says the day is coming that war is going to be over.
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He says for the yoke of His burden, the staff for His shoulder, the rod of His oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.
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I love verse 5.
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Every boot of the trampling warrior can battle tumult, and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.
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The day is coming that war is going to be over.
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Your Bible tells you that one final war is coming when Jesus comes to vanquish everyone who's rejected Him.
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And after that, verse 5 tells us that war equipment is going to be irrelevant.
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What He's saying is you might as well take the fatigues and take the combat boots and make a big campfire out of them because we're not going to need them anymore.
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We're not going to be fighting anymore because war is always going to be spoken of in the past tense.
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We can look at language like this and say how in the world can we get from where we are to what the Bible is describing?
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We better get a better leader in place.
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is the glorious reality.
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Better days are ahead.
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Number two, write this down.
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Better days are ahead because a better ruler is coming.
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God's answer - when we look at all of the injustices and violence and wickedness in leadership, when we look at all this injustice in the world, God's answer is not a political strategy.
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God's answer is not capitalism or socialism or communism.
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Or, let's get this new political strategy in place.
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His answer is in a perfect ruler who's going to rule righteously over all.
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His answer is in a ruler that is incomparably just.
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Look at v. 6.
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I'm sure everybody in this room has heard this verse many times.
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But understand the context in which this verse is given.
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Because unto us a child is born.
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To us a son is given.
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And the government shall be upon his shoulder.
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And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
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God's answer to the injustice is found in the person of Jesus Christ.
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First of all, this ruler, King Jesus Christ, He's perfect in His character.
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Verse 6 is often preached at Christmas time, but really, this verse sees its ultimate fulfillment at His Second Coming.
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It says the government is going to be upon His shoulder right now.
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Is Jesus Christ ruling right now?
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The answer is yeah.
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He's ruling through the hearts and the lives of everyone who is a born-again follower of Him.
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So He is ruling now through His people, but the day is coming that the entire government is going to be on his shoulder.
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He's going to rule over all.
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That's what this is talking about.
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Like, well, what kind of a ruler is he?
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He says he's a wonderful counselor.
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He's a ruler that rules with wisdom.
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He says he's mighty God.
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He's not just some guy - some lesser of two evil guys that we put up for nomination and vote in.
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No, no, no, there's no vote here.
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Actually, there's only one vote in His selection and it's God's vote.
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And this ruler is God Himself.
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He is mighty God.
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The fullness of God dwells in Jesus Christ.
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He says He's the everlasting Father.
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Certainly that speaks to His divinity.
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But that also speaks to the type of love that He shows.
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He is a Father who disciplines and cares for and nurtures His people.
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He's a father.
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He's not some cold, detached ruler.
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He's one that rules over all His people like a loving dad in a house.
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That's the kind of ruler that's coming again.
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And it says, "Prince of Peace." He establishes peace.
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The first time Jesus came, He established peace between sinner and God who received Him.
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The second time that Jesus comes, He's going to establish world peace.
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He's going to be global.
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He's perfect in His character.
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He's also perfect in His leadership.
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Look at verse 7.
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It says, "Of the increase of His government and of peace, there will be no end.
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On the throne of David and over His kingdom to establish it and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.
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He's going to establish His kingdom.
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This needs to be underlined in your Bible.
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With justice and righteousness.
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Someday, injustice is going to be behind us.
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The Bible tells you that Jesus is going to come back and establish a thousand year kingdom on the earth.
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Isaiah tells us here, it'll be from this time forth and forevermore.
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It's never going to end.
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It's not as if Jesus gives us this utopia with Him as the leader for a thousand years, and says, well, that's what it was meant to be like, and then exits.
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That's going to usher us into the eternal states.
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So Christians, when you see the injustices in the world globally, the persecution of Christians, the wickedness in leadership, when you're fired up and you say, Where's the justice?
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I have just one word for you today.
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That word is "wait." Wait.
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God, aren't You going to do something about this?
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The answer is wait.
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You see, it would be like going to the movies.
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And you watch half of the movie, and you don't like the way the main character being abused and beaten and knocked down, and halfway through the movie, you just get up and you walk out and say, "Well, that movie stunk.
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That was terrible." The church is the same for us.
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This movie ain't over.
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It is not over yet.
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We can read this and say, "Is God really going to do this?" I see what it says, Pastor Jeff, but is God really going to do this?
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I like the very last phrase in v. 7.
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This is probably my favorite part of this whole passage.
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It says, "The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this." Zeal.
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God's not just going to do it.
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He is fired up to do it.
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You see, this day of ultimate justice is like - pardon the expression - He's not only going to do it, he's going to do it with zeal.
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You know, there's a lot of things that I do and a lot of things that I have to do that I don't do with zeal.
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You know, for example, when it's time to do the dishes, I do the dishes, but it's never with zeal.
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Ever.
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When I have to go to Walmart, it is never with zeal.
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It is with much crying, and feet dragging, and whining, and I'm not even talking about my kids, I'm just talking about me.
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I don't do it with zeal.
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I'll tell you, there are some things I do with zeal.
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You want an example?
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I'd say, I don't know, a year and a half ago, maybe two years ago now, I was outside playing with the kids.
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And just all outside, we're playing on the trampoline and squirting each other with the hose or whatever, just, you know, messing around.
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And all of a sudden, on our back porch right by our back door was this enormous pit bull.
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This thing was like -- this thing was like the size of a dinosaur.
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Okay. And I'm not -- I'm not the dog whisperer, okay.
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I'm not like the dog expert.
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My wife is.
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She's the expert.
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But I do know this much.
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This dog was walking around with its head down, its ears back, and all of the hair was standing up on its shoulders and back.
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You know what that means, right?
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Nothing good.
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This dog was slinking around my back door about 15 feet away from where my children were playing.
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I grabbed the shovel, and I never ran so fast in my life.
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But that dog ran just a little bit faster than me.
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I'm telling you, if I would have caught up to that dog, it would not have been pretty.
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And I mean for the dog.
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But you see, that was something that I went after with zeal.
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That was something that in the moment, I'm like, I'm fired up for this!
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Imagine that sentiment.
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And multiply it by infinity.
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And when you say, Lord, don't You see the injustice that's going on in the world?
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Aren't You going to do something about this?
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And your Bible says, The zeal of the Lord of hosts is going to do this.
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The Lord is chomping at the bit.
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Bring justice.
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It hasn't happened yet.
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And it's going to happen.
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Bring ultimate justice into a broken world, God's not just going to do it, he's going to do it.
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With zeal.
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As we close, you know, if you're here today and you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I need to remind you that God's incomparable justice demands that He punishes sin.
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God is incomparably holy as we saw last week, but He's also incomparably just.
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So if you've ever sinned against God, even if you've only ever sinned one time in your life, then you're a sinner.
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And you deserve God's wrath.
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I deserve - by nature - I deserve God's wrath.
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The Bible tells us that if we broke in God's law at one point, we're guilty of the whole law.
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I want you to think about that.
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Imagine that you committed some crime and had to go to court here.
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And when you showed up in court, the judge pulled out your file and he says, "Oh, I see here that you are guilty of breaking every single law in the United States of America.
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what you think would be your chances of the judge saying, "but you're free to go." You're guilty.
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You see, we stand before a holy God clearly guilty of sin, and we have the audacity to think, well, he's just going to overlook that.
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That wouldn't make God incomparably just if He was willing to overlook our rebellion in the face of a holy God.
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You see, this is the good news.
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This is what brings us to celebrate and to worship God and His love made away.
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That this Jesus Christ who will rule on the earth eventually - He already came once, and it was to pay the penalty for your sin.
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So God demands payment to be made.
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And if you're sitting here today and you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I need to tell you that you have two options.
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You can either pay the penalty yourself, is eternal separation from God.
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Or you can accept the payment that was made on your behalf.
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When Jesus Christ on the cross bore God's wrath for you and for me in an act of mercy and grace, Jesus Christ completely satisfied God's justice.
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Church, the day is coming.
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The day is coming when war is over.
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The incomparable King rules with perfect justice.
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And God will make all things right.
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Are you ready for that?
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Father in Heaven, that's Ralph God.
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When we just hear story after story after story of injustice and oppression and violence, it's easy for us in the flesh when we take our eyes off of You and take our eyes off of Your Word and start to look purely at the circumstances.
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When we're more concerned about what CNN says than what Your Word says, it's easy for us to get discouraged.
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I pray today, Father, is a day of encouragement.
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That Your Word very clearly tells us that You are so fired up to bring justice to the world.
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Why hasn't it happened yet?
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It's really not my business.
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Because your timing is perfect and there's a reason.
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There's a reason that you're waiting.
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And we know, Father, in the meantime, it doesn't affect our mission.
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We are still called to be passionate worshipers of Jesus Christ.
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We are still called to be witnesses in the power of Your Holy Spirit, to love this lost and dying world with the love that You pour into us and flow out of us - While we wait, let us not just wait idly by.
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Let us wait, completing the mission that You put before us.
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We thank You, Father.
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We thank You, Father, for the day ahead, when You make all things new.
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And we live under a King who is incomparably just.
27:27-27:30
Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
27:31-27:31
Amen.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Isaiah 9:1-7
If justice is coming eventually, what should we do in the meantime? Read 1 Peter 2:21-23. What does this passage say about how we should deal with injustice (especially the end of 1 Pet 2:23)?
Read 1 Timothy 2:1-2. How can we pray for blatantly wicked leaders?
How can you encourage someone dealing with the misery of injustice?
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.