WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.980 Great to see everyone. Yeah, great to have, be kicking off this Advent season. 00:00:06.640 --> 00:00:11.740 No, it's Advent, right? And always every year we do a special kind of Advent series as we're 00:00:11.740 --> 00:00:16.179 preparing for Christmas. What we're going to do this year, we're going to look at a few famous 00:00:16.179 --> 00:00:21.900 carols as kind of the theme of our series, because yeah, these are wonderful songs full 00:00:21.900 --> 00:00:27.460 of biblical truth, and we don't sing them enough. So that's a great way. And of course, 00:00:27.460 --> 00:00:34.100 the word Advent means coming, as we all know, the coming of Jesus back then and in the future. 00:00:34.679 --> 00:00:39.340 And we're going to look today at O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, right, which is the ultimate Advent 00:00:39.340 --> 00:00:44.859 one, right? O Come, O Come, the coming of Jesus. So that's what we're going to look at. It's our 00:00:44.859 --> 00:00:49.179 first carol. We're going to sing it after the sermon so that we first kind of, you know, process it and 00:00:49.179 --> 00:00:53.880 think about it, and then we can sing it with all our hearts. That's what we want. But of course, 00:00:53.880 --> 00:00:59.560 we'll read a fitting Bible passage as well. So why don't I pray, and then Henrique will come and 00:00:59.560 --> 00:01:06.700 read the scripture for us. But let's pray together. Our Father, thank you for Advent, well, not for 00:01:06.700 --> 00:01:12.120 Advent, for the goal of Advent, the coming of your son 2,000 years ago and again at some point in the 00:01:12.120 --> 00:01:18.140 future. Please lift our eyes to him. Would we see what your word says? Would we see the world as it is, 00:01:18.140 --> 00:01:24.760 but also the hope and peace of Christmas? Would they be real to us in our hearts today? In Jesus' name. Amen. 00:01:33.760 --> 00:01:40.099 This morning is from Isaiah chapter 24. Starting in verse 4, we read, 00:01:40.099 --> 00:01:48.759 The earth mourns and withers. The world languages and withers. The highest people of the earth 00:01:48.759 --> 00:01:56.500 languish. The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants, for they have transgressed the laws, 00:01:57.299 --> 00:02:04.859 violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore, a curse devours the earth, 00:02:04.859 --> 00:02:12.099 and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are scorched, 00:02:12.599 --> 00:02:19.759 and few men are left. The wine mourns, the vine languages, all the merry-hearted sigh. 00:02:20.900 --> 00:02:28.599 The mirth of the tambourines is stilled. The noise of the jubilant has ceased. The mirth of the lyre is 00:02:28.599 --> 00:02:35.479 stilled. No more do they drink wine with singing. Strong drink is bitter to those who drink it. 00:02:36.219 --> 00:02:44.939 The wasted city is broken down. Every house is shut up so that none can enter. There is an outcry in the 00:02:44.939 --> 00:02:52.000 streets for lack of wine, and all joy has grown dark. The gladness of the earth is banished. 00:02:52.000 --> 00:03:00.159 Desolation is left in the city. The gates are battered into ruins. For thus it shall be in the 00:03:00.159 --> 00:03:07.219 midst of the earth, among the nations, as when an olive tree is beaten, as at the gleaning when the 00:03:07.219 --> 00:03:14.060 grape harvest is done. They lift up their voices. They sing for joy over the majesty of the Lord. 00:03:14.420 --> 00:03:21.479 They shout from the west. Therefore, in the east, give glory to the Lord. In the coastlands of the sea, 00:03:21.479 --> 00:03:28.139 give glory to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. From the ends of the earth, we hear songs 00:03:28.139 --> 00:03:34.179 of praise, of glory to the righteous one. This is the word of God. I was hoping for this really 00:03:34.179 --> 00:03:38.259 dramatic moment, because I don't know what kind of reading you expected, right? You were expecting 00:03:38.259 --> 00:03:44.379 joy and those kind of things, but actually it was such a sad reading, right? It's Christmas, 00:03:44.919 --> 00:03:51.259 and we put the presents and the trees and everything, and yet this is, yeah, what did we read, right? 00:03:51.479 --> 00:03:58.340 The tambourines are gone. There's no more wine. A city that's desolate. No more joy. People 00:03:58.340 --> 00:04:04.560 mourning and languishing. You might read this and you think it looks like the Ukraine, right? It looks 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:11.979 like this city that's just destroyed in a war. People have no food, no power, and they're suffering. 00:04:12.620 --> 00:04:17.240 That's what it looks like. A city under a harsh COVID lockdown somewhere, right? That is, 00:04:17.240 --> 00:04:23.600 it's terrible. If you know the carol, though, it fits. It's the same kind of atmosphere, right? 00:04:24.319 --> 00:04:30.660 Oh, come, oh, come, Emmanuel. Ransom, captive Israel. It's a, you know, I'm not very musical, 00:04:30.860 --> 00:04:35.660 but it's one of the few songs that's really in a minor key almost all the way through. That's why 00:04:35.660 --> 00:04:42.060 it sounds so sad and gloomy. And actually, and maybe for some of you, that is how you're feeling 00:04:42.060 --> 00:04:49.300 this morning. You know, it's maybe you've had a very tough week, a tough month, year. Many of us, 00:04:49.360 --> 00:04:53.680 we've had a very tough three years, right? You look at the economy. You look at the politics. 00:04:54.160 --> 00:04:57.920 You look at what's going on around the world, and things are really not getting better. 00:04:57.920 --> 00:05:08.560 you are maybe something in your life, a long-term illness, a problem at work or with your family. 00:05:09.819 --> 00:05:14.480 And life really isn't what you want it to be. And then you find it so hard to get into the 00:05:14.480 --> 00:05:18.700 Christmas spirit. Celebrating is just really not what you're thinking about right now, right? 00:05:19.960 --> 00:05:25.819 Or are you just being Ebenezer Scrooge, right? Making it, spoiling it for the rest of us. 00:05:25.819 --> 00:05:32.939 Or maybe you just understand the world better than the rest of us. Because Jesus came into a context. 00:05:33.899 --> 00:05:39.420 And Jesus didn't come out of nowhere. He came, well, to a people. That's what I love about 00:05:39.420 --> 00:05:44.740 O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. It has this real Old Testament feel, all right? What does it talk about? 00:05:44.860 --> 00:05:51.879 Rejoice, Emmanuel. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel. This is addressed to 00:05:51.879 --> 00:05:58.279 God's people in the Old Testament. Because, of course, who did Jesus come to? To the people of the Old Testament, 00:05:58.759 --> 00:06:04.779 right? To God's people who were there with God's word. They were waiting for their Messiah. 00:06:06.120 --> 00:06:12.639 And so, as we understand, as we look at that, we kind of get the feeling of, yeah, the background to 00:06:12.639 --> 00:06:18.199 Jesus coming. And as we start off Advent, I think that's a really good thing for us to do. 00:06:18.199 --> 00:06:22.599 And a really good, the thing that we need to grasp here. Well, what is the big metaphor 00:06:22.599 --> 00:06:29.560 in the Bible is that of exile, right? This is about exile. The first verse, yeah, we saw it, right? 00:06:30.099 --> 00:06:39.039 A ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here. Now, what is exile? Exile, as you probably 00:06:39.039 --> 00:06:46.000 know, is when you're taken away from your home, right? This is what the people of Israel, 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:50.060 they had. They were in God's promised land. They were living there. Everything was good, 00:06:50.980 --> 00:06:57.600 except through their idolatry and their rebellion and sin. They were taken away. The Babylonians came, 00:06:57.740 --> 00:07:02.600 destroyed the city, destroyed everything, took them away. And now they were away from home, 00:07:02.980 --> 00:07:09.959 away from God. They had nothing. They were enslaved in this foreign country. You can imagine how they 00:07:09.959 --> 00:07:16.279 would have felt, right? And that is not just, you know, this one time in the sixth century that they 00:07:16.279 --> 00:07:21.079 were really in Babylon. You know, they came back at some point, right? The Persian king let them go 00:07:21.079 --> 00:07:26.919 home. But were things really right? You know, they were no longer their own kingdom. They were just a 00:07:26.919 --> 00:07:33.659 province of the Persian empire, the Greek empire, the Roman empire. They were ruled over. There was 00:07:33.660 --> 00:07:41.080 poverty. There was war. They had a temple. But the glory of God never came down. They knew the temple 00:07:41.080 --> 00:07:49.700 was empty. God wasn't with them. And yeah, that's how they felt. That is their exile. 00:07:51.180 --> 00:07:56.879 Of course, we are not Israel, right? You think, okay, but that was them back then. But actually, 00:07:56.879 --> 00:08:03.959 what makes it so applicable is that Israel is all of us. So, I don't know if you, when you heard this 00:08:03.959 --> 00:08:08.980 passage from Isaiah, it's not really the most famous Christmas reading. And it really sounds like, 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:15.360 it sounds like an exile, right? This city and destruction. But who is here mourning? It's not Israel, 00:08:15.439 --> 00:08:23.040 right? Look at that. The earth mourns and withers. The world languages and withers. This is not about 00:08:23.040 --> 00:08:30.120 Israel. Isaiah is here zooming out to the whole world that's suffering. That's why I've chosen this 00:08:30.120 --> 00:08:35.800 passage. But actually, it's for the same reason, right? Israel went into exile for their sin. And 00:08:35.800 --> 00:08:42.879 here, well, verse 5, the earth lies defiled under its inhabitants, for they have transgressed the laws, 00:08:43.300 --> 00:08:48.659 violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant, right? It's again, their sin, their 00:08:48.659 --> 00:08:54.659 transgressions. The everlasting covenant. You hear that and you think, oh, the law of Moses. But of 00:08:54.659 --> 00:08:59.779 course, the whole world wasn't under the law of Moses. No, this is, you know, this goes back to Adam 00:08:59.779 --> 00:09:07.980 and Eve. You know, back in Genesis 3 already, the Bible starts with exile. Adam and Eve, they could 00:09:07.980 --> 00:09:14.179 enjoy the Garden of Eden. They could live with God. But they sinned. They were sent out, right? This was 00:09:14.179 --> 00:09:19.779 basically the covenant they had, right? That God said, well, you may eat of every tree in the garden. 00:09:19.899 --> 00:09:24.459 You can enjoy all my goodness and blessing. But if you eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and 00:09:24.459 --> 00:09:31.879 evil, in that day you will die, right? And that's what happens. And that is what we're all under, 00:09:31.939 --> 00:09:38.000 right? If we turn away from God, as we all do, well, we all face death. And just like with then Adam and 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:45.399 Eve sinned, what happens? Well, God said, curse is the ground because of you. In pain, you shall eat 00:09:45.399 --> 00:09:51.220 of it all the days of your life. The world was broken. And again here in Isaiah, verse 6, the same 00:09:51.220 --> 00:09:57.899 thing. And because of their sin, therefore a curse devours the earth and its inhabitants suffer for 00:09:57.899 --> 00:10:06.100 their guilt. That is the world we live in. All joy is gone. Gladness is banished. Desolation, 00:10:06.100 --> 00:10:13.540 cities broken down, mourning languages. And you're just so helpless, right? Why is there no joy? 00:10:13.639 --> 00:10:18.740 People are helpless. They're stuck. Exile. I mean, people talk about some people going abroad in 00:10:18.740 --> 00:10:24.360 self-imposed exile. They need to say self-imposed because exile, you have no control over it, right? 00:10:24.379 --> 00:10:29.480 You're taken away and you're stuck and you're captive. And as you read through this carol, 00:10:30.279 --> 00:10:35.240 the helplessness comes out. And of course, it talks about Israel, but there's no Babylonians, 00:10:35.240 --> 00:10:42.100 no Romans. It's that real spiritual exile from God, right? How are we described? Well, 00:10:42.700 --> 00:10:51.899 under Satan's tyranny, right? Free us from Satan's tyranny, the depths of hell that are facing us, 00:10:52.360 --> 00:10:57.980 and the grave because we're all going to die. Or in the third verse, the day spring cheer us up from, 00:10:57.980 --> 00:11:04.519 you know, the gloomy clouds of night and death's dark shadows. That's the world we live in. 00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:10.200 And no wonder there's no joy. This is the curse lying on all of us, on the whole world. 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:15.960 Now, of course, you might say, yeah, yeah, but that was the Old Testament, right? We were in the New 00:11:15.960 --> 00:11:21.420 Testament and Jesus has come and surely that has changed things. Well, it's interesting, 00:11:21.419 --> 00:11:26.479 right? Because the New Testament is a little bit mixed on that. Okay? Because, you know, 00:11:26.579 --> 00:11:29.779 when you're in the Old Testament, this is basically what you would expect, right? Here, 00:11:30.139 --> 00:11:35.939 you know, we have the old age of sin and death and then, boom, the Messiah comes and you've got the 00:11:35.939 --> 00:11:42.219 new age, right? That was how they saw things. That's what they were expecting. But then when Jesus came, 00:11:42.259 --> 00:11:47.679 actually, it became a bit more complex because Jesus comes once and he starts the new age, yes, 00:11:47.679 --> 00:11:55.239 but the old age is still there. Sin and death and enemies, it's still there and one day he will come 00:11:55.239 --> 00:12:00.439 back and that's when there's only the new age, right? So, it's a bit of both and we're kind of 00:12:00.439 --> 00:12:06.419 living in the middle, in the already and the not yet. And in some books of the Bible, that are really 00:12:06.419 --> 00:12:11.459 big on the already, right? We did Ephesians just now and Ephesians is, oh, what? Jesus is on the throne 00:12:11.460 --> 00:12:17.759 and, you know, we're seated with Christ in the heavenly places, united and wonderful. It's focused 00:12:17.759 --> 00:12:25.460 on the new age. And yet, physically, not spiritually, but physically, this is very much we're in the old 00:12:25.460 --> 00:12:34.920 age, right? We suffer, we die, sin, death, suffering. From that perspective, we're still in exile, still 00:12:34.920 --> 00:12:41.200 living in the old age. And this Old Testament feeling is very, very applicable to us, right? When you 00:12:41.200 --> 00:12:46.160 see the news, when you see the city around you and you go to your shopping center and there's a, 00:12:46.440 --> 00:12:52.440 oh, your favorite shop is closed, they're bankrupt and everything, right? You just see that this world 00:12:52.440 --> 00:12:58.560 is wrong and there's not, something is wrong with it. I don't know how you respond to that. I mean, 00:12:58.580 --> 00:13:04.120 for some of us, yeah, we really feel this at the moment. You look at your life and you feel just so 00:13:04.120 --> 00:13:12.019 miserable. I don't know. Some people have a child in hospital or just really long-term family 00:13:12.019 --> 00:13:17.019 difficulties. And you really want it to just end. And I don't know how you feel coming to church. 00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:22.000 Sometimes you might feel so alien, right? Because everyone is there and they're having such a great 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:28.639 time and you just don't feel it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry, I'm not making fun of people who really go, 00:13:28.639 --> 00:13:34.039 but yeah, sometimes it doesn't, you don't feel like that, right? And you feel like, well, what do I not 00:13:34.039 --> 00:13:42.019 get? Do I not belong here? Well, you read passages like this. I hope this is a carol that you can sing, 00:13:42.860 --> 00:13:50.100 right? It's okay not to be okay. It's okay to, to be miserable because we are in exile. We're living 00:13:50.100 --> 00:13:56.659 in a broken world full of sin, full of pain, full of death. And sometimes that just really gets to us. 00:13:56.659 --> 00:14:01.639 And Jesus knows that. And yeah, you can sing this carol and just lament. 00:14:03.019 --> 00:14:09.459 But for others of us, maybe we don't feel it as much. Because, you know, some of us, we're young 00:14:09.459 --> 00:14:15.219 and we're healthy and we have a job that we like and quarantine is over and now we can travel to all 00:14:15.219 --> 00:14:20.600 these exciting places, you know? Everything is great. And the worst thing is, well, my football team 00:14:20.600 --> 00:14:22.879 didn't get through it. But that's about it, right? 00:14:22.879 --> 00:14:29.899 I don't know how this carol, how this passage speaks to you. I guess, first of all, if that's 00:14:29.899 --> 00:14:34.320 us, we should be thankful. But actually, we're the exception to the rule, right? 00:14:35.620 --> 00:14:41.460 In some way, many of us, we live in a bubble. We live in a comfortable, wealthy, 21st century 00:14:41.460 --> 00:14:51.320 bubble. I mean, this carol is based on a Latin kind of chant from the 8th century, 1200 years 00:14:51.320 --> 00:14:58.520 ago. Life was very different back then. War and famine and disease and most children 00:14:58.520 --> 00:15:04.420 not reaching adulthood and those kind of things. That's the world. For them, this really resonated. 00:15:05.240 --> 00:15:10.780 You know, no celebrity worship artist would have made this song. But back then, this was how people 00:15:10.780 --> 00:15:18.060 felt. And even outside, right? Yeah, Hong Kong is pretty peaceful. You know, you read the news of 00:15:18.059 --> 00:15:22.639 what's happening in Ukraine, right? And the people there facing the winter without power, without food. 00:15:24.179 --> 00:15:28.159 That's terrible. And even just people around us. I mean, there might be people in church, 00:15:28.539 --> 00:15:34.939 near CG, who are having a really hard time. Or just outside. Other people here in Hong Kong. We are one 00:15:34.939 --> 00:15:41.759 of the most unequal cities. I feel love... If you don't really feel in exile, maybe join loving the city. 00:15:41.759 --> 00:15:50.319 A few weeks ago, RCG went to help with inner city ministries, handing out food to street cleaners. 00:15:51.100 --> 00:15:56.720 And so, wait, it was eye-opening. Most of these guys I spoke to were from Nepal. And they'd arrived in 00:15:56.720 --> 00:16:02.019 the last six months to a year. And I mean, you see these street cleaners, and it's not quite 00:16:02.019 --> 00:16:08.399 the life you want for yourself, right? Or for your kids. You know, these people were so cheerful. 00:16:08.399 --> 00:16:15.360 Why were they cheerful? Well, being a street cleaner was so much better than life in Nepal, 00:16:15.980 --> 00:16:19.439 in the poverty and those kind of things. For them, this was a dream job compared to where 00:16:19.439 --> 00:16:24.120 they came from. So can you imagine what it's like out there for some people in the world? 00:16:26.159 --> 00:16:32.159 No, we need to see the truth, right? This world is in exile. If you just open our eyes. 00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:38.539 And Christmas makes no sense unless we get that, unless we see, yes, this is a world in so much need, 00:16:38.620 --> 00:16:47.399 in so much brokenness, that it needed help. And we couldn't do it. And then we get to see what, 00:16:47.480 --> 00:16:53.899 yeah, the birth of Jesus really offers. Because what does Jesus offer in the midst of this exile? 00:16:53.899 --> 00:17:01.659 Hope. This carol, it has incredible hope. That's what we're doing today, the candle of hope. 00:17:01.939 --> 00:17:08.079 The Old Testament, yes, it's a lot of doom and gloom. But in the midst of the despair, there's a longing 00:17:08.079 --> 00:17:14.500 and waiting, waiting for God to come. It's full of promises. And you heard it in the reading, right? 00:17:14.539 --> 00:17:20.200 Yes, there was all this misery. But then those last few verses, as people, you know, see God coming, 00:17:20.200 --> 00:17:26.960 right? That's when they go, right? They lift up their voices. They sing for joy over the majesty of 00:17:26.960 --> 00:17:31.940 the Lord. They shout from the West. Verse 16, from the ends of the earth, we hear songs of praise, 00:17:32.200 --> 00:17:37.440 of glory to the righteous one, right? Suddenly, there's joy because in the midst of this brokenness, 00:17:37.779 --> 00:17:43.160 God is going to come in and sort it out. It's the same in the carol, as you know it, right? In the 00:17:43.160 --> 00:17:50.019 refrain, you know, we go, rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel shall come. And the power of music, 00:17:50.019 --> 00:17:55.720 it goes from a minor key to a major key. And suddenly, it sounds happy, right? Because 00:17:55.720 --> 00:18:01.819 that's the thing. Emmanuel will come. God will be with us. And actually, that runs through this 00:18:01.819 --> 00:18:09.559 whole carol. Every verse starts with a title of Jesus from a promise about Jesus in the Old 00:18:09.559 --> 00:18:15.240 Testament. I guess the first one, O come, O come, Emmanuel. We know that one, right? Isaiah chapter 00:18:15.240 --> 00:18:21.200 seven, in the midst of a siege, in the midst of a terrible time, the virgin will conceive 00:18:21.200 --> 00:18:27.680 and bear a son. And she will call his name Emmanuel, which means God is with us. We know 00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:34.859 that one, right? God would come and God would be with him. The second one, O rod of Jesse, 00:18:35.299 --> 00:18:40.180 three, rod of Jesse. That's a very weird one, right? If you don't know who Jesse is, Jesse was 00:18:40.180 --> 00:18:45.580 the father of David. David, you hear that all the time at Christmas, right? David, David, because 00:18:45.580 --> 00:18:53.360 God promised to David an everlasting kingdom of peace ruled by his descendants. That was the great 00:18:53.360 --> 00:18:57.680 hope. And in Isaiah's day, it didn't look like much, right? It looked like a tree that was just 00:18:57.680 --> 00:19:05.799 cut down. Where is it gone? But then Isaiah 11, a great promise. Yeah, the Jesse tree comes from that 00:19:05.799 --> 00:19:11.440 because what did God promise? There will be a shoot from fourth, it will shoot fourth from the 00:19:11.440 --> 00:19:16.779 stump of Jesse and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit, right? There will be a flourishing again, 00:19:17.180 --> 00:19:24.419 a new tree. And what will he do? Verse 12 of Isaiah 11, he will raise a signal for the nations and 00:19:24.419 --> 00:19:31.480 will assemble the banished of Israel and gather the dispersed of Judah. If you're doing the watermark 00:19:31.480 --> 00:19:36.700 devotions, it's today's reading. It's such a wonderful chapter, Isaiah 11 of what Jesus will 00:19:36.700 --> 00:19:44.120 come and do. And all those verses, verse three, oh come, oh day spring, come and cheer, the morning 00:19:44.120 --> 00:19:50.759 star. Yeah, you know, the day spring, the first light, everything is dark, but then the first light 00:19:50.759 --> 00:19:56.940 comes over the horizon and the darkness is slowly melting away. That's what Jesus is coming to do. 00:19:56.940 --> 00:20:05.820 Or the last one, again, David, oh come thou key of David. Key, I think we know a key, right? Something 00:20:05.820 --> 00:20:12.240 is locked up. The kingdom of David, where was it? It is like it was shut up. No one could access it. 00:20:12.960 --> 00:20:19.640 But Jesus, yeah, the key, he opens up the heavenly kingdom. He opens the door wide and we can come 00:20:19.640 --> 00:20:26.880 back to God. We can come to, we can come home, our heavenly home. And not just open it, but bring us 00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:34.120 there, right? Bring us safely home. All these verses, they're full of promise. They're full of hope. 00:20:34.280 --> 00:20:39.620 And I hope you can hear that, right? Hope in the darkness, hope of freedom, hope of life, hope of 00:20:39.620 --> 00:20:47.000 coming back to our loving God, hope of an end of suffering and death, hope for all of us. 00:20:47.000 --> 00:20:54.619 You may wonder, when will your situation change? It will. God made all those promises. Now, 00:20:54.660 --> 00:21:02.039 that might be a very long time. Isaiah promised about 700 years before Jesus. And that was Jesus' 00:21:02.180 --> 00:21:11.559 first coming. So it's 2,700 years and counting for his second coming. But we know he will come, 00:21:11.559 --> 00:21:17.240 right? God's people always had this hope. And so, you know, God had promised. They held 00:21:17.240 --> 00:21:23.139 on to that in the darkest, most difficult time. Now we have God's promise. So yeah, how should 00:21:23.139 --> 00:21:30.659 we, how should we then respond? I guess what one obvious one in the carol, of course, is to 00:21:30.659 --> 00:21:38.839 rejoice, right? Not a fake joy, not empty praise, but deep down knowing that things will be better, 00:21:38.839 --> 00:21:46.000 knowing that one thing in the day it will change. Your situation won't last forever. A hundred years 00:21:46.000 --> 00:21:52.720 from now, you will be with Jesus. And nothing else will matter, right? And from then on, just you'll 00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:57.819 have billions and billions of years of fullness of joy. No matter what you're going through, 00:21:58.659 --> 00:22:04.480 you know, just hold on. Ultimately, we'll be there, right? And maybe tomorrow, maybe it's a hundred 00:22:04.480 --> 00:22:11.039 years, but it will all be sorted out. Of course, if you're trusting in Jesus, right? If you're not 00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:15.539 going to be with Jesus, if you're not with Jesus now, you won't be with him later. And things will 00:22:15.539 --> 00:22:21.059 actually only be worse than this world. You need Jesus. If you don't know him yet, please come and 00:22:21.059 --> 00:22:27.200 talk to me. But actually, you know, next week is the candle of joy. Next week, we'll talk more about 00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:35.380 rejoicing. Actually, there's another big application here in this carol. And that's where I want us to 00:22:35.380 --> 00:22:42.279 focus. If we see the world as it is, what should we do? I think we should pray. A real response here 00:22:42.279 --> 00:22:48.759 is prayer. Because this whole song, basically, it's a prayer, right? Every verse is prayer. Oh, come. 00:22:48.759 --> 00:22:58.400 Oh, come. That is a request. Lord, we need you. We are mourning here. Come. And not just come. 00:22:58.859 --> 00:23:06.319 Ransom us. Save us. Free us. Deliver us. You know, disperse the gloom. Get rid of the darkness. 00:23:06.839 --> 00:23:13.200 Give us victory over death. It's just prayer after prayer after prayer, right? Because this desperate 00:23:13.200 --> 00:23:21.140 longing of people, you know, it should turn us into prayer. If you're in misery, but you know God 00:23:21.140 --> 00:23:26.880 cares, and you know God will do something, what do you do? You go to him. You pour out your heart to 00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:33.640 him, and you ask him, Lord, do something. You know, you see the world. You see the misery. Even in the 00:23:33.640 --> 00:23:41.039 MTR, all those people on their phones looking pretty unhappy. Pray, right? God, do something. 00:23:41.039 --> 00:23:47.559 And do we really pray? I know we should pray, your kingdom come, and come, Lord Jesus. But do we pray 00:23:47.559 --> 00:23:54.619 them just because that's what Christians do? Do we really mean it? Do we really want, you know, 00:23:54.819 --> 00:23:59.519 Jesus come today? And if you're coming in 10 years' time, that'd be a terrible thing. Most of us wouldn't 00:23:59.519 --> 00:24:05.480 mind another 10 years of our current life. But in Ukraine, another 10 years of war, they wouldn't want 00:24:05.480 --> 00:24:14.839 that. So let's pray. If we just get into our hearts, the feeling of the Bible, of exile, of hope, 00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:22.660 we will pray. Now, God may not answer straight away. God has unlimited love and infinite wisdom, 00:24:23.440 --> 00:24:31.079 and he knows the best time for Jesus' return. But let's pray, because he hears, he knows, he cares. 00:24:31.079 --> 00:24:37.740 Right? And sometimes maybe we're hesitant to pray, because we're, you know, with some things you pray 00:24:37.740 --> 00:24:42.159 and you don't know, will God actually do this, right? With some of our prayers. But I hope this is a 00:24:42.159 --> 00:24:48.039 prayer we will feel so confident about. Again, because this is a real difference, right? We're no longer 00:24:48.039 --> 00:24:53.659 in the Old Testament. From one perspective, we are in the new, right? Jesus has already come. 00:24:53.660 --> 00:25:00.700 That's why we sing, Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel, right? We don't sing, Emmanuel might come, 00:25:01.620 --> 00:25:08.960 or Emmanuel could come. Emmanuel shall come. And why? Well, because Emmanuel has come already, 00:25:09.600 --> 00:25:18.160 2,000 years ago. And he didn't stay at a distance. He came down. He was God with us. And how much with 00:25:18.160 --> 00:25:25.440 us? I don't know. Try reading this carol later. It's in your devotional booklet. Actually, didn't 00:25:25.440 --> 00:25:31.779 Jesus come into our exile? He came to us, and he took it on him. I mean, what did Jesus do, right? He 00:25:31.779 --> 00:25:38.340 was born. He lived the perfect life, but then he grew, and then he went to the cross. You know, he 00:25:38.340 --> 00:25:47.400 submitted himself to Satan's tyranny, right? He let himself be taken captive. Self-imposed exile, in a way, 00:25:47.400 --> 00:25:54.920 right? As he carried his cross along the path of misery, and then when he hung on the cross, 00:25:55.080 --> 00:26:01.580 you know, everything went dark at noonday. You know, the gloomy clouds of night, death's dark shadows. 00:26:02.800 --> 00:26:09.500 And he was exiled from his father, right? Shut out from all the father's love and blessing as, you know, 00:26:09.500 --> 00:26:17.380 all the wrath was poured on him. Went to the depths of hell for us. And he took on our 00:26:17.380 --> 00:26:23.220 exile. Why? Because he wants to get us out of it. We know that. And if he's done that already, 00:26:23.560 --> 00:26:30.400 he will come again, and he will take us home. We can see how much he's willing to do. So come to him. 00:26:30.820 --> 00:26:37.700 Come to his love. Pray. Pour out your heart. And know that, yeah, he will come again. 00:26:37.700 --> 00:26:44.920 Why don't we? Why don't we? Oh, we have plenty of time, actually. Why don't we pray together? 00:26:52.420 --> 00:26:58.900 Lord Jesus, thank you for your love. You know our needs. You know this world. You know how much we 00:26:58.900 --> 00:27:05.720 are longing, if we really just be honest, for your return. So please come as we sing this song. 00:27:05.720 --> 00:27:09.880 Would this be true in our hearts, that we long for you to come, to make things better, 00:27:10.500 --> 00:27:14.839 to come into people's hearts, that they would turn to you, and they would have this hope, 00:27:15.480 --> 00:27:20.319 but then that you would come and then bring us home. Make this world the world you want it to be, 00:27:21.059 --> 00:27:30.200 as sin and death and Satan are destroyed. We need you. We want you. In Jesus' name. Amen.