WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.179 This is God's Word. So, this is the season, isn't it, Christmas season for many things, 00:00:06.540 --> 00:00:10.939 ! Including, I was thinking about this because of our passage, the season for chopping down 00:00:10.939 --> 00:00:16.480 ! of many, many trees. I don't know if anybody in their minds or knows the trivia, how many Christmas 00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:24.560 trees are chopped down in the UK every year? We had a wee test in our family. The answer was between six 00:00:24.559 --> 00:00:30.559 and eight million trees every year chopped down. And of course, for those chopped trees, they represent 00:00:30.559 --> 00:00:37.519 fun, they represent joy. Nobody minds when those trees are cut down. But for those of us who are 00:00:37.519 --> 00:00:44.340 from the UK or have you been around for a couple of years, do you remember when the sycamore gap tree 00:00:44.340 --> 00:00:52.500 got cut down? Back in 2023, I think it was. So, there was this 150-year-old sycamore tree in the 00:00:52.500 --> 00:01:00.640 middle of Hadrian's wall, this iconic tree. And during the night, one night, a couple of guys 00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:07.819 came and hacked it to the ground. And those culprits, they were charged. It was seen as a crime. 00:01:08.539 --> 00:01:15.599 And for a time, it was as if they became public enemy number one. In that moment, the chopping down 00:01:15.599 --> 00:01:22.399 of this tree was absolutely not a good thing. And that kind of fits with our imagery of cutting down. 00:01:22.500 --> 00:01:29.379 Typically, I suppose it's negative. If somebody is cut down in the prime of life, we understand that 00:01:29.379 --> 00:01:37.539 some sudden disaster has come on them. Or if we find ourselves being cut down to size, we've had a 00:01:37.540 --> 00:01:46.480 pride problem and something has humbled us. So, often, chopping represents a judgment and it's a 00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:51.600 negative. But to go back to our sycamore gap tree for a moment, it made the news not once but twice. 00:01:52.120 --> 00:02:01.140 So, about a year later, in August 2024, the announcement came that from the stump, there were 00:02:01.140 --> 00:02:06.020 some branches that were sprouting. And this is causing great excitement and hope. And so, now there's 00:02:06.019 --> 00:02:11.699 great care to protect the stump so that in the fullness of time, another tree, a different kind of 00:02:11.699 --> 00:02:20.919 looking tree will emerge. So, there's judgment, but there's also hope. In the title for Jesus, the branch, 00:02:21.439 --> 00:02:29.379 Jesus, the righteous branch, there are both of those themes also in the story of Israel and Judah and in 00:02:29.379 --> 00:02:35.879 our lives. So, we need to think about what's going on when we read Isaiah chapter 11, and why does 00:02:35.879 --> 00:02:45.019 this promise have anything to do with us? So, let's get into our text and let's look at this promise 00:02:45.019 --> 00:02:52.019 that we find here in verse 1, a shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse, from his roots a branch will 00:02:52.019 --> 00:02:58.240 bear fruit. So, we've been thinking about, for the last few weeks, a king, a wicked king called Ahaz 00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:02.379 the king of Israel, a king of Israel, a king of Israel, a king of Israel, a king of Israel. 00:03:02.379 --> 00:03:07.379 And he's received a number of messages, a number of messages also for the nation. And here is the last 00:03:07.379 --> 00:03:15.840 of them. And it's a message that says that beyond the disaster of their bad choices, beyond the foolishness 00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:23.719 of their human alliances, beyond the sin of turning their back on God, God is going to show his faithfulness 00:03:23.719 --> 00:03:33.280 to his people. In this story of salvation, God's grace will get the last word, that while there has 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:40.620 been judgment, there has been a cutting down, renewal will come, life will come. And that's the image. 00:03:41.199 --> 00:03:48.500 There is a tree that's been chopped down, but from which this branch will sprout, and there will be life. 00:03:48.500 --> 00:03:57.639 It's an image that's already been used by Isaiah. In chapter 6 and verse 13, it's there for the judgment 00:03:57.639 --> 00:04:04.560 of God's people. And then at the end of chapter 10, verse 34, it's a judgment image to do with his 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:09.719 enemies. He will cut down the forest thickets with an axe. Lebanon will fall before the mighty one. 00:04:10.360 --> 00:04:16.980 And so, there is the idea that God has come, and he's brought a decisive judgment. But after that fact, 00:04:16.980 --> 00:04:26.500 in the future, a Messiah king will emerge. And he will come from a particular family, the family of 00:04:26.500 --> 00:04:35.220 Jesse. Now, Jesse was the father of the great king, David. And so, here is a promise from God of a new 00:04:35.220 --> 00:04:43.280 beginning, not affected by all the past failures of past failed kings. This king is going to be 00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:50.279 different. Verse 2 tells us he's a spirit-filled king. And so, the promise that God had made at the 00:04:50.279 --> 00:04:56.139 time of Samuel to David, that there would be a righteous king who would rule and reign forever, 00:04:56.399 --> 00:05:02.779 that promise is going to be kept. And now he is known as this righteous branch. 00:05:04.419 --> 00:05:08.599 We talk about family trees, don't we? And maybe if we're interested in genealogies, 00:05:08.600 --> 00:05:16.140 we've maybe sketched out our family tree. I vividly remember one of my lecturers at university, 00:05:16.760 --> 00:05:22.700 when I was doing information studies, for one class, took a bit of paper, probably about this 00:05:22.700 --> 00:05:29.460 size. So, about six or eight feet by four feet. And he spent two hours mapping out hundreds of years 00:05:29.460 --> 00:05:36.160 of his family tree, all the different branches, who was married to whom, what children they had. 00:05:36.160 --> 00:05:41.600 And as he was doing that, he was telling us stories. He would tell us stories about people who were 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:45.960 regarded, you know, the black sheep of the family, people that, you know, kind of brought the name 00:05:45.960 --> 00:05:52.480 into disgrace. But there were also some high points, some great shining lights. But we're familiar with 00:05:52.480 --> 00:05:59.280 that image of the family tree. Now, if we were to look at the Bible, and to think about the family 00:05:59.280 --> 00:06:04.660 tree of the kings, if we were to look at the list of the kings, we would acknowledge that, yes, 00:06:04.660 --> 00:06:11.560 there is some light, there is some good, David and Solomon in particular. But there are also many 00:06:11.560 --> 00:06:20.560 black sheep. There were many failures, some desperate failures, including King Ahaz. None of the kings up 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:27.160 until this point were ever going to fulfill this promise of one who would rule in righteousness. And so, 00:06:27.160 --> 00:06:36.780 all the hope of the people of God rests on a coming king. The people in Isaiah's day, they're like the 00:06:36.780 --> 00:06:43.740 chopped down stump. The king has failed to be faithful. The axe of God's judgment has fallen. 00:06:44.740 --> 00:06:51.540 There has been idolatry. There has been injustice. They have done shameful things in the eyes of God. 00:06:51.540 --> 00:06:57.860 They have attempted to save themselves. And His people have been cut down in judgment. 00:06:59.080 --> 00:07:06.080 But wonderfully, as this promise reminds us, all of that is no barrier to God's saving plan. 00:07:06.960 --> 00:07:09.939 And the proof of that is the branch. 00:07:12.420 --> 00:07:19.620 Now, I wonder, as we reflect on our lives today, do we see ourselves somewhat in that story? 00:07:19.620 --> 00:07:25.360 Do we see ourselves as, yes, we have some light, but we also know that are seasons of darkness, 00:07:26.560 --> 00:07:28.720 and that we have not lived that righteous life? 00:07:31.740 --> 00:07:38.019 And if we do, do you see why the branch offers to us hope? 00:07:39.759 --> 00:07:44.959 Because here we have God saying to us, in the giving of His Son, the Lord Jesus, 00:07:44.959 --> 00:07:54.419 to be this perfectly righteous king, God is saying, I am absolutely committed to my plan of redemption. 00:07:55.239 --> 00:08:00.279 I am committed to save people, not because they deserve it, but because I love to be merciful and 00:08:00.279 --> 00:08:07.740 gracious. So there is hope for us. When we like Ahaz and like the people in Judah, when we love other 00:08:07.740 --> 00:08:12.620 things rather than the one true God, when we live for other things rather than the one true God, 00:08:13.980 --> 00:08:20.980 when we fail to love our neighbor and put them first, there is still hope for us. 00:08:21.920 --> 00:08:27.960 When we have that sense of the sting and the shame of our sin and our failure, 00:08:27.959 --> 00:08:36.199 when we have perhaps tried to save ourselves by our own good works, but we recognize in ourselves and 00:08:36.199 --> 00:08:42.100 perhaps in God's Word that we fail to hit the pass mark of God's perfect righteousness, 00:08:42.600 --> 00:08:48.159 there is hope for us, not in ourselves, but in this righteous branch. 00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:55.519 That in God's gift of His Son, the one who would be born of the Virgin Mary, there truly is good news 00:08:55.519 --> 00:09:01.679 of great joy for us, because in the promised King, there is the promise of salvation from sin, 00:09:01.799 --> 00:09:07.659 there is the promise of restoration to life with God, there is the reality that your failures and mine 00:09:07.659 --> 00:09:16.879 are not greater than God's grace. That's the promise that we find in the righteous branch. 00:09:18.159 --> 00:09:25.120 Well, having mentioned that, let's move secondly to think about the person that this promise focuses 00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:39.959 us on. In your life, is there anyone that you can trust? When we look around in our society, 00:09:40.959 --> 00:09:46.620 perhaps when we look around at government, do we find ourselves asking, is there someone 00:09:46.620 --> 00:09:56.440 someone that we can trust? It's really important to ask that question when we come to this promise, 00:09:56.440 --> 00:10:05.919 because this promise centers on a particular person, and it centers on the God of the promise. 00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:18.959 So this promise holds true, only if the person holds good and true. This promise is only good news, 00:10:19.279 --> 00:10:28.299 if we place our faith in the one who makes the promise, and if we stake our life on the promise, 00:10:28.299 --> 00:10:36.819 and the person attached to it. As C.S. Lewis once said, you never know how much you really believe 00:10:36.819 --> 00:10:46.359 anything until it's truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you. This promise is a 00:10:46.359 --> 00:10:52.740 life and death promise. Just to move from the promise to move, we have a new house, and in our new 00:10:52.740 --> 00:11:00.820 house, just off the kitchen, we have a pulley for hanging up our washing. And the pulley system is held 00:11:00.820 --> 00:11:09.700 up by a climbing rope. You know those ones, thick cord, colorful. Now, it's an easy thing to say in our 00:11:09.700 --> 00:11:19.500 house, I trust that rope when all it's doing is holding up some bedding. How would I show that I have real 00:11:19.500 --> 00:11:29.220 faith in that climbing rope? Perhaps it would be if I was to take it off the pulley, if I was to take it 00:11:29.220 --> 00:11:36.480 to the climbing center, to attach it to the top of the wall, and then hang from it. You only show how 00:11:36.480 --> 00:11:45.179 much you trust a thing when it becomes a matter of life and death to us. God is giving us a promise 00:11:45.179 --> 00:11:54.059 in a person. And he says, in this promise and in this person, there is the reality of a renewed life. 00:11:55.399 --> 00:12:04.539 I'll say it in verse 1. In verse 4, there is the promise of true justice that you and I long for. 00:12:05.839 --> 00:12:13.120 In verses 6 to 9, there is the promise of a new world marked by total peace. 00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:23.539 And if we are to enjoy these things, then we must understand who the person of the promise is, 00:12:24.220 --> 00:12:29.879 and then to ask ourselves, will I trust him in my life and with my day? 00:12:32.039 --> 00:12:37.180 Is there anyone we can trust becomes a really important question for us to ask, because whether 00:12:37.179 --> 00:12:43.079 it's watching the news, whether it's considering the world of politics, or whether at a personal level 00:12:43.079 --> 00:12:49.339 we face disappointments, whether we know what it is to have broken promises or betrayals or 00:12:49.339 --> 00:12:56.299 at a time of need our friends let us down, it can be really easy to be cynical and we can take that 00:12:56.299 --> 00:13:01.240 cynicism to the Bible and say, well, I find it really hard to trust anybody else, so why would I trust God 00:13:01.240 --> 00:13:08.580 and trust his word? How can we trust this king? What makes this king different? It's a really crucial 00:13:08.580 --> 00:13:16.620 question, and Isaiah wants to show us the personal qualities of the branch, and as he does so, ask 00:13:16.620 --> 00:13:26.879 yourself, what qualities about this king offer me hope? First, we're told that this promised one is 00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:32.820 filled with the spirit of the Lord. He is the spirit-filled king. The spirit of the Lord will 00:13:32.820 --> 00:13:38.100 rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of might, 00:13:38.539 --> 00:13:42.179 the spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord, and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. 00:13:44.080 --> 00:13:50.240 In the Old Testament, when someone was filled with the spirit, it signaled that this person was 00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:56.600 operating by a very different system to everybody else, not relying on sort of human wisdom, 00:13:56.600 --> 00:14:01.639 human ability. God was giving that person power and ability, so whether they were building a 00:14:01.639 --> 00:14:07.420 tabernacle or whether they were speaking for God, if you're filled with the spirit, you're operating 00:14:07.420 --> 00:14:13.960 from a different system, and you do so because you've got a different level of knowing God, 00:14:13.960 --> 00:14:19.740 and so when we hear about this one who's filled with the spirit of the Lord, we understand that this 00:14:19.740 --> 00:14:27.560 king that's being spoken of, he will know God personally. This king who delights in the fear 00:14:27.560 --> 00:14:33.460 of the Lord, he's going to live for not his own glory, but for the glory of the Lord. 00:14:35.440 --> 00:14:42.200 That in this king, his wisdom, his power, his teaching, his worship, they'll both be from God and for God. 00:14:42.200 --> 00:14:49.320 That's very different to Ahaz. Ahaz was desperate to keep hold of his throne. He was going to do things 00:14:49.320 --> 00:14:56.440 his way and not God's way, and so the promise of a spirit-filled king is good news. And Isaiah says, 00:14:56.560 --> 00:15:02.740 if we follow, if we submit to the spirit-filled king, then we will know life in his kingdom. 00:15:03.900 --> 00:15:07.780 And in that kingdom, there is renewal, and there is restoration, and there is justice, 00:15:07.779 --> 00:15:14.539 and there is peace, and there is joy. And not only is this king spirit-filled, 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:22.100 this king is also known for his righteousness and faithfulness. See there in verse 5, 00:15:22.379 --> 00:15:27.480 righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sass around his waist. In the original, 00:15:27.600 --> 00:15:34.939 this is actually a description of the king's underclothing, his underwear. If you strip everything 00:15:34.940 --> 00:15:42.820 away from this king, what is essential to his character is he is righteous and he is faithful. 00:15:45.640 --> 00:15:50.500 Now, thinking about that, that picture of here's the king's underclothing showing his essential 00:15:50.500 --> 00:15:59.840 qualities, how different that often is to ourselves. You know, we can often try and wear a mask 00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:07.960 of decency. We know how to perform so that perhaps people will think that we are faithful or we are 00:16:07.960 --> 00:16:14.759 righteous. Now, we have learned to play that part often, but when we dig down and when we are tested, 00:16:16.519 --> 00:16:25.000 perhaps we find that we're not truly righteous and faithful. But this king is, and he always is. 00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:32.440 And when you have a king like this, you have a society and a world that we all want. So look at 00:16:32.440 --> 00:16:37.639 verse 3. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes or decide by what he hears with his ears, 00:16:37.779 --> 00:16:43.340 but with righteousness he will judge the needy. He's not going to favor the powerful. 00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:49.980 He's not going to show favoritism to those who might benefit him. There is no bias with this 00:16:49.980 --> 00:16:56.039 righteous king. He will simply do what is right all the time. And this is good news for those who 00:16:56.039 --> 00:17:00.340 are often overlooked, because there is the promise that they will find true justice. 00:17:01.519 --> 00:17:07.180 So imagine a leader today absolutely free of racism, not in the pocket of big business, 00:17:07.579 --> 00:17:12.759 utterly committed to seeking the welfare of the marginalized and the forgotten. Then we're 00:17:12.759 --> 00:17:19.059 beginning to get a glimpse of the kind of leader and the kind of society that would be good for us all. 00:17:19.059 --> 00:17:26.379 And more than that, to go on in verse 4, he will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, 00:17:26.440 --> 00:17:32.019 with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Here is one who will righteously judge 00:17:32.019 --> 00:17:36.759 all the wicked. Here is one who doesn't sweep evil under the rug, who doesn't say, well, 00:17:37.059 --> 00:17:43.179 evil and wickedness, it doesn't really matter. This is a God and a king who cares enough to act for 00:17:43.180 --> 00:17:52.160 justice in the end. And again, doesn't that fit with what we long for? If we've ever found ourselves 00:17:52.160 --> 00:17:58.140 or family members the victim of a crime, or when we hear of terrible things in the news, 00:17:59.060 --> 00:18:05.000 or as we consider the terrible dictators of history, we think it'd be a terrible idea if God just said, 00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:12.640 well, that doesn't matter. A king who didn't care about suffering and evil and wrongdoing, 00:18:13.380 --> 00:18:17.960 that would not be a king we could trust. We couldn't say he was righteous and faithful. 00:18:19.059 --> 00:18:21.000 That wouldn't be a God we could trust. 00:18:21.000 --> 00:18:28.480 And so what we're discovering here is that God's commitment to his plan of redemption, 00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:36.700 to keep his promise, it involves sending a perfect, spirit-filled, righteous and faithful king. 00:18:39.500 --> 00:18:45.400 And what you and I need to know is that this king is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 00:18:45.400 --> 00:18:51.380 And that's why it's headlined and highlighted for us in the New Testament. Maybe we think of, 00:18:51.480 --> 00:18:56.880 especially about the Gospel of Luke. He's conceived by the Holy Spirit. He is filled with the Holy Spirit 00:18:56.880 --> 00:19:04.960 at his baptism. He speaks and he acts as he is led by the Spirit. We look at his life and we hear him 00:19:04.960 --> 00:19:10.680 saying that he considers doing his Father's will his delight. The things that he does are what the 00:19:10.680 --> 00:19:16.560 Father does. We see him facing the cross saying, not my will, but yours be done. 00:19:18.580 --> 00:19:25.900 And we begin to understand he is the righteous king. He lived in the world like us. 00:19:27.180 --> 00:19:32.480 He faced temptations like us. But unlike us, he never sinned. 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:40.460 And to read the Gospels and to look at his ministry, we see here is one who is concerned 00:19:40.460 --> 00:19:44.960 for righteousness, for the weak and the needy and the despised and the forgotten and the rejected. 00:19:45.460 --> 00:19:50.200 And where do we see that especially? We see at the cross. 00:19:51.860 --> 00:19:54.940 Because we are the weak and the poor and the needy and he dies for us. 00:19:54.940 --> 00:20:04.460 And there on the cross, Jesus satisfies the demands of God's justice as he keeps the law in his life 00:20:04.460 --> 00:20:12.880 and he dies because the law has been broken. And he does that not because he has broken the law, 00:20:12.940 --> 00:20:19.460 but because we have. So that poor, needy sinners like us, we could find mercy. 00:20:19.460 --> 00:20:27.799 And so God gives us this promise and he gives us the person of his son, Jesus, and he says to us, 00:20:27.880 --> 00:20:36.220 will you trust this king? Will you cling on to this rope, confident that if your faith is in Jesus, 00:20:36.319 --> 00:20:45.059 you have security both in this life and even when we face death? Faith rests in knowing the character, 00:20:45.059 --> 00:20:49.379 the goodness, the faithfulness of King Jesus. 00:20:52.799 --> 00:20:57.319 Now let's turn from thinking about the person to think some more about what this person brings. 00:20:57.359 --> 00:21:03.819 Let's think finally about the peace that he has come to bring in verses 6 to 9. 00:21:03.819 --> 00:21:13.359 I'm going to go out on a limb for a moment and I'm going to imagine that Christmas for many of us 00:21:13.359 --> 00:21:21.759 is even more busy than life normally is. That for many of us it's even more stressful 00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:27.839 than the rest of the year. There are more events in the calendar. There is more shopping to do and 00:21:27.839 --> 00:21:32.779 wrapping to do. There's food to buy and food to prepare. There are family gatherings. There are 00:21:32.779 --> 00:21:40.539 parties. There is so much activity and that can bring stress. And on top of that there are the felt losses. 00:21:43.200 --> 00:21:49.859 We find ourselves wanting peace. We come to the Christmas season and we hear about peace. 00:21:51.200 --> 00:21:54.240 But peace can seem so far from our life and from our hearts. 00:21:54.240 --> 00:22:00.120 And the question might become, well if Jesus is the King who brings peace, why don't I feel more of it? 00:22:01.000 --> 00:22:05.700 Why don't I see more of it in my life or in this world? Why is there so much chaos and disorder? 00:22:07.180 --> 00:22:11.259 This week I was reading about the situation right now for Christians in Sudan. 00:22:12.440 --> 00:22:17.640 They are fiercely persecuted. Hundreds of thousands displaced from their homes. 00:22:17.640 --> 00:22:23.360 Their churches are being burned. They're facing arrest. Where is peace? 00:22:24.020 --> 00:22:26.020 Back the story of our lives. 00:22:28.160 --> 00:22:32.020 Sometimes it's stress to do with finances. Sometimes it stresses in our family. 00:22:32.180 --> 00:22:36.420 Sometimes it's work and education that causes anxiety. Sometimes it's illness. 00:22:36.900 --> 00:22:39.800 Sometimes it's pressure. They all press up on us. 00:22:39.840 --> 00:22:42.880 And we're desperate for peace and we're not sure where it is to be found. 00:22:42.880 --> 00:22:47.000 Where is peace to be found? 00:22:47.740 --> 00:22:48.940 It's to be found in the King. 00:22:49.520 --> 00:22:52.460 In the promise of the King and the Kingdom He is bringing in. 00:22:53.600 --> 00:23:01.600 And God loves to capture our imagination and in sometimes our darkness and confusion to give us the light and promise. 00:23:02.140 --> 00:23:09.080 And so there's a striking picture here in verses 6 to 9 of the world returned to the way God made it to be. 00:23:09.079 --> 00:23:12.819 Of a renewed world we can hardly wrap our heads around. 00:23:13.839 --> 00:23:18.359 Because here is the picture of a world with total peace and security. 00:23:19.779 --> 00:23:21.500 How does Isaiah get us there? 00:23:22.039 --> 00:23:22.839 Look at verse 6. 00:23:23.399 --> 00:23:26.059 The wolf will live with the lamb. 00:23:27.939 --> 00:23:28.699 Verse 7. 00:23:28.799 --> 00:23:29.960 The cow will feed with the bear. 00:23:30.059 --> 00:23:31.439 Their young will lie down together. 00:23:31.559 --> 00:23:33.579 The lion will eat straw like the ox. 00:23:33.579 --> 00:23:42.279 Again, for those of us who live in the UK, I imagine at some point we've watched David Attenborough documentaries. 00:23:43.539 --> 00:23:45.399 And we know how they typically go. 00:23:46.699 --> 00:23:54.000 But imagine a David Attenborough documentary of the created world in any context where there's no more hunting. 00:23:54.919 --> 00:23:57.099 But all the animals live in perfect harmony. 00:23:57.099 --> 00:24:05.559 Where you don't get the orchestra moving to the really dark, edgy, tense music because we know a hunt is about to begin. 00:24:06.459 --> 00:24:07.399 All is innocence. 00:24:08.059 --> 00:24:09.219 There is no threat. 00:24:09.879 --> 00:24:11.039 All is peace. 00:24:11.039 --> 00:24:20.539 That's the image that Isaiah is given to convey to us the kingdom, this righteous branch is going to establish. 00:24:20.899 --> 00:24:24.579 One where peace is absolute and unbreakable. 00:24:24.740 --> 00:24:27.339 One where there is total security. 00:24:28.420 --> 00:24:32.799 One in which, as we're told in verse 8, the infant will play near the cobra's den. 00:24:33.440 --> 00:24:36.879 And the young child will put its hand into the viper's nest. 00:24:36.880 --> 00:24:39.800 That's a brilliant little verse. 00:24:40.500 --> 00:24:43.820 Because it takes us back to the beginning of the Bible. 00:24:44.440 --> 00:24:48.220 And it takes us back to the beginning of the gospel story. 00:24:49.720 --> 00:24:52.680 We ask ourselves, what's the problem with our world? 00:24:53.380 --> 00:24:55.360 And why don't we have peace? 00:24:56.440 --> 00:25:02.100 I think the best way that we can answer it as Christians is by telling ourselves the gospel story. 00:25:03.900 --> 00:25:05.380 This is God's answer. 00:25:05.380 --> 00:25:10.240 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 00:25:11.100 --> 00:25:18.540 And he created Adam and Eve in his image to live in a perfect garden, in perfect peace with God and with one another. 00:25:19.960 --> 00:25:27.720 They were given one command in that garden with a promise of perfect eternal life if they obeyed, but death if they disobeyed. 00:25:29.140 --> 00:25:30.700 Adam and Eve didn't obey. 00:25:30.700 --> 00:25:33.000 They ate the forbidden fruit. 00:25:33.180 --> 00:25:36.460 And in that moment, sin came. 00:25:37.120 --> 00:25:37.860 Death came. 00:25:38.440 --> 00:25:39.660 Separation came. 00:25:40.019 --> 00:25:42.039 And peace was lost. 00:25:43.000 --> 00:25:51.279 And all the brokenness in our world and in our lives, it flows from that first act of rebellion. 00:25:51.279 --> 00:25:58.359 Because from our first parents, Adam and Eve, we have all inherited a sin nature. 00:25:58.559 --> 00:26:04.299 And from that sin nature flow sinful thoughts and words and actions. 00:26:04.299 --> 00:26:11.940 A few moments ago, we spoke about our longing for justice that we have in our hearts. 00:26:11.940 --> 00:26:25.980 The truth, as the Bible puts it, is that because of our sin, because of our rebellion, if we were to get justice from God, we would die and face eternal separation and condemnation. 00:26:25.980 --> 00:26:34.220 We are hopeless and helpless facing the wages of sin, which is death, because there is no one righteous, not even one. 00:26:34.700 --> 00:26:41.220 In the good and true story of Christianity, there is a tension, there is a problem, and it's a problem that we have created. 00:26:41.360 --> 00:26:49.160 There is a rescue that needs to be effected, and it comes through the God of grace providing the answer and the Savior. 00:26:49.160 --> 00:26:54.800 In the good and true story of the Bible, we have a God who is gracious and good. 00:26:55.200 --> 00:27:01.740 And way back in the garden, when Adam and Eve fell into sin, He promised one would come who would crush the head of the snake, 00:27:01.880 --> 00:27:08.320 who would undo the curse of sin that leads to death, who would bring us back into life, bring us back into peace with God. 00:27:09.180 --> 00:27:15.140 And so Jesus came, the righteous branch came, the Son of God came, born of the Virgin Mary. 00:27:15.140 --> 00:27:19.860 So without that sin nature, we all have, so He is free from the stain of sin. 00:27:20.140 --> 00:27:23.340 And Jesus came, and He lived a perfect life of true obedience. 00:27:24.400 --> 00:27:27.600 Fully God and fully man, He kept the law on our behalf. 00:27:27.920 --> 00:27:34.860 And then Jesus, the one who knew no sin, became sin for us, so that we might become in Him the righteousness of God, 00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:37.800 as He faced death as our perfect substitute. 00:27:37.799 --> 00:27:46.899 He came as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and He made peace for us by His blood shed on the cross. 00:27:48.899 --> 00:27:55.200 And by God's grace, in the death and resurrection victory of Jesus, a great transfer takes place. 00:27:55.899 --> 00:28:01.039 Our record of sin and debt is transferred to Jesus, and He bears the penalty in full, 00:28:01.259 --> 00:28:05.240 and Jesus' perfect record of righteousness is transferred to us. 00:28:05.240 --> 00:28:14.019 The Lord Jesus died and then rose for our justification, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 00:28:14.480 --> 00:28:17.859 And by faith in this, Jesus, we have a new identity. 00:28:18.059 --> 00:28:19.559 We become a child of God. 00:28:20.059 --> 00:28:21.339 We have a new status. 00:28:21.480 --> 00:28:24.279 We have peace with God, since He's reconciled us to God. 00:28:24.940 --> 00:28:31.440 And we have the Holy Spirit in our hearts to empower us to live a life of obedience for Jesus, our King. 00:28:31.440 --> 00:28:36.559 And the answer to the question, why don't we always see this peace? 00:28:37.259 --> 00:28:39.620 Why don't we always feel this peace in our lives? 00:28:39.720 --> 00:28:43.440 Why is there more chaos than secure peace, even as Christians? 00:28:45.779 --> 00:28:47.799 It's because we're still in the Advent season. 00:28:47.940 --> 00:28:50.299 Jesus has come once, but we're waiting for Him to come again. 00:28:50.420 --> 00:28:51.240 Look at verse 9. 00:28:51.240 --> 00:28:53.819 We have this promise. 00:28:54.259 --> 00:29:02.460 They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. 00:29:02.599 --> 00:29:07.920 We are waiting for Christ's return, and when Christ returns, the glory of the Lord will fill the earth. 00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:12.620 The knowledge of the Lord will fill the earth, and then we will have true peace. 00:29:12.859 --> 00:29:15.839 Now we do, as Christians, we know we have peace of conscience. 00:29:15.839 --> 00:29:19.039 We have the wonderful peace of sins forgiven. 00:29:19.220 --> 00:29:23.619 We have the wonderful peace of knowing God is with us and for us, but our peace is not complete. 00:29:23.759 --> 00:29:26.359 Jesus' peace in Jesus' kingdom is not complete yet. 00:29:26.819 --> 00:29:29.599 But that perfect peace will be ours when Christ comes back. 00:29:30.359 --> 00:29:36.119 To finally and fully defeat Satan's sin and death, to fully, finally establish His kingdom of peace on the earth. 00:29:36.359 --> 00:29:41.519 And if we place our faith in Him, we will live in His kingdom of peace forever. 00:29:43.439 --> 00:29:45.159 That's the gospel we believe. 00:29:46.399 --> 00:29:49.019 That's the message that we need this Christmas. 00:29:50.500 --> 00:29:57.500 And this, this is the righteous branch we must place our trust in, who will complete the promise, 00:29:57.879 --> 00:30:04.419 who will establish His kingdom of peace in our hearts and in the fullness of time in this world.