good sermon

Preacher: Pastor Tim Redfield
Date: January 16, 2011
Text: Isaiah 8:19-9:4
Theme: The Word brings light to all people


Have you ever seen a TV show or perhaps a cartoon where a person is trying to decide between right and wrong and all of a sudden there is a tiny angel on one shoulder and a tiny demon on the other shoulder telling the person what to do? The angel tries to convince the person to do the right thing and the demon tries to get the person to do evil. When we see this on TV it is usually done in an amusing or comical way. And yet this is a good picture for the conscience that all of us have. It is important to remember that the conscience cannot tell us about the light of Jesus – only God‟s Word can do that. Today we are going to see that it is the Word that brings light to all people. Without this Word there is no light, but with the Word, we have the light of salvation.
Part 1: Without the Word there is no light
As we look at the light that Jesus brings into the world, we first need to understand that no one has this light of Jesus when we are born. This does not mean that we have absolutely no knowledge of God. All of us have a natural knowledge of God. This natural knowledge of God tells us a few things but it does not give us the light of Jesus. The natural knowledge tells us that there is a god and that we have sinned against this god. We know that there is a god simply by looking to the world around us. Nature itself declares that there was a creator. The complexity of the world shows that there is a god who created all things.
Our conscience is also part of this natural knowledge of God. Our conscience tells us what is right and wrong. Our conscience makes us feel guilty when we do what is wrong. Conscience is what leads us to see that we have sinned against God. Now certainly people can ignore what their conscience says but we still have a conscience. If we only had this natural knowledge of God, we would remain in the darkness of this world. The reason is that our natural knowledge of God does not tell us who the true God is and it does not tell us how we can be saved from our sins. We can only learn that from God‟s Word.
Isaiah reminds us of the importance of going to God‟s Word in verse 20. He writes, “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.” If people do not go back to the testimony of God‟s Word, they have no “light of dawn” as Isaiah says. Without God‟s Word, without the light of Jesus, our natural knowledge of God does not know the correct solution to our problem of sin. Our conscience tries to tell us that we have to do what is right to make up for what we did wrong. If we didn‟t have God‟s Word to tell us differently, we would go right along with this idea.
The outlook is not good without God‟s Word to guide us. As we look around this world, we see a place where there is sin around every corner. Isaiah says, “They will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness” (8:22). This world is completely tainted by sin. You can barely watch the news or a sit com without seeing a crime or someone promoting a sinful lifestyle. If we are left to ourselves, human beings have no idea how to escape from the consequences of sin.
You might think that the sins of the world around us and even our own conscience would lead us to read God‟s Word but that is not the case. Consider where it is that people try to look
for answers to spiritual issues. Isaiah mentioned going to mediums and spiritists – people who consult the dead. Some people today think of this as foolishness but there are still those who try to consult the spirits of those who have died. There are still people who ask their dead loved ones to help them with life‟s problems. Some people think that their dead father or mother are watching over them and blessing the things they do.
People search for answers from any number of sources. People go to horoscopes or fortune tellers. Some people will read any kind of spiritual book or even self-help book besides going to the scriptures. Some people put their hope in the government or in a political party to take care of them. Others try to trust in science and the theories of the supposedly intelligent people of this world. All of these things try to look for answers apart from God‟s Word. Even the atheist who claims that there is no God is struggling with his own natural knowledge of God. The atheist hopes that his conscience is wrong and that he will not be judged for his sins. The atheist argues strongly against Christianity mainly because he needs to convince himself of something that his conscience doesn‟t truly believe.
If we keep ourselves away from God‟s Word, then we are going to miss out on the light that Christ brings into our world. Just because we were given the light of faith through baptism and through the study of God‟s Word, there is no guarantee that we will have this light forever. The devil is working hard every day to snatch this light of Christ away from us. It is spiritually dangerous for us to wander away from the teachings of God‟s Word. If we stop looking to God‟s Word for answers, then we will start looking elsewhere and we will be led back into that darkness which leads to hell. Many people have wandered away from the church and gone after other religions or even looked to their own intelligence.
If we stay away from worship and Bible Study we are putting ourselves in great spiritual danger. People may argue that they can worship God on their own and that they don‟t need to come to church. But do they really worship God on their own or do they follow the ideas of the world? If they truly believed in Jesus then why would they sin against the 3rd Commandment by not joining together with fellow Christians to worship their God? The Apostle John says, “The man who says, „I know [God],‟ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:4). If we claim to believe in Jesus but then disrespect his Word by sinning without repentance, we are not true believers.
On the other hand John also says, “But if anyone obeys his word, God‟s love is truly made complete in him” (1 John2:5). Obedience to God‟s Word means seeking out the true God through the Scriptures. In this Word we have the light of salvation.
Part 2: With the Word is the light of salvation
In the Word of God we have the “Revealed knowledge of God.” As I said, the natural knowledge of God will not tell us who the true God is or how we can be saved from our sins. But the revealed knowledge of God will make us wise for salvation. God used the prophets and apostles to reveal his Word to the world. When the time was just right, God sent the Word himself, Jesus Christ, to bring light to this sin darkened world. Isaiah said, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned” (9:2).
Jesus came and delivered us from the sin that held us captive. If Jesus had not come we would still be tormented by our conscience. We would still be told that we are terrible sinners who can never do enough good things to make up for our wickedness. Jesus delivered us from
sin. Isaiah describes the work of the Savior like this, “You have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulder, the rod of their oppressor” (9:4). The devil and our sinful nature had us as captives. We were slaves to our sin. But Christ has released us from our slavery. This is the wonderful light of salvation. The only way we can learn about this is through the revealed knowledge of God that we have in God‟s Word.
Jesus proved that he was this light of the world. The last verse of the gospel lesson for today reminds us of this. We read, “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people” (Matthew 4:23). Jesus first of all showed himself to be the light of the world through his teaching and preaching. He told the world the good news about himself. He declared that he was God‟s Son. He told his disciples that he would have to suffer and die for the sins of the world. He instructed people in the true meaning of the law. He pointed out that since no person could ever keep the law, they all deserved death. Then he showed the wonderful message of the gospel. Jesus kept the law for us. He saved us.
He performed miracles which proved that he was God Almighty. We are told that he healed every disease and sickness among the people. He did these miracles to show that he is all powerful. Only God himself could do these acts. Since Jesus is true God, he simply spoke the word and these wonderful miracles took place. Of course he performed many other miracles besides miracles of healing but through these healing miracles we are also reminded that he healed us from our greatest sickness. He healed us from the sickness of sin.
As we live in this world, we are reminded of the fact that Jesus called us out of our sinful lifestyles that we lived in before the Holy Spirit brought us to faith. We now live as children of the light. We live lives of repentance. This means that our sins trouble our conscience because we understand that we have offended our God. We cannot escape these sins in this life but because of our faith, we hate these sins and want to avoid them. Out of repentant hearts we turn to our Savior‟s cross. We know that he has paid for our sins and it is his death that motivates us to continually serve him.
Our response of faith is to keep on growing in God‟s Word. This Word keeps us strong in our faith and leads us to heaven. We understand that the devil is like a wolf who tries to attack us. We are sheep in our Lord‟s flock. If we wander away from God‟s Word, if we wander away from the flock, the devil has an easier time attacking a lone sheep. When we remain with the flock, when we are strengthened together in worship with our fellow Christians, then the devil has a harder time getting us away from God. God‟s Word is our source of strength. God‟s Word brings us that light of Jesus‟ salvation.
Conclusion
Let‟s go back to the picture of a person deciding between right and wrong with a tiny angel on one shoulder and a tiny demon on the other shoulder. I have sometimes seen it play out in a show that the person gets rid of the tiny angel and then follows the demon. Far too often I think this is what happens in real life. Many people ignore the good advice of conscience. For this reason it is very important that we have more than just a conscience. We also need the light of God‟s Word. Only through God‟s word can we learn about our Savior Jesus and what he did to save us. Only through God‟s Word can our faith be strengthened so that we live with repentant hearts. God‟s Word strengthens our natural knowledge of God and tells us that we are forgiven. What a privilege it is that we can live in the light of the gospel message.


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