December 21, 2025 • 42 mins
A shoot rises from a dead stump, and a Spirit-filled King brings wisdom, power, and holiness to a weary people. We imagine a world where power is not exploited, truth is not twisted, and creation is not harmed.
• Isaiah 10’s felled forests and the end of proud power
• The stump of Jesse and life from unexpected places
• The Spirit resting on the King with wisdom, counsel, and might
• Leadership, effectiveness, and holiness united in Christ
• An unfoolable judge who lifts the meek and confronts the wicked
• Words that rebuild after lies, and the fall of manipulation
• Creation at peace and the earth filled with knowledge of the Lord
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Episode Transcript
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Asher Howard (00:58):
Please turn your Bibles to Isaiah chapter eleven,
verse one, which is page f fivehundred and fifty seventy-five
in the Pew Bibles.
There shall come forth a shootfrom the stump of Jesse, and a
branch from his root shall bearfruit.
And the Spirit of the Lordshall rest upon him, the spirit
(01:22):
of wisdom and understanding, thespirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and thefear of the Lord, and his
delight shall be in the fear ofthe Lord.
This is the word of the Lord.
Will Hawk (01:38):
Great job, Asher.
Merry Christmas, everybody.
What's our countdown at?
How many days?
Okay.
I did a little bit of researchon how many folks wait until
(02:08):
Christmas Eve to buy a gift.
51%.
So for the, I don't know, maybeit's this side, maybe it's this
side.
Just giving you a heads up.
Amazon Prime Shipping's aboutto get real tough.
It's already over.
Forget about it.
Your best shots at Walmart atthis point.
I want you guys to know howmuch I've enjoyed being in the
(02:29):
Isaiah as we've gotten ready.
I don't know if you know this.
I I love preaching.
I love teaching the Bible aswell.
And every now and then I justlove giving out little tidbits
so that we can feel like we canget our hands around a book that
is far too big and wide anddeep for us.
There are so many Christmaspassages in the Gospels,
primarily in the Gospels.
But if you were not in the NewTestament and all you had was
(02:52):
the Old Testament, what bookwould you go to if you wanted to
read about Christmas?
Anybody want to know?
It'd be Isaiah.
Now, the the reason that Ibring this up is because I
simultaneously love looking atthis book in Christmas, but I
also feel like here's what hashappened.
Do you remember in a Christmasstory where he gets to the very
(03:12):
end, all he wanted was a RedRider BB gun with the compass in
the stock and the thing thattold whatever it is?
He he gets to the end ofChristmas, he's opened up all of
his gifts and he looks at hismom and dad.
He's like, Yeah, it was a goodChristmas.
It's a good Christmas.
And I think his dad says, Didyou get everything you want?
He said, Almost.
And his dad's like, Yeah, youknow, like that's kind of just
like knowing that there was thisgift sort of hidden behind the
(03:34):
tree that he was about to getto.
When we get into Isaiah, let mejust tell you what I feel like
as a preacher.
What I feel like is we'veopened up a bunch of gifts.
And instead of there being oneat the back of a tree, it's more
like the father saying, Oh, andby the way, and he opens up a
door and there's a room justreplete with gifts that have yet
(03:55):
to be unopened.
That is what Isaiah is.
It is all of these packages andpromises pointing forward to
who Christ is and what he hasdone.
And the reason that I pointthat out is this morning we were
singing this song, and it said,So come though you have
nothing, come, he is theoffering, come and see what your
(04:16):
God has done.
So this is the warning for ourtime in God's Word.
It's gonna be easy to miss.
And one of the reasons it'sgoing to be easy to miss is
Isaiah is doing something thatis hard for us.
He is saying, I want you toimagine a life completely
different from anything that youhave experienced thus far.
I want you to imagine a Saviorthat you can only picture a
(04:40):
little bit.
I want you to see him for whohe truly is.
And the moment Isaiah saysthat, he knows in our hearts and
in our minds, all these littlebutts come up.
Yeah, I I know that's in God'sword, but today, this is where
I'm at.
But if you saw my life, but ifyou saw my calendar, but if you
saw my budget, but if you saw mykids, but if you saw my family,
(05:01):
but if you saw my tomorrow, andall of these things compete
with this picture that Isaiahwants to give.
And so this is what I'm gonnaplead with you as we get into
God's word this morning.
I want you to be able toimagine.
I want you to go back to beinga child a little bit, where that
imagination still works onsteroids, because Isaiah wants
(05:23):
to give you a picture ofsomething that is incredibly
real.
It's just not real yet in theway that it will be.
But one of the things that Godwants for us to be able to do by
faith is live in the tomorrowtoday.
Okay.
Can you hold on to the promisesknowing that they are so true
(05:44):
that you can get all of the joy,all of the hope, and all of the
peace from a tomorrow promisetoday?
That is where I want you tojust start wrestling right now.
Can you do that?
Now, to give us a little bit ofa lighter question, let's go
here.
All right.
I want you wrestling, but Ialso want you to answer that.
Is it biblical to cut down atree for Christmas?
(06:06):
Okay, all right.
Strong answers coming from theright.
All right.
Now, immediately when I putthis up, here's what probably
starts running through yourhead.
Will you went really into thepaint on nativities next year,
last year?
Please don't make me take mytree down.
It's got all the lights and theballs and the bangle.
Like we got four days, familiescoming over.
(06:27):
Can there not be I I gotnothing like that for you.
But I will tell you this.
I think there's an incrediblepassage that very few of us
would know that actually pointtoward a Christmas tree being
cut down for Christmas.
And lo and behold, it comesfrom the Old Testament prophet
of Isaiah.
So here is what we will find inIsaiah 10.
(06:49):
We're gonna be in 11.
We've done 7, 9, and 11, but Iwant to give you a little bit of
a preface.
So, what happens in Isaiah 10?
Well, God's people areterrified.
That's why we talked aboutpressure within, pressure
without.
We talked about Ahaz the kingbeing fearful rather than
faithful Isaiah.
And in this, in chapter 10, theAssyrian army surrounding them,
(07:10):
life in difficulty surroundingthem, God's people are starting
to panic.
And here is what the prophetwrites Behold, the Lord God of
hosts will lop the bows withterrifying power.
All right, so we've got boughs.
That's good, that'sChristmassy.
The great in height will behewn down.
(07:30):
That's a tree-felling term.
The lofty will be brought low.
He will cut down the thicketsof the forest with an axe, and
Lebanon will fall by themajestic one.
Now listen, this is talkingabout a tree getting cut down.
Before you get excited aboutit, you need to understand what
this tree is.
This is not the tree you wantto put in your house, okay?
(07:52):
These boughs being lopped offwith terrifying power.
If you've ever had to hiresomebody to come and take down a
tree, and it was a big tree,and you're not offended by the
fact that you're a man in thisroom, and I said you might hire
someone to cut down a tree.
If you have ever done that, youknow they climb up that thing
and they take the limbs offfirst, so that when it falls
with all of its weight, it doesless destruction as just a pole.
(08:15):
What God is describing here areall of the kingdoms of the
world that have arrayedthemselves against God, and God
is saying, it's time to clearthe forest.
He looks at them and he callsthe Assyrians, in fact, he calls
all human evil and arrogance ametaphorically tall tree.
(08:37):
And God says, systematically,all of this pride, all of this
arrogance, all of this strengththat the world sees, I'm gonna
begin taking down, and I amfinally going to fell this tree.
Now, if you need a verse to puta tree in your house, you must
(08:59):
start here because it gets cutdown.
But what we do is a little bitdifferent than what the prophet
Isaiah does.
What we do is we cut down atree, we then put that tree in a
bucket of water, like dum-dums,and we're like, and now it
shall live.
My my wife sent me a text twodays ago.
Well, our tree's dead.
(09:20):
And I was like, Well, baby, um,you decided to decorate for
Christmas before your surgery.
I think you bought that onSeptember 4th, and that's not
true, but it was likemid-November, okay?
That thing is a tinderbox in myhouse.
You can't come down the stairswithout like a ring of um
(09:42):
needles like surrounding thetree.
It is dry and it is dead.
Here is what you're gonna seein Isaiah 10.
God says, all of the trees thatseem so impressive, the ones in
the lot that people would pick,I can see what they truly are.
They look majestic, they lookpowerful, but they're powerful
in their own arrogance, they'repowerful in their own strength.
That's never the tree that Iwould pick because I don't pick
(10:05):
impressive, proud, arrogantpeople.
I pick the small.
I pick the one that looks likeit wouldn't necessarily make it.
And then we turn the page,literally the very next verse
from 34, and God says, but I'lltell you where life will come
from.
Unexpected places.
(10:26):
That it isn't taking a deadtree and putting it in water,
putting lights around it, andsaying, look at how warm and
life-giving it is.
God says, Here's how I would domy Christmas tree.
I'm not encouraging you to dothis, all right?
There shall come forth a shootfrom the stump of Jesse, and a
branch from his roots shall bearfruit, and it's going to get
(10:47):
better.
I do think you can have aChristmas tree.
I know everybody talks aboutpagan traditions.
There's a conversation to havebehind that as well.
But what I will tell you isthis if you're gonna cut down a
tree and you're gonna put it inyour house, when you walk by,
you need to walk by and sort ofsay, arrogance.
I'm killing that.
I'm killing that in my liferight now, okay?
Because God's tree is a stump.
(11:09):
The one thing we don't bringinto our house is the thing that
God would bring into his house.
That you imagine there, thisdead stump of a thing dried out,
and then all of a sudden,Isaiah opens a gift and a shoot
begins to come up from thisstump.
Life from the unexpected.
That is who God is.
That is what God does.
(11:29):
For every one of you who is aChristian, that is your story.
Dead, and then life comes outof it.
This is what Isaiah chapter 11wants to point to.
It's not impressive, proud,perfect trees that God selects,
because it's not impressive,proud, perfect people that God
(11:50):
selects.
He picks the ones that are notterribly impressive, and they
shouldn't be able to standagainst a great storm.
But we do.
We shouldn't be able to surviveour roots being trampled, and
yet, believer, you will.
We shouldn't be able to endurethe cold winter of life.
Christian, you will.
(12:10):
The ones that have so little tobe proud of, that are so far
from perfect, who can tell thestory of their brokenness, those
are the ones God wants to puton display.
And as is typically the case,God continues to make it better
and better.
And the spirit of the Lordshall rest upon him.
(12:35):
So all of a sudden we havedeath.
That death turns into life, andthen God says, This little bit
of life, I am gonna crown itwith the glory of my own
presence.
The spirit of the Lord willrest on this life coming from
death, which will be the promiseof a new Messiah.
(12:56):
Now, I want you to notice thisword rest.
A lot of times in the OldTestament, we see the Spirit of
God rush upon someone, fillsomeone temporarily.
But here, the Old Testamentpoints to someone who is full of
the goodness of God, morning tonight, start to finish, from
first cry in a manger until itis finished upon a cross.
(13:17):
This is what we're expecting,and we actually see it in the
Gospel of Matthew.
And when Jesus was baptized,immediately he went up from the
water, and behold, take note ofthis, the heavens were open, he
saw the Spirit of God descendinglike a dove and coming.
That little line is what Isaiahwas talking about thousands of
(13:38):
years before.
You see, when the disciples sawthis, when the people saw this,
all of a sudden, for some ofthem, they finally got to open a
gift at the back of the treefrom 2,000 years ago when Isaiah
had said it.
Here it is, the Spirit of Godresting on life coming from
unexpected places, because thatis who Christ was.
(13:59):
But this is not just lifecoming from an unexpected place.
This is a whole new way ofliving.
Now, believer in the room, hereis going to be my challenge for
you.
I need you to picture this.
I need you to picture theMessiah the way Isaiah does,
because you have not seen Jesusthis way yet.
You have read about him.
He sits on a throne now.
(14:21):
If you could see him now, youwould see it.
But he has chosen in his timingnot to return yet, though,
David, Johnson, thank you verymuch.
We ought to stay awake and lookfor this.
The Spirit of the Lord willrest upon him.
What will that look like?
It will look like a Messiah, itwill look like a leader, it
(14:42):
will look like a living kingwith wisdom and understanding.
It will look like you beingled, not by your own intellect,
but by something so muchgreater.
It will look like you being ledby someone who has not only
counsel but might.
Someone who has simultaneouslyknowledge and the fear of the
Lord.
And when you see it, it isgoing to be a delight.
(15:04):
This is who Jesus was day in,day out to this very day.
Now, if I were to take allthree of these things that the
Holy Spirit displays in Christin the coming king, here is what
you would see.
You would see leadership, youwould see effectiveness, and you
would see holiness.
(15:25):
That's what you would see.
If you're a no-taker, fear not,I got you.
All right.
This is what we have in Christ.
Now I want you to imagine this.
If you're a kid, it's easy.
I want you to imagine your dadbeing this way.
If you're grown, it's going tobe a little harder.
Life's beat you up, and you'vewalked through enough dark
things, you've opened enoughdark closets.
(15:45):
This may be a bit moredifficult for you.
I want you to imagine not anemployer, not a boss.
I know we don't live in amonarchy.
I want you to imagine a kingwho rules over your life and is
in charge of everything, butsomehow he knows everything
about you.
All of his responsibilities inno way detract from the intimacy
(16:11):
with which he knows and caresfor you.
And he looks at your life.
He looks at your Tuesday, notjust your Sunday 90 minutes.
He looks at your Tuesday and hesays, I want to give you good
leadership.
I want you to know that you areseeing my world your way, but
the king who is coming will seeGod's world God's way, exactly
(16:31):
as it ought to be.
He will have discernment.
He knows what is truly going onbeneath the surface in your
life, in the lives of peoplearound you, and in everything
that surrounds you.
But he doesn't just know it, hecan't just see it, he's not
just projecting toward it as agood leader.
He is incredibly effective.
(16:53):
He has all of the counsel andthe might.
If you've ever been in aleadership position, one of the
most frustrating realities is toknow where you are, where you
want to be, how you think you'resupposed to get there, and then
not have the resources to pullit off.
By the way, you can feel thiswithout running a company.
(17:15):
Have a child.
You can look at them and youcan see everything you want them
to be.
Yes, sir.
Yes, ma'am.
You you can see the table beingset before and cleaned up after
without asking.
You can see this young man orthis young woman being able to
navigate the world withconfidence but not arrogance,
(17:37):
with strength that comes fromgentleness.
You can see it, and you'relike, now how do I make somebody
do something they don't want todo?
And this is the nature of Godtoward us.
And yet, this coming king, lifefrom death, resurrected in
glory, has all of the might topull this off.
(17:58):
And if you doubt it today, Iwould just encourage you to
wait.
There are so many things thatyou believe God wants for your
life.
Just because it hasn't happenedyet doesn't mean it isn't
coming.
Because his counsel is perfect,his timing is right.
(18:19):
But one of the things thatexists in Christ that is so
different than a dad today or apolitician today, a boss today,
is this last piece of holiness.
Now I'm not saying that none ofus are.
This isn't a woe is me whereI'm trying to throw spiritual
two by fours at the foreheads ofall the men in this room.
I'm not.
I I I every guy in this churchthat I get to hang out with, I
(18:43):
find myself encouraged by.
I love doing church with youguys.
I just know that I'm such afailure.
It is a difficult thing to callyour kids to be something when
you're struggling with it aswell.
But here we have a leader, herewe have a Messiah, here we have
a Savior.
I want you to see this, picturethis, who has knowledge and the
fear of the Lord.
(19:03):
The reason I point this out isbecause if we go all the way
back to Genesis 3, we have oneof these things without the
other.
Adam and Eve desire knowledge.
We want to know.
We want to see what God sees,we want to know what God knows.
They desire all of theknowledge with none of the fear,
and what they find is sin.
(19:24):
What Christ has is all of theknowledge and a fear, respect,
awe of the nature of God.
And when this happens, when youhave all three of these things
combined, and I told you it wasgoing to be a challenge, you
begin to get a picture of theSavior who wants to lead your
(19:45):
life today.
You get a picture of what alittle bit of faith would bring
to you if you would trust him.
Olivia's story of how she cameto faith in Christ, then walked
toward the darkness temporarily,only to find on the other side
of a 45-minute prayer, this iswho God always has been, always
will be.
(20:05):
And the question is, who is shegoing to follow?
And the same question ispresented to us today.
And the thing about this kingof life, his delight will be in
the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what hiseyes see, or decide disputes by
what his ears hear.
(20:26):
Okay, just real quick pause.
I'm not even gonna talk aboutmy kids.
When I did education, uh, whenI did camp ministry, and I spent
tons of time with children,here was the one if I walked out
to Gaga Ball in 30 minutes,here would be the thing that you
would hear more than anythingelse when there's A disruption.
(20:47):
That's not why is it that froma young age all of us have a
sense of justice put inside ofus?
A sense of right and wrong.
Now, even that is skewedbecause it is what we think is
right and what we think iswrong.
I say that to you to prop thisup for the God, for the Messiah
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who wants to lead you.
He is unfoolable.
He's not judging by what hiseyes see.
You can put a pretty face onit.
You can smile a little bit andchange the tone of your voice.
He still knows your heart.
He's able to listen to thewords you say and discern what
is real in the midst of it.
This king is unfoolable.
(21:31):
You are wasting your timecoming in here trying to fool a
God who knows everything aboutyou.
You're wasting your time.
What you could do is you couldsay, you pick the worst trees,
you bring life from death.
Here is the un like this is allof the truth of me.
I'm not going to try to fool itbecause there is no reason to
try to fool you.
(21:52):
If I really wanted to go intothe paint and I can't, for the
sake of time, when Job sees God,he comes up.
And by the way, in every one ofthese little passages, you will
find leadership, effectiveness,or holiness.
But I would just get you tolook at verse 16 for a minute.
With him are strength and soundwisdom, strength, might, sound
wisdom, leadership.
(22:13):
The deceived and the deceiverare his.
In the hands of God are thepeople who deceive and cause you
at your own age to say, That'snot fair.
And unless Christ returns,you're going to be saying that
until you go into the grave.
There's something about thisworld where we can find it a
hundred times a day.
(22:34):
That's not fair.
But this coming king, he holdsthe deceiver in his hand.
He also holds the deceived.
One to comfort, one to drawnear, one to say it is okay, but
these do not get away with it.
He will rule in justice.
That is who this king is.
(22:56):
With righteousness he shalljudge the poor, and decide with
equity for the meek of theearth.
He shall strike the earth withthe rod of his mouth and with
the breath of his lips, he shallkill the wicked.
If you want to know what thisking is like, righteousness.
It's going to be like a belt onhis waist and faithfulness, the
belt of his loins.
(23:17):
Isaiah is asking you to dosomething that is difficult for
us to do.
He is asking you to imagine abetter tomorrow and live in that
joy and excitement and hope.
But I know it is difficult forus to do.
If you were able to, this iswhat you would see.
Three things he brings, hebrings sort of into focus.
(23:38):
Under the reign of this newking, power is not exploited.
No one takes advantage ofothers anymore.
A boss, a ruler, a politician,a dad, a whatever.
No one takes advantage of thosebelow them because the highest
among us cares for the leastamong us.
(24:00):
With righteousness, he willjudge the poor, and he will
decide with equity for the meekof the earth.
What this is saying is God isfor the lowly who would scream
out day after day, my lifehasn't been fair.
God, I I've tried to do theright thing.
(24:21):
I keep saying no to sin andsaying yes to holiness, but my
life still crumbles at my feet.
Well, why is it that I'mpursuing you fill in your own
blank?
Why am I pursuing you and I'mstill single?
Why am I pursuing you and westill don't have children?
Why am I pursuing you and ourfinances are still a mess?
Why am I pursuing you and Ican't find meaningful
(24:44):
friendships?
Why am I pursuing you and youjust fill in your blank?
This is Christ saying, There isa day coming where everything
that is good and right and trueis going to happen.
And I am going to see the meek,those who humbly, quietly try
to serve me while the worldtakes advantage of them.
(25:06):
And I'm going to judge forthem.
I will decide with equity.
This is what we see all overthe Sermon on the Mount.
Again, I'm not going to readthis whole thing to you, but I
would point out that the poor,theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Boom.
You've had nothing, now youhave everything.
(25:27):
Those who mourn find comfort,and here's our word, the meek,
and they own everything.
Those who have been takenadvantage of, those who have
never been able to get ahead inthe coming kingdom, because they
have sown meekness into theirlife, God says, Today you own it
all.
I own it all and I hand it overto you.
(25:48):
In Christ's new kingdom, powerdoesn't rest with the mighty,
nor with the manipulative.
Which is why the next part ofthis verse points to the fact
that not only is power notexploited, but truth is not
manipulated.
Let me just hit pause for aminute.
This is the one where I get hotand where I get angry.
So I'm going to try not topreach from Will's experience.
(26:09):
I'm just going to try to preachthe word.
But there is little that getsme more frustrated than people
being taken advantage of becausesomebody can put words together
in a way that draws them away.
And it doesn't matter to me ifit's a pyramid scheme.
It doesn't matter to me if it'ssome guy trying to date some
girl.
It doesn't matter to me if it'sa spouse saying one thing and
completely doing another.
(26:30):
It doesn't matter to me.
I will just tell you this: there is something that sets a (26:32):
undefined
fire inside of me.
I don't know if it does it withyou.
When you see people beingmanipulated.
But in this coming kingdom,watch the usage of words.
He shall strike the earth withthe rod of his mouth, and with
the breath of his lips, he shallkill the wicked.
(26:54):
Words.
Where did our problem comefrom?
Words.
The serpent was more craftythan any other beast of the
field that the Lord God hadmade.
And he said to the woman, DidGod actually say, Satan hadn't
quit using this line on you?
It's too effective.
(27:15):
It's way too effective.
Why is it that the coming kingrules with his words?
Because that's where you fellin the first place.
The enemy still says this toyou.
Did God actually say you needto live like this?
Did God actually say this iswhat holiness is?
Did God actually say, and youtell me that you don't feel
(27:38):
this, come up from this quietlittle voice that is not the
still small voice.
This is still being said to youtoday.
But Christ will come with adifferent set of words.
And they will not destroy, theywill rebuild.
Calvin puts it this way Christwill have no need to borrow aid
from others to cast down hisenemies, to strike down
(28:00):
everything that opposes hisgovernment, for these tall,
trout proud trees of life tofall, for a mere breath or a
word will be enough.
Let there be light, and therewas.
Let there be earth, and therewas.
How hard is it going to be forGod to make everything unjust?
(28:21):
This hard.
Make it right.
Done.
This is the power of the comingking.
Can you begin to see him?
Can you begin to follow him?
But I would like for you tonotice this before I move on to
the third thing.
I want you to see the axe thatcomes to the tree, because I
(28:43):
want to make sure you're on theright side of it.
This is one verse, Isaiah 11:4.
I've already read it to youtwice, but I wonder if you
notice this.
With righteousness he shalljudge the poor and decide with
equity for the meek of theearth.
One direction.
And he shall strike the earthwith the rod of his mouth, and
with the breath of his lips, heshall kill the wicked.
(29:05):
This is the axe being laid notjust to the great trees, but to
every tree.
Here's what I need you tounderstand about Christianity
and about the gospel.
Everybody gets cut down.
Everybody gets cut down.
None of us make it to fullgrowth.
Look at how great I am, look atthe fruit I can produce, look
at the shade I can create forthose who are under my care.
(29:27):
None of us get there withoutfirst being cut down.
The question is, will you becut down lovingly so that new
life can come that will actuallygrow?
Or are you gonna try to do iton your own only to realize that
the axe is coming one way oranother?
Now, look, I know it'sChristmas and it's like, Will,
(29:48):
can you be a little more upbeat,like joy to the world?
Yeah, I can do that.
It's coming.
Fear not.
But I can't do that if you'regonna try to live life on your
own.
I can't do that unless you'regonna find what Addison said
when she said, Look, I'm nottrying to live my life based off
of what I can do or what I cancreate.
It's Christ.
It's Christ alone.
Doesn't matter how gifted youare in filling up the blank,
(30:09):
soccer or something else, itdoesn't matter.
Every one of us will have theaxe brought to us.
The question is this some inarrogance are gonna cling to
their own autonomy.
They're gonna cling to powerlike tall trees, believing that
they can stand against the verybreath of the God that created
them.
Or you can willingly say, God,I need you to prune me up.
(30:31):
And if I'm honest, I don't justneed to be pruned, I need to be
remade.
I need to be cut down aspainful as that sounds, and it
seems like death, but that isthe only way that true life ever
comes up out of your word.
So I'm trusting it.
I'm laying myself on the altarof sacrifice, that by you
felling my pride and arrogance,life may come up from it.
(30:53):
But both people are changed.
Both people fall.
From those who fall willingly,though, sprouts of life come up.
This isn't just theology.
It's not theological, this islogical.
This is what a holy God woulddo and must do.
Why?
Because there is a kingdomcoming where certain things that
(31:15):
we know simply cannot survive,so that things you cannot
imagine can begin to thrive.
What does that look like?
Well, this is the final one.
Under his reign, power isn'texploited and truth isn't
manipulated, but creation isn'tviolated either.
Now I'm gonna read this to you,but depending on if you've had
your cup of coffee or not, ifyou think you're gonna stay
(31:37):
awake or not, I would encourageyou to close your eyes and I
want you to just picture this.
I debated putting a video up ofa little kid running around
with a poisonous snake.
I don't know if you guys,there's a million of these, by
the way.
There's not just one, wherethis mom like opens the front
door because she hears acommotion in the front yard, and
her three-year-old is likedual-wielding poisonous copper
heads, and she's like, ah, andfreaking out, okay?
(31:59):
There's a reason you wouldfreak out if you saw a little
kid with a snake.
But here's what I want you tobegin to imagine.
You're not going to be able to.
I just want you to give it yourbest shot.
Close your eyes if you want,but this is the world that
Christ shall reign over.
The wolf shall dwell with thelamb, the leopard shall lie down
with the young goat, and thecalf and the lion and the fatted
(32:20):
calf together, and a littlechild shall lead them.
Eyes on the screen for aminute.
Lions and tigers and bears.
Oh my.
That's nuts to me.
If you go through Pine MountainWild Animal Park, I don't even
want to hang out with like halfof those deer-looking things.
(32:41):
But in God's new kingdom,there's gonna be a four-year-old
that's like hand feeding aleopard that right now would
drag them up a tree and end itin a horrible, horrible way.
Wolves and leopards and lionsand kids are just like and
they're like cuddling with them,like it's a German shepherd
laid out on a rug in your frontuh uh around your fireplace.
(33:01):
The cow and the bear grazingtogether.
Their young shall lie downtogether.
The lion will eat straw likethe ox.
Here's where it gets reallyweird.
The nursing child shall playover the hole of the cobra.
Timeout.
I didn't even think snakes aregonna be allowed in the new
creation.
And here he is.
Keep legs off that thing.
But this itty bitty baby isjust hanging out with a snake.
(33:24):
And I can't even picture it inmy head without my heart
dropping because we have snakesin this area where I live in.
All right?
If I see a snake climbing upthe leg of my 17-year-old, my
heart's gonna drop.
This is a nursing baby.
But don't worry, when they getolder, it changes.
And the weaned child will puthis hand in the adder.
That means snakes, din.
What is going on in this place?
(33:47):
Look, the point Isaiah's tryingto make is I want you to
imagine it, you can't.
That's what he's doing.
Because in this new place, theyshall not hurt or destroy in
all my holy mountain four.
Don't worry, it's gonna getbetter again.
But what I want you to realizeis this if this sounds odd to
you, watch what comes next.
(34:09):
Because it should soundweirder.
If this sounds unbelievable toyou, imagine the earth being
full of the knowledge of theLord.
Imagine not having to go to achurch or have a preacher on his
good day to find it.
Imagine not needing thisperfect quiet time where the
music is so and your kids aren'targuing and your work life
(34:30):
isn't astray.
It's just everywhere you go.
You're at publics, and all of asudden the knowledge of the
Lord is everywhere.
Everybody's walking around withdelight on their faces, serving
and caring for one another.
How much will this be the case?
As much as the waters cover thesea, the whole earth will know
(34:51):
God.
And in that day, this littlebit of unexpected life will
stand as a signal for thepeople.
Of him the nations shallinquire, and his resting place
shall be glorious, and therewill be a highway from all of
(35:12):
your troubles for the remnantthat remains of his people.
For those who stand not intheir own strength or arrogance,
but in him, as there was forIsrael when they came up from
the land of Egypt.
The earth will not be coveredwith sin or brokenness or
darkness.
In fact, darkness goes awayforever.
It will be covered with theknowledge of the Lord, and life
will come from unexpectedplaces, and this little sprout
(35:35):
will stand up like a sign.
In fact, Paul saw it in his ownday.
I don't know if you realizethis.
When Isaiah wrote about aMessiah who was coming that
would change the world, you arepart of that gift being opened.
You sitting here in HarrisCounty, Georgia today is Romans
15 and Isaiah 11 coming to be.
(35:56):
People who celebrate Christmasbecause they know what it means,
and even people who celebrateit and they don't know what it
means, they are evidence ofIsaiah's reality coming true.
This new Messiah is going tochange the world.
Every nativity in every yard,every bit of generosity given in
this season from believers andeven from unbelievers, is Isaiah
(36:16):
saying, Did you see thatopening?
Did you see this opening?
And Isaiah says, he points allthe way back, Paul does, the
root of Jesse will come.
Even he who arises to rule, incase you don't know it, that's
you.
People who did not begin asGod's people.
That is what he is going to do.
That's why this has been ourtheme from the beginning,
(36:38):
because Isaiah has wanted you toopen these things up.
I want to close by showing youthe last little portion here.
Isaiah 11, 16.
Now remember, Assyria was thebig problem.
You can fill in that blank foryou.
There's probably not a warringarmy surrounding your house
right now, giving you just alittle bit of respite to run off
(37:00):
to church, but you haveproblems.
The darkness of this world notbeing the way that it should be,
whether it's stuff on theinside or stuff on the outside,
you get this.
But I want you to see what thisnew king does.
This new king with all theleadership and all the
effectiveness, but also all theholiness.
There will be a highway fromyour trouble for the remnant
(37:22):
that remains of his people, forthose who hold firm to Christ.
Just as there was for Israelwhen they came up out of the
land of Egypt, as much as theRed Sea was ripped open and dry
ground provided so they couldwalk through it, this is the
Holy Spirit, this is God, thisis the Son saying, Do you see
the highway that I've createdfor you?
Do you see the way that I wouldhave you walk?
(37:44):
Even in the midst of this darkworld, can you see it?
You see, this verse told usthat people were going to
inquire of the Lord.
They're gonna see the world,begin to see it the way God
meant.
Even in a moment like this,what if Isaiah is right?
What if I can follow that kindof a savior today?
(38:07):
And what always comes up arethe questions.
This was true for people aroundJesus, it was true for the
people who walked closest withJesus, which is why Thomas would
look at Jesus and say, Lord, wedon't know where you're going.
How am I supposed to know theway?
If you're leaving us, if Ican't see you, if I can't touch
you, how am I possibly going tofollow you?
Well, many of you know whatJesus says after this.
(38:30):
You see, this Assyrian army wasthe problem from the beginning.
Chapter 7, Ahaz is fearful,Isaiah is faithful.
Which are you going to be?
Chapter 9, there's pressurewithin, wanting to crack you,
pressure without wanting to dragyou down.
And Jesus says, My shouldersare broad enough to carry every
burden.
Are you gonna bring them to me?
(38:50):
And in chapter 11, Isaiah says,If you could just imagine a God
who loves you this much, if youcould just imagine a God who
sent his son this far, if youcould just imagine the life he
wants to create in you andaround you, if you could see it,
I'm telling you, it would giveyou hope and joy and
encouragement today.
Lord, how?
We can't see it.
(39:12):
How are we going to know theway?
And Jesus said, I am the way, Iam the truth, I am the life,
and nobody comes to the Fatherexcept through me.
Where is the joy?
It is in this (39:26):
a highway is created.
The trees fall, not randomly,but righteously.
Pride is cut down, predation isended, corruption exposed, and
when the forest of selfcollapses, something unexpected
appears.
A highway, a clear path made byGod because we never could have
(39:49):
made it ourselves.
And standing at the center ofthat is the King, the Savior.
See, in the beginning was atree that we ate from and
brought death, Genesis.
In the end is a tree thatbrings life and life eternal,
Revelation.
And in the middle, God places atree.
On that tree, he places hisson.
And it is by the mid-tree thatwe have access to the Father.
(40:13):
That's where the church got itsname from, in case you were
curious.
And this highway being clearedis for any who desire to walk
down it.
Cleared not by human effort,but by God Himself, because
Jesus wasn't sent just to teachthe way or to tell the truth or
to offer life.
He is all of those things.
(40:35):
And the question before ustoday, as we see a savior of
life coming from death, is thiswhat would it mean for you
today?
To leave behind arrogance thatenthrones the self?
Get on the highway.
Get out of the brambles and thebrushes.
What would it mean for you toleave behind exploited power
(40:56):
that feeds on others and insteadto serve them?
What does it mean instead ofmanipulating truth and bending
reality to just tell the truthand to be the truth?
What does it mean for you tosee and bring about creation the
way God intended it to be?
Because all of those otherthings will never survive on
this road.
So pick which road do you wantto walk on?
And I will tell you this (41:19):
one is better than the other.
One is less painful than theother.
One is more delightful than theother.
And it was paved by God Himselfso that we could come near.
This is what Isaiah alwayswanted us to see: a highway that
we never expected, that Christcleared himself.
Now I don't know what thatmeans for each of you, but I'd
(41:42):
be willing to bet it's in hisword and it's on the screen.
What bowels need to be loft offso that you can stand not in
your own pride andself-righteousness, but in what
God has done.
That's what people ought tosee.
And that's what God wants tosee in you.
So let's draw near to Him.
A couple of ways we do it.
You can stand and sing, you cansit and pray and reflect.
(42:04):
A group of us are going to bepraying on the back.
If you want to join us, wewould love for you to do so.
But let's respond to God's wordtogether today.
Please turn your Bibles to Isaiah chapter eleven,
verse one, which is page f fivehundred and fifty seventy-five
in the Pew Bibles.
There shall come forth a shootfrom the stump of Jesse, and a
branch from his root shall bearfruit.
And the Spirit of the Lordshall rest upon him, the spirit
(01:22):
of wisdom and understanding, thespirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and thefear of the Lord, and his
delight shall be in the fear ofthe Lord.
This is the word of the Lord.
Will Hawk (01:38):
Great job, Asher.
Merry Christmas, everybody.
What's our countdown at?
How many days?
Okay.
I did a little bit of researchon how many folks wait until
(02:08):
Christmas Eve to buy a gift.
51%.
So for the, I don't know, maybeit's this side, maybe it's this
side.
Just giving you a heads up.
Amazon Prime Shipping's aboutto get real tough.
It's already over.
Forget about it.
Your best shots at Walmart atthis point.
I want you guys to know howmuch I've enjoyed being in the
(02:29):
Isaiah as we've gotten ready.
I don't know if you know this.
I I love preaching.
I love teaching the Bible aswell.
And every now and then I justlove giving out little tidbits
so that we can feel like we canget our hands around a book that
is far too big and wide anddeep for us.
There are so many Christmaspassages in the Gospels,
primarily in the Gospels.
But if you were not in the NewTestament and all you had was
(02:52):
the Old Testament, what bookwould you go to if you wanted to
read about Christmas?
Anybody want to know?
It'd be Isaiah.
Now, the the reason that Ibring this up is because I
simultaneously love looking atthis book in Christmas, but I
also feel like here's what hashappened.
Do you remember in a Christmasstory where he gets to the very
(03:12):
end, all he wanted was a RedRider BB gun with the compass in
the stock and the thing thattold whatever it is?
He he gets to the end ofChristmas, he's opened up all of
his gifts and he looks at hismom and dad.
He's like, Yeah, it was a goodChristmas.
It's a good Christmas.
And I think his dad says, Didyou get everything you want?
He said, Almost.
And his dad's like, Yeah, youknow, like that's kind of just
like knowing that there was thisgift sort of hidden behind the
(03:34):
tree that he was about to getto.
When we get into Isaiah, let mejust tell you what I feel like
as a preacher.
What I feel like is we'veopened up a bunch of gifts.
And instead of there being oneat the back of a tree, it's more
like the father saying, Oh, andby the way, and he opens up a
door and there's a room justreplete with gifts that have yet
(03:55):
to be unopened.
That is what Isaiah is.
It is all of these packages andpromises pointing forward to
who Christ is and what he hasdone.
And the reason that I pointthat out is this morning we were
singing this song, and it said,So come though you have
nothing, come, he is theoffering, come and see what your
(04:16):
God has done.
So this is the warning for ourtime in God's Word.
It's gonna be easy to miss.
And one of the reasons it'sgoing to be easy to miss is
Isaiah is doing something thatis hard for us.
He is saying, I want you toimagine a life completely
different from anything that youhave experienced thus far.
I want you to imagine a Saviorthat you can only picture a
(04:40):
little bit.
I want you to see him for whohe truly is.
And the moment Isaiah saysthat, he knows in our hearts and
in our minds, all these littlebutts come up.
Yeah, I I know that's in God'sword, but today, this is where
I'm at.
But if you saw my life, but ifyou saw my calendar, but if you
saw my budget, but if you saw mykids, but if you saw my family,
(05:01):
but if you saw my tomorrow, andall of these things compete
with this picture that Isaiahwants to give.
And so this is what I'm gonnaplead with you as we get into
God's word this morning.
I want you to be able toimagine.
I want you to go back to beinga child a little bit, where that
imagination still works onsteroids, because Isaiah wants
(05:23):
to give you a picture ofsomething that is incredibly
real.
It's just not real yet in theway that it will be.
But one of the things that Godwants for us to be able to do by
faith is live in the tomorrowtoday.
Okay.
Can you hold on to the promisesknowing that they are so true
(05:44):
that you can get all of the joy,all of the hope, and all of the
peace from a tomorrow promisetoday?
That is where I want you tojust start wrestling right now.
Can you do that?
Now, to give us a little bit ofa lighter question, let's go
here.
All right.
I want you wrestling, but Ialso want you to answer that.
Is it biblical to cut down atree for Christmas?
(06:06):
Okay, all right.
Strong answers coming from theright.
All right.
Now, immediately when I putthis up, here's what probably
starts running through yourhead.
Will you went really into thepaint on nativities next year,
last year?
Please don't make me take mytree down.
It's got all the lights and theballs and the bangle.
Like we got four days, familiescoming over.
(06:27):
Can there not be I I gotnothing like that for you.
But I will tell you this.
I think there's an incrediblepassage that very few of us
would know that actually pointtoward a Christmas tree being
cut down for Christmas.
And lo and behold, it comesfrom the Old Testament prophet
of Isaiah.
So here is what we will find inIsaiah 10.
(06:49):
We're gonna be in 11.
We've done 7, 9, and 11, but Iwant to give you a little bit of
a preface.
So, what happens in Isaiah 10?
Well, God's people areterrified.
That's why we talked aboutpressure within, pressure
without.
We talked about Ahaz the kingbeing fearful rather than
faithful Isaiah.
And in this, in chapter 10, theAssyrian army surrounding them,
(07:10):
life in difficulty surroundingthem, God's people are starting
to panic.
And here is what the prophetwrites Behold, the Lord God of
hosts will lop the bows withterrifying power.
All right, so we've got boughs.
That's good, that'sChristmassy.
The great in height will behewn down.
(07:30):
That's a tree-felling term.
The lofty will be brought low.
He will cut down the thicketsof the forest with an axe, and
Lebanon will fall by themajestic one.
Now listen, this is talkingabout a tree getting cut down.
Before you get excited aboutit, you need to understand what
this tree is.
This is not the tree you wantto put in your house, okay?
(07:52):
These boughs being lopped offwith terrifying power.
If you've ever had to hiresomebody to come and take down a
tree, and it was a big tree,and you're not offended by the
fact that you're a man in thisroom, and I said you might hire
someone to cut down a tree.
If you have ever done that, youknow they climb up that thing
and they take the limbs offfirst, so that when it falls
with all of its weight, it doesless destruction as just a pole.
(08:15):
What God is describing here areall of the kingdoms of the
world that have arrayedthemselves against God, and God
is saying, it's time to clearthe forest.
He looks at them and he callsthe Assyrians, in fact, he calls
all human evil and arrogance ametaphorically tall tree.
(08:37):
And God says, systematically,all of this pride, all of this
arrogance, all of this strengththat the world sees, I'm gonna
begin taking down, and I amfinally going to fell this tree.
Now, if you need a verse to puta tree in your house, you must
(08:59):
start here because it gets cutdown.
But what we do is a little bitdifferent than what the prophet
Isaiah does.
What we do is we cut down atree, we then put that tree in a
bucket of water, like dum-dums,and we're like, and now it
shall live.
My my wife sent me a text twodays ago.
Well, our tree's dead.
(09:20):
And I was like, Well, baby, um,you decided to decorate for
Christmas before your surgery.
I think you bought that onSeptember 4th, and that's not
true, but it was likemid-November, okay?
That thing is a tinderbox in myhouse.
You can't come down the stairswithout like a ring of um
(09:42):
needles like surrounding thetree.
It is dry and it is dead.
Here is what you're gonna seein Isaiah 10.
God says, all of the trees thatseem so impressive, the ones in
the lot that people would pick,I can see what they truly are.
They look majestic, they lookpowerful, but they're powerful
in their own arrogance, they'repowerful in their own strength.
That's never the tree that Iwould pick because I don't pick
(10:05):
impressive, proud, arrogantpeople.
I pick the small.
I pick the one that looks likeit wouldn't necessarily make it.
And then we turn the page,literally the very next verse
from 34, and God says, but I'lltell you where life will come
from.
Unexpected places.
(10:26):
That it isn't taking a deadtree and putting it in water,
putting lights around it, andsaying, look at how warm and
life-giving it is.
God says, Here's how I would domy Christmas tree.
I'm not encouraging you to dothis, all right?
There shall come forth a shootfrom the stump of Jesse, and a
branch from his roots shall bearfruit, and it's going to get
(10:47):
better.
I do think you can have aChristmas tree.
I know everybody talks aboutpagan traditions.
There's a conversation to havebehind that as well.
But what I will tell you isthis if you're gonna cut down a
tree and you're gonna put it inyour house, when you walk by,
you need to walk by and sort ofsay, arrogance.
I'm killing that.
I'm killing that in my liferight now, okay?
Because God's tree is a stump.
(11:09):
The one thing we don't bringinto our house is the thing that
God would bring into his house.
That you imagine there, thisdead stump of a thing dried out,
and then all of a sudden,Isaiah opens a gift and a shoot
begins to come up from thisstump.
Life from the unexpected.
That is who God is.
That is what God does.
(11:29):
For every one of you who is aChristian, that is your story.
Dead, and then life comes outof it.
This is what Isaiah chapter 11wants to point to.
It's not impressive, proud,perfect trees that God selects,
because it's not impressive,proud, perfect people that God
(11:50):
selects.
He picks the ones that are notterribly impressive, and they
shouldn't be able to standagainst a great storm.
But we do.
We shouldn't be able to surviveour roots being trampled, and
yet, believer, you will.
We shouldn't be able to endurethe cold winter of life.
Christian, you will.
(12:10):
The ones that have so little tobe proud of, that are so far
from perfect, who can tell thestory of their brokenness, those
are the ones God wants to puton display.
And as is typically the case,God continues to make it better
and better.
And the spirit of the Lordshall rest upon him.
(12:35):
So all of a sudden we havedeath.
That death turns into life, andthen God says, This little bit
of life, I am gonna crown itwith the glory of my own
presence.
The spirit of the Lord willrest on this life coming from
death, which will be the promiseof a new Messiah.
(12:56):
Now, I want you to notice thisword rest.
A lot of times in the OldTestament, we see the Spirit of
God rush upon someone, fillsomeone temporarily.
But here, the Old Testamentpoints to someone who is full of
the goodness of God, morning tonight, start to finish, from
first cry in a manger until itis finished upon a cross.
(13:17):
This is what we're expecting,and we actually see it in the
Gospel of Matthew.
And when Jesus was baptized,immediately he went up from the
water, and behold, take note ofthis, the heavens were open, he
saw the Spirit of God descendinglike a dove and coming.
That little line is what Isaiahwas talking about thousands of
(13:38):
years before.
You see, when the disciples sawthis, when the people saw this,
all of a sudden, for some ofthem, they finally got to open a
gift at the back of the treefrom 2,000 years ago when Isaiah
had said it.
Here it is, the Spirit of Godresting on life coming from
unexpected places, because thatis who Christ was.
(13:59):
But this is not just lifecoming from an unexpected place.
This is a whole new way ofliving.
Now, believer in the room, hereis going to be my challenge for
you.
I need you to picture this.
I need you to picture theMessiah the way Isaiah does,
because you have not seen Jesusthis way yet.
You have read about him.
He sits on a throne now.
(14:21):
If you could see him now, youwould see it.
But he has chosen in his timingnot to return yet, though,
David, Johnson, thank you verymuch.
We ought to stay awake and lookfor this.
The Spirit of the Lord willrest upon him.
What will that look like?
It will look like a Messiah, itwill look like a leader, it
(14:42):
will look like a living kingwith wisdom and understanding.
It will look like you beingled, not by your own intellect,
but by something so muchgreater.
It will look like you being ledby someone who has not only
counsel but might.
Someone who has simultaneouslyknowledge and the fear of the
Lord.
And when you see it, it isgoing to be a delight.
(15:04):
This is who Jesus was day in,day out to this very day.
Now, if I were to take allthree of these things that the
Holy Spirit displays in Christin the coming king, here is what
you would see.
You would see leadership, youwould see effectiveness, and you
would see holiness.
(15:25):
That's what you would see.
If you're a no-taker, fear not,I got you.
All right.
This is what we have in Christ.
Now I want you to imagine this.
If you're a kid, it's easy.
I want you to imagine your dadbeing this way.
If you're grown, it's going tobe a little harder.
Life's beat you up, and you'vewalked through enough dark
things, you've opened enoughdark closets.
(15:45):
This may be a bit moredifficult for you.
I want you to imagine not anemployer, not a boss.
I know we don't live in amonarchy.
I want you to imagine a kingwho rules over your life and is
in charge of everything, butsomehow he knows everything
about you.
All of his responsibilities inno way detract from the intimacy
(16:11):
with which he knows and caresfor you.
And he looks at your life.
He looks at your Tuesday, notjust your Sunday 90 minutes.
He looks at your Tuesday and hesays, I want to give you good
leadership.
I want you to know that you areseeing my world your way, but
the king who is coming will seeGod's world God's way, exactly
(16:31):
as it ought to be.
He will have discernment.
He knows what is truly going onbeneath the surface in your
life, in the lives of peoplearound you, and in everything
that surrounds you.
But he doesn't just know it, hecan't just see it, he's not
just projecting toward it as agood leader.
He is incredibly effective.
(16:53):
He has all of the counsel andthe might.
If you've ever been in aleadership position, one of the
most frustrating realities is toknow where you are, where you
want to be, how you think you'resupposed to get there, and then
not have the resources to pullit off.
By the way, you can feel thiswithout running a company.
(17:15):
Have a child.
You can look at them and youcan see everything you want them
to be.
Yes, sir.
Yes, ma'am.
You you can see the table beingset before and cleaned up after
without asking.
You can see this young man orthis young woman being able to
navigate the world withconfidence but not arrogance,
(17:37):
with strength that comes fromgentleness.
You can see it, and you'relike, now how do I make somebody
do something they don't want todo?
And this is the nature of Godtoward us.
And yet, this coming king, lifefrom death, resurrected in
glory, has all of the might topull this off.
(17:58):
And if you doubt it today, Iwould just encourage you to
wait.
There are so many things thatyou believe God wants for your
life.
Just because it hasn't happenedyet doesn't mean it isn't
coming.
Because his counsel is perfect,his timing is right.
(18:19):
But one of the things thatexists in Christ that is so
different than a dad today or apolitician today, a boss today,
is this last piece of holiness.
Now I'm not saying that none ofus are.
This isn't a woe is me whereI'm trying to throw spiritual
two by fours at the foreheads ofall the men in this room.
I'm not.
I I I every guy in this churchthat I get to hang out with, I
(18:43):
find myself encouraged by.
I love doing church with youguys.
I just know that I'm such afailure.
It is a difficult thing to callyour kids to be something when
you're struggling with it aswell.
But here we have a leader, herewe have a Messiah, here we have
a Savior.
I want you to see this, picturethis, who has knowledge and the
fear of the Lord.
(19:03):
The reason I point this out isbecause if we go all the way
back to Genesis 3, we have oneof these things without the
other.
Adam and Eve desire knowledge.
We want to know.
We want to see what God sees,we want to know what God knows.
They desire all of theknowledge with none of the fear,
and what they find is sin.
(19:24):
What Christ has is all of theknowledge and a fear, respect,
awe of the nature of God.
And when this happens, when youhave all three of these things
combined, and I told you it wasgoing to be a challenge, you
begin to get a picture of theSavior who wants to lead your
(19:45):
life today.
You get a picture of what alittle bit of faith would bring
to you if you would trust him.
Olivia's story of how she cameto faith in Christ, then walked
toward the darkness temporarily,only to find on the other side
of a 45-minute prayer, this iswho God always has been, always
will be.
(20:05):
And the question is, who is shegoing to follow?
And the same question ispresented to us today.
And the thing about this kingof life, his delight will be in
the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what hiseyes see, or decide disputes by
what his ears hear.
(20:26):
Okay, just real quick pause.
I'm not even gonna talk aboutmy kids.
When I did education, uh, whenI did camp ministry, and I spent
tons of time with children,here was the one if I walked out
to Gaga Ball in 30 minutes,here would be the thing that you
would hear more than anythingelse when there's A disruption.
(20:47):
That's not why is it that froma young age all of us have a
sense of justice put inside ofus?
A sense of right and wrong.
Now, even that is skewedbecause it is what we think is
right and what we think iswrong.
I say that to you to prop thisup for the God, for the Messiah
(21:07):
who wants to lead you.
He is unfoolable.
He's not judging by what hiseyes see.
You can put a pretty face onit.
You can smile a little bit andchange the tone of your voice.
He still knows your heart.
He's able to listen to thewords you say and discern what
is real in the midst of it.
This king is unfoolable.
(21:31):
You are wasting your timecoming in here trying to fool a
God who knows everything aboutyou.
You're wasting your time.
What you could do is you couldsay, you pick the worst trees,
you bring life from death.
Here is the un like this is allof the truth of me.
I'm not going to try to fool itbecause there is no reason to
try to fool you.
(21:52):
If I really wanted to go intothe paint and I can't, for the
sake of time, when Job sees God,he comes up.
And by the way, in every one ofthese little passages, you will
find leadership, effectiveness,or holiness.
But I would just get you tolook at verse 16 for a minute.
With him are strength and soundwisdom, strength, might, sound
wisdom, leadership.
(22:13):
The deceived and the deceiverare his.
In the hands of God are thepeople who deceive and cause you
at your own age to say, That'snot fair.
And unless Christ returns,you're going to be saying that
until you go into the grave.
There's something about thisworld where we can find it a
hundred times a day.
(22:34):
That's not fair.
But this coming king, he holdsthe deceiver in his hand.
He also holds the deceived.
One to comfort, one to drawnear, one to say it is okay, but
these do not get away with it.
He will rule in justice.
That is who this king is.
(22:56):
With righteousness he shalljudge the poor, and decide with
equity for the meek of theearth.
He shall strike the earth withthe rod of his mouth and with
the breath of his lips, he shallkill the wicked.
If you want to know what thisking is like, righteousness.
It's going to be like a belt onhis waist and faithfulness, the
belt of his loins.
(23:17):
Isaiah is asking you to dosomething that is difficult for
us to do.
He is asking you to imagine abetter tomorrow and live in that
joy and excitement and hope.
But I know it is difficult forus to do.
If you were able to, this iswhat you would see.
Three things he brings, hebrings sort of into focus.
(23:38):
Under the reign of this newking, power is not exploited.
No one takes advantage ofothers anymore.
A boss, a ruler, a politician,a dad, a whatever.
No one takes advantage of thosebelow them because the highest
among us cares for the leastamong us.
(24:00):
With righteousness, he willjudge the poor, and he will
decide with equity for the meekof the earth.
What this is saying is God isfor the lowly who would scream
out day after day, my lifehasn't been fair.
God, I I've tried to do theright thing.
(24:21):
I keep saying no to sin andsaying yes to holiness, but my
life still crumbles at my feet.
Well, why is it that I'mpursuing you fill in your own
blank?
Why am I pursuing you and I'mstill single?
Why am I pursuing you and westill don't have children?
Why am I pursuing you and ourfinances are still a mess?
Why am I pursuing you and Ican't find meaningful
(24:44):
friendships?
Why am I pursuing you and youjust fill in your blank?
This is Christ saying, There isa day coming where everything
that is good and right and trueis going to happen.
And I am going to see the meek,those who humbly, quietly try
to serve me while the worldtakes advantage of them.
(25:06):
And I'm going to judge forthem.
I will decide with equity.
This is what we see all overthe Sermon on the Mount.
Again, I'm not going to readthis whole thing to you, but I
would point out that the poor,theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Boom.
You've had nothing, now youhave everything.
(25:27):
Those who mourn find comfort,and here's our word, the meek,
and they own everything.
Those who have been takenadvantage of, those who have
never been able to get ahead inthe coming kingdom, because they
have sown meekness into theirlife, God says, Today you own it
all.
I own it all and I hand it overto you.
(25:48):
In Christ's new kingdom, powerdoesn't rest with the mighty,
nor with the manipulative.
Which is why the next part ofthis verse points to the fact
that not only is power notexploited, but truth is not
manipulated.
Let me just hit pause for aminute.
This is the one where I get hotand where I get angry.
So I'm going to try not topreach from Will's experience.
(26:09):
I'm just going to try to preachthe word.
But there is little that getsme more frustrated than people
being taken advantage of becausesomebody can put words together
in a way that draws them away.
And it doesn't matter to me ifit's a pyramid scheme.
It doesn't matter to me if it'ssome guy trying to date some
girl.
It doesn't matter to me if it'sa spouse saying one thing and
completely doing another.
(26:30):
It doesn't matter to me.
I will just tell you this: there is something that sets a (26:32):
undefined
fire inside of me.
I don't know if it does it withyou.
When you see people beingmanipulated.
But in this coming kingdom,watch the usage of words.
He shall strike the earth withthe rod of his mouth, and with
the breath of his lips, he shallkill the wicked.
(26:54):
Words.
Where did our problem comefrom?
Words.
The serpent was more craftythan any other beast of the
field that the Lord God hadmade.
And he said to the woman, DidGod actually say, Satan hadn't
quit using this line on you?
It's too effective.
(27:15):
It's way too effective.
Why is it that the coming kingrules with his words?
Because that's where you fellin the first place.
The enemy still says this toyou.
Did God actually say you needto live like this?
Did God actually say this iswhat holiness is?
Did God actually say, and youtell me that you don't feel
(27:38):
this, come up from this quietlittle voice that is not the
still small voice.
This is still being said to youtoday.
But Christ will come with adifferent set of words.
And they will not destroy, theywill rebuild.
Calvin puts it this way Christwill have no need to borrow aid
from others to cast down hisenemies, to strike down
(28:00):
everything that opposes hisgovernment, for these tall,
trout proud trees of life tofall, for a mere breath or a
word will be enough.
Let there be light, and therewas.
Let there be earth, and therewas.
How hard is it going to be forGod to make everything unjust?
(28:21):
This hard.
Make it right.
Done.
This is the power of the comingking.
Can you begin to see him?
Can you begin to follow him?
But I would like for you tonotice this before I move on to
the third thing.
I want you to see the axe thatcomes to the tree, because I
(28:43):
want to make sure you're on theright side of it.
This is one verse, Isaiah 11:4.
I've already read it to youtwice, but I wonder if you
notice this.
With righteousness he shalljudge the poor and decide with
equity for the meek of theearth.
One direction.
And he shall strike the earthwith the rod of his mouth, and
with the breath of his lips, heshall kill the wicked.
(29:05):
This is the axe being laid notjust to the great trees, but to
every tree.
Here's what I need you tounderstand about Christianity
and about the gospel.
Everybody gets cut down.
Everybody gets cut down.
None of us make it to fullgrowth.
Look at how great I am, look atthe fruit I can produce, look
at the shade I can create forthose who are under my care.
(29:27):
None of us get there withoutfirst being cut down.
The question is, will you becut down lovingly so that new
life can come that will actuallygrow?
Or are you gonna try to do iton your own only to realize that
the axe is coming one way oranother?
Now, look, I know it'sChristmas and it's like, Will,
(29:48):
can you be a little more upbeat,like joy to the world?
Yeah, I can do that.
It's coming.
Fear not.
But I can't do that if you'regonna try to live life on your
own.
I can't do that unless you'regonna find what Addison said
when she said, Look, I'm nottrying to live my life based off
of what I can do or what I cancreate.
It's Christ.
It's Christ alone.
Doesn't matter how gifted youare in filling up the blank,
(30:09):
soccer or something else, itdoesn't matter.
Every one of us will have theaxe brought to us.
The question is this some inarrogance are gonna cling to
their own autonomy.
They're gonna cling to powerlike tall trees, believing that
they can stand against the verybreath of the God that created
them.
Or you can willingly say, God,I need you to prune me up.
(30:31):
And if I'm honest, I don't justneed to be pruned, I need to be
remade.
I need to be cut down aspainful as that sounds, and it
seems like death, but that isthe only way that true life ever
comes up out of your word.
So I'm trusting it.
I'm laying myself on the altarof sacrifice, that by you
felling my pride and arrogance,life may come up from it.
(30:53):
But both people are changed.
Both people fall.
From those who fall willingly,though, sprouts of life come up.
This isn't just theology.
It's not theological, this islogical.
This is what a holy God woulddo and must do.
Why?
Because there is a kingdomcoming where certain things that
(31:15):
we know simply cannot survive,so that things you cannot
imagine can begin to thrive.
What does that look like?
Well, this is the final one.
Under his reign, power isn'texploited and truth isn't
manipulated, but creation isn'tviolated either.
Now I'm gonna read this to you,but depending on if you've had
your cup of coffee or not, ifyou think you're gonna stay
(31:37):
awake or not, I would encourageyou to close your eyes and I
want you to just picture this.
I debated putting a video up ofa little kid running around
with a poisonous snake.
I don't know if you guys,there's a million of these, by
the way.
There's not just one, wherethis mom like opens the front
door because she hears acommotion in the front yard, and
her three-year-old is likedual-wielding poisonous copper
heads, and she's like, ah, andfreaking out, okay?
(31:59):
There's a reason you wouldfreak out if you saw a little
kid with a snake.
But here's what I want you tobegin to imagine.
You're not going to be able to.
I just want you to give it yourbest shot.
Close your eyes if you want,but this is the world that
Christ shall reign over.
The wolf shall dwell with thelamb, the leopard shall lie down
with the young goat, and thecalf and the lion and the fatted
(32:20):
calf together, and a littlechild shall lead them.
Eyes on the screen for aminute.
Lions and tigers and bears.
Oh my.
That's nuts to me.
If you go through Pine MountainWild Animal Park, I don't even
want to hang out with like halfof those deer-looking things.
(32:41):
But in God's new kingdom,there's gonna be a four-year-old
that's like hand feeding aleopard that right now would
drag them up a tree and end itin a horrible, horrible way.
Wolves and leopards and lionsand kids are just like and
they're like cuddling with them,like it's a German shepherd
laid out on a rug in your frontuh uh around your fireplace.
(33:01):
The cow and the bear grazingtogether.
Their young shall lie downtogether.
The lion will eat straw likethe ox.
Here's where it gets reallyweird.
The nursing child shall playover the hole of the cobra.
Timeout.
I didn't even think snakes aregonna be allowed in the new
creation.
And here he is.
Keep legs off that thing.
But this itty bitty baby isjust hanging out with a snake.
(33:24):
And I can't even picture it inmy head without my heart
dropping because we have snakesin this area where I live in.
All right?
If I see a snake climbing upthe leg of my 17-year-old, my
heart's gonna drop.
This is a nursing baby.
But don't worry, when they getolder, it changes.
And the weaned child will puthis hand in the adder.
That means snakes, din.
What is going on in this place?
(33:47):
Look, the point Isaiah's tryingto make is I want you to
imagine it, you can't.
That's what he's doing.
Because in this new place, theyshall not hurt or destroy in
all my holy mountain four.
Don't worry, it's gonna getbetter again.
But what I want you to realizeis this if this sounds odd to
you, watch what comes next.
(34:09):
Because it should soundweirder.
If this sounds unbelievable toyou, imagine the earth being
full of the knowledge of theLord.
Imagine not having to go to achurch or have a preacher on his
good day to find it.
Imagine not needing thisperfect quiet time where the
music is so and your kids aren'targuing and your work life
(34:30):
isn't astray.
It's just everywhere you go.
You're at publics, and all of asudden the knowledge of the
Lord is everywhere.
Everybody's walking around withdelight on their faces, serving
and caring for one another.
How much will this be the case?
As much as the waters cover thesea, the whole earth will know
(34:51):
God.
And in that day, this littlebit of unexpected life will
stand as a signal for thepeople.
Of him the nations shallinquire, and his resting place
shall be glorious, and therewill be a highway from all of
(35:12):
your troubles for the remnantthat remains of his people.
For those who stand not intheir own strength or arrogance,
but in him, as there was forIsrael when they came up from
the land of Egypt.
The earth will not be coveredwith sin or brokenness or
darkness.
In fact, darkness goes awayforever.
It will be covered with theknowledge of the Lord, and life
will come from unexpectedplaces, and this little sprout
(35:35):
will stand up like a sign.
In fact, Paul saw it in his ownday.
I don't know if you realizethis.
When Isaiah wrote about aMessiah who was coming that
would change the world, you arepart of that gift being opened.
You sitting here in HarrisCounty, Georgia today is Romans
15 and Isaiah 11 coming to be.
(35:56):
People who celebrate Christmasbecause they know what it means,
and even people who celebrateit and they don't know what it
means, they are evidence ofIsaiah's reality coming true.
This new Messiah is going tochange the world.
Every nativity in every yard,every bit of generosity given in
this season from believers andeven from unbelievers, is Isaiah
(36:16):
saying, Did you see thatopening?
Did you see this opening?
And Isaiah says, he points allthe way back, Paul does, the
root of Jesse will come.
Even he who arises to rule, incase you don't know it, that's
you.
People who did not begin asGod's people.
That is what he is going to do.
That's why this has been ourtheme from the beginning,
(36:38):
because Isaiah has wanted you toopen these things up.
I want to close by showing youthe last little portion here.
Isaiah 11, 16.
Now remember, Assyria was thebig problem.
You can fill in that blank foryou.
There's probably not a warringarmy surrounding your house
right now, giving you just alittle bit of respite to run off
(37:00):
to church, but you haveproblems.
The darkness of this world notbeing the way that it should be,
whether it's stuff on theinside or stuff on the outside,
you get this.
But I want you to see what thisnew king does.
This new king with all theleadership and all the
effectiveness, but also all theholiness.
There will be a highway fromyour trouble for the remnant
(37:22):
that remains of his people, forthose who hold firm to Christ.
Just as there was for Israelwhen they came up out of the
land of Egypt, as much as theRed Sea was ripped open and dry
ground provided so they couldwalk through it, this is the
Holy Spirit, this is God, thisis the Son saying, Do you see
the highway that I've createdfor you?
Do you see the way that I wouldhave you walk?
(37:44):
Even in the midst of this darkworld, can you see it?
You see, this verse told usthat people were going to
inquire of the Lord.
They're gonna see the world,begin to see it the way God
meant.
Even in a moment like this,what if Isaiah is right?
What if I can follow that kindof a savior today?
(38:07):
And what always comes up arethe questions.
This was true for people aroundJesus, it was true for the
people who walked closest withJesus, which is why Thomas would
look at Jesus and say, Lord, wedon't know where you're going.
How am I supposed to know theway?
If you're leaving us, if Ican't see you, if I can't touch
you, how am I possibly going tofollow you?
Well, many of you know whatJesus says after this.
(38:30):
You see, this Assyrian army wasthe problem from the beginning.
Chapter 7, Ahaz is fearful,Isaiah is faithful.
Which are you going to be?
Chapter 9, there's pressurewithin, wanting to crack you,
pressure without wanting to dragyou down.
And Jesus says, My shouldersare broad enough to carry every
burden.
Are you gonna bring them to me?
(38:50):
And in chapter 11, Isaiah says,If you could just imagine a God
who loves you this much, if youcould just imagine a God who
sent his son this far, if youcould just imagine the life he
wants to create in you andaround you, if you could see it,
I'm telling you, it would giveyou hope and joy and
encouragement today.
Lord, how?
We can't see it.
(39:12):
How are we going to know theway?
And Jesus said, I am the way, Iam the truth, I am the life,
and nobody comes to the Fatherexcept through me.
Where is the joy?
It is in this (39:26):
a highway is created.
The trees fall, not randomly,but righteously.
Pride is cut down, predation isended, corruption exposed, and
when the forest of selfcollapses, something unexpected
appears.
A highway, a clear path made byGod because we never could have
(39:49):
made it ourselves.
And standing at the center ofthat is the King, the Savior.
See, in the beginning was atree that we ate from and
brought death, Genesis.
In the end is a tree thatbrings life and life eternal,
Revelation.
And in the middle, God places atree.
On that tree, he places hisson.
And it is by the mid-tree thatwe have access to the Father.
(40:13):
That's where the church got itsname from, in case you were
curious.
And this highway being clearedis for any who desire to walk
down it.
Cleared not by human effort,but by God Himself, because
Jesus wasn't sent just to teachthe way or to tell the truth or
to offer life.
He is all of those things.
(40:35):
And the question before ustoday, as we see a savior of
life coming from death, is thiswhat would it mean for you
today?
To leave behind arrogance thatenthrones the self?
Get on the highway.
Get out of the brambles and thebrushes.
What would it mean for you toleave behind exploited power
(40:56):
that feeds on others and insteadto serve them?
What does it mean instead ofmanipulating truth and bending
reality to just tell the truthand to be the truth?
What does it mean for you tosee and bring about creation the
way God intended it to be?
Because all of those otherthings will never survive on
this road.
So pick which road do you wantto walk on?
And I will tell you this (41:19):
one is better than the other.
One is less painful than theother.
One is more delightful than theother.
And it was paved by God Himselfso that we could come near.
This is what Isaiah alwayswanted us to see: a highway that
we never expected, that Christcleared himself.
Now I don't know what thatmeans for each of you, but I'd
(41:42):
be willing to bet it's in hisword and it's on the screen.
What bowels need to be loft offso that you can stand not in
your own pride andself-righteousness, but in what
God has done.
That's what people ought tosee.
And that's what God wants tosee in you.
So let's draw near to Him.
A couple of ways we do it.
You can stand and sing, you cansit and pray and reflect.
(42:04):
A group of us are going to bepraying on the back.
If you want to join us, wewould love for you to do so.
But let's respond to God's wordtogether today.
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