Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share The 3 Gifts Of Christmas-Isaiah 7:1-14
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
The 3 Gifts Of Christmas-Isaiah 7:1-14
Christmas Eve Service at Calvary Boulder Valley in Louisville Colorado. Pastor Brent Lewis’ teaching on December 24 2022 titled ”The 3 Gifts Of Christmas-Isaiah 7:1-14”
Visit us on the web at www.calvarybouldervalley.com
I. A.G.
a. Immaculate Reception – This time of year all of TV is celebrating an event that hasn’t been duplicated. It has been referred to as the miracles of all miracles. The word immaculate has been applied to it as well. Why? Because on December 23rd 1972 with only 9 seconds left in the game, Franco Harris from the Pittsburgh Steelers made an improbably catch of a ball that bounced off an opposing player and ran it into the end zone. Yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of what has been called the “Immaculate Reception.” Immaculate… Miracle…while these words don’t literally apply to what is certainly an incredible play over 50 years ago, we are here to remember an event over 2,700 years ago that is literally miraculous. It was an immaculate conception. What we’re referring to this evening is the Virgin birth of Christ, or more accurately the prophecy of the Virgin Birth of Christ. It is the first and only time something like that has happened in the history of the world.
II. Intro.
a. First Christmas Meaning - When we talk about the first of something, anything, it is generally understood that we are referring to the chronology or importance of something. “I was the first in line.” Or we are referring to something preeminent: “She was the first violin in the orchestra.” First is the earliest, the best. It is often the original.
b. Tonight, we look at the 3 gifts of the First Christmas in Isaiah 7. We need to go back to the First reference to Christmas in chronology to understand the importance of the Person about whom the First Christmas represents. Because Christmas is, and began, as a Person. Let’s open our Bibles to get a better look at one of the most specific prophecies about His arrival. We will notice that the context in this chapter holds the key to experiencing the true meaning of Christmas for…every…single…person… Tonight’s study is called, “The 3 Gifts of the First Christmas.”
III. Preview
a. The Command to Be Quiet (7:1-4)
b. The Criteria of Belief (7:5-9)
c. The Call to Behold (7:10-14)
IV. Body
a. The Command to Be Quiet (7:1-4)
i. The First Gift – The first gift we are going to look at is the gift of Peace. It is stated in the command to “Be Quiet.” But it’s not stated the way we say it today. While we are going to be looking at the prophecy for the virgin birth of Christ, all was not well when this prophecy was first given. When we think of Christmas, we have images of baby Jesus (not even crying) while laying in a manger. But if anything, peace was far away from the heart and mind of the king to whom this prophecy was given. Much like we are faced with the chill of this storm, Judah was faced with the chill of war. And the body count was high. We need to look at King Ahaz and what he dealt with in order to better understand the context of the first gift. Let’s look at 7:1.
ii. Background of Ahaz (7:1) Now it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, - Ahaz was a bad king from a good home. His father was a great king, Uzziah. But he strayed from the blessings of following the true God of his father. Consequently, he lost his way in life and in his leadership. He became anti-God, as a matter of fact. This is seen in a couple of different ways.
1. QUICKLY - Ahaz’s Life/Children Pass Through the Fire – There was the Hinnom valley that was like a combination of their trash dump and also the place where they would sacrifice to the gods that the people of Canaan. They would create stone statues with their arms extended. And to show their loyalty and seek to have good fortune in their lives, they would put the stone statue in the fire and heat it up until it was glowing red. Then they would put their infant children on the statue for a sacrifice to their god. That’s what Ahaz did..
2. Ahaz’s Leadership - Not only did he do this, but he led an entire nation to follow in his steps. He was so envious of the pagans’ worship that he had one of his priests copy the design of an Assyrian altar, go back to Jerusalem, make it and offer sacrifices to a foreign god…in the temple of God of the Jews. God was now raising the stakes in getting Ahaz’s attention.
iii. Ahaz’s Circumstances (7:1-2a) that Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to make war against it, but could not prevail against it. 2 And it was told to the house of David, saying, “Syria’s forces are deployed in Ephraim.” Because of all of Ahaz’s backsliding, God was demonstrating to Ahaz that you reap what you sow is a real and Biblical principle. Ahaz’s enemies became strong around him and started to move against him. 2 Kings from Syria and Israel (the northern part of the split kingdom) were attacking Ahaz in Judah (the southern part of the split kingdom). Ahaz is getting the report of what is happening and notice his response at the end of 7:2b.
iv. Ahaz’s Response to Bad News (7:2b) So his heart and the heart of his people were moved as the trees of the woods are moved with the wind.
1. It shouldn’t surprise us when we find that God is actually attempting to get our attention in a real and serious way after we have walked away from Him. Why does He do this? Because He greatly loves you and I. Other people may have been able to get away with something, but you discover that you’re the only person that doesn’t seem to get away with it.
a. And the Bible tells us that whom the Lord LOVES, He chastens (Hebrews 12:6).
b. But Ahaz and the rest of Judah are so scared about what is happening, the Bible describes their response as their hearts moving as the woods are moved with the wind. IOW because of their circumstances, they are swayed, scared, freaking out instead of not being moved by the changing of their circumstances because they knew God was in control.
c. Question – How do you respond when life takes a quick turn of events? What is your response? When it looks like everything is falling apart, what is your response? Do you stand, or do you discover that you’re the person who comes apart when life comes apart for you? God wants to change that for you tonight.
v. God Sends Isaiah and Son (7:3-4) 3 Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-Jashub your son, at the end of the aqueduct from the upper pool, on the highway to the Fuller’s Field, 4 and say to him: ‘Take heed, and be quiet; do not fear or be fainthearted for these two stubs of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and the son of Remaliah.
1. God Sends His Messenger to Give a Reality Check – In this situation God sends His prophet to tell the king that what he sees is not what is actually going to happen. This message has two important takeaways for us.
a. The Where: Notice where God tells the prophet to go. He says to go to the place where the water begins that flows down to the place where the launderer’s field is. Go to the place of cleansing and life and give the message of hope to the king.
i. God wants to cleanse us and give us life and hope If we will meet Him at His Word. Next, we will follow the command that Isaiah is about to give King Ahaz.
b. The What: The Command (7:4) and say to him: ‘Take heed, and be quiet; do not fear or be fainthearted for these two stubs of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and the son of Remaliah.
c. Take heed, be quiet, and don’t be fainthearted – God’s command is to not be afraid, but to be quiet and still. That is the word that is used here in Hebrew. It implies to be at peace, to be at rest.
i. Gifts Build on Each Other - These gifts that God gives are meant to build on top of one another. If you don’t have peace, but fear, you will never experience the faith that God has given you because faith and fear are mutually exclusive. Faith will be elusive. You will see others experience it, but you will feel like you are on the outside looking in.
d. Question – Do you feel like you are far from God this Christmas? Is there a lack of quiet, stillness, or peace in your life? You will not be able to hear from God if you’re not experiencing His peace, but frustration and fear. And if you’re too busy to be still before God, YOU’RE JUST PLAIN TOO BUSY! These are not my words, but God’s words to you tonight.
e. Matthew 6:33 – Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things [things you need] will be added to you.
f. Psalm 46:10 – Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.
i. It is no accident that God pairs the idea of being still with knowing Him. The two absolutely go together. And it is in that stillness that God wants you to have tonight that you will be able to hear Him. Slow down, be still and you begin to see the faith that hears God grow in your life.
g. Isaiah 26:3 - You will keep in perfect peace, him whose mind is steadfast on You [God] because he trusts in You.
h. John 14:27 - 27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
i. Only Jesus Gives Peace – Jesus is the only one who can give this kind of peace. It is not the false peace that comes from looking within. It’s the peace that the world cannot give to you and the world cannot take away from you. Jesus can give you this tranquil peace because Isaiah 9:6 tells us that He is the Prince of Peace.
i. Lying Still to Hear (illus.) “Before refrigerators, people used icehouses to preserve their food. Icehouses had thick walls, no windows and a tightly fitted door. In winter, when streams and lakes were frozen, large blocks of ice were cut, hauled to the icehouses and covered with sawdust. Often the ice would last well into the summer. One man lost a valuable watch while working in an icehouse. He searched diligently for it, carefully raking through the sawdust, but didn’t find it. His fellow workers also looked, but their efforts, too, proved futile. A small boy who heard about the futile search slipped into the icehouse in the afternoon and soon emerged with the watch. Amazed, the men asked him how he found it. ‘I closed the door,’ the boy replied, ‘lay down in the sawdust, and kept very still. Soon I heard the watch ticking.’”
2. Be Still - The key to many of our concerns, problems, and trials in life are due to the fact that we are unwilling to be still before God. Silence all the outward noises, social media, family, demands, technology, etc. and simply listen to God. The moment we make this a habit in our lives is the moment we begin to move to the second gift of Christmas. That is the second progression from being still. It is the gift of belief.
vi. TRANSITION – THE GIFT OF PEACE COMES FROM THE COMMAND TO BE QUIET, BE STILL. HAVING THIS GIFT GOES HAND IN HAND WITH THE SECOND GIFT THAT WE SEE IN VERSES 5-9.
b. The Criteria of Belief (7:5-9)
5 Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah have plotted evil against you, saying, 6 “Let us go up against Judah and trouble it, and let us make a gap in its wall for ourselves, and set a king over them, the son of Tabel”—7 thus says the Lord God: “It shall not stand, nor shall it come to pass. 8 For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be broken, so that it will not be a people. 9The head of Ephraim is Samaria, And the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son. If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.” ’ ”
i. The Criteria of Belief – Through these verses God shows us the Criteria of Faith when it comes
ii. Isaiah’s Message – Isaiah’s message was that the plots of the kings that were coming against Ahaz wasn’t going to happen at all. While they were flexing their might and strength, God wasn’t impressed. Ahaz wasn’t going to be destroyed or defeated by them. In 7:4 God called the two kings stubs of smoking firebrands…IOW God called said that these enemies who seemed to be so big and fearsome were just smoldering, sticks of wood. They weren’t even a fire anymore. They were near their ends.
iii. Question – How would Ahaz find this peace that God was commanding him to have? By believing in God’s promise that Ahaz’s enemies would be defeated.
1. Faith in God’s Word Brings Stability - God is telling this king, whose heart had swayed like a tree or bush in the wind at the news of the attack, that he would be able to stand securely, if he believed. His security, his endurance to the greatest threat his life had faced would last, if he believed in what God said. Do you believe what God says in His word? Do you act on it? When the chips are down; when things seem like they are overwhelming, do you believe what God promises in His word of giving you peace? Of delivering you? Of being your strength?
2. Faith Brings Peace - The only way we will find peace in the midst of trouble is by believing in what God says in His Word.
3. Faith is what Ahaz was missing from his life. The Bible says
a. Isaiah 40:8 – The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.”
b. Is faith in Jesus missing in your life as well?
iv. TRANSITION
c. The Call to Behold (7:10-14)
i. The Call to Behold – We have seen the Command to Be Quiet, to be still, that is to experience the gift of the Prince of Peace, even when life seems anything but peaceful. We have also witnessed The Criteria of Belief that gives us the stability instead of being driven and tossed by the winds of adversity. And having been given the peace of God, and exercising the criteria of faith from the Person of the First Christmas, we now look at The Call to Behold this Person who is the center of the First Christmas. The One who started what we now call Christmas. This is the most famous prophecy of Jesus’ birth.
ii. Ahaz’s Indifference (7:10-13) 10 Moreover the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying, 11 “Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God; ask it either in the depth or in the height above.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord!” 13 Then he said, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also?
1. Ahaz Misses Christmas – God was giving a sign to Ahaz whose range would extend far beyond the life of Ahaz. Ahaz wouldn’t be able to experience it because he feigned a spiritual response by saying that he didn’t want to test God. But that wasn’t his attitude at all.
a. Ahaz didn’t want to hear from God because he was leaning on his friend, the king of Assyria. He was leaning on the help of man. He had relied on his own strength or the strength of others in order
2. God is telling Ahaz, “The sign that I am going to give you is that I will be with you.” How was God going to do that? Through the incredible miracle of the Incarnation. That is what God wants us to Behold tonight as well. Let’s finish with verses 14-17
iii. The Sign of the Virgin (7:14-17)14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. 15 Curds and honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will be forsaken by both her kings. 17 The Lord will bring the king of Assyria upon you and your people and your father’s house—days that have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah.”
1. #1 Importance of Virgin Birth – What is so unique about the virgin birth? No one else has been born of a virgin. Every culture and religion recognizes that anyone who is born of a virgin would be absolutely unique and important.
a. Druze – There is a sect of Islam known as the Druze. They believe that the Virgin birth is so important, that they believe the Messiah is yet to be born. And when He is born, he will be given birth by a virgin male. As a matter of fact, they believe this so much that they entire sect wears baggy pants with a pouch in the front in case they give birth to the Messiah, unwittingly. The moral of the story is: Don’t choose to be a Druze. They didn’t actually get it right.
2. #2 The Scriptures Speak of Christ – Do you want to hear a conversation that took place between God the Father and God the Son? When did this take place? On Christmas Eve. Listen to this.
a. Hebrews 10:5-7 – 5 Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me. 6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. 7Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come— In the volume of the book it is written of Me— To do Your will, O God.’ ”
i. This is taken from Psalm 40:6-8.
ii. Jesus said that God the Father had prepared a body for Him. When did this happen? In the womb of Mary for 9 months. Jesus is here speaking of the Incarnation.
iii. When did Jesus say this? When He came into the world…
iv. Because of Christ’s Sacrifice of His body, our debt for our sin against God is paid. There was no other way for our sin to be paid. It had to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
v. This is good tidings of great joy to all people as mentioned in Luke 2:10-11.
3. #3 The Grace Comes from God in Christ – The One who initiated all of this so that you and I could be saved is God. This shows us that salvation is by God’s doing, not ours at all. By grace we have been saved through faith, not of ourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
a. Incarnation (Illus.) I read a story from a pastor about a group of friends who visited a barbecue restaurant in Georgia. After driving an hour to get there they discovered It was “all you can eat rib night.” Well it didn’t take much for the guys to create a pile of gnawed bones and dirty napkins pretty high. Long after they should have, the men admitted they’d had enough. They paid their bill and started to leave, but the driver couldn’t find his car keys. He looked in his pockets... nothing but lint... He looked through the car window to see if they were still in the ignition... nada. Suddenly, it hit him. He realized that when took a seat he set his keys near his plate. Apparently, the keys got covered with napkins, and were still on his plate when he emptied it in the trash. Tragically, this man’s car keys were at the bottom of all you can eat rib night! It would’ve been a long walk home, and neither he or his friends wanted to hail a very expensive cab ride... There was only one thing to do... dive in! For the next fifteen minutes the desperate searcher fished through rib bones, spit- up barbecue sauce, baked beans, half-eaten corn on the cobs, slushy cole slaw, pools of back-washed tea, and gobs of saliva-soaked napkins... until finally he found his keys. When the man pulled his arm out of the bottomless pit it was coated with a thick layer of trashcan slime.
d. This is what Jesus did that first Christmas!
a.
V. Review
a. We have seen The Prophecy of the Jesus at the First Christmas in Isaiah 7. From this we have seen.
i. We have seen the Command to Be Quiet, to be still, that is to experience the gift of the Prince of Peace, even when life seems anything but peaceful.
ii. We have also witnessed The Criteria of Belief that gives us the stability instead of being driven and tossed by the winds of adversity. And having been given the peace of God, and exercising the criteria of faith from the Person of the First Christmas.
iii. We also witnessed The Call to Behold Jesus, who is the center of the First Christmas.
VI. Conclusion
a. If you remove those things that take away your quietness and stillness, you will experience the ability to believe in God’s gift of Jesus Christ. Faith in Him allows you to be established, strengthened during the most challenging times in life. This in turn leads you to continue to go and Behold Jesus, the Person of Christmas year after year and be reminded of all that He has done for you and I that began that First Christmas in Bethlehem, but was foretold even 700 years before that in Judah. And if God used the story and life of a wicked king to show His grace and promise of peace, imagine how much He can do in your life that is surrendered to Him this Christmas?
View all episodes
By Pastor Brent LewisChristmas Eve Service at Calvary Boulder Valley in Louisville Colorado. Pastor Brent Lewis’ teaching on December 24 2022 titled ”The 3 Gifts Of Christmas-Isaiah 7:1-14”
Visit us on the web at www.calvarybouldervalley.com
I. A.G.
a. Immaculate Reception – This time of year all of TV is celebrating an event that hasn’t been duplicated. It has been referred to as the miracles of all miracles. The word immaculate has been applied to it as well. Why? Because on December 23rd 1972 with only 9 seconds left in the game, Franco Harris from the Pittsburgh Steelers made an improbably catch of a ball that bounced off an opposing player and ran it into the end zone. Yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of what has been called the “Immaculate Reception.” Immaculate… Miracle…while these words don’t literally apply to what is certainly an incredible play over 50 years ago, we are here to remember an event over 2,700 years ago that is literally miraculous. It was an immaculate conception. What we’re referring to this evening is the Virgin birth of Christ, or more accurately the prophecy of the Virgin Birth of Christ. It is the first and only time something like that has happened in the history of the world.
II. Intro.
a. First Christmas Meaning - When we talk about the first of something, anything, it is generally understood that we are referring to the chronology or importance of something. “I was the first in line.” Or we are referring to something preeminent: “She was the first violin in the orchestra.” First is the earliest, the best. It is often the original.
b. Tonight, we look at the 3 gifts of the First Christmas in Isaiah 7. We need to go back to the First reference to Christmas in chronology to understand the importance of the Person about whom the First Christmas represents. Because Christmas is, and began, as a Person. Let’s open our Bibles to get a better look at one of the most specific prophecies about His arrival. We will notice that the context in this chapter holds the key to experiencing the true meaning of Christmas for…every…single…person… Tonight’s study is called, “The 3 Gifts of the First Christmas.”
III. Preview
a. The Command to Be Quiet (7:1-4)
b. The Criteria of Belief (7:5-9)
c. The Call to Behold (7:10-14)
IV. Body
a. The Command to Be Quiet (7:1-4)
i. The First Gift – The first gift we are going to look at is the gift of Peace. It is stated in the command to “Be Quiet.” But it’s not stated the way we say it today. While we are going to be looking at the prophecy for the virgin birth of Christ, all was not well when this prophecy was first given. When we think of Christmas, we have images of baby Jesus (not even crying) while laying in a manger. But if anything, peace was far away from the heart and mind of the king to whom this prophecy was given. Much like we are faced with the chill of this storm, Judah was faced with the chill of war. And the body count was high. We need to look at King Ahaz and what he dealt with in order to better understand the context of the first gift. Let’s look at 7:1.
ii. Background of Ahaz (7:1) Now it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, - Ahaz was a bad king from a good home. His father was a great king, Uzziah. But he strayed from the blessings of following the true God of his father. Consequently, he lost his way in life and in his leadership. He became anti-God, as a matter of fact. This is seen in a couple of different ways.
1. QUICKLY - Ahaz’s Life/Children Pass Through the Fire – There was the Hinnom valley that was like a combination of their trash dump and also the place where they would sacrifice to the gods that the people of Canaan. They would create stone statues with their arms extended. And to show their loyalty and seek to have good fortune in their lives, they would put the stone statue in the fire and heat it up until it was glowing red. Then they would put their infant children on the statue for a sacrifice to their god. That’s what Ahaz did..
2. Ahaz’s Leadership - Not only did he do this, but he led an entire nation to follow in his steps. He was so envious of the pagans’ worship that he had one of his priests copy the design of an Assyrian altar, go back to Jerusalem, make it and offer sacrifices to a foreign god…in the temple of God of the Jews. God was now raising the stakes in getting Ahaz’s attention.
iii. Ahaz’s Circumstances (7:1-2a) that Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to make war against it, but could not prevail against it. 2 And it was told to the house of David, saying, “Syria’s forces are deployed in Ephraim.” Because of all of Ahaz’s backsliding, God was demonstrating to Ahaz that you reap what you sow is a real and Biblical principle. Ahaz’s enemies became strong around him and started to move against him. 2 Kings from Syria and Israel (the northern part of the split kingdom) were attacking Ahaz in Judah (the southern part of the split kingdom). Ahaz is getting the report of what is happening and notice his response at the end of 7:2b.
iv. Ahaz’s Response to Bad News (7:2b) So his heart and the heart of his people were moved as the trees of the woods are moved with the wind.
1. It shouldn’t surprise us when we find that God is actually attempting to get our attention in a real and serious way after we have walked away from Him. Why does He do this? Because He greatly loves you and I. Other people may have been able to get away with something, but you discover that you’re the only person that doesn’t seem to get away with it.
a. And the Bible tells us that whom the Lord LOVES, He chastens (Hebrews 12:6).
b. But Ahaz and the rest of Judah are so scared about what is happening, the Bible describes their response as their hearts moving as the woods are moved with the wind. IOW because of their circumstances, they are swayed, scared, freaking out instead of not being moved by the changing of their circumstances because they knew God was in control.
c. Question – How do you respond when life takes a quick turn of events? What is your response? When it looks like everything is falling apart, what is your response? Do you stand, or do you discover that you’re the person who comes apart when life comes apart for you? God wants to change that for you tonight.
v. God Sends Isaiah and Son (7:3-4) 3 Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-Jashub your son, at the end of the aqueduct from the upper pool, on the highway to the Fuller’s Field, 4 and say to him: ‘Take heed, and be quiet; do not fear or be fainthearted for these two stubs of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and the son of Remaliah.
1. God Sends His Messenger to Give a Reality Check – In this situation God sends His prophet to tell the king that what he sees is not what is actually going to happen. This message has two important takeaways for us.
a. The Where: Notice where God tells the prophet to go. He says to go to the place where the water begins that flows down to the place where the launderer’s field is. Go to the place of cleansing and life and give the message of hope to the king.
i. God wants to cleanse us and give us life and hope If we will meet Him at His Word. Next, we will follow the command that Isaiah is about to give King Ahaz.
b. The What: The Command (7:4) and say to him: ‘Take heed, and be quiet; do not fear or be fainthearted for these two stubs of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and the son of Remaliah.
c. Take heed, be quiet, and don’t be fainthearted – God’s command is to not be afraid, but to be quiet and still. That is the word that is used here in Hebrew. It implies to be at peace, to be at rest.
i. Gifts Build on Each Other - These gifts that God gives are meant to build on top of one another. If you don’t have peace, but fear, you will never experience the faith that God has given you because faith and fear are mutually exclusive. Faith will be elusive. You will see others experience it, but you will feel like you are on the outside looking in.
d. Question – Do you feel like you are far from God this Christmas? Is there a lack of quiet, stillness, or peace in your life? You will not be able to hear from God if you’re not experiencing His peace, but frustration and fear. And if you’re too busy to be still before God, YOU’RE JUST PLAIN TOO BUSY! These are not my words, but God’s words to you tonight.
e. Matthew 6:33 – Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things [things you need] will be added to you.
f. Psalm 46:10 – Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.
i. It is no accident that God pairs the idea of being still with knowing Him. The two absolutely go together. And it is in that stillness that God wants you to have tonight that you will be able to hear Him. Slow down, be still and you begin to see the faith that hears God grow in your life.
g. Isaiah 26:3 - You will keep in perfect peace, him whose mind is steadfast on You [God] because he trusts in You.
h. John 14:27 - 27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
i. Only Jesus Gives Peace – Jesus is the only one who can give this kind of peace. It is not the false peace that comes from looking within. It’s the peace that the world cannot give to you and the world cannot take away from you. Jesus can give you this tranquil peace because Isaiah 9:6 tells us that He is the Prince of Peace.
i. Lying Still to Hear (illus.) “Before refrigerators, people used icehouses to preserve their food. Icehouses had thick walls, no windows and a tightly fitted door. In winter, when streams and lakes were frozen, large blocks of ice were cut, hauled to the icehouses and covered with sawdust. Often the ice would last well into the summer. One man lost a valuable watch while working in an icehouse. He searched diligently for it, carefully raking through the sawdust, but didn’t find it. His fellow workers also looked, but their efforts, too, proved futile. A small boy who heard about the futile search slipped into the icehouse in the afternoon and soon emerged with the watch. Amazed, the men asked him how he found it. ‘I closed the door,’ the boy replied, ‘lay down in the sawdust, and kept very still. Soon I heard the watch ticking.’”
2. Be Still - The key to many of our concerns, problems, and trials in life are due to the fact that we are unwilling to be still before God. Silence all the outward noises, social media, family, demands, technology, etc. and simply listen to God. The moment we make this a habit in our lives is the moment we begin to move to the second gift of Christmas. That is the second progression from being still. It is the gift of belief.
vi. TRANSITION – THE GIFT OF PEACE COMES FROM THE COMMAND TO BE QUIET, BE STILL. HAVING THIS GIFT GOES HAND IN HAND WITH THE SECOND GIFT THAT WE SEE IN VERSES 5-9.
b. The Criteria of Belief (7:5-9)
5 Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah have plotted evil against you, saying, 6 “Let us go up against Judah and trouble it, and let us make a gap in its wall for ourselves, and set a king over them, the son of Tabel”—7 thus says the Lord God: “It shall not stand, nor shall it come to pass. 8 For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be broken, so that it will not be a people. 9The head of Ephraim is Samaria, And the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son. If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.” ’ ”
i. The Criteria of Belief – Through these verses God shows us the Criteria of Faith when it comes
ii. Isaiah’s Message – Isaiah’s message was that the plots of the kings that were coming against Ahaz wasn’t going to happen at all. While they were flexing their might and strength, God wasn’t impressed. Ahaz wasn’t going to be destroyed or defeated by them. In 7:4 God called the two kings stubs of smoking firebrands…IOW God called said that these enemies who seemed to be so big and fearsome were just smoldering, sticks of wood. They weren’t even a fire anymore. They were near their ends.
iii. Question – How would Ahaz find this peace that God was commanding him to have? By believing in God’s promise that Ahaz’s enemies would be defeated.
1. Faith in God’s Word Brings Stability - God is telling this king, whose heart had swayed like a tree or bush in the wind at the news of the attack, that he would be able to stand securely, if he believed. His security, his endurance to the greatest threat his life had faced would last, if he believed in what God said. Do you believe what God says in His word? Do you act on it? When the chips are down; when things seem like they are overwhelming, do you believe what God promises in His word of giving you peace? Of delivering you? Of being your strength?
2. Faith Brings Peace - The only way we will find peace in the midst of trouble is by believing in what God says in His Word.
3. Faith is what Ahaz was missing from his life. The Bible says
a. Isaiah 40:8 – The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.”
b. Is faith in Jesus missing in your life as well?
iv. TRANSITION
c. The Call to Behold (7:10-14)
i. The Call to Behold – We have seen the Command to Be Quiet, to be still, that is to experience the gift of the Prince of Peace, even when life seems anything but peaceful. We have also witnessed The Criteria of Belief that gives us the stability instead of being driven and tossed by the winds of adversity. And having been given the peace of God, and exercising the criteria of faith from the Person of the First Christmas, we now look at The Call to Behold this Person who is the center of the First Christmas. The One who started what we now call Christmas. This is the most famous prophecy of Jesus’ birth.
ii. Ahaz’s Indifference (7:10-13) 10 Moreover the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying, 11 “Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God; ask it either in the depth or in the height above.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord!” 13 Then he said, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also?
1. Ahaz Misses Christmas – God was giving a sign to Ahaz whose range would extend far beyond the life of Ahaz. Ahaz wouldn’t be able to experience it because he feigned a spiritual response by saying that he didn’t want to test God. But that wasn’t his attitude at all.
a. Ahaz didn’t want to hear from God because he was leaning on his friend, the king of Assyria. He was leaning on the help of man. He had relied on his own strength or the strength of others in order
2. God is telling Ahaz, “The sign that I am going to give you is that I will be with you.” How was God going to do that? Through the incredible miracle of the Incarnation. That is what God wants us to Behold tonight as well. Let’s finish with verses 14-17
iii. The Sign of the Virgin (7:14-17)14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. 15 Curds and honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will be forsaken by both her kings. 17 The Lord will bring the king of Assyria upon you and your people and your father’s house—days that have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah.”
1. #1 Importance of Virgin Birth – What is so unique about the virgin birth? No one else has been born of a virgin. Every culture and religion recognizes that anyone who is born of a virgin would be absolutely unique and important.
a. Druze – There is a sect of Islam known as the Druze. They believe that the Virgin birth is so important, that they believe the Messiah is yet to be born. And when He is born, he will be given birth by a virgin male. As a matter of fact, they believe this so much that they entire sect wears baggy pants with a pouch in the front in case they give birth to the Messiah, unwittingly. The moral of the story is: Don’t choose to be a Druze. They didn’t actually get it right.
2. #2 The Scriptures Speak of Christ – Do you want to hear a conversation that took place between God the Father and God the Son? When did this take place? On Christmas Eve. Listen to this.
a. Hebrews 10:5-7 – 5 Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me. 6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. 7Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come— In the volume of the book it is written of Me— To do Your will, O God.’ ”
i. This is taken from Psalm 40:6-8.
ii. Jesus said that God the Father had prepared a body for Him. When did this happen? In the womb of Mary for 9 months. Jesus is here speaking of the Incarnation.
iii. When did Jesus say this? When He came into the world…
iv. Because of Christ’s Sacrifice of His body, our debt for our sin against God is paid. There was no other way for our sin to be paid. It had to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
v. This is good tidings of great joy to all people as mentioned in Luke 2:10-11.
3. #3 The Grace Comes from God in Christ – The One who initiated all of this so that you and I could be saved is God. This shows us that salvation is by God’s doing, not ours at all. By grace we have been saved through faith, not of ourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
a. Incarnation (Illus.) I read a story from a pastor about a group of friends who visited a barbecue restaurant in Georgia. After driving an hour to get there they discovered It was “all you can eat rib night.” Well it didn’t take much for the guys to create a pile of gnawed bones and dirty napkins pretty high. Long after they should have, the men admitted they’d had enough. They paid their bill and started to leave, but the driver couldn’t find his car keys. He looked in his pockets... nothing but lint... He looked through the car window to see if they were still in the ignition... nada. Suddenly, it hit him. He realized that when took a seat he set his keys near his plate. Apparently, the keys got covered with napkins, and were still on his plate when he emptied it in the trash. Tragically, this man’s car keys were at the bottom of all you can eat rib night! It would’ve been a long walk home, and neither he or his friends wanted to hail a very expensive cab ride... There was only one thing to do... dive in! For the next fifteen minutes the desperate searcher fished through rib bones, spit- up barbecue sauce, baked beans, half-eaten corn on the cobs, slushy cole slaw, pools of back-washed tea, and gobs of saliva-soaked napkins... until finally he found his keys. When the man pulled his arm out of the bottomless pit it was coated with a thick layer of trashcan slime.
d. This is what Jesus did that first Christmas!
a.
V. Review
a. We have seen The Prophecy of the Jesus at the First Christmas in Isaiah 7. From this we have seen.
i. We have seen the Command to Be Quiet, to be still, that is to experience the gift of the Prince of Peace, even when life seems anything but peaceful.
ii. We have also witnessed The Criteria of Belief that gives us the stability instead of being driven and tossed by the winds of adversity. And having been given the peace of God, and exercising the criteria of faith from the Person of the First Christmas.
iii. We also witnessed The Call to Behold Jesus, who is the center of the First Christmas.
VI. Conclusion
a. If you remove those things that take away your quietness and stillness, you will experience the ability to believe in God’s gift of Jesus Christ. Faith in Him allows you to be established, strengthened during the most challenging times in life. This in turn leads you to continue to go and Behold Jesus, the Person of Christmas year after year and be reminded of all that He has done for you and I that began that First Christmas in Bethlehem, but was foretold even 700 years before that in Judah. And if God used the story and life of a wicked king to show His grace and promise of peace, imagine how much He can do in your life that is surrendered to Him this Christmas?