Hope For The Hopeless (Pastor Conley Owens)

Isaiah nine, one through seven.

So when you have that, please stand once again with me as we honor God's word.

Prepare our hearts for hearing it preached to us.

But there will be no gloom for her who is in anguish.

In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali.

But in the latter time, he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land of the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.

Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.

You have multiplied the nation.

You have increased its joy.

They rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil.

For the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his

oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.

For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel

for the fire.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder and

his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end.

On the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness

from this time forth and forever and more.

The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will do this.

Please be seated.

Father, again we come to hear your word preached to us, declared to us.

We pray once again that you would bless us with good reception, that our hearts are ready ground, soft and fertile ground for your

word to take root and to grow and to flourish within.

We pray blessing upon preacher and hearer alike that you would watch over our Pastor Owens as he

declares your word to us from the prophet Isaiah, that he would preach well with unction from above, with

power of the Holy Spirit, with confidence, Father, in the word that you have given and that we would

hear in a like manner and be changed as we listen to this living word declared to us.

So glorify yourself once again even in this for we ask it in Jesus' name, amen.

Good afternoon.

In 1939, there was a student at UC Berkeley named George Danzig.

One day, George Danzig wrote two homework problems off the chalkboard and he took them home.

And with some effort, he solved them and brought them in and turned in this assignment.

Except there was something special about this assignment because nobody else bothered turning in the assignment.

It turns out the assignment was no assignment at all.

George Danzig had walked in late to class and the two problems that were written on the board were not homework,

but were in fact two unsolved problems in the field of statistics.

What is it that separates George Danzig from all his peers in that class?

You know, maybe it's the case that he was a little bit smarter than them, but I bet if he had known that

this was not a homework assignment, he would not have bothered completing it.

He would have thought, oh no, this has not been solved.

It'd be too insolvable to even attempt.

The difference between Danzig and his peers is that he had hope, they were

hopeless.

Hopelessness and hope are powerful forces.

Hopelessness has taken great men and driven them to despair, even suicide.

Hope has taken weak men and propelled them to heights of greatness.

If there is something you need in your life, it is hope.

You may not realize that you need hope, but as difficulty

approaches you, as the realities of sin and death come near to your life, you will realize that the

thing you need most in your life is hope.

Thankfully, the word of God gives us a wonderful hope in Jesus Christ, and this passage

in Isaiah 9 addresses that.

The land of Israel had fallen into a great hopelessness, and Isaiah prophesies of the hope that will come in

Jesus Christ.

So as we look at this passage, I want us to see hopelessness and hope, what they each are, and then

we'll see them repictured in the next two verses, in verses two and three, as light and darknessness,

joy and sorrow.

So if you begin, and maybe you're already turned there, if not, please go ahead and turn to

Isaiah 9, and as I read this first verse, I'd like to let you know, if you're not already aware, that

the chapter divisions in the Bible are not inspired.

Right, they're arbitrary.

They were created at a later time.

And there's actually different versions of the Bible, especially in different languages, where the chapter

divisions are different.

In fact, if you were looking at a typical Hebrew edition of the Bible, you would see not

Isaiah 9 .1, but you would see this as the final verse of Isaiah 8.

Now, the point of that being, that this verse doesn't so properly belong in Isaiah 9, doesn't so

properly belong in Isaiah 8, it is transitional between these two chapters.

And the things that are talked here are continued from the previous verse.

The gloom that is spoken of here is the gloom that had set in Israel because people had rejected the word of God.

Half the kingdom of Israel had gone and made an alliance with Syria rather than trusting God.

And because of that, God decided that he would punish his

people by casting them off into hopelessness, by taking the kingdom away from them.

And so it is with that context that we begin here in verse one.

But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish.

In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun, the land of the Jews.

And the land of Naphtali.

The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, you might be familiar with those names as two of the tribes of Israel.

They are located in the northern region of Palestine.

And these two lands are between Galilee and the Mediterranean.

Now, what is special about here, what Isaiah is talking about, how they were thrown into contempt, is

the fact that this is the first area of Palestine where God sent

enemies to attack and take the people away into captivity.

This is the first place where he takes the promised land and grabs it back from them.

This is a significant point in Israel's history.

If you're the kind of person who wants to write these things down and look them up, if you look up 2 Kings 15

29, if you write that down and look it up later, that's where it talks about Zebulun and Naphtali being attacked and

taken away into captivity.

This is a huge point in Israel's history.

Israel had always had issues of rebellion, turning against God, turning against his word, engaging in

idolatry, rejecting his law.

But all in all, God was exceptionally merciful, even though they repeatedly broke his covenant and he was

free to withdraw his promises that were contingent on their obedience.

He had not done so.

So as he takes them out of Egypt, into the wilderness, out of the wilderness, into the promised land,

in the promised land, slowly gaining dominion over all the forces that existed in the land,

building up this kingdom.

All in all, God was incredibly merciful to the people, still granting them this promise, even though they had

rebelled against him.

But here for the first time, he instead takes that promise away from them.

He begins rescinding it, grabbing back Naphtali and Zebulun.

This hopelessness is something that comes from God.

It is when God abandons someone, that is the experience of hopelessness.

And this hopelessness is not just something that existed in that time, but it's something that everyone experiences

who rejects God's law, rejects his commands.

In fact, it's something everyone experiences from the moment they are born, because Ephesians 2 .3

says that all are born children of wrath.

We are children of God's contempt because we are born bent against his word, bent against his law, bent

against him.

We are born sinners, sinful people.

Now you may, I might not resonate with you because if you think of hope and hopeful people, you

think of children.

Well, how could I say that the children

are saddled with contempt or hopelessness from the beginning?

You see, what you often call hope in the world is not a real hope.

It's either a false hope or suppression of hopelessness.

Most people, ignorant of the reality that God requires much of them and they

are failing, they suppress that truth so that they don't have to deal with it.

And that is the quote -unquote hope that they have available to them.

That is not real hope.

And you see that that hope begins fading away and the hopelessness begins setting in as people become

more exposed to the problems of sin, more exposed to the problems of death, and they're not able to suppress this truth that

themselves are not enough.

You see people experience midlife crises where they begin flailing around, realizing that half their life is over.

And then if they're able to suppress that hopelessness for longer, then inevitably

comes death.

And as the soul awakens in judgment, what overcomes them but

hopelessness?

You know, in my meditations on the afterlife, I'm fairly convinced

that what will make hell so unbearable, so torturous, is not so much the

physical or spiritual torment that the soul will undergo, so much as the hopelessness that will

set in.

In this life, you can always imagine that there might be something better in the future.

You can always imagine that.

There, there is no illusion.

There is no illusion that there will be something better.

You could experience torment for thousands and thousands of years, but nothing will be different.

Nothing will change, and there will be no light at the end of the tunnel.

It will be an incredible hopelessness that cannot be suppressed.

So do not suppress it now while you are in this life.

Recognize that God is one who ought to be served, and he will throw into contempt anyone who goes

against his law, and furthermore, that all have done so, and all are in need of something more than just

themselves and what they have to offer.

But thankfully, Isaiah answers this with hope.

He says there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish.

In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time, he has made

glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

Now this is, I admit, a bit cryptic, and it's not immediately obvious what this is talking about, but

thankfully, we stand at a point in history where we have Jesus, we have the apostles.

They have told us what this passage means.

So if you go ahead and you turn to Matthew 4, we will see what

Matthew has to say about this prophecy in Isaiah.

Now when he, that is Jesus, sorry, this is Matthew 4, verse 12.

Now when he, Jesus, heard that John had been arrested, that's John the Baptist, he withdrew into Galilee,

and leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea in the territory of

Zebulun and Naphtali.

So that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled.

The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee

of the Gentiles.

The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and those dwelling in the region in shadow of

death, on them a light has dawned.

From that time, Jesus began to preach, saying, repent, for the kingdom

of heaven is at hand.

This prophecy that gloom is no longer on the land, that the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light.

This is about Jesus.

This is about the light who came into the world to give people a great hope.

And as he begins to preach, saying the kingdom is at hand, in other words, that kingdom that was taken away

from Israel, especially at the beginning in Zebulun and Naphtali, that kingdom that's being taken away is going to be

restored in me, going to be restored in Jesus.

If you've always, you know, as a Christian growing up, you always hear about Jesus beginning his ministry in

Galilee, but it's not clear why that's significant.

And maybe you come across this first and you say, oh, well, it fulfills prophecy.

But you see, it's so much more than that.

This is not some arbitrary prophecy to be fulfilled.

There is a reason that this prophecy happened and a reason why Zebulun and Naphtali were specified.

This is the ground zero of Israel's hopelessness.

This is where the promised land was first taken away.

And Jesus is making it ground zero of hope.

He is going to proclaim that not only is that kingdom going to be restored that was

taken away and given over to all the different powers and now currently occupied by Rome, not only will

Palestine be restored, but all the heavens and all the earth will be renewed and handed

over to God's people.

Think about the great hope that Jesus has given us.

It is not just a renewed heaven and earth.

It is a defeat of death.

He on the cross bore death so that all those who trust in him, though they experienced death in this

life will not have to experience the second death, will not have to be cast into hell, cast into God's

eternal contempt.

And Jesus, when he was on the cross saying, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

What was that?

That was Jesus expressing hopelessness, him

bearing the weight of hopelessness so that we might have hope.

Now, I wouldn't suggest that Jesus didn't understand what was coming for him, that he was going

to be raised again in three days.

I believe he understood these things.

However, he experienced all the weight of sin, all the weight of God's wrath, all the weight of hopelessness

so that all those who trust in him do not have to have that experience, do not have to

suffer that weight of hopelessness so that they can have hope and a great hope.

And it's not a limited promise to the land of Israel,

as Isaiah hinted when he spoke of Galilee of the nations.

Right, there's nothing, it's not the way Galilee is usually styled.

And there is nothing ambiguous about Galilee that would require some sort of

description to let you know which Galilee he's talking about.

This is saying, as Matthew translates it, Galilee of the Gentiles.

This is talking about this promise going out, not just to Israel, but to people everywhere.

The scope of this promise is to all who will trust in him, not just in the land of Israel, but all

people everywhere.

Now, a lot of times the wonder of this is lost on us because we are already very global and it's not something new or

surprising.

But if you think about this, all the hopelessness that Israel had been cast into, how much more hopeless would

it be from their perspective that the Gentiles could be saved?

And yet that is precisely what happened.

So, you know, think about someone in your life that you consider hopeless.

You think, there's no way, there's no way God will save them.

They're just, they're hopeless.

If he, if the scope of the salvation goes as far as the Gentiles, it can go as far as that

person.

Do not give hope, up hope on someone, call them hopeless because that is calling

God hopeless.

It's calling Jesus' message not hopeful enough.

Now, not only is the scope of the salvation so global, but it is

far more than just the afterlife.

It is more than just eternal life with Christ.

It is more than a renewed heavens and earth.

It is a hope for now.

Now, there are ways that we won't fully experience this hope until we go to be with Christ.

But this kingdom that he's declaring, he didn't just say that it is at hand and several

thousand years later when I come, then it will actually be here.

No, you look for the gospels.

He said the kingdom is already among you.

This kingdom that was at hand then, by the end of Matthew, it's already there.

This kingdom is now, which means this hope of the kingdom is now.

Any struggle that you are dealing with, any need, any

affliction, any mountain that you do not feel like you can overcome, there is hope in Jesus

Christ because he wants his kingdom to expand over this earth, because he wants

us to know the goodness of that kingdom and the goodness of his mercies so that he answers our prayer requests.

He will not just leave us only hoping in the future and not hoping that there will be experiences

of that salvation, taste of that salvation here on this earth.

He wants that eternal life to be accompanied by all sorts of

victories here and now.

And I am not guaranteeing you that he will give you every last thing you ask for, but I am telling you that this hope

is not just a future hope.

It is a now hope.

If you look back in Isaiah 9, Isaiah continues to

describe this hope a little more poetically at this point, comparing it to light

and darkness, right?

Darkness being hopelessness.

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.

Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shown.

Darkness, here very clearly, especially some of the stuff that was said in the last chapter and stuff

that's said all over the Bible represents hopelessness.

If you've ever been in a cave and turned off the lights, I've done this several times.

You know, both the really large fancy caves where they actually have electricity and then

also caves where I'm just in there with a flashlight.

It's scary when you turn off the light.

Now, I am a fairly adventurous person, so I kind of enjoy it, but usually when I'm with someone else,

how long does this last?

If you've done this, about how long do you keep the lights off for to experience it?

Maybe like 10 seconds.

Usually someone gets a little too creeped out and that's it, it's done.

The experiment is over.

This is something, this is evoking an image of sheer horror.

If you think about it, the plagues that went over the land of Israel, they're crescendoing, right?

From frogs and locusts, et cetera.

And just before God decides to kill all the firstborn males,

darkness, the ninth plague is darkness all over the face of the earth.

But yet, God says that it does not have to be darkness for you.

For those who trust in Jesus Christ, there is light because he is the light that has come into the world.

And it's just one way of illustrating this.

If you remember when Christ was sacrificed after he died,

the land was covered in darkness for three hours.

Now, this was not just a grand heavenly sign just so that something important had happened, which certainly

was the case.

Darkness was chosen specifically to show the hopelessness we have without Christ and the hopelessness that

he was bearing in place of all those who would trust in him.

That hopelessness, that hopelessness is not something that you have to

bear if you trust in Christ.

It is something that he bears for us.

Without him, we are like blind men, blind men who have no hope.

He continues on speaking of sorrow and joy.

You have multiplied the nation.

You have increased its joy.

They rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the

spoil.

So here you have a description of the nation being multiplied.

I believe this is another hint to the gospel going out to the Gentiles.

And then it talks about their joy being increased.

So not only is it increased in geographic spread, but it is increased in

the quality of it too.

What we have right now is so much greater than the hope they had of a promised land in

Palestine.

The hope we have is something so, so much more than that.

There's something else that's hinted at here.

It says they rejoice as with the joy at the harvest, and they are glad

when they, as they are glad when they divide the spoil.

What does the harvest imply?

The harvest implies that there was a time without food, right, there was the time leading up to the harvest where things are

becoming scarce.

And what do spoils imply?

Spoils imply there was a war, right, there was a time of real struggle.

These are things, this hope is something that is given to the people after a great long time of

hopelessness.

You know, if you've ever wondered why did God wait so long to send Jesus, or you ever wonder why

has God put me through such long times of hopelessness before granting me his hope?

It is not without purpose.

It is with great purpose.

He wants this joy to be great.

He does not want this joy to be limited.

He wants it to be the joy that happens at the end of the harvest, the joy that happens at the end of the war.

He wants it to be something wonderful.

This joy that we have in Jesus Christ is like a great diamond.

You look at that diamond and it's beautiful, but it is far more beautiful if you put it on something like black velvet.

You see it set in that context, and you see how much more beautiful it actually is.

Right, that suffering that he has ordained for us, this long time that Israel

was hopeless, these things were so that we would know the full joy

and not just some partial joy that God has to offer.

There is something special about being a redeemed people.

There's something special about not being like the angels who have been selected to be without sin and

never in need of salvation.

There's something special to being a person who has fallen away from God and been restored.

There's a special joy and hope and wonder that we will experience

and can experience now because of that.

This world that we live in, this is not plan B after God's first plan of the

Garden of Eden messed up.

This is plan A.

What he has for us, this hope in Jesus Christ, is greater than

anything else could have been.

This would not be a better world if Adam had not sinned.

Right, it would be a good world and that there would be no sin, but there is something wonderful and special God has

planned for us by being a redeemed people, by knowing the goodness of Christ's sacrifice

and love for us that we would not have any other way.

These struggles are difficult, but they are ultimately for the good of those who love him.

Any struggle you have, any need, any obstacle,

every single one of those can be overcome by this hope we have

in Jesus Christ.

And it is not just subjective hope that discovers

some latent strength inside of us, like that example I gave with George Danzig, right?

You know, that was just some latent strength inside of him discovered by this hope that he had, that he could finish this assignment.

We have something more than that.

Our hope is not just subjective within ourselves.

It is objective.

It is outside of ourselves.

By having this hope, it is not just our minds that are changed, but our status as people

in God's world is changed so that we are people who are in his kingdom and have his protection,

have his protection to endure through every trial.

And not only that, not only is there a real change outside of us, but there's a real change within us beyond our mind, in

our hearts, as God gives us his Holy Spirit so that we might endure, so that we

might have this joy inexpressible that we see here

in verse three, this joy inexpressible.

This hope is something wonderful, is something that you can know today.

If you are someone who does not have the hope of Christ, trust in him for your

salvation.

Trust in him for your salvation.

There is nothing else.

Everything else is mercurial.

He is the only thing that is unchanging, and he saves.

If you are a Christian, you already have this hope, but you find yourself struggling with hopelessness, and

you wonder to yourself, well, how does this make sense that I already have that hope, and yet I still have hopelessness?

One day, when you are with Christ, you will have that perfect hope.

However, now in this life, it is like sin, right?

And part of what Jesus accomplished on the cross was granting

us—he granted us the Holy Spirit so that we might be able to overcome sin.

However, while we might have great victories at the very beginning of our Christian walk,

those victories—our sanctification is gradual, our growth in holiness is gradual,

and it's the same thing with fighting against sin as it is with hope.

If you lack hope now, it is not something where, oh, whatever hope you've got at the beginning of your Christian walk, that's where it stays at.

This is a hope that can grow and grow so that you know God's joy more and more, and you can experience

that light more and more.

And there are ways of cultivating this.

You know, it's really easy for me just to say, you know, read your Bible and pray, but take seriously the fact that these people were

cast into hopelessness specifically because they rejected the testimony of God.

Dwelling in the Word is something that cultivates this hope for one who is trusting in Christ.

And I'll try to give you a very practical suggestion here.

I would recommend that if you struggle with hopelessness, read Isaiah 40 to the end of the book.

Isaiah 40 to the end of the book.

Dwell on those.

If you have difficulty understanding things, look up useful commentaries,

ask your pastors for help, but meditate on Isaiah 40 to the end of the book, because even though

we have passages like this that are talking about hope, really the heart of hope is in the second half of

Isaiah.

And then I would also recommend that you take each wave of hopelessness and use it as an opportunity to turn to the

Lord in prayer, that each time you feel hopeless, make a pact with yourself.

Resolve, as one might, you know, on January 1st, from now on, whenever I feel hopeless, I'm going to use

that as an opportunity for prayer, and I'm not going to let that opportunity pass.

This hope is wonderful.

Because Jesus bore death on the cross, bore

hopelessness on the cross, we might have hope.

We might have life.

He gives light to those who are in darkness.

He gives joy to those who are in sorrow, and he gives hope to the hopeless.

Amen.

Dear Heavenly Father, I pray right now for a people

who loves you and hopes in you, but also struggles with hopelessness.

I pray that you would help us to see the great hope we have in your Son, and that that hope would grow in our souls as the

Holy Spirit stirs us up to rely on you in prayer and to receive your word as food.

And I pray that as we encounter those who do not know you, who do not know this hope, that we would be eager to

share it and that they would be willing to receive it because there is no other hope.

I pray that those who suppress their hopelessness, those who

ignore these facts of reality, that they would not use that poor substitute of

living in denial for living in real hope.

God, be merciful to us and help us to see Jesus more fully every day.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.