Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20011028.htm

SPECIAL INTERLUDE SERMON
Exchanging Today's Anxiety And Confusion For Productive Living
(Isaiah 8:19-9:2, 6)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

We are living in times when people are anxious, and are fairly desperate for answers to live in peace of mind:

(1) Over the last several Sundays, I have met several visitors to our Church services who have come seeking answers to anxieties they have come to feel since the September 11 terrorist attacks.

(2) On Wednesday, Oprah Winfrey advertised running a second edition of a show titled, "Managing Your Fear." She had hosted a previous show on the subject due to the effect of recent national events on people, and was swamped with calls and discussions! Accordingly, due to the demand, she has planned for a second show on the subject!

(3) I recently heard from a party who bears deep anger and hurt in the heart over unresolved problems of the past, and that though the party has been through extensive secular counseling!

(4) I was asked by a believer who has a friend who avidly holds to the Midtribulationist view to scan 57 pages that avidly defend the Midtribulation Rapture and were printed off of a website. This view holds the Church will live under antichrist for the first 3 years of Daniel's 7-year prophetic "week" of years. I was amazed to see the paper's author treats Matthew 24 as being for the Church, and that Christ's coming in Matthew 24:30 is held to be the Church's rapture!

(5) I got a call from a believer Tuesday wanting answers for some questions raised in interacting with other Christians: (a) one had claimed the King James Version was the only truly God-sanctioned translation for the Church, and (b) another held unless one had spoken in tongues, he did not have the Holy Spirit [and thus was not saved and going to heaven]! The caller knew these views were wrong, but needed some quick answers to counter them!

(6) Then, on Wednesday while surfing the TV stations, I ran across an afternoon show, "Crossing Over" on a major network. In it, a man answers questions for friends of deceased parties by allegedly bringing them messages from the dead! People are going to great lengths to search for answers to their concerns for PEACE of mind!

Well, WHAT can be DONE or WHERE can one GO to get ANSWERS to QUESTIONS regarding things that plague them, ESPECIALLY in our unsettling, post-September 11 world?!

(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "With many feeling FEAR or CONFUSION about what to THINK or HOW to FUNCTION in today's world, and that though even having sought professional help', is there any REAL answer!"
  1. The prophet, Isaiah ministered to a nation THREATENED by ASSYRIAN invasion as JUDGMENT for its SINS, Isaiah 8:5-8!
  2. This THREAT left Judah feeling VULNERABLE to HARM and restlessly SEARCHING for INSIGHT on LIVING, Isa. 8:11-12, 19:
    1. God urged Isaiah to resist the saying of paranoid fellow Hebrews who felt Isaiah's message to trust the Lord for security was a "conspiracy;" they felt his call for faith undermined making foreign treties to offset Assyria's threat, Isa. 8:11-12; Young, Isaiah, v. I, p. 309-310.
    2. Isaiah also critiqued those seeking insight from spiritists who called upon demons to imitate the dead, Isa. 8:19; Ibid., Young, p. 318-319!
  3. Isaiah told how Judah's SEARCH for INSIGHT needed to be REDIRECTED unto HEEDING SCRIPTURE ALONE, Isa. 8:20.
    1. The phrase, "To the law and to the testimony" (KJV and NIV) is a saying something like our "Back to the Bible," Ibid., Young, p. 319.
    2. Hence, Isaiah noted unless his fellow Hebrews said, "Let's get back to Scripture for our insight," they were in very deep trouble!
    3. Indeed, Isaiah revealed unless this were their focus, his countrymen would have had no hope of ever attaining productive, true insight:
      1. The word "light" KJV is better rendered "light of dawn" as the NIV has it, picturing the faint glow of early dawn light that promises a brighter DAY of insight, cf. Kittel, Biblia Hebraica, p. 620; B.D.B., Hebrew-English Lexicon, p. 1007.
      2. Hence, Isaiah noted unless the people were looking to Scripture alone for their insight, they were destined for a hopeless future!
  4. In fact, Isaiah described the HIDEOUS DECLINE people face by looking for INSIGHT OUTSIDE of SCRIPTURE, Isaiah 8:21-22.
    1. First, in failing to heed Scripture, the people failed to gain God's fulfilling insight, and thus became distressed, Isaiah 8:21a.
    2. Then this distress led to a restless search for good insight, Isa. 8:21b.
    3. In finding no adequate insight, the distressed people would become angry, foolishly blaming their human overseers and even God for their distress, Isaiah 8:21c.
    4. In angry desperation, these people would look for answers from any source, even from inferiors, leading to greater unrest, Isaiah 8:22a.
    5. They would thus keep sinning in ignorance only to suffer Assyrian invasion in God's judgment, Isa. 8:22b, Ibid., B.D.B., Heb. & Engl. Lex. of O.T., p. 66; Ibid., Biblia Hebrica; T.W.O.T., vol. I, p. 64.
  5. In CONTRAST, Isaiah described the STABILITY and PEACE found by those who look to God's Word ALONE for INSIGHT:
    1. Though God would allow the Assyrians to conquer Israel in the north, He would one day show mercy on them and honor those in the northern tribal areas of Zebulun and Naphtali, Isaiah 9:1.
    2. This blessing would come in the form of a Great Light shining among the people living in spiritual darkness, Isaiah 9:2. In the context, we know this is the Word of God in the flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ!
      1. As Isaiah's context reveals "darkness" comes from an absence of knowing God's Scriptures, the "Light" has to reveal God's Word!
      2. Well, Jesus is God's "Word come in the flesh," Jn. 1:1, 14, and His Galilean ministry came to the tribal areas of Zebulun and Naphtali!
    3. This Jesus would bless His people as follows: (Isa 9:6; also Ps. 1:1-6)
      1. He would be the "Wonderful" or "Supernatural Counselor" Who gives God's perfect guidance superior to mediums, Isa. 9:6a; 8:19.
      2. He would be the "Mighty God," the Protector of His people, 9:6b.
      3. He would be the "Father of Eternity," One Who as the Eternal God offers stability to His people even in times of distress, Isa. 9:6c.
      4. He would be the "Prince of Peace," or One Who gives hope of His coming KINGDOM of peace to His people, Isaiah 9:6d.
Application: For handling unrest and unsettling views in today's world, (1) trust in Christ, the Word of God Incarnate, to receive eternal life, John 3:16; 1:12-13. (2) We will thus become indwelt by the Holy Spirit Who ILLUMINATES the Bible's words to clarify God's TEACHING to us, John 14:26; 1 Cor. 2:9-15. (3) Thus, we can (a) depend upon God's Spirit for clear thinking (Gal. 5:16-23) and (b) study Scripture ALONE for all the INSIGHT, NURTURE, PROTECTION, STABILITY and HOPE we need to lead FRUITFUL lives, Isa. 9:6; Psalm 1:1-6! (4) We MUST look to SCRIPTURE as our SOLE authority, cf. 2 Tim. 3:16-17: letting OTHER idea sources INFLUENCE our thinking leads to adopting ERRANT ones to our eventual GLOOM, 8:20!

Lesson: As God relates to us in ACCORD with His WORD, we must "get back to the Bible" ALONE to KNOW His truth and OBEY it for blessing! >

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 Reading our Bibles is what we need to do today. To show how doing so addresses needs, we show how Scripture answers questions raised in this sermon's Introduction as follows:

(1) For those suffering the "post-September 11 syndrome" or who are unsettled after being to counselors, a clinical study noted by Christian psychiatrist, Dr. Frank Minirth, You Can Measure Your Mental Health, p. 14 found Christians "who spent time daily with the Word [the Bible], were found . . . to show no significant pathology."

(2) Regarding the Midtribulation rapturist who holds Matthew 24 speaks of the Church, In Mtt. 24:15-16, we read Jesus said great tribulation comes after the antichrist sets himself up as god in the midst of the 7-year "week" of Daniel 9:27. Well, Matt. 24:29 says "immediately after the tribulation of those days," the days of antichrist's blasphemy, Jesus will return, Mtt. 24:30. If this is the rapture as the Midtribulationalist says, it does not occur when he himself claims it does -- at the middle of the 7 years -- but after it! Rather, Matt. 24 is for Jews in the Tribulation, cf. Mtt. 23:37-24:3!

(3) Regarding the King James Version being alleged to be God's only true version, we read in Nehemiah 8:4-8, 9 in the King James Version that Ezra read the Hebrew Scripture text and it was verbally translated (into Aramaic for the post-exilic Jews who knew only Aramaic). So moving was this Hebrew-to-Aramaic translation, its hearers began to weep in learning their sins had led to the captivity!

Well, Ezra's 444 B.C. Aramaic translation did not use the KJV Elizabethan English of A.D. 1611, so even according to the KJV text itself, the KJV is not the "only right version" for God's people to use!

(4) As for the view one must speak in tongues to have the Holy Spirit and be saved (Rom. 8:9b), Paul said in 1 Cor. 1:2 his Corinthian readers were SAINTS. Yet, in 1 Cor. 12:30, Paul asked the rhetorical question expecting a negative answer to show NOT all of THEM had spoken in tongues! Tongues speaking is NOT required for salvation!

(5) As for the "Crossing Over" program, contacting the dead for the living, we read in Leviticus 20:6 this is an evil God condemns! Rather, Isaiah 8:19-20 tells us to seek "the law and the testimony" of Scripture to have true insight that genuinely edifies our hearts!