South Gate Baptist Church
Sunday Worship - November 30, 2025
  • Glory To God Forever
  • Your Grace Is Enough
  • It Came Upon The Midnight Clear (Carol)
  • Living Hope

  • Introduction

    Now we can finally say that it is the most wonderful time of the year because we’re after Thanksgiving and it’s officially Christmas time! Right around the beginning of December a few years ago, there was a crisis in the Hayworth household… for $7/month, we could download an app that would allow you full, unrivaled, exclusive access to the entire catalog of Hallmark Christmas movies. If you know my wife, you know that this a dream come true… and this was not a hill that I was going to die on, so we caved and that particular Christmas season we watched enough Hallmark movies to last a decade. During that Christmas season, I did a deep dive on Hallmark movies and I want to help some in this room understand that the plot remains the same in virtually every single one!
    There’s a girl, usually from a big city, who comes back home for Christmas and is stressed out due to a relationship or a job. She runs into a guy in the small town usually in a plaid shirt who is kind and helps her with something. The girl has a crisis and her wealthy boyfriend from the city doesn’t care about her and the audience begins to root against him and for the small town guy… fast forward and usually a dog shows up and after a conflict or two, the woman ends up with the small town guy and everyone “ewes” and “awes” because, we all love a feel good story. We like it whenever there is a good moral principle or whenever there is a light of hope that is clear for all to see. We love stories of hope - stories where the good person wins. These stories fill us with hope. What is hope, though? Is it wishful thinking? Is it a good feeling? We see this in our world… but what about God’s Word?
    Biblically, hope can be defined as: A strong and confident expectation, an unwavering trust in the unchanging character of God.
    Do you see the difference? Our world hopes in ourselves and things around us… I hope Missouri wins. I hope this Christmas is good. I hope I get a promotion. But Biblically, hope is something so much deeper and so much stronger. It is confidence in our God who does not change. Today, do you have this hope? This confidence?
    Maybe you are here today, you’re in this season and everyone around you is excited and hopeful, and you feel a little out of place. You don’t have much hope. You don’t have much joy. You don’t have peace. You don’t feel the Christmas love. Maybe you feel more like Scrooge than anything else… if this is you, I’m so glad that you’re here and look forward to walking through this Advent season with you as we’re reminded week after week that Jesus provides us with these incredible things - starting today with hope. We’re in Isaiah 9 and we’ll see an incredible promise that God made 700 years before the birth of Christ.
    Isaiah 9:1–7 CSB
    1 Nevertheless, the gloom of the distressed land will not be like that of the former times when he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. But in the future he will bring honor to the way of the sea, to the land east of the Jordan, and to Galilee of the nations. 2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; a light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness. 3 You have enlarged the nation and increased its joy. The people have rejoiced before you as they rejoice at harvest time and as they rejoice when dividing spoils. 4 For you have shattered their oppressive yoke and the rod on their shoulders, the staff of their oppressor, just as you did on the day of Midian. 5 For every trampling boot of battle and the bloodied garments of war will be burned as fuel for the fire. 6 For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. 7 The dominion will be vast, and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.

    God Promised to Send a Savior (Isaiah 9:1-7)

    This is one of the most wellknown Old Testament passages about Jesus Christ and it’s one that many of us rejoice in every Christmas season, especially with these descriptions of what Jesus would do and who He would be. Isaiah shares that the people who walking in darkness have seen a great light! Think about all the darkness in the world at this point of human history, some 700 years before Christ. Gone are the days of Egyptian glory. The Assyrian’s are the new major world power in Isaiah’s time but they had a plethora of problems that plagued their government. Do you remember why Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh? They were infamous for their torture of other nationalities and religious groups. They were violent and cruel, and they weren’t alone. Daniel talks about these rebellious nations coming up in power, Babylon, Greece, Persia, and Rome… but eventually they all fail and they all fall. The American Revolution desired to break away from this one person system and have a government established, “of the people, by the people, for the people” but we know that our government system is far from perfect because the people in power and the people of our country are sinful and broken… because we all are sinful and broken. We look around our world and we see every single governmental system in human history representing severe problems and we wonder where we can find genuine hope.
    This passage begins by talking about distress and darkness, yet God (verse 2) sends a light. This is exactly what John’s Gospel says regarding Jesus
    John 8:12 CSB
    12 Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”
    Sometimes we wonder why we’re having a difficult time. Why suffering strikes. Why people desert us. Why this, why that. Why it seems like we’re walking in darkness. Fannie Crosby, one of the greatest hymn writers the church has ever known, was once told by someone that they were so sorry that she was born blind. We could say, she lived in darkness of sight. She replied back to this person, “If I had a choice, I would still choose to remain blind… for when I die, the first face I will ever see will be the face of my blessed Savior.” See, whenever you walk in darkness, you appreciate the light so much more. Whenever you know what it’s like to be sick, you appreciate being healthy so much more. Whenever you know what it’s like to be hungry, you appreciate having food so much more. For us as Christians, whenever we remember our past, we appreciate the finished work of Jesus so much more! Because He provides us with light.
    This light and this work of the Lord brings about victory for God’s people. This is big news for people who know that they are surrounded by powerful enemies. See, Isaiah 9 serves as the basis for our Christian hope as God promises to send a Son and establish the government on His shoulders and that this king will rule on the throne of David forever. This is good news for God’s people, but they didn’t know when it would happen… they had hope that one day these wrongs would be made right, but they didn’t know when. So during Advent we remember this tension - God’s people knew that God would come through, that light would push back the darkness, but they didn’t know when. For us, we know that Jesus did come, but we also don’t know when He will come again. So we wait… but we don’t wait without hope.
    At Christmas, we celebrate the arrival of Jesus - the fulfillment of this promise. That God gave His Son… whenever we think of love we usually think of a feeling. I love this thing, I love going to this place, I love this person, I love playing this game, why? Because of the way that this thing or person makes us feel. We usually think of love in a feelings way. The Bible isn’t against this, we see in the Bible that love certainly is a feeling. But the Bible also shares with us that love is a fact - God IS Love! God LOVES His children! Our feelings don’t change those facts. God proves His love to us through action. Look with me in Romans 5:8
    Romans 5:8 CSB
    8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
    Before Jesus died for us, we see yet another example of God’s love in the most popular Bible verse in the world, John 3:16
    John 3:16 CSB
    16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
    This is the essence of Isaiah 9:6-7, God sent His Son. God demonstrates His love by giving of Himself… for US. Jesus came from the throne room to the delivery room, for us. Jesus came from the glory place to the gory place, for us. Jesus came from the place of exaltation to the place of humiliation, for us. He loves us. He died for us. This speaks of the humanity and divinity of Jesus - He would be born as a baby boy in Bethlehem and grow up to do what only God could do - forgive sins. Who is this Jesus? Savior, Shepherd, Son of God, Sacrificial Lamb, Snake Crusher, Suffering Servant, Sustainer, and so much more! Look at what Isaiah says about Jesus:
    Wonderful Counselor
    The Messiah would have divine wisdom. The Jews expected a military hero — but Jesus came to conquer something far greater: sin.
    Mighty God
    Not just a mighty ruler — but God Himself in the flesh. Fully God, fully man
    Eternal Father
    Not that Jesus is the Father, but that He acts with fatherly care and eternal authority. A King who shepherds His people forever. Dad’s, we are temporary fathers tasked to point and lead our families to their eternal Father!
    Prince of Peace
    His kingdom would not be built on war, but on reconciliation — peace with God through His life, death, and resurrection.
    These titles describe what Jesus will do and who He is in His character - yet, verse 7 gives us an even clearer picture into this mystery as Isaiah shares that He will reign and rule His Kingdom with justice and righteousness and His Kingdom will never end. So much could be said about this but we don’t have enough time to uncover all the gems of truth in this text.
    Notice how this flows in Isaiah 9.
    Isaiah 9 outline:
    Light Breaks Through Darkness
    God Defeats His Enemies
    God’s Son Rules
    How is any of this possible? Only through the love of God in reconciling straying, stubborn, sheep to Himself through His Son. God’s answer to everything that has ever terrorized and harmed His people isn’t a bully, it’s a baby… His name is Jesus. Now, this makes no sense, does it? You have powerful enemies around you. Yet, a child will come in the future and this one baby will change the course of human history. Many today say that’s not how the world works, one child can’t do all that… we answer back, you don’t know this child. This Christ. This Conquering King. God makes a promise, 700 years before Bethlehem, to send a Savior.
    Ephesians 2:1–13 CSB
    1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins 2 in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. 3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, 5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! 6 He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— 9 not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do. 11 So, then, remember that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh—called “the uncircumcised” by those called “the circumcised,” which is done in the flesh by human hands. 12 At that time you were without Christ, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

    God Provides Salvation for Sinners (Ephesians 2:1-10)

    Isaiah 9 is a common Christmas sermon text. It talks about the hope that we have because of God’s promise to send Jesus… but we live on this side of the cross some 2,000 years. We don’t just live with the promise of Christmas, we live under the provision of Christmas. We know that Jesus came. But why? Why would the sinless Son of God have to come to this earth in the first place? Isaiah 9 told us that the people were walking in darkness… why? Ephesians 2 gives us that answer and it is an answer that cuts against the message of the masses.
    One of the recurring lies that our world says is that we are all good. There might be some bad people, but most people are good people, we just sometimes make mistakes. If our problem was ignorance, God could’ve sent a teacher. If our problem was economics, He could’ve sent a policymaker. If our problem was loneliness, He could’ve sent a companion.
    But our problem was sin—so He sent a Savior. Look at how Ephesians 2 illustrates our situation:
    Dead in sins, walking in darkness, children under wrath. This isn’t just bad news, this is helpless news! It makes sense why this isn’t on social media, because it doesn’t sell very well. It would be like this, 3 patients have heart disease and they go to their doctor for a checkup. The doctor comes back to each of them with the results of the scans and says this, “I have good news for you… but you won’t understand the good news unless I give you the bad news first. You have a serious complication because you chose to smoke and before you chose to smoke, you lived as a child in a smoking household and all of that smoke has impacted your lungs so severely that you will likely be dead within a year, unless you have a major surgery which, good news, we can do right away.”
    The first patient says that this is outrageous news that has ruined his entire day… he immediately leaves the examination room.
    The second patient says that this news isn’t accurate and that he is going to go to another doctor to offer another opinion because he doesn’t feel that bad and he knows plenty of people who have smoked longer and more than he has and they haven’t had serious problems or required surgery.
    The third patient looks the doctor in the eye and says, “Doctor, I really don’t want to have this surgery… but I’m thankful that you told me the truth. I’m thankful that there is a treatment to my problem, please tell me more about it so that we can treat the issue!”
    Tim Keller once said, “You didn’t choose the harm, but you can choose to end it.” In other words, you can’t choose the fact that you grew up in a smoking household. You can’t choose the fact that people have hurt you. You can’t choose the fact that people have sinned against you… but you can choose that it stops with you.
    As sinners, we are not just kind of sick with a little cold. We are critically ill with a terminal diagnosis. Left to ourselves, we have no hope. We have to understand how broken and hopeless we are apart from Christ before we see the beauty and wonder of Christmas and Calvary! God provides His love to lost sinners. Look at verses 4-5, But God - rich in mercy because of His great love that He had for us - made us alive with Christ, you are saved by Grace! These 2 words are the best words of all!
    We were dead… but God made us alive
    We were children under wrath… but God poured out His wrath upon His Son
    We were captive to the powers of this world… but Jesus defeated those foes and gives us victory
    We didn’t climb out… Jesus pulled us out
    Christmas isn’t what people expected… but it’s what we all needed! This isn’t all great news… it’s hopeless news at first. But without that reality, we’d fail to see the love of God on display at Christmas in sending a Savior to seek and save lost sinners who without Jesus are hopeless.
    Just as Isaiah 9 tells us that God’s light breaks through darkness, how He will defeat His enemies, and how His Son will Rule and reign, consider what Ephesians 2 tells us. We were walking in darkness as children under wrath… But God! Light breaks through darkness. God defeats our enemy of sin and death because of HIS great love. God’s Son Rules and purchased our salvation. God provides hope to lost sinners and this is great news for who? Me and you - who either in our past were lost sinners or today are still lost sinners. We don’t receive this salvation because we deserve it - it’s simply because of God’s great mercy and love that He gives to us. This isn’t a conditional love in the sense of God promising to love us if we do our part perfectly and always check the right boxes… no, then it would be merited by us. This is an unmerited, amazing, adoptive, love from our Father given to people who could never earn or deserve it. God simply chose to give His Son and to give His love to a lost and dying world and to save all who would repent and believe in Christ as Lord and Savior. Have you done that? If you have, then we have a word for that and the word is “Saved” - you have been saved from the penalty of your sin, you are being saved from the power of sin, and one day you will be saved from the presence of sin. Not because of how awesome you are… but because of WHO your God is and WHAT your God has done.
    (Possibly add another Gospel illustration/nugget)

    God Provides Living Hope Through Christ (Ephesians 2:11-13)

    We sang earlier about the living hope that we have in Jesus as those who are saved. Once you are saved, you are sealed with the Holy Spirit, and once you are sealed, you are secured in the hands of a God who doesn’t know how to drop His children. This means that once the love reaches you and gives you a new heart, you have a promise from God that you will be with Him forever. Ephesians 2:8-10 tells us that it isn’t our works that save, it is Jesus’ work on the cross. We confess our sin, we trust in Jesus’ work, we follow Him as Lord, and we are saved. As those who are saved, look at verse 10, what are you supposed to do? To work - not to save yourself, but to demonstrate the love and grace and holiness of your Savior. Christian, there is work for you to do today… not to earn God’s grace, but to do in gratitude for His glory and His saving of your soul. We can think of grace like this: God’s Rewards At Christ’s Expense. What did it take for you and me to be saved? It took Jesus coming to this earth… living a perfect life… dying in our place on the cross… raising from the grave… ascending back to heaven to prepare a place for His followers. This is costly!
    Look at how God’s grace changes the story in these verses - before Jesus, we were
    Without Christ
    Without the promises
    Without hope
    Without God
    Again, we’re dead in our sins, walking in darkness, children under wrath. This isn’t a good place to be - and praise God that He didn’t leave us there! Verse 13, But NOW. See, God took the initiative. God acted. Look at what 1 John 4:10 says
    1 John 4:10 ESV
    10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
    What does that word, propitiation, mean? It means to forgive sins by satisfying the judgment of the party that was wronged. God sent His Son into this world, not to condemn the world, but to save the world. Jared Wilson shares it like this, “If this truly was God’s plan from eternity past, and if God’s love was confirmed and expressed climactically in the satisfaction realized by the cross of Christ… this means that God’s not mad at you. No more hoops, no more hurdles. You don’t have to measure up to earn His favor. He is eternally pleased with you not because of your sacrifices, but because of Christ.” We have an eternal hope because of what Jesus has done.
    Because of the cradle, you can trust in God’s promises in the Old Testament to remember His people living in darkness as light entered this world. Because of the cross, you can trust in God’s promise to redeem and rescue and regenerate sinners into saints and to save us for all eternity from the stain of sin. We once had no hope… we were outside the covenant. We were broken. We were walking in darkness as children under wrath… But that’s not where the story stops - because of Jesus, those who were once far off have been brought near. We celebrate today the hope that we have because Jesus is Immanuel - God with us!
    Just as in Isaiah 9, we see this same flow in Ephesians 2
    We were in darkness and under wrath… but light broke through
    Light Breaks Through Darkness
    We were God’s enemies… but God saved us
    God Defeats His Enemies
    We were without hope… but in Christ we have living hope
    God’s Son Rules
    Do you see the hope that God provides by sending Jesus? Do you see how Jesus changes the story?
    So what do we do with this?
    Bring your darkness into the Light
    Sin and brokenness thrive in the darkness and shame thrives in silence. We are all tempted to hide things there. To say that we’re ok. To put on the mask and pretend… but friends, Jesus has something better for us. He is the Light and He calls His people to walk in the light. In fact, Jesus says to flee from the darkness. Today, bring your brokenness, failures, shortcomings, sins, and bring them to Jesus. Bring them to the Light. Turn away from them and trust that He has something better for you today. Walk in the light.
    Stop trying to save yourself, rest in Christ
    Ephesians 2 reminds us that salvation is a gift - but sometimes we don’t like accepting things that we haven’t earned. The root of that problem is pride. Inside each of us is a temptation to try to earn our way. To think that grace is too good to be true. The hope of the Gospel is that it’s exactly as Scripture says - salvation is a gift from God that we don’t achieve, but that we receive. Today, stop trying to save yourself - realize that work has already been completed and rest in what Jesus has done. Trust in Him alone!
    Share your “But God” story
    Look at where we were - dead, in darkness, children under wrath. This is where we all were at one point. And maybe it’ where you are today. But it doesn’t have to be where you stay. Today can be your day of salvation! For those of us who are saved, South Gate, are we sharing that “But God” story? Your testimony has 3 parts: Before Christ, When Christ Saved You, and After Christ Saved You. Are you sharing that story with others? This is the season to do this! We have the best news of all to share.
    From darkness to dawn—Jesus delivers hope. And that hope has a name. His name is Jesus.
    Trust in Him!

      • Isaiah 9:2–7ESV

      • John 8:12ESV

      • Romans 5:8ESV

      • John 3:16ESV

      • Isaiah 9ESV

      • Ephesians 2:1–13ESV

      • 1 John 4:10ESV

      • Ephesians 2ESV

      • Isaiah 9ESV

  • The Heart Of Worship
South Gate Baptist Church
jhayworth@southgate.org
(417) 886-3851
5 members