Isaiah 7:14 | When Your Way Isn't Working

Sunday Morning | December 22, 2024 | John C. Majors | Louisville, KY

In his December 22, 2025, sermon, "When Your Way Isn't Working," Pastor John draws from Isaiah 7:14 and Matthew 1 to explore how Emmanuel—God with us—offers hope when our own ways fail. Reflecting on Joseph’s unexpected dilemma upon learning of Mary’s pregnancy, Pastor John highlights the humility of Christ’s birth and contrasts it with how human solutions often emphasize control and power. He challenges listeners to look for God actively, shift focus from problems to God's greatness, and step forward in faith, even when circumstances seem insurmountable. Pastor John emphasizes that the key to finding a new way is embracing the truth that God is with us, a promise demonstrated throughout Scripture. He encourages those who don’t yet know Christ to begin a relationship with Emmanuel, urging them to make today a turning point for themselves and their families, embracing a life defined by trust and the presence of God.

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Transcript

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Well, we've been studying the Book of First Peter together. We're going to take a break from that today to focus on more of a Christmas message on the story of the birth of Christ, and then we'll actually continue over the next four weeks to take a break from First Peter to talk about some things to launch us into the New year. And as I approach today, someone, in fact, a few weeks ago gave me a book here in the church by the title When Your Way Isn't Working. And I thought, what kind of message are they trying to send me? That's a message we can all hear at times. We've all been there in seasons when your way was working, you're living life your way, you're doing your thing. And then till it's not working. Yeah, you've had that. I know you know what I'm talking about. I'm doing it my way. And then it's not working. In fact, then it shifts into not only is it not working, it's making everything worse. I'm sticking to my plan. I'm all good. I'm all in, guns blazing, and it's not working and it's causing more problems. What do I do? You found yourself in that season. What do you do? We're going to look at a passage today. It's going to be very familiar. And I think in there is a key word, in fact a key name that is going to give us direction for what we do. How do we find a new way when your way isn't working? So turn to Matthew chapter one. As we look at the story of the birth of Christ, a very familiar story. And in that we're going to see this one particular word, this one particular name. We're in Matthew chapter one, verse 18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way when his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together. She was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. One of the fascinating parts of the story of the birth of Jesus is just how unlike it would be, anything that we would do if we were God. I mean, if I were God, and I was going to come and try to deal with the people who had rebelled against me, rejected me, rejected my law, I wouldn't come as a little bitty baby in a manger born to a virgin. Which sounds crazy because it is. I wouldn't come that way. I guarantee you there would be lots of flashing lights, lots of explosions, lots of bowing down. I'd have perfect abs and be shirtless through the whole thing, carrying large weapons of some type. All kinds. You know, it would be intimidating. And then we would just start at the bottom. I'd start when I was four years old with Little Jimmy, who stole my machine gun and broke it. I'd start with him and he'd get all kinds of judgment, and we would just go down the list till justice was served. That's how I would go about coming back. But not Jesus. He comes humble, small, quiet. He comes-- the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve. That's how he comes. That's what makes it so amazing, so unbelievable. In fact, it was quite unbelievable to one person in particular. Joseph, if you look at how he responds, though, look at verse 19-- and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. Try to imagine how that conversation went. We're engaged. We're looking forward to a life together. We have our honeymoon already planned in the Mediterranean. We're probably going to work in sales for a few years, put off kids, enjoy the outdoors, maybe get into rock climbing and camping, and eventually have kids, settle down. But no, now she's coming to me saying she's pregnant and I know it's not me, but she says it's the Holy Spirit. Okay, right. Sure. What do you do with that? This tells you a little bit about Joseph's character, because what he says in this moment, he doesn't want to put her to shame. Even though she has ruined everything. I thought we were headed this direction. And look at what she's done. My life has completely changed. I thought we were going to have a life together. Now I'm facing divorce. Divorce? Before I'm even fully married. Yet I don't want her to suffer for this. I want to put her aside quietly. That tells you a little bit about who he is. His character. And look, I think many of us have faced situations not just like this, but where you thought, this is where things are headed. Everything looks good. I've got the perfect plan, and now I'm facing something I never thought I would face. Takes some courage in the fact that Joseph could still look at the bigger picture, could still lean on God, could still ponder these things in his heart, still pray in the midst of what any of us would consider to be a radical redirection. Now, what happens is Joseph is contemplating that and something happens after that. Look at verse 20. In fact, in these next few verses we're going to see the term, the word, the phrase that's going to guide us through how we find a new way when our way isn't working. Look at verse 20. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son. You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means. And here's the phrase that we're going to unpack today, Emmanuel, God with us. When you have been trying things your way and it's not working and you need a new way, what we need is to remember and experience God with us. And so we're going to look at three ways today in particular to know, experience, God with us, Emmanuel, in this season and moving forward. Because to find a new way, something has to change. I've got to be a more aware of God with us. And if you know God, he is with you. He promises he is with you that he'll never leave you. So how do we grow closer to him? How do we know he is with us? We're going to look at three ways. Let's look at this first way. The first way it'll be on the screen. The first way is to look for him. Be active in looking for him. Many times we float through life and we're not actively thinking about him in our lives. Him around us. We're just floating through it, kind of blocking him out. You know, the interesting thing of that quote we saw in verse 23 is it's a very familiar passage. If you've been to church at Christmas any time, this is probably been quoted or read, but it's a quote from the Old Testament. That's one thing we've seen in First Peter over and over again. He loved to quote from the Old Testament. This is a quote from the book of Isaiah,

and it's Isaiah 7: 7:49

14. I've read that, studied that many times. And what's interesting about the context of that, what was going on at the time Isaiah was talking to King Ahaz, and Ahaz had been doing things his way, been trying to go about it his way. He was facing attack from two other kings. And so instead of turning to God for help, he sold off stuff in the temple to get money to go hire another king to help him come and rescue me. He was doing it his way and Isaiah comes to him and says, look, no, God will rescue you. He will show up. You don't just do it your way, depend on him. In fact, ask for a sign from him that he'll show up. And Ahaz says, I won't ask for a sign. He tries to make it sound humble, like, how dare I ask God for a sign? But Isaiah knows what's going on because he says to him, no, no, no, look, you are testing God. You won't trust him. You refuse to depend on him. You want to do things your way. So he's going to give you a sign. He's going to give you a sign of a baby born from a virgin called Emmanuel. God with us. Ahaz, in the midst of when he needed God to come alongside him, didn't want him, wasn't looking for him, didn't want to hear from him, didn't want a sign. And look, I get it. We've we've been there, you've been there. You've been in that place where everything is going bad, you don't feel good, and you just you don't even want to turn to God. Maybe you're embarrassed to. Maybe you're full of shame. Maybe you're worried that he might ask you to do something you don't want to do, and so you don't turn to him. But our call is to be looking for him, to be expecting him to move. There's a group of islands north of Scotland. Scotland's on the northern part of Great Britain, and many of them are quite remote. But in the 30s and in the 40s, there was a pretty amazing revival that swept through a number of those islands. And if you read some of the accounts of people who were there, they'll say things like, there was an expectation every day that God was going to move today, one lady said, I went to bed one night, not a Christian, but I went to bed knowing God is doing something. God is at work. He's stirring in our community and I woke up and it was like the atmosphere had changed in an instant, and I knew he had shown up in our town just from the time she went to bed to when she woke up and she said, everywhere I went, people were talking about God on the bus. They were singing hymns in the fields. They were stopping to pray in the line at the butcher shop. All they were doing was talking about what God was doing in their lives and how he was present, and they could feel that he was moving in the islands. And it wasn't because some amazing preacher showed up, it was just because they prayed and they were expecting, and they were longing and they were waiting and they were looking for him. They were looking for God with us. Emmanuel. They wanted him there. And so when you're stuck in your way, start by just calling out for him, come, Lord Jesus, come. I know you are there. Be with me. That's the first way to experience Emmanuel. Now let's look at the second way here. Secondly, when you are trying to do things your own way and you need a new way, focus on how great he is rather than how great your problems are. Focus on how great he is. Focus outward. Focus on something much greater than you rather than what's inward. And there's a great example of this in Exodus chapter three. Exodus is the second book of the Bible. You want to flip over there just within the first 50, 60 pages here at the beginning of the Bible. Here we see Moses and you remember the story of Moses. Maybe you don't know all of it, but you know the whole Ten Commandments. You know that Israel was enslaved in Egypt and they needed to get out. And Moses was actually kind of an adopted son of the Pharaoh. And so he tries to take things in his own hands. He tries his way and he kills one of the guards, buries him to hide him. He's found. And so he has to flee. He's tried it his way. It didn't work. He's working as a shepherd for decades, and one day God comes to him and says, now it's time. I'm going to use you. I'm going to use you to free my people. And here's how that conversation went. In fact, here's how Moses responded in Exodus chapter three. If you look at verse 11, here's what he says. But Moses said to God, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? That's his immediate response. He was super confident when he was a lot younger. That tends to happen. Had a little bit of life happen. And now he goes, whoa, whoa whoa whoa. Who am I? I'm nobody now. What I tried before didn't work when I was younger, stronger, more influence. How am I going to do anything now? And here's what God says to him. Keep reading. Here's what he just says. Who am I? God said, verse 12, but I will be with you. He simply says one thing I will be with you. There's a great quote on this by Kyle Adam, and he wrote the book that was given to me. This quote will be on the screen. It says, this is how God assures Moses in his fears. He doesn't list out all his attributes. He doesn't say to Moses, look, no, you've got all the skill set already. You're in a good place. You have a very intimidating facial hair. There's all kinds of attributes that we will use to bring these people out of slavery. No, no, no, he doesn't do that. He simply says, I will be with you. I will be there beside you. By the way, I was beside you when your mom put you in a basket and pushed you out in the water. I was there with you. And when you were on the run for your life, I was there with you. If you've ever had a child that you need to send outside to do a chore late at night and it's dark and it's cold and they've heard a noise, good luck getting them outside at that point. You can use every bit of convincing you can think of. Look, nothing has ever happened at night outside taking out the trash in the history of the world, nothing has happened. Not going. You have basically a nuclear powered flashlight that could light up Mammoth Cave from here, the entirety of it inside. You'll be okay. Nope. Not going. You know, you're older now. You shouldn't be as worried about going outside at night in the dark. Now that you're 34. It's okay. You can do it, I promise. None of that works at all. But when you say, take my hand, let's go together. I will be with you. Okay. Let's go. I will be with you, he says to Moses. And where that turns for us is to worship. We need to focus not on our problems, our challenges, our fears, but on him. He will be with me and he is all powerful. That's why we sing Holy, Holy, Holy to remind, not him. He doesn't need to be reminded that he's holy. I've got to be reminded that he's holy because I so quickly forget. I so quickly forget how powerful he is. I encounter the smallest problem and it derails me. I got what I believe truly is a dishwasher that's possessed. I'm convinced it is. I looked at every aspect of it that I could to fix it, and then I had to do the crazy thing and call a repairman. Don't judge me, men, okay? I did all I could. I called a repairman and he came and he said, well, I've looked it over and I've determined I can't fix it. You seem handy. Good luck. I said. I don't ever want to see you again. Get out of my house. You were my one hope. I even started walking in other parts of the room, of trying to avoid the dishwasher. And when a kid would say, hey, there's a leak, dad, it's leaking again, I said, Julie, if a neighbor ever calls you and says, you know, someone just threw a dishwasher out your front window, I said, just call the police. Just call the police. Because at that time, sometimes it's the littlest thing that makes you feel like, why has the whole world conspired against me? And that's not even a real problem, by the way. It wasn't like a family member was rejecting me, or I lost a job, or had a big challenge at work, or facing chronic illness. Something of real significance. Someone at school who I thought was a friend and has now betrayed me and has it out for me, something that is really weighty. I've got to be reminded all the time to worship who is he? He is so much greater than whatever I'm facing. I got to turn to him over and over again. So he is greater than anything I am facing. Remember he is with us. Look for him. But then there's a third way to experience Emmanuel. To experience God with us, especially this time of year. And in fact, it happens just a few verses over in Exodus 14, just a few pages over. But the third way we move forward is to step forward in faith, to step forward in faith. Moses, God said, Moses, I want you to lead people out. Eventually he does. You have the ten-- I said, ten commandments earlier. That's part of Moses's story. But what I meant was the plagues and all that, all that happens, they leave, they're walking through the wilderness. They think everything's great, we're good, we're free. And then off in the distance, you hear the army coming. Change their mind. It's all over. And Moses cries out, God, what should we do? God gives him direction and he relays it to the people. And if you look over in 14 Exodus 14, verse 14, verse 13, Moses said to the people, fear not, stand firm, see the salvation of the Lord, which will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent. If that were only easy to just be silent and wait on the Lord. Now the interesting thing here is, even though he says the Lord will work for you, you have only to be silent. He does give Moses a task. You do have a role in this Moses. Just a few verses later, lift up your staff. Verse 16. Stretch out your hand over the sea. Divide it that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. Yes, I'm going to do everything, but I've given you something to do, and you need to step forward in faith. That's one way I show that I. I trust that you're working. I take a step forward in faith. But the beautiful part of that verse, you have only to be silent. You have only to depend on me more than anything else. And when all you do is hold out a staff and the water parts, you know, that was not me. I had absolutely nothing in that. There's no way that me doing this is parting water. God is the one who moved and he is the one who is with us. And that's the burden today. God is with you. He is Emmanuel. If you know him, he promises it's some of his last words to the disciples, I will be with you even to the end of the age. As you go out to tell others about me to make disciples, I'll be right there with you, he says in Hebrews. I'll never leave you or forsake you. We are the ones that forget that he is with us. If you know him, he is with you always. And if you don't know him, don't let another day go by without knowing him, without trusting in him. Let this be the day where you put a stake in the ground for your sake, for your family's sake, for generations to come. Where you say, from now on, our family will know Emmanuel, God, with us. From now on we will serve him instead of self. From now on, of course, I'll have ups and downs, but today will be the day. Don't let another day go by. Don't let another Christmas go by without knowing you stand right with him, that he is Lord in your life. I'd love to talk with you about that after the service, I'm usually down front mingling around. You saw some of the elders that were down here. They would love to talk with you, to pray with you, to talk with you about what that means, to follow Christ. Let me tell you, it is the greatest joy, the greatest hope. It's the greatest delight. You will ever experience in this life. And if you want a new way when your way is not working, that's the starting point. Let's pray. God, we thank you for being Emmanuel. God with us. You are with us. You are here even when I am not in tune to you, even when I have blocked you out. You are here and you are everything we read on screen from Isaiah chapter nine. Wonderful, Counselor, Almighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, and of the extent of your government there is no end. God, we may we walk in that truth today. May we be filled up with the reality that you are with us. You are Emmanuel. We love you, Jesus. Amen.