Advent is not a season of sentimental carols; it is a season of the axe and the winnowing fork. Isaiah 11 declares that the same gentle shoot from Jesse’s stump will one day strike the earth with the rod of His mouth and slay the wicked with His breath. The wolf does not yet lie down with the lamb, the nations are still groping in darkness, and the visible Church is riddled with idols and false teachers. Yet right now, in verse 10, the Root of Jesse stands as an ensign—and the nations are supposed to seek Him through a hopeful, united, ransomed Church that refuses to lower the standard. This sermon asks the only question that matters this December: when the final sifting comes, will you be wheat headed for the barn, or chaff for the unquenchable fire? Come hear what Scripture, churchmanship, and even a phone call to your selectman have to do with escaping the wrath to come.
Advent 2
Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19; Isaiah 11:1-10; Romans 15:4-13; Matthew 3:1-12
You can also subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube.
I.
Today’s passage from Isaiah 11 is a prophecy of the Messiah and the coming messianic age, an age characterized by the restoration of all things (Acts 3:21).
Isaiah’s prophecy unfolds in three parts. First, it is a prophecy of separation and judgment. Second, it foretells the restoration of all things. Third, it speaks of the coming inclusion of the Gentiles in the family of God.
This three-fold prophecy can be summed up by saying: restoration follows judgment.
In other words, before Jesus can “love everyone” He must first judge and remove the wicked from among those whom He loves.
This is the meaning of John the Baptist’s words, “Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
Then Jesus will restore the righteous — after the wicked, and every trace of their rebellion, have been burned away.
II.
In verses 1-4 the Messiah is identified as “a shoot from the stump of Jesse.” That in itself is vivid, prophetic language. Jesse, the father of King David, has been reduced to a stump. Hundreds of years of spiritual failure are summed up right there.
Isaiah was living in the middle of it, much as we are living through the spiritual failure of the institutional church in our own day.
But there is hope. Isaiah also tells us that “the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon” this stump of Jesse and fill Him with wisdom, counsel, knowledge, and delight.
Over the course of the coming weeks we will read exactly how this prophecy was fulfilled.
When we retell the Christmas story on Christmas Eve, we will hear confirmation that this was fulfilled in the child born of Mary.
In a few more weeks’ time, we will hear further confirmation that Isaiah’s prophecy is true. After Jesus is baptized, the Spirit of God descends like a dove and a voice comes from heaven to say, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).
But much of the prophecy remains unfulfilled, the part that deals with the sifting and the sorting out and the judgment, and finally, the restoration.
We should ask ourselves: how will we fare when Jesus returns to sort things out? We all heard those ominous words of Jesus from last week’s gospel: “Then two men will be in the field; one is taken and one is left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is taken and one is left” (Matthew 24:40-41).
They are echoed again today in Isaiah 11:3, “He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear.”
This is bad news for anyone who puts his faith in his so-called “good deeds.”
God does not judge us by what can be seen. The Messiah will look beyond outward appearances to see the heart of the matter. There is no outward reason why one should be taken and the other left.
III.
We are in the middle of the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy but the final sifting and sorting out he predicts must wait until Jesus returns.
In the meantime, we are living smack-dab in the middle in verse 10. Open your Bibles and put your finger right on that verse. Put one of those map-arrow stickers that says, “You Are Here” in the margin. Isaiah 11:10 says, “In that day the root of Jesse shall stand as an ensign to the peoples; him shall the nations seek, and his dwellings shall be glorious.”
Every part of this prophecy has either been fulfilled or is being fulfilled. The root of Jesse has come. He has ascended to heaven where He dwells in glory. He has left us His holy word in the Bible as His ensign for faithful preachers to preach. The nations, even now, still seek His truth.
How wonderful it is to live during this time of prophetic fulfillment! Never say you have nothing to do or your life has no purpose. Your purpose is to live in this verse, in Isaiah 11:10.
This is a wonderful, yet difficult thing we have to do. Wolf does not yet dwell with lamb. The holy mountain, the place where God is worshipped, is corrupt. There are too many idols in the Church.
I had a pastor tell me yesterday that half his church are Democrats, half Republicans and they preach Christian values but not Christian politics.
I said, “You need to excommunicate the Democrats, tell the Republicans to wake up before it’s too late, and preach the kingdom of God.” Judgment begins with the household of God, I added (1 Peter 4:17).
If that’s how I talk to my friends, no wonder my dog is more popular than I am!
The visible Church suffers from every kind of false doctrine and schism, and preachers who, out of love for the holiness of the Bride of Christ, preach the truth, get called preachers of hate and destroyers of communities.
Here I need to tell you that after last week’s sermon the Litchfield South Association wrote to the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference, which holds my ministerial standing, and tried to have me removed from this pulpit.
The Conservative Congregational Christian Conference told the Litchfield South Association to go pound sand.
Now, neither the Litchfield South Association nor the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference has the power to remove me.
Only you, the members of this congregation, can vote to remove me, but still, that’s what I’ve been up against this past year.
The churches in this town that worship at the altar of progressivism can’t stand to have a biblical preacher in their midst, so they have tried to drive me out of this town and get me to forsake this call since the moment I arrived.
The reason why is obvious. The Church (capital “C” Church) today lacks unity and hope. Paul writes in today’s reading from Romans: “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction.” Then he adds, “that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.”
Hope is found by studying the word of God. This is something clearly many people who call themselves Christians, who may even be regular church-goers, have not done.
Such hope rooted in the Bible is not in vain. Hope founded in the Word produces fruit, even when its aspirations remain unfulfilled. Hope unites. It creates unity.
Paul continues: “May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
When the Church is serious about raising the word of God as an ensign to the peoples, she can expect three things to happen:
First, she will be a hopeful Church.
Second, she will be a united Church.
You see, united can’t just be in the church’s name. The church can only be united when her hope is in Christ Jesus. Her hope is that Jesus will return soon as the conquering Messiah to slay the wicked and to restore His long suffering Church.
Those in the church who are open to wickedness and want to see it affirmed attempt to divorce the Bride of Christ from her Bridegroom. Jesus, like any good husband, will defend His bride and not let her remain a hostage. He will ransom His bride.
That brings me to the third thing the Church can expect when she is serious about proclaiming the word of God: the nations will seek this hopeful, united, and ransomed Church. They will seek the Christ whom she faithfully proclaims.
Why has First Church tripled in membership in the past year? Because Isaiah’s prophecy is coming true: “him shall the nations seek.” We are living during the fulfillment of Isaiah 11:10. People are hungry and thirsty for the truth. They are seeking it out.
I am not the Messiah, neither are you. None of us is Jesus Christ and can claim His authority.
That means, unlike Him, we can only judge by outward appearances, by what we see and hear. That means we will be deceived from time to time.
Here, then, is one more proof that the Messiah, the human son of David, is also the divine Son of God: He is never deceived. He judges us as one who knows us from the inside. Only the one who created us can judge us that way.
IV.
John the Baptist judges the way that is familiar to us. His is the cry of righteous anger: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” he yells.
John, like us, can only judge by outward signs. “Bear fruit that befits repentance… every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire,” he proclaims.
Jesus says something similar in Matthew 7, as if He’s quoting one of John’s sermons.
Warning against false teachers in the Church, Jesus says, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits… Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Matthew 7:15-16, 19-20).
John’s words are directed to the Pharisees and Sadducees, Jesus’ words to false prophets. Misrepresenting God’s word has deadly results. In the Garden of Eden, God sentenced anyone who dared misrepresent His word to death.
History tells how this penalty is applied to nations, peoples, individuals, institutions, prophets, and churches that defy Him. Even His own Son had to die for our sins.
Christ’s death offers us the only hope we have of answering the question: “How will I fare when the Messiah comes to sort things out?” When He returns to judge, He will judge not by what He sees us do and hears us say, but by what He knows us to be.
The Word of God made us. To be unfaithful to that Word is to deny our creation. It is the beginning of our undoing. It is suicide.
But to stand on the Word of God, to be faithful and obedient to it, is to know Him who made us.
It is really this simple: when you study your Bible you are studying not only your Creator, but the one who recreated you.
Jesus loves everyone He has recreated. The test of whether you have been recreated — regenerated, born again, saved, call it what you will — is whether you cling to Him, or whether you cling to your own pride and to whatever sin you think makes you special.
V.
John the Baptist is the model of Christian boldness we need today, to challenge that pride. We need John’s boldness not just from our pastors, but from church members.
Like John the Baptist who announced publicly the coming of Christ, Christians need to publicly announce themselves as Christians. Furthermore, we can use the God-given means at our disposal to begin sorting things out and work to restore them. This is part of our work as we live in Isaiah 11:10.
The first means God gave us is Scripture. The level of biblical ignorance is astonishing. Just look at the Facebook comments on last week’s sermon and the letters I get.
Biblical illiteracy is the only reason arguments like “Jesus loved everyone” and “Jesus never said anything about being gay or abortion,” ever get any traction.
The best way to spot a counterfeit is to know the real thing. Many quote a Jesus that never existed because they don’t know what the real Jesus said.
The second means God gave us for sorting things out and restoring them is active churchmanship. That’s an old-fashioned word — churchmanship — and I’m guessing you’ve never heard it.
What it means is what I’ve stressed in each of the new members’ cohorts we’ve had this year. It’s what I meant when I ended last week’s sermon forcefully with the words, “There are no conscripts in the Lord’s army. We all volunteered.”
It means regular Sunday attendance at worship. It means taking an active role in the affairs of the local church to which you belong, of seeing what needs to be done and doing it.
It means supporting the church financially. (Stewardship letters and pledge cards were mailed out last week. Donate online here.) It means volunteering to fill slots on the church council, to serve as church officers and deacons.
It means assisting the minister with pastoral care, knowing the by-laws, and making sure we’re following them. This is churchmanship at the local, congregational level.
To the extent we can, want to, and are even still welcome to, it also means participating in the life of the larger church.
For 233 years the First Church of Woodbury has been part of the Litchfield South Association. That is a group of other historic congregational churches in southern Litchfield County.
Churchmanship means participating at the Association and Conference level, not so that we can endorse their progressive agenda, but so that we can hold them accountable to God for it.
That may seem like a fool’s errand, but I’ve written several articles and gone on many podcasts to explain why I think it’s worth a try. America’s old churches are worth saving. The local response to last week’s sermon shows why.
When a start-up church, or a house church, or a Bible study calls on the town’s historic churches to explain their apostasy, or calls on the town’s leadership to explain why they tolerate the public display of slogans and signs that offend God and the town’s God-fearing citizens, it’s easy to tune out. But it is hard to ignore when the pulpit of their first church speaks up.
There is nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide where the words of John the Baptist won’t ring in their ears, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”
That brings me to the third means God gave us for sorting things out and restoring them and that is active citizenship.
I am mindful that today is December 7, the anniversary of Pearl Harbor and this country’s entrance into World War II eighty-four years ago. Those men did not fight and die so that the towns of Connecticut could lose their capacity for self-government.
Eighty-four years later, forces that hate everything those men died for are organizing right here in Connecticut — and most Christians still won’t even pick up the phone, send an email, or, worse, vote.
Losing the ability to govern ourselves is the result of God’s judgment, the result of His wrath, but there are ways to shorten its duration and mitigate its effects.
First, you need to be able to spot the coin of the realm from the counterfeit. Read a chapter from the Bible every night. Start with the Gospel of Matthew.
To make it easier, get a copy of J.C. Ryle’s commentary on Matthew from Banner of Truth. He wrote it specifically to be read by fathers to their families. (I’ll link to it in the sermon online.1)
Next, think of this church as a reserve unit that’s about to be mobilized. Sign up for something today. Church council elections aren’t until next year, but already you can find out what these positions entail. Nearly everyone on council is termed out and if we’re going to follow our bylaws we need people to step up.
Finally, none of this matters if our town, state, and country fall into Enemy hands and become occupied territory.
Call or email First Selectman Paul Zulpa and Selectman Karen Reddington-Hughes this week, say you are a member of this church, and speak your mind about the things that matter to you as a Christian. If you don’t live in Woodbury, call your own selectmen and do the same thing.
This is a simple exercise anyone can do. By doing it you are starting to rebuild the Church’s political muscles, which are quite weak at the moment.
Paul writes in today’s reading, “May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Those aren’t words meant only for the Roman Christians of 2,000 years ago. They are the rule of biblical self-government for Christians in every age, especially our own.
Preached on December 7, 2025, at the First Congregational Church, Woodbury, Connecticut (https://www.firstchurchwoodbury.org).
https://banneroftruth.org/us/store/commentaries/expository-thoughts-on-the-gospels-9/?srsltid=AfmBOopr0iL8Gqb5TitG2VK-cz08AVLuhcjholzWFdm5xwilBbUUsB1v
