WORSHIP VIDEO LINK (linked after 10:45 AM Service)
WORSHIP AUDIO LINK
SERMON AUDIO LINK
BULLETIN
SERMON TEXT BELOW
Advent 1 2025
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud
November 30, 2025
Isaiah 2:1-5, Romans 13:8–14, Matthew 24:36–44
Sermons online:
Text and Audio: immanuelhamiltonchurch.com click “sermons”
Text: pastorjud.org
Audio: pastorjud.podbean.com
itunes: bit.ly/pastorjud
Full Service Audio: bit.ly/ImmanuelWorship
It is silly at this time of year that I am repeatedly surprised at how dark it is outside but when checking the time, it is only 6 PM. In the summer it stays light out until past 9 PM, now the sun sets around 5. It is a dark time of year and it is getting darker. That is a good metaphor for the world in which we live. The world we live in is dark and it is getting darker. I am kind of a news junkie. I want to keep up with what is going on, but, sadly, the news is mostly depressing accounts of darkness. It is a dark world.
There are ongoing wars and oppression. There is so much violence and murder and abuse. Hatred is promoted and justified. Disagreement is now seen as offensive. Growing up my teachers would say, “I strongly disagree with you, but I will fight to the death for your right to say it.” Now opposing viewpoints are shouted down and silenced. If someone says something you disagree with that can be considered violence. Physical violence, rioting and even assassination are becoming more acceptable especially among young people. It is a dark world.
Social media gives the opportunity for endless quarreling and jealousy as insults are traded online that you would never say in person, and folks brag about their lives looking for likes. You can find someone to fight with online around the clock. Constant struggle, constant anger, constant fighting; never-ending conflict that drags you into the darkness. It is a dark world.
Some things are so dark it is hard to believe. In Nigeria, Christians are being murdered by the thousands and it seems nothing is being done to protect them. Hundreds of school children have been kidnapped in the middle of the night and taken into the forests. It is a dark world.
The abuse and exploitation of children in our own country is a constant threat as you hear about kids being attacked and harmed and extorted online by strangers, and in person by people they know. Trusted adults such as teachers, relatives, pastors, coaches abuse their positions of trust and assault innocent children. It is a dark world. Last week 122 missing children were rescued from child predators in Florida. How many more are enslaved, enduring unspeakable abuse?
God’s good gift of sexuality is perverted and twisted and turned into big business. Americans spent $13 billion last year feeding their desires for sexual immorality. More and more people are being arrested with deviant material involving children. It is a dark world.
It is a dark world in which you live, and to compound the problem, you have darkness within you inherited from your first parents who were expelled from the Garden of Eden. Having darkness in you, there is a great risk that you could slip into the darkness and get used to it and become quite comfortable living in the darkness. You are under an ongoing temptation of the darkness in you wanting to be one with the darkness in the world.
It is indeed a dark world, and it is hard to escape. You used to be able to go home and shut the door and be somewhat protected. You still had darkness within you, but the dark world was outside. To gratify the desires of the flesh you would have to go to the orgy in Rome, or to the brothel, or out to the sketchy tavern to get drunk and argue and fight. Home was a fortress. This is reflected in a prayer at the end of our wedding service.
P O God, our dwelling place in all generations, look with favor upon the homes of our land. Embrace husbands and wives, parents and children, in the arms of Your love, and grant that each, in reverence for Christ, fulfill the duties You have given. Bless our homes that they may ever be a shelter for the defenseless, a fortress for the tempted, a resting place for the weary, and a foretaste of our eternal home with You….
There was a time that to engage in great evil you mostly would have to go out to the evil. Your home was a bulwark, but now there are breaches in the walls of your fortress. First it was affordable printed material that became widely available in the last 150 years. Books with cloth and paper bindings printed on powered printing presses might be great, edifying works; even the Word of God. Or it could be material that inflames the desires of your flesh. Then radio came in, but the airwaves were regulated to keep the programs mostly enriching. Then broadcast television which was also regulated and those in the media were conscious of what they were delivering to their consumers. The government regulated the airwaves and controlled content.
But then came cable television and it was a hole in the wall of your fortress through which the filth of the darkness could be pumped directly into your eyes and soul. And then came the internet which could be used as a portal to great darkness. And now you carry with you your smartphone which can be a very useful tool, but is also a hatchway to an endless ocean of darkness that can flood your life and drown your soul. Great darkness is always only a few clicks away and then for deeper darkness there is the dark web. No longer do you need to leave your home to engage in great evil -- the internet delivers sexual immorality and quarreling and jealousy right into the palm of your hand.
And you may not even mean to be drawn toward the darkness. Predators access innocent children for exploitation through seemingly harmless online games. In this age of continuous connection with hours a day spent staring at a screen, social media algorithms seek to discover and understand and exploit the darkness in your soul so it can engage with the darkness in you so you keep scrolling and scrolling and scrolling as you sink into the darkness.
There was a time that those in the media industry were careful about what they delivered into your home, but for the last 60 years or so there is a growing, intentional effort to portray sexual sin as positive and normal, and to villainize anyone who would disagree. There is a coordinated effort by those in the media to normalize the darkness by encouraging people to embrace the desires of the flesh and gratify those desires.
It is a dark world and you have darkness within you and there is a great temptation to just give in and become one with the suffocating darkness. It is like being in a deep cave with no lights. The darkness is overwhelming. You do not belong to the darkness. As a baptized child of God you just want to scream at the darkness in frustration. You want to curse the one who brings the darkness. You want to do something, but you do not know what to do. What can push back against the darkness? What is the old saying? It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. Down in the deep darkness of a lightless cavern how wonderful it would be to light a single candle.
You are in a dark world and you have darkness in you, but you are not darkness. You are the light of the world. As we read in Colossians 1:13–14 (ESV) 13 [God] has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
You live in a dark world and you have darkness in you, but the darkness will not win. Praise the one who breaks the darkness. Romans 13:11 (ESV) 11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.” Jesus is coming back. The sun of righteousness is ready to dawn. Romans 13:12 (ESV) 12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.”
Cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. The light is not from you. The light is armor, given to you by Jesus. Jesus declares in…John 8:12 (ESV) 12 … “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” In Matthew 5:14–16 (ESV) 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
Ephesians 5:8–11 (ESV) 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” (emphasis added)
You are the light of the world. Jesus’ light covers the darkness in you. He has given you light and life. Live as a child of the light. Not to earn anything from God but because it is your true identity. You are light in the Lord. How do you live as light in a dark world? Romans 13:9–10 (ESV) 9 … “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
Living as light in the Lord is not living a life of being exalted by the world. The dark world hates the light. Living as light in the Lord is not about living for you, but rather living for others. Living as light in the Lord is living so when people see your good works they give glory to God.
In a world that is as dark as a lightless, deep cave you are a candle in the darkness. Your life, reflecting the love and forgiveness of Jesus, pushes back the darkness wherever you go. You take in evil from the world, but you do not respond with evil, you respond with love. Matthew 5:44 (ESV) … Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,”
It is a dark world…stay on guard. Wake from spiritual sleep that ignores the darkness or gets used to the darkness. Wake up and remember who you are as a baptized, redeemed child of God. You are a child of the light.
Wake up and beware of all the ways the darkness tries to creep into your home, into your life, into your soul, trying to drag you down to the eternal darkness of hell. Wake up and stay alert to how the darkness within you strives to be one with the darkness of the world. Wake up, because you are no longer darkness, you are light in the Lord.
It is a dark time of year, but at the end of December the daylight will start to increase a little each day as the light returns. As we begin the season of Advent we look forward celebrating arrival of the light: Jesus’ arrival in Bethlehem and Jesus’ return on the last day. We remember the events leading up to the arrival of Immanuel, God with us, that night in Bethlehem. Each week we will light another candle of the advent wreath as we count down to the night we celebrate the birth of God in flesh. Late December is the darkest time of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. At our Christmas Eve worship you will visually see light pushing back the darkness. You will see light spreading from a single candle to everyone in the church, showing the spread of the light of Christ from the resurrected Lord, to His disciples to Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, even into your life as a child of light. In this dark world there are billions of Christians shining the light of Christ in a dark world. You are light in the Lord. Jesus is coming back. The day of the Lord is at hand. Cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Amen