Seeking once again the Lord's
help I would like you to turn with me to the chapter that we
read together Isaiah 59 and the text 49 and the text you'll find
at the last part of verse 6. I will also give thee for a light
to the Gentiles that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end
of the earth. It has often been said of the
The prophecy of Isaiah is like the gospel of Isaiah. Isaiah being a prophet of God
about 700 or so years before the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ prophesied so precisely and remarkably about the coming
of the Lord Jesus. In chapter 9 it tells us that
the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light, and
they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them
hath the light shined. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
being prophesied as a light that was going to come into a world
of darkness. In the same chapter, chapter
9, it's the chapter we often read at Christmas time. For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his
shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
And of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end,
upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it
and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth
for ever and ever. zeal of the Lord's host will
perform this. And so Christ is prophesied as
coming as a light into the darkness, to come as a child, as the mighty
God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, and the
increase of his government there will be peace. and his throne
will be established for ever and ever. Remember this morning
that we looked at the shoes, the feet were to be shod
with the preparation of the gospel of peace and so as we look at
the Old Testament we see a lot of war, a lot of the battles
that the people of Israel won were by fighting physically The
enemies of God, those who worshipped those idols, who turned away
from the true and living God, and God promised that he would
give them the promised land. as they advanced, they fought
those physical wars and we couldn't really say that there's a lot
of peace. There were times of peace, there
was not a lot of peace and so Christ was coming as a king to
establish a kingdom that would not be of this world and a kingdom
that would have an everlasting peace. We know as the believers
follow the Lord Jesus Christ we are called to walk through
the enemy territory, the narrow way that leads to life is through
enemy land but as those who went before us are not looking at
those things round about us we seek for a city that is out of
sight, whose builder and maker is God. Our destination is heaven,
the peaceful happy place where there'll be no more tears and
no more sadness and no more sorrow. So the Lord Jesus is prophesied
as coming to a people that walked in the darkness. We know that
Satan's kingdom is the kingdom of darkness, he holds people
in the darkness, he holds people blind to the fact that they are
walking away from God, he fills them with the knowledge of the
things of this world which they believe, enlightens them to the
non-existence of God Yet Satan holds them in that darkness. And so the scriptures tell us
that these people that are the Gentiles, they are the people
that were in the darkness, that they were lost. And as we look
through the Old Testament we see that God favoured the people
of Israel. He called them out from all of
the nations of the world and he protected them and preserved
them. He gave them his law that they
might be able to follow him and worship him and know his ways. He gave them the order of ceremonial
worship and sacrifice systems and he gave them everything that
they needed to worship him aright and yet they were drawn aside
by the temptations that this world has to offer. They were
drawn aside by the gods of this world and they went astray. God constantly stretches out
his hand in love towards them adds prophecy on prophecy on
prophesying and brings them back to himself until the fulfilment
of those prophecies when the Lord Jesus Christ comes, the
light into the darkness. And so wonderfully God's plan
of salvation came about. You think as we looked at this
morning right at the beginning that the seed of the woman was
going to bruise the serpent's head, that the Lord Jesus Christ
was prophesied maybe 3,000 years before he even came. and how
often it is that we in our lives need patience. to wait for the
coming and the appearing of the Lord. It took 3,000 years for
the coming of Christ after that first prophetic utterance by
God regarding his son and then Isaiah 700 years adds a little
bit more detail to the coming of this one who would bruise
the serpent's head. You see that God doesn't often
work as quickly as we would like him to work. Sometimes he works
very quickly and God is able to do far more in one moment
than we are able to do ourselves and as we see as he appears for
the children of Israel right there at the crossing of the
Red Sea he worked in a moment and he delivered them yet for
his plan of salvation he waits and waits and waits until all
of those things that his hidden will, until all those things
come to the to the right time then the Lord Jesus Christ comes. When the fullness of time comes
we are told that there are all of these things that had to take
place and then the Lord Jesus Christ came. We know that it
was prophesied that he should be born of the Virgin Mary. She had to be born. Joseph had to be born. Bethlehem. the Roman government and that
one language that was being established at that time, all of that came
at the right time so that when Christ came, was born into this
world, the gospel which he established could be proclaimed over the
whole of Europe with ease because of those language barriers that
had been broken down. Then with the tongues and as
people advanced further and further afield the gospel continued to
go into the darkness of the Gentile world. So 700 years before the
Lord Jesus Christ is born God says I will also give thee for
a light to the Gentiles that thou mayest be my salvation unto
the ends of the earth. And then he begins to reveal
something of what this light would do. He was going to go
forth into the darkness. And he was going to gather a
people for himself, those that would no longer hunger, those
that would no longer thirst, those whom he would take care
of, those who he would lead and provide and guide for. And not only was now God saying,
I'm just going to look after the people of Israel, just a
small group but i'm going to gather from the ends of the world
a number which no man can number and to the surprise of the jewish
nation in in verses 14 it says there the lord hath forsaken
me and my my lord hath forgotten me can a woman forget her sucking
child that she should have not have compassion on the son of
her womb, yea, they may forget, yet I will not forget thee. So it's further down right at
the end of the chapter. It is like they are surprised. They are saying that these few
children which I have, now where have all of these others come
from? Verse 22. Thus saith the Lord
God, behold, I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles. And I will
set my standard to the people and they shall bring thy sons
in their arms and their daughters and shall carry upon their shoulders. It goes on about all the provisions. there and so as the gospel goes
forth a vast number is being added to the church. Remember
Jesus says I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it and all of those people who are brought
into the church are are brought in because of this light that
came into the Gentiles, the Lord Jesus Christ. And they're put
under that protective care. They're brought into their family
as orphans brought into the family of the Lord Jesus Christ and
unable to call God their father. And he says, Behold I have graven
thee. upon the palms of my hands and
thy wards are continually before me. And so this was the light
that was prophesied to the Gentile nation, the nations of the world,
that they would be gathered in and they would be protected under
that same protection that the Israelites had through the wilderness
and through their history that God would watch over them and
take care of them and provide for them yet would be done through
that finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so 700 years
had to take place before the coming of that light, that light
that was given. So it is a light that is prophesied
right from the beginning of scripture, this light was going to come
into the darkness and then that light came. You read in the Gospels of the
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, that light that came into the
world. The Gospel according to John
chapter 1 tells us there very clearly that it's the Lord Jesus
Christ. In him was life and the life
was the light of men and the light shineth in darkness and
the darkness comprehended it not. Then it tells us about John
the Baptist he was not the light but he was sent to bear witness
of the light. That was the true light which
lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the
world, the world was made by him and the world knew him not. And so Christ, who is the light
that was prophesied, was the light that was given and he was
given to the Jewish nation. And the scriptures tell us he
came to his own people and his own people received him not. Of all the prophecies that were
written about him, all the details that were written about him,
think of the Isaiah 53. how detailed it is about the
Lord Jesus Christ himself beginning at chapter 42 about the suffering
servant and of all that this servant was going to go through
and the detail with which he was going to suffer and to provide
a way of salvation where he was born, how he was going to be
born, what he was going to do and yet This light came to these
Jewish people and they rejected him. He came to his own and his
own received him not. The light came into the world
but men love darkness rather than light. John chapter 8 Jesus says, I am the light of
the world. He that followeth me shall no
longer walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
We go back to the beginning of the scriptures, we see that the
world there, before it was created it was void, it was empty and
it was dark. and the spirit of God moved upon
the face of the waters and God said let there be light and there
was light and God divided the light from the darkness and we
see there that even before the moon or the stars or the sun
were created that God created a light and he divided that light
from the darkness and so light itself has to be created. It's not a natural thing. It's
the same as life. Life has to be given, has to
be created. God is the giver of life. God is the creator of light and
so God gives the Lord Jesus Christ who is the light of the world
and is also the life of the world. He is the light of life. In him was life and the life
was in the light, was the light of men. And so the Lord Jesus
Christ prophesied as the light that was going to come to the
Gentiles was also going to bring spiritual life to the Gentiles. What does that show us? It shows
us as we're all well aware that outside of Christ there is a
darkness and death. Darkness and death. Satan holds
his people captive in spiritual deadness and spiritual blindness,
spiritual darkness. And so the light of the gospel
must shine forth into their hearts, into our hearts, that we may
be able to receive the light and the life that comes with
the gospel. Jesus says in John 12, 19, I've written down the wrong one.
But men love darkness rather than they love light. That's why when the gospel light
shines people cower away from it because they do not want their
deeds to be revealed. The gospel it works as a light
and it sheds light on on people who sin and those people who
are committing sin do not like their sin to be exposed and so
as the gospel light shines people cower away from that light. On our houses we have those sensor
lights and we hope that when a thief comes The light turns
on and they're immediately startled and they want to run away because
they don't want their deeds to be exposed. They do their sin,
their stealing or whatever they're doing in the darkness because
they don't want to be seen. And so when the light comes and
reveals their sin they run. And so it's the same with the
gospel Christ came as a light that people are happy and delighted
to continue on in their sin and they are offended when the light
of the gospel shines upon their sin and they flee away from it
because they don't want their sin to be exposed. we want our
sin to be exposed. We need our sin to be exposed
for us to see the benefit and our need of the gospel. Jesus
came for sinners and it's sinners who receive the Lord Jesus Christ,
it's sinners who want their sin exposed so they can confess their
sin and repent of their sin and come out of the darkness and
come to the Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life. And so Christ
is the light that was given to the Gentiles to shine to reveal
their sin and to draw them to himself. In the book of Acts we have the Apostle Paul as he
is giving his testimony before King Agrippa he tells him of all that took place
on the road to Damascus. And he tells him of the bright
light that was shining. He says, Saul, Saul, why hast
thou persecutest thou me? Is it hard for thee to kick against
the pricks? And I said, Who art thou, Lord?
And he said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. But rise, stand
upon thy feet for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose to
make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou
hast seen and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee. delivering thee from the people
and from the Gentiles unto whom I now send thee. So Paul is being
commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ to take this gospel, this
message of the Lord Jesus Christ as a light now into the Gentiles. He's being sent by the Lord Jesus
to proclaim this message of light and life to the Gentile nations. to open their eyes because they
were blind and to turn them from darkness to light and from the
power of Satan unto God that they may receive the forgiveness
of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by
faith that is in me. And so the Lord Jesus tells them
this is the condition of the Gentiles and I'm going to send
you to a people who are in the darkness. They are having
their backs from God, they are held under the power of Satan
and they needed the forgiveness of sin and so that's what the
gospel does. The light and the life of the gospel goes forth
as a message and through that message the Holy Spirit works
as an illuminator of the heart. And Paul says, I was not disobedient
to this heavenly vision but showed first unto them of Damascus and
at Jerusalem and throughout all the coast of Judea and then the
Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God and do works
suitable or meet for repentance. verse 23 it says that Christ
should suffer and that he should be the first that should rise
from the dead and should show light unto the people and to
the Gentiles and so Paul sees this gospel as it goes forth
it is a light it's like a messenger with a torch shining into the
darkness and those who are who are living in sin flee from it
those who are living in sin some are convicted instead of fleeing
from it they flee to it. They want their deeds to be exposed
they want to confess their sin before God they want to follow
the Lord Jesus Christ and they follow him in the light. God's people no longer walk in
the darkness but they walk in the light Why then is Jesus referred
to as a light? So I said that darkness is natural. Christ came into the darkness
as a light to shine and to reveal and to expose. In Corinthians it tells us there
of the effect of this light 2nd Corinthians chapter 4. For God
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in
our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And so as God, the same God who
created the light that shone out of the darkness at creation,
he shines into the hearts of his people, that hard heart that
is indwelt in darkness. The light of the gospel penetrates
and breaks open and light is implanted there to give a knowledge
of the glory of God and so this light illuminates the mind to
enable us to see our need of the Lord Jesus Christ and to
see our sin and so the gospel goes forth
as a light that shines into the heart to give the knowledge of
the glory of God which is Christ in the face of the Lord Jesus
Christ and so the light illuminates It exposes those things that
are hidden. And so light is good and beneficial. We need the light of the gospel
to shine in our hearts that we may see our sin. Because if we
never see our sin we will just continue on in the darkness and
we'll end up into the darkness of hell where even the flames
there have no light. But if we are able to see our
sin and accept that we have sinned against the Holy God and we are
enlightened by the Spirit of God and we're able then to dwell
in the light we'll walk from this light into
the glorious light which is heaven itself. And so the light illuminates
the mind, illuminates the soul to receive the Lord Jesus Christ
and so it takes away the darkness and the blindness that we have. The light uncovers, we said before,
of the The need of a light if you go into a building and you
want to do some refurbishments. You need to have good light to
be able to see the cracks and the defects. In the darkness
you cannot see properly or clearly. One thing I have noticed that
if you ever go into a place of worldly entertainment there is
never bright lights. If you go into amusement arcades
there's always flashing lights. If you go into the cinema the
lights are always very dull. If you go into a nightclub it's
dark and flashing. They don't want you to see clearly. They want to hide the defects. In pubs the lights are dim. I don't want you to see what
is going on. I don't want you to see clearly
what is taking place. Defects in people are hidden. But Christ came as the bright
light to expose. There's one place that I used
to go to In the night it was pitch black
with flashing lights. If you were to go there the next
day, it was a vile place with the lights on. And all that,
what made the difference was just the light. They didn't want
you in the night to see what it was like. And then if you
go back there in the day, in the clearness, you saw the defects. And so the light of the gospel,
it shows our defects. Satan wants to hide those defects. Satan wants us to think you're
OK, just continue on as you are. He wants to blind you to the
fact that you are lost, you're walking in the darkness. But
Christ came as a light to the Gentiles to reveal our sin. We want our sin to be exposed
as when we go to a doctor. We want him to tell us the truth.
Do I have some severe illness? Yes or no. You don't want him
to beat about the bush. You want the truth of the matter. And so the Gospel puts the truth
of the matter before our faces as a bright light. He says you've
sinned against the Holy God and we hope that that light shines
in and we're enabled to see our defects as God sees our defects
and to confess our defects, confess our sin before a Holy God because
of the beauty of the Gospel. The light also draws. If you have a light in a dark
place you will find that it has a drawing effect whether it be
people or whether it be bugs things are drawn to the light
and so those who have nothing to fear Those who are not worried
about their sin being exposed are drawn to the source of the
light which is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the light that
came into the world and in him is spiritual life that he gives
to all those who are drawn to that light. All those who confess
their sin before him. Psalm 119 tells us that God's word is like a light. It tells us thy word is a lamp
unto my feet and a light unto my pathway. All those that are
drawn to the Lord Jesus Christ as the word of God they continue
to walk in his light. He is the light of their pathway,
he is the revealer of the way, he reveals the purpose of our
life. How many people have no purpose
to their life? But Christ puts a purpose, he
shines the light on the road and enables us to see where we
are going, enables us to see the true meaning of life, that
God created a people for himself. that they would show forth his
glory and you can only show forth the glory of God as you walk
in the light of the gospel with God's word as a lamp to your
feet and the light to your pathway or to our pathway and so what
a privilege it is to have experienced this light of the gospel he says
I will give thee, the Lord Jesus, for a light to the Gentiles,
that thou mayest be my salvation unto the ends of the earth. And
as we looked at this morning, having our feet shod with the
preparation of the gospel of peace, that part of that task
of the Christian soldier is to go into all the world and preach
the gospel. Why? Because God has a people. from the ends of the world that
he will draw to himself. I've forgotten his name now.
The first missionary that came from England went to India. He gave a talk And he told those who were in
front of him of the need of the nations. And he said in India
there's something like four million people that have never heard
the gospel. In other places there's so many people that have never
heard the gospel. And he gave a speech that we're
to go forth with the gospel message. And then he sat down. Another
man stood up and said, If God wants to save the heathen he
will raise a heathen to save them. That was the attitude of
many people in those days and it still is I'm afraid to say
the attitude of many even today. But God has given the believer
shoes of iron and brass. He has given us the gospel message
to go forth with power as a light into the darkness. Those who
don't want to receive the light will flee from the light. But those whom the light of the
gospel shines forth into their hearts they will be drawn to
the light and they will confess their sin before a holy God and
so Christ was given as the light and the life of men and that
light and that life was then and that message was then given
to the apostles and as the apostle Paul says that I'm going now
to the Gentiles and he takes the message Accompanying him
is the Holy Spirit as the Word of God in his hand and the Holy
Spirit in his heart and he goes forth and he proclaims peace
with God through the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ
and that is a light shining into the darkness that will go to
the ends of the world And it's only when this Gospel has reached
the end of the world, when the last one that Christ died for
has heard the message and received the message, believed the message,
it is only then that the Lord Jesus Christ will come again. So may we be enabled by the Spirit
of God to receive the light and to confess our sin and to believe
upon the light that came into the world that was given for
the Church, the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen. We'll close with our final hymn,
number 1,000. Number 1,000. Ye tempted and tried to Jesus
draw nigh. He suffered and died, your wants
to supply. Trust him for salvation. You need not to grieve. There's
no condemnation to them that believe. Hymn number 1,000, June
814. He tempted and tried to Jesus
draw nigh. He suffered and died, your wants
to supply. Trust him for salvation, you
need not to grieve. There's no condemnation to them
that believe. By day and by night his love
is made known. It is his delight to succor his
own. He will have compassion Then
why should you grieve? There's no condemnation to them
that believe. Oh, Satan will seek the sheep
to avoid that helpless and weakness shall destroy. Christ is the salvation and strength
He will give. There's no condemnation to Him. Now may the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father, with the fellowship
and the communion of the Holy Spirit, do rest and abide with
us each now and for evermore. Amen.