The name of the message is Light
and Darkness. Light and Darkness. Matthew chapter 4, verses 12
to 17. Now when Jesus had heard that
John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee. And leaving
Nazareth, he came and dwelt at Capernaum, which is upon the
seacoast, in the borders of Zebulon and Nephtalim, that it might
be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying,
the land of Zebulon and the land of Nephtalim, by the way of the
sea beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people which
sat in darkness saw great light. And to them which sat in the
region in the shadow of death, light is sprung up. From that time, Jesus began to
preach and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now, verse 16 will be our main
text, but let us consider the verse in context, looking at
the verses which come before it, as we look at this passage
today. Now it is thought that there
was a year or so that passed between verses 11 and 12 since
our Lord's temptation and the calling of His first disciples
which fall this text where we are in Matthew. This begins the
account of our Lord's public ministry in Galilee. In these
verses we see the Lord preaching in the synagogues and along the
streets of Galilee after the imprisonment of John the Baptist. These are sweet views of Jesus,
Hawker says, in his humbleness of character, as he is the light
amidst the darkness. He is the light amidst the darkness,
and we know that he's called the light. He's the light of
the world. Look at verse 12. Now, when Jesus
had heard John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee.
Now, John was cast into prison by Herod, He was there sometime
before he was put in prison, or was put to death, and from
there he sent two disciples to Jesus, which is spoken of over
in Matthew chapter 11 verse 2. And now when Jesus heard of this
imprisonment, His imprisonment, as our church proclaims here
in Matthew chapter 4 verse 12, He departed into Galilee. And
He didn't do this out of fear, because our Lord didn't fear
anyone. He had no one to fear. He did
this to call his disciples who lived in that country. Let's
read the next verse. And after leaving Nazareth, he
came to Capernaum, which is upon the seacoast and the borders
of Zebulon and Nephthilim. Luke tells us that our Lord was
thrust out of Nazareth after he preached a message to the
people. And this was all according to God's purpose and plan. Look at Luke chapter 4 verses
16. Luke chapter 4 verses 16 to 30. And he came to Nazareth where he
had been bought up. And his custom was he went into
the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read
Luke chapter 14 verse 16 And there was delivered unto him
of the book of the prophet Isaiah And when he had opened the book
he found the place where it is written The spirit of the Lord
is upon me Because he hath the morning me to preach the gospel
to the poor He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted to preach
deliverance to the captives in recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable
year of the Lord. And he closed the book and gave
it again to the minister, and sat down, and the eyes of all
them that were in the sand of God were fastened on him. And
he began to say unto them, This day is the scripture fulfilled
in your ears. And all bear witness and wondered
at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said,
Is this, is this not Joseph's son? Now this is where he grew up.
And they said, Is this not Joseph's son? And he said unto them, He
will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself.
Whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in
thy country. And he said, verily I say unto
you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you
of a truth. Many widows were in Israel in
the days of Elias when the heaven were shut up three years and
six months, when great famine was throughout all the land.
But none of them was Elias sent save unto Serpetah, a city of
Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were
in Israel at the time of Elias the prophet, and none of them
was cleansed, save in Nahum the Syrian. And all they in the synagogue,
when they heard these things, were filled with wrath. And rose up and thrust him out
of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon
their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
They wanted to kill him. But he passing through the midst
of them, Went his way. Christ is the message of the
Holy Scriptures. He's the message of the Holy
Scripture. He was the fulfillment of the passage that he read. And he was and is the fulfillment
of all the Old Testament scriptures. All the law and the prophets,
all the types, all the Psalms, all the Proverbs, All the history
of the Old Testament speaks about Christ Jesus our Lord, and they
find their fulfillment in Him. The message of divine sovereignty
was too much for these proud, self-righteous men and women
to endure. And the gospel preacher does
not labor for the approval of men. We labor with our eye toward
our Savior, toward our Lord, towards eternity. towards he
who dwells in eternity. And God's people will rejoice
over the preaching of his gospel, and the self-righteous will despise
the gospel message, and they will despise the messenger, loving
darkness rather than light. And so our Lord leaves Nazareth
and comes to Capernaum. Back in our text, in verses 14
to 16, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the
prophet, saying, The land of Zebulon and the land of Nephilim,
by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles,
the people which sat in darkness saw great light. And to them
which sat in the region in the shadow of death, light is sprung
up." Turn, if you would, to Isaiah
chapter 9. This fulfills a prophecy in Isaiah chapter 9. verses 1 and 2. Nevertheless, the dimness shall
not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly
afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Nephtheli, and
afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the
sea beyond Jordan and Galilee of the nations. The people that
walked in darkness have seen a great light. Have seen a great
light. They that dwell on the land of
the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. Let's
go back to our text in Matthew chapter 4 verse 16. It says this.
The people which sat in darkness. They sat in darkness. Saw a great
light. For them what sat in the region
in the shadow of death, light, is sprung up. He came to Capernaum
because he has sheep there. Now Capernaum was in Galilee,
the place of the Gentiles who were nothings and nobodies to
the Jews. They were despised by the Jews.
They were poor and illiterate, uncouth. Now think of that in light of
this scripture. Turn, if you would, the first Corinthians
chapter one. Think of that in light of the scripture right
here. This is marvelous. It brings this scripture alive
that we've read many times. But look at this. They were nothing
and nobody's. But God had some sheep there. Look at first Corinthians chapter
one, verses twenty six to twenty nine. Where do you see your calling,
brethren? how that not many rise after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God had chosen the foolish
things of the world, the common things of the world, to confound the wise. God had
chosen the weak things of the world, to confound the things
which are mighty, and the base things of the world, which are
despised. God chosen, yea, in the things
which are not, to bring to naught things that are. Why? That no
flesh should glory in his presence. He chooses those who are despised
and rejected. That no flesh should glory in
his presence. We have been made to see our
desperate need of Christ, we who believe. And these are people
from whom Our Lord would call out a people to serve Him by
whom He would build His church and kingdom. As there were some among these
folks who were to be trophies of His grace, trophies of His
grace. Now think of all the people,
you who are saved, you who are redeemed. Think of all the people
you grew up with, the people in your life. And yet God chose
to make you a trophy of His grace. It's so humbling. It brings us
love. Now we see in scripture that
darkness never seeks the light. Darkness never seeks the light.
The lost sinner never seeks Christ on his own. Never. Darkness never seeks the light.
But note, he who is the light came to those who sat in darkness.
He came to them. To those who sat in darkness,
they walked in darkness, Isaiah said, but Christ comes to them. He comes to them. And this is
a precious truth that never changes, beloved, that never changes.
The sinner, in the darkness of their sin, will never seek Christ. They just won't. Not by their
own power. They have no ability. But he who is the light, he who
is the shepherd of his people, he will seek out his lost sheep. Here, seek him out. And where
are we when he finds us? We're sitting in darkness. We're
sitting in darkness. We walk in darkness until we're
found by him. And the text before us brings
forth the spiritual state of natural man. The spiritual state
of natural man. They're in darkness. They sit
in darkness. They enjoy the darkness. They
enjoy it. They're reposing in the darkness. They're content in the darkness. They're content in the darkness.
They walk in the darkness. They walk in a blind, deprived
state before God. Hopeless, helpless, dead in trespasses
and sins. And let us remember that where
there's no spiritual light, there's no spiritual life. Where there's no spiritual light,
there's no spiritual life. Thus, they're in total darkness.
How do we know that? Turn, if you would, to John Chapter
3. John Chapter 3. Look at this. John Chapter 3. Verses 17 to 21. For God sent not his son into
the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him
might be saved. Now we know that doesn't mean everyone. We know
that from studying this portion of scripture. But God sent his
son not into the world to condemn the world. Why? We're already
dead in trespasses and sins. What does God have to do for
a man to go to hell? For you who don't believe that are here,
what does God have to do for you to go to hell? Just leave
you alone. What does God have to do to save
you? Everything. Everything now for the believer.
We rejoice in the fact that he does everything. I love it full
salvation That song is wonderful. We praise God for a full salvation
Salvation that is complete Finished all by the work of Christ in
Christ alone He that believeth on him is not condemned. That's
pretty clear. I But he that believeth not is
condemned already, because he has not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation.
Look at how plain this is, that light has come into the world.
And man loved darkness rather than light. And these people
sat in darkness. They loved the darkness. And
we who are redeemed, we can't boast because we loved it too. But God has made us to differ.
He's the only one who's made us to differ. That light is coming to the world
and man loved darkness rather than light. Why? What's the root
cause? Because their deeds were evil,
they're sinners. They're sinners by birth, they're
sinners by nature, and they're sinners by choice. And such were
we who are redeemed. And we're still sinners, but
we're safe sinners now, we who believe. But this is the state
of natural man. For everyone that doeth evil
hateth the light. Neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth comes
to the light, that his deeds may be manifest, that they are
wrought in God. So this darkness that they sit
in here, spoken of in our text, this is a deep darkness and it
envelopes the world. It envelopes the world. The ones
who are without the gospel are in darkness. They sit in the darkness. of their ignorance of the things
of God. And I don't say that in a despising
way because I was there. I was ignorant of who God was
before he said. Now, I had cooked up who I thought
God was in my mind, but that wasn't in the Bible. And so this is the truth. They
sit in ignorance of the things of God. They are in the darkness
of error, in the darkness of their self-righteousness. We
were there. Again, we're not, we don't look
at this going, well, look at those sinners. No, we who are
saved by grace goes, that was me. That was me. And they're in the darkness of
their guilt before God, but they don't think they're guilty. How do we know that? Just tell
someone they're a sinner. Most people don't believe they're
sinners. They don't believe they're guilty. But God's people say,
I'm guilty before God. But praise God, he saved me by
his grace. He saved me by his grace. So we see their hopeless state.
The hopeless state of their situation. They sat in darkness. And let
us note in awe and wonder the text before us. We who are the
beloved of God, again, because this was our state before the
Lord saved us. We were just like the inhabitants
of Capernaum, just like the Gentiles of Galilee. Long ago, you and
I were in deep spiritual darkness. We sat in darkness because we
loved it. And this was where we were. When
the Lord sought us out, when he found us, when he found us,
this is where every believer was sitting in darkness. We're just like that lost sheep
spoken of in Luke, chapter 15, and the Lord came and rescued
us, sought us out, sought us out. We who sat in darkness,
and this is the wonderful, merciful grace of God, which is only found
in Christ Jesus our Lord. Turn, if you would, to Ephesians
chapter 5. We see this portion of scripture. Look at this portion
of scripture here. Ephesians chapter 5, verses 1 to 14. Be ye therefore followers of
God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also
hath loved us, and hath given himself for us in offering in
the sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling Saviour. Christ has offered Himself
for His people. The sinless sacrifice is a sweet-smelling
Saviour unto God. That's good news for sinners.
That's wonderful, wonderful news for sinners. But fornication and all uncleanness
or covetousness, let it not be once named among you as it has
become a saint's, neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting,
which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks. For
this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous
man who is an adulterer hath any inheritance in the kingdom
of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain
words. Because of these things come at the wrath of God upon
the children of disobedience Be not ye partakers with them
Be not therefore partakers with them look at this for ye were
sometimes darkness There's where we were For ye
and that's plain for ye were sometimes darkness, but now our
light in the Lord Walk as children of light Walk as children For
the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness
and truth. Don't walk like the world. Walk in life. Don't be like the world. We're
to walk in life. Walk in Christ. We're new creatures
in Christ. For the fruit of the Spirit is
in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is acceptable
unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the
unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak
of these things which are done of them in secret. But all things
that are reproved are made manifest by the light. For whatsoever
doeth, doth make manifest his light. Wherefore he saith, Awake
thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall
give thee light. Look at verse 8. For ye were
sometimes darkness. There's our natural state. And then look at verse 16 again
in our text in Matthew chapter 4 verse 16. The people which
sat in darkness saw great light. And to them which sat in the
region in the shadow of death, light is sprung up. Here we have
a prophecy of Zacharias, John the Baptist's father fulfilled
when he proclaimed this over in Luke chapter 1. I'll read
this in verses 78 and 79. It says through the tender mercy
of God. Actually, turn there. Let's take
a look. This is important. We need to take a look at this.
Luke, Chapter one, verses 78 and 79. But keep your finger
in Matthew, Chapter four, verse 16. I know I got us bouncing
around a lot today, but this is an important portion to look
at here. Luke, Chapter one, verses 78 and 79. Prophecy of Zacharias, John the
Baptist's father is fulfilled. When he proclaimed in Luke chapter
1 verses 78 and 79 is proclaimed when the people sat in darkness
and saw a great light to them which sat in the region in the
shadow of death light has sprung up look at Luke chapter 1 verse
78 and 79 through the tender mercy of God whereby the day
spring from on high has visited us the light has sprung up in
the darkness the day spring being Christ have visited us to give
light to them that what sat in darkness and in the shadow of
death to guide our feet into the way of peace. And note, note
in verse 78, it's by the tender mercy of God that this is occurring. It's by the tender mercy of God
that God has shown mercy to his people and not poured out wrath
upon us for our sins. By the tender mercy of God. It's
by the tender mercy of God that He died as our substitute upon
Calvary's cross, and that He bore the penalty for our sins,
for we who believe, for His people, all of them on Calvary's cross.
And the source and spring of this pardon is the free grace
and abundant mercy of God, look it, through the tender mercy
of God, whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us. The source and spring of our
pardon, beloved, is the free grace and abundant mercy of God. Nothing else. It takes its rise from there
and comes to us in and through the blood and sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Just as the sun rises every day, rises every day, Unasked for,
it just rises. So as Christ, the light rose
in the darkness for us. We didn't ask for it. We were
sitting in darkness, quite content. So were these people in Capernaum. It was the mercy, God's mercy,
that moved God to enter into a covenant with his son in the
forgiveness of all our sins. It's God's mercy that moved God
to set forth His Son in His eternal purposes and decrees and to send
Him forth in the fullness of time to shed His precious blood
for our sins, for the remission of our sins. It's through the
tender mercy of God. It was through the tender mercy
of God to us that He provided a land. for a burnt offering, and then
accepted that sacrifice and found satisfaction in the sacrifice
of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in our room and in our state,
all by the tender mercy of God. And it is by the tender mercy
of God that He has forgiven us all our sins, for Christ's sake,
and for Christ's sake alone. What mercy is on display What
mercy, what love is here before us? The everlasting mercy and
love of God to his people. Look at our text again in verse
16. The people which sat in darkness saw great light into them, which
sat in the region in the shadow of death. Light is sprung up
again. Who are these people? Well, the
immediate reference is to the inhabitants of the northern Palestine.
The unfortunate Israelites who were the first to forsake the
God of their fathers. and the first to fall under the
rod of the heathen oppressor. And what are they doing again?
They're sitting. They're sitting in darkness.
They're content with their condition. As one commentator said, a strange
stupor has taken possession of them, and they cannot illuminate
their own dark souls. What a picture of a lost sinner.
What a picture. And Christ comes to his people
who are sitting in darkness. Here is the prophet's image,
a land of gloom. Its inhabitants seated helplessly
in darkness, hopelessly in darkness. And the light comes to them.
And this being Christ Jesus our Lord. Think of how Christ dispels the
darkness that we are in. Think how he dispels the darkness
that we were in when he found us. He dispels were born again,
regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God. When the first dawn of
grace breaks upon your soul, when the Holy Spirit of God is
making you willing to come to Christ, this is the breaking
in of divine light. And it destroys the power and
darkness of spiritual ignorance, which we were in. And by God's
grace, we are shown and convinced that we are lost and ruined sinners. That we can't help ourselves
in that condition. That we are unable to save ourselves. And we see the awfulness of our
sin. We have revealed to us at that
time the awfulness of our sin. And how we are fully deserving
of the wrath of God for those sins. And what does it do? It brings
us low to the Savior's feet. Low, and we ought not to ever
move from there. Low to the Savior's feet. We look to Him and Him alone,
for what? For pardon of all our sins. And
then we keep looking to Him, don't we? We never stop looking
to Him. Do we deserve pardon for all
our sins? Absolutely not. But the believer has pardoned
for all their sins and the salvation of their eternal soul. And this
also breaks our pride. As well as the power of the ignorance
which we were in, it makes us teachable. Teachable. God's people, we want to be teachable. Child life. The Lord shows us
the blindness and foolishness of our natural state. And what
does it do? Once again, it leads us to flee
to Christ. We flee right to Him. Is this not all delivery from
the power of darkness that we were in? Is this not delivery
from the great state of darkness that we were in when we were
born again by the Holy Spirit of God? It's because the light Christ
has shown in our hearts. We're born again by the power
of God. A mighty work of the Holy Spirit of God. And it's
all because of the mercy of God towards us. That's it. The tender mercy of God. Destroys our pride because we
know there's nothing good in us. We know we don't merit this. Think also of the darkness of
the power of sin. When we were being drawn to Christ,
we began to feel the burden of our sin. We began to feel the
burden of our sin. We began to see our condition
before God as one of condemnation for our transgressions. But when the light of the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ shines in our hearts, again we see that
all our sins are forgiven. What a Savior. What a Redeemer. And the light shines in the darkness. And we see that all our sins
are forgiven, paid for by the precious blood of Christ. And
we rejoice. We rejoice that God has delivered
us from the great darkness that we were in. That He's delivered us from the
power, the penalty, and the guilt of our sin. Not the presence,
though. Because we're still sinners,
aren't we? One day, though. One day soon. Our lives are like a vapor. One
day soon, we'll be delivered from the presence of sin. What
a day that'll be. What a day that'll be. We're
delivered from the guilt combination of all our sin. How? Through
the atoning precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The love
of God is shown in our hearts. Now we love Christ, we love his
word, and we love his people. Oh, what darkness we were in.
We were also under the power of Satan. The one who scriptures
calls the strong. if you would, Luke chapter 11.
He's called the strong man. But beloved, there is one who
is stronger than he. And he has came upon him and
overcome him. The Lion of the tribe of Judah
delivers his people from the strong man. Look at Luke chapter
11, verses 21 and 23. When a strong man armed keepeth
his palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than
he shall come upon him and overcome him, he taketh from him all his
armor, wherein he trusteth and divideth his spoils. He that
is not with me is against me. He that gathereth not with me
scattereth. Oh, we were in the grasp of the strong man, but
a stronger than he has delivered us. And God's people rejoice. We rejoice. My, what a Savior. We who are redeemed have been
delivered from the power of the strong men, from the darkness
that we sat in. And the Lord continues today
to deliver His people out of the darkness, calling them by
His grace through the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, by
the preaching of His Word. And they who were in darkness
now walk in the light, which is Christ. Turn, if you would,
to 1 John, chapter 1. 1 John, chapter 1. We looked at verses 1 to 4 in
Sunday school, but this time we'll look at verses 5 to 10. This then is the message which
we have heard of Him. Remember, the one writing this
laid his head upon the bosom of Christ, walked with Him, heard Him speak,
beheld His majesty. This then is the message which
we have heard of Him and declare unto you that God is light and
in Him is no darkness at all. We say that we have fellowship
with him and walk in darkness. We lie and do not truth But if
we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship
one with another and the blood of Jesus of Jesus Christ his
son cleanses us from all sin If we say that we have no sin
and a lot of people say that don't they and look what it says
we deceive ourselves And the truth is not in us If we confess our sins, he's
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. If we say that that we have not
sinned, if a person claims they don't sin, I've ran into a few
of those people and I've told them what I says right here.
I say, you're making God a liar. You're a liar and you're making
you're saying that God lies because in his word, he says, if we say
that we have not sinned, we make him a liar. And his word is not
in us. God doesn't lie. We're all sinners. Every single one of us. Whether
you believe it or not. We're all sinners. Then look at verse 17 in our
text. Matthew chapter 4 verse 17. We're closed with this verse. We'll look a little bit at a
few things here though. From that time Jesus began to
preach and to say repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
That message still goes forth today. repent for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand The message our lord preached was the same
as that of john the baptist From that time jesus began to preach
and to say repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand Our lord
jesus christ could have dazzled these men's minds He could have
he's the king of glory He could have dazzled their minds With
deep profound theology he could have think of that He's the God
of glory. He could have unraveled the hidden
mysteries of prophecy. Or he could have opened up to
them the complex difficulties of the law. He could have opened
them up right before him, right? But he chose not to do so. The
King of glory himself. He preached one message. He preached
the necessity of repentance. the necessity of trusting him
alone for acceptance with God. Acts chapter 20 verses 21, the
scripture declares this and how I kept back nothing that was
profitable unto you, but I've showed unto you and I've taught
you publicly and from house to house, testifying both to the
Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance towards God and faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ. He preached this message constantly
and in his preachers preach this message or if you would the Luke
chapter 13 Luke chapter 13 He preached this message urgently
for the kingdom of heaven is on hand repent for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand And that command still goes through today
repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand I don't know when
I'm going to die and you don't know when you're going to die.
But I praise God that I won't face Christ without His righteousness. And it's all by His grace and
by His mercy that that's the case. And I know it's so for
you who believe, too. Look at this in Luke, chapter
13, verses 1 to 5. There were present at that season
some that told him of the galleons whose blood potted had mingled
with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto
them, suppose ye that these galleons were sinners above all the galleons
because they suffered such things? I tell you nay, but except ye
repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Except ye repent. ye shall all
likewise perish. That's sobering. For these eighteen, upon whom
the tower of Asylum fell, and slew them, think ye that they
were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you nay, but except you
repent, ye shall all likewise perish. He preached that message urgently,
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Oh, my prayer, and I
know the prayer of the saints here. If you do not know Christ,
our prayer is that Christ would reveal himself to you and grant
you faith and repentance to believe upon, believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ to the saving of your soul. Gracious Heavenly Father,
we thank Thee for this wonderful portion of the scripture. It's
humbling for us to see that we were just like those in Capernaum,
that we sat in darkness, that we loved the darkness. And all
we who believe know that it's not ourselves who took us out
of that darkness, but only by your grace. We had no power to
do anything. We were sitting in the darkness
and enjoying the darkness. But by thy power and thy grace,
by thy tender mercy, O God, You have forgiven us for all our
sins. Purchase us by the precious blood of Christ. Oh Lord, I pray
that you would grant faith and repentance to your lost sheep
through the preaching of thy word. That you may receive all
the glory and honor and praise in Jesus name. Amen.