Name of the message is light
and darkness light and darkness Matthew chapter 4 verses 12 to
17 Now when Jesus has heard that John was cast into prison he
departed into Galilee And leave in Nazareth he came and dwelt
at Capernaum, which is upon the seacoast in the borders of Zebulon
and Nephthilim That it might be fulfilled which was spoken
by Isaiah the prophet saying the land of Zebulun and the land
of Nephthilim by the way of the sea beyond Jordan Galilee of
the Gentiles the people which sat in darkness saw great light
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 his
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 to death, and from there he sent two disciples to
Jesus, which is spoken of over in Matthew 11, verse 2. And now
when Jesus heard of this imprisonment, his imprisonment, As our church
proclaims here in Matthew chapter four, 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 Nephthalim. 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 as 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 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 anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach
deliverance to the captives, and 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 sin 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, but 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 it 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 great
light. To them which 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, to 1 Corinthians 1. 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 nobodies.
God had some sheep there look at first Corinthians chapter
1 verses 26 to 29 Where 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 Confound the things which
are mighty in the face things of the world, which are despised,
that 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. 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. He'll seek them 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 were posing in the darkness.
They're content. 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? 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 and Christ alone. He that believeth
on him is not condemned. That's pretty clear. 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
at one time. We loved it. 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. that 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 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 with all 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 if you would the Ephesians chapter 5
We see this portion of Scripture look at this portion of Scripture
here Ephesians chapter 5 verses 1 to 14 Be therefore followers
of God as dear children and walk in love Christ also hath loved
us and hath given himself for us in offering in the sacrifice
to God for a sweet smell and Savior Christ has offered himself
for his people. The sinless sacrifice is a sweet
smell and savor That's good news for sinners. That's wonderful
wonderful news for sinners but fornication and all uncleanness
or covetousness, let it be Let it not be once named among you
as become as saints, 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. For because of these things cometh
the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye partakers
with them. Be ye 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 are
light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. Walk
as children of light. 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 has 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
on 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 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 has 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 sin. It's
God's mercy that moved God to set forth his son in his eternal
purposes and decrees and to send him 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. And it was through
the tender mercy of God to us that He provided a lamb 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 here?
What mercy, what love is here before us? 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's the prophets 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 And 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. We're 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 Saviour's feet. 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. Childlike. 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. And 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 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. Turn, if you would, to 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. overcome him. The Lion of the
tribe of Judah delivers his people from the strong men. Look at
Luke chapter 11 verses 21 and 22-23. 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 trusted, and divided 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 men, 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 it 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 it 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 and look at verse 17
in our text Matthew chapter 4 verse 17. We're closed with this verse
We look a little bit of the few things here, though From that
time Jesus began to preach and to say repent for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand That's the 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. In 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. In Acts chapter 20, verses 21,
the scripture declares this, How I kept back nothing that
was profitable unto you, but have showed unto you and have
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 his preachers preached this message. Or if you would, the
Luke chapter 13. Luke chapter 13. He preached
this message urgently. the kingdom of heaven is at 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 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 Galileans whose blood
parted had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering
said unto them, suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners
above all the Galileans 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 so. Or these 18, 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.