Well, we're in the darkest week
of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, and it gets very dark here. Those of you living at much more
southerly latitudes than this, we're 51 degrees north. If you
come here at this time of year, you're surprised at how dark
it is. We barely get eight hours of daylight at this time of year.
It's very, very dark. And if you go to the north of
Scotland, they barely get five or six hours daylight at this
time of year. Light, light and darkness. It's a great theme
that is often mentioned in the scriptures. I've called this
message, Great Light Shining in Darkness. And our text is
Matthew 4, 16. The people which sat in darkness
saw great light, and to them which sat in the region and shadow
of death, light is sprung up. You know, in the 17th century
and 18th century, there was what was called the Age of Enlightenment. And now I'm no great, historian. I don't know the details of these
things, but from what I read, it was an age which was a response
to the superstition of false religion, the superstition of
Rome. And the thing that was given
authority and supremacy was human reason. Human reason and rational
thinking. It was leading in culture to
liberty, to tolerance, to democracy. Oh, all these wonderful things.
Aren't these so good? But no, no, no. It was fatally
flawed. It was fatally disabled by fallen
human nature. Because in our human nature,
however clever we might think we are, we're not really. As
Romans 1.22 says of people in general, professing themselves
to be wise, They became fools. How many do we see in our society
today, and down the ages, without the knowledge of God and without
the light of God, they profess themselves to be so wise, oh
so wise, and yet they become fools. But the light of God The
light of God has shined in this dark world, and that light of
God is Jesus Christ, the man, Jesus, who is God in flesh. You know there's an awful lot
of carol singing going on at this time of year, and virtually
everywhere you go there's There's carols playing on the radio and
in the supermarkets and on the street corners. It's everywhere.
It's everywhere, along with all the lights that go with it. And
you know, in a lot of those old traditional carols, we tend not
to sing them in our service because they're so corrupted with the
way society thinks on these things. But in those carols there's a
huge amount of scriptural, biblical truth about, about veiled in
flesh the Godhead see. You know, you just trip off the
tongue, people know the tune. Think about what it means. Veiled
in flesh the Godhead see. He came, our God came. to shine the light of divine
truth. In a dark world, he came, the
light of the world, to shine the light of divine truth. To
proclaim what? God's glorious kingdom is what
he came to proclaim. He came to proclaim the kingdom
of light, the light of God. He came to proclaim that glorious
kingdom. He came to qualify a multitude
that he'd loved from everlasting for citizenship. It's illustrated
in Matthew chapter four, which is where our text is. Look at
verses 12 to 17. Let's just read them now. Matthew
chapter four, verse 12. The first bit, the first 11 verses
of chapter four of Matthew was the temptation of Jesus in the
wilderness by Satan. The temptations he put in front
of him and Jesus told him that only God should be worshipped.
And then in verse 11, the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels
came and ministered unto him. Verse 12, now, when Jesus had
heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee,
because he had been in Judea, down in the south, where John
the Baptist had been ministering, and they'd come out of Jerusalem
to go and be baptized of him in Jordan. And it says in verse
13, and leaving Nazareth, which is the town where he was brought
up, the village where he was brought up, he came and dwelt
in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of
Zabulon and Nephthalim, that it might be fulfilled which was
spoken by Isaiah, Isaiah is the Greek for Isaiah, Isaiah is the
prophet, saying, The land of Zabulon, this is near Capernaum,
on the Sea of Galilee. The land of Zabulon and the land
of Naphthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, it's
in Galilee, but it's not just Galilee, it's not Galilee of
the Jews, of the people of God, it's Galilee of the Gentiles.
It's so remote, it's so dark from the truth of God. The oracles
of God were given to the Jews and here, not far from Jerusalem,
but in the north of the country, in Galilee of the Gentiles, so
corrupted with Gentile culture, so corrupted with its darkness,
there, in that place, in that place is what Isaiah prophesied,
the people which sat in darkness saw a great light. How did they
see a great light? Jesus came. God came from heaven
and walked there in that dark land. And to them which sat in
the region and shadow of death, Light is sprung up. From that
time, Jesus began to preach. He came to preach. He began to
preach and to say, what did he say? Repent. For the kingdom
of heaven is at hand. That was his message. He fulfilled
what we read earlier in Isaiah chapter 9, verses 1 and 2. Nevertheless, the dimness shall
not be such as it was in the vexation. when he first lightly
afflicted the land of Zebulun, there it is again, and Naphtali,
that's the same place, and afterward did more grievously afflict her
by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations,
of the Gentiles, not of the Jews, it is so corrupted with Gentile
non-religious culture. The people that walked in darkness
have seen a great light, a great light shining in darkness. Why
did Isaiah, 800 years before he came, prophesy this? Because
God, who is the light of the world, was coming. That great
light was shining in that land which was darkened by its ignorance
of the truth and knowledge of God. They that dwell in the land
of the shadow of death, the darkness of death all around this society,
upon them hath the light shined. So I've got three points this
morning. First of all, the darkness of this world. Secondly, the
light of the world. And thirdly, the call to you
to come to the kingdom of light. So the darkness of this world,
I've already said we're in December, I think the shortest days in
a week's time, physical darkness in December. It's very, very
dark in the Northern Hemisphere at this time. I know anybody
listening in the Southern Hemisphere, it's strange to you because it's
the height of your summer, but it's dark here. And there are
Christmas lights all around. The problem that this scripture
speaks of is not a lack of physical light, but spiritual light. Not a lack of physical, but spiritual.
Jesus was in Judea in Matthew chapter 4. He was tempted, he
was helped by angels. Then he moved to Galilee in the
north. Now, I know those of you in America,
it's the other way around to hear. Those who are in the north
are the sophisticated, educated ones. And those lot down south,
they're a bit ignorant and country bumpkin. Well, it's the other
way around in this country. It's the north that's where Oh,
you know, the people who live in the south think they're so
much superior to the people who live in the north. It was like
that in Israel. The people who lived around Jerusalem
in Judea, they regarded with contempt the people in the north.
They're just northerners. They're just northerners. And
there was no light there. Oh, there's no light there. There
can't be any light there. The true light is down here in the
south around Jerusalem. There's no light up there. Why
did he go up there, to that dark land around Capernaum, that Zebulon
and Naphthalim, Because it was dark there and
the Scripture must be fulfilled. What Isaiah wrote must be fulfilled. It must be. God has said it. The Word of God cannot fail.
It's not a matter of possibly this will happen. If God has
said it, and by His Spirit inspired it, and it's been written down,
and it's been preserved, there is no way it cannot happen. It
must happen. The scripture must be fulfilled.
If God had told Isaiah to write, the light's coming and it's going
to shine in that land by Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee, when he
comes, God comes into this world in the person of his son, he
must walk in that land. He must shine the light of the
world, the light of God in this world. The people in Isaiah's
time, we read it in chapter 8 of Isaiah earlier on, they've been
consulting astrologers for the light of their lives. Don't so
many in our society do that sort of thing, whether it's astrologers
or whatever else it is? It's anything but the truth of
God people will resort to. They had forsaken God's word. Isaiah 8 20 says if you forsake
God's word there is no light in you. To the law and to the
testimony, the truth of God, if they speak not, if they think
not according to this word, there is no light in them, there is
no truth in them. They were content to rest in
that darkness. They were content to rest in
it. And the next verse goes on to say, you will end up in eternal
darkness. And that verse that followed
on hints at Revelation 16, which is the judgment of God. Eternal
darkness, and people furious at the living God for bringing
this upon them. Nevertheless, even in a very dark place, Even
in a very dark place, Zabulon, Naphtali, the light of God will
shine. And it did when Jesus walked
there. When he walked there, the light
of God shined there. Today, in the society we live
in, spiritual darkness abounds. There is ignorance all around.
You say, oh, we've never been more sophisticated, we've never
been more clever. Look at the computing power that's
at our fingertips these days. We have never been more ignorant. of the God who is the source
of all life. And it's willful ignorance. It's
not just drifting into it. It's a willful ignorance. The
ignorance of the God of life and the God of truth and of his
righteousness and of his justice. And it's everywhere, darkness.
Because why? Satan. Satan preaches his evil
gospel, which is a false... Gospel means good news. He portrays
it as good news, but it's false. His evil gospel of unbelief in
the things of God, for the attainment of happiness without the justice
of God. And it's exactly what... It's
not new. It's exactly what he did at Babel, when they tried
to build the Tower of Babel, to reach to heaven without the
justice of God. He told them there is no need
for God. There is no need for the justice
of God. We can have a utopian society
without any need for God. And so what have they done in
more recent years? Evolution has been invented. What the scripture calls science,
falsely so called, because that's what it is. You say, well, the
whole scientific world's against you. You're in a minority of
one, or very few of us anyway. I say, I don't care. God has
said, God has said that God created life. God created all things. God upholds all things. Evolution
didn't put things together. Anybody that thinks evolution,
random, materialistic processes put together the diversity and
wonder of life that we see all around us Throughout creation,
it's just utter stupidity. How can it possibly be? It's
scientifically impossible. They say, no, it's not scientifically
impossible. It is scientifically impossible. They cannot possibly
prove it. They put the preeminence of human
reasoning above everything else. They put false religion. This
is Satan. You say, right, well, people
that don't go along with that who are religious, well, surely
they've got it right. No. False religion is all around
for the masses who must have a god of their own imagination.
What darkness, what darkness there is in this world. In the
Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6 and verse 23, Jesus said this,
if therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great
is that darkness. And then in Luke 11, I think
it's quoting the same thing of the Sermon on the Mount, when
thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed
therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. You
see, so what's this light that's in you if you're in darkness?
There is a light of physical life in every living person. It's undeniable, isn't it? You
know, you can see when somebody dies, when that person that inhabited
that body dies, that light has gone out of that body. There
is a light of physical life in every living person. But is the
light that is in you really spiritual darkness? Take heed, therefore,
that the light of life that you have and that you're living by
be not actually spiritual darkness, spiritual blindness, spiritual
blackness. Do you vainly think and live
and exist like everyone else? As it says in Ephesians 4, verse
18, everyone else all around us, the way the Gentiles were,
having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life
of God. What is it that alienates you
from the life of God? The ignorance that is in them.
Why are they ignorant? Because of the blindness of their
heart, their past feelings. That's the world without the
light and the truth of God. Are you a foreigner to the life
of God? Is it something that just Doesn't
enter your reckoning? It doesn't cross your mind at
all? Is your inner being blind to spiritual truth? Is it blind
to it? Is it blind? It seems so for
the vast majority today. But you say, what about all the
nice people who are not religious like you? Do you know, I know
loads of really, really nice people. They're lovely people.
They're cultured. They're sophisticated. They're
not evil. They may not believe what we
believe, but they're not evil. They're not evil. I tell you
this on the strength of God's Word. Come the day of judgment,
there is nothing nice about unbelief. There is nothing nice about calling
the God of the universe a liar, because that's what it is. No,
they call God a liar. There is nothing nice about that.
God will judge it. God will judge it. You see, what
it really is, it's all an outward show, masking the true darkness
of the soul without the knowledge and presence of the true God.
It's a manifestation of the deception of Satan in all without the light
of God. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2,
I often quote this chapter, but not these verses. I quote chapter
13 about you. who God has chosen to salvation.
But look, it talks from verse 9 about the people who are following
falsehood, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all
power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness in them that perish. because they received
not the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for
this cause, listen, they received not the love of the truth of
God that they might be saved. And for this cause, see, it was
a deliberate, willful rejection. God shall send them strong delusion
that they should believe a lie. that they all might be damned
who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Do you know that's the greatest
unrighteousness? The unforgivable sin. Jesus said
all sins can be forgiven, but not unbelief. Unbelief is the
sin against the Holy Spirit. It's rejection of the truth of
God, and it deepens as time goes on. In Isaiah, the people walked
in darkness. In Matthew 4, quoting it, the
people sit in darkness. It deepens as time goes on. If
you knowingly choose unbelief, God will enforce that delusion
strongly. If you postpone believing to
a more convenient day, you will be lost forever. You say, give
me an example, Felix. in the Acts of the Apostles,
24 verse 25, the ones who were examining Paul when he was going
to be sent to Rome, where he would end up being executed for
his faith. But one of them was Felix, and
Felix heard him and said, he was quite persuaded and moved
by what Paul said, but he said, it's not convenient now. When
I have a more convenient day, I'll listen to you. Do you know,
we never read that he had that convenient day ever again. He
was eternally lost in darkness. But listen, but listen. You're
alive hearing this now. All of you hearing this, there's
a light of life in you and you are hearing this. You're not
yet eternally lost in darkness. Those people in Galilee of the
Gentiles even, Even they saw a great light. I have no commission
to preach from God to confirm you in your darkness. That's
not my purpose. I'm not trying to confirm you
in your darkness, but rather to bid you to come to the light,
which is the light of God. What light is it? It's the light
of the world. Here's the second point. It's
the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy is Jesus coming, preaching. He fulfilled that prophecy when
he came preaching the kingdom of heaven. Verse 17 of Matthew
four, from that time, Jesus began to preach and to say, repent
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Unlike false Christianity,
his message wasn't reform this world and be good people. If
you ask religion, they'll say that Jesus was a good teacher
and a good example, and he was trying to make the world a better
place. And if only people had followed him and had not executed
him, what a terrible crime that was. Well, yes, it was. But they
completely missed the point that it was all in the purpose of
God. It was all according to the eternal counsel and purposes
of God. He didn't come to reform this
world. He came to prepare for the kingdom of heaven. Look at
his claims. Just turn with me to John 8.
Peter read it for us earlier. But in John chapter 8 and verse
12. John chapter 8, verse 12. Then
spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the
world. He that followeth me shall not
walk, live in darkness, spiritual darkness, but shall have the
light of life. What a claim! Here is God manifest,
God in flesh, veiled in flesh the Godhead see. Here is God
in flesh saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth
me, do you follow him? Do I follow him? He that followeth
me shall not walk in darkness, shall not live his life in spiritual
darkness which ends in condemnation for eternity, but he shall have
the light of life. Wonderful words. Chapter nine
of John, chapter nine and verse five. He says this, as long as
I am in the world, I am the light of the world. Turn over to chapter
12 of John, chapter 12 of John and verse 46. I am come, a light into the world,
that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.
Do you want to abide in the darkness of this world, which ends in
a lost eternity, which ends in hell? You'd say, no, no, but
I'm all right. Well, there's only one way not
to, and that's to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I am come,
a light into the world, that whosoever believeth, whosoever!
And if free grace, why not for me? Whosoever believeth on me
should not abide in darkness, but should have the light of
life. What glorious promises. This
is God speaking these things. In him, Jesus, was the fullness
of the Godhead. bodily. When they looked on him,
they looked on the fullness of the Godhead. Philip, show us
the Father and that will suffice us. Philip, have I been so long
with you, said Jesus, that you have not seen me? He who has
seen me has seen the Father, walking amongst his people, walking
amongst his people. The prophet spoke of it. Isaiah,
again, 800 years before he came. Isaiah 40, verse one. Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. God's message to those
he's determined to save is not a message of condemnation. It's
not a message of fear. It's a message of comfort, of
comfort. That's the preacher's job, to
comfort the people of God. Comfort my people. This is God
speaking to preachers. Comfort my people. Give them
the message of comfort, of salvation. Comfort ye my people, says your
God. Verse three, the voice of him
that crieth in the wilderness, that was John the Baptist, prepare
you the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway
for our God. Our God, the unknowable, the
unseen God, you'll notice there, Lord is capitals, small capitals,
that's speaking of the unknowable Jehovah, of God who dwells in
light that we cannot approach unto, prepare ye the way of the
Lord, make straight in the desert a highway on this earth for our
God. Verse three, where do we go next? Verse five, verse five. And the
glory of the Lord, which is hidden in the darkness of this world,
the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh, all
sorts of flesh, shall see it together. They saw him, all of
them saw him, for why? The mouth of the Lord has spoken
it. This was written 800 years before he came. The mouth of
the Lord has spoken it. He said it, therefore it cannot
fail. Verse 9, O Zion, that bringest
good tidings, good news, get thee up into the high mountain,
where you'll be heard more clearly. O Jerusalem, that bringest good
tidings. Lift up your voice with strength,
lift it up, be not afraid. Say unto the cities of Judah,
what's the message, Judah? What's the message? 800 years
before he came, look, here he is, behold your God. He's walking,
the God-man-savior is walking this earth. When they looked
on Jesus, what did they see? There was no comeliness that
they should desire him. But what Isaiah says in chapter
40 is, Look, behold your God, your God is there. He has come,
our God has come. He shall gather his lambs, it
says in verse 11, his sheep he came to save his people. He is
the light of God that shines in fallen human hearts to impart
the truth of redeeming grace, to impart the qualification for
the kingdom of God. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
four. 2 Corinthians chapter four. And verse three says there, but
if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, lost in
their unbelief. In whom, verse four, the God
of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not.
Whether you take that as being Satan as the God of this world,
the prince of the power of darkness, has blinded the minds of them,
then it's all with the permissive will of the one who really is
the God of this world, who is God Almighty himself. The God
of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not,
lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God, should shine unto them. When you look at Christ,
look unto me, he said. Look unto me and be ye saved,
all ye ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none other.
That was Christ speaking as prophesied in Isaiah 45. Look unto me, the
glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, the image
of God, If you would want to see God, look at him, he is the
image of God, that that light should shine unto them. For we
preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves
your servants for Jesus' sake. For, verse six, for, this is
a good one to commit to memory, for God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, when in the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth, and God said, let there be light.
And there was light, and God saw the light, that it was good.
God created light. God, who commanded light to shine
out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts. To give what light? He shined in the hearts of his
people to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. And where do we see that light
of the knowledge of the glory of God? We don't see it in religious
candles, you go around The churches of this world in these days and
the stained glass windows sparkle with their colors and the Christmas
lights and trees are everywhere and there's religious candles
that people light thinking that it's doing them some good. and
they sing sentimentally Christmas carols without ever listening
to the doctrinal truth that's there. No, that won't shine light
into your hearts. No, not at all. It's the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. I want to turn you to John chapter
one, where we must go, and so often. John chapter one and verse
four. Speaking of the Son who came,
who was the Word, Jesus is the Word of God. He is the Word of
the Father, now in flesh appearing, as one of the carols says. Word
of God, now in flesh appearing. In Him was life. There's no life
without Him. And the life was the light of
men. Verse five, and the light shineth
in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. The light
of God shined in this world. It shines today in this world,
if you will open your Bible and read and ask God to shine that
light of the glory of God into your heart. Verse seven, there
was a man sent from God named John. The same came for a witness.
This is John the Baptist, was a witness, as Isaiah 40 said,
to bear witness of the light that all men through him might
believe, that all of his people might believe. He was not the
light. John the Baptist wasn't that light, but was sent to bear
witness of the light. Jesus was that true light which
lighteth every man that cometh into the world. You say, that's
interesting, but what is it to me? You're putting some good
arguments together, it's quite entertaining watching how this
scripture fits with that, but what's it got to do with me?
Is it for me just to develop an interest in Christianity?
Just like I might develop an interest in golf or archaeology
or fishing or something like that. So what? No, there's a
call to come to the light. There's the light of the world
in this dark world. There's a call to come to the
light. What is it about this light of the knowledge of the
glory of God? What is it about it? What's the
key thing? This is it. It's the answer to
Job's question, which I so often quote. Job chapter 9 verse 2. How should a man or a woman How
should any person who is a sinner, how should a sinner be just with
God? How should a sinner be judged
by God and found to be just, justified, without sin before
God? You see, true life, the eternal
life of God, is only in the kingdom of God. But I need holiness to
enter it. Follow after holiness, says Hebrews
12, 14, without which no man shall see the Lord. I am defiled
with sin. As I am, I cannot see the Lord,
because I am not holy. I am vile, as Job said in Job
chapter 40. I am vile when I see myself,
in however good I might be, in the light of the holiness of
God. I am vile. I am vile. I am defiled with
sin. How can I be just with God? You see, there is nothing, it
says in Revelation 21, about the heaven of God, there shall
in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever
worketh abomination or maketh a lie. I must be cleansed from
my sin. I must be freed from its just
curse under the justice and law of God. I must be justified,
declared just, as you would be in a court of law if you're told,
you are justified, you are free to go, you may go... The alternative
is, send him down, send him down to the cells. I have no ability
to pay my debt with anything other than an eternity in hell. Do you hear that? In myself, With who I am, the
good person that I think I am, I have no ability to pay my debt
with anything other than an eternity of separation from all that is
good and all that is God in hell. And even then, God's justice
would not be satisfied. There is no pleasure in the death
of the wicked, says God. There is no pleasure in it. God
is not pleased by it because it never ultimately satisfies
his offended justice. But in the death of his son,
who is God himself, it pleased the Lord to bruise him. It pleased
the Lord to bruise him. Why? Because it made satisfaction
to offended justice for those people he was saving. For an
innumerable multitude of people, loved by God from before time
began, God became man. The man, one mediator between
God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. The man Christ Jesus came,
the sinless, sacrificial Lamb of God, was loaded judicially. I don't understand how, but the
Word of God declares it, and therefore I believe it. He was
loaded judicially with all the sin of that chosen multitude,
and paid its debt to the full under the justice of God. God
justly punished him, made him pay that debt. God in heaven
punished God on earth in the body of his son, and he shed
his blood. God bought his church with his
own precious blood. How did he do it? He became man
with human blood, son of Mary. He became man and shed his blood
on Calvary's cross, thereby making the multitude that he'd loved
from eternity the righteousness of God in him. How can God admit
sinners to his kingdom? By bearing their penalty. Where?
in his own body on the cursed tree, said the Apostle Peter.
Thus he remains just in justifying sinners who must be condemned
in their natural state. But he's a just God and a savior. He is just and justifies those
who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. He did it for whom? For
his elect. He's elect. That's narrow, isn't
it? It's a multitude that no man can number. Well, what nationality
are they? From every tribe and tongue and
kindred. He calls them his sheep. He calls
them his body. He calls them his church, his
temple, the temple of the living God. He calls them his people,
a royal priesthood. If you read the New Testament
epistles again and again, you read, we and us, we, he's done
this for us, we, we, the we and the us, it's those people, the
elect of God of the New Testament epistles. But what about you? What about me? Listen to what
Jesus said, John 5, 24, verily, verily, truly, truly, I say unto
you, He that heareth my word, are you hearing it? He that heareth
my word and believeth on him that sent me, listen to this,
hath, hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation. It's appointed to man to die
once and then the judgment. And in your sins, that judgment
will be condemnation for eternity. But he that believeth on me believeth
on him that sent me, and has everlasting life, and shall not
come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. What is the work that I can do
to be right with God? That's what the Jews asked him.
John 6, 29, this is the work of God, and it is the work of
God. It's the work that God does in his people. This is the work
of God, that you believe on him whom he has sent. Is that all? Just say, okay, I agree, and
there, I go get my stamp and I go to heaven. Well, no, not
really. Don't misinterpret that, no.
Mark chapter one, verse 15 says this, the kingdom of God is at
hand. Repent ye and believe the gospel. Repent. There must be repentance. What is repentance? Repentance
comes from the French, to think, penser, to think. Re penser,
rethink. Rethink. Rethink your philosophy
and your basis of life. Ask God for a renewed mind. Romans 12 verse two, be not conformed
to this darkened world. This, I put darkened in there,
but he says, be not conformed to this world, which is dark,
but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, repent
and believe the gospel. God has promised to give to his
people, he says it again and again in the prophecy of Ezekiel,
a new heart also will I give unto you, a new spirit will I
put within you. I will take the stony heart out
of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh, a new heart, a repentant
heart, a new man. You must be born again, said
Jesus to Nicodemus, you must be born again. To those who believe
him, he gives a new heart. But what about my family? What
about my friends? What about my life and my mates
in this world? What about all of that? There's
a cost. There's a cost to believing. Like Christian in Pilgrim's Progress,
John Bunyan's book. which is so full of biblical
truth. Like Christian, living in Vanity
Fair, and seeing that he needed to get on that road to the Celestial
City. He continued to physically live
there, but spiritually, he was on that narrow way to the Celestial
City. We ask the question of God's
people. It's posed in Joshua 24, where
the people said they would follow God, and Joshua said, I don't
believe you, because you're not a believing people. you're a
wayward people, you'll soon change your minds and you'll soon go
away from God. And he says, choose you this
day whom you will serve, whether the idols around or the God of
heaven. But as for me, said Joshua, as for me and my house, as for
me, God helping me, whatever it is in my power to do with
his help, we will serve the Lord. You might complain that my message
is very repetitive. I'm always saying, believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. But why should I proclaim anything
else? Why should I proclaim anything else? I cannot understand those
who claim to preach the Christian gospel and they stand up and
they preach anything other than this. There is none other name,
as Acts 4 verse 12 says, there is none other name under heaven
given among men. Whose name? The name of the Lord
Jesus Christ, God our Savior. There is none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. If you would
be saved from your sins, if you would have that place in eternity
guaranteed by the person and work of Christ, you must trust
him. You must believe on him. And
that is the reason why the apostle Paul said, In 1 Corinthians chapter
2 verse 2, I was determined, when I came to you, you Corinthians,
when I came to you, I was determined not to know anything among you
except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And God helping me and other
preachers that I know, us too. That's all we're going to preach.
Amen.