Matthew chapter four, verse 12. Now, when Jesus, the Lord Jesus
Christ, had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed
into Galilee, leaving Nazareth. He came and dwelt in Capernaum,
which is upon the seacoast in the borders of these two sons
of Jacob. Remember, those 12 sons were
given different geographical parts of the land of Israel,
Zebulun and Nephthulim were near the Sea of Galilee. And the Lord
went there that it might be fulfilled, spoken by Isaiah, that in the
land of Zebulun and Nephthulim, by the way of the sea beyond
Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, thee people which sat in darkness
saw great light, and to them which sat in the region of the
shadow of death, light is sprung up. Light is sprung up. So I'm taking the title for the
message from the words found in verse 16. Light is sprung
up. Light is sprung up. The Lord
Jesus Christ is called the Son of Righteousness with healing
in his wings. He's also called, in John chapter
8 verse 12, he said, I am the light of the world. He that followeth
me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life,
the light of life. And then the words following
there in verse 15 and 16 are quoted from Isaiah chapter 9
that we read earlier. The Lord Jesus Christ in his
ministry fulfilled everything written of him in the Old Testament.
Matter of fact, everything he did in accomplishing our salvation
was to fulfill all things written of him in the Old Testament.
To him give all the prophets witness. Now we've seen this
statement several times. Look at verse 14, that it might
be fulfilled which is spoken by Isaiah the prophet. Everything
he did, everywhere he went is given to us in the Old Testament. Let me show you an example, two
other examples that we've seen. Turn back to Matthew chapter
one. Matthew chapter 1, remember Joseph as he thought on these
things, the angel of the Lord, verse 20, Matthew 1, saying,
Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy
wife, for that which is conceived in her of the Holy Ghost, and
she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name
Jesus, Savior, for he shall save his people from their sins now
all this was done that it might be fulfilled which is spoken
of the Lord by the prophet saying and this from Isaiah 7 verse
14 behold a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a
son and they shall call his name Emmanuel which being interpreted
as God with us. Now, that prophecy was given
750 years before the Lord Jesus Christ came. Unto us a child
is born, a son is given, and his name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor of the Mighty God. Now, we've seen another example
of that in Matthew chapter two, verse 15. Remember Joseph and
Mary were warned that Herod was going to kill all the children
and they were warned to flee into Egypt and Was there verse
15 until the death of Herod that it might be fulfilled which is
spoken of the Lord by the prophets saying out of Egypt out of Egypt
have I called my son and So there we see two examples, but here's
the third one found in Matthew chapter 2 verse 23. And the point
I'm making is, the Lord Jesus Christ didn't just go here and
there and go here and there just because he thought it might be
good. He did everything he did exactly as it was decreed of
God, fulfilling all scripture. Look at verse 23. And he came
and dwelt in a city called Nazareth. That's where he grew up. In that
carpenter shop, Joseph was a carpenter, and the Lord Jesus Christ grew
up in that carpenter shop. That it might be fulfilled which
was spoken by the prophets, he shall be called the Nazarene.
So nothing was left to luck. Chance or fate, right? Everything
was by purpose. Everything God does in saving
His people, He does on purpose. And His purpose is an eternal
purpose. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15,
when Paul writes to those people, reminding them of the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, he writes this, How that Christ
died for our sin according to the Scripture. How that He was
buried. How that He rose again the third
day according to the Scripture. You see, even in His coming,
even in His death, even in His resurrection, everything He did
was decreed and purpose of God, foreordained of God. Him being
delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. You have taken and crucified
the Lord of glory. Now, look at verse 12 again,
Matthew 4 verse 12. Now, when Jesus had heard John
was cast into prison, he departed. After the Lord had been tempted
forty days of the devil, and when he resisted every temptation
and rebuked the devil, defeated the devil with the word of truth,
we looked at that last week, He went about to accomplish our
salvation. He went about doing the will
of God, the business of God, the work of God. Remember, he
said when he was just 12 years old, when Joseph and Mary went
to Jerusalem to observe a certain religious ceremony, and they
started to go back home, and they traveled three days toward
Nazareth, and they found out that their 12-year-old son wasn't
with him. Where is he? Well, he's down there in Jerusalem
teaching those lost Pharisees and Sadducees the way of salvation. And Joseph and Mary went back
and found him in the temple teaching those people. And the Lord said
to them, don't you know that I must be about my father's business? Even as a 12-year-old child,
he was doing the will and work of God, accomplishing our salvation. He said, my meat is to do the
will of him that sent me and to finish his work. and to finish
his work. Now, verse 12, it talks about
the messenger, son of God, the last Old Testament prophet. He's
known as John the Baptist. We don't know how much time there
was between the Lord being tempted in the wilderness and the beginning
of his ministry in Galilee of the Gentiles. Some think it was
months, some maybe it was up to a year. We don't know for
sure, but we do know this. When John the Baptist had concluded
his ministry, it was a time, it was the time for the Lord
Jesus Christ to shine forth in all of his beauty and all of
his glory. The Lord writes about that in
John chapter 3 where his testimony was this, the Lord must increase,
I must decrease. He said, I'm not the Christ,
I'm not the Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ is that true light.
Don't look to me, I'm just a voice. But John was put in prison for
preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. Remember, turn back one
page to John, excuse me, Matthew chapter 3. Verse one and two,
in those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of
Judea saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And this is he that was spoken
of by the prophet Isaiah, Isaiah 40, the voice of one crying in
the wilderness, prepare you the way of the Lord and make straight
his path. So John too was sent to preach the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. But when John's ministry was
over, John was put in prison. Was it an accident? It was on
purpose, wasn't it? It was on purpose. John was put
in prison and later, do you remember what happened to John? Herod
sent and had him beheaded. John was put in prison and beheaded
for daring to tell the truth to King Herod, who was a vile
sinner. Then the Lord was pleaded in
a sovereign will. When John's ministry was over,
the Lord was pleaded in a sovereign purpose to take John home to
glory. John, someone said, lost his
head. But he didn't lose his life,
did he? He lost his head, but not his life. Because the Lord
Jesus Christ said this to Martha, remember? When Lazarus had died,
the Lord said, I'm the resurrection and the life. He that believeth
in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Whosoever liveth
and believeth in me shall never die. Do you believe that? Yes,
I do. I do believe that. John lost
his head but didn't lose his life. The Lord took him home
to glory when his ministry was over. One old songwriter said,
man's days are immortal here until their work is done. When
John's work was done, the Lord removed him that the Lord Jesus
Christ might shine forth in all his glory. Death to the believer
is never a penalty. It's the best day of their life
to a believer. Blessed are those who die in
the Lord. Death to the believer is never
a penalty, it's the best day of his life. It's not a penalty,
it's promotion. Listen to this scripture, Ecclesiastes
7 verse 1. A good name is better than a
precious ointment. The day of death than the day
of one's life. Blessed are those who die in
the Lord. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of his saints. Paul writes this in 2 Corinthians
5, We are confident, I say, willing, rather to be absent from the
body, is to be present with the Lord. That's where John went
that day. They came and they took up his
body and they buried him, but they didn't bury John. They buried
his body. Where was John? With the Lord,
in glory. Just as that dying thief, when
he died, the Lord said to him, today you'll be with me in paradise. When the Lord removed John, he
sent the gospel out by others, didn't he? The Lord will never
leave himself without a true gospel witness, a true preacher
of the gospel. Let me give you some examples.
God raised up a Moses, right? To deliver Israel out of the
land of bondage, to lead them 40 years in the wilderness. When
Moses had concluded his ministry, God raised up of Joshua, didn't
he? Joshua led them into the promised
land. I'll give you another example.
You remember the prophet Elijah. When Elijah finished his ministry
and took him to glory in that chariot of fire, whom did the
Lord raise up? Elisha. When Paul was put in
prison for the gospel, did God have a witness then? Did he raise
up others' witnesses then? When Paul was put in prison,
For preaching the gospel, the Lord raised up a young man by
the name of Timothy and sent him to preach the gospel, charged
him to preach the gospel. See, the point I'm making is
this. There's no lack of supply of gospel preachers with the
Lord. He can raise up another Apostle Paul. He can raise up
another Charles Spurgeon. He can raise up another Martin
Luther. He can raise up many to go and preach his gospel.
There's no lack of supply with the Lord, is there? He said,
I can take of these stones and make children of God. It's no
problem for God to raise up great preachers in our day. He's able. I pray that he's willing. When
my life and my ministry is over, here, my prayer for you is that
the Lord be pleased to send you another gospel preacher. to stand
here where I'm standing to preach the same gospel of the grace
of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, look at verse 13, and leaving
Nazareth, leaving Nazareth. Now, Nazareth was his hometown.
Nazareth, we read in Luke chapter 4, is where the Lord went to
the synagogue on that Sabbath day and stood up to read. And
he read from Isaiah 61 and said, The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me to preach the gospel, to heal the brokenhearted, to recover
sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.
And he said, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
Remember Luke chapter 4? And then he went on to give an
illustration of his sovereign mercy, and he said God raised
up and God was pleased to send the gospel to a widow, a Gentile
woman, and God was pleased to heal a leper, Naaman, of the
army of Syria. God had mercy on those two Gentile
dogs and he was preaching salvation and showing salvation by the
sovereign grace of God. What happened to those fine religious
folks that day? You remember what happened? They
got so mad, they got so angry, because they thought God would
save a sinner. They thought they deserved salvation.
God had mercy on that widow woman. She was a Gentile doll. God saved
that, that, that, Henri Neumann, that captain of the armies of
enemies of Israel. They got so mad that they took
him physically, removed him from the synagogue, walked him out
the door, took him over here to the brow of the hill, the
cliff of the hill, and determined to kill him, throw him off the
cliff. And the Lord passed through the
midst of them, and they couldn't lay a hand on him. You see, when
you preach clearly and define the sovereignty of God in salvation,
that those who sit in death and darkness, light springs up by
the sovereign will and grace of God, I tell you who will get
mad. Sinners won't get mad. Guilty
sinners won't get mad. The ungodly won't get mad. They
know they deserve the wages of sin and death. But I tell you
who will get mad, those self-righteous religious people. Oh, they'll
get upset. They'll get mad, they'll get
angry when you tell them God will have mercy on whom he will.
They say, well, that's not fair. That's not right. I deserve salvation. No, you don't. The wages of sin
is death. The gift of God is eternal life.
Now, why did the Lord travel to these places that's mentioned
here? He left Nazareth being rejected by those fine religious
folks. And he was looking for some sinners
to preach to. He was looking for some Gentile
dogs to preach to. And he went to Capernaum on the
sea coast to these two tribes, these two sons of Jacob, Zebulun,
and Nephthilim, that it might be fulfilled which is spoken
by Isaiah the prophet, saying, the land of Zebulun, the land
of Nephthilim, by the way of the sea beyond Jordan, Galilee,
Galilee of the Gentiles. Now whenever you see Gentiles,
think of ungodly, wretched sinners. The Lord left the company of
those fine religious folks and went out here in the wilderness
to find him some sinners who needed mercy. Isn't that amazing?
Why did the Lord travel to these places? To fulfill the scriptures,
to call out his elect, just as we read Wednesday night, just
as where it said he must need to go through Samaria to meet
a woman at the well to give her salvation. The Jews, when they
go from Jerusalem up to Galilee, they don't go through Samaria.
I mean, Samaria is where the ungodly live. We want to stay
away from that place. We don't want to go around there,
but the Lord said I must need to go through some area because
there's a woman there, one of my elect, and I must cross her
path and give her salvation. The Lord must cross the path
of his people, so the Lord must go here too. to find a sinner
in need of mercy who sat in darkness, the darkness of ignorance, and
the death of his sin, to give them light and life of salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Someone said of these places
that are mentioned here, Capernaum and Galilee were nothing and
nobody's lived. in their day, where he found
sinners and made them objects of his love and trophies of his
grace. You see, it's all sovereign mercy,
sovereign grace. Turn over here to Matthew chapter
11 for a moment. Matthew chapter 11. Hello, verse
25. At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank the old father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
you hid these things from the wise and prudent. You see that? Matthew 11, 25. And revealed
them unto babes, even so, father, for so it seemed good in thy
sight. All things are delivered unto
me and my father, and no man knoweth the son, but the father
neither knoweth any man the father save the son. And to he, and he to whom, whomsoever
the son will reveal him. sovereign revelation of salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now hold your place there and
turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, 1 Corinthians chapter 1, Verse 22, 1 Corinthians 1.22,
The Jews require a sign, the Greeks seek after wisdom, but
we preach Christ crucified under the Jews, the stumbling block
under the Greeks foolishness, but under them which are called,
1 Corinthians 1.24. both Jews and Greeks, Christ
the power of God, Christ the wisdom of God, the wisdom of
God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, the
weakness of God is stronger than men, for you see your calling
brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble are called, but God hath chosen. Now who
does the choosing? Our Lord said, you didn't choose
me, I chose you. But God hath chosen the foolish things of
the world to confound the wise, God hath chosen the weak things
of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and
the base things, the nobodies of the world, and the things
which are despised hath God chosen, yea, the things which are not. to bring to naught the things
that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. That's
the bottom line, isn't it? But of him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God has made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory only in the Lord Jesus Christ. God calls out nobodies,
and he makes them somebodies in Christ. The Lord is always
on the trail of His sheep, and will cross their path in due
time with the gospel of His grace, and call them to Himself. This
is a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation. The Lord
Jesus Christ came to save sinners. He said, I'm the chief one. If
I ever can find me a sinner, I've got good news. He came to
call sinners. Turn over here to Matthew 9.
You remember this? When he called Matthew the publican,
you remember what was a publican? The publicans were those who
worked for the Jews, but they also worked for the Romans. They
were Jews who collected taxes, who robbed their own people and
gave the money to the Romans. Matthew 9, 9, and Jesus passed
forth from thence, and he saw a man named Matthew. Matthew
was made an apostle, sitting at the proceed of customs. And
he said unto him, follow me. And he rose and followed him,
just like James and John, just like Peter and Andrew. They were
fishermen, the Lord called them. And it came to pass that Jesus
said, meet in the house. Behold, many publicans and many
sinners came, sat down with him and his disciples. Imagine this
scene, and when the Pharisees saw that, they said to his disciples,
why does your master, why does he eat with publicans and sinners? Why does he do that? And the
Lord heard what they said, verse 12, and he said to them, they
that behold need not a physician, but those who are sick. Go ye
and learn what that meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. I'm not come to call the righteous.
I came to call sinners." Are you a sinner? Yes, I am. Through and through. Born in
sin, shaping in iniquity. Now, the people, look at verse
16, back in Matthew 4. The people which sat in darkness.
Now, we're born in darkness. We're born in darkness, dead
in sin, dead in trespasses and in sin. The people which sat
in darkness, we are born that way, we live that way, we love
darkness rather than the light because our deeds are evil. The
people, the people which sat in darkness saw great light. They saw great light because
he gave them life. And to them that sat in the regions
of the shadow of death, light is sprung up. light has shined
in their hearts that they might see the glory of God in the face
of Christ. Our Lord said over here, if the
light that is in you be darkness, how great is that darkness. Now, just like them, we too,
this includes all of us here, we too were sitting, walking,
living in gross darkness and ignorance in our sin, dead in
trespasses and in sin, living in a shadow of death, living
in the land of destruction, and didn't even realize we were blind
and could not see. We were ignorant of our own sinfulness
and the holiness of God until the Lord in His sovereign purpose
was pleased to send us the truth by a gospel preacher And then
the Lord, through the preaching of the gospel, He commands the
light to shine in our heart to show us our great need of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and then we say in our heart, I must have
Him. I must have Him. I must know Him. Now, if you
want to turn with me, you can, but if not, just sit and listen.
One verse over here in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 5 and verse
6, for we preach not ourselves, 2 Corinthians 4, 5, we preach
not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord. And ourselves, your
servants for Christ's sake, Jesus' sake, for God who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness. What did He do? He 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 that shines
in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is revealed
by looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. One other scripture,
if you want to turn, you can. If not, I'll just read it to
you. Over in Colossians, Colossians chapter 1, remember over there
where it said verse 12, Colossians 1 verse 12, he said, we give
thanks to the Father giving thanks unto the Father,
which hath made us meet or fit to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light, who delivered us from the power of darkness
and translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have
redemption through his blood, even to forgiveness of our sins. How do we get out of the kingdom
of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son? He translates
us by His power, by His grace. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation. This is how the Lord calls His
people out of darkness into His marvelous light with the preaching
of the truth. It is the truth that sets us free. God does not
teach us the gospel with the lies of men. He never uses a
lie to tell the truth, does he? You can't do that. You can't
tell a lie and tell the truth. He uses the truth to teach us
the truth of the gospel. This is how God in his sovereign
mercy calls out his people to himself, gives them faith to
trust him for all their salvation. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the word of truth. Call upon the name of the Lord,
because God has sent gospel preachers to us that we might hear the
truth of God. And then he said, I'll have mercy
on whom I will have mercy. This is how God in his sovereign
mercy calls us to himself through the preaching of the gospel.
And he does have salvation. He does have mercy upon his people.
It's not of him that willeth. It's not of him that runneth.
It's God that shows mercy. And he does that by preaching
and through the preaching of the gospel. Please God through
preaching. to call out his people. Now is not this the story, every
believer's story? I said in great darkness, all
the years I was in religion without Christ, Oh, they talked about
Jesus, but it was another one. They talked about salvation,
but it wasn't the salvation of God. All the years I sat in darkness,
I didn't see anything until one day He commanded the light to
shine through the preaching of the truth. God sent me a gospel
preacher who had the message of the gospel, and God used that
message to give me light and life in Christ. We sat in great
darkness, We sat in the region of the shadow of death, and light
is sprung up. This is every believer's story.
I was blind, now I see. I was lost, now I'm found. I was dead, and he gave me life
by his sovereign will, by his sovereign grace. Third, we'll
go here to John chapter 1. Remember this scripture? A lot of times, this is one of
those scriptures that's quoted. John chapter 1, verse 12, I believe
it is. John chapter 1, verse 12. Verse 11 says, excuse me, John
chapter 1 verse 11, he came into his own, his own received him
not, but as many as received him, to them gave he power, right
or privilege, as the marginal reference has, become sons of
God, even to them that believe on his name. As many as received him, Why
did they receive him? Why did they believe him? A lot
of people just quote that scripture and stop. There's not a period
there. But as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become sons of God, even to them that
believe on his name. Not a period there. A colon. Which were born. They were born
of God, begotten of God, not of blood, fleshly inheritance,
nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man. They believed
the gospel, they received the gospel because they were born
of God. Born of God. You see, a man doesn't
believe, a sinner doesn't believe the gospel in order to be born
again. He believes the gospel because
he has been begotten of God. whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. Great light encounters great
darkness and brings life and immortality to light through
the gospel. He turns us from darkness to
light. He turns us from errors to truth. He causes us to pass from death
unto life and it's by his will, his grace, not our works, is
it? A man who is in darkness and
death, he can't figure things out. The gospel has to be revealed
unto us. Now let me give you a good example
of that. Turn to 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter one. 2 Timothy chapter one. Here is Paul writing from prison
and he writes back to Timothy and he says in verse seven, For
God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of
love, and of a sound mind. This is 2 Timothy 1, 7. Look
at verse 8. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the
testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be thou
partaker of the afflictions of the gospel of God, according
to the power of God. Now look at the next verse carefully.
I must confess, This is one of my favorite verses. I think I
quote this every time I preach the gospel. It's according to
the power of God who saved us and then he called us. He saved
us eternally and in time he calls us with a holy calling, a heavenly
calling, a high calling, a personal calling, a powerful calling,
not, not, according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace, purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ
Jesus when I walked in the aisle, when I shook the preacher's hand, which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began. God made that choice before you
were born. but is now made manifest by the
appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death,
and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,
whereunto I am appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of
the Gentiles, for which cause I also suffer these things. Nevertheless,
I am not ashamed. I know whom I have believed,
and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed
unto him against that day." I know whom I have believed. It's the
truth Christ of God now turn over here to first Peter First
Peter Chapter 2 first Peter chapter
2 First Peter chapter 2 verse 4
says that If so be you tasted, the Lord is gracious. Verse 3,
verse 4, 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 4. To whom coming as into a living
stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen God and precious.
You also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house, a
holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it's contained
in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion. This is Isaiah 28, 16. A chief cornerstone, elect and
precious, he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. And you therefore which believe,
he is precious. But to them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made
the head of the corner. A stone of stumbling, a rock
of offense, even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient,
whereunto also they were appointed, but Verse nine, you are a chosen
generation. You're a royal priesthood. You're
a holy nation. You're a peculiar people that
you should show forth the praises of him who called you out of
darkness. Where did he find you? He called
you out of darkness into his marvelous light, into his marvelous
light. So, We come to this conclusion, don't
we? By nature, we're born in darkness. By nature, we love
darkness, not the light. The light of the true and living
God, Christ is that light. We sat in the region of the shadow
of death until one day God said, live. Live. And by his grace, that's exactly
what