Let us turn again in our Bibles
to Matthew chapter four. Matthew chapter four, and we
will be looking at verses 12 through 17. Now when Jesus had heard that
John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee. and leaving
Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the
sea coast in the borders of Zebulon and Naphthalim, that it might
be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias, the prophet, saying,
the land of Zebulon and the land of Naphthalim, 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 sit in the
region and 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. All of us know that we have four
gospel narratives the Lord has given us. Matthew is placed first
in order in our Bibles, and it is believed that The Gospel of
Matthew was the first of the four to be written, the Gospel
of John being written last. It is also believed that Matthew's
Gospel was written especially for the Jews. This is the fourth
time in these verses we've just read. This is the fourth time
that Matthew has written that it might be fulfilled. If you notice those words in
verse 14, that it might be fulfilled. This is the fourth time he's
used those same words. Let's look back at the three
previous times. In chapter one, Matthew chapter
one and verse 22, we read, now all this was done
that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the
prophet saying, behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall
bring forth a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which
being interpreted is God with us. The Lord Jesus Christ was
born of the Virgin, and that fulfilled a prophecy in the prophecy
of Isaiah. And thus we have God manifest
in the flesh. Emmanuel, which being interpreted
means God with us. The second time, if you look
in chapter two of Matthew, verse 13, And when they were departed,
behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream,
saying, Arise and take the young child and his mother and flee
into Egypt. And be thou there until I bring
thee word, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.
When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night
and departed into Egypt. and was there until the death
of Herod that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord
by the prophet saying out of Egypt have I called my son. We marvel when we read about
the wickedness of this King Herod when he sent and had all the
boy children two years and younger around Bethlehem slain. when
he realized that the wise man did not come back by Jerusalem
and tell him where the child was born. Then he just decided
to eliminate all the children, two years and younger, all the
boy children, two years and younger. And I thought this past week,
how many children do you imagine were slain at that time? Bethlehem wasn't a large city.
It was a small village. Let's say 1000. And that was
probably more than he had killed. But that's a lot. But think about
the fact we think out wicked and evil that man was that we
have rulers. We have leaders today who haven't
only passed laws to kill 1,000, but millions. Isn't that true? It is. We think, oh, Herod, he
was such a wicked man. And you read about him. He was
a wicked man. But we live in days when wickedness
is just as rampant as it was in those days. Now, this prophecy
that Matthew tells us was fulfilled in the Lord calling his son out
of Egypt was given in the book of Hosea. And it is believed
it was given then to show the love that God had for the nation
of Israel, how he gave nations for their redemption. Remember
that in the prophecy of Isaiah? how that he destroyed Egypt completely,
destroyed Egypt all to bring out his chosen people, the nation
of Israel, showing his great love for that nation that it
might be fulfilled. Matthew tells us that was just
a prophecy, a picture of what would take place when in the
fullness of the time, God sent forth his son made of a woman
born into this world And in a dream, Joseph, who was married to Mary,
not the father, not the father of Jesus. We know he was born
of a virgin, but we might refer to him as a stepfather. But he
was warned to take his son and Mary and go into Egypt because
of what Herod was going to do. And after Herod died, then he
was told to bring, come back into the land of Palestine. So
that scripture was fulfilled. The third one is also in chapter
two, in verse 23, where we read, and he came, when he came back,
that is Joseph and Mary and the child, Jesus, and he came and
dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled, that
it might be fulfilled. And this of course was a prophecy
of Isaiah that was given in the 11th chapter of Isaiah that goes
like this. And there shall come forth a
rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of
his roots. The word translated branch there,
the Hebrew word netzer, is the same word from which Nazareth
comes from. Nazareth is derived from that
same root word. And we know in the Gospels, the
Lord Jesus Christ was often referred to as Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus the Nazarene. We love to sing the hymn, I Stand
Amazed in the Presence of Jesus the Nazarene. And wonder how
he could love me, a sinner condemned unclean. How wonderful. How marvelous, and my song shall
ever be, how wonderful, how marvelous is my Savior's love for me. Jesus of Nazareth. Now the fourth
time that he wrote these words that it might be fulfilled is
in our text. Now count it six other times,
10 times in all in the Gospel of Matthew where we have these
words that it might be fulfilled. Some might ask, well, why would
Matthew, why would he do that? Why would he write that over
and over again? Well, these texts identify Jesus
of Nazareth as the Messiah. as he who had been promised and
prophesied of to come, that he is the one. There can be no mistake. After prophecy, after prophecy,
after prophecy is fulfilled. And these prophecies, many of
them were given hundreds of years before they came to pass. That's amazing in itself, isn't
it? But the Word of God that we have
is so wonderful. God's Word is so wonderful. What
a blessing that He's committed it unto us. The written Word
which reveals the living Word. The living Word, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, let's look. I have three
parts to the message as we look at these few verses here in Matthew
4. First, the Lord Jesus departed into Galilee. Verse 12, now when
Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed
into Galilee. Now, if we were reading this
morning from A Harmony of the Gospels, do you know what A Harmony
of the Gospels is? It's a book where the four gospels
have been put together on one page, and there's four different
columns, And you have the words in Matthew, and then Mark, and
Luke, and then John, and they're harmonized, a harmony of the
Gospels. Now, when we read here, He departed
into Galilee. If we were reading a harmony
of the Gospel, we would see that in those words, this was taking
place. He must needs go through Samaria. We all recognize that, don't
we? from the Gospel of John, chapter four. When the Lord Jesus
Christ was journeying to Galilee, he must needs go through Samaria. And we know why he went through
Samaria, because he had an appointment there on the well with a woman,
a woman who had a very bad reputation, a very bad reputation. Our Lord
sits there on the well, and she comes out to draw water. And
it was to her, of all the people he came into contact with, and
we are told about in the scriptures, I believe she's the only one
that he confessed to, to being the Messiah. You know, she said
this, I know that Messiah cometh. Now, she was a Samaritan. And
we won't go into who those people were right now, but she said,
we know this. We've been taught this, that
there's a Messiah who's coming. There's a Christ who's coming.
There's a Savior who's coming. We know that. I know that Messiah
cometh, which is called Christ, the anointed of God. When he
has come, he will tell us all things. And he said unto her,
I that speak unto thee am. I that speak unto thee am. That one that you know is to
come, I'm speaking to you now. And it's interesting that he
told that woman something that I believe applies to so many
people today in this world. He said unto her, you worship,
you know not what. We know what we worship, for
salvation is of the Jews. Salvation is of the Jews. The Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
promised to the head of the Jewish nation, Abraham, in thy seat
shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Salvation is
of the Jews. As a man, he was born of a Jewish
mother, a Jewish woman. even though he's God overall. And notice he said salvation
is of the Jews. He didn't say religion is of
the Jews. That's true of all the various
nations. Every nation, every people, every
tongue, language of people have a religion of some kind, but
salvation, That is knowing Christ, having a personal relationship,
being united to the Savior. Salvation is of the Jews. Christ, he spoke those words to that
woman there at that well. Remember, she had come to draw
water and he said, whosoever drinketh of this water shall
thirst again. And that could be printed over
everything in this world. I don't care what you look to,
what you hope to give you joy and satisfaction, whosoever drinketh
of this water shall thirst again, because it does not have the
ability, whatever it is, to satisfy the soul of man. But whosoever shall drink of
the water that I shall give unto shall be in him a well of water
springing up unto everlasting life. You only find satisfaction
in Christ. Nowhere else, nowhere else will
men ever find satisfaction, and yet men run here, run there,
labor on this, look here, look there. No, until you come, my
friend, by God's grace, To rest in Christ, you'll never have
peace, you'll never have joy. Not lasting peace, not lasting
joy. You'll never have satisfaction.
But oh and him, whosoever drinketh of this water. Here's the second thing. The
Lord Jesus came to dwell in Capernaum. Notice that in verse 13. Now
one of the old writers, he said, and only found one who said this,
that Capernaum means consolation. I'm not sure about that, but
that would be an appropriate place for the Lord Jesus Christ
to come because that's one of his names. He is the consolation
of Israel, the consolation of God's people. This city, Capernaum,
was located on the shore of the Lake of Galilee. And remember
that lake has two other names in the scriptures. If you read
of the Lake of Tiberias and what's that? Gennesaret. It has two
other names, but it's always the same lake, the Lake of Galilee. And this city, Capernaum, was
located on the border of that lake, and it was situated, as
we see here, in the borders of the land that had been given
to the two nations, the nation of Zebulon and Naphtali. Remember when they crossed over
Jordan and came into the land, by lot, by lot, the land was
divided up among the 12 tribes. And what's amazing about that
is, long before this, Jacob had prophesied, and he told about
Naphtali, I believe it was, no, it was Zebulon, that his part
would be by the coast. Think about that. By lot, or
we would say by shaking the dice, by rolling the dice, the land
was divided by lot unto the Israelites. But my friends, even the lot
cast into the lap is of the Lord. And even the dividing of that
land by lot, the prophecy that Jacob had given concerning Zebulon
came to pass hundreds of years later. His land was by the sea,
by Galilee here. For the next two years, the Lord
Jesus Christ would make Capernaum his home, his center of ministry. And in fact, in Matthew chapter
nine in verse one, Capernaum is said to be his own city. That is his own city, the city
of Jesus, his own city. It was here in Capernaum, now
listen, it was here in Capernaum that he called Matthew. Matthew
lived in Capernaum. Matthew was a tax gatherer. He was a publican. And you know,
they had the worst reputation of probably any Israelite other
than harlots. Our Lord said the publicans and
harlots, they were always connected together. The publicans were
tax collectors. They worked for Rome and they
were hated. And no doubt they used fraud and deceit to enrich
themselves. They were thieves for the most
part. And here Matthew is sitting at
the receipt of custom and the Lord Jesus comes by one day and
says, follow me. Follow me. What did he do? He left everything, didn't he?
And he followed Christ. He said, My sheep hear my voice,
and they follow me. They follow me. Matthew, who's
writing this, he was from Capernaum. The Lord Jesus wrought so many
miracles here. I know he wrought many miracles.
John said if they were all recorded, the world couldn't contain the
books. But we're told of many miracles that he wrought here
in Capernaum. That man they brought to him
and let down through the roof, where was that? That was in Capernaum. He healed the centurion servant,
the one the Lord Jesus commended for having great faith, a Gentile. It was here that he healed the
nobleman's son. It was here that he went into
the room with He took Matthew, he took Peter, James, and John,
rather, with him into that room where that young girl, about
12 or 13 years of age, had just passed away, had just died, and
he took her by the hand. And he said, I say unto thee,
rise. Don't you know? Because when
he went into that house, the scripture says they laughed at
him. He said, she's not dead, she's
just sleeping. He knew what he was going to
do and people laughed at him, mocked him, and then he comes
out and here she is with him. Don't you know that went from
house to house all through the town of Capernaum? Everyone heard
of all of these miracles one after the other. It was in this
synagogue in Capernaum that he confessed himself to be the bread
of life. I am the bread of life. He that
cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall
never thirst. And it was at that same time
that he said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and
him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. No man can
come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him. And it was in that town when
he had a large, large number of people who were following
him at that time. But then they said, that's a
hard saying. That's a hard saying. And we're
not sure to what exactly they referred. Whether it was to God's
sovereign grace, no man can come to me except the Father which
has sent me draw him. Or when he said, except a man
eat my flesh and drink my blood, he hath no life in him. That's a hard saying. And the
scripture says that many of his disciples went back and they
walked no more with him. And it was here when our Lord
asked his disciples, the twelve, will you also go away? Don't you love Peter's answer?
Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. We believe and are persuaded
that thou art the son of God. Lord Jesus. Now, he took up residence
here for a while in Capernaum, but he also, look in chapter
11 of Matthew, he also foretold of the destruction, the utter
destruction of this town. In verse 23, and thou Capernaum,
which art exalted unto heaven, How was it exalted unto heaven?
He was there. He brought miracle after miracle
in Capernaum. Capernaum, how art thou exalted
of all these cities here in Palestine that I took up residence here
and did these mighty works here? Thou shalt be brought down to
hell. For if the mighty works which
have been done in thee had been done in Sodom, we all know what
happened to Sodom, don't we? God rained fire and brimstone
out of heaven and destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. And what was the
sin that brought God's destruction upon Sodom and Gomorrah? It was
sodomy. It is what is called homosexuality
today. It brought God's wrath down upon
those cities. God hasn't changed, my friends.
He hasn't changed. And I looked up in one of the
Bible dictionaries that I have, it was printed in 1963, and at
that time at least, and I assume it's still true, They cannot find for sure where
Capernaum actually was on the border of that lake. When he
said it would be brought down to hell, it was destroyed, utterly
destroyed, just like Sodom and Gomorrah. They were destroyed. Now third, and I'll be brief. The Lord Jesus fulfilled this
prophecy here in Matthew chapter four, that it might be written, verses 14, for that it might
be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias 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 and shadow of death, light is sprung up. That's a prophecy
also from Isaiah. Isaiah prophesied 700 years. Remember Isaiah chapter six says,
in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. They believe
that that took place in 740 BC when Uzziah, the king Uzziah
died. This prophecy was given years,
hundreds of years before it was fulfilled. But as I said before,
God doesn't change and God's word doesn't change. And here
is the prophecy, that the people who sat in darkness saw great
light. Now the second part of the verse
simply repeats or illustrates the first part. Them which set
in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up. Here's two
questions. What does it mean that the people
set in darkness? This is a universal condition
of all men apart from Christ. We might just say that it speaks
of a universal spiritual blindness. of all men by nature, not blind
to the things of this world, of course not, but blind to spiritual
things, to spiritual matters. In scripture, darkness, it may
refer to ignorance, to sin, or to misery, all three. They that
sat in darkness, they were in spiritual ignorance. They didn't
have the knowledge And one of the Proverbs says, it's not good
that the soul be without knowledge. Romans 10, Paul said that it
was this lack of knowledge of God's righteousness, which caused
his countrymen to go about seeking to establish their own righteousness. And that's true, not only of
Paul's countrymen, but all men by nature. Just about everyone
comes into this world believing, spiritually blind, but believing
there's something I can do. There's something I can do that
will make myself acceptable with God. And the reason people believe
that way is because we don't know, we don't have the knowledge
of God, who he is, his holiness, his purity. Once a person comes
to see how pure and holy God Almighty is, then we begin to
see ourselves. And we begin to see the futility
of trying to do anything that will make ourselves acceptable
in His sight. Well, the scripture says the
very heavens are not clear in His sight. calls his servants, that is,
the angel charges his servants with folly. And here we are,
man, we drink iniquity like water, and we're going to do something
that's going to make us acceptable in God's sight. We sit in darkness,
darkness, and not only Does darkness speak of ignorance? We're ignorant
of God, we're ignorant of ourselves, of the law, we're ignorant of
Christ. Comes by revelation, doesn't
it? And sin, darkness speaks of sin. Men love darkness rather than
light. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. And sin, remember this, sin is
the mother of misery. There would be no misery in this
world, and there is. There's plenty of misery in this
world. You know it. And it's all here
because of sin. That's it. There would be no
sickness. There would be no death. There
would be no separation. All of these things that we call
misery. They're all here because of sin. The people that sat in darkness. But notice light, light has sprung
up. Now who, they saw a great light. Who is that great light? Christ. He said, I am the light of the
world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness. He's the
light. He's the light of the world.
He's the one who tells us and shows us and reveals to us how
we may be right with God. It is through His person and
His work. We sing about the blood, and
we did earlier. I love to sing these hymns about
the blood, but let's remember the life of the flesh is in the
blood. It is a life given, a life poured
out. David sat in darkness, saw a
great light. Christ is the light. He poured
out his life. He shed his blood that we might
have everlasting life. He's the source of saving knowledge. He said, all things are delivered
unto me of my father. And no man knoweth the Son but
the Father, and who the Father is but the Son, and he to whom
the Son will reveal him. He alone died to take away our
sins. And as far as misery is concerned,
he's the joy, he's the rejoicing of every child of God. Paul said,
rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. He never
changes. And our cause to rejoice never
changes because He is the same. But I especially like that saying
there, light is sprung up. Light is sprung up. I think it's
a beautiful picture. The Greek term, which is here
translated sprung up, is used for the sun rising. The sun rising
in the morning. And that's the way he was prophesied
of in Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament. The son
of righteousness, S-U-N, the son of righteousness shall arise
with healing in his wings. Has it sprung up in your heart?
That's the question each one of us needs to ask and we need
to answer. Is light sprung up in your heart? When you sing the hymn that John
Newton wrote, I once was lost, but now I'm found. I once was
blind, but now I see. Can you sing those words truthfully? I once was blind. I didn't know
anything about God. I knew there was a God. But I
didn't know anything about the God of the Bible, the only true
and living God. I didn't know anything about
myself. I thought I was a pretty good guy. Well, I really didn't. But I know a lot of people do.
And a lot of people are. Comparatively speaking, there
are good people in this world. And yet the scripture says there's
none good. No, not one. as light sprung up in your heart,
causing you to look to Jesus Christ and Him alone. I pray. That's my prayer. That's
the reason I preach. That's my desire. I preach for the glory of God.
I should retract that statement. But my desire is, everyone to
whom I preach my prayer, is that light will spring up in your
heart. That you will see your need. Because I know this, there's
a willing savior for every seeking sinner. Seek Him while He may
be found. Call upon Him while He's near.
Amen? He's passing by this moment.
Your every need to supply, reach out. By faith, reach out and
touch the Lord as He passes by. May the Lord bless this word.