The Light of the World

Pablo was incredibly dangerous and destructive. In fact, in the end, Pablo was single handedly responsible for the deaths of over 1,000 people. And how? By the onslaught of ferocious wind and rushing water.

When Hurricane Pablo arrived on the shores of the Philippines on December 4th, 2012, with its winds up to 175 miles per hour, and rushing flood waters, entire towns were destroyed as whole buildings were swept away. The Philippines interior secretary later reported that entire families were suddenly swept away to their destruction.

But as sad as this is, what makes it even more saddening is that it didn’t have to happen, Because on November 30th, days before the storm’s landfall, the government saw that the storm had picked up strength and speed, and warned the people to evacuate. But many didn’t. Many remained unconvinced and either remained in their homes, or only traveled inland a little ways thinking they were safe and that they could ride out the storm and avoid fleeing it’s coming wrath.

Sadly, when it comes to hurricanes, this is an all too common occurrence. The warnings come, many flee, but some refuse to leave. And why? A few reasons:

1. They completely underestimate the power of the storm.
2. They plan to flee, but wait too long and before they know it, it is too late.
3. They think they are strong enough to ride it out.

But either way, they perish because they foolishly do not heed the warning to flee the coming destruction.

In Matthew chapter 4, we find Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, warning the people of a coming storm which they cannot overcome. A storm which they cannot possibly ride out. And a storm that will be upon them before they even know it.

What storm are we speaking of? The storm of God’s wrath, which is coming with the Kingdom of God.

If you have your Bibles this morning, turn with me to Matthew chapter 4, verses 13-25, where we will see the four things we MUST recognize in light of Kingdom’s nearness. And here they are: Because the Kingdom is near, we must recognize:

The darkness from Without.

17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Because the Kingdom is near, we must recognize:

The Darkness Within

17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Have you ever tried to accomplish anything of importance in a pitch black room? It’s about impossible isn’t it? Darkness is disorientating - even if we are in a familiar place, if we can’t see, it can throw us off. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve reached for a light switch, thinking I knew where it would be, but got disorientated in the dark and wasn’t even close to finding it! Which is a lot like what our world is like. For we are in total darkness.

What does that mean to be in darkness? Well, in the Bible, “Darkness” refers to evil. And where does this evil come from? Does it come from lack of education? Lack of good jobs and loving parents? No, it comes from within each of us.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Jeremiah 17:9 ESV

The darkness of our world comes from within each of our hearts, which means we cannot fix it. “But can’t we fix ourselves by obeying God?” “What if we all buy WWJD bracelets together and behave really well?” “Won’t that fix the darkness within our hearts?” Hardly. And why not?

as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.

Romans 3:10-11 ESV

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV

The fact is, our situation is desperately hopeless. Not only are our heart’s stained by sin’s darkness, but as we discussed last week, you would have to be willfully blind to ignore the obvious truth that behind evil stands not a force, but a face. And until you understand that evil wears a face, you will never be able to make sense of the darkness of evil. For behind evil stands the armies of hell itself. Which is an army that we have no power to defeat!

But, as we saw last week, there is one Whom has the power to defeat the armies of darkness, and whom showed this by overcoming the Devil’s temptations in the wilderness. And so it only through Him that can we have any hope at all of overcoming our sin-darkened hearts, standing against the army of darkness, and being spared from the coming hurricane of God’s wrath, which is coming soon to wipe out the darkness of our world, which apart from Christ, would include our sin-darkened hearts.

And so we must recognize the darkness within us so that we can move on to recognizing our blessed hope, Who is ‘The Light from Without’ - which leads us to our second point.

Because the Kingdom is near, we must recognize:

The Light from Without

13 And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: 15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles - 16 the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”

If not for the Sun our planet would be in near total darkness. And though our Sun is 93 million miles away from us, it’s powerful enough to bring its heat and energy to us in a matter of minutes, which sustains all life on this planet. However, if the sun went out, we would all be dead within a few weeks! And for those few weeks we would be quite literally living under the shadow of deaths’ darkness.

In a similar way church, Christ the Son of God is our sun, for without Him we are in total darkness living under the shadow of death. But as Matthew is telling us, we have great hope because the light of the world is here! Who did not rise up within our world, but came from without into our world. And this light brings hope to to all mankind And by all, we mean all, which especially includes the lowliest of the low.

Why do I say that? Because Matthew is telling us that by quoting the prophet Isaiah.

When it comes to locations and genealogies, we are tempted to just fly by them without giving them much thought But we aren’t going to do that, so think with me here about these locations.

Matthew is quoting Isaiah chapter 9, and it’s been a little over a year since we looked at that passage, but do you remember the significance of Zebulun and Naphtali being mentioned there? OK, I barely remembered and I was the one who preached it, so I better give us a quick reminder.

Isaiah was writing to a rebellious Israel warning them that God was about to judge them BIG TIME through the Assyrian empire. And while that certainly would have been depressing for the Jews to hear, in Isaiah chapter 9, which Matthew is quoting, also brings a promise of hope to the region of Israel that was hit first and hardest by the Assyrian invaders - which was Zebulun and Naphtali.

Everyone with me still? OK, Short version: The Prophet Isaiah warns that judgment is coming, but he also promises hope for the region that would receive the judgment first and the hardest! And what was that hope? The child that verse 6 mentions

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6 ESV

And so here comes that child to the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, preaching good news! Here is Jesus fulfilling that prophecy that judgment wouldn’t be the last word to God’s people - hope would be! And if that wasn’t significant enough, Matthew once again remind us of something absolutely amazing! Which is this The hope God promises, the good news, isn’t just for the rich, the powerful, or the religious, it’s for outcasts - it’s for the poorest of the poor!

In Matthew chapter 2, do you remember what Matthew said Jesus would be called? A Nazarine - which was super ‘EUW’ for the Jews. “Can anything good from Nazareth!” Philip asked: And why did he ask that? Because “Messiah can’t be from Nazareth!” “He can’t be from a dumpy little poor-person’s town!” “Messiah is a KING! - and so He would surely be from the great city of Kings - Jerusalem!” “This can’t possibly be right!” he thought. .... oh but it is.

“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles -

Matthew 4:15 ESV

In Jesus’ earthly ministry, He made his headquarters in Capernaum - IN GALILEE, which includes a bunch of fisherman and what else? GENTILES Non-Jews. “What on earth is He doing?!” “The messiah was for the JEWS! Not the gentile dogs!” “Why is He going there?” He’s going there, because that was the plan along.

“I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations,

Isaiah 42:6 ESV

Who’s ready to geek out with me once again over typologies?!

Israel was God’s son, but they FAILED! And boy did they fail hard at being a light to the nations... Christ is God’s Son, be He SUCCEEDED! And He succeeded perfectly in being a righteous light to the nations!

And so there is our typology: Christ is the ultimate and better Israel! Christ is the perfect and obedient Son of God who is the light of the world for all of the nations of the world! Not just to the Jews, but to the gentiles!

And so do you see the significance of Jesus being a Nazarine? Of being from gentile-filled Galilee?! The significance is that it shows us how salvation works

How does it salvation work? Not at all how we expected...

As we discusses a few weeks ago, all throughout the Bible God operates unexpectedly. In a culture that gave the birthright and basically everything to the oldest son, God works through: Abel, not Cain Isaac, not Ishmael Jacob, not Esau.

When Jesse presented his sons to Samuel when he was choosing a king to replace Saul, God went with David, who was younger and wasn’t even considered by Jesse at all.

When God planned to bring His Messiah into the world through Abraham’s descendants: He choose Old infertile Sarah, not younger fertile Hagar. Instead of the beautiful Rachel, God choose, and bless her heart, not very becoming Leah.

Instead of using a massive army to slay Israel’s enemies, He uses a boy with a sling Gideon with 300 men.

Over and over, God works through the lowly, the weak, and the powerless to demonstrate HIS mighty power AND to show us that His salvation is for the meek and lowly. Our status can’t save us from the coming darkness Our efforts can’t save us from the coming darkness Our religiosity can’t save us from the coming darkness ONLY perfect and better Israel, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, can save us from the wrath of God - and He saves us by GRACE alone through faith alone.

While our world despises people from the wrong places with the wrong credentials, God’s salvation is offered to those who drop their religious and moral credentials Those who give up on the religious impulse that says: “If I work hard enough, I can save myself.” For we cannot, and so instead we must hear the warning: “REPENT FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND!”

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Jesus Christ, the light of world, came into our world in weakness to save the weak who will admit their weakness, turn from their sin, and trust in Him as their Savior!

John 8:12 ESV

What does that mean to repent? Repent means “to be converted” And therefore there is no salvation apart from repentance. Repentance is to turn from away your sinful behavior to embrace the light of the world, who is our only hope! And then when you do that, you find yourself treating the lowly and the outcasts as God treated you - which is with grace, love, and mercy.

Because the Kingdom is near, we must recognize:

The Light from Within

18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Here we find Jesus calling His first disciples to follow Him, Why? To make these fishermen lay down their nets and become fishers of men, which fulfill Jeremiah 16:16, which says: Jeremiah 16:16 “Behold, I am sending for many fishers, declares the LORD, and they shall catch them.”

Once you have been saved from the storm of God’s wrath by the Son of God, He then commissions you to become an agent of grace who is sent out to rescue those who are perishing!

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20 ESV

In our men’s Bible study this last Friday, someone shared the story of a Christian who worked for many years with another Christian without either of them having any clue the other was a Christian. That’s sad isn’t it? Our co-workers having no idea we are followers of Jesus... “Oh really… I didn’t know you were a Christian.” “Really? You go to church... huh? How about that.”

I read this past week that 80% of Christians do not consistently witness for Christ. Less than two-thirds of Christians aren’t involved AT ALL with any evangelism ministry 71% percent of Christians do not even GIVE at all to their church which finances the great commission And over 60% haven’t mentioned the gospel to anyone in the past 6 months. BELOVED, this OUGHT NOT BE SO!

Why do you think it is Christians don’t care about the lost? Why might it be that we don’t share the gospel? I have a few reasons, but if any come to your mind, write them down and be sure to bring them up in our Fellowship & Focus discussion time after the service.

How about

Fear of man.

“I would be so embarrassed! That might get mad or think I’m weird!” In which Christ responds:

For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

Luke 9:26 ESV

Or, how about

Not knowing the Gospel.

“Preacher, I honestly just don’t know what I would say!” “I wouldn’t even know where to begin!”

In which the apostle Peter responds:

but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

1 Peter 3:15 ESV

How about this excuse:

“I just don’t have a gift for evangelism.”

Ya know if there’s one thing I think the Devil has used successfully over the years to keep Christians lazy and on the sidelines, I think it’s hyper-obsession with Spiritual Gift detection. Sure, it’s helpful to know where your gifting lies, but if you don’t have the gift of hospitality, SO WHAT!? go be hospitable!

So too with the gift of evangelism For we are ALL called to bear witness of Christ - whether you have the gift of evangelism or not! So it’s high time we stop making excuses and be obedient and faithful.

Living in sin.

This one’s a no-brainer, isn’t it? If you’re living in sin, then no wonder you aren’t being a faithful witness to Christ. And this can be an entire host of sins, including idolatry. “Well, I just don’t have time.” Really… Why not? What in your life is more important the salvation of souls? What idol is it that keeps you so busy?

It’s not important.

Can I be a little bit direct with you this morning here? Good, cuz I was gonna anyways.

Church the truth is, if you don’t share the gospel with others… wouldn’t we have to say it’s because you don’t FULLY believe it! ....

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who is wise wins souls.

Proverbs 11:30 NASB95

Church, when we’ve been saved from the coming wrath of God, how can we be indifferent towards souls who are marching towards destruction? How can we stand idly by and not care?

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Acts 1:8 ESV

Look, church, I love you, and because I do I’m going to ask us hard questions: Are we faithful witnesses? Are we actively looking for opportunities to tell people how they can be saved from the storm of God’s wrath? Or are we becoming a holy huddle?

Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing all of the refuge Christians who have joined our body here this last year, and praise God for that! But are we a church that is passionate for the lost, or are we merely passionate for what is within these four walls? Because if that’s all it is, we could have the most biblically-deep sermons on the planet and it won’t amount to NOTHING! For we will be a unfaithful church.

Parents Do you want to see your kid’s saved? Don’t you pray and long for their souls? Then you had better do more than share the gospel with just them, you had best better be showing them the importance of the gospel by being someone who regularly shares it with whoever you can! For if our children do not see this in us, how will they believe we truly believe what we claim to believe? They should see us being like Christ, who was called the friend of sinners A person who loved the unlovely and took time to be with them and love them.

I was recently talking with a good pastor friend of mine, and we were talking about how so many Christians right now in our culture are leaving churches that are gospel-lite churches. Churches that may have elements of the gospel, but don’t dig into God’s Word and feed the sheep with it. And do you wanna know what he told me: He said: “ya know brother, it’s sad. It seems these Christian-lite churches are the ones who often win the lost, and then when they realize they can’t grow anymore in those gospel-lite churches, they leave and join a Bible preaching church who’s evangelism department has been covered in cobwebs for years, if not decades.”

I don’t want wanna be that church, do you? I wanna see souls saved from the wrath of God! I wanna see them grow and get planted deeper in God’s Word! I wanna see all the nations of the world bow their knee in submission to Christ our king, so that they too can enter with us into the Kingdom of God. Do you?

A lot of you know someone, and for a long time many of you prayed for him to get saved. And then what happened? He got saved. He got radically saved - later in life too! And do know what I was told about that? Not only was he thrilled and excited to be saved, but all you around here were as giddy as clams about it for months! - and in many ways I’m sure still are! Evangelism isn’t just for the sake of the lost, it’s also for the sake of saved becoming closer to Christ!

Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.

Daniel 12:3 NIV

When you’ve been saved by the light of the world do you know He does to you? He puts His light within you and makes you lesser lights In fact He makes us stars that light up other the stars! He makes you a star-lighter of souls that will shine with righteousness to the glory of God forever and ever - amen! Are you a star-lighter of souls? If not, then let me remind of the darkness that’s coming.

Because the Kingdom is near, we must recognize:

The Darkness from Without

23 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. 25 And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

In the center of even the most massive of hurricanes lies “The eye of the storm.” And within the eye of the storm it warm, calm, and tranquil. And it’s often so calm, that when people are inside of the eye of the storm, they often think the storm has passed, though it hasn’t. The storm is still there.

Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it.

Isaiah 13:9 ESV

Church, the storm of God’s wrath is certainly coming, but do you want to know something wonderful about that day? Christ is both the storm and the eye of the storm! In Christ, we are hidden away within the eye of storm for the duration of God’s Wrath upon this earth!

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 ESV

When hurricanes hit, many perish because they never heard the warning call to flee. Many sit by, without a care in the world, completely unaware that they can escape the coming destruction. So too is it church the coming storm of God’s wrath. So many people are sitting there completely unaware of how they might be saved with us from the wrath to come.

This past week I was listening to a preacher tell of how there existed a little life-save station a dangerous sea coast where shipwrecks often occured. The building wasn’t anything fancy - in fact it was just a little hut with one small boat and a few devoted members who kept constant watch over the sea, going out day and night searching for the lost. Many lives were saved by this wonderful little life-saving station, and so it soon became famous. Many of those who had been saved, as well as people who had heard of the heroic action of this station wanted to join and give their time and money to support its work. New boats were bought New life-saving crews were trained, and the little lifesaving station grew quickly.

However, some of the members were unhappy that the building was so crude and poorly equipped, and so they eventually turned the cot into a massive building with nice beds, furniture. This went on and eventually it became a popular gathering place for its members, and so they decided to put more money into it in order to decorate beautifully and furnished it with fine luxuries. Eventually, few and fewer of the members were interested in going out to sea on life-saving missions, so they hired lifeboat crews to do the work for them while they relaxed inside of their club. But then, a while later, a large ship was wrecked off the coast and the hired crews brought in numerous loads of cold, wet, half-drowned people who were dirty and sick.

The beautiful new club was getting all messy and cluttered with these pesky drowning victims, and so many of the members voted to stop engaging in a life-saving activities because it was an unpleasant hindrance to the normal social life of the club. And though few protested, they were voted down and told if they wanted to continue being a part of saving lives they would have to start their own life-saving station down the coast, which they eventually did.

May our church never become a country club that ignores those who are spiritually drowning.

Throughout Jesus’ life He taught in the synagogues, He preached to the crowds, and healed every sickness, disease, and affliction among the people. And for those of us in Christ, we have been healed - not mere physical healing (thought that is one day coming), but from the much more serious and deadly sickness of a sin-darkened human heart. And so now we here we are with the enormous privilege and the responsibility to “snatch souls from the fire” - as Jude says, by pointing them Christ, who is the storm, but also the eye of the storm for those who seek refuge in Him.

Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Psalm 2:11-12 ESV

This is the manuscript the sermon was preached from, so the recording may differ in places.