Sermon Transcript
The following is a lightly edited transcript generated from the audio; it may contain small errors.
- Matthew 4
- A Candle in the Dark
- What Darkness and Light Mean
- The Light of Holiness
- The Light of Truth
- The Light of Life
- The Miracle of Christmas
- You Get Light from the Life
- Closing Prayer
Matthew 4
Open your Bibles if you would with me to the book of Matthew.
Now I was told I only have an hour to preach tonight, is that right? I’m just kidding. I know you have little ones and you need to get home and get to bed. So I’ll turn it down to about 50 minutes. Just kidding. Matthew chapter 4, starting in verse 12. “Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee. And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: ’The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death, light has dawned.’ From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, ’Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” When we look at Scripture we see Jesus repeatedly referred to as the light. In the opening verses of the Gospel of John, we have it declared of Jesus that He was the true Light which lights every man that comes into the world. We’re told that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it, or it could be translated, the darkness did not overtake it. Jesus Himself said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me will have the light of life.”
A Candle in the Dark
So this evening we’re going to have a candle lighting, so I thought it’d be appropriate to speak briefly about Jesus being the light. And in order to understand the meaning of light in the Scripture, we also have to understand the meaning of darkness. Because light is simply the opposite of darkness, right? The light dispels darkness. And what you’re going to see is when we light the candles tonight, we’ll darken the room and then we’ll light one candle. And it’s amazing how much light that one candle will display, and how the darkness does not overtake the light, but rather the light dispels the darkness, correct?
What Darkness and Light Mean
So darkness speaks of three things, at least three things, and it could be more. First of all, darkness speaks of sin.
The violation of God’s law, that which is wrong in the eyes of God, whether it’s wrong or not in the eyes of men. Secondly, darkness is being confused or intellectually mistaken. Darkness thirdly refers to death or to suffering, and usually those two together. So darkness is sin, darkness is ignorance, and darkness is death. Well then, what is light? Light is the opposite. Light is holiness or righteousness or that which is good. Light is truth versus error, and light is life versus death. [audio unclear]
The Light of Holiness
And He was right in all that He did. The Scripture says that Jesus was holy, harmless, and undefiled. And when the Apostle Peter speaks of the death of Jesus, He’s called a lamb. But in 1 Peter it’s interesting what he says about this Lamb. He says in 1 Peter chapter 1, he exhorts us to be holy, and then he quotes Leviticus where God says, “Be holy, for I am holy.” And then he says, “knowing that you were not” [audio unclear] He says, “a lamb without blemish and without spot.” Without blemish and without spot. And Peter’s clearly alluding to the custom in the Old Testament of the Passover, where before they would kill the lamb and put the blood on the doorpost in remembrance of the original Passover when Israel came out of Egypt, they would have to inspect the lamb, and the lamb could have no flaw and no blemish, or otherwise it could not be offered to God in the Passover ceremony. So we see Jesus entering Jerusalem a few days before he was crucified and He was interrogated by the Sadducees and the Pharisees and the Herodians. In other words, they were inspecting the Lamb. And even Pilate said of Jesus, “I find no fault.” The Lamb was inspected, the Lamb was found faultless, He was without blemish. Jesus never sinned in His entire life. He perfectly fulfilled the will and the law of God. He even said, “It is My food”—King James says, “My meat.”
I like that. Right, man, it’s My meat to do the will of the Father. Not only did He do the will—it says in the Psalms, Jesus is actually speaking through David in the Psalms—He says, “I come, O God, in the volume of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will.” Now, enough about Him, but I try to do God’s will. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. But sometimes even when I do, I have a bad attitude. Okay.
“I’ll be nice to that person, even though I don’t like him.” You know, you do the right thing, but with the wrong spirit, the wrong attitude. That wasn’t Jesus. Jesus embraced the will of God. He loved the will of God because he loved his father in heaven. And so that pure love issued in a pure and holy life.
The Light of Truth
But Jesus was also the light in the sense that He was truth. As we’ve already quoted John 14, He says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Jesus’ teaching was not in error. It was always right. It was always true. It was always accurate. You know, it’s striking if you read what men in history since Christ came think about Jesus. Even many non-Christians recognize the sublimity of the teaching of Jesus. Even many non- [audio unclear] true.
The Light of Life
But thirdly, Jesus is the light because He is also the life. And in John 11, when Jesus was at the grave site of his dear friend Lazarus, he said to his sister, he, he said, I am, when she said she believed in the resurrection, Jesus corrected her and said, “I am the resurrection.” And he will be raised and he will live again forever by putting faith in Jesus Christ.
The Miracle of Christmas
In the Gospel of John, which I’ve been meditating on a lot recently, in chapter 1, [audio unclear] about recognizing that this Babe that was born 2,000 years ago was not just a holy human being, not just a truthful human being, but that this human being was also something beyond human. And the miracle of Christmas is that the divine entered into human history in such a way that God became a man in Jesus Christ. He was somehow fully human and somehow fully divine. And you say, “I don’t know if I can believe that because I can’t understand it.” I can assure you, even after you believe it, you will never fully understand it. But it’s true nonetheless. “He was in the beginning with God, and all things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him,” listen, “in Him this Word, or the One that’s called the Light, in Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” Now, as I was reading this text, it struck me and I’ve read it hundreds and hundreds of times, I’ve taught on it before, preached on it before. But what really was impressed upon me was Jesus, it doesn’t, John doesn’t say this about Jesus, he doesn’t say, “and the light”—you listening? I know it’s late. I’m really tired. Didn’t you get Starbucks on the way? They’re closed? Oh. Bad. We need to start a petition. So we do a late service, we need them to stay open until at least 10:30. Okay. [audio unclear] “the light of the world.” Pretty bold, right? Listen, I don’t know if you’re a Jesus-believer or not, but if you don’t believe in Jesus, you must assert that He was insane, because those are really your only two options. He either was who He said He was, and He said He was the Son of God, or should we even say God the Son. He said He was the resurrection and the life. He said He was the bread of heaven. He said [audio unclear] Jesus asserted He was God, and men followed Him. They lived with Him and they observed Him, and lo and behold they still believed He was God. They believed He was God so much so that they were willing to die for that belief.
So none of this, you know, kind of this condescending attitude toward Jesus: “Yeah, He was a good man, He was a good teacher.” He’s either who He says He was, and He said He was God, or He was a crazy man. Those are your two choices. I think He was God. Can anybody else agree with me? Jesus says if you follow Him, He says, “I am the light of the world. If you follow Me, you will not walk in darkness, but you will have the light of life.” Again, the light of life.
You Get Light from the Life
And what struck me is that the key to light, spiritual light, is in the life of Jesus. Okay? You don’t get life from the light; you get light from the life. Jesus said a man or woman or child, a person, must be born again of God’s Spirit to see the kingdom of heaven.
So if we do not experience the life of Jesus, we will never have the light of Jesus, because we cannot see spiritual things, we cannot understand spiritual truths, we cannot walk in a spiritual way if we are spiritually dead. And the scripture tells us that each one of us was conceived in iniquity. We were born in sin. Part of our sinfulness is that we are born separated from the life of God. Yes, we have natural life. We have bios. But the life talked about when Jesus says, “I am the light of the world,” or John says that He is the true Light—this is zoe, this is spiritual life. And so we need spiritual life and then we can see the light. You know when you read the Gospels what’s astounding is Jesus would do some wild miracle you know, like even raise someone from the dead. I mean, that’s like radical. And then the Pharisees would sit there and say, “Hmm, how are we going to explain this one?” See, we tend to think, well, if people just have enough light, they’ll embrace the life. [audio unclear] He walked among them, taught them, healed in their midst, and yet they still didn’t believe. Even though they had all of this light, they had all of this palpable, demonstrable, physical light, if you will, right before their eyes, they still didn’t believe. They couldn’t see because they didn’t have life. And so if you’re waiting to understand, you’ll never have life. If you want light, if you want the light of life, you must embrace the life. Jesus Christ, the Word and the Light, was with God, He was God, and all things came into being through Him and by Him, and He is the light of men. He is the source not only of our natural life, but he is the source of our spiritual life. And those who will put their faith in Christ will be given new life, that’s why Jesus called it being born again. No matter how old you are, you can be born again. And you receive new life, and that is spiritual life, which is eternal life. God gives that to you as a gift. Because in coming to know Christ, you come to know the life. They’re inseparable. Eternal life is not just a gift that God gives you; it is a Person that God gives you. And when you receive Christ in simple faith, understanding that his death on the cross was actually a payment for your sin, When you understand that and you believe that, and you say to Jesus Christ, “Jesus Christ, be my Savior. I certainly have sinned. Jesus Christ, I believe in You. Jesus Christ, save me.” He does, and He gives you new life. And that new life is eternal spiritual life. And I can assure you, as someone who was born again as an adult, you will see light. Everything you see will look different once you have life. You will no longer, as Jesus said, walk in darkness, but you will have the light of life, of his life.
Closing Prayer
Let’s bow our heads and pray. Lord Jesus, how we praise Your name tonight, that although You lived in joy and peace and harmony with the Father in eternity past, You left Your throne of glory that You might enter this veil of tears, this valley of the shadow of death, this place of suffering, in order that You might take upon Yourself our nature, and that through taking our nature You might die for us, even though You were God and are God. Lord, these things are too high for us to understand, but we know You have revealed them and we believe them. I pray for anyone here, Lord, that came into this assembly tonight not having eternal life. I ask that You grant them access, Lord. I pray that You might open their hearts, that they might understand that the Christ child was born in order that He might die for their sins and rise from the dead on their behalf. I pray they might call upon Jesus tonight and ask Christ to save them from all their sins, and Lord I ask that they would be born again tonight. I ask that they would receive the greatest Christmas gift of all, the gift of Your Son and eternal life in Him. We pray this for His glory alone. Amen.