In the fullness of time, God sent forth his son. And so the God who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, sent his son into the world. It was vital that the world knew the identity of the son and the Messiah. It's vital. There could be no debate or no discussion If it was the purpose of God to save through an anointed one, the Messiah, the Christ, then it had to be the case that people had the evidence to know exactly who the Messiah was. When he came, it was important that people knew he had indeed come. not just retrospectively as we do now, but also at the time. It was important that those at the time of Christ also had the evidence required to convince them that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. And so he comes, and the Lord had given many predictions so that people would at that time know that he had come. Again, you think back to Matthew 2. Again, these predictions are here in Matthew chapter 2. In verse number 4, we're in the details of the king's coming. Herod's troubled. He gathers all the chief priests and the scribes and demanded of them where the Messiah Christ should be born. And they say, in Bethlehem of Judea. And so immediately the religious authorities understood that if we're going to test and analyze someone's claim to be Messiah, here's a starting point. Someone comes, as they did, and said, I am he, I am the Christ. They could go and say, well, were you born in Bethlehem? You feel that test, you're not the Christ. These were predictions that were given to aid the people and the confidence they would have that Jesus is indeed the Messiah. And of course the Lord himself uses this. Matthew 4 verse number 12 refers to Jesus hearing that John was cast into prison. And then you skip across to chapter 11 and you'll see what happens when John's in prison. He sends some disciples to the Lord. You know, again, this account. Verse number one, it came to pass when Jesus had made an end of commanding his 12 disciples, he had a part of things to teach and to preach in their cities. And now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent three of his disciples and said unto them, Art thou he that should come or do we look for another? Now, we're not going to look at that reference. It doesn't say that it might be fulfilled. We're very narrow in our scope in this series, but you see the point again. Someone could say, hello, I am the Christ. I am the promised one. I'm the one that was predicted of all to save the people of God. And they could say, in your ministry that blind people see, the deaf people hear, did lepers be cleansed, did the dead rise? You see, very, very quickly, the list of candidates for the Messiah get very, very short. In fact, there's only one person on that list. and his name is Jesus. The Lord had so set up human affairs that he'd given these clear messianic predictions so that those in that time could come to the conviction, yes, this man, Jesus, is the Christ, the Son of God. Of course, we look backwards. We now read further detail regarding Jesus. We read of those prophecies and we piece them together. That was Matthew's purpose. He uses the fulfillment of prophecy to prove that Jesus is the Christ and Messiah. And we know how important that was. John makes it clear that if you are to be saved, you must believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, believing of life in his name. So God has given us more than enough proof. Every false messiah is ostentatiously a false messiah, clearly a false messiah. They cannot fulfill all the predictions. But Jesus is clearly the Messiah. And our rejection of Christ is not fundamentally intellectual. Our rejection of Christ is because we do not want to face the cost of following Jesus. It's a moral rejection. Oh yes, I understand there's spiritual blindness will come to that later on even this evening's message. But we have really no excuse to reject the claim that Jesus is the Christ. We have these prophecies that cause us. to see the truth of Christ's claim. And here's another one in Matthew chapter 4. It is a reference to the beginning of the Lord's earthly ministry. Jesus hears that John has been cast into prison and he departs into Galilee. He leaves Nazareth, again Nazareth, the place of his parents where he worked as a carpenter's son. He's there in Nazareth and he leaves there and comes and dwells in Capernaum. Corresponds very clearly with what Mark says in Mark chapter 1 regarding the beginning of his ministry. You've got that Mark 1 and verse 14. Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee. Now Mark's summary is really helpful. He comes into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye and believe the gospel. So he doesn't give us the prophetic scriptures that Matthew does, but he tells us that when Jesus goes to Galilee, what does he do? He preaches the gospel. And so that's what makes sense of the prediction of the fulfillment of the prophecy, verse number 14, that it might be fulfilled. The land of Zabulim, the land of Naphtali, what happens to them? The people which sat in darkness saw great light. In what sense? Through the preaching of the kingdom of God. And so as we look at this text, I want to begin just by introduction to note the place mentioned here. Again, you're seeing in verse number 13, the Lord is now coming to dwell in Capernaum. I suppose I really should have a map here. If you have a map in the back of your Bible, you can look it up at some point. But you will see that Capernaum is on the western coast of the Sea of Galilee. It's northeast of Jerusalem below. And it's this land known as Galilee of the Gentiles. And it was called that even in the latter parts of Old Testament scriptures. It describes the region of the promised land that has really been infiltrated with many Gentiles. The proximity of the Gentile nations is on the northern board, if you like. And these tribal areas, again, the tribe of Zabulim, Naphtalene, those areas have now been really the majority Gentile. Mixture, Jews and Gentiles, but majority Gentiles. It was the frontier between the Holy Land and the external world. But, And what I think is interesting, I trust it is, is that Matthew here is drawing a connection between the Lord's ministry in Galilee and the prediction in Isaiah chapter nine. So turn back there, please. I'm not going to dwell on this too much tonight, but I think it's worth noting and again, encouraging you to consider this. Isaiah chapter nine, verse number one, is the reference that Matthew is using. Nevertheless, the dimness shall not be such as was in a fixation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zabulon, the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan and Galilee, of the nations. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. Now, you've got to understand an important thing regarding prophetic scriptures. This has a meaning to those in Isaiah's day. He's not simply looking forward to the coming of Messiah. Now, clearly, there's a messianic aspect to these words. Verse 6 and 7, clearly, But in the context of Isaiah, what's happening here is a promise of the restoration of the captivity. The warnings that come, they're going to be judged for their sins, but God and mercy will bring the people back. And they leave the promised land in a northerly direction, going into Babylon, and they return on the same pathway. And thus, the parts of the Holy Land that begin to see the captivity recovered is this area. And upon them, the light has shined. The light of God's mercy in restoring grace. And so what happens in fulfillment in Isaiah's time is a shadowing of the greater fulfillment in Messiah. And you see that all the way through Isaiah, there are things that are predicting captivity returning, but they're only partially fulfilling the glory of the language. And so you see a greater fulfillment in the coming of Christ Jesus. But the physical points to the spiritual. The returning of captives to the promised land was indeed wonderful. But our blessings are greater. Our blessings are spiritual blessings. And so Isaiah is pointing forward to the day of Christ and Matthew understands this. And the Jewish people in Matthew's day also understood this. They understand the messianic fulfillment of these prophecies. And he tells readers, Isaiah 9 is now being fulfilled. The place, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people, again, are mixed. It's a mixed area. Not just Jews, not just Gentiles. Oh yes, there are those authorities that say it's a majority of Gentiles. But it's mixed. And that's so important as well. When Christ came unto his own, his own received him not. But it's significant that the very earliest part of his public ministry, he is glad to minister the word of God in the hearing of Gentiles. Because ultimately that is the purpose of God in the covenant. That in Abraham, all nations shall be blessed. That in the works of God, there's going to be this gathering of Gentile nations like ourselves, and we're brought into the fellowship with the saints of God. And Christ is making that clear at the very outset of his ministry. The gospel is not for the Jew only. It's also for the Greek. It's the power of God to save people from every kindred, tribe, and tongue. Not just that ethnic Jewish people, but all of us by God's grace. Hence, you see their privilege here. It's the very point of this, isn't it? The place is mentioned, Galilee, the Gentiles, the people, again, Jews and Gentiles together, but their privilege is very, very clear. The people which sat in darkness saw great light. Light. great light in the context of darkness. And it is their privilege, I think, that comes to light in this passage. That's what comes to my mind. You read these words, you're reading words of the privilege of those who are exposed to the preaching ministry of Christ Jesus. So tonight, I want to think about the privilege of hearing what they enjoyed, and indeed, by implication, what we enjoy in our day. First of all, they had the privilege of hearing the word preached. In verse number 17, from that time Jesus began to preach. Or as I notice in Mark chapter one, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. The Lord is not ashamed to be a preacher, a speaker, a proclaimer of truth in a significant Was there not some other way that Christ could have gathered people unto himself? Could he not have come riding on a white horse with the power of a sword, overthrowing all the Romans, bringing people under his authority? Could he not have done it that way? But he comes as a preacher. We live in a day and generation where preaching is despised. Surely there's some better way. Use movies. Use the television programs. There's some better way to explain the gospel than simply some man speaking for a long time. Preaching is looked down upon. Jesus had all the power of heaven at his fingertips, and he chose to be a preacher. He says, always a mark of grace when the word of God is heard, How shall they preach except they be sent? And those who are sent, they describe how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. The blessing of being under the hearing of the word of God. Compared to Amos chapter eight, I was in a famine of land, not a famine of bread or thirst of water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. The Gentiles for centuries sat in darkness, And that darkness is changed by the privilege of a great light shining, the light of truth. You see, it is truth that's in view here. And the people which sat in great darkness saw great light. Now dark and light in the Bible can sometimes refer to good or evil, Satan and God. But here the context is clearly that of truth. the darkness of ignorance in comparison to the truth of God. Let me show you that just another scripture to turn to Luke chapter one to begin with. Luke chapter 1, the words of Zacharias regarding John the Baptist's ministry here, not Christ, but certainly there's parallels here. Luke chapter 1 and the verse number 77, verse 76, And now child shall be called the prophet of the highest, for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by their remission of sins. Again, this is John the Baptist's ministry as the forerunner of Messiah. But John also was a preacher. And his preaching is to verse number 77, to give knowledge of salvation. That's the light. It is the knowledge. And so over in John chapter 1, Again you have the description of Christ and John the Baptist. They come side by side in John chapter 1 regarding Christ and the light shineth in darkness. And the darkness comprehended it not. Now John has mentioned verse number 7 as the one who bears witness of that light. But note verse number 5. The light shineth in darkness and the darkness did not understand it. Again, it is a truth claim issue. Darkness here is not describing moral iniquity. It's describing the ignorance that comes by nature. Those who are depraved due to sin, they live in spiritual ignorance. And their need is knowledge applied by the power of the Spirit of God. Truth, darkness did not comprehend the light. Or across in Acts chapter 26. As Paul gives his testimony and explains his calling to, again, be a minister to the Gentiles, we saw this morning. The other language, verse number 26. Paul says, I'm not mad, most noble Festus, but speak forth the words of truth and soberness. I'm sorry, too far, verse 18. That was Paul's ministry. 2 Corinthians 4, for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to do what? To give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Light here is knowledge. I want to really urge you, dear child of God, to recognize that those who dwell in darkness, they live in spiritual ignorance, and they live in the shadow of death. Spiritual ignorance will lead to eternal death. We have a responsibility to get the word of God out to dark places. Obviously, we cannot go to every person, every place. We can pray for God to send forth laborers. We can do what we can do in our own corner. We can support the work of global missions Faithful in our own neighborhoods, we must have this burden that those who live in darkness, what does it say? Unto them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up. The terror of those in darkness, we must pray for preachers. The preachers will be faithful in presenting truth. that they would always be clear in their minds, my task is to preach truth. The Word of God, that is truth. The Christ of God, He is the truth. It is the task of the preacher, though they are imperfect and stumbling, if they preach truth, they preach Christ. And they preach light. You know, the weakest of preachers. as the privilege to bring Christ to the hearts of men, and they do so bringing forth a great light in darkness. Don't despise the privilege of preaching, the providential gift of God. You're in a place where the word of God is available, readily available. The Gentiles for centuries, if I can change the metaphor, they were those who sat as dogs underneath the table gathering crumbs. And now they're given bread. Darkness, light, crumbs to bread. You, dear folks, you have the feast of the word of God continually, week by week in the house of God. Oh, an imperfect preacher. but a preacher is convinced about the importance of bringing truth to bear to your minds. The terrible state of spiritual ignorance that some are content to live in, but the solution to that is the preaching of truth. Please pray for these things. The privilege of hearing the word preached. Secondly, they have the privilege of the pressing warning. I'm not sure that Christ would have been a popular preacher even today. Look what his message is, verse number 17. From that time, Jesus began to preach and to say, repent, repent. His message involved sin and repentance. There's so much included in that word, repent. It's full, full of practical theological truths. Let me just highlight a couple. When a minister calls upon people to repent, he's calling upon them to face up to sin, to recognize there's a God in heaven. The God in heaven who has put forth his will in his law, the law that is good and upright, and the violation of that law, which is sin, sin of commission and omission. Do this and live, fail to do this and die. Break this law and those that sow the sin of it shall die. The call to repentance. is really a call to bring people before the judgment seat of God. It's a recognition there's a God in heaven with whom we have to do. That's why it's so important that we preach a gospel of repentance. It was diminished and undermined in the modern church. We don't want to hear this language of the nature of sin and particularly an accountability to God. You see, there are those. They're like those in Isaiah chapter five, one to them that call evil good and good evil, that put darkness for light and light for darkness. Again, we're living in this generation, you confront people with their sins, the sins of sexual immorality. And they say, that's not evil, that's good. The sins of deceit and falsehood. Oh, sure, you can use a lie to do good things. And they don't see the nature of the depravity of man and the holiness of the law of God. And they're all mixed and muddled in their minds. How do you solve that? You preach repentance. Well, what do we repent from? From sin. What is sin? It's lack of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God. That's what sin is. So is it a law that God has? Yes, it's in the Ten Commandments, and you've broken every one of them. You need to face up to the nature of sin. It's calling people to face up to sin and to recognize that their sin is their sin. taking personal ownership of their own law-breaking. Again, we are living in the age of the modern podcast. You know, there are young men and they love to listen to podcasts. And they've all of these podcasts. And some of the podcasts, what they're aiming at doing is helping young men deal with their problems by diverting their own responsibility for their sins. They discuss the problem. Oh, it was your mother's fault. She didn't do this for you or that for you. Or your parents mistreated you. That's the reason you've sinned right now. That's the reason your life's in a mess. It's someone else's fault. It's your environment. It's where you live. It's the people around you. Oh, it's all somebody else's problem. It's not your problem. And they're taking away personal responsibility for sin. When the Bible comes, Christ comes, he says, repent. Why would you need to repent if you've done nothing wrong? Why should you repent if it's someone else's fault? As Adam says, it's the woman you gave me, it's her fault. Blame shifting goes back to the garden, but it's rife today. You must preach the duty of personal repentance for personal sin and accountability before the God of heaven. That's what this message does. It calls people to face up to sin. And it calls them to face up to their own situation. You see, repentance involves a turning around. It's a recognition you're going in the wrong direction. And that all is not well, and that all will not end well. If you keep going this way, what's the end of this road? Unless you turn around, the end of this road is a wrath of God in eternity in hell. That's the end of this road. So we call people to repent, to stop where they are, to think and to change their minds, to realize they're going away from the will of God. And the end of such rebellion is a lost eternity. And Christ comes to this people and says to them to repent. You see, we live in a day when people think they're successful. And the success of this modern age and the American dream is really people feeling the style. Feeling with large bank balances, big pensions, but really what they're doing is they're breaking the law of God with a smile upon their face and the assumption that all is well, but they're going to a lost eternity. I've got to say to people, all is not well. All looks well in your life, but all is not well. They call sinners to repentance. It's a privilege to have someone come to you and warn you of your sin and say to you, you need to repent. That's a privilege. If we are left in our sin and no one calls us out for our sin, we're left to continue on the broad road that leads to destruction. See, many of you have that experience, haven't you? You've had that experience in your life. Someone came to you and said, stop, stop. You need to repent and believe the gospel. The privilege of hearing the pressing warning. Finally, they have the privilege of hearing the precious welcome. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. It speaks of the kingdom being nigh. It's Christ's call, really. Repent, because you're not in the kingdom. Repent because you're in a different kingdom, under a different king. But now the king has come, and if you repent, you can enter this kingdom. Oh yes, you must be born again. He'll tell Nicodemus that. To see and to enter the kingdom, you've got to be born again. But you've also got to strive to enter. You see, the Lord's words here in verse number 17, they really amount to a gracious invitation, a precious welcome. extended to people from all nations, even to those in Galilee of the Gentiles. They're told, this kingdom of God, the doors are open for you as well. It's not just a door for Jews. It doesn't say Jews only. The doors are open for all mankind. Whoever will come can be saved and become part of this kingdom. We've got to be clear. I said before, the rejection of Christ is not due to intellectual problems, it's due to an unwillingness to count the cost. Well, there is a cost to count to be in Christ's kingdom. You've got to leave the pleasure of sin for a season, but the cost you pay to enter the kingdom, it's not your works, it's not meritorious, but even that cost is of such insignificance compared to the infinite value of being in the kingdom of God's. Any cost is nothing compared to the glories of being in Christ's kingdom. And as we point out to sinners the need to count the cost, we must be sure that we are not presenting barriers as if the door is closed. The gospel is freely offered to all mankind. Christ says, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. This kingdom, of course, is the Savior's kingdom. It's at hand, literally a draw nigh. How is it drawn nigh? It's drawn nigh because the King has come. I often say this, we so often think of a kingdom in terms of geographical area, but rather the kingdom is about spiritual activity. It's an acknowledgement that Christ is King, that He rules and reigns, that His will must become my pleasure. To do His will is my delight. That's what it is to serve under the King. If Jesus is King, and you know, didn't you see it so often in recent times, even in political discussion of the election, Jesus Christ is King. Do you know what that means? His will rules your life. You cannot say that without your life being changed. Giving up other kings and accepting Jesus Christ alone is the ruler of my life. That's what it is to be in the kingdom. The kingdom is within you. It's not meat or drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy. And the Holy Ghost remains 14. We saw that. It's a spiritual kingdom in the heart of mankind, where Christ is the king. This kingdom draws nigh when Christ comes. He's the one promised of old. And though there are those who come together to try to destroy the Lord's anointed, they will not succeed because God is going to set his king upon his holy hill. Christ does indeed rule in Rome. You saw this morning. He ever lives to make intercession for us. He's risen indeed and ascended to the right hand of God. He is the king. We know these things. It's a spiritual kingdom. But it's a kingdom that if you are not part of, then you are not saved. Just turn across to Matthew chapter 19. You see, we are not left with a situation where, well, there are multiple kingdoms and one's okay and the next one's better than the other one. No, we're left with a very stark situation in terms of this kingdom. The rich young ruler is mentioned here. He's leaving. He lacks again what he needs. It's a right heart. He will not give all that he has for the poor. And he goes away with sorrowful his great possessions. Verse number 22. And the Lord says to the disciples, a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And the disciples say, who then can be saved? Who then can be saved? Again, that old word, saved. Are you saved today? Are you in the kingdom of God? Are you in the kingdom of Christ? Have you submitted your soul to Christ's rule and reign? If you have, then you're saved. If you haven't, then you're lost. And the salvation in view here, of course, is salvation from sin and its every effect. Saved from the guilt of sin. Oh, that guilt of sin will take you in the judgment of God into eternity without God. Saved in the power of sin, sin that rules and reigns in your life, saved in the presence of sin, one day being with Christ forever and forever. Saved, what a term, what a wonderful term. This offer from Christ is the offer of salvation. I am not ashamed to say to all of you here tonight, you can be saved tonight. We are all saved. Well, maybe you're not all saved. Maybe tonight's the night that God will save your soul. You recognize you've lived your life for years and years and years and truth be told, you're your own king. You want to rule your own life. You don't want Christ's will ruling your life. And you're here tonight and you're lost. But Christ says the kingdom of heaven is at hand. It's drawn nigh, it's open to you, it's available for you tonight. If you would but repent of your sins and trust in Christ Jesus. The language Christ uses implies opportunity. It's now and now is accepted time, a sense of urgency. There must be that urgency in all spirit-minded preaching. We were Calvinists, we believe in the sovereignty of God, but we also believe in the pressing nature of man's responsibility. Tonight, now be saved. Come to Christ tonight. Do not boast of tomorrow. Let me close tonight by saying and pointing out that the gospel offered to Gentiles was indeed received by Gentiles. It's over in one other fulfillment passage in Matthew chapter 12. Turn across there, and this will close. I'm not gonna look at this passage in any detail, but it describes the ministry of Christ again. Matthew 12, in the verse number 17, that it might be fulfilled as spoken by Isaiah, the prophet saying, behold, my servant, whom I have chosen, My beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased, I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive nor cry, neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, and swung flax shall he not quench, till he sent forth judgment unto victory, and in his name shall the Gentiles trust. The kingdom that Christ establishes in his life and death is the kingdom into which multiple millions of Gentiles have run. It's a broad road that leads to destruction. It's a narrow way that leads to life. But that narrow way does not mean that there are not untold multitudes that have been saved by the grace of God. We have a message of truth. We are living in days of darkness, but we have the light of the gospel. We bring it to sinners in the preaching of the word. We press upon them the need to repent. but we invite them because Christ invites them. And we have the promise of the word of God that Gentiles will hear the gospel and trust in Christ Jesus. That's what keeps us going. We don't give up because Christ has indeed secured these promises and in him shall the Gentiles trust. Let's close in prayer again this evening, I encourage you. If you have not put your trust in Christ, tonight must be the night. Let's bow together. Heavenly Father, we thank you again for the ministry of Christ Jesus, for the nature of that ministry, calling sinners to repentance, to take responsibility for their own sin and their own iniquity. Oh, eternal God, we pray for any in this gathering, and they're still outside the kingdom. Oh, Lord God, give them the grace to repent, and the grace to believe, to take Christ as their Savior and their King tonight. O Lord God, do your work, we pray. In Jesus' precious name.