And as you've marked Matthew chapter four, and as you turn to the book of Isaiah chapter nine, I want you to think about something this morning that I believe to be true. And I believe that there is comfort in his presence. And I say that again this morning, I believe that there is comfort in his presence. We go through a time of the year when the days get, we've already talked about, we just went through a calendar change where the days are gradually gonna start getting longer. I always find it amazing that during certain times of the year, the ones that are real far north on the earth, the way the earth rotates, that they go through a long period of time. I think it's like 20 out of the 24 hours are darkness. Then they go through another time of the year where about 20 out of the 24 hours are light. And I tell you that because obviously here where you and I are at, we don't go through a time of that much darkness. And my point is this. There are times in our life on the exact same day at the exact same time. You can take today's date, you can take today's time, and you can understand that there are some people in other parts of the world that are experiencing more darkness than other people are. And I want you to think about that this morning because When we talk about the darkness, I wanna ask you today, what does it mean to be in darkness? What does it mean to be in light? And I wanna read to you for just a minute in the book of Isaiah chapter nine, and I wanna read to you the second verse, if I may. Isaiah nine and two said this, that the people that walked in darkness, There was a darkness in their life. And again, if you wanna go back to that first verse, it talked about the people leaving a little bit to the north. They were going through a darkness in their life, but that the people 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. You see, Isaiah is writing about a time where the people were going through a great darkness in their life. And I want you to, if you go back, and let's mark if you did, let's go back to Matthew chapter four. Matthew chapter four, and I wanna skip down to the 16th verse. There's a great light that happens. And in the midst of darkness, when we say that there's comfort in His presence, we're talking about the idea that light brings us hope. Matthew chapter four and in verse 16 said this, the people which sat in darkness saw great light. Again, Isaiah talked about the people walked in the darkness and seen a great light. Matthew 4 and 16 said, 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. The hope that is gonna come to mankind, folks, I think we can all agree to this. It all comes to us in the form of Jesus Christ. Now I want you to think about light for just a little while this morning. This is where my heart has been for a good while today. My heart has been about do you find comfort in the presence of God? Do you find comfort in light? Let me ask you this, what is it like to be somewhere where it's darkness? What is it like to be somewhere where there's no light that is present? What is that darkness like to you? We see in Matthew chapter four, he talks about the people that were in darkness and how a great light shined about them. Paul, on the road to Damascus, what happened? It said there was a great light that began to shine. Now, for you and I today, if we're out in direct sunlight, what do we do? We put our hand up or we take an umbrella, we put it up, we take a hat that's got a bill that we might be able to block the sun so it doesn't get in our eyes. We create barriers between us and the light so that we might be able to get into a shadow, which is, in a degree, a form of darkness. And I tell you that because you think about this, people that are trying to sleep during the day, what do they do? They go into a building and they close the blinds or they drop down the curtains and they create barriers between where they are and the light. So this morning, I wanna ask you something. When we have darkness in our life, could it be because we allow barriers to come between us and God? My job this morning and my heart's conviction is not to come here today to tell you that this is a barrier and this is a barrier. I'm here to tell you a fact today that when something becomes between light and us, that means there is a barrier that creates, to a degree, a form of darkness. Now we see here that we see that anywhere that God is not, anywhere that Christ is not, there's darkness. I don't want to get very personal with you, but I do want to ask you a very personal question. Have you ever experienced darkness in your life? But the next question would be, was Christ in that darkness? We'll talk about some of those things in a minute about allowing him into that. But you know, sometimes folks, we push God out of hard times. We push God out of things that are not ideal. Sometimes we push God out of certain places in our life, but then we find out that there's darkness. Isaiah said, the people walked in darkness, they have seen a great light. So if the birth of Jesus was gonna bring hope to mankind, What kind of hope do you have in your life when Jesus becomes a part of that? If Jesus was gonna give hope to mankind when he was gonna be born in Bethlehem, what kind of light or what kind of hope does that bring to you and to I that we can invite him, we can allow him to be in every circumstance in our life? Can I ask you another personal question today? Do you think that God wants to be a part of about 70 or 80 or 90% of your life Or do you think that God wants to be a part of all of it? The answer this morning is, God wants to be a part of all of your life. But sometimes we think that God is not here, or that God is not there, or that we have done this. But when we come into darkness, it's because we have not done the things that God would have us to do. And we see here that the coming of Jesus Christ was going to bring hope. Folks, let me ask you this, what would darkness be like if we did not have the hope of light? I can tell you how I am, especially if I go into a strange place and I'm sleeping in a strange place. I will keep by my side a flashlight. That's just the way I am. I don't say that's right or wrong, but if I'm in a strange place and I don't know what's around me, I immediately will keep a flashlight beside me because there is hope and there's comfort at least in knowing what I'm not able to see that I can see. I'm telling you that to you today because I go back to what we said in the very beginning, our very thought. Do you believe that there's comfort in light? How many children sleep with the light on at night? There's comfort in light. Because it's not that there's anything there to see to begin with, it just, it allows them to see what is there. Can I ask you another personal question? Has God ever just come along to you in your life and just begin to shine a light that you realize that heaven is real? Has God ever just opened up to you and showed you that heaven is a real place and that there are people that are there and we too can go? In the darkness we don't see those things. But God in His great light is able to open up our eyes and allow us to see these things. For so many people that are going through the torments of hell, one of the very torments of hell is it is pitch complete darkness. We are talking about the removal of comfort. We are talking about the removal of hope that they have. Folks, at least if you're here in this world today, there's still hope that you can get saved and get right with God and go to a place called heaven. But when you go to hell, you know what? There's no hope in hell. No hope. For every person that is sick today, whether they hold to a strong grip or maybe very lightly, they hold on to the very idea and they hope that they're going to get better. For people that are struggling with their jobs or maybe struggling to get a job or whatever it is, they cling to the very hope that maybe something will change or that something will become better for them. But you know what, folks? One of the miseries of hell is there is no hope of a better tomorrow. There is no hope that things are going to change. So when I say that there's comfort in his presence, listen to what Isaiah said. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. Do you believe today that there is a great light that God desires for us to be able to experience? John chapter eight, I wanna turn over and read for just a minute. John chapter eight. Listen to what Jesus is going to proclaim in verse 12. Now, if you want to read the fullness of the eighth chapter of the book of John, it's going to give an account about Jesus and these Jewish leaders and the clash and the conflict that they're going to go through. And they're going to start talking to him about the law. But you know what he's going to try to describe to them? That there's a difference in the law. Instead, you need to experience grace. Do you know what he's trying to give us a picture of? And I want you to listen to this when you read John chapter 8 sometime. He's going to give you a distinguishment that the law and grace are two totally different things. Let me ask you this, do you think that there is a difference in darkness and light? Matter of fact, I'm going to say there's as much darkness and light as there is east and west, is it not? We're not talking about a slight degree of a variation of difference, we are talking about total opposite when we go from darkness to light. If we say in the very beginning today that there is comfort in His presence, can we say today that the total opposite of that means that there's misery or there is pain or there is things that are disturbing when we do not have His presence? Do we believe that they're two different extremes? My fear is people have religion, but they've never felt what it's like to be separated from God. I wanna tell you something, folks. When God convicted me and he showed me that I was a sinner, nobody had to reveal that unto me. I felt like a sinner. How many of you know what it's like to feel like a sinner? Anybody? It hurts, doesn't it? Seeing doesn't make you comfortable, but I wanna tell you something. The presence of the Holy Spirit will. There's a difference in that, and we see in John chapter eight that he's talking about the differences of all of these things, the law versus grace, and the light versus the darkness, and life versus death, and he's gonna talk about freedom versus bondage, and he's gonna talk about all the variants of these things, but in the 12th verse, Jesus spake, or then spake Jesus again unto them, talking about to the Pharisees, I am the light of the world. Folks, if I can tell you about a great light, I believe Jesus can say that that is healed because he is the light of the world. And what Jesus is teaching the Pharisees is, he said, if you want to find peace, if you want to find darkness, he said, believe in my teachings. They were trying to contradict this. They were trying to find out what was wrong, not seeing what was right. How familiar does that sound to you? To be around people that are focused on not just what is right, but what is wrong. They were accusing him of breaking the laws. But Jesus said, you're missing out on what it's about. He said, I'm coming today, not that you would be perfect, but that I can give you something that is perfect. Folks, when he saves your soul, it is a perfect work. Not a perfect work by what you have done. It is a perfect work of the Holy Spirit that God does in the very soul of a man. So today, I talk about these feelings. I talk about this comfort in these things that we have. But listen to what he's telling the Pharisees. He said, if you would just follow me. For he that would follow with me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. There's a difference that what Jesus is talking about, about those that follow after him versus those that do not follow after him. There's two kinds of people out there today, two kinds of people that are here. You're either saved or you're lost. You're either in the light or you're in the darkness. And can I tell you about one that was once in the darkness? Can I tell you about one today that once had barriers in my life and it was the barrier of sin? Can I tell you about from one today that has experienced the things between me and God that there's a darkness but God does not want that darkness to be there. He wants us to experience a great light. How many of you can testify today that God is a great light in your life? He's not just a light. You know, I found out some of these lights you get out and you kind of flick them around, they have lumens and stuff to them. We like those high power things because we want to be able to see and we want to see clear. Folks, let me tell you, heaven is not something that is faint to me. Heaven is something very clear to me. I want to tell you that one more time. Heaven is not something faint to me. Heaven is something that is very clear and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it's a real place. One of these days I'm going to go. It might be in the next few minutes, it might be in the next few days, hours, months, or years. I don't know, but I do know this. One of these days, folks, I'm going to that place called heaven. If you're here today, how many of you today have that assurance in your life that you too are going to go to that place where we can find that rest? And in John here, and in this eighth chapter, and in this twelfth verse, he's talking about how that we can find peace. And Jesus said, I am the light, and he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. And he talks about all of these things. Jesus is teaching us that he can be with us, he can watch over us, and he can provide for us even in the most darkest of hours of our life. He can give us certainty, he can give us assurance, and he can give us hope. Folks, there's a lot of people out there today and in this very hour that will long to have the hope that you and I have inside of us. Maybe adversity has hit their life. Maybe something hard in their life has happened. Maybe they're not finding comfort. But you know what? Today, you and I have comfort. And you know what that comfort is? It's not in each other. And I believe in that. We may talk about that a little bit. I believe in comfort we have from each other. But ultimately, praise be unto God, folks, our comfort comes from Jesus Christ. Our light is not something that we get from each other. Our light is something that comes from God. I think about these scriptures in the book of Psalms, in the 27th division of the book of Psalms. Listen to what David is going to talk about. That the presence of God in troubles is going to give him comfort like he finds nowhere else. David put his trust and his confidence in God. Let's read this in just a minute. Psalm chapter 27, I'm gonna read the first three verses. And I want you to see if you can audibly hear David today that his fears and uncertainties are gonna be replaced with peace and certainties. Fears and uncertainties or peace and certainties? Can I ask you a question before I read these first three verses? Which one of those two would you rather have? Fear, uncertainties, peace, and certainties? I'm gonna say this again and I hope this doesn't get too repetitious for you. Folks, I thank God for an experience in my life that gave me peace and something I know to be certainly true. I'm saved and I'm on my way to heaven. That is not something that I'm confused about, it's something I'm certain about. Listen to Psalm 27 and verse one. The Lord is the light of my salvation, whom shall I fear? Look at the source. Look at what happens here. We see in the very beginning that there come a time that this invitation that God is gonna give to the Pharisees, he gave that invitation. Listen to what David is saying here in the Psalms of the 27th verse. He said, I know who my source is. He said, he's my salvation. And he said, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? God is all powerful, is he not? When the wicked, even mine enemies, and my foes, sometimes we think that's one and the same, sometimes it's two different. Even mine enemies and my foes came upon me to eat up my flesh. You know what the word eat up means, don't you? It doesn't mean to trip you, to push you down, to hurt you, it means to devour you, or you are completely different than what you are. but my enemies, he said, that came upon me to eat up my flesh, but instead, they stumbled and fell. You know, we talk about these, in a child's mind, these magical, super powerful experiences where there's something unseen. It's like a shield that protects them. Folks, today I wanna tell you something that's greater than any shield that any person can imagine. It's the power and the hand of God upon people that cannot be seen, but it definitely can change things, can it not? There's comfort in his presence today. And today, sometimes it's a presence that we cannot see. Let me ask you this, how many of you believe in the unseen hand of God? Not in something that you see, but it's in something that you feel. He says, my enemies, he said, they came upon me to eat my flesh. And he said, as soon as they came, he said, all of a sudden, they stumbled and they fell. Verse three. Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though wars should rise against me, in this Will I be confident? Today, how confident are you in what God is able to do? Isaiah talks about how that the people that walked, this is in Isaiah nine and verse two, the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. What great light are they experiencing? It's a light like nothing else that we can see. And this light today, even though that we see others that may be a light, there's something different in what God is able to give us versus what anything else that we can get from the world. But I'm telling you that because this light gives us things that showed us things in our lives that need to be pure and to be clean. I want to read to you in the book of 1 John, if I can for just a minute. 1 John chapter 1 and in verse 5. We're talking about the holiness of God and the presence of God. And you know what? There's comfort in knowing that we can get sin cleaned up in our lives. But then this is the message, which we have heard of them and declared to you. I love this very simple message. We heard it. Now we're telling you this. God is light. All of God's people should say amen. God is light. He's not a reflection. He is the source. Aren't you thankful today that we have a source of light inside of us? God is light. And in him, in his presence, is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in his darkness, well, this gets a little tricky. Jesus, I know you, I believe in you, I trust in you, but I'm still walking in darkness. And he said, we lie and do not the truth. Doesn't mean to say people don't go through darkness. What it means is that even in the darkness, Christ's presence is there. If you go through darkness and you think that God has abandoned you, then you don't have him because he promised us he would never leave us nor forsake us. Folks, can I tell you this? That a true child of God never goes through darkness. We go through hard times. But we do not go through darkness, why? Because of this great light. Do you find comfort today in this great light and in his presence? Listen to what we see in verse seven. But if we walk in the light, We're honest to God. We know that God's gonna be honest with us. We're honest with God. If we walk in the light. By the way, do you believe that it takes some actions on our part that we might be able to walk and do the things he wants? For if we walk in the light as he is the light, we have fellowship one with another. It means that we have a shared, close relationship, not only with God, but folks, we can have a shared, close relationship with other people today that are experiencing that same relationship with Christ. For He is the light, and we have fellowship one with another. And here's what happens, that if we talk about needing to clean ourselves, if we talk about needing to get impurities out of our life, for He said, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. This morning, my heart has been so encouraged today to know that we can find light in Jesus Christ, that we can find light in what He is able to give us. But how many people are going to experience this true light and they're going to experience this eternally versus those that are going to be in darkness? I want to close this morning in the book of Revelation chapter 21. Revelation chapter 21. You know there's something I learned about a coal oil lamp that if you turn it on that in due time the oil is going to run out and the fire is going to quit burning. Now what about those that have flashlights that run on batteries or are charged that you leave them on long enough, what's going to happen? They're finally going to die out. The lights that we have on here today, even though they're provided for us in what we would consider in a consistent method, there's still a source of energy somewhere that provides for us this light. But listen to what happens today. Is there ever going to come a day where there's going to be endless, that there's no need to refuel or to resupply those needs? It's going to happen. Revelation chapter 21 and in verse 22. And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, but neither the moon to shine in it. For the glory of the Lord did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. Folks, today I want you to know something that once we get saved and Jesus becomes a part of our life, we find comfort in his presence. And you know how long that's going to last? Not just all the days of your life and that's going to be the end. Do you know that when God saves your soul, your soul is saved eternally? Aren't you thankful today to know this? That the work of God is far greater than any work of man. It's going to have faults to it. It's going to have mistakes about it. But aren't you glad it's perfect? Listen to what John the Revelator is saying. He said, the Lamb of it is going to be the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it. Glory, hallelujah, today, listen to what happened. He said, we're gonna have a light and we're gonna get to walk in this light and it's never gonna end. And the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. So today, why are we experiencing darkness in our life? Why are we experiencing times in our life that make us feel uncomfortable and understand these things happen? But I pray today that not only would we let God's light be something that shines in us, but I pray that we might be light bearers. Remember what Jesus said? He said, take your light and put it on a candlestick that it might give light to all of those that are in the house. Folks today, I pray today that God would allow us to be a light bearer. There are people out there today, we may have comfort and certainties, there are people today that are living in fear and uncertainties. May God use us to be a light bearer to those that are in need today. But when we say today, let Christ in, let him be a part, let that light come into your life, how do you do that? That's a hard question, isn't it? How do you just let him in? Can I tell you a few things today? You need to pray. Pray, don't just talk with words. Open up your heart to God. I'll tell you something else to do, folks. Read the Word of God. Listen to the Word of God. However it is, you need to take the Word of God and let it become a part of you. But I want to tell you something else today. When the darkness gets, when the times get dark in your life, can I tell you something else? Find godly people. Maybe that's the word, community of people. I draw strength in being around godly people, folks. You may not, but I'm telling you, you're looking at one person that finds strength when I pray. I find strength when I listen to God and read to God. I find strength when we get together with God's people. I find strength today when I surrender my will to God's will. And I also find strength when instead of looking at the have-nots, I start looking at what I do have and become grateful for what I have. You know how to get over the hard times in your life? I have no idea what you're going to face today or tomorrow or what you faced yesterday, but I do know this. The hardest day of your life is going to come at some point. Think about that. The hardest day of your life is going to come at some point. How do you get through those days? Look at what you do have and be thankful for it. I'll tell you this, I had rather face the darkest days of my life with Christ than I would have faced it without him. And yea, though I walk through the valley in the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Today, I thank God that his presence is what we all stand in need of. And in Matthew chapter four and verse 16, the people which sat in darkness, they saw a great light. Today, Are you in darkness and need that light? Do you find comfort in his presence? If you're in a place of discomfort, I pray that you would find comfort in him while there's still time and opportunity. That's what I had on my heart. God bless you. I want us to get a song if we could.