Kids don't go out to the back, they go out to the left, all right? We're set up backwards here today, getting ready for the carol singing service tonight. And the rest of us, please open our Bibles to Matthew chapter 4 and verses 12 through 25. Matthew chapter 4 verses 12 to 25. I don't know about you, but I'm glad that this week we reached the shortest day of the year, right? And we've passed it. And so now we can all anticipate the days getting longer, slowly at first, right? Then it'll begin to get quicker and quicker. We get to March time in that. But it's hard. Wintertime's tough because the light is fading and it's a bit discouraging. In the States, where I grew up. One thing that we do in the wintertime is, there are some guys, friends of mine, and my dad and I also like to do this. We take a very bright torch, okay? The one we had when I was in high school was a million candlewatt. Later, when we traveled raising our support, in my trailer, my caravan that we pulled, I had a four million candlewatt light. That means like four million candles, okay? I mean, it's super bright. You turn it on, you light up a field. What we did in high school, what I did with my dad is in the wintertime, we go out shining deer. And so we go by the farm fields where the deer would be out at night feeding and light them up just to see them, you know, because you can see them a lot closer and things. So it's kind of fun. And deer's eyes, by the way, they reflect. I forget if they reflect blue or red, but it's one of those colors that actually reflect. So they're easy to find. because of that. But a lot of fun with the light. Lights are also beautiful, right? They're powerful, but lights are also beautiful. Right now, today, we're enjoying the beauty of having a Christmas tree up here and 600 lights on it. And it's pretty. There's something warm. There's something wonderful about lights. You might have sat by a campfire. I like to camp a little bit. Back in high school, we'd have campfires. There's security around a light. You just feel safer. Just get that fire going. And where I grew up camping, there were bears and things like that. And it's kind of nice to have that warmth of the fire that's there. And it's beautiful at night if you go up on a hillside. especially maybe by the Pentlands or something and look back at the city and you see the city laid out before you and all those wonderful lights. And a lot of times I think we take light for granted. You know, today we've got lights on. You know, we wouldn't take it for granted if the power was out. We'd all notice, oh, the power's out, especially tonight. So we got here tonight, power's out. It's dark. We're in the room, it's dark. We wouldn't take it for granted then. But otherwise, tonight, when you come in, you're not going to think much about the fact that we've got power. I could project the light up onto the screen that's going to show the words to the songs and everything. We live in a day that is blessed with physical light. Edison's day wasn't that way. Thomas Edison was burdened about making way for mankind to have affordable lights that everybody could have. And back then it was candles. You got one candle at night. Think of the difference. We do all these things. We stay up probably later than we should because we have an abundance of light. We take it for granted. The sadder thing than that, and we should be thankful for physical light, but the sadder thing than that is today we live in a day that's abundantly blessed with spiritual light. We've got an abundance of spiritual light. There's some countries that, communist countries, and no doubt this is the way it is in some countries even today, but after the war, especially you read stories about these countries where the Bible was destroyed and taken out of these places, and their delight at receiving just some pages of scripture. Just a book from the Bible, 66 books in the Bible, but just a book from the Bible or just part of the Bible. They risk their life and some lost their life just to have light. And then we go into charity shops and you got Bibles on the shelf, 25p, 50p, nobody cares. Everybody's got one at home in their house or most people have that home in their house. Today on your phone, you can have a Bible, you can download it for free. And it's really easy to do. You could have a Bible right there. In fact, a lot of times it's an audible Bible. It'll even read itself to you out loud so you can listen to it. And we have an abundance of light, but nobody cares. And not only do they not care, they don't use it. I mean, imagine us sitting here today in the darkness tonight, and we could have light. That's sad. I mean, it'd be really sad, especially if people are depressed. You know, why do I keep running into things? Why do I keep banging into the walls or whatnot? Listen, turn the lights on, and that won't happen. And see, our world's like that. They're going through life, and it's rough, and it's tough, and there's a lot of dangers and things, but Jesus Christ is light, and they don't care. and they're not going to turn on the light of life. Jesus said in John 8 verse 12, Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. I mean, that's awesome, isn't it? You follow Jesus Christ, you're no longer in darkness. You've got the light and listen to what is called the light of life. A lot of people, they get saved and they understand, ah, this is what life is all about. Life without Christ is pointless. I get up in the morning, you know, I live my day. Why? What's the point? I'm not happy, I'm not satisfied. What's the point? The point is, God designed us to have a relationship with God. That is ingrained into our heart. Until we accept Christ as our Savior, we're not joined with God because our sin is separated from God. And we don't understand what life's all about. but he came to give them the light of life, to restore that connection with God. By the way, God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. In heaven, in eternity, the New Jerusalem, there's no lights there. There's not a switch they turn on there because God is the light of it. So to be connected with Him is to walk in the light. I mean, that's restoring us to our right relationship with Him. Jesus said, John 9, 5, As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. John 12, 46, I am come a light into the world, and whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. Wow. God came, Jesus came, and He came so that we could have life. Why should we have to dwell in darkness? Praise God. So why today, when all this is taking place, we've got an abundance of Bibles, we've got an abundance of truth about Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ died for the world. He died for everybody. There's enough light for anybody. Anybody wants a torch, a biblical torch, they get it. God will give it. All the light they want. Why today don't people have it? Well, here it is, John 3.19. This is the condemnation that light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. That's sad. It's sad today that people say, no, I don't want God because I like my booze. I don't want God because I like my pornography. I don't want God because I like my anger. I like my lying. I like my bitterness. I like my life the way it is and I don't want God to mess it up, but it's messed up. because it's in darkness, but they're resisting what would make their life right, what would fix their life. And it's a sad thing today to say, men love darkness rather than light. Why? Because their deeds are evil. That's the reality of what we see around us. Now, we're looking at something that's a bit different from the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, as if you remember the passage that we've read here, Matthew chapter four. But you'll notice this, Matthew chapter four is not very far away from Matthew chapter two. In fact, it's just one page. In fact, chapter four and chapter two are on the same page of my Bible, but where we're at in chapter four is another page, right? It's just across the page. But you'll notice that the New Testament authors didn't spend much time on the birth of Jesus Christ. We do, especially this time of year, it's Christmas, we're celebrating the birth of Christ, but the Holy Spirit in two of the Gospels didn't even see fit to have the authors tell us anything about the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then in the other two Gospels, it's pretty succinct, tells us what took place, tells us it's a fulfillment of prophecy, identifies who the Messiah is for us, so we know, oh, it is Jesus, and just like God said, there's some very precious truth that we need, they give it to us, but then we don't see Jesus again until he's 12, and that's only one Gospel. Then we don't see Jesus again until he's in his early 30s, and he's starting his earthly ministry, why? Because Jesus didn't come to be born. Did he? Was that it? I mean, when he was born, did he say, Father, I've finished the work that thou gavest me to do? No. The birth was the beginning of his earthly ministry. He came to be the light of the world. And so the Gospels very quickly fast forward into that idea of the light. He came to be the light. You know, this morning, I want to challenge us that we need to be followers of the light. We need to follow the light. I wanna ask you this morning, are you following the light? We're gonna think about it very specifically from this passage. It very clearly identifies Jesus as the light. The people that sat in darkness saw a great light, all right? And to think this morning, am I a person that is following the light or am I walking in darkness? And if we walk in darkness, we'll stumble. and the light's there to protect us. And I hope this morning that you want to be a follower of the light. Let's pray and ask God to help as we come to his word. Father, I pray that the spirit of God would lead us and guide us as we think about some truths about light this morning. As Jesus is the light, Father, I ask that the Holy Spirit would do His work. I confess, Father, I have no ability to work in anybody's heart this morning. I can't convince anybody to come to the light. I can't, Lord, twist anybody's arm. I can't make truth clear enough, Father, but the Holy Spirit, who is God, is able to do that work. And Father, that's what we desire. I pray pour out of your Spirit upon us this morning. I pray that the truth can be crystal clear, not because I'm a good preacher or a good speaker, The Spirit of God has great ability to penetrate hearts and minds and make us understand your truth. And so I pray guard this time and guide this time and we commit it to you and ask for your blessing. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. First thing we think about, I wanna be a follower of the light, okay? I wanna be somebody that seeks after truth or seeks after light. How do I do that? Well, the first thing is you must look to the light. Right? If I say this morning, you know, I came to church and I came because I want to see light. Okay, then to do that this morning, you got to look to the light. It says in our text in verse 12. Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee and leaving Nazareth. He came in 12 and Capernaum. which is upon the sea coast and the borders of Zabulon and Nephalem, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, the land of Zabulon and the land of Nephalem, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. And the city that you're in, Capernaum, is sitting right on the water of the Sea of Galilee, okay? You're in Galilee. You're right on that freshwater lake that you can see across. I don't know how many the dimensions of it, but it'd be like going to a huge highland block, basically, and smaller than some as far as its length, because you can see all sides of it. There, that village is on the side of that. He goes there to speak to them. And it says, the people which sat in darkness saw great light. That's awesome. I mean, here they are, spiritual darkness, they can't see, they don't understand, they don't know, but here the light of the world, Jesus Christ, sees fit to come to that village and to be the light that they needed. As I was studying this, I thought about the Chilean miners. Remember those guys? This is back the year that we moved here, 2010. The Chilean miners, there was a, accident that took place where there was a collapse. And there were health and safety violations that had led to the collapse of this mine shaft. But the problem was this. Beyond the collapse, there were 33 men that were trapped. And I don't know, Alec, if you ever experienced a collapse in a mine, if they ever had one here at the Ramsey or anything like that. I know there are mining deaths. We have the memorial right down here. Mining is a dangerous thing. And so when it collapsed, they were stuck 2,300 feet underground, I think three miles in to the mine where they were. And they tried to clear the shafts, but they couldn't. Every time they did that, they'd feel the earth move, and they'd risk another collapse. And so they couldn't do that. So what they did, they started boring holes down into the ground and seeking for these men. And day 17. OK, day 17, two and a half weeks, they finally broke through into the area where these miners were trapped. And it's a neat story. I mean, when you read about it, how, I mean, it's God's grace, God's mercy. This story is really, they had the right guys down there. They appointed a leader. They set up a democratic government where they voted. They had 33. And so if they had 17, whoever, 17 or more people that voted for something, it was passed. And I mean, they had one guy that they called the doctor. He had a little bit of medical training. And I mean, they basically set up a society down there to keep their morale up. It's really a neat story. But anyway, they heard the drills coming. So day 17, when it pops through, they tape a note to the drill to send back up. And they tapped on the drill, too. And they could feel the taps up above. And the note said, we are well in the shelter, the 33 of us. 69 days they're trapped. I remember watching at my house as those miners came up. Remember that little space shuttle type capsule? They bored a hole. I think it was probably about that big around. And these guys got into this capsule. One guy that was a courageous guy got in first. And they got all 33. And another brave guy, the guy that went last, that waited down there, was the last one to be rescued. He was the leader that they appointed. I mean, it's a pretty cool, again, story. But these guys come up. Can you imagine? what it felt like to them to come up after being trapped in the darkness. And I'm sure they had some lights and they certainly sent some things down to them. But trapped down there for 69 days, what it felt like to come back up into the light of life, to feel the sun on your back again after being stuck down there. You know, I think there's a lot of people in life, if they're really honest about it, they would say, in reality, spiritually, I feel like those minors. that I'm trapped and there's a sense that it's dark and I don't understand. I don't know what's going on. And there's a burden in their heart that there's a desire that they have to be found. But listen, if that's really the case, what are they going to do? They're going to get the notes ready to send back up. They're going to get ready to tap. They're going to listen for sounds of a Savior, right? Getting close to them. And see, if that's you this morning, you've got to look to the light. You can't sit and say, oh, forget it. They're never going to find me. And it's hopeless. And I'm just going to plug my ears. I'm going to close my eyes. I'm just going to die here, because there's no way I'm going to be saved. Somebody that wants to be saved or wants to walk in the light has to look for it, has to seek it. Remember those guys, the wise men? We have the story of the Magi coming to the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Bible tells us, Matthew chapter two, that when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, There came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him." Now, I'm not an incredible scholar. I don't know how far they came, but they didn't come from the next village. They're coming from a foreign nation. They're coming a long ways to get there. I mean, this is a big journey. It's not like, oh, OK, well, let's just take a short, you know, excursion and hopefully if we find something. They've set themselves for a long journey saying, you know what, whatever it takes. I'm going to get to that place where we find the Messiah, the one they're seeking. Where is he that's born King of the Jews? And he sent them to Bethlehem saying, go search diligently for the young child. When you have found him, bring me word again that I may come and worship him also. And again, they got to go and they have to search diligently, don't they? They're not just going to find Jesus because, oh, you know, that was easy. It's going to take searching. You know, again, just to apply it to our hearts real quick, how many people today will actually take up a Bible, open it, study it, read it, and find truth? Isn't that sad today? I mean, they got all the light they need, but they won't even take, you know, 10 minutes a day to find Christ. Very sad to think they've got so much and they give so little effort to it. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were coming to the house, they saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and fell down and worshipped him. When they'd opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. How many of you guys have your Christmas shopping done? All right. I hope you're done. It's the last day, right? Where did they go to get their gifts? They run down and they're quick, hey guys, you know, we're here, you know, what are we gonna do? Oh man, I wish I remembered, right? Oh, gotta run down to the local, I don't know, Asda, and find something to buy for Jesus. Is that it? No. What do they do? They came bearing gifts, didn't they? Think about it. They're seeking light. I mean, they're ready. When they find light, they're ready to worship. And listen, again, if somebody today is going to look to the light, come prepared to worship. We all came to this place this morning, but you know what? Some people came to get something and some didn't. It's like if you went with me to Brody Ferry, and we walked along by the RNLI lifeboat crew beach, that's right there in Brody Ferry. We're walking along that beach. When we get back to the car, my pockets are going to be full of agates, hopefully, if I was lucky. Yours probably aren't. Why? Because we walked the same place, but I was seeking something. Today, we could all come here to church, and there's some people sitting here, they're going to walk out, they're going to get nothing. But you could be somebody that came with a purpose. You came to find the light. And if you come seeking light, guess what? You're going to walk out with something. But that has to be it, doesn't it? It has to be in our heart to say, you know what? I need the light. I need the truth. I need something. God, I'm going to church today, not just because I have to, not just to show up and so people think I'm a good Christian. God, I'm coming because I need something. See, that's the whole point, isn't it, today? is that we're seeking light. Are you a person looking to the light? Second thing that we see in our story here is you must be warned by the light. You must be warned by the light. It says, and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light has sprung up. See, they're not just in darkness, they're in danger. To them which sat in the region and the shadow of death, life has sprung up. You've been watching the news this week. You know, it's been a very sad week in the news. In Washington State, an Amtrak train derailed. It was going 80 miles an hour around a 30 mile an hour curve. It was a line that only freight trains had run down before. It was the first time this track was run by an Amtrak train, which is a passenger train in the States. And it went off over an overpass down into cars underneath. Thankfully, in the cars, nobody died. But as last I heard, six people had died. It's tragic. Right here before Christmas, you know, it's sad. This past week, last, I don't know if it was Sunday or not, there's a, you know, Andy Gleiser that was just here. He's got a good friend and he's a friend of mine as well. I don't know him as well as Andy does, but Aaron Coffey. Aaron Coffey is also an evangelist. And when Andy went into evangelism, Andy told me about Aaron, was a real encouragement to him. But Aaron Coffey and his wife had a couple that traveled with them. And that couple have a young, I think, a young daughter, a young child. But last Sunday, or Saturday, they're at church and he had to run and get something, forgot something, running back to wherever and coming back, he was killed in a car accident. Here's a wife and child and this man has died. That's sad. It's incredibly sad. You know, the Philippines, the last two days, they had a huge mudslide, over 100 people missing, unaccounted for, and probably dead. It's just been like that. I mean, we had the woman in Aldi's in Yorkshire that was murdered. We had the taxi driver that was a big news story. His last drive of the night, you know, he's killed in a car accident. We had the tragic fire up on Lac Le Monde, where a hotel caught on fire, and two people lost their lives in the fire. And see, that's just a sampling, isn't it, of the value of the shadow of death. The reality is, in life, nobody's guaranteed a tomorrow. Nobody's guaranteed the next day. Nobody's guaranteed. I mean, we're all walking through it. In the reality of the shadow of death, death is something that is there. It's there. And that's what a shadow is, isn't it? A shadow is something that, casting the shadow, it means it's there, it's close by, it's near. And the Bible says, these people that sat in darkness, they're in the valley, in the region of the shadow of death. That death is casting a shadow over them. You know, people tend to feel very secure in life, don't they? And you know, I'm not trying to be morbid today. I don't want people to get up every day and say, oh man, I could die today. You know, and we're not, part of our nature is, you know, we're optimists. We're thinking ahead and saying, you know, it's okay. You know, we don't have to, we don't have to, the Bible says, be anxious for nothing. And it certainly is believers. We don't have to fear death because death is defeated for a believer. But see, if somebody's not saved, they ought to fear death. They ought to be afraid. If I die, that's it. It's not just physical death, it's eternal death in a lake of fire. And that is a fearful thing. And see, I can't, you know, there's some people they say, well, when I die, I'm just in the grave. No big deal. I'm not worried about it. I'm not bothered by it. You know, the thing is, does it really matter what you think? Or does it matter what's true? When we had a, again, we call it a travel trailer in the States, but a caravan, but it's very big. Okay, it'd be from here to the back of the back of the church. It's 34 feet long. And actually, when the slide outs were out, it was this wide. So it's very big. It was our house where we traveled and pulled that. But when we moved out of it, we decided to take a holiday at a place called Bass Island State Park on Lake Erie up in north of Ohio. And so I planned it. And if you were to ask me and say, you know, how are you going to get out to that island? I would say, well, I'm going to take the bridge. And if you had said to me, there is no bridge, if I was obstinate, I could have said, yes, there is a bridge and I'm going to take it. And no there's not a, well yes there is a bridge, you stop, you stop. I believe there's a bridge, you know, or something like that. But you know, I'm driving there with my family, and my GPS is telling me where to turn, and all of a sudden my GPS says, turn right, take ferry. That's what it said. Turn right, take ferry? So I turn around the corner, and again, I'm 50 feet long. And sure enough, there's a ferry. And the island's way out there. It's no bridge long enough to get to the island. And I'm like, oh, right. And it was the last ferry of the day. And it was a big decision because it was expensive to put that big thing onto the boat, all right? Big decision. But the point is this. I couldn't get to the island any way I wanted just because I thought something. And see, what doesn't matter today is if you're a person that thinks, when I die, I'm going to the grave, no big deal. It doesn't matter. Or if you're a person that thinks, well, good people go to heaven. I'm a good person, so I'm okay. It's fine. No. What matters today is what is true. And we need to be warned by the light. See the light cries out to us today and to people that are walking through the valley of the shadow of death. You're in danger. You're in danger. If you die without Christ, you'll spend eternity in hell. And if I knew today as a preacher that that person was here and that this was their last day, I pray you all make it to Christmas, right? But those people didn't. See, those stories I just told are people that expected to open a Christmas present, and they've got Christmas presents under the tree. And again, it's very sad. They're not even gonna be able to open them. But what's sadder than that is that God gave the gift of his son, Jesus Christ, for a lot of people, and they're gonna die before they ever open it. The problem is what they need to open is life. It's everlasting life. But see, they put it off, they put it off, they put it off until it's too late. Listen, if we want to follow the light, we've got to take the warning. The warning says, look, this is sin. There's punishment for sin. But Christ died. We've got to be warned by it. And so we need that today. We've got to look to the light. We need to be warned by the light. You know, as a person that has been warned by the light, responded to it, accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior, you know the Bible says that the shadow of death is still there. But you know what it also says, Psalm 23, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, what? I will fear no evil. for thou art with me. See, if I'm walking through the shadow of death and I've got life with me, it doesn't matter if I die, because the worst thing that could happen is I'll go spend eternity in heaven with God. That's all death is to a believer. But see, if you're walking through the valley of the shadow of death today, and you're not holding hands with the Lord Jesus Christ, you ought to fear death. Because death is not just the cessation of life, it's the beginning of eternity in a lake of fire. And so how our hearts ought to, again, be warned by the light today. So be warned by the light. Look to the light. And then you must turn to the light. Turn to the light. Verse 17 says, from that time, Jesus began to preach and to say, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. All right, here he comes. He's coming down into the Galilee region. Jesus Christ standing and preaching. What's he say? Repent. Turn. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. You know who's standing in front of them? The king of the kingdom. Whoa. I mean, think about it. This is the one that's going to reign in Jerusalem. We've talked recently about it for a thousand years. This is king of kings and lord of lords. We're going to consider who he is towards the end of the message. And he comes and in his mercy and his grace, he says, repent. Turn. Be warned, turn, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Do you remember the tsunami that hit Sri Lanka? Some of you that are older might remember this. Some of you young people would have been too young because I think now we're going back probably 2008, I would guess, something like that, 2007. The tsunami, what a tsunami is, is when there's an earthquake that under the sea, the floor of the sea rises or something like that, okay? or something like that. The waters recede first before a tsunami. And so what happened in Sri Lanka, as the waters are receding, there's a lot of people going, wow, look at that. I've never seen the tide go out so far. That's incredible. I want to walk out there, because you can't normally walk out there. And so here they go walking out to their destruction. But if somebody knows about tsunamis, they look at that and say, that's not natural. That's not normal. What do they do? Repent! Repent! They start yelling at people, repent! Turn back! Turn back! That's destruction! Don't go there! Because you'll be destroyed. Yo, I don't know if you remember the video. I can't forget the video that you see of people being swept away. The water's got them. The flood water's got them. There's nothing that they could do. It's done. Why? Because they didn't repent. So what's Jesus saying? Repent, turn, turn, come to safety, turn before it's too late. A lot of times I think it's like this. Like those people, why turn if you think you're okay? I'm okay. I mean, I'm standing on the sand. Look, it's beautiful out here. I'm fine. I feel like I'm fine. I don't feel like there's a problem. And people are screaming, repent, repent. But because they feel like they're fine, they don't care. You know, there's a lot of people today, again, they feel like they're fine. They say there is no hell. When you go, it's just a grave. They feel like they're a good person. I've done a lot of good things, right? If I was a bad person, then I think, oh, then I need to repent. But I'm a good person. I never killed anybody. You know, I haven't committed adultery. You know, I'm really a good person. But the problem is we're all sinners, aren't we? Repent. See, Jesus talked to some people that thought they were OK. They were self-righteous. And they came to him and said, remember Pilate took those Galileans that were offering a sacrifice and he killed them and their blood mingled with their sacrifice. They must have been awful people is what they said. You know what Jesus said? Jesus answering said unto them, suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans because they suffered such things? I tell you, no, nay, but except you repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, nay, but except you repent, ye shall all likewise perish. See, bad things happen, and self-righteous people look down their nose at people and say, this happened because God's judgment was upon them, because obviously they're very wicked people. And in their self-righteousness they think, but I'm okay. And Jesus said, look, do you think you're better than that person that that bad thing happened to? Listen, I'm going to tell you straight up, except you repent, you'll all likewise perish. Nobody in this room is going to die, face a judge of the universe, and him say, depart from me, cursed into everlasting fire. And them go, but I didn't know I needed to repent. Because God told us to repent. See, right here today is a message that anybody that has heard will remember at the judgment day that God said to repent and I didn't repent, I wish I repented. Think about those people, the tsunami comes and they're out there and the wave comes and they go, oh, if only, right? If only I had run to safety, if only rather than being stupid and walking out when the waters receded, I'd gone to the place of safety, I would be fine. but it's too late. So you don't wait till it's too late. When God says to turn, you must turn to the light, repent and believe. And so we need to turn, we need to be warned and we need to look, but then we must also follow the light. All right, follow the light. Let's read on in verse 18. It says, In Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And he said unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets and followed him. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. And he called them, and they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him." Now that's an incredible story, isn't it, kids? Do you picture it in your mind? They got the men in their boats, and that's their livelihood, okay? They're fishermen, so they got their boats, they've got their nets. In the one boat, you've got the men with their father. And so it's a family business. And so Jesus comes along and he says first to the one group, follow me. And it says immediately they forsook everything. They followed him. He goes to the next group. He says, follow me. And again, it says they forsook everything. They left their father. They left their business. to obey and to follow Jesus Christ, to walk in the light, and really to become those that would lead others to the light. That's a big thing, isn't it? To leave family, friends, and things that are familiar, to walk a walk of faith after Jesus Christ, that's a big thing, isn't it? But that's what they did, in obedience to God, because they were followers of the light. See, the Bible says, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me." So you could be here today, and you might be saved, you might have the light in you, but you're maybe not a follower of Christ. Because you haven't forsaken all to follow Him. It's kind of like last week, isn't it? We talked about identifying with Jesus Christ. How? By suffering. Suffering and identification with Christ being the same thing. Taking that stand for Jesus Christ, saying, I'm going to identify with Him. See, that's what they did. They risked everything. I mean, they didn't have their business anymore. They were living a life of faith, just following after Jesus Christ. We're listening. I might have mentioned this already, but we're listening to an audible book. And I'd encourage you to get some of these. They're really good. But the one we're listening to right now is Hudson Taylor. Hudson Taylor. I mean, he's a great example of this idea of forsaking to follow. He put himself in a position of faith, not taking money that he could have taken from his dad. He could have taken it from others because he wanted to experience a walk of faith before he got to China. So he did that. He had his fiance say, I'm not going to China. And so she didn't go. He went by himself. And later, I'm gonna give away the story for the kids, but he does get married. God provides a wife for him, but he went single to China. He gets to China and people ask him, what are you, a minister or are you, you know, medical? Are you a doctor? And he goes, neither. He had medical training and he had Christian training, but he was neither a preacher or a doctor. And they're like, what are you? I'm a missionary. Really? How's that work? There was a war taking place when he got there. The city is besieged and the first night he's there sleeping, I mean, the room's being lit by cannon fire and the booms of the cannons are shaking the lamp on the stand. Well, it's tough. But he's walking the walk of faith. You know, let me ask you today, how much faith does it take for you to follow after Jesus? If not much, is it true that you're really following Jesus? Isn't it true that when somebody really follows after Christ, that there's a walk of faith, that there's also forsaking? Just like they did. And so this morning, are you a person that's walking the light? You know, the thing about walking the light, if you're walking the light, what do others see? They see the light, don't they? Just like those disciples. Those are going to be the great preachers. Peter and James and John, these are going to be mighty men for God because they followed the light. I read on the U.S. Department of Labor website about lighthouse keepers, okay, and I guess your salary is like, I saw the salary on there, it was like $25,000 USD to $60,000 USD or something like that. Not a lot of pay. But I could preach a message on the paragraph that speaks about a lighthouse keeper. Here's what it says. loom large in the imagination of anyone who's ever visited a coast or even just read about one in a book. The lighthouse keeper knows the secret of the night and spends hours awake when the rest of the world is asleep, all to keep ships and now planes too safe. And I can stop there and say, you know, a lighthouse keeper is somebody that spends those hours in prayer that nobody knows about. He's a person that studies that nobody knows about, that's investing in people's life that nobody knows about, right? I mean, I really could, I could preach a message on this. If you love the idea of shouldering the solitary responsibility of keeping these noble structures up and running, again, I could stop there and preach a message. And safeguarding the lives of sailors and pilots. then a job as a lighthouse keeper could be for you. You should have a knack for maps and directions. Incoming ships will contact you by radio for directions into the harbor and advice about conditions. Despite the long hours of solitude, you'll need the ability to keep a lot of different elements straight in your head all at once, weather, water conditions, as well as incoming and outgoing ships. It can be a big job for one person to stand tall like a lighthouse, a beacon for others. Wow, I could preach that. You know, a follower of Jesus Christ, what's going to happen? Others are going to come to you and ask you for directions. That's just what it said, didn't it? You're going to get calls for directions, and you'll be able to instruct people. You've got to know your maps, you've got to know your charts. It's just like us, isn't it? If I'm following Jesus, I need to know my Bible. I need to know the way to direct people. And what's it about? It's about saving lives from destruction. It's about keeping them from perishing. Okay, let's say this is you today. You're sitting in church today, you're not saved. And you're listening to preaching about the light, and you don't have the light in your heart. You know the problem is this, it's not just that you'll die and you'll go to hell, it's that your family will as well. And your friends will as well. See, and that's why I said to that lady last week as I witnessed her, what about the daughter you're holding in your arms as you say, I don't care if I go to hell? What about her? What about her? Are you going to let your pride keep you from accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior and let your family go to hell? Think about it. Am I going to let my sin, think about this believer, am I going to let my sin keep me from following after Christ and let people go to hell? or am I gonna be a follower of the light? God help us, we need to follow the light. And then you must be helped by the light. You must be helped by the light. You know, I love this verse, when people saw Jesus and what he did, they saw the power of God. And they marveled, they looked at it and they thought, wow, how did God give such power? Matthew 9 verse 8, But when the multitude saw it, they marveled and glorified God, which had given such power unto men. What are they seeing? They're seeing the fact that as people came to the light, the light helped them. People came with needs, they came with burdens, they came with concerns. You know what they left with? Rejoicing. Praising God the burden was gone. Praising God that God had delivered them. See, if you come to light today, I'll tell you this, God will help you. See, why does God allow us to be burdened? You know, a lot of those people that were burdened would have never come to Jesus unless they had been burdened. Yeah, I'll use Rebecca as an example. Rebecca had her repentance out. Was that fun? No, this experience made her realize, as she shared with us, I could have died. You know what that started? A spiritual journey for her, that letter to Christ. Sometimes God uses illness, God uses heartache, God uses burdens, not because God is mean, but because God knows it's better for you to be burdened in life than to die and spend eternity in hell. And sometimes God has to wake us up and say, look, this is really about getting your attention because we need to be helped by the light. Verse 23, it says, And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria. And they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with diverse diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy, and he healed them. Capernaum. I stood there, I saw what I believe is the street that Jesus was on when that woman came up behind him in the press and she touched him. The reason there was a press around Jesus is because he was so desired to be healed, to be the healer. The house is there that they believe was Peter's house, where Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law, but it's also likely the house where they opened it up and they lowered the man in for Jesus to heal the paralytic man. The synagogue is there, the floor is different, okay, it's later, but you can see the foundation that was there when Jesus was there, and it was on that very foundation that, I think it was Jairus was a ruler in the synagogue, wasn't he? And Jesus healed his daughter, brought her back to life. And the thing I can promise you today, whatever your need is, Jesus can meet it. See, Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And see, He's able to meet needs today. You're burdened about something, can't get over it, can't get it out of your mind, it's something that troubles you, listen, Jesus Christ is ready. that will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee. I've shared before, my greatest fear back when I was younger was standing up in front of people and speaking. And I've shared this story about going into the FMA to pray in chapel, 5,000 people. And I got to, as a college student, walk up there onto the platform in front of everybody and pray. And it's not something I could do, but I've shared with you before the peace that God gave me, I'd rather have been there than anywhere. And that's not me. That's God. And see, that's what Jesus stands ready to do today. Why don't you seek Him? See, back in that day, if you had a disease, if you had a problem, you sought after Jesus because Jesus could help you. Why don't you seek Jesus today? What's keeping you from going to Him and saying, God, I'm burdened about this, I'm troubled by this. Why? Because the light will help. See, the thing we forget is Jesus cares. We make God some distant doctrine and some orthodox teaching and some Bible truth, and it's not that. God is a person and God cares about you. And see, God loves you. And see, He loves your neighbor, He loves your friend, and these people that have burdens, they got needs, they might even be physical needs, God can meet their need because He's God. You must be helped by the light. Helped by the light, turn to the light, be warned by the light, look to the light, and then you must take the light to the world. You must take the light to the world. Verse 25. It says, and there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee and from Decapolis. Decapolis, by the way, is across from Galilee. Remember the demonic of Gadara or the Gadarean demoniac, however you say it. He's straight across basically from Capernaum in the area of Decapolis, the Ten Cities. And Jesus healed him, and then he said what? He wanted to get on the boat with him. He said, no. He said, go back to your people and tell them how great things God had done for you. And people from that region got saved. It's telling us about it right there. From Decapolis, from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan. Our son, as he's the light, here comes the light. The light is drawing people from everywhere. Listen, aren't you glad today that the light is for everybody? It's for everybody. Back when God called us to come to Scotland, we're introducing Kaylee to the idea. She was just a wee little girl. I mean, three years old. And she was pretty verbal, more so than Mack was at that age. And then Benson. And Benson was two. And I won't tell you much, you know, I could like to tell you more about them, but I won't tell you stories. But anyway, this story, we're helping Kaylee understand, you know, we go to Scotland, we're not taking stuff with us. So we're not going to have the house. We had a five-bedroom, two-bath house on a pond. And Kaylee would even get to go outside, and she'd get to sit up. I had a climbing deer stand that she could sit in, a stand in the trees. And she'd sit in that. I took her out in a canoe that we had behind her house in a little pond that we had. And things like that. We're not going to take these things with us, OK, when we go to Scotland. They're going to stay here. And so she comes out, and she's thinking, and she goes to my wife. She goes, oh, we go to Scotland and can't take, you know, I don't know if she said the dog, and we actually didn't end up bringing the dog, Annie. Can't take this, can't take this. And then she goes, can't take Benson. And Katie goes, oh no, honey, no, no, we'll take Benson with us. And she goes running into the room, and I don't know what she'd been telling Benson. Benson, Benson, you're gonna go too, right? Hey, praise God, right? Aren't you glad the gospel's for everybody? I'm so glad today that I don't have to stand up here as a preacher and say, listen, you might be one of those people here today that can't get saved. It's not possible. If I was to teach this, there's some people that just can't get saved. Their life is too messed up. Their life is too much in sin. They're too hard against God. They can't get saved. Listen, that's not what the word of God says. I'll preach it tonight, but whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Listen, the gospel's for the world. The problem is this, the gospel's for the world, but does the world know about Jesus? Do the people on the loan know about Jesus Christ? Do the people, you know, and just move a couple of streets away, you know, on George Avenue, do they know about Jesus Christ? Do the people on Clark Street, they know about Jesus? What about the people in Bonnyrigg? What about the people in Poulton? What about the people in Bilston and Roslyn and Gorebridge and Pennycook and Delkeith? And then you go across this way and you've got Gilmerton, you've got Liberton. What about these people? How should they hear without a preacher? How should they preach except they be sent? I was reading on what's called the Joshua Project website, and I'm not familiar with what exactly that is, although it's a gospel outreach. But they give some statistics about our world that help us understand the need. In our world, we know how many countries there are, and it's a relatively small number. But in reality, within those countries, there are different ethnic minorities. So some, especially African countries, are made up of very many different ethnic groups, very specific groups. And so they say this, there's 16,600 ethnic people groups, and they ask the question, how many of them are unreached with the gospel? Okay, by unreached they mean less than 2% Christ followers, and less than 5% professing Christians. Okay, with that in mind, there's 6,700 people groups that are considered unreached. That means over 40% of the world's people groups have no indigenous community of believing Christians able to evangelize the rest of their people group. Over 42% of the world's population lives within those 6,700 people groups. And here's some facts about the 50 largest unreached groups within that 6,700. Got it? All 50 of these people groups have less than 2% Christ followers. Individuals in these groups have very limited, if any, access to the gospel. 50 unreached people groups comprise 1.48 billion souls. One in five people on earth, therefore, live in these 50 unreached people groups. Every group is larger than 10 million. Scotland's only five. Every group in this, larger than 10 million. None have an indigenous church capable of taking the gospel to the entire group. The primary religions, 23 of them, of those people groups are Muslim, 18 are Hindu, 6 are Buddhist, 2 are ethnic religions, and 1 non-religious. 44 of the 50 unreached people groups are in the 1040 window. 47 are in sensitive countries, countries that are difficult to get into. Who's going to tell them? Think about it. It's mind-blowing. 1.47 billion that don't have a gospel witness. Who's going to tell them? Are you going to carry the light? We have the light. Young people, getting a job that pays you well and you have a lot of neat toys is empty when there's people dying and going to hell. So what are you going to do? See, we've got the light. The sad thing today, and just like physical light, we have an abundance of physical light. We never think about it. We take it for granted. But it'd be a sad thing for us to sit, hindered by lack of light, like driving our car without the headlights on, running into things and going, this is so stupid. Life hurts when we can just turn on the lights and we know which way to go and it's fine. See, just Ask foolishly. Mankind has an abundance of spiritual light, and they don't care. They're too lazy to walk over, turn a switch on, and go, ah, ah, this is what it's about. Now I can see. Now I understand. Men love darkness rather than light. Why? Because their deeds are evil. And so what do we need to do today if we want to follow the light? We need to look to the light. Tonight, before you come to church, let me encourage you to do this. God, speak to my heart tonight. Lord, I'm not coming to church because I have to. I'm not coming to church because that's my routine. I'm coming to church because I want to walk in the light. I need light. Turn to the light. Secondly, you need to heed the warning. See, maybe you don't see it today because lights are off, but if God were to turn the light on, you'd see hell in front of you. Yeah, you'd understand that the next step could be it, into eternity, for all eternity, never to be able to go back and say, I wish I had changed my mind. I wish I'd humbled my heart. And be honest about it. Isn't it pride? Isn't it pride to sit and hear the Gospel, what Jesus Christ did, and say, nope, that's not for me. Sorry, what pride? Instead of humbling my heart and saying, God, I don't understand why you love me so much, but God, I ask you to forgive me. I repent of my sin, and I take Jesus Christ as my Savior. See, we need to be warned by the light today. And that's the next thing, isn't it? Turn to the light, repent, repent. And then are you a follower of the light? What have you forsaken to follow Christ? What does it cost you? Come on, what have you put down? What have you set aside so that you could follow after Jesus? What family relationship, what thing have you set aside so that you can follow Jesus? You know the light will help you? If you're here today and you're just burdened about something and think, man, I've got this big problem, nobody cares. Listen, God cares. Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you. And because He cares, He's willing to meet the need. He'll meet the need if you turn to Him. He's the light. And let's remember today, the world needs the light, and the light of the world is Jesus. Why do we come? I mean, we're celebrating. Praise God He came. He didn't come to be born. I mean, we're rejoicing it. Why? Because that's when He came. But why did he come? He came to be the light of the world. And so God, help us. Let's live that today. Let's further that today. Let's do something today to promote the reason that he came. Let's be followers of the light. Let's pray. Father, I pray that the Spirit of God would, again, work the truth into our hearts this morning. Savior, I thank you that you're the light and that in you there's no darkness at all. And Father, I pray that today you'd have your way. And where there's darkness, immense hearts this morning, I pray there'd be repentance. I pray there'd be turning away from that to the light of life. And Father, we can't make decisions for anybody. And so somebody could be here today, they've got sin in their life, they're not willing to give it up. I can't convince them if you can't. And if that's the case, they're gonna regret it. They're gonna be sad by that. They're making a big mistake. They're making a foolish decision. They're taking the devil's glittering trinkets in place of what you desire to give them of real value. But Father, that's their choice. It's a foolish choice. Father, the same could be true about somebody that hasn't yet been born again. They need to get saved. Father, they need to obey the gospel. Whether they're a child or an adult, they need to respond. And God, I just pray. make them realize the need. I pray that they'd humble their heart. I pray they'd bow their head and just pray and ask Jesus Christ by faith to come in their heart, that they get saved, so they'd know the joy of walking through the valley of the shadow of death, hand in hand with the Savior, so they don't have to fear death. They don't have to be afraid of what's next, because they've got Jesus Christ in their heart. Father, family needs to get saved, too. So I just pray, Spirit of God, work in our hearts about these truths. It's in Christ's name I pray. Amen.