The Only News That Matters: Jesus is the Light - Ryan Fullerton

When Paul says, "the night is far gone,

the day is at hand,"

the day he's speaking about

is a day of salvation.

It's wonderful to remember

that the coming of Christ the first time

is described for us in
the Gospel of Matthew

as a missionary sunrise.

It's a sunrise that lit
up a darkened world

that had no knowledge of God

and was utterly in the dark.

In Matthew 4:16,

Jesus is walking and talking

in a part of Israel full of foreigners.

He's walking and talking in some regions

that had not only Jews

but also had Gentiles.

And when Jesus came and lived among them,

it is described as a sunrise.

Listen to these words from Matthew 4.

"He went and lived in Capernaum

by the sea (that's Jesus),

in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali

so that what was spoken
by the prophet Isaiah

might be fulfilled.

'The land of Zebulun

and the land of Naphtali,

the way of the sea beyond the Jordan,

the Galilee of the Gentiles,

the people dwelling in darkness

have seen a great light

and for those dwelling

in the regions of the shadow of death,

a light has dawned.'"

Do you see what's happening?

When Christ comes into the world,

it's like the sky begins
to go from black to blue.

It's like the sun begins to
come up over the horizon

and these Gentile nations
living in northern Israel

who had no insight into anything -

they could read all the best books.

They were reading in the dark.

Everything man does is in this dark night.

And then Jesus comes on the scene

and it's like a missionary light

that is expanded and that is worked

into the lives of these Gentiles

and He begins to shine
His light upon them.

And then, let me go back to
the Old Testament if I could

where we get this marvelous prophecy

of what will happen when
the light comes on the scene.

In Isaiah 60, we have this prophecy

of the light of God shining on Israel,

and then Israel shining its light

and then all the nations coming in.

Let me read it to you. It says this:

"Arise, shine, for your light has come

and the glory of the
Lord has risen upon you."

So here's Israel under the light of Jesus.

And it says, "The glory of the Lord

has risen upon you.

For behold, darkness shall cover the earth

and thick darkness the people,

but the Lord will arise upon you.

and His glory will be seen upon you,

and the nations shall come to your light

and kings to the
brightness of your rising."

Do you see what's happening here?

This little tiny country

on the borders of the Mediterranean;

this little nothing country

had the light of the glory
of God shine on them.

And now for the last 2,000 years,

Gentile nations have been streaming in.

You go, "That seems very amazing."

No, that's why you're here this morning!

You wouldn't be here this morning

if the light hadn't shined on Israel.

And now a bunch of pagan Americans,

here they are.

Brazilians, Canadians -

people from all over the world

have streamed to the Lord Jesus Christ.

People from all over the planet

have seen Christ and His glory.

And they've come to Him. Why on earth?

You in the dark,

you who have no capacity
to receive any truth,

you who's locked into the flesh

totally oblivious to all truth,

you who's locked into the world

just going with the flow and
with what the world says,

you who's utterly lied to by the devil,

why on earth would you ever say

to any word that
drops out of Jesus' mouth,

"Yes, amen! I believe that!"

Why would you do that?

It's because the sovereign
God of the universe

is shining His light,

shone it on Israel,

shone it in this missionary
sunrise when Jesus came.

And now the people can't stop coming.

Wake up! Wake up!

This is what's happening in the world.

This is what's happening in the world.

This is what should be
on the nightly news

that more people came to Christ today!

The King! The King!

The King is gaining more
followers again today!

Oh, and another tribe -

another tribe has come to Him!

I heard from one of our missionaries today

Iranians are just coming
to Christ like crazy.

There's so many Iranians coming to Christ.

Does it make the news?

It doesn't make the news.

Is it news? It's the only
news that matters.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the light.

He makes the day.

The day is dawning.

And this world is not under the power

of the flesh alone anymore.

Now there's a people

under the power of the Spirit.

Oh, the works of the flesh are evident,

but so is the fruit of the Spirit -

love, joy, peace, patience, faithfulness,

self-control are being
formed in this new people

who have seen the light of Christ.

And not only is the flesh
not dominating everyone

because the Spirit's moved in,

but the world is not the only
force in the world either.

Now there's this beautiful
reality called the church.

If the world is the group of people

that makes truth seem implausible -

you know where I'm going -

then the church is that group of people

that makes the truth seem plausible.

Peter tells us,

"You (church) are a chosen race,

a royal priesthood,

a holy nation,

a people for His own possession

that you may proclaim

the excellencies of Him who called you

out of darkness

and into His marvelous light.

Once you were not a people;

now you are God's people.

Once you had not received mercy;

now you have received mercy."

We are the people who encourage each other

with a holy peer pressure,

with a godly accountability.

We call each other to keep
looking at the light.

The world says sin is good,

sin is worth it.

The consequences won't be that bad.

In fact, the consequences
don't even exist.

The church is there to say to one another:

Christ is worth it.

The consequences of sin are unthinkable.

And the Gospel's enough to forgive you

and keep you going

all the way until the very end.

This is the night and the
day we're talking about.