You are the light of the world. Not you should aspire to be the
light of the world, not you should be the light of the world, or
you could be the light of the world. You, speaking to every
believer, this is to you. You, and you only, are the light
of the world. You who are poor in spirit. You who mourn over your sin. You who are meek before God. You who hunger and thirst after
righteousness. You who are merciful You who
are pure in heart, you who are peacemakers, you who are persecuted
for righteousness sake, you and you only are the light of the
world. What an amazing, astounding thought. If you're a believer, This describes
you. You are the light of the world. Now right off the bat, that tells
us that this world is in darkness, doesn't it? This present evil
world that we're living in, you know, we love the people of this
world and we want them to have the light of the gospel, don't
we? We want them to know the Lord Jesus Christ and believe
on him. But this present evil world is
in darkness, as the songwriter said, enwrapped in thick Egyptian
night and fond of darkness more than light. Madly, I ran the
sinful race secure without a hiding place. The Lord Jesus said in
John chapter three, verse 19, This is the condemnation, that
light is coming to the world and men loved darkness. Did you hear that? They loved
darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. Now, men you were born in darkness. When we came out of the womb,
we were spiritually blind. And we stayed that way until
God saved us. Spiritually blind. Blind to the character of the
living God, we have no idea who he is or what he's like. Blind to our own character, blinded
by self-righteousness, blind to how God saves sinners by Christ.
Now let me give you two proofs of that. Number one, it's what
the Bible teaches. That's enough, isn't it? It's
what God's word says. You know, the disciples came
to the Lord once and they said to him with regard to the Pharisees,
he said, don't you know they were offended by what you said?
And the Lord said, let them alone. They be blind. leaders of the
blind. And if the blind lead the blind,
they shall both fall into the ditch. Ephesians 4.18 says, having
the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God
through the ignorance that's in them because of the blindness
that's in them. When you're blind, you can't
see. You can't see. You have no clue as to who God
really is, who you really are. or how God saves sinners born
that way and will stay that way. People in whom the God of this
world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine into them
in the dark. It's what the scripture teaches.
And here's the second proof. And the first proof is the most
important, but I wouldn't take away from the importance of this
proof. Anybody that believes in salvation by works in any
way to any degree proves they're blind concerning the character
of God. If they knew who he was, they
wouldn't believe in salvation by works. They're blind to their
own character. If they knew how sinful they
really were, they wouldn't believe in salvation by works. And they're
blind to how God saves sinners by Christ alone. Because if they
had any sight, they'd look to Christ only. Blind. The world is in blindness. But the Lord says, you, here's
your position in the world, and this is said of every believer,
are the light of the world. Now this has nothing to do with
that little song, this little light of mine, I'm gonna let
it shine. If you heard the second verse, it says, I'm not gonna
let the devil put it out, I'm gonna let it shine. That shows
you how blind this person was when they made this song, this
little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. But he does say,
you are the light of the world. Now how can that be? I love this scripture, 1 John
chapter five. This is the message we heard
of him and declare unto you that God is light. In him is no darkness at all. God is light. Light. This speaks of His holiness.
The Father is called the Father of Light in James 1.17, in whom
is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. The Lord Jesus Christ
said with regard to Himself, I am the light of the world. The Spirit is the spirit of light. Would you turn with me to Genesis
1 and look at the position of light in creation. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form
and void. And darkness was upon the face
of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon
the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light. And there was light. And God
saw the light that was good, and God divided the light from
the darkness and God called the light day and the darkness he
called night and the evening and the morning were the first
day. Now notice in verse 14 on the fourth day. God said, let
there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day from
the night. Let them be for signs and for seasons, for days and
for years. And let them be for lights in the firmament of the
heaven to give light upon the earth. And it was so. And God
made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and the
lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. And God
set them in the firmament of the heaven to give them light
upon the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and
to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it
was good. and the evening and the morning with the fourth day. The sun and the moon weren't
created, and the stars weren't created until the fourth day.
I have no question that the light being spoken of is the uncreated
light, the Lord Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, you have
the Trinity in these opening verses. Do you know God is in
the plural? And yet the verbs are in the
singular, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God the Father created, the Lord
Jesus Christ is the light, the Spirit of God moved upon the
face of the waters. Right at the beginning of the
Bible, we have the character of the living God. All the gospel
is found in those few verses, it typifies Our darkness, God
the Holy Spirit moving upon us, the light of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the light that lighteth
every man that cometh into the world. Now, I think the most
powerful display of this is found in John chapter eight. If you'll
turn with me there, you're familiar with this passage of scripture.
But this is where the Lord says, I am the light of the world. This is one of my favorite passages
of scripture. Jesus went out unto the Mount
of Olives, and early in the morning he came again unto the temple.
And all the people came unto him, and he sat down and taught
them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken
in adultery. And when they had set her in
the midst, can you imagine how humiliating that must have been?
They dragged this woman in, and there's no doubt about her guilt.
She was guilty of the sin of adultery. What a horrible sin. And she was guilty of it. We're
not trying to lessen the enormity of that sin. How many homes have
been ruined? How many lives have been ruined
through this particular sin? She was caught in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded
us that such should be stoned. And Moses did command that. He
commanded the man and the woman be stoned. You know, there's
quite a lot of laws in the Old Testament. If a young woman got
married and it was proved that she wasn't a virgin when she
got married, you can read about this in Deuteronomy, I think,
22. She was to be taken to her parents' house, and her parents
were to stone her. Now, this is the character of
God. I mean, somebody says, isn't
that severe? Well, no, not if God said it. God's holy. God's
righteous. I'm not going to apologize for
anything the Lord does. It's all good because He's always
good. Understand that. He's always good. There's never
a time when He's not good. God is good in whatever He does. And we trust his character. I
don't understand everything. I don't need to. I trust his
character. But this woman was taken in a horrible sin, adultery
in the very act. And I think it's so ironic that
where's the man? He was supposed to be stoned
too. I get the feeling that this was a setup. They set this up. Perhaps the man participated
in it and they wanted to trapped the Lord in his words. They thought
they could say, you're talking about mercy, well, where's your
respect to the law? The law says stone her. And if
you let her go, or if you say stone her, it will say, where's
your mercy? You talk about mercy. They thought they had the Lord
in a trap. Now let's, verse five, now Moses
and the law commanded us that such should be stoned, but what
sayest thou? This they said, tempting him. that they might
have to accuse him. They thought he's gonna be in
the wrong place. If he says let her go, where's
your respect to the law? If he says stone her, where's
your mercy? We've got him trapped. And may I say these idiots thought
they had omniscience trapped. That ain't gonna happen. But Jesus stooped down with his
finger and wrote on the ground as though he heard them not.
Isn't that beautiful? He stoops down, starts writing
in the dirt while they're making their accusations. He's not even
listening to them. Not worth hearing. So when they continued
asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, He that is without sin among
you. Let him first cast a stone at
her. And I have no doubt that he's talking about that particular
sin. Anybody not guilty? Somebody
says, well, I haven't done it. You have in your heart. And the
Lord said, to look on a woman with lust is to commit adultery
already in your heart. The Lord said that. So nobody
can say, I'm not guilty. The way the Lord set this up,
looks at this group, and he that's without sin, cast the first stone. And again, he stooped down and
wrote on the ground. And you've heard me preach on
this before, this is speculation, but there's only two of the times
we read in the Bible of God writing. The first time is the giving
of the law written by the finger of God, thou shalt not commit
adultery. The second time was in Daniel
chapter five, the writing on the wall, thou art weighed in
the balances and found wanting. And they which heard it being
convicted by their own conscience, not by the Holy Spirit, but by
their own conscience, they went out one by one, beginning at
the eldest, even unto the last, and Jesus was left alone, and
the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself
and saw none but the woman, all these others had retreated in
shame, and he saw none but the woman, and he said unto her,
Where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She
said, no man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, neither
do I condemn thee. Now, how could he say that to
her when she was guilty, caught in the very act? Because there was nothing to
condemn her for. That's what those two stoops
represent. His first stoop when he was made
a man, his second stoop when he died on Calvary's tree. Her
sin was put away. And the Lord says that to every
one of his people. He says it to you just as much.
There's nothing to condemn you for. You stand before my holy
law without guilt, perfect, righteous. Woman, where are those Zion accusers?
Hath no man condemned thee? No man, Lord, neither do I condemn
thee. Go and sin no more. Then spake
Jesus again unto them, saying, I'm the light of the world. I'm
the light as to how that can be. You, you who are poor, mourn,
meek, hunger and thirst after righteousness, merciful, Pure
in heart, peacemaker, persecuted for righteousness, you are the
light of the world. You see, the whole gospel is
contained in the Beatitudes. I never really thought about
this before, but if you're poor in spirit, You know what that
means? You have nothing to recommend
you to God. All you have is Jesus Christ.
To you who are poor in spirit, Christ really is all. You really
believe that. You don't have anything else.
The only hope you have of being accepted by God is because Jesus
Christ represents you. He's all to God. He's all in
salvation. He's all in the scriptures. He's
all in faith. His precious blood is everything
in my sin payment. His righteousness is the only
righteousness I have. All I have is Christ. You know, pouring Spirit is a
declaration of the sinfulness of man. And the only way I can
be saved is by Christ being all. You mourn. You mourn over your
sin. You hate your sin. You don't
excuse it. You hate it. You would be done
with it forever. It haunts you, it's always there.
David said, my sin is ever before me. You're a declaration of man's
sinfulness by your own admission. Before God, this is not trying
to impress men with how sorry you are over your sin, but this
is before God, this is private. You mourn over your sin before
God. You can't make it go away. And
you mourn. Meekness before God has something
to do with an understanding of his character. Whatever He brings
your way, because He brings it, you believe it's good because
you know it's His character. He's holy. He's righteous. He's
just. Whatever He does is good. And if He brings something your
way that's difficult, troubling, hurtful, you say with Eli, it's
the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. Whatever he does is right. Whatever
he does is holy. Whatever he does is just. Whatever
he does is true. You see, meekness is a declaration
of the character of God, utterly sovereign, always good, in complete
control. When you hunger and thirst after
righteousness, this is a confession. Remember, you're the light of
the world. This is what you're saying to the world. This is
what every believer says to the world. I can't come up with righteousness. I hunger and thirst for it. I
can't come up with it. It's got to come with outside
of me. That's my message to the world. Blessed are the merciful, for
they shall obtain mercy. My message to the world is I'm
saved by the mercy of God. The saving, sovereign mercy of
God. God who is rich in mercy for
his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in
sins hath quickened us together with Christ. That's my message.
I'm the light of the world. Every believer is the light of
the world. Right here stands one who could only be saved by
the sheer mercy of God in Christ Jesus. Pure in heart. That means God's
given me a new heart. It's a heart that I didn't have
until God gave it to me. What this is talking about is
the new birth. You must be born again. You're dead in sin. For me to have a pure heart,
God's got to give me one. This is the new heart also will
I give you. This is talking about the new
birth. Regeneration. Peacemaker. You preach the gospel of peace.
The only thing that gives you peace is to know that He is our
peace. Having made peace. through the
blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things to himself,
by him I say, whether they be things in earth and things in
heaven, either or sometimes alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death to present you holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in his sight.
He is your peace. You preach the gospel of peace. You're persecuted for righteousness
sake because you believe that the righteousness of Jesus Christ
is the only righteousness there is. And do you see how every
believer is the light of the world, the very beatitudes that
we are by the grace of God is the gospel message. And the Lord
says to every one of his people, you are the light of the world. Now you might not be able to
articulate the light the way you'd like to, but by the grace
of God you'll die for it. You are the light of the world. Now look in verse, turn back
to our text in Matthew chapter five. You are the light of the world.
The city that's set on a hill cannot be hid. You're a light set on a hill
that cannot be hid. Neither, verse 15, do men light
a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick and give
the light to all that are in the house. Now you are that city,
Set on a hill, I love what Paul said, if our gospel be hid, it's
hid to them that are lost. Somebody that doesn't see this,
it's because they're lost. Whom the God of this world hath
blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of
the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake,
for God, who commanded the light to shine out of the darkness,
has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God. That's that city set on a hill.
Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel but
on a candlestick. And it gives light unto all that
are in the house. Now this is very similar to the
salt of the earth. If the salt, consider that last
week, when it's lost its savor, it's useless. What good is light
if you put a bushel basket over it? You can't see. Its only purpose,
its only function is to give light. You don't put a bushel
basket so no one can see it. You set it on a candlestick so
everyone can see it. Now, men are going to remain
in the dark if we do not preach the light. That is the responsibility
of everybody in here, to preach the light, to let your light
so shine before men. And when people go bad in the
gospel, and no true believer does, I realize that, but when
people go bad, there's always a dimming of the light. That's
where it begins, a dimming of the light. Paul put it this way, Christ
sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. not with wisdom
of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect."
Now here's what happens when somebody goes bad. They start
using the wisdom of words to dim the light. They try to present
the gospel in a way that will be easier to receive, less offensive,
more likely to be rejoiced in, so they They paint it up. They dress it up. They package
it. They try to remove the offense
from the gospel. They try to make the straight
gate a little more wide. And they make the narrow way
a little less narrow. Now that's what's going on when
someone is, their candle's going out. That's what's going on when
somebody takes the light and puts it under a bushel. They tone down the truth regarding
the character of God, His absolute, utter sovereignty. They tone
down the truth with regard to the Word of God, that all of
God's Word is to be bowed to preach the Word. They tone down
man's utterly dead condition as a result of the fall, his
total inability to save himself, his total depravity. Don't have
to say it quite like that. We turn down God's electing grace,
so it's not quite so prominent. Kind of speak of the effectual
atonement of Christ in such a way as will make it easier to accept. Christ died for those who believe,
rather than saying Christ effectually paid for the sins of all of God's
elect. Turning down and tuning down the irresistible, invincible
grace of God. Going lower on the necessity
of perseverance Preservation, it's a toning down of the scripture. Now we don't seek to cover or
tone down the scripture if the Lord gives us grace to be the
light of the world. You see, the light is not your
little light that's gonna shine, it's the light of how God saves
sinners by Christ. It's the light of his word. That
is the light that is not to be put under a bushel. Now look
what he says in verse 16. I love this. Let your light, the light of the gospel, the
light of John 8, 12, how he could say to that woman who was caught
in the very act, I don't condemn you because there's nothing to
condemn her for. This is preaching the gospel.
Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good
works and glorify your father, which is in heaven. Let your life shine in this manner. The gospel of grace is to be
communicated by a life of good works. By grace you saved through
faith in that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works. Lest any man should boast, for we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. Now, a couple of things I want
to say about that. Number one, who would you rather listen to?
Somebody that lived what they believed or somebody that didn't
live what they believed? I have no doubt, everybody's
answered, I'd rather hear somebody who lives what they believe.
Christ really is all to them and it's obvious. And good works
are anything done out of love to Christ. That's what a good
work is, anything done out of love to Christ. And I want to
hear somebody that that's what I see. But notice he says, let
your light so shine before men that they may see your good works
and glorify who? Your Father, which is in heaven. Now, if I let my light shine
so that I glorify myself, that was my reason. That ostentatious
show of look how holy, look how righteous, look how good I am,
this little lot of it. That's not the light of the gospel. Let your light so shine before
men from what you're saying, yes, what you're doing, but what
you're saying, that when they see your good works, they'll glorify
who? Your Father, which is in heaven. And if they glorify you, you
meant for them to do it. That is how the gospel is to
be presented, the light. Oh, let it be Let your light
so shine in this manner before men that they see your good works,
that they see the way you treat them. They see the gracious way
you treat them. They see the merciful way you
treat them, the understanding way you treat them, good works
done for their body, for their souls, good works, whatever it
might be. May the Lord cause us to be rich
in good works. Let your light so shine before
men, the light of the gospel, that they see your good works,
glorify your Father, which is in heaven. In Psalm 115, verse
one, this is the church collectively, the light of the world speaking,
not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but into
thy name give glory. for thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. Now that is the heart desire
of every believer. That's not something you can
teach. That comes out of the heart of every believer because
God saved him. They know he deserves all the
glory and they want it to be that way because if he gets all
the glory and salvation, that means I'm saved by grace and
not by my works. Not into us, O Lord, not into
us, but into thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. Now here is your place in the
world. You are the light of the world. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
light of the knowledge of your glory in the face of your son. How we thank you for the light
of how you could not condemn us because there's nothing to
be condemned for, because we stand just before you. Lord, enable us to be lights
in this dark world, the light of thy gospel, the light of thy
glory. How we thank you for Christ,
the light of the world. Bless this message for his sake
and his name for our good. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.