And once again, we'll turn from
meditation to the fifth chapter in the Gospel of Matthew, the
fifth chapter in the Gospel of Matthew, and we'll read verses
14, 15, and 16. So, Matthew chapter 5, verses
14, 15, and 16. And so the Lord says, Ye are the light of the
world. A city that is set on a hill
cannot be hid, neither do men light a candle and put it under
a bushel or under a basket, but on a candlestick and it gives
light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine
before men that they may see your good works and glorify your
Father which is in heaven. Well, that's three really quite
short verses. And yet those three verses are
very instructive and are very important for each one of us
in our Christian light. And the Lord speaks to the multitude
on this occasion and says, let your light So shine before men,
that they may see your good works. Sorry, verse 14. Ye are the light of the world.
A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. And of course,
Jesus on that occasion had a wonderful example because Jerusalem itself,
the city was set on a hill. And I understand that the temple
was built on the highest place of the city, so therefore naturally
it was there to be seen and to be observed. And of course in
the Old Testament times it was a wonderful and a glorious place
where God came and met with his people. It was a place of light. And now the Lord comes and addresses
the people in these New Testament days and says, ye are the light
of the world. Well, the Lord Jesus has told
us that he is the light of the world. And therefore, what it
means here is really there is a reflection to his people, and
from his people they get the evidence that they shine and
show forth something of the great and glorious light which is to
be found in Jesus Christ. Many things have noise and one
thing that does not have noise and that's light. And therefore
this light is seen. It's not heard, but it's seen. And therefore the Lord tells
them, ye are the light of the world. And because of that, he
says, he gives the example, a city that is set on a hill cannot
be hid. And what that really means is,
the true church of God cannot be hid. That means in your life
and my life. If we are truly a believer, born
again in the spirit of God, people will know, will realise that
there's something different in us. Not that we are any better
naturally, but it's the great influence that the work of Christ
has in our soul which shines forth. It gives us then that
desire to truly, as we read, honour and glorify our God. and to walk worthy of the vocation
wherewith we are called. And that won't be by a great
show. It'll be in conformity to our
great and glorious Saviour. See, that's our example. And if we and I follow that glorious
example of the Saviour, it is a wonderful light which will
shine forth and men and women, boys and girls, That school will
notice there is a difference. That we don't act in the same
way that the world acts. We don't say the same things
that the world says. But we desire to be peacemakers. We desire to do things which
are right, in accordance with the word of God. And we're always
on the lookout. to speak well of the Saviour."
Well, what a wonderful position the people of God are placed
in. And he tells us, therefore, ye
are the light of the world. And that's a very solemn statement
to read. We read it, no doubt we're familiar
with it, but I think it has reference to the whole Church of God. And then such a clear statement,
a city that is set on a hill, cannot be hid. That's obvious. And the inference is the true
church of God cannot be hid. Well, I wonder if you and I walk
our life out or perhaps people never know who we are, what we
believe. but we try and hide our light. Well, the word tells us then
in the next verse, neither do men light a candle and put it
under a bushel or a basket, but on a candlestick. And it gives
light unto all that are in the house. That means all the people
that are in contact with such a one, observe the light that
shines. What a blessing it is, therefore,
if our light is that which giveth light to others. It's not darkness. We don't increase darkness by
our walk and by our conversation. We don't agree with all those
things which are said especially in the day and age in which we
live. And what a mercy, if by his grace
he shows forth, we show forth, that great and glorious light
of the gospel. We read together in the Philippians,
and we didn't read actually, but in the second chapter, we
read this, that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God,
without rebuke, the midst of a crooked and perverse nation
among whom also ye shine as lights in the world. That's the words
of the Apostle Paul under the blessed influence of the Holy
Spirit and to realize that he says that ye may be and what
a blessing in a day and age in which we live which is of course
a dark day isn't it and what a glorious Blessing is, if our
light shines, that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons
of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse
nation. And that's the situation today.
Among whom ye shine as lights in the world. It would be sad,
isn't it, if there's no evidence of our light shining. If there's
no difference in our life, and if we're assumed to be exactly
like everyone else, well, it's a mercy, isn't it, if the light
shines? You know, truly the light is
sweet, isn't it? You think of the creation. It's
a welcome light. The first day, the world was
when it shone out of darkness. Shone out of darkness. So in
the morning light of every day, so is the Gospel. and those that
spread it to all sensible people. The world sat in darkness. Christ
raised up his disciples to shine in it. And they that may do so
from him may borrow and derive their light. Well, it's important,
isn't it, that we observe such great truths as we have here.
And so neither do men light a candle Put it under a bush or on a candlestick. It's not hidden. It's not hidden. And may our light not indeed
be hidden, but may it shine forth. And let us not therefore willfully
hide our light. It's very easy, you know, under
the influence of Satan, to hide our light, because we're afraid
of what people will think of us. afraid perhaps what people
will serve us. But we must always remember we
only have one Lord, we only have one Master, we only have one
Saviour and we should always be concerned to do His will. And as we have the wonderful
instruction here in this what we term Sermon on the Mount,
to recognise it's here for our guidance and our direction. And so says the Lord Himself,
let your light, that light which God has given to us, that light
of course is really His grace which shines out of our heart. Let your light so shine before
men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father
which is in heaven. We come back, don't we, to that
great truth that your life and my life is for the glory of God. It's not for our glory. And sometimes
it's perhaps needful and necessary to just try and evaluate our
life as to whether our life does. honour and glory our God. What it does, show forth the
glorious light of the Gospel, or whether we hide it, whether
we cover it up, so people don't know anything about it. Well,
it would be a great blessing, you know, if we are amongst those
who are favoured with this light which gloriously and wonderfully
shines forth. The Apostle Peter, in his epistle,
he was bold very often, dear Peter. He made big mistakes,
but he was bold. And he says, if any man speak,
let him speak as the oracles of God. That's a good word of
instruction, isn't it? The things of God. Where to speak? However we speak about worldly
things, we go to man's level. We come down, we don't go up.
If any man speak, let him speak of the oracles of God. If any
man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth,
that God in all things, in all things, may be glorified. Oh, my friends, if only we understood and appreciated that
more, what a difference it would make in our lives. Which God giveth, that God in
all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ. to whom he praise
and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Well, these are glorious
words. They're glorious words of instruction
and how we fail. But we have a God who is able
to give us strength to walk such a path so that our light does
shine. And we might say it comes down
to this, that men and women, boys and girls, may take knowledge
of us that we have been with Jesus and have learned of him. Well, may God bless these few
thoughts.