Matthew chapter five, a couple
of weeks ago for our Bible study, we looked at verse 13, which
says you are the salt of the earth. You're the salt of the earth.
And what that means is Christ is in you. We started out by
talking about how people today have taken that saying and made
it as though, you know, you are an exceptionally special person. You're just above, you're the
salt of the earth. Well, what that truly means is
Christ is in you. Christ is in you. He is what
preserves His people. And He is what makes His people
worth preserving. And that's what salt does. It
preserves. It makes things taste good. And it preserves. We looked at scriptures that
talk about the salt of the covenant. Back in the Old Testament, it
said, do not offer a sacrifice without salt. Don't do it, it's
the salt of the covenant. The salt of healing, we looked
at scriptures that mentioned the salt of healing, the salt
of purging, all of that is Christ. He's the salt. And the only way that we can
be the salt is if we're in Him. And if He is in us, it's union
with Him. If we are in union with Him,
the scripture says, as He is, so are we in this world. If we're in union with Him, that's
the only way that it can be said, you are the salt of the earth.
Christ in us, that's the hope of glory. All right, now with
that being said, let's continue to verse 14. It says, you are the light of
the world. The city that is set on an hill
cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle
and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth
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. That is the same thing. We'll just go ahead and get to
the heart of that. That is the same thing, same exact thing. He is saying to his people, Christ
is in you. You're in him, he's in you, and
he's the light. He is your light. In your union
with Him as He is, so are you because of Christ. Because the
hope of glory Himself is in you, you're the light of the world.
Now I wanna not just say it, I wanna prove it. Let me show
it to you. And then I want us to get to the heart of what we're
gonna see in this Bible study. Turn with me over to 1 John 1. verse John one, verse five, it
says, this then is the message. And it is this then is the message,
which we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is
light. And in him is no darkness at
all. God is light. If we're going
to talk about the subject of our light, then we need to start
where we need to start. And that's right here. God is
light. He is the light. Some people
teach their children to sing a little song that goes like
this. This little light of mine, buddy, you better get ready. I'm gonna let it shine. This
little light that I have, I'm a light. I'm something special. And if you wanna see something
special, then open your eyes and look at me. I'm gonna show
it to you. This little light of mine, I'm
going to let it shine. What that sounds like is I'm
the light. I'm not the light. I'm not the
light. Let me tell you what I am. I
am darkness. That's what I am. Just listen
to this scripture. This is 2 Samuel 22 verse 29. This is what it says. For thou art my lamp, O Lord,
and the Lord will lighten my darkness. You're my lamp. and you will
lighten me. You will lighten my darkness. Matthew 4 verse 16 is quoting
Isaiah 9. It says, the people which sat
in darkness saw great light. John 3 verse 19 says, men love
darkness rather than light. And the reason they do is because
their deeds are evil. So I'm not the light. I'm not
the light. God is the light. The light is
not mine. It's his. And if it's gonna shine,
he's gonna have to shine it. Turn with me to Revelation 21. Revelation 21, the heading at
the top of my page says a full description of the heavenly Jerusalem. Full description of the heavenly
Jerusalem. Look at verse 22, Revelation
21, verse 22. It says, 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, neither of the moon to shine in it for the glory of God did
lighten it. And the lamb is the light thereof. God did lighten it. Well, who
is God? The lamb. Christ Jesus, the Lamb, He is
the light. He's the light. Look with me
at 2 Corinthians 4. Second Corinthians four, verse
three, it says, but if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that
are lost in whom the God of this world have blinded the minds
of them, which believe not less 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, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Christ is the light. Hopefully
we have established that Christ is the light and Christ in his
people and the message of Christ in his people. That's what brings
light to his people. Verse seven says, we have this
treasure, this light of God in earthen vessels that the excellency
of the power may be of God and not of us. Don't turn, but James
1 verse 17, it says, every good gift and every perfect gift is
from above and cometh down from the father of lights. I've always
thought about God's people. Every time you see God's people,
you're going about your business and you run into one at Walmart
and there's something special about it. Somebody who you know
loves Christ and has been given a knowledge of the gospel and
of Christ. It's like you just run into a
little light. They're reflecting the light of Christ and that's
what God's people are. He's the father of lights. Christ in His people, the message
of Christ in His people, that makes each one of them to be
a light in this dark world. All right, now go with me back
to our text, Matthew 5, and let's see if we can really enter into
something here. Matthew 5, verse 14, it says, You are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill
cannot be hid. Where is the city of God's people?
Where is it set? We're marching to Zion. The Lord
willing, in a moment we're going to sing, we're marching to Zion,
the beautiful city of God. Where is it set? It's set on the hill. That song
says the hill of Zion yields a thousand sacred sweets. John,
the apostle John in revelation, he said, I saw the city of God
coming down, coming down from the hill. So verse 14, you are
the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill
cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle
and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick and it giveth
light unto all that are in the house. If, if a man is going
to light anything, it's going to be God. It's going to be Christ.
He's the one who lights the light. And in the book of revelation,
he said, the candlesticks are the churches. They are the churches. They're
the brethren, the congregations of believers. The light of Christ
is set in and set on God's people, God's churches. So verse 14,
you're the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill
cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle
and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick. And it giveth
light unto all that are in the house. Now watch verse 16, let
your light. So shine before men that they
may see your good works and glorify your father, which is in heaven. Now, is he saying, show men your
personal goodness in your flesh? Show men and women how good your
fleshly works are so that they may glorify your father by what
they see in you. Let them marvel at you and wonder
at you so they may glorify God by glorying in you. Is that what he's saying? Point
men to you. Is that what he's saying? Here's the answer. No. Let's
just go to no. That's not what he's saying.
He's saying you point men to Christ. You have a light. And you point men to Christ. You shine the light of Christ
for all to see. Congregation, you're a candlestick. And a man has set the light on
his candlestick. This thing wasn't done in a corner.
He did not hide this under a bushel. He put it on a candlestick. And
he saying, you preach the glory of the father in providing a
substitute who took your evil works from you and earned and
gave a record of good works to you. If we are in Christ, every
person in here has a record of good works that I mean, Maybe we'll get to read
it, I guess, in glory. It's just going to amaze you
what all you've done in Christ. It's going to amaze you. The books are going to be open,
the records are going to be revealed. And when they say, Gabe Stoniker,
here's what you did. Oh. In Christ. I don't have time. I wrote down
some scriptures here to turn to, but the point is, here's
the point. The only good works that God's people have are the
good works that Christ earned and gave to them. Romans 3 says, there's none good,
no, not one. There's none righteous. There's
none that understand it. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Ephesians 2, verses 8 through
10, they say, by grace are you saved, through looking to Christ
and trusting Christ and believing what he has said in his word,
that's called faith. By grace are you saved through
faith. That is not of yourselves, that'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, his works. Titus three, five to seven, it
says, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according
to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration. He did it. He did it. So our good works are not our
good works at all. They are Christ's good works. that he earned and gave to his
people. And he said, you tell men and
women that you shine that light for all to see. You preach the
glory of substitution, the substitution of Christ for his people, that
when they see it, they may glorify your father along with you. for
everything He did. For God so loved the world, He
gave His only begotten Son. Point men to Christ. Preach Christ. Tell men that He is the light
of the world. He's the goodness of the world. Tell men and women
how He bore the darkness of our sin, the sin of His people. You
know what He bore into Himself? Our darkness. When he was on the cross and
he, you know, cried, it's finished. My God, why has thou forsaken
me? Darkness fell on this earth. Darkness, darkness. He hung there in darkness. And he said, you tell me and
how the darkness of all of God's people was born in the light
who came. the darkness of death, the darkness
of sin, the darkness of the grave, he bore all that so he could
give his light to them. And he said, you tell my people
that, and when my spirit opens that up and blesses it to the
heart and causes them to see it, they will glorify your father.
And he's right, we will, won't we? We'll glorify him. Turn with me to Philippians chapter
two. Philippians two. Verse 13, it says. For it is God which worketh in
you. both to will and do of His good
pleasure." It's God that works in His people. We talk about
good works, it's God which worketh in you. So we said in verse 14,
do all things without murmurings and disputings that you may be
blameless and harmless The sons of God without rebuke in the
midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom you shine as
lights in the world. Verse 16 says, holding forth
the word of life, holding forth the word of life. That's how
we God's people. shine as lights in the world,
holding forth the word of life, the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, crying not unto us, not unto us, unto thy name, give
all the glory, all of it. Anything other than all the glory
go into Christ. And anything other than all the
glory being in Christ, Salvation that's only in Christ, anything
other than that is darkness. It's darkness. 1 John 1 said,
if we say that we're in the light, if we say that we have fellowship
with him, and we walk in the darkness of our own works, the
darkness of our own glory, he said, we lie and we do not the
truth. But if we walk in the light of
Christ, the light of His works, the light of His glory, as He
is in the light, then we have fellowship one with another,
and He said, the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us
from all sin. If God has revealed that to us,
that's the evidence that we are among the ones who Christ came
to be light for. We're among the ones that Christ
came to shed his blood for. And this is my prayer for all
of us. I pray this for all of us. I
pray it for every single person here. I pray that God will say
to each one of us, let there be light. Let there be light. And there
was light. May God then see the light. That it is good. You know, in
Genesis one, Genesis chapter one, God said, let there be light
and there was light and God saw the light that it was good. Who
is the light? Christ. May God say, let there
be Christ. And then may God see Christ in
his people and say, he is good. Salt is good. Light is good. You know, the scripture says,
taste and see salt and light, taste and see that the Lord is
good. Oh, He's good. May we be able
to say with David in Psalm 27, the Lord is my life. The Lamb
of God, He's my life. All right, you're dismissed.