That's a good song, you know. All right, turn back to Matthew
5, where we left off last Wednesday evening. Matthew 5, going through
the Sermon on the Mount. And this passage, as well as
the one we studied last Wednesday concerning believers being assaulted at
the earth, this passage applies to believers. It applies to believers. And there were many things I
wanted to say last week that I left out concerning being the
salt of the earth. I spent more time on who and what it is that makes
someone to be salt or savory. That is the grace of God. I spent
more time on that rather than what it means to be salt. You are the salt of the earth.
Let me say just a couple of things concerning that. I had too much
material, I had three sermons worth of material in one. I left
out a few things. Number one, salt is preserving. I said that, but didn't expound
upon it too much. Salt has a preserving power.
It preserves whatever it comes into contact with. And based
upon this book, based upon God's word, believers are what keeps
this world from being destroyed. Believers, God's people, are
what keep this world intact, keep God, keep Christ from coming
back. Except there had been a remnant
According to the election of grace, Scripture says, we would
have been long ago as Sodom and Gomorrah. God would not have
tolerated or put up with this world for one moment more than
necessary, except He had some future sheep. So believers are
the salt preserving influence in this world. And the Lord only
keeps this planet from destruction until the last sheep or elect
child of his is born. That's just so. It was so with
Israel, wasn't it? With Israel, God wiped out whole
nations in the path of Israel. He did everything for the sake
of his people, Israel. And we are called spiritual Israel. Secondly, salt is purifying.
Salt has a purifying influence. It removes corruption and impurities. And believers, believers restrain
much of the evil in this world. Were it not for the law of God,
but the law of God written upon the hearts, and especially the
hearts of believers, this world would be worse than it is, wouldn't
it? for it, not for believers. This
world would be a more wicked place than it already is. Believers
restrain much of the evil in this world. Thirdly, salt is
seasoning. We season our food with salt,
and in the same way, believers make this world tolerable. Believers are what make this
earth inhabitable. Their lives reflect Christ, their
love, their tenderness, their compassion, their conversation,
their speech, seasons with salt. What would it be like if you
had to live or go through this life without hearing a word in
season, season with salt or grace from one of your fellow believers
and sweet fellowship around the gospel? And all of this Believers
make this life bearable at times. Sometimes you don't even have
to say anything. You just see one of them, right? That's what
David said. David said, They that fear thee
will be glad when they see me. And this world is a filthy and
vile place, stinking and corrupt. And believers are the only sweet
and savory thing about it. And they have much growth to
accomplish there. But the world is a dark place.
And this brings us to our text tonight. The world is a dark
place as well as an unsavory and wicked and stinking place.
The world is a dark place and believers light it up with their
presence. You know what I'm talking about?
Believers lighted up with their presence, and as I said, you
don't even, sometimes they don't have to say anything, you just
see them, you just see their faces. There's something about
their countenances, something about their faces. And I can
say in all honesty, I truly light up when I see some of God's people. And like David said, they'll
be glad when they see me. I hope, I hope they're glad when
they see me, as glad as I am to see them. I believe so. The
world is a dark place, and thus we come to our text here in verse
14 through 16. He says, ye, speaking to believers,
once again, it has to be believers because the world is in darkness.
And we just read in Ephesians 5 how that he said we are children
of the light, or believers, that is. I'm not going to take it
for granted everyone in here knows and trusts Christ and believes
him and has been regenerated. Nevertheless, believers are called,
he said, ye are the light of the world. The light of the world. Now, in the same way that we
studied salt, I want to ask three basic questions. What is light? What is light? What does he mean
by this? Where does light come from? Where
does it come from? Thirdly, how are believers considered
light? How are believers considered
light? Number one, what is light? What does he mean by light? What
is light? Well, there are three basic things
concerning light. There's natural light. You see
it. streaming through these windows
right now. This is sunlight. There's the light of the sun.
There's the light of the moon. There's the light of the star.
And then there's artificial light. We have it on, too. You see it
above you. The light of candles, lamps,
and so forth. But the light that our Lord is
speaking of here is neither one of these lights. The light He
is speaking of is spiritual light. Spiritual light. And you have
to have a certain amount of spiritual understanding. You have to have
a certain amount of light to understand what the light is. Spiritual light. Christ said,
My words are spirits. Our spirit. So, like salt. Like salt. We dealt with salt.
We must first see where this light comes from. You've got
to dwell here. Because you're not light by nature.
You're not light. There's nobody in here who is
light by nature, but by nature we're in darkness. All right? Now, what is this light that
he's talking about? Well, he's talking about spiritual
light or illumination, spiritual illumination or perception of
things spiritual, an understanding of things. Turn with me to 1
Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2, which
very plainly explains where this understanding coming from. We're
talking about spiritual understanding, perception or understanding of
things spiritual. These things have to be revealed
to us, revealed to us. Look at it beginning with verse
9. It says, Now I hath not seen,
as it is written, it's written in Isaiah 64, 4, the natural
eye, he's talking about the natural man with his natural eye, hath
not seen. We can't see God. God's a spirit,
right? We can't see Him. God is seen
with the eye of faith, nor ear heard. We don't hear God's voice. God does not speak in an audible
voice anymore like he did in Old Testament days. God speaks
now through a book, through the preaching of that book. And the
natural ear has not heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man, the natural man, the things which God hath prepared for them
that love him. But God, who is merciful, God
hath revealed them unto us, how? By His Spirit, not by our natural
understanding. Look over chapter 1, verse 19. God says, I'll destroy the wisdom
of the wise, bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? In
the wisdom of God, verse 21, the world by wisdom, for that
is by seeking to know God, trying to find Him out, looking at the
stars and the moon, searching into the sciences and this and
that and the other, they don't know God, do not God. But it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save some people. And back in chapter 2, he says,
God hath revealed these things unto us, hath shined the light
upon us by his Holy Spirit, and the Spirit searches all things,
the deep things of God. Read on. What man, what natural
man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man which
is in him? In other words, let me paraphrase
this. Paraphrase this. But he's saying
there is you don't know what I'm thinking. Unless I let you
in on it, unless I tell you what I'm thinking, you're not going
to understand my thoughts. But he says, well, what about
God? God is his God's thoughts. God's thoughts are not our thoughts
and his ways are not our way. The scripture goes on to say
that as high as the heaven is above the earth, so are his thoughts
above our thoughts. How are we going to know and
understand God? There's a verse in the book of Job that says,
Can man by searching find out God unto perfection? Can we? By studying, by diligently searching
and so forth? No. Right here, verse 11. The things of God, even so, the
things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. Now, he
says, The Spirit of God hath revealed these things unto us. unto us. Verse 15, he that is
spiritual judges or understands all things. But he's not understood
of anybody. He's an enigma. He is a paradox
even to himself. So this spiritual light or this
understanding has to come from above, from the father of what? Lights. Father of light. God is light. In Him is no darkness. In Him is no darkness. And this
spiritual understanding is what He's talking about, this light.
Turn with me to 1 John chapter 1. 1 John chapter 1. So that is what light He is talking
about. He's talking about spiritual
light here. Spiritual understanding. Spiritual
illumination. Where does this come from? I
just gave it away. But where does this come from?
1 John chapter 1. Look at verse 1. 1 John chapter
1, read with me down through verse 5. That which was from
the beginning, for he, speaking of Christ, who was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which
we have looked upon and our hands have handled, The word of life,
the life was manifested, or that is, God was manifested in the
flesh. We've seen and bear witness and
show unto you that life, that eternal life, which was with
the Father and was manifested or revealed or shined unto us. And that which we have seen and
heard, we declare unto you, John says, that you also may have
fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father
and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto
you, that your joy may be full. 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." Where does the light come from? the
source of all life. God. God is life. If any man has any understanding
whatsoever of God, of Christ, of spiritual things, of this
Bible, including this preacher. I didn't get this in a seminary.
I didn't go to one. I didn't get this from a man,
Paul said. Didn't Paul say, This gospel
that we preach unto you in Galatians 1, he says, is not of man, neither
did I receive it from man, but of God. And every man, you may
hear the message from a man's lips, but it's not that man you're
going to hear it from ultimately. It's God's Holy Spirit in it.
We have this treasure in earthen vessels, the earthen vessels,
that the excellency of the power may be of God. God is like in
every source or every form of spiritual understanding we have
comes from God. It comes from God. God is the source of all illumination. We read there in 1 Corinthians
chapter 2 that no man knows anything about the Spirit of God unless
God reveals Himself, unless God illuminates that man or that
woman or that young person's heart and mind to see who God
is. Now, you can go out and sit on
the hill, and this is the argument that people use not to worship
God in the context of the church. This is the argument people use
not to look into the Scriptures. They say, I can worship God out
on the hillside. Granted, you can't if you know
God already. Right? And you better ought to
take a Bible with you. Right? Because God has spoken
unto us by his son, in son language, in the word. The son is called
the word. How does God speak? Not by the stars and the moon.
We see his eternal power and his Godhead in the things that
are made. We see something of his creative power, but you can't
know anything about the character of God by looking at the son.
That's you, Ann, that is. You can't know anything about
the character, how God's going to, how you can come to this
God How you can know this God, be in the presence of this God,
what God's like, what He's going to do with me, who God is, can
you? By looking at the Blue Ridge
Mountains? Not at all. You're only going to see God
as He is in the pages of this book. That's because God describes
Himself in the pages of this book, right? He describes Himself. You're not going to see yourself
as you are, except in this mirror. This is called a looking glass. Scripture says the word of God
is like a man beholding his face in a mirror. You see yourself
here, don't you? You see yourself described. You
see a perfect reflection of what you are. When the scripture says
there's none that doeth good, no, not one. You say, that's
me. It says none righteous, no, not one. You say, that's me.
So we've all gone astray. All we like sheep have gone our
own way. There is a way that seemeth right unto man, and the
end is death and destruction. You say, that's me. Every way
I've tried to go, my own ways, I've just been a miserable failure
at it. The Scripture says from the top of our head, the sole
of our feet to the top of our head, there's no soundness in
it, nothing good about us. You say, that's me. A perfect
reflection of what I am. You're not going to see yourself
except in this book. Out on the side of the hill,
you might be feeling pretty good about yourself. The Bible does not tell men about
their goodness, does it? God does not want you, speaking
as a man, speak foolishly as a man, like Paul said, God does
not want you to feel good about yourself, contrary to the false
preachers today. God, if God reveals himself to
you, if God reveals yourself to you, you will feel very bad
about yourself. Very bad. As a matter of fact,
you'll reach a point of hopelessness and despair. And if you ever
reach a point of hopelessness and despair of yourselves, of
any good in you, or reaching God Almighty, then there's hope. And only then. Right? Only then, because then God will
point you, and you're only going to see this in this book too,
then God will point you to your only hope, a good hope, a sure
hope, through grace, through Christ, Christ your only hope. But you're not going to see these
things except through God's Word. And as I said, people use that
excuse to keep from worshiping God. Men and women aren't interested
in knowing God. Natural men and women aren't
interested in knowing God, else they'd buy them a Bible and read
it from cover to cover until they found out. And they'd go everywhere they
could until they heard the truth, until they at least felt like
they were hearing the truth according to this book. Right? That's a pitiful cop-out by men.
God is the source of all spiritual understanding, all spiritual
understanding. There are many questions in the
Bible that a man needs to consider, many questions. I do not advocate
that people have to have a perfect understanding of Scripture. or
perfect theological understanding. I'm not advocating, I'm not saying
you have to have perfect understanding, but you need to know something
about who God is. Because it says the natural man
has a God of his own imagination. Well, I think God is like this,
and I think God is like that. And the man over here says, well,
I think God is like this. And the woman over here says,
well, I think God is like this. And the man over here says, well,
my God wouldn't do that. My God, who's right? What is
God like? Huh? Is just everybody going
to worship their own God and we'll all get to some God? No. There's one Lord, the Scripture
says, one faith, one God, one God, one Father, one Father. And there are many questions
concerning Him we need to understand. The first and the foremost question
we need to understand, all men and women need to understand
this, question of questions, is how can this The Scriptures
calls God holy. The Scriptures calls God just. The Scriptures calls God righteous. The Scriptures say God will by
no means clear the guilty, right? And it says all we are guilty
before God. There's none righteous. We're
guilty. God's holy. Now here's the question of all
questions. This is the saving question. And a man needs to
know, at least understand this much. How can this holy God, who is of too pure eyes to even
look upon iniquity, the scripture says, who doesn't even think
upon evil, can have nothing to do with it, who loves righteousness
and hates iniquity, how can this holy God, who will not clear
the guilty but will punish every sin with a just recompense, the
soul that sinneth must surely die, The wages of sin is death. How can this holy God, this righteous
God, this just God, have anything to do with me? How? If somebody asked you that question,
would you be able to answer them? Can you give a reason, an answer,
to every man that asks you a reason for the hope that's within you?
Can you? That's the question. Every man and woman should understand
Or at least have some kind of conception of this question.
Joe, he was asked several times in the book of Joe, wasn't it,
Terry? I know it's of a truth, but how can man be just with
God? God's holy. I'm a sinner. How
am I going to get there? How are you going to find that
out? Out on the hillside? No, right
here. Turn over with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. 2nd Corinthians chapter 5. Here's the answer. Here is
the answer. 2nd Corinthians 5. And this understanding,
this spiritual light, comes from above. It comes from God and
His Word. 2nd Corinthians chapter 5, verse
21. It says, For he, God, this holy
God, made him, Christ, to be sin for us. He who knew no sin, he who knew
no sin, that is, Christ was the holy, righteous, spotless, sinless
Son of God. And God looked at him and said
from heaven, I'm well pleased with this one, this man, well
pleased, I approve of it. God took that holy man and made
him to be sin, took all the sins of all of God's people, not all
the sins of all the world, or else everybody would be saved,
but all the sins of God's people, and put it on Christ's shoulders,
he who knew no sin, and sent Christ to the cross, and God
in justice and wrath and holiness said, There is Violet Bird looking
at his son on the cross. There is Roberta Sword, that
sinner. There is Ellen Fralin, that sinner. You're going to
have to die. The wages of sin is death. So
he killed Ellen Fralin. Didn't he? No, you say Christ
died. Oh, no. I was crucified with
Christ. You said he was made sin for
you. He who knew no sin. And now you
are made the righteousness of God of Christ of God in him. Now God looks at you, Ellen,
and who's he sick, Ellen? No, Ellen's dead. She sees Christ
in you, your only hope of getting into the presence of that holy
God. Is that plain? Is that clear?
I don't think I can make that any clearer. That's how a man,
how God can be just, punish me and my sin, and yet accept me
into His presence. He killed me in Christ, nevertheless
I live, yet not I, but Christ in me. You understand that? I hope so. That is spiritual
light, and you didn't get that from within. You get that from
2 Corinthians 5.21, where you get that, don't you? God is the
source of all understanding, how he can be just and justifier,
how Christ was made sin, how Christ could suffer yet reign,
how the Spirit works, gospel preaching and so forth. Let's
go on. And God reveals himself. God
is the source of all spiritual light, and God reveals himself
In Christ. In the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me use a natural analogy
for you. God is like the sun. S-U-N. Now there's no man that can look
upon the sun with his naked eye. Right? Or blind. The Scripture
says that God dwells in lights which no man can approach unto. Holiness. That word light means
holiness, means purity. It means, well, I can't even
describe it. There's no adjective to describe
who God is, what God is like. A mere mortal man cannot be in
God's presence. His pure presence. Can't look
upon God. No man shall see God and live.
Right? But the only begotten son, S-O-N,
he hath declared him. God is like the sun, S-U-N. Christ is like the moon. Now what is the moon? Why does
the moon shine? Huh? What is the moon? It's a reflection
of the sun, right? It's a reflection. It is a toned
down, a reflection of the sun, but
not in all of its full shining strength. So God became a man. God became a man. Jesus Christ. We couldn't look at God. We couldn't
talk to God. We couldn't be in the presence
of God as He really is. So God became a man. God clothed
Himself, as it were, with the flesh of a man so that we could
look at Him. so that we could talk to Him,
so that He could talk to us and be understood by us. Christ is
the moon. No man can see God who dwells
in light, which we cannot approach unto. We can't look at the sun,
the S-U-N. The sun must declare it or reflect
the Father. And the Scripture says about
Christ in John chapter 1 and 1 John 1, we read it, in Him
was life and the life was the light of men. Any light we have
of God, we can only see it through Christ. Any understanding, Rick,
we have of God, we have it. Why? Because the Son has declared
Him. Christ. He came down here. He's
the light of the world. And we saw God. We saw God. And the light shined in what? Darkness. Darkness. But the darkness is comprehended
in naught. Because he had a veil over his
face, like Moses. He was in the world, and the
world was made not by him, and knew him not. And knew him not. Why? Because as I like to say
all the time, he was dressed in a plain, round wrapper. He veiled himself. We couldn't
see him as God. One time, on the mountain, he
peeled back What happened every time? They
fell on their faces dead. They couldn't look on Him. Couldn't
look on Him. So He rode Himself again. He
rode Himself. God was manifest in the flesh.
But natural man is in darkness. Darkness. Now turn with me to
2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Man is spiritually blind. Stay with me, please. Man is
spiritually blind and cannot see God. Cannot see God as He
is, or it'll be certain destruction. And the natural man gropes in
darkness. He tries to think about God.
He tries to imagine God as He is. I've been to some foreign
countries, you know. Mexico, I've seen the pagan,
I've seen Indians. that have only seen a few white
men in their whole life. Pagan. You've seen them on television,
dancing around idols, or just heathen, cutting themselves,
cutting their flesh, putting plates in there, just mutilating
the body, and going through all sorts of heathen. That man is
at gropes in darkness, trying to find God, or something, some
imagination of God Almighty. Gropes in darkness, sin, paganism,
self-righteous religion. And I must add that the darkness
of modern religion, even though it's in a cathedral or a big,
fine, polished church, is no worse than the darkness of that
heathen dancing around that idol. Right? People are worshiping
an idol, a god of their own hands. In other words, God has no hands
but our hands. And a god can't do anything unless
you let him, a god of their own making, a god of their And that
darkness is no different than the darkness of that heathen
in the jungle. Now, look at 2 Corinthians 4. 2 Corinthians 4 says in verse
4, "...in whom the God of this world..." If our Gospel, verse
3, is hid, it's hid to them that are lost. "...in whom the God
of this world..." Satan's only called that because people worship
him as such. He's not in charge of this world,
people. Didn't Christ say, all power
is given unto me in heaven and where? Satan's not in charge
of this earth. That's where these people get
this stuff, God of this world. The only reason he's called the
God of this world, small g, he's not the capital G God of this
world, small g, is because men worship him as such. 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." Why are men in darkness? Because they don't believe the
gospel. Right? Why are men in superstition and
paganism and religion? Why? They don't believe the gospel. The gospel. The gospel. And Satan's grand
design, the god of this world, his grand design is to keep men
and women from hearing the gospel. The gospel. And sometimes he
does that by putting them right in smack dab in the middle of
religion. And where they'll be so religious, and so good, and
so moral, and so pious, and they go to church and they read their
Bible and, you know, they've been a sweet mother, attended
Sunday school all their life, and they don't know God. The
God of this world has blinded their minds. to the gospel. They don't hear
the gospel. And the preacher? Satan's, it says Satan's angels
have transformed, Satan's ministers have transformed themselves into
angels of what? Light. And they look good? I've got hope, Stan. Paul evidently
was not much to look at, Paul the Apostle. He said to one place,
he said, his speech is contemptible and his appearance is weak. God's ministers usually aren't
much to look at, but Satan's are. Boy, they're dashing fellows,
aren't they? Look at them on TV. Tall, dark,
and handsome, head full of hair. Everyone in place. Well, they
look good and they sound good, don't they? And they promise
good things. Angels of light. Isn't He wonderful? And they
go away talking about that wonderful man, the preacher, and not talking
about Him whose name is wonderful, Christ. Right? Angels of light. And the people don't hear a speck,
an ounce of gospel, how God can be just and justify an old ungodly
sinner. The blood and the righteousness
of Christ, the sinfulness of man, the need for repentance,
conviction of sin, they don't hear a speck of these things,
just generalities, right? Generalities. They might hear
every now and then the word blood, Jesus, a lot of Jesus, right? Every now and then you hear the
word gospel, they never define who they are. Who do they define? Angels of light. But you, look
at 2 Corinthians 4, verse 5, we don't preach ourselves, but
Christ Jesus the Lord. We want men to see the light. God, verse 6, has commanded the
light to shine out of darkness, or that is the gospel to be preached.
And He shined in our hearts, some believers, to give, all
believers, some people, to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. What a verse!
What a verse! Couldn't we stay there for about
an hour or two, at one verse? You see, the greatest display
of God's eternal glory is seen not in sunlight, S-U-N light, But in S.O.N. light, the Son,
the Son of God, God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the
Spirit, seen of angels, or that is some preachers, they saw Him,
and they preached Him unto the Gentiles, and He was believed
on in the world, and finally received up into glory. There's
the mystery of God's love. All right? Very quickly now,
what is light? What is light? We're talking
about spiritual illumination. Where does light come from? It
comes from the Father of lights. It comes from God, who is light.
It comes from Him. And God reveals Himself in Christ,
who is that reflected glory of the Father. All right, now verse
3, we get to our text, into the context of our text. And like
I said to begin with, you can't say you're light unless you have
Christ in you. You're not salt, Terry, unless
you have the salt of the covenant. Right? You're not savory unless
God in Christ has made you savory by His grace. Right? You know,
you're not light. You don't have any understanding.
You're darkness. You are darkness. Terry Kinsley
is an evil, wicked man, aren't you? Will you admit that? Sure
you will. You know something of your own
dark heart. Not all of it, thank God. But if there's any light
in you, it's reflected light, isn't it? It's the light of the
of Christ. God is the sun. Here we go. Christ
is the moon. We're the stars. We're the stars. All right? We're the stars. The light, the glory of Christ
is His reflection of the Father, our light. And anything good
about us is not of us. It's a reflection of Christ in
us. All right? Christ in us. We have no light
in our selves. We have no light in our selves.
Now you've heard this silly, this stupid, as Todd Navarro,
this stupid little song. I'm going to let your little
light shine. Let your little light shine.
This little light of mine, that's it. Anybody sing it? This little
light of mine, I'm going to let it shine. And what men are saying by that,
what they mean is, I'm going to let my light shine. Aren't they? I want people to
see me. Right? Of course it is. What
they really mean is they want to be seen. They want to be seen. And you ask them and they'll
tell you, I'm proud to be a Christian. That doesn't belong together.
The words proud and Christian don't belong together. I'm ashamed
to call myself a Christian. Right? Now, I don't mean I'm
ashamed of Christ or the gospel, or I believe Christ, I'm proud,
but I'm ashamed. I ought to be ashamed of myself.
I have no business, in and of myself, calling myself a Christian. Right? If anybody's going to
call me a Christian, let it be somebody else, and let it be
God chiefly, but not me. I'm not going to go around boasting
of what I am, because I am nothing, nothing. What they say, and that's
what they say, they say to be heard. What they do, this is
what Christ said about the Pharisee, what they do, they do to be what? This is the reason I'm always
saying something about public prayer in restaurants and so
forth. And we're going to read over
in Matthew 6 where it literally says, Christ says, when you pray,
when you pray, enter into thy closet. There's a place for public
prayer. That's among the saints. But
he said in Matthew, that same chapter, he said, Don't be like
them. They love to stand on the street
corners and pray to be seen. Granted, there may be some people
who in sincerity and are trying to pray to God, but I just think
it's very doubtful that you can do that. Enter into the thrice
holy presence of God Almighty. in the presence of the clatter
and the clamor of dishes and crying children and so forth,
without being cognizant or conscious of people watching you. Can you
do it? You're a better man or woman
than I am. If you can pray to God and block out everybody and
have no thought of everybody looking at you and take no pride
in the fact that they look at you and say, well, there's a
Christian, then you're a whole lot better man and more sincere
Christian than I am. I can't do it. I can't do it. I have a hard enough time praying
in privacy. Don't you? That's the reason
I belittle that sort of thing. Christ said it. He said what
they do, they do to be seen of men. He said what they testify,
what they say, is to be heard and praised. To be heard and
praised. And what they sing, they do to
display their own talents and so forth. There's a big difference
in doing your alms. Now, if you can do this, if God
will give you the grace to do this, fine. Pray wherever you
may be. If God will give you the grace
to shut everything in, fine. But there's a big difference
in doing your alms to be seen of men and doing your alms that
just happen to be seen of men. The difference is in the motive
and in the heart. And like I said, if you can,
Fine. There's a big difference in this thing of witnessing.
Christ is talking about, you're the light of the world. A city
that's set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle
and put it under a bushel. But they put it on a candlestick
and it gives light unto all that are in the house. So let your
light shine before men that they may see your good work. And glorify,
there's the key part, and glorify not you, but your Father which
is in heaven. Have you heard these testimony
meetings where people get up and give their testimony? How
many times have you heard that? Oh, I was a drunk. And then they
go into great detail about how drunk they got. Who cares? A drunk's a drunk, you know,
about what they did, about this and that and the other, you know.
And before it's all over with, everybody's patting them on the
back. What a change! What a wonderful
fellow! Isn't Joe somebody, something?
And the pretense is to give Jesus a big hand. Oh, yeah, by the
way, give Jesus a big hand. Oh, no. You're going to testify. Testify of Him, His glory, His
beauty, His righteousness. Do it in a scriptural manner,
about what He's done, who He is, where He is now. Testify
of Him. It's a shame to speak of those
things that are done by them. in private, right? Can't we just
read that anyway? There's a big difference in witnessing
to win a convert. Well, I'm going to win souls.
I'm going to win some people for Jesus. Why? Oh, you'll guess. Because I'm supposed to. It's
a thing to do. There's a big difference in witnessing
to win a convert and witnessing to show a man Christ. Have you
seen Christ? Huh? Have you? Do you know anything
about the excellencies, the knowledge of the glory of Christ? Huh? There's a big difference, Henry,
isn't there? In witnessing to win a convert
and notch a notch on your belt. And in witnessing to show them
because you're taking up with Christ. Big difference. Also, there's a big difference
in witnessing because you're supposed to. And in order to say you have. And in doing so because you want
to. Because the mercy and presenting
your body as a living sacrifice because of the mercy of God.
Witnessing out of a true love for God and the love of someone's
soul. And I'll quit here. How are we the light of the world?
How are we the light of the world? He said, Let your light so shine. Look at verse 16 again. Let your
light so shine before me. Let your light shine. It doesn't
say, Let your horn sound off. I'm not making a play on words
here, Nancy. It doesn't say, Toot your horn. He says, let
your light shine. Let your light shine. And we're
the light of the world not by saying we are. They came to John
the Baptist who was... There's never been a man born
like John the Baptist. Christ said it Himself. He's
talking about a reflection of the Son of God. John was pulled
of the Spirit from his mother's womb. He's talking about light.
He's talking about a man in whose presence you would see something
of the character and the glory of God. Now, who are you, John? Who are you? Well, I'm that prophet. I'm the prophet at last who should
come. That's me. I'm the forerunner of Christ.
The Old Testament tells about me. I was given the Spirit above
all men from my mother's womb. Well, I'm the, I'll have you
know, I'm the right reverend. Most Holy, Father, Doctor, Pope
John." That's me. Is that what he said? Who are
you, John? A voice. Well, are you that? Are you the
Christ? No. Are you somebody? I'm nobody. I'm not even worthy
to tie the shoelaces of him who is somebody. No, the Scripture
says he was not that light, and he never professed to be so.
But he was sent to bear witness of that light. I'm on to something
here. How are we light? To bear witness
of that light. Behold, how was John light to
men? By displaying the light. Not
our light, not us. The light. The light. behold the lamb look there he
is follow him not me his two fellows came up John had a had
a pretty big church had two disciples one passage anyway two disciples
and he lost them and he was happy about it had two members entering
he lost them he was happy about it they came to him and they
said This man over here is teaching, preaching this and that, and
the other, and John said, That's the Lamb of God, and you go follow
Him. Don't follow me. My job's over. You follow Him.
All I wanted you to do anyway was follow Him, and here He is.
Now you go follow Him. And they did, and they laughed,
and John said, Praise God, we lost two members. Didn't it? Oh, my. He's the light, and the only
way we bear witness or the only way we shine is in however we
make Him, cause Him to shine before others and lift Him up. He's the light. No, a true disciple
of Christ, a true believer, a true witness who has the light of
Christ in himself never speaks of himself. Never. Never. And if he does, he only
says so, or she only speaks in lowly terms. Oh, nothing. Do
you call yourself a Christian? No, I never called myself a Christian. I hope I want to be. Don't look
at me anyway. Look to Christ. Look to Christ. The Spirit even bears witness
of Christ. The Spirit doesn't even speak
of Himself, does it? And neither do those who are filled with
His Spirit. Flashing lights. Now, a lot of them today aren't
they? Shooting stars. Oh, fireworks. Boy, they're popping
off. Shining, sparkling. Sparklers. You ever play with
sparklers as a kid? Oh, man, you get a lot of thrill
and pleasure out of them, don't you? But they soon fizzle and
plumb out, don't they? Then you smoke the box after
that. Anybody do that? Nobody smokes the Parker box? Shooting stars and fireworks
make a lot of noise, but they soon burn out. But a steady star
is more seen than heard. Now, this is a way in which we
are light, too. Now, the first way I said was,
the only way we really are light is the way that we bear witness
of that light. Right? The only way we can illuminate
anybody or anything is as we point them to Christ, who is
the light. Our reflection of Him. And secondly, we're light by
our character. Our character. We are seen more
than heard. We're seen more than heard. I
know the world likes to use that phrase, I'd rather see a sermon
than hear one any day. Not so. That's not so. I don't
believe that. Now, a man has to hear, God is
chosen, God is pleased by the foolishest preaching to save
them that believe. And how are they going to call
upon Him in whom they've not heard? You've got to hear the
gospel preached. But as far as we're concerned,
we tell men the gospel as clearly and as simply and as much grace
as God gives us to tell them the gospel. But unless God takes
one of those words and applies it to them, you can talk till
you're blue in the face. Right? And some of you have done it. And what they observe more than
anything from there on out is you, don't they? You. We're being observed. Our attitude
speaks of Christ. Our attitude. We say we believe
in a sovereign God, and then we complain about the rain? Oh,
let it not be once named among you as becoming saints. Don't
ever. Let anybody in this ungodly,
ungrateful, wretched world whom God bestows all His water on,
don't ever let them hear you complain about the rain. You
praise God for it. You hear somebody say something
about the rain, you say, boy, isn't that nice. Our attitude speaks of Christ
as much as anything, maybe more. Talks cheap. Grace. The grace of God. grace of God ought to make a
man gracious. We ought to be more gracious
than anybody on earth, a lot more gracious than the false
religionists out there, if so be that the grace of Christ is
really in us. Our submission to providence
speaks, our spirit of thanksgiving speaks, the way we react to things
around us, the thing we say in front of a whole lot of people.
Do we grumble? Do we complain? Do we find fault?
Do we act proud? Are we lazy? Do we carry on in
foolishness to talk of this world? All of these things, bear with
me. And none of this reflects Christ, though, and none of the
opposite of that thing. Now, very quickly, look at the
text again. He says, Now men don't light
a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick. And it
gives light unto all that are in the house. So let your light
so shine before men They may see your good works and call
you a fine fellow. No. He said, and glorify your
Father which is in heaven. Your Father which is in heaven. What are good works? What are
good works? Huh? They asked Christ, they
didn't stand. They came to Christ, the Pharisees,
and said, What must we do to do the works of God? We want
to know. We want to be good men of God. What must we do? Christ said,
here's the work of God. You believe on the Son. You trust
the Son. You follow the Son. You attribute
all honor, praise, glory unto the Son. You submit yourself
and commit yourself to the Son. All honor and praise and glory
and strength and blessing and comfort and hope and salvation,
everything you say, it's in the Son. You believe, you trust,
you depend upon, you rely upon, you look to the Son. Son of God. Son of God. That is the work
of God. And if you ever do anything that's
a good work, you'll never recognize it. You know what? Believers never realize that
they've ever done a good work. If they ever do, if they ever
say, now there's a good work, it wasn't. Right? It wasn't. Why? Because it's the motive. It's the motive that counts,
not the work. And if we've ever, if we've done all that's required
of us, what are we to say about ourselves? Unprofitable servant. what is my reasonable service. And it doesn't even bear recognition. And you remember when Christ
came to those certain people and He said, I was hungry and
you fed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you
visited me, and so forth. And the true justified ones,
what did they say? We don't remember doing that. Didn't we? I don't. When did
we do this, Lord? He said, as much as you've done
to the least of one of these, my brethren, you've done it unto
me. You've done it unto me. But those self-righteous Pharisees
said, yeah, we did, didn't we? Yeah, we did. We were priests. We prophesied. We cast out devils.
We did many wonderful works in you. We did some good works,
didn't we? Yeah, where's my crown? It's a bad word. Didn't he call that workers of
a nation? Now, they may have been good
works in the way that man calls them good works, benevolent works
of charity, humanitarian efforts and so forth, feeding the poor.
Though you give your body to be burned, though you give all
of your earthly riches to the poor and so forth, if you have
not love to God or your motive be not for God's glory, love
to Him, appreciation, thankfulness for His mercy and grace in Christ,
it's a filthy riot. And God won't accept it. Abomination,
right. Worker of iniquity. That's what
God said to those certain people. You're workers of iniquity. Why? You did it for your own vain
glory. You won't let your little light
shine. But those whose lights truly
did shine, they glorified their Father, which is in heaven. Oh,
I'm nothing. He's everything. I can do nothing,
but I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Concerning this thing of witnessing,
I know it's difficult for all of us. We do need to quit ourselves
like men and women. Scripture says, quit yourself
like men. Act like men and women. Be not ashamed of the gospel.
Be ready to give every man a reason, an answer, the reason of the
hope that's within you, meekness and purity. Scriptures are very
clear that we need to study to show ourselves approved. We need
not be ashamed of ourselves. We don't need to be timid, cowardly. We've got the truth. It's able
to make a man wise in salvation. If we quit ourselves like men,
how are we going to do that? How are we going to witness? Well, we can't do anything of
ourselves. We're going to have to ask God
to help us, aren't we? That's the first place we're
going to have to start. Now, I'll take my place with you.
The first place we're going to have to start is become diligent
in prayer. Diligent in prayer. Asking the
Lord, Lord, would you give me the courage to speak for you? Lord, I love you. Deborah Peter denied the Lord,
didn't he? And he wept bitterly. And you
have to. And I have to. And it causes
you great grief, doesn't it? Does your cowardice cause you
great grief? Well, the Lord approached Peter
afterward, didn't He? He said, Peter, do you love Me? Do you? And I know he was weeping
at the time. You know I did. You know I did. And the Lord said, well, feed
my lambs. And he went on to say, feed my
sheep. Feed my sheep. And he said to Peter another
time, he said, Peter, Satan hath desired you. Anybody who has
the truth, Satan desires him. Shut his mouth, close the doors,
and so forth. What was Peter's hope? What's
ours? Let the Lord pray for us. Let
the Lord help us. Let the Lord strengthen us. And
we need to ask Him, Lord, You know I love You.