Salt of the Earth and Light of the World

[00:00:00] All right, let's get our Bible and turn back to Matthew, chapter 5. And we're going to be looking at verses 13 through 16 tonight. Matthew, chapter 5, verse number 13, Matthew 5, verse number 13. The next passage here after in the Sermon on the Mount, after the Beatitudes, is this section a very familiar passage of Scripture. Hopefully it'll still be a blessing to you and we can see some things that will help us tonight. [00:00:40] Verse number 13 says, Ye are the salt of the earth, but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? [00:00:51] It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden underfoot of men. [00:00:58] Ye 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. [00:01:14] Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you for the time of prayer that we had just a minute ago. We thank you for the songs we're able to sing to your praise. We thank you for the truths that we hear in them. [00:01:39] Thank you, Father, that you are faithful to us and you are kind and gracious to us for full of mercy and compassion. [00:01:47] Lord, we look to you tonight as we look in your word. We acknowledge that if you do not fill our minds with your wisdom and if your spirit does not teach us, Lord, we will go out just the same as we came in. We'll not be bettered for it. And so, Lord, we ask you, please, to be our teacher. Help me, Lord. I pray to convey the truths of scripture clearly to your people that they might benefit from it. Lord, help us to be salt and light. No, Lord, we are salt and light. Help us to fulfill the roles that you've given to us in that capacity in this world. And so, Lord, we entrust the message to you. We ask that you would be glorified in it in Jesus name. Amen. [00:02:33] Now remember, and this is why it's so important to understand that the Sermon on the Mount. As I said this morning, the audience of the Sermon on the Mount is not the world at large. And this is a perfect passage to illustrate that, because in verse 13 and verse number 14 it is directed in the plural to ye. And this is the Lord Jesus is definitely and for sure not saying that all people are the light of the world. All people are the salt of the earth. That is not what the Lord is saying. In fact, this is specifically directed at his disciples. Now what is so interesting is that this is the Lord's first kind of long form sermon that we're aware of in the Gospels. [00:03:23] And as I said a week ago, that this, these truths that we read about in the Sermon on the Mount are really kind of in the early stages of development. Of course, the truths are the truths. But as far as these disciples, they have not really grown into all of these truths. It's just the beginning. They just have recently come to know who Jesus is and trust in him and believed in him. And so there's a lot of work to be done. Is that not true of all of us as well? You know, when you are translated from the kingdom and power of darkness to the kingdom of God's Son, the kingdom of God, when you're translated from that, you know what you come over as. You know, it's kind of like, you know, I grew up in a smoker's home. Some of you probably know what that's like as well. And you know, when you move out of a smoker's home and you move into your own house, the smoke kind of comes with you, does it not? Some of you look at me like I have no idea what you're talking about. Well, just, hey, if you grew up in a smoker's home, I often wondered and I asked my wife this, how did you. How could you tolerate being around me in a smoker's home? Because I cannot, I cannot stand it. You know what I'm talking about. But when you're translated from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God's dear Son, that smell of the world and its ways and values follows you. It does. That's all you've known. That's all we've known, right? That was our life. That was our values. Their values were our values. And it takes time, just like with these disciples, for these truths to be manifested in us fully, just as it took time for the disciples. So the Lord is not saying, listen, you are, you're, you know, you're at your final, you know, kind of end point, or you're a finished product. No, he's not saying that. In fact, none of us are. That's why we preach on it, right? Because we're not and we need these truths. So. But it is good, though, in verse 13 and verse 14 that the Lord tell us what we should be, but he tells us what we are. [00:05:37] He tells us what we are. Many, many times. He says, this is what you are. Now live up to it. This is what you are. Now be that. And he says twice. Ye are the salt of the earth. Ye are the light of the world. Now look at verse number 13. [00:05:55] You're the salt of the earth. But if the salt have lost his savor, you could think that when you read that, you could think. We think of savor. Savor has two meanings. It can be a smell and it can be a taste. The word means both, of course. In this case, it's talking about a taste. We could say flavor. We say flavor. Now, if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? Have you guys ever bought salt from the. From the store, Morton? Maybe. Maybe use Morton. My wife's like, yum. She's so bougie. She gets the pink salt or, you know, whatever. She likes that. You know, whatever. [00:06:35] Yeah. It's good for you. I know Mrs. Moria. She probably believes in that. Does she? She does. And I kind of believe it, too. I got to be honest. I kind of believe in it. [00:06:44] But anyway, whatever salt you buy, here's what you won't find. It will never lose its savor. [00:06:50] Have you ever noticed that? [00:06:52] Why not? [00:06:53] Well, because the salt we're referring to here obviously, is salt, but it's a little bit different than the extremely pure, you know, NACL or whatever they call it, you know, sodium chloride, table salt that we use that's purified, and it's pure table salt. You see, the salt in this day could lose its savor because they would have, like, salt marshes or maybe salt from the Dead Sea or different. Different sources of salt. And it would be. It wouldn't be pure salt. It would be mixed with. It would be like a mineral mixture. It's probably better for you, actually, because you got a bunch of other things. You know, iron. You could have magnesium, whatever. You know, all the things you take pills for, you know, because you don't get enough of that. That's what was in the salt, probably. But within that mixture was salt, sodium, what we call sodium chloride. [00:07:44] But if it was left out or if it got damp or if it was exposed to the sun, the ratio of that sodium chloride, of that salt to the other minerals would be diminished. And what you would be left with is you would be left with minerals with no flavor, with no. It'd be just like dirt. It'd be just minerals, just dirt without any salt saltness, Salt saltiness at all. What good Is that I. One time I remember. [00:08:15] You're going to laugh at me, but, you know those little packets of chemicals they put in your. Like, in food, I think it was. This was in the Marine corps, in the MREs, they would put these little squares, and it was supposed to absorb the oxygen to make it last longer, right? And these little squares of chemicals. And I was like, oh, maybe this is pepper. And I ripped it open on the bread, and then I looked on it afterward, and it says, do not eat. You know, that's what it's like, salt without its savor. It's just a bunch of chemicals, just a bunch of minerals you put on your food. It's not good. It's not good. So in scripture, when the sodium chloride, the salt was removed, the mixture no longer had any saltiness and as a result, was worthless because that's the only real benefit to it being salty. So that's a. That's why this might not make a whole lot of sense to us, because if we took our salt and it lost its savor, that means the salt is gone, because that's all it is. It's pure. But that was not the case at this time in history. Notice ye are the salt of the earth. But if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden underfoot of men. Verse 14. Ye are the light of the world. Now, if you look at verse 13, and if you look at. You put your eyes on 13, and you put your eyes on 14. Notice the structure in both verses. It says, ye are. The one says salt, the other says light of the one says earth, the other says world. You notice that same exact structure. Same exact structure. So what you have is you have a. You have one of these. This is actually. This is the way Hebrew poetry is, where you have one and the other parallel. [00:10:03] And in this case. In this case, it's referring to essentially the same truth. But here's the thing. [00:10:10] They're a little bit different in that salt is something that comes from the ground, something from the earth. Now, it has value and it has. It has a flavor and it has use, but it comes from the earth. But even though. Even though salt comes from the earth, it is distinct from dirt. Now, what in the Bible, what is the first real reference to dirt that you remember in the Bible? The first thing comes to your mind if you start in Genesis 1:1, and you go, what is the first real kind of place Dirt pops up in your mind. Mankind, man is made of the dust of the earth, dust being dirt. And here you have. You have basically dirt, but you have different dirt. You have dirt that has salt mixed in with it, which gives it value and flavor. So even though both of these statements are saying basically the same primary truth, one is presenting the statement, one is presenting the truth from the perspective of our origin as being people, right? Christ's disciples, you know what they were. They came from the world. Notice it says, you are the salt of the earth. That's the word for dirt, right? The ground. [00:11:29] This is where we've come from. [00:11:32] We're just people. The Bible describes us as earthy. Not earthly, but earthy. That is, of the dirt. And that's what you are, and that's what I am. But as disciples of Christ, we're different. He has put something in us that has value and has a use to him in this. In this earth. And so from the earth, we just like all the other. All the other clumps of dirt that are in this world, we relate to them, right? We are them. We are in no way different. We are flesh and blood just like everyone else. But there's something in us that we did not put there, the Lord put there that has value. But on the other hand, when it's. When Jesus says, you are the light of the world, the same principle is being applied, but that is from heaven. [00:12:23] Because there's an element of what we are being the light that is heavenly. So part of us comes from the ground, and there's part of us that comes from heaven. By that I mean the Lord's grace and his shining on us. So you kind of see them kind of put opposite to one another, but the same truth is being presented. The Lord says, ye are. [00:12:48] Ye are. [00:12:50] Now, notice in both cases it says, ye are the light of the. Ye are the salt of the earth. In the singular. Verse 14. Ye are the light of the world in the singular. One commentator I read said this. Ye are the light of the world alone. [00:13:06] And I think that really captures what the truth of this is. Did you know, absent Christ's disciples, there is no salt in this world if we're not here and if we do not have flavor. And I'll explain to you what that is referring to in just a minute. But if we do not have. If we do not serve the purpose for which the Lord has put us here, we. [00:13:33] There's no replacement. [00:13:35] There's no substitute. We're it Christ's disciples. We're It. And the same is true of the light. [00:13:44] The Lord says, ye are the light of the world. Now we know Jesus is the light of the world while he was in the world. And of course, our light only comes of his light. We know that. But the truth is that if there. If the Lord's the Lord Jesus Christ, his disciples are not in this world. The world has no light. [00:14:03] None. [00:14:05] So in both. In both verses, we serve a unique and essential purpose for which there is no replacement or substitute. [00:14:18] Politicians are not a substitute, no matter how conservative they are. [00:14:24] No matter. And we appreciate all of that. But that is not. There is no substitute for the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, those who follow him. We fill a unique role that only we can fulfill. And without us in this world, this world is left far worse than if we are in this world. [00:14:54] Now, let's look at it. Salt of the Earth, verse 13. [00:15:00] As I said, the salt of the earth is a product of the earth. It's made from the earth, and it is a mineral. And this time especially was mixed with other minerals. But it is distinct from other minerals and other dirt in that it has flavor. [00:15:18] It has flavor. [00:15:21] And when you. When you. When you. When you look at verse number 13, you think about salt. Of course we think about food. Job mentions the use of salt in food when it says, is there any taste in the white of an egg or can? [00:15:36] I'm going to mess up the verse. But Joseph probably remembers it. It's. Can meat be eaten without salt? And is there any taste in the white of an egg? So the idea that salt is used to eat, but that probably is not its most common use. Its most common use was a preservative. Because in the times when you have no. When you have no refrigeration, you have no way to keep meat from spoiling. And so you guys know, you guys might have actually salted meat in your life. Has anybody actually done that? You've salted meat, what it does. I was doing a little bit of research. When you take regular meat and just raw meat and you salt it, you extend its life 500%, sometimes even higher. The shelf life of the meat, even though it's raw and even though it's uncooked, by packing with salt, you extend the life of the meat. And so here's what it shows. Now you think of the earth, mankind. [00:16:31] It shows us this. [00:16:34] Mankind in his natural state is on a path of decay and putrefaction if left alone. [00:16:46] This is what man does. Man putrefies. He gets worse and worse and worse. And this is natural. Just like if you have a chunk of meat and you lay it out and you don't touch it within a day or two, it's rancid. And this is the way the Lord is describing mankind, morally, spiritually. [00:17:12] But. So what the Lord has done is he has put salt in the earth to serve as its. As its. You might say it's preservative or its antiseptic, because that's essentially what it is. Look at, if you would, at Genesis, chapter six. [00:17:35] Genesis, chapter six. I want to show you a period of time you're no doubt familiar with this truth, even though it's being applied in the New Testament, in the life of Christ, the ministry of Christ. He's taking a truth that is, that goes all the way back to the time of Noah. Notice In Genesis 6, verse number one, the Bible says this. [00:17:55] And it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born unto them that the sons of God. I'll just. I'll skip a little bit, but the thing I want you to see from verse number one is mankind is multiplying. There's more and more and more and more men. [00:18:13] Okay, verse number four. Look what it says. I'm sorry, Verse five. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. In other words, mankind has been left. This is actually. The scripture doesn't describe the time period, but this is actually a pretty substantial time period that men are increasing. Of course, lifespans were much longer. So men are multiplying, and the death rate is not like it is now. And so the numbers of men is increasing exponentially. [00:18:46] Well, as men increase, so the decay and putrefaction of the spiritual state of man is going down, down in the days of Noah. Noah's days are known for that. Right. [00:18:58] If you would look at verse number eight. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. [00:19:03] Drop down to verse number 12. [00:19:06] And God looked upon the earth and behold. Notice it uses the word earth, same as our text here. And behold, it was corrupt. Now, that's not talking about the dirt. That's talking about the man. Right. Made of dirt. [00:19:21] For all flesh had. What's the word? [00:19:24] Corrupted. That's the word used for meat that's gone bad. Corrupt. All flesh had corrupted. It's almost like a play on words. Flesh being meat. Flesh had corrupted. But now it's referring to mankind, his way upon The Earth. [00:19:40] And then the Lord said to Noah in verse number 13, the end of all flesh has come before me. For the earth is filled with violence. It's putrid through them, and I will destroy them with the earth. [00:19:54] And so what the Lord decides to do is. So what you have here is you have mankind increasing in number, right? That's what you have. Mankind getting more and more and more. And yet at the end, when the Lord finally sends the judgment, how many grains of salt exist? [00:20:15] How many? [00:20:18] Anybody remember? [00:20:20] Eight. [00:20:22] Eight tiny, insignificant grains of salt exist. [00:20:28] But the question is, with such a mass of, there might have been millions, hundreds of millions, perhaps billions. We have no idea the antediluvian population. But with the millions and millions and millions of people, what was missing? [00:20:44] The salt of the earth. [00:20:46] And the result, without the salt, was that humankind decayed and went putrid and rancid to the point that the Lord had to judge it. You think of so few, only eight souls. [00:21:02] Mankind decayed. [00:21:05] Mankind decayed. So the world is in this natural state of decay. Go back to Matthew, if you would, verse number, chapter 5, verse 13. [00:21:18] Notice what it says. But if the salt have lost his savor, that's his taste, the saltiness, the thing that makes it valuable. [00:21:32] Now if you look at verse number six, we've already looked at that last week. And verse number 10 this morning, it mentions righteousness. Mentions righteousness. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, which is a characteristic of those in the kingdom of God. Blessed are they, verse 11, which are persecuted for righteousness sake. This is again, just like this morning. This is practical, righteous living. [00:22:02] It's like a curse word in modern Christianity that the Lord expects his disciples to live a certain way of uprightness. [00:22:16] Can I get an amen? [00:22:20] The Lord expects us to live uprightly. [00:22:24] And you know what? Here we don't try to live uprightly in order to be saved. We're already saved. Ye are the salt of the earth. You're already there. You're already that. So he says, retain your saltiness, your savor, don't lose it. [00:22:46] And that savor is this practical outworking of upright living in the earth. [00:22:56] And here's the effect. [00:22:59] Even though we are really the true. And I say, I don't, you know, I don't want to. I don't want to present kind of a victim, like a isolationist sort of victim, you know, us, and no more kind of mentality. But really the true disciples of Christ, truly born again children of God who are following the Lord. Jesus is actually a very small number of people. [00:23:22] We cannot listen, we cannot think because someone is a conservative politically, or because someone has a family or a nice family, or because someone is moral, that that means they're a disciple of Christ. That is not the case. It's just not the case. [00:23:39] It's just not the case. That is not the definition. [00:23:44] So really, in the mass of this world, the disciples of Christ are really pretty few in number. [00:23:51] We really are pretty few in number. [00:23:54] But you don't have to have a lot of salt for it to do its job. [00:24:00] You don't have to have a lot. [00:24:03] Even in small proportions, it serves a good purpose to. In its. In its withholding and delay, delaying of the putrefaction of mankind because it slows down that decay. And that's what we're doing. [00:24:23] That's what we're doing. [00:24:25] So listen, and this is absolutely true in practice, when you, as a disciple of Christ, when I, as a disciple of Christ, live in a way that is upright, remember? Why do we do that? We're going to see that in a minute, but just as a precursor, why do we do that? We do that because our eye is on the Lord Jesus. We're following him. We're not following men. We're not following others. We're not impressing anyone. We are looking at the footsteps as a disciple. Remember, Jesus said that to Peter and James and John and Andrew. He said, follow me. That's what we're doing. We're looking only with tunnel vision, only at the footsteps of the Lord. And he tells us the way we should live. He tells us that we should be people that love our wives and love our children and raise them to fear God. That we should be people who are honest, absolutely honest in every area of life. He's the one that tells us that we should put in a full day's work. He's the one that tells us that our mouth should be clean and our words holy. He's the one that tells us what we should laugh at and what we should not laugh at. He's the one that tells us that we should be consistent in our private life as well as in our public life. He's the one that tells us the moral, but not just the moral, the righteous ways that we should live in practice. Because he has a reason. He wants us to live uprightly. And his reason, he has his eye on the earth. That's why we're salty. [00:26:01] Now, we can go into many, many other things. But the Lord does expect us to live Uprightly in righteousness according to his standard. [00:26:14] And when you do that, it affects those around you. [00:26:19] I'm not even talking about on the, as they might say, the macro scale of our country. Of course we want our country to love righteousness and all of that. But look, that's. Brother David prayed and touched on it. That's way above our pay grade, is it not? Like that's way above what we can really think about doing. Look, what we need to think about is these footsteps in front of us belonging to Jesus. And we need to think about living for him. And when we do that, wherever we go, our saltiness will affect those around us for righteousness. [00:26:51] And it will delay and it will be a hindrance to the putrefaction of mankind all around us. [00:26:59] Because people will be more careful about what they say around us. They'll be more careful what they do around us. They'll be more careful because they know we love righteousness and are trying to walk with Jesus. And we have a positive influence that prevents the decline, decay that's going on. That's naturally going on around us. That's the benefit this. [00:27:23] You take that salt out, that meat goes bad. [00:27:28] That's what happened with Noah. [00:27:30] You leave it out, that meat's going to go bad. [00:27:37] If we lose our savor, so we lose the antiseptic properties that salt has and it ceases to be distinct from that which is around it. [00:27:51] Throw it out the window, into the street. It's useless for that purpose Now. [00:27:57] Now we go to the light of the world. In verse 14, first thing we see, Jesus says, ye are the light of the world. First thing we see is the world is in darkness. [00:28:07] So it answers to the salt of the earth. Because the earth is decaying, it's in a state of natural decay. [00:28:14] Left alone, it will rot, it will corrupt, and it has, and it will. So it is with darkness. This world is in a dark place. [00:28:25] When the Lord made the world, before he made light, it was dark, right? Genesis 11. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void. And what darkness was upon the face of the deep. So before the Lord created light, it was naturally dark. [00:28:44] So the Lord has shined through us, has shined into a naturally dark world. [00:28:53] He says, ye are the light of the world. But do not mistake this light, this light, oftentimes knowledge. How many of you have heard of the enlightenment, right? We call that the enlightenment. That is a time of when knowledge was increasing. But we're not talking about knowledge. We're talking about something far more valuable than knowledge. Light is not, in this case especially light is not knowledge. You increase knowledge in mankind. It does not. It does not, I repeat, alter. Improve man's basic nature. He remains a corrupt, wicked man. And he will even use that knowledge to invent new ways to do evil. And you and I both know that is exactly what is happening at a rapid clip in our day. Knowledge seems to be increasing exponentially. And new and more creative ways to sin and to indulge in the wickedness is being invented along with it. Knowledge hasn't helped. [00:29:59] Knowledge has not helped. [00:30:04] Furthermore, it says this. Ye are the light of the world. [00:30:10] Ye. [00:30:11] That's you, that's me, that's the disciples. [00:30:14] The disciples of Christ are the light of the world, not knowledge. [00:30:18] You and me, we are the light. [00:30:23] We are the light. [00:30:26] So as the disciples increase and our light shines, so the light increases in the world in the same way that the more salt there is, the more preservative, the more of a preservative for decay that exists. So as the light increases, the darkness flees and there's more light in this world. It is a direct function with the disciples of Christ. [00:30:54] And there's absolutely a connection between the number of believers and the moral temperature of an area. It absolutely is related. [00:31:08] Now, we don't give the gospel out to try to get people to be saved because we want our country to turn to be better. That's not what it's about, and you'll see it in a minute. Look at a couple of verses with me. Look at John 8. John 8, verse number 12. John 8, verse number 12. [00:31:36] So you might say, what does it mean to shine? [00:31:39] What does it mean to be light? Jesus said, ye are the light of the world, so shine. How do you shine? Same principle as in the salt of the earth. That's why they're parallel. [00:31:52] It says this so we can. We can understand something about shining by looking at darkness. Now, here's. I trust you understand what I'm saying. Just a minute. John 8, verse number 12. Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world. [00:32:09] He that followeth me shall not. What's the next word? [00:32:14] What's it say? [00:32:16] Walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Spiritual life brings light, which is the expelling of darkness. And now it says, shall not walk in darkness. What does it mean to walk in darkness? That is to walk in a way characteristic of wickedness and ungodliness. That's what darkness Is that doing those things that demand that they be hidden under the veil of darkness. [00:32:54] Listen, if you or I do anything that we feel is necessary to hide or to cover in darkness, that is a screaming testimony that we should not be doing it. [00:33:11] Say amen. [00:33:13] That's a fact. If it has to be hidden. And listen, husbands and wives, you guys, both of you should have access to one another's cell phones and computer and computer information and web search history. And those things, Those things should be open to each other. There shouldn't be darkness in that. That should be an open book. Light. Shine the light. Listen, one of the best things you can do as a believer, because, listen, we are the light of the world, but, you know, we have problems with darkness. That's why Jesus said this. One of the best things you can do is bring your life out into the light. [00:33:52] Because when that light is shining on your life, it's a lot harder to sin, is it not? [00:34:00] Look at. So he talks about walking in darkness. [00:34:06] That would be the opposite of shining, would it not be Right. Walking. That what you do, where you go, how you live. That's what he's talking about. Look at Romans 13. [00:34:17] I want to make these connections and we'll be finished. Romans 13, verse number 12. Romans 13, verse number 12. [00:34:39] The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off, notice the works of darkness. [00:34:50] We don't believe in salvation by good works. I agree. Nobody's saying that. But now that we have salvation by grace in our faith, in faith in Christ, right? The Bible says to work out your own salvation with fear and tremility, right? Does the Bible say that? Yeah. In other words, live it right. That's what we should be doing. He says, let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Let us listen now walk same as before in John, Honestly, as in the day, not in writing and drunkenness, partying, not in chambering and wantonness, sexual immorality, not in strife and envying, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. And one of the. Listen, one of the best verses, verse number 14, one of the best verses that will help you, that will help you avoid carnal temptation and make not provision for the flesh. Don't even give it an opportunity in your life so you can see the connection between darkness and light. And these things mentioned in verse number 13. Now notice in Ephesians, chapter 5, if you'll go there for the last one, we're looking at Ephesians 5, verse number 8. Ephesians 5, verse number eight. [00:36:42] Verse number eight. Notice what it says. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. See that? It's the same thing as what the Lord says in Matthew 5. Ye are the light of the world. He said you were the darkness. So isn't that a good reminder? In other words, we used to be that darkness. The very darkness that the Lord is telling us to shine to them. The Lord. You used to be that part of this world, just dark. So we don't have any. We have nothing to brag, brag about. Because our light is only the light that comes from Christ. We have nothing to brag about. [00:37:16] But he says, now that you're light in the Lord. Notice you are that verse number eight. Just like in Matthew. You are the light. Listen, Sister Karen, you are light, whether you like it or not. [00:37:28] You have been changed from darkness to light. You are a light now. You can't help it. You shine. The Lord has already worked in you. He's put his light in you. And it doesn't matter if you flip the switch off, you're still glowing because you are light. You can't stop that, you know? In fact, in Matthew, what does it say? [00:37:46] Do men light a candle? And do what? [00:37:49] Put on a book. You know, I thought about. Why would it say that instead of just blowing it out? [00:37:57] Cause you can't be blown out. [00:38:00] You are going to shine no matter what. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. You are going to shine. You know why? Because your nature has been changed. You've been translated from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God's dear son. You're in the kingdom of light now. You are a lamp. [00:38:16] You are. This is a declaration of God. The only thing that you can do is cover it. You can hide the light, but you're gonna shine. Either way. God's working in you, and he's gonna do it whether we kick or scream or whether we go along with him. He's gonna do it because that's what he does. Because he knows what's right and he knows what's best. All we can do is hide it. [00:38:36] It's not going to do any good, though. [00:38:40] Ye are the light. Ye are light in the Lord. Notice what it says. [00:38:47] Walk as children of light. That's the way we live. [00:38:53] For the fruit of the spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. But rather reprove them. So not only should we not participate in wickedness that we hear or see, we should reprove it. [00:39:17] That means that we see it. We should say, that's wicked, that ain't right, that's wrong. [00:39:29] You say, well, they'll think, who cares? [00:39:33] Who cares? [00:39:36] This is what light does. What light does is it floods, darkness. [00:39:43] And anything that's going on in that dark room is now revealed. [00:39:52] You know, I don't know about you, but I think probably the darkness is not so. [00:39:58] Would not be so happy about that if all of the things they're doing secretly are exposed, pointed out, reproved. [00:40:09] You know, and sometimes by you and I, by Christ's disciples, just saying, as I said this morning, just saying no, or just saying no, that's trash. Or whatever you might say to reprove it, that light shines on them and it reproves them. You might not overtly rebuke it. It might just be that you refuse to go along with it or refuse to laugh. You tell a funny joke and it just falls flat because you just stand there stone faced. [00:40:43] That's what you should do, right? [00:40:45] Stone faced, Stone faced. And you guys know, Brother David knows what that's like. Josh knows what that's like. Sometimes it's hard because the jokes are wickedly funny, aren't they? And I don't mean that in a good way. [00:41:02] And it takes time to be like, no, I love righteousness more to be stone faced at stuff like that. You know what that does? That's a reproof. Well, they might be offended. [00:41:14] Sorry. [00:41:19] Verse 13 says this, verse 12 rather, for it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. Don't even talk about it. [00:41:28] Don't even talk about it. [00:41:31] But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light. For whatsoever doth make manifest is light. [00:41:40] So light's basic principle or purpose rather is to expose the darkness. And the darkness does not like this. And that's where we get persecution. [00:41:53] Now, as I said back in Matthew 5, all of Christ's disciples were at one time in darkness. [00:42:00] But because of what the Lord has done in us, it is now our nature to shine. [00:42:07] Don't hide, he says. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. [00:42:12] Are you going to cover yourself with a bushel? You're shining just as bright. You're going to cover it up for fear of man or displeasing man. [00:42:21] Notice verse 16 and we'll be done. [00:42:26] Let your light so shine before men that they may See your good works and here's the key and glorify your Father which is in heaven. [00:42:36] This is the end goal. [00:42:39] When we try to live uprightly, it is certainly not for others to praise us, though sometimes they might. Incidentally, we try to live uprightly for the Lord. [00:42:49] First for him, because he told us to. But secondly, because we desire by living uprightly that those that see our know our flavor salt and that see our light might be drawn to our God. [00:43:09] It's about his glory. [00:43:12] We live, we exist for his glory. [00:43:18] So in our life, whether we're when we try to live with practical righteousness, we should exhibit total and absolute honesty, sincere compassion, humility, meekness. We should answer, answer kindness for wrong done to us as I said, love our wife and children and raise them to fear and love God. We should have pure and clean speech. We should refuse to engage in sin. We should refuse to mock or joke at things that God hates. We should show respect for authority. [00:43:59] We should put others before ourselves. We should not be self seeking. We should speak well of others rather than slander others. We should praise rather than complain. We should show mercy. We should say the hard truths. Does it need to be spoken when necessary? We should never brag or show pride. [00:44:20] We should show up punctually when we go to work. We should be consistent. We should react gracefully and patiently to misfortune and trouble and this and a hundred other things to shine his lights in this world. [00:44:40] Because when we do that, we glorify our Father which is in heaven. [00:44:47] Let's pray.