WWUTT 1937 You Are the Light of the World, Part 2 (Matthew 5:14-16)

Our hearts are full of darkness until Christ shines his light in us, and then we are to shine the light of Christ before the world. So shining his light, he says, you are the light of the world, when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible study in the word of Christ, that men and women of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. Tell your friends about our ministry at www .utt .com.

Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Jesus as the Light That Exposes Sin

Thank you, Becky. In our study of the Sermon on the Mount, we're in Matthew chapter 5, verses 14 to 16, where Jesus says, you are the light of the world. Let me read that section again, and we'll pick up where we left off yesterday.

Hear the word of the Lord. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.

Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Today we're picking up with part two of the sermon that I did a couple of years ago on this particular section.

Yesterday I finished by saying that we don't all have an inner light like the Gnostics say or even the worldly will say. We all just have this light we need to let our light shine. In fact, what we're full of is darkness until Christ shines his light in us.

Let's pick up there in part two of this sermon entitled, You Are the Light of the World. We do not have some inner light. We're not all inherently good people. We're all inherently sinners that are doomed to destruction.

And it's necessary for you to know that, that you may know the goodness of the gospel that has been presented to you. As Andrew shared with us this morning, we don't understand the heights of our salvation until we understand the depths of our sin.

That was so good I wrote that down in my notes that I might repeat it again in the sermon. And even when I came to faith in Jesus Christ, I really didn't understand the depths of my sin at that particular time.

But as I have grown in Christ, I've come to see more deeply just how much of a sinful wretch I was, a worm in the dirt, deserving of the judgment of God. But praise God for his word that it is revealed to me the light of the word of the gospel of Christ, the goodness of God that he has shown to us in his son.

And the more I study the word of God, the bigger and more awesome he looks. Now, there are times when I was wandering in my sin that I did not know my sin until somebody brought to me the word of God and revealed my sin to me.

In Romans 3, 19 and 20, it says that through the knowledge of the law comes a knowledge of sin. And Paul will say later on in Romans chapter 7, I didn't know what it meant to covet until I heard in the law, you shall not covet.

And then I realized I'm a covetor. And so there were good teachers in my life who brought God's word to me and showed me the sinfulness that I was living in, that I would repent of my sin and then follow in Jesus Christ.

I was at a friend of mine's house when I was a kid, it was a friend that I used to go to all the time and we would play Madden football together. Now this was on the Super Nintendo entertainment system.

This was when the graphics were real bad, but somehow you could still make out players in a football and all of that. Now it's, it's almost lifelike the way that they do those football games, but we still love playing Madden on Super Nintendo and sometimes we play on the same team.

Sometimes we play on teams opposite one another. And then we'd get frustrated whenever the computer wouldn't do what we wanted the video game to do. Right? I threw the pass, the computer couldn't catch it.

So that's the computer's fault. So then we would curse at the video game. Like it's the silliest thing. Why are you getting mad at a video game? But we'd get mad at it and we'd throw words at it and they weren't real bad words.

We still, you know, we claim to be Christians. Christians don't talk that way. So we found alternatives to those words. Anybody else done that? Yeah. And so we're using these alternative curse words as we're playing Madden.

My friend's dad came downstairs and he had a Bible open and he sat down with me and he said, Gabe, I want to talk to you about some of the words you're using. And he said, you might think that some of these words that you're saying are not really all that bad, but, uh, I mean, you need to consider that the words that you say need to be honoring to the Lord is what you're saying.

Truly honoring of God. And he pointed me to Ephesians four 29, let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth, but only such as is good for building up as fits the occasion. Apparently there's an occasion even a playing Madden that it may give grace to those who hear.

And he said to me, can you say that the words that you're saying would actually be honoring to God? And I argued with him, I said, I'm not saying anything bad. And he said, well, funny that you mentioned that he had a dictionary with him too.

So he opened up his dictionary and he went to those alternative words that I was using and pointed out what those alternative words actually mean. What do you think they mean? The words that I, that, that I was trying to avoid, that's, that's what those alternative words actually meant.

And I was really mad at this guy. I was like, come on, shouldn't you be saying to me, thank you for not saying worse words. You could be saying worse words, but I'm glad you've come into my home and are not using those worse words.

But I remembered this encounter, right? I may have argued with it in the moment, but as I grew and came to an understanding of that our speech even needs to be submitted unto the Lord God, even my tongue is part of my body that I'm supposed to submit to Christ.

And I'm thankful for that man's correction. Not that I would avoid certain words, but rather that I would choose to speak in a way that is glorifying to God as we've all been called to do. So there's an example of a time that I did not know I was sinning until somebody brought me the word and showed me that we need to have words that are honoring of God.

There have been other times in my life where I have been in sin and I knew I was sinning, but what was my excuse? Who will know? Who has to know I'm doing this? I'm not hurting anybody else. I can continue in this sin.

I'll just ask God for forgiveness, which is putting the Lord your God to the test. I've talked with you before about some of the sexual immorality that I wandered around in when I was in my young twenties and believe that as long as I wasn't doing something really bad then I was doing okay.

And I'm thankful that I got caught. And there was a man who confronted me in my sin with Bible open, turning pages, showing me that the wages of sin is death. And if I do not turn from my wicked ways that the judgment of God would come upon me.

And by the Holy Spirit that was in my heart, I was terrified in the moment that he confronted me over the sin that he knew that I was in. The light shining upon my sin and my darkness that I might see the truth of God according to his word.

This is one of the ways that the word of God reveals to us our sin and shines the light of Christ that we may see Christ, his goodness and his holiness that we have been called to walk in. First Thessalonians 5, 5, we are not of the darkness.

We are sons of light, children of the day. Second Timothy 1 10, Christ abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. By hearing the gospel of Christ, I have turned from sin and desire the holiness of God.

And once again, these two metaphors that Jesus uses here, these are, these are pure. You are the salt of the earth. If salt loses its saltiness, it's good for nothing. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

The Church as a City on a Hill

Now this was a phrase that president Ronald Reagan used a lot over the course of his political career. He's most famous for saying it in his farewell address, which he delivered as he left the white house in 1989.

But he had been using the phrase even going back to the seventies. In an interview with a particular newspaper, he said that he was not the originator of the phrase. It's kind of funny that Reagan had to tell somebody that he didn't come up with this phrase, but rather he had read it in a sermon from a 17th century Puritan named John Winthrop, where Winthrop had talked about America being a shining city on a hill.

Now Winthrop, when he talked about that, he wasn't saying that America is supposed to be an example to the rest of the world. What Winthrop was hoping for was that this would be a nation that was fully submitted to the word of God, that would be under the law of God, that would proclaim the gospel of God.

And if this was a country that was committed to that, then it's a shining city on a hill. But my friends, America is not in and of itself a shining city on a hill. The United States of America is just as dark as the rest of the world.

Celebrating the murder of unborn children through abortion, celebrating the abomination that is same-sex marriage, redefining these things, calling love that which is not love, calling good that which God calls evil, America's dark.

It is not an example to the world. The shining city on a hill is not a country on the globe. The shining city on a hill is the church. And we have been called to shine the light of the gospel in a dark place.

I came to you to Texas from Kansas. And where I lived in western Kansas, it was much flatter than eastern Texas. Not only was the landscape flat, there were no trees. There were parts in southwest Kansas where you could stand and you could see towns that were miles and miles away.

Now where I worked, where I lived for a period of time, was a little town called Meade, Kansas. And there were some nights, particularly in the summertime, that were clear and beautiful stars shining in the sky.

And you could go stand at a particular spot in Meade County and you could see cities, all the major, well, major cities, at least bigger than Meade, that were out further away. You could stand at a certain spot.

If you look to the northeast, you could see Dodge City. That was 45 miles away. If you look to the northwest, you could see Garden City. That was 70 miles away. And you could look to the southwest and see Liberal, which was 35 miles away.

Just strips of light right there on the horizon, but you could see those cities from a long way off. And so the church is supposed to be piercing the darkness in this same way. We are a city on a hill.

And we cannot be in fellowship with worldly things. As the Spirit says to us in 2 Corinthians 6 .14, what fellowship does light have with darkness? We can't let worldly philosophies and ideologies come into the church or try to adapt the things that we do as a church to the way the world does things, because then we just look like the world.

And we're not a shining light. And the world knows this. They can look at the church and they can say, you're doing the same things we are. So why do I need to go to church? Why waste my Sunday morning?

Why give my hard-earned dollars to the church when you guys are doing just the same thing that we are? You just look like a social club to me. If we are truly living in the way that Christ has called us to live, we're going to look different from the world.

They may not call us godly. They may not call us good, but they will recognize we look different. They may not recognize or realize the fact that we're shining a light in darkness, but that's exactly what we're doing if we follow in the way that Christ calls us to live.

The apostle Paul said in Philippians 2 verses 12 and 13, work out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you to will and to work for his good pleasure. He goes on in verse 14 to say, do everything without grumbling and complaining.

I mean, if you, that's piercing your heart right now this morning, right? Do everything without grumbling and complaining, man, I'm a complainer. I could enter the Olympic games for complaining, but why are we to not complain?

That verse goes on to say that we may be children of God, pure and blameless, without fault in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation in which we shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of truth.

See, there is a call for us to work. If we are light in Jesus Christ, if we are the light of the world, then that is going to be demonstrated in the works that we do. Continuing on in Matthew 5, 15, nor do people put a light or nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand and it gives light to all who are in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven. Now, somebody might say, well, hang on a second, Pastor Gabe. I remember you saying something last week, and you've even said it a little bit this morning as well, that we don't do anything to become salt and light.

Jesus makes us this way. And so it's by faith in Christ that we're the light of the world. But here it says that there is something that we're supposed to do in the same way. Let your light shine before others so that they see your good work.

So we do have to work. Amen, glory, hallelujah. I never said that we didn't have to work. I just said that you don't do something to become light. Jesus makes you light, but you're going to demonstrate that you're shining the light of Christ in the things that you do.

When we're talking here, the illustration of a lamp being put on a stand, giving light to the whole house. A lamp just doesn't sit there and flicker. It puts off heat. It sends out rays. And so in the same way, as we are in Christ, we're going to show the light of Christ in the things that we do.

And people will see our good works and know that we belong to Jesus. As it says in James chapter 2, faith without works is a dead faith. It's not really faith in Christ at all. God gave us this light, not just to flicker, to stand there and flicker, but there's something we are to do.

And we're going to demonstrate that we have Christ in our lives by the works that we do. What kind of works will those be? Well, we've read them already in the Sermon on the Mount. Poor in spirit, those who mourn.

Blessed are the meek or the gentle. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, which the Apostle Paul says in Romans chapter 5, even persevering in the midst of persecution is a good work that is being done in Christ.

And as we go on from this passage through the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, what are some other things that Jesus says are good works that are to be done in his name? Obeying God's word, kindness toward others, sexual purity, where Jesus will get in Matthew chapter 5, verse 27, saying that even if you lust after somebody that's sexually impure, that's the same as committing adultery of breaking the sixth commandment.

Or seventh commandment, I'm sorry. He goes on to say, tell the truth, love your enemies, give to the needy. Do not be a hypocrite. Pray in the way that Christ taught us to pray. Lay up your treasure in heaven.

Do not be anxious about anything but trust in God. Do not be judgmental of others. Treat them as you would want to be treated. Bear good fruit by doing the will of God, the father. And at the very conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, obey God's word.

And anything that is contrary to these things is darkness. Just consider the contrast that the apostle Paul gives us in Galatians chapter 5. The works of the flesh are evident sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.

I warn you as I warned you before that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Against such things, there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and its desires. If we are in Christ Jesus, these are the works that we will demonstrate.

Sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and doing as Jesus has called us to do. John 14, 15, you will show me that you love me when you obey my commands. Consider this warning that John gives in 1 John 1, 5.

This is the message that we have heard from him and proclaim to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin. I come back again to Matthew chapter 5, where it is said to us that a lamp is lit and is not hid under a basket.

It is put on a stand and it gives light to all who are in the house. My friends, if we understand that Christ is the one who has lit this light in our lives, God intends for this light to do something.

God did not light the light and hide it under a bushel. No, he's going to let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine till Jesus comes. I'm going to let it shine. Amen. We understand the illustration of it being put on a lampstand as well, because Jesus in Revelation chapters 1 through 3 is described as the Lord who stands in the midst of the lampstands.

What is the lampstand in Revelation 2 and 3? It's a representation of the church. To seven churches, Jesus addresses there in those two chapters, Revelation 2 and 3, five of those seven churches, he gives a warning.

He says, you started out well, you've done good works, but I have this against you. And if that church does not repent of the worldliness that has come into its midst, what does Jesus say will happen to that church?

He will remove their lampstand. So we must understand the light that we are shining in the darkness. Pastor Tom has already said to you this morning, there are churches in our own community right now that have corrupted the gospel.

They preach a different Christ. It's even here in Lindale, Texas. We must know the soundness of God's word, the truth that is contained within. Preach it and proclaim it until the day of the Lord. Let me conclude with these words, and then we will pray.

The Gospel of John and the Judgment of Light

The gospel of John chapter three, verse 16. Everyone has heard this verse before, right? For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only son of God.

And this is the judgment that the light has come into the world. And the people love the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his work should be exposed.

But whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. Let's finish there and close with prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for what you have taught us from this passage and help us to continue to understand what it means to be the light of the world, to let our light shine before men so that they may see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven.

We ask these things in Jesus name. Amen.

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