In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt and light of the world. Salt speaks of character while light speaks of testimony. This means that, as bright lights in a dark world, we are meant to be people of character and confession. In this message, Adrian Rogers explains the “Who”, the “What”, and the “How” of this powerful light within us.
Love Worth Finding | Audio Program
Bright Lights in a Dark World
>> Known for his unique ability to simplify profound truth so that it can be applied to everyday life, Adrienne Rogers was one of the most effective preachers, respected Bible teachers, and Christian leaders of our time. Thanks for joining us for this message. Here's Adrienne Rogers. >> Find God's Word, Matthew chapter 5. In a moment, we're going to begin reading in verse 14. The title of the message today, Bright Lights in a Dark World. In this passage of Scripture, Jesus is going to tell us we are the light of the world. Now both salt and light have to be applied. When salt is applied, it goes inward and disappears. What comes from within and always appears. The salt speaks of character. The light speaks of testimony. And what the world needs is both penetration and illumination. Both character and confession. These are astounding words from the lips of Jesus, listen to them. He says in verse 14, "You're the light of the world, a city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick and it give it the light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father, which is in heaven." Now I want us to think of three simple little words today, who, what, and why. Now that's an easy outline for us to follow, who? Jesus Christ in verse 14 says, "Ye are the light of the world." No matter whom was He speaking, well this is the Sermon on the Mount and where was the Mount? Well that was in northern Galilee, by the shore of Galilee. To whom was He speaking to the villagers there, to His disciples, fisher folk, a motley crew, and He said to them, "You are the light of the world." Now He's not an Athens speaking to the intelligentsia. He's not in Rome speaking to those with imperial and military might. Already Plato and Socrates and Aristotle and the others, the philosophers had taught. And Jesus is saying to these people, "You are the light of the world." Now can you imagine that on a hillside in Galilee? The Galileans, my dear friend, were the hillbillies of that day. They were the country cousins, the bumpkins of that day. It is to these people that Jesus is saying, "You are the light of the world." Now that's one of the greatest statements ever made are a great statement of megalomania, where somebody is saying something that is absolutely absurd and ridiculous. And I can just imagine them saying, if they were thinking at all, "Who, me, us?" Are you talking to us? We? We are the light of the world? Amazing. But my dear friend, that is exactly what Jesus is saying. As a matter of fact, the Greek scholars tell us that the word "you" is emphatic. It means you and nobody else. You are the light of the world. Do you know how God intends to get His work done, dear friend, in this world today? If Jesus Christ were to stand here on this pulpit platform this morning, He could very well say the same thing to those of you who are sitting in this place, He could look you right in the face and say, "You are the light of the world." You say, "Now, wait a minute, pastor, you may be the light, but I'm not the light. I'm excused." Don't know. My dear friend, you are the light of the world. And what happens so many times is that our members don't understand that. It's like a general who calls His army together and He gets His army in front of them and He lectures to them on the principles of war and tells them all about warfare and then He sends them off to eat a chicken dinner while He puts His rifle on His shoulder and goes off to war. Somehow we have the idea that there are just a few people who are the light of the world or just a few people who preach the gospel, but that is not so. What's planned is to take ordinary people just like you, just like me and through us to do extraordinary things. Now the world thinks it lives in life. The world brags about being so enlightened. We have the high muckety mucks of this world, but the Apostle Paul with a sense of sarcasm said in 1st Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 20, "Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the dispute of this world?" What He's saying is, "All right, all of you statesmen and all of you movers and shakers and you philosophers and you thinkers and you scientists and you educators and you people in the think tank. Where have you gotten us to?" I was thinking the other day about the technology of our age, folks. The technology of today is the science fiction of when I was a boy. When I leave this place to go home, I get in an automobile that is regulated by a computer. I remember that I'm supposed to say something my secretary, I can pick up a telephone and talk to her while I'm driving down the highway. I get home, I walk into a house that has the climate controlled, it is air conditioned. I go and sit down in front of a thing called a television set and I have a space command, at least I used to have it, for my grandson hit it somewhere. I have no idea where. I can change the channels without even having to get up. What kind of channels? My dear friend, the news can happen across the ocean and some sort of a television signal goes from the earth up to a satellite and comes out of that satellite down into my living room and I'm in touch with the entire world, and I'm doing this while my tea is being heated in the microwave, it's incredible. But yet, we're in deeper difficulty than we've ever been. We call it an enlightened age, but we're sinking lower and lower. The question is, if we're so smart and if we have so much light, why are we in the difficulty that we're in? What is happening, my dear friend, is that we have substituted intelligence for wisdom. Somebody wrote these words, "Thus did Western man decide to abolish himself, creating his own boredom out of his own affluence, his own vulnerability, out of his own strength, his own impotence, out of his own irratomania, himself blowing the trumpet that brought the walls of his own city tumbling down. And having convinced himself that he is too numerous, labors with pill and scaffold and syringe to make himself fewer. Until at last, having educated himself into imposility and polluted and drugged himself into stupefaction, he keels over a weary, battered, old, brontosaurus and becomes extinct." That's poignant, isn't it? That's society today, that's enlightenment today. And Jesus says to common people, not to the statesmen and the philosophers, but to the common folks like us. We are the light of the world. That's the wonderful thing about the gospel. You know, Jesus said, "I've hidden these things from the wise and the prudent, and I have revealed them under babes." Do you know the wisdom of God? The Bible says, "In the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, and it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." Not foolish preaching, but the foolishness of preaching. What is it? He said, "We preach Christ crucified." You see, through the cross, let me give you the wisdom of God. Let me tell you why we have the light of the world. Through the cross, through the cross, even a little child can know the heart of God. Is there any greater wisdom than knowing the heart of God? And even a little child can understand, my dear friend, the mysteries of life and death. We are the light of the world. Now the world doesn't understand this. The world looks at us and the world says, "They don't count." The world puts the emphasis upon beauty, upon broad, and upon brains, and upon bucks. But Jesus puts the emphasis upon character. You're the salt of the earth. He puts the emphasis upon revelation. You are the light of the world, how wonderful that is. Now, some time ago I was in Moscow. After I preached there, there was a very fine congregation. Some of the leaders of the city of Moscow were there. And they came to the platform and wanted to talk. A man stood there, and he said, "May I have a few moments with you?" And I said, "Yes." He said, "I am a philosopher." He said, "I study philosophy and I belong to a philosophical society." I said, "That's very nice." He said, "Could you come and lecture to our philosophical society?" I said, "I would like to, but my schedule will not allow it. I cannot come." He said, "May I ask you a question?" I said, "Certainly." He said, "It seems to me that there are two ecologies, a higher ecology and a lower ecology." Would you agree? I said, "Yes, sir, I would." He said, "It seems to me that these two ecologies are in conflict with each other." Would you agree? I said, "Yes, sir, I would." And he said, "It seems that there is a constant struggle between the higher ecology and the lower ecology." I said, "That is correct." And then I just broke in, and I said, "Sir, what you call the higher ecology is God. What you call the lower ecology is the power Satan. And these are in constant conflict, one with the other. And I said, "Sir, the Bible teaches that the Son of God is Jesus Christ who died for our sins." And the Bible teaches that if we will repent of our sins and receive Christ into our hearts as our personal Savior, then Christ lives on the inside. And then the Bible says, "Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world." And I said, "You can overcome the lower ecology because the one who is the Lord of the higher ecology, Jesus Christ Himself, lives in your heart and gives you power day by day." And I said, "He lives in my heart. He wants to live in your heart." "Oh, he got out his pad and started to write. He said, "Give me that again. I want to hear that." And it was amazing because the boys and girls in our Sunday school know that, but he didn't know it. He didn't know it. You know why he didn't know it? The same reason you wouldn't have known it unless somebody had taught you. You see, you didn't figure it out. We don't have anything we haven't received. But see, that was such good news to a man who had lived all of his life, even though a philosopher being taught there is no God, not understanding what we understand, very simple to understand. So that was the first man I talked with. I turned around, there was another man standing behind me. He had his card already out, it was his business card. He said, "Sir, I am a space scientist." He was with the space agency there. He handed me his card. He said, "I want to talk with you." He said, "I have been a scientist all of my life." And he said, "I want to tell you through the study of science and the laws of the universe I have come to believe that there is a higher power. I have come to believe that there must be some supernatural higher power because all of this could not have happened, the intricate laws of the universe could not operate as they operate unless there is some controlling force." I said, "That's very good, sir, and I agree with you that all of this world shows the marks of its creator, Almighty God." But I said, "Sir, all you can do is know about God through the study of science. You can see how God works, but you cannot understand who God is until God reveals Himself to you." And I said, "God has revealed Himself to you in a book called the Bible." And I said, "The Bible tells you that this God who made everything is a God of love sent His Son to die for you on the cross, to redeem you from your sins." And I gave to that space scientist two big black Bibles, he hugged them to his chest and went off with those Bibles like he had received the grand prize, a scientist. But he needed to know Jesus. I turned from him and it was almost like these three had been choreographed and they're standing right over there. Somebody said, "As a lady who wants to speak with you, she's about 35 beautiful, her eyes glisten with tears." She said, "Sir, I'm a lawyer." She said, "This is the first religious service I've ever been in in my life, in my life." She said, "Tonight, I've given my heart to Jesus Christ." I had the joy of sharing with her and helping her to get started in the Christian life. And I thought to myself, "Isn't it wonderful that God can take people like we are just plain ordinary folks and yet fill us with the Lord Jesus Christ and give us His Word. My dear friend, I want to say to every philosopher and to every scientist and to every lawyer that Jesus Christ is the light of the world and His light shines in us and then His light shines through us. And God just takes normal people, ordinary people, people like me and people like you. And Jesus says to you and to me, "You have the answer. You are. You are the light of the world." And so the very first question that we want to ask and answer is, "Who?" The answer, "You." "You?" You say, "Not me, pastor." Yes, "You." Now, many of us, therefore, we try to get out of it. So let's go on and answer it a little bit further. Not only who, but what? You are the light of the world. Now you don't light light. You don't salt, salt. The I-B is that we're to get outside the four walls of the church and we're to be the light of the world. And our Lord, the master teacher, gives three illustrations here and I want you to look at them. First of all, he talks about the foolishness of concealed light. Look in verses 14 and 15, "Year of the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid, neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel." Now the bushel, of course, is like our bushel basket. It was something that you carried commodities in. What I think our Lord is saying is you shouldn't let business and possessions and things hide your light. They don't put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick. And it giveth light unto all that are in the house, let your light so shine. Now what is he saying? He's talking about the foolishness, first of all, the foolishness of concealed light. You don't light a lamp and put it under a bushel basket. And my dear friend, when you got saved, you were saved to shine. Don't hide your testimony. Are you ashamed to carry a Bible to work? Are you a businessman without a Bible on your desk? Are you a student who does not carry at least a New Testament? Sir, when you go out to lunch tomorrow, and those other buddies are there around that table, do you bow your head and thank God for the food? Do you invite them to do so? Do people know that you're a Christian? Are you hiding your lamp under a bushel? Are you ashamed of the one who died for you? Oh, the light is burning. You love the Lord, but you're hiding your light, your smothering your light. You have it under a bushel, the foolishness of concealed light. What's a light for? A light is to shine. You say, I love the Lord Jesus, I know you do. You even have that Jesus saves lapel pen, the only problem is you wear it on your underwear. You hide your light, you don't let others know that you love the Lord Jesus Christ. Be bold, be bold, the foolishness of concealed light. And then, oh, by dear friend, there's the faithfulness of courageous light. He said, you to take your light and put it on a candlestick. That is, lift it up, that it will give light to all that are in the house. You say, but pastor, you don't know where I work. I work with a lot of pagans. Hey, pastor, if you only knew the dirty jokes, if you only knew the gossip, if you only knew the blasphemy, you'd understand why I want to get another job. I want to get out of this place. I'm just so oppressed there, there's nobody saved there where I am. I want to go to an office that's full of Christians. You know what you want to do? You just want a light light, don't you? You just want the salt salt, don't you? Why do you think that God put you where He put you? Why do you think you're in that place? I remember reading the book of Titus, and Titus is complaining about the Christians, and he says something about the people who lived in Crete. The Christians are always slow bellies, and I don't know what the word slow belly means, but it doesn't sound good to me, they're slow bellies. And then Paul said to Titus, for this cause left eye thee in Crete, that's why you're there, because of the way these people are. My dear friend, the Bible says we're to shine as lights in a dark world. That's why we're there. You say I'm not much, brother Rogers, I can't sing, I don't have a lot of money, I'm not good looking, I didn't make high grades in school, it doesn't make any difference, just let your light shine. It's not your light, it's his light anyway. Christ is the light of the world, and it is him shining in you, I want to ask your question. What is most important in a house? The chandelier in the foyer, or the single light bulb that keeps you from breaking your neck on the basement steps, you see? I mean, it's not the ornamentation, it's who you are, it's where you are. You are a light in a dark place. There's the foolishness of concealed lights, you don't light a light and put it under a bushel. My dear friend, there is the faithfulness of courageous light. You let your light shine, and it gives light to all that are in the house, there's somebody, there's somebody that you can influence for the Lord Jesus Christ, and then my dear friend, look at it again, there's the forcefulness of collective light. Look if you're willing, verse 14, ye are the light of the world, a city that is set on the hill cannot be hid. Now what is a city? A city that is full of light is where men have lighted a light, they have not put it under a bushel, they put it on a candlestick, but this house has a light, that house has a light, that house has a light, and that house has a light, that house has a light, and all over. The first thing you know, there is a glow across the sky because that city is an elevated place, it's up on the hill. What's our Lord talking about? He's talking about the church, he's talking about us now collectively, he's not talking about concealed light, he's not talking only about courageous light, my dear friend, the many of us together can glow for the Lord Jesus Christ and make an impact that we cannot make by ourselves. We need one another, and we shine brightest when we shine together, and a city that is set on the hill, it can't be hid, and the church is the city of God, we're to be living in an elevated place. I have gone to Israel and been there where Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount, and you go out at nighttime and stand on those hills of Galilee, and you look off and there's a city in the distance, it's named Safat. And you can see the lights of that city even today, and it surely must have been the city that Jesus was talking about when he said, "A city set on the hill, cannot be hid." Oh, my dear friend, this is the what, we are the light of the world. If we don't shine, who's going to? It is our privilege, it is our duty, it is our responsibility to shine for the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, last of all, how are we going to do it? How are we going to do it? Look, if you will, in verse 16, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father, which is in heaven." Now, here my dear friend is the how, how are you going to do it? Well, first of all, there's going to have to be surrender, there's going to have to be surrender. Look at the little word let, do you see it? Let it happen. You see, when you get right with God, when you get saved, when you get filled the Holy Spirit of God, you don't have to make yourself shine, you will shine, just let yourself shine. If you force it, it'll be a glare and not a glow. You just let your self shine. It's just your willingness to cooperate with God. It's not that difficult, let your light so shine. Manly Beasley, who is now in heaven, used to say, "You get right with God, truly, thoroughly right with God, and you'll have to backslide to keep from winning souls to Jesus Christ." It's just automatic. You're going to shine if you're full of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible tells about Stephen, who was stoned. Remember Stephen was stoned for his testimony? The Bible says that while they were stoning him, he looked up into heaven, and the Bible says his face shined or shone like the face of an angel. I don't think that Stephen had been to a seminar on face shining. I don't think he'd study and said, "I'm going to make my face shine." He's just so full of Jesus. He's just so full of Jesus. You just let him shine. It's just surrender to him. The little boy asked his daddy, "I'm told Daddy, how tall am I?" The dad said, "Well, son, I don't know, about four and a half feet." He said, "Daddy, how tall is Jesus?" Well, he said, "Son, I don't know. Maybe he's six feet tall." He said, "I'm four and a half, and he's six feet tall." He said, "Well, then, if Jesus is in me, he'll stick out, won't he?" He really will. If Jesus is in you, he will stick out. My dear friend, you just let your light shine. You see, there has to be surrender. Just say, "Here I am, Lord Jesus." The Christ in you will not be contained if you just let him be Jesus in you. But not only will there be surrender, "Hey, there has to be sacrifice." Because he says, "Let your light watch, shine, shine." Did you know there's no shining without burning? No shining without burning. It was said of John the Baptist, he was a burning and a shining light. You see, if we're willing to be consumed, if we're willing to be fueled for the Master's fire, that as it was on the day of Pentecost, there's said on every man's head a flickering flame of fire, they were like human candles burning for the Lord, a burning and a shining light. Are you willing to be consumed for Christ? Are you willing to burn out for the Lord Jesus Christ? There can be no shining without burning. And then last of all, not only must there be that surrender, not only must there be that sacrifice, but all of these speak primarily of that sanctification. You see what he says is this, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. That's sanctification. That's the Christ life. That's the life you live, it's Jesus in you and they can see that. Hudson Taylor, the great missionary who founded the China Inland Mission, Hudson Taylor came back and a newspaper man said, Hudson Taylor, did you know that they are comparing you to the apostle Paul? How does that make you feel? He said, it makes me feel real bad. He said, I wanted to remind them of Jesus, of Jesus. Let them see your good works which is Christ in you and the life I live, I live now by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And it's not my life, it is his life, not only a changed life, but an exchanged life and people see Jesus Christ in me and in you. Now folks, listen, we're coming to the end of an age. There's more darkness today than there has ever been in history in my estimation. We know more science. We have more abilities. We have more technology, but our world, the whole world is lost in the darkness of sin. The light of the world is Jesus. Do you believe that? Do you? That was a week a man. Do you believe that? The light of the world is Jesus. Some years ago in South Carolina, there was a terrible fire in the schoolhouse. 70 children were burned to death. The people in that South Carolina community came to stand around that schoolhouse to do what they could do, but the raging inferno was such that they could not get in there to rescue the children from that terrible holocaust. There was a father who came there and looked in through the window and he could see his son in the flames. The son recognized the dad and the dad recognized the son and the boy said to his dad, he said, "Daddy, save me, daddy, save me." The dad began to go into the flames and strong men held him back. There was no way it was totally impossible. It was too late. And the little boy saw what was happening. He began to cry and said, "Daddy, can't you save me? Daddy, can't you save me? Daddy, daddy, save me." That father watched his son wither like a flower with an acetylene torch turned on it. Night and day after that, that father could see with his eyes his son in those flames. But here with his ears, the pitiful cry of his son, "Daddy, can't you save me? Daddy, can't you save me?" He lived about two years after that and he died prematurely because he died of such an anguish of heart and soul. Now, friend, I want to say something about this world in which we live. This world is in a perishing state. This world looks at science. This world says to science, "Science, can't you save me?" And science says, "No, I can't save you. I can tell you how far it is from earth to the sun, but I cannot tell you how to remove sin from your heart. I can't save you." The world looks at philosophy and the world says, "Philosophy, can't you save me?" And philosophy says, "I can't save you. I can tell you more and more about less and less until you know everything about very little, but I can't save you." The world looks at education and says, "Education, can't you save me?" And he says, "I can make you smart, but I can't make you wise. I can't save you." The world looks to culture, and the world says, "Culture, can't you save me?" And the culture says, "I can't save you. All I can do is make the world a better place to go to hell from, but I can't save you." The friend is only one who can save, and he's mighty to save, and his name is Jesus. He's the light of the world. In your home you've tried everything. You need Jesus. In your life you've tried everything. You've tried religion. You've tried church membership. You've tried turning over a new leaf, but you've never ever bowed at the feet of Jesus. You've never truly received Christ into your heart. I'm telling you, my dear friend, that Jesus and Jesus alone is the answer to your heart hunger. Jesus Christ who saved me when I was a teenage boy is the Jesus who wants to save you, and He will save you today if you're trusting. The light of the world is Jesus, and He's light for you, for your darkness. If you would like to learn more about how you can know Jesus, or deepen your relationship with Him, simply click the Discover Jesus link on our website, lwf.org. For a copy of this message or additional resources, visit our online store at lwf.org, or call 1-800-274-5683. Thank you. (gentle music) [BLANK_AUDIO]