Ye Are the Light of the World - Part 1

Hello? Are these on? Okay. I'm going to quickly pray, or open up and pray. Could we bow our heads? Lord, I thank you for these people before me, Lord, and I thank you for the privilege I've had to speak to them, Lord.

May I ask that the word that has gone forth already this week could not leave their hearts, Lord, but that it would grow, Lord. Lord, let it become fruitful, Lord, in a mighty way. Let these people before me become Christ-like, Lord.

Let them walk as Christ walked. Me too, Lord. I look at the God who lies around me, Lord, and I think, how can I speak to them? Lord, I ask you that I would speak to them this day, Lord.

You said in your word, without me you can do nothing, and I know that, Lord. And I ask thee to do everything today as I speak to them, Lord. In Jesus' name, Lord, I ask this of the blood, the precious blood that was shed for sinners, shed for me and for them.

In Jesus' name, Amen. I suppose a good place to start a sermon is in the beginning, so I'm going to start with Genesis 1, this one before. You don't have to turn, there's going to be quite a few places.

Genesis 1 says, In the beginning, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And then comes these amazing words, And God said, Let there be light. And just like that, there was light.

And God saw the light that was good. And we read in John chapter 1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. This is Jesus.

And the Word was God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

And the light shined in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. And just like in the beginning of time, God said, Let there be light. And like that, light just suddenly appeared.

So, when that little baby child, Jesus, came into the world, in the midst of the donkeys and the cows and the shepherds, that little baby was like a light that suddenly burst into a world of darkness and sin. I use the illustration. It's a bit like when you walk into a very, very dark room, and it's pitch dark, and you can't see a thing.

And you just turn the light switch, and the whole room fills with light. So it was when Jesus came into the world. The light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.

But 1 John 2, verse 6 says, He that saith... These are staggering words. He that saith he abideth in Him, in Jesus, ought himself also so to walk, even as Jesus walked. We ought to shine as Jesus shined.

Matthew 5, I love Matthew 5. You know that famous portion from verse 13. It says, Ye are the salt of the earth, but the salt of lots is savour. Wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing.

These are terrifying words. But to be cast out and to be trodden on the foot of men. Ye are the light of the world.

Not Jesus. Jesus is in heaven and is in your heart. Ye are the light of the world.

A city that is set in a hill cannot be hid. Don't let Satan tell you it can. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify our Father which is in heaven. And I say, if you can imagine, if you can imagine a world in which the salt of lots is savour, in which Christians, you and me, people everywhere, started to hide their lights under a bushel. In that world, sin would become more and more.

And more and more, people would start to blaspheme the name of God openly, without fear. Churches would become a place of entertainment. But you know, you don't have to imagine a place like that, or a time like that, or a world like that.

All you have to do is look around you. We're living right in that world right now. A time when Christians everywhere are hiding their light under a bushel.

The salt that's lost its savour. There are two ways that I can see that you can shine Jesus in this world. Hear the light.

The one is you can walk Jesus, and the other is you can talk Jesus. And obviously you can't talk about Jesus before you walk Jesus, else you're a hypocrite. Let us examine the first one.

Walk Jesus. 1 John 2 verse 6 says, As I've said, He that saith he abideth in him ought himself, this is a command, so to walk even as he, Jesus, walked. Not less, not more.

When I was at school, this is seven, I suppose that's your grade nine. Let's see, that was around about eight years ago. I stood up in my class, and they gave me an opportunity to speak to the boys.

They gave each boy opportunities to speak, and I spoke about Christ. I told them of Jesus. I can't remember exactly what I said, but I know this.

I don't think they'd ever heard it before, and they were staggered. But Jesus died on the cross for our sins. He came to save us from our sins.

And I remember walking from that class, seeing the boys staggered. God, in His mercy, did that. And I did a very stupid, foolish thing.

I walked to the next class, and I went into that class, and I did a sin. I won't tell you what it was. It was a stupid thing.

And a Catholic boy came to me, and he said, Roy, and I said this was shame. He said, Roy, you?