Salt and Light, you know where that comes from. It comes from Matthew 5. How many of you do not yet have the article called Salt and Light, Being Involved in the Secular World Without Compromise, in your hands? Okay, we'll give you a few more minutes until you receive that. But what we are going to do for these five weeks, we're going to consider the subject of how to take a right stand in the world while at the same time actually having the necessary contact with the world. And this is a big struggle for a lot of Christian people. They want to be in the world, but they know they're not supposed to be of the world. And there have been various people over the years who have either been so involved with the world that they really can't make any impact on the world, and then there have been others who, in their sincere desire to separate themselves from the world, have isolated themselves in such a way that they can't make an impact. Now, both of those are wrong. And that's what Christ addressed in the Sermon on the Mount. in the introduction where he told us how to become salt and light. Now the reason I wanted to share this article with you, please don't distribute this too widely or make copies or pass it around because I published it in a magazine some years ago and I have not yet obtained permission to reproduce it beyond this kind of use right here. Salt and light, being involved in the secular world without compromise. Like the Civil War soldier who had relatives both in the North and in the South, who wore a blue shirt and gray pants, the man who takes up this subject is likely to be fired upon from both sides. Much has been written on compromise, and there will likely be repetition here. But our approach is not to settle for a balance between two errors. Neither isolation nor assimilation are an appropriate response. And to try to balance them is not just to mix apples and oranges, as the saying goes, but to use the Lord's metaphors is to mix salt and light. Now, you can't mix salt and light. They're two completely different things. So why did the Lord use those two illustrations or those two metaphors of salt and light? That's what we want to try to learn in this series, and we want to see what they mean for our lives and how we are to apply their principles to our lives. Let's pause for just a word of prayer. Father, thank You for the opportunity to study these things together, and help us, I pray, to have open hearts and to learn. In Jesus' name, amen. Both salt and light show the errors of the common mistakes that people make. One of the clearest explanations of the biblical response to the secular world is in Paul David Tripp's book, Age of Opportunity, a biblical guide to parenting teens. In that book in chapter 9, which is titled Life in the Real World, Tripp explains the errors of both isolation and assimilation by measuring them against Matthew 5, 13 through 16. You may want to turn to that portion of Scripture. It's printed for you here in this article. Ye are the salt of the earth, but if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is henceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are 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, 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 your Father which is in heaven. Now we're talking about the two problems of assimilation and isolation. Assimilation means that you take into yourself those characteristics of the world which keep you from being truly effective. Isolation means that you so separate yourself from the world that you're not able to have any influence on the world. What you and I need to do is to avoid both assimilation and isolation. Are you with me? All right. Let's talk for a moment about the problem of assimilation. The person who assimilates the culture is the savorless salt. You see that? In other words, if you become like the culture that you're trying to make an impact on, then you are salt without saltiness. He is involved in the secular world, but he has compromised his opportunity to confront it. He cannot live redemptively because he is like that which he seeks to redeem. Instead of impacting the world, he has been impacted by his world. Christ's indictment is severe. He is, quote, good for nothing, unquote. He serves no redemptive purpose in the world. These words from Matthew's gospel should not be construed to mean that since savorless salt is fit only to be cast out and trodden underfoot of men, that any compromise of testimony leads to loss of salvation. It leads rather to loss of effectiveness. If you would pull a man from the quicksand, you must first keep your own feet on solid ground. That's a very important principle. The Christian who assimilates the culture of the secular world to which he should represent Christ is unable to appeal to men in Christ's stead be he reconciled to God. His unlikeness to Christ, perhaps because of his unwillingness to bear Christ's cross, renders him impotent as an ambassador. Savorless salt is unable to enhance the flavor which would whet the appetite of the world for the meat of the Word. It is unable to provoke the thirst of the world for the water of life. It cannot and does not retard the corruption and decay of sin. It is no longer salt, just useless sand on the path to destruction. But some would argue, didn't Paul become all things to all men that he might by all means save some? Yes, but he did not sin to do so. A young man once told me that he dressed and groomed himself like his worldly friends so that he could reach them for Christ. But would he drink to reach those who do, or smoke, or steal, or worse? Identification with rebellion and blasphemy through clothing or attendance at a rock concert is not a crime like stealing, but it defies the redemptive message of the gospel. Violation of scriptural principle in business, lying to make a deal, or compromising your faith to get a promotion denies the grace of God in a fallen world. Christians must be involved with the secular world in order to have a redemptive influence. But any involvement that prevents the redemptive influence is compromise. Now think on that. That's the problem with assimilation of the culture into your life. But then what about the problem of isolation? It's not that we can have to choose one or the other. We have to avoid the errors of both. That's why the Lord talked about salt and light. The man that isolates himself from the secular world is hidden light. He is uninvolved in the secular world and has forfeited his opportunity to confront it. He cannot live redemptively because he is detached from that which he seeks to redeem. Instead of impacting the world, he is isolated from his world. Christ's illustration shows the absurdity of this response. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick. Putting a lighted candle under a bowl provides no light. In fact, it would make the light go out. Again, it's inappropriate to derive from this verse the notion that anything that allows the light to shine is acceptable. The candlestick is specifically designed to allow the candle to burn safely and effectively. God will provide a way for the Christian's light to shine effectively without endangering his testimony. The Christian who isolates himself from the culture of the secular world, perhaps through some well-intentioned but excessive form of separation, is no ambassador for Christ because he is running from the problem. Could a physician bring the healing balm to a suffering patient if he refused to have contact with the diseased? Those who believe in separation from sin are often accused of isolation from sinners. The accusation doesn't make it true, but if it is true, they are not true separatists. Separation is to the gospel what sterility is to surgery. It's as foolish to scrub and never operate as it is to operate without scrubbing. Separation from sin while giving light to sinners is the only way to let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Who among us does not know a Christian family who is so determined not to be defiled by the things of the world that they are almost isolated entirely, having no influence for Christ outside their own home while having the wrong influence inside it? Unwittingly, teaching the children that it's better to ignore the Great Commission than to get infected with the sin nature of the worldly men is to deny their own sin natures and God's forgiving and enabling grace. What's the biblical balance? How can we be both salt and light in this world, avoiding the errors of both assimilation of the culture and isolation from the culture? Christians who vacillate between isolation and assimilation or who isolate on some issues while assimilating others will not achieve a balance between being salt and light any more than they can make a candle out of salt or salt out of a candle. The answer is not in having just the right amount of each, but in understanding the truth of each metaphor. Does that make sense? Compassionate confrontation is impossible unless the character of the Christian is Christlike. His likeness is the savor of the soul winner. The Christian's life will not be a light to the path of the stumbling sinner unless God's Word is clearly the light unto his own path. Biblical living is the candlestick of the Christian. For the Christian child in a public school, the teen who works at the sandwich shop, the parent who works in the marketplace, or the elderly saint among friends in retirement. Christlikeness of character is the key to involvement in the secular world without compromise. Now, that's where we're headed, and we'll look at this again and talk more about those principles of assimilation and isolation, but I wanted to read that article to you as a sort of an introduction to what we're going to talk about today. Now, take out the sheet that says, Salt and Light, Lesson 1, and you'll see the subheading, enhances flavor, provokes thirst, melts ice, and retards corruption. Now, salt probably does some other things, too. It burns wounds, okay? There's a whole lot of things we might add to that, but these are the primary things that we want you to understand as we go through this series together. If you do not have the handout, Salt and Light, Lesson 1, raise that hand real high and keep it up until the men will get it to you. Oh, my, how did we miss all these? Okay. Well, we'll get it to you here in just a moment, okay? The guys are on their way. Fellas, it might be a good idea to kind of, we guessed at 300 for the beginning, but we clearly have more than that in here now. And that'll be good. Okay, well you'll have that in just a few minutes, and you don't need to fill in the blanks yet on any of these anyway. Now look, no honest Bible believer can deny that Christians are having less and less influence in American society. If anybody's been listening to the news or reading the paper or hearing about recent decisions and things, even though megachurches are cropping up all over the country, Christian television stations in both English and Spanish are widespread, Bible sales and increasingly specialized editions in multiple versions are strong, sin abounds. There are a lot of people who would like to say, oh, Christianity's having a tremendous amount of influence. And yet look what's happening to our culture. And look what we're tolerating as a nation. And look at the decisions that are being made in our courts. And look what's dividing our people. Conservatives and liberals, that's not the issue. It's a matter of truth or consequences is what it is. Now, as we think about these things, the relationship of unbelief and corruption is increasingly clear. And that, it should be is. I made a mistake on the grammar there. But it's increasingly clear. Recent court decisions, you perhaps know about the Texas decision, have expanded the supposed right to privacy that the Supreme Court declared in 1973 in the Roe versus Wade decision, which was the decision that legalized abortion. They did that by finding in the 14th Amendment a supposed right to privacy. In other words, the reason a woman has the right to an abortion is because she has a right to privacy. Now, you think that through for a few minutes, and you'll see that logically a person would have the right to do almost anything if he did it in private, even a murder. Well, of course, there's other court cases that keep that in line. But now, the inevitable has happened. This recent decision to strike down states' laws against homosexuality or sodomy. Many legal scholars believe that this decision will soon be used to nullify all laws against any kind of deviant behavior. It seems clear that we're moving quickly through the final steps of Romans 1, 18 through 32. It really does. Now, when you think about that and you see the relationship between unbelief and corruption here in Romans 1, it's almost undeniable to any person who believes the Bible to see that connection. Take a look at Romans 1. And we'll look through verses 18-22 quickly and begin to see some principles here that will help us to understand the relationship between corruption and unbelief. Romans 1, 18 says, is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse." Now, there is ample evidence in creation for the existence of God and man's responsibility or accountability for that evidence. That accountability means that you and I have all the truth available to us that we need to know that there is a God who is in charge. Even though we might not know Him personally, even though we might not have a Bible accessible to us, We can see from the creation, from the created things, the regularity of the seasons, the life cycle of plants and animals and those kinds of things, that there is clearly order in the universe. That's as clear as taking out your watch and knowing that somewhere there is a watchmaker. For a person to say, well, I don't believe in a watchmaker. I believe that a lightning bolt struck the side of a mountain, and the silica was melted into glass, and the metal was coalesced from the ore, and all of those things formed into a large clock. And then over the period of time, as rust and erosion wore them down, they were reduced to that wristwatch you wear on your wrist. Now, wouldn't that be foolish? And yet, that's the theory that many people propose today for how we all got here. No, there's enough evidence in creation, and ample evidence makes us accountable for that evidence. Now, there's another thing that we see here in verse 21, because that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. When this light is willfully rejected, it brings darkness. There is light available to us in the world. But if we reject that light, verse 21 tells us that that leads to darkness. When they knew God, knowing there is someone who made what we see, they don't glorify Him as God. They're not thankful to Him for what He's done. They become empty or vain in their thinking, and their foolish hearts are darkened. Now, that's what's happened in the world today, and that can happen to you. If you don't glorify God or thank God when you know who He is, that will lead you to foolish, empty thinking and to darkness. Now, there's another principle that we learn here. It says in verse 22, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. It is amazing that people who have become fools characterize that foolishness by an increasing persuasion of their wisdom. The more foolish people become in this area, the smarter they think they are. That doesn't just happen to young people. That happens to secular university professors. It can happen to anybody. Anybody who gets into this downward spiral will be led to this foolishness because the darkness is the circumstance of man's foolishness. It's becoming dark gradually around him, and he doesn't even realize what's happening to him. And that darkness, therefore, is the thing that causes him not to be able to see. But it also tells us in verse 23, And change the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Now, none of us in here needs to be persuaded of the tendency within our society to worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator, this business of changing the glory of God into the image like corruptible man, birds, four-footed beasts, creeping things, and so on. Now, what is he talking to us about here? He's telling us that this foolishness which grows out of that darkness produces an image-based and false reality. There's a book come out recently that I want to put back here in our bookstore by a man named Arthur Hunt called The Vanishing Word. And he's talking about how in our culture today, we are becoming an image-based society. You go back to the ancient times, say, for example, in the culture of Egypt. Egypt had a celebrity-oriented, image-based culture. I've made a couple of comments from the pulpit about this already. Now, they didn't have big screen TV, but if you could ever get to the place where you became the pharaoh, you had the right to go around and hire slave labor to make 60-foot statues of you all over the country out of stone, right? Or erect great pyramids. Even the alphabet of their language was a pictograph form of writing based on these things which they worshiped. The Nile River wove in a serpentine fashion down through the nation of Egypt, and once a year it overflowed its banks, giving life to all the regions around. And as a result of the life-giving source of the waters of the Nile, Those people worshiped every weird thing that crawled up out of that river. Frogs and snakes and all the other stuff were in their pantheon of gods. And they even included those in their language. These people were very concerned about their physical appearance. We know from their paintings, or rather from their language and their artifacts and other things, that even their men wore mascara. a recent trend in modern America. It was an image-based society. And of course, the Lord had allowed the Hebrew people to go down there for 400 years until the iniquity of the Amorites could be filled up, until those people back in Canaan would fully, it would be obvious to everybody that they fully deserved to be destroyed. but he also broke and humbled his own people down there in that corrupt land. And then he called them out of Egypt. He took them into the desert and he said, okay, now let's get some things straight. Number one, no images. No graven images. No, none of that. We're not going to be like this culture that you've come out of. We're not going to be a false reality-based culture. We're going to have real reality. We are going to be a word-based society. Here's my word. And then he went on to say, now you teach this diligently to your children. What's happening in America today is even among Christian people who would like to think of themselves as word-based people, our people are becoming more and more an image-based culture. The reason that the modern church growth movement is taking the tack that it is is because entertainment is an addiction to the modern America. Some years ago, people said, oh, you know, Sesame Street makes kids love school. No, Sesame Street makes kids love TV because their parents let them watch it thinking it's like school. You see that? And today we have church that's like TV. That's what's happening in the modern church growth movement. And people are saying, well, if that's what people want and that's what they like, then let's give them that. But when you give people images that are not strictly governed by the word, you are caving in to a presupposition in the mind that leads to paganism. It really does. We have a celebrity culture. Don't you think for a moment that that celebrity culture has not affected the church? Even Bible-believing churches, we have our stars too. We really do. And the celebrities in our culture, although they may be appealing and they may be exciting, are not necessarily helping us. So, the foolishness of this darkness produces an image-based and false reality. And that's one of the problems that we have in our culture today. You probably hear this from your young people and some of you teenagers that are in here. You probably put that kind of pressure on your parents all the time. We hear it regularly from folks who say, well, I just don't like to do those things that the youth group does. Why don't we do what the other kids do? I'll tell you what, listen, you can build a big youth group if you just take them to Six Flags often enough. if you give them enough fun. Now, I'm not saying that it's wrong to have fun, but you have to remember, assimilation is not the answer to isolation, nor is isolation the answer to assimilation. There has to be a balance, and you have to understand, young or old, that you're here to have a redemptive influence in this society. You're not here to let that society steal you out of effectiveness for Jesus Christ. You have a purpose. All right, now let's continue to talk about this relationship of unbelief and corruption by looking at verse 24. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts to dishonor their own bodies between themselves. Now what's he talking about here? This pagan philosophy leads to increased immorality. Darkness leads to foolishness, which leads to pagan thinking, and that pagan thinking leads to increased immorality, according to Romans 1. Now, verse 25 says, Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the created thing more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. Now, Hunt says in his book, and I think he's right, that this image-based reality is actually an attack on the Word of God itself. Now, you understand that Satan is the prince of the power of the air, the ruler of the darkness of this age, right? Now, am I going to suggest to you that any television that you might ever watch is a submission to the authority of the devil? Well, no, of course not. But I am saying to you that all of this image-based focus that we have in our culture today is part of the battle of the ages. And the more we are enamored with this false reality that's created by the celebrity culture... Listen, folks, we have people that are famous for being famous. I mean, the only thing they've ever done is become a celebrity. I'll never forget a few years ago when I read in the paper that there was some kind of a movie, I never saw it, I didn't even know the name of it, but there was some kind of a movie that was made about a chemical they were using in the apple orchards of the Northwest. And people were talking about all the degenerative effects that this was going to have on the generations to follow. Oh, how we had to be so concerned about this. And so they had Senate hearings on it. And I remember there was an actress named Meryl Streep who starred in that movie, who was invited to testify before the Senate subcommittee on the dangers of ALAR in Apple Orchards. What was the basis of her expertise? She played the role of a chemist in a movie. You see what I'm saying? And look, folks, don't think we're not susceptible to it. Our favorite president in our lifetime was a former actor. Right? So I'm not saying that, well, we shouldn't have voted for Ronald Reagan. I'm saying, don't think we're not being affected by it. We are being affected by it. And we like it as much as other folks like it. But it really is an attack on the Word. And one of the reasons that we like Him is because He knew how to say things correctly and appropriately most of the time. Well, verse 26 and 27 goes on to say, For this cause God gave them up to vile affections, for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another, men with men, working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error, which was meat." Now, what does that mean? Some people will often say, oh, listen, public acceptance of homosexuality will bring the judgment of God. Listen, my friend, public acceptance of homosexuality is the judgment of God. It already is. And that's what He's saying to us here in verses 26 and 27. And we have gotten to the place now to where it's a given. You and I, some of us, in our lifetimes have seen the public acceptance of the theory of evolution as a scientific fact, which it is nothing of the kind. And people now believe that anything other than the evolutionary concept, which is scientifically provable, should be relegated to religion, which you keep to yourself, right? And now we have come to the place where generally within our culture and our society, people believe that homosexuality is a genetic predisposition, that people were born that way, and that they ought to have the same rights as any racial group or anyone else. Now, belief in God and belief in that notion are not compatible. How can you believe or put any confidence or trust whatsoever in any deity who can't get people in the right body? You see what I'm saying? Now, there are some people who are trying to hold to both ideas today. I don't believe in God, but I believe that some people are just born that way. Really? I mean, is God that helpless that he can't get that right? You see what's going on? It's just another belief in the ability of man to fix the problems that God has caused. And of course, it's all a belief that there is no God. In this so-called pluralistic society in which we live, every religion in our culture, every religion is right. It doesn't matter what you believe so long as you're sincere. It doesn't matter what you put your faith in just so that you have faith. Faith is some sort of a quality which elevates you because you have it. Oh, well, at least you have your faith. Now look, folks, if everything is right, nothing is right. Now, they don't say that, but that's what they believe. Nothing really is right. If you need that, if you want that, if that's your crutch, okay, fine. Whether it's Christianity, or whether it's Buddhism, or whether it's Hinduism, or it's mutation, the new age, or anything else, Islam, it doesn't matter. And one of the reasons there's such a conflict going on right now between Islam and Christianity is because those are the two strongly proselytizing religions of the world. Christianity seeks to make converts by presenting the gospel. Islam seeks to make converts by putting a sword in people's necks. And, you know, one seeks to die to save others and the other seeks to cause people to die if they don't convert. But we're going to see more and more. And, of course, that's just the old prophecy of the conflict between the children of Abraham. But nevertheless, This public acceptance of homosexuality is God's judgment, which of course is verified then in the next few verses. Verses 28 and following says, And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them up or over to a reprobate mind. The word reprobate essentially means rejected. It's like a fellow watching parts coming down an assembly line and he sees one that's flawed and he just knocks it off the assembly line. Reprobate, no good, doesn't work. To do those things which are not convenient, being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful. We have just read the list of adjectives necessary to describe most of the characters in the average movie." Right? And we say, well, I don't want to be like that. No, I just want to entertain myself with it. Right? Now, let's be honest with ourselves, folks. So what's the answer? You're saying just isolate yourself. No, I'm not. I'm saying open your eyes and come out of the dark and realize what's happening. We are being assaulted, and the Word is being attacked, and Christians are being neutralized by a culture which they are assimilating instead of understanding and confronting. who, knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." Spiritual blindness and moral corruption are the result. And that is where we are as a culture today. Now, young people, hear me. I'm not trying to say to you, you need to realize this is a horrible, wicked world and we all need to move out to Montana and throw a big fence around ourselves and have absolutely no contact with the world and all dress like Amish people. That is not what I'm saying to you. Okay? And that's not what your parents are saying to you either. What we are saying is that there is a trend in human nature, and there is a trend in human societies, and it is affecting America the same way it has affected cultures in the past. Egypt was not the only image-based culture. So was ancient Greece. They had, of course, the Olympics. Our word gymnasium comes from the Greek word gymnazo, which means to exercise naked. That's the literal meaning of the word. And of course, the Olympian athletes, they were worshipers of the body. And they see that in the ancient humanism and all these statues. I mean, have you ever wondered why they were disrobed? Because there was this culture of the physique. And of course, we have it again today in America. And the Romans were very much the same way. And that humanism, that kind of human focus and paganism went hand in hand. There was another culture in the 20th century that used these same principles of image-based false reality to sway the minds of people. It was Nazi Germany. Flags and songs and martial behavior and all these kinds of things. How do you suppose that Hitler was able to sway these brilliant people? He transferred their culture from a word-based culture into an image-based culture, and their theologians set the framework for it. German rationalism undermined the confidence in the Word of God, and he stepped in with an image-based culture and hypnotized a generation. Now, don't think that can't happen again, because human nature hasn't changed significantly. I know everybody likes to compare any bad guy to Hitler, but that's not what we're doing here, okay? Let's move quickly through these other things. We're going to have to come back to some of these another time. But what is the responsibility of believers to avoid this corruption? It is a perfectly clear responsibility. Our understanding of the need to put off the old man, renew our minds, put on the new man, are based in Ephesians 4, 17 to 24. Dr. Berg has taught us well on that portion of Scripture and the principles. But you know, there are a lot of parallels in that text to what we've seen in Romans 1, verses 18 through 32. First, unbelievers live their lives in the vanity of their minds. Isn't that what verse 17 says of Ephesians 4? You need to study that passage and compare it to what we see in Romans 1. Ephesians 4.17 says, This I say therefore and testify in the Lord, that she henceforth walked not, as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind. Now, how do we get to the vanity of our mind? Through that process of rejecting truth and becoming increasingly corrupted and immoral that we read in Romans 1. But not only do unbelievers live their lives in the vanity of their mind, they are in darkness and ignorance through their spiritual blindness. It says in verse 18, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their hearts. When people make wrong choices about God's authority in their life, it leads them down this path to greater darkness, therefore greater foolishness, therefore greater paganism, therefore greater immorality, which will eventually lead them to destruction. So there clearly is a trend to avoid. But not only that, verse 19 teaches that there is a willful rejection of the truth that is motivated by selfishness, who, being past feeling, have given themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness. Now, believers clearly are to know better, and that's what our responsibility is in becoming salt and light. But ye have not so learned Christ. If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Now, you've studied that well. We've gone over it, and we're not going to labor it today, but the responsibility of believers to avoid this corruption is perfectly clear. Now, let's also think about a review here for a moment of man's problem and God's solution to this problem that got us started with sin in the first place. The church, of course, is the called-out assembly that has responsibilities to God and His Word, its duties, include representing Him to the lost and winning the loss to Him. Christ taught the importance of these responsibilities and explains the steps of growth to maturity that produce believers who are salt and light in the world. Now, what we're going to see when we come back to Matthew 5 is that believers who are salt and light in the world are the solution to the problem that's described in Genesis 3, 1-21. Now, you might want to keep your Bibles open there to Genesis 3, 1-21, but you know the story. Adam and Eve were tempted. They disobeyed God. They ate of the fruit. And when they ate of the fruit, certain things happened. They began to hide from God. And when they could no longer hide from God, they started making excuses for the sin that was in their lives. Now, man's problem and God's solution is sin and salvation. But it's a little more than that. The first thing that we come to understand here... Am I doing this right? There we go. Man's problem began with his disobedience and distrust of God. When he did that, clearly, his choice was a sin. But also, his response to the consequences was another sin. By disobeying God, he broke fellowship with God. So the disobedience was a sin, the breaking of fellowship was a sin, his hiding from God therefore became a sin, and his excuse-making also was a sin. Now, not only did man's problem begin here, but man's sin problem continues in this pattern. The same thing that we saw in Adam and Eve's life, we see in our lives today. What do we mean? Man's fallen nature is always to hide his sin. You don't have to teach a child to hide the cookie that he's stolen. He'll immediately put his hands behind his back. He will immediately deny something when he's asked about it. So will you. You know it's wrong. Why would you lie about it? Somebody comes to you and says, did you do so-and-so? And you know it's wrong, and the first thing you'll say is, no, I didn't do that. And even if I did, it didn't matter. You see? Now, some people can get so callous and so hardened that they can actually become proud of their sin. Yeah, I did it. I'll do it again. And this sort of thing. But generally speaking, the nature of a man is to cover up the truth about himself so that he can feel justified in what he's done. But man's fallen nature not only hides his sin, he makes excuses for his sin. Did you do what I told you not to do? Yeah, but my brother, you know, he made me do it. Where did children learn that? It's their nature. You see? Hiding and blaming our human nature. And that's the problem that we've got to deal with. And folks, we're not going to grow and learn as we should until we recognize that reality about ourselves. So, what's the answer? Man's sin problem began here, man's sin problem continues in this pattern, but transparency and accountability are necessary to break this pattern. We talk much in this pulpit about transparency and accountability, and what do we mean? What we're talking about is the truth that's taught in Proverbs 28, 13. He that covereth his sin shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. If you try to hide or blame somebody else for what's wrong with you, or if you try to dilute it, what is one of the most common things, young people, that you tell your parents when they are challenging you on something that they discern is not good for you? You try to dilute it by saying, well, everybody else is doing it. All of my friends are doing it. I mean, if everybody else is doing it, it couldn't be wrong, could it? You know, as a general rule, if you really want to take that kind of logic, if everybody else is doing it, that's usually an indicator that it is wrong. The majority is not usually right in human culture. So that's not a good argument. It's a dilution of the blame. It's trying to share the blame with other people, you see. Well, it's okay for me because everybody else is doing it, and if all of us are doing it, it can't be that bad, right? Because, I mean, you know, God wouldn't destroy all of us. You know, if we can all get together on this thing, we can rebel against God and He won't mind. It's sort of the mentality that's behind all that kind of thing. But Proverbs 28.13 clearly teaches the need for transparency and accountability to break this pattern. Now, we're talking about man's problem and God's solution in this situation. Wisdom, in addition to transparency, wisdom is necessary to be salt and light in the world. And what do we mean by wisdom? Well, Daniel 12 and verse 3 tells us, and they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. Real wisdom is in this particular act right here. Wise living is redemptive living, realizing why God put you here. Very much like we read in Proverbs 11 and verse 30, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise. A truly wise person recognizes he is here for a reason, and his reason is to become salt and light. Now, we'll not go through in detail this last portion of your outline. We'll come back to that another time. But remember, we've talked about this many times from Matthew 5. Christ introduced His earthly ministry with the solution to this problem. In the introduction to the first sermon recorded in the first gospel, Christ presents the solution to the problem of sin and describes the steps of growth to maturity that each man must take in order to become salt and light in the world. And we'll take up again with this next week. But remember, transparency is how you begin. And in order to have transparency, you must first come to the end of self-reliance. Blessed are the poor in spirit. You've got to realize how much you need God Instead of trying to cover up your weaknesses, you've got to recognize those weaknesses as God's way of showing you how much you need Him. Poor in spirit is where he started in Matthew 5 and verse 3. But that also leads to sincere repentance. Blessed are they that mourn, for they should be comforted. The comfort of the blessed Holy Spirit of God who brings salvation to us and quickens us and gives us eternal life does that in response to our recognition of our spiritual need. Folks don't recognize their spiritual need today because they don't want the solution or they don't know there is a solution. But not only is transparency how you begin, accountability is how you continue. And that's taught in Matthew 5, verses 5 and 6. That leads to submissive obedience. What does? Genuine, sincere repentance. That leads to submissive obedience. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. That's a quotation of Psalm 37 and verse 11, talking about those from Israel who actually went into the promised land. They were the ones who were willing to obey. That word meek means willing to be governed. You start with a realization of your own weakness. You genuinely repent. You become willing to obey God. And when that happens, that will lead you to a spiritual appetite. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. There are a lot of people in this room this morning that don't have a spiritual appetite because they've not taken those first three steps. You're trying to develop a spiritual appetite just by disciplining yourself to do something every day. You should do that. But if you really want to get a spiritual appetite, you need to come to the end of self-reliance, come to sincere repentance, come to a submissive obedience, and then develop a spiritual appetite. And as you feed that spiritual appetite, then you realize how transparency and accountability will lead you to wisdom. Transparency is how you begin. Accountability is how you continue. Wisdom is what you develop. And that's what's taught to us in verses 7 and 9. That spiritual appetite will lead you to a spirit of mercy. The more you read the Bible, the more you will realize how merciful God really is. People who don't know God either are afraid of God or are angry at God because they think they can never please Him. But when you realize that Jesus Christ has done everything that is required of you, and all you have to do is trust Him for salvation, trust Him thereafter for Christian growth, then you're at peace. People who are trying to earn it from God are very frustrated people. But if you have that spirit of mercy, That's gonna make you a single-minded person. Blessed are the pure in heart. That word means unalloyed. It means you don't have assimilation in certain areas of your life and isolation in other areas of your life. You have a biblical balance of love for God and a desire to represent him honestly and accurately in the world. And that unalloyed living will cause you to have a genuine influence in others' lives. That leads to the wisdom of winning souls. Blessed are the peacemakers. People who help others make peace with God is what he's talking about here. Now, that description, which we'll look at in greater detail, shows us that Christ not only introduced His earthly ministry with the solution to this problem, but Christ illustrated His own earthly ministry in the problem in the solution. Whenever you try to be that redemptive influence, you're not going to be received well by those who don't want to change. Young people especially need to understand this. When you try to have the influence of salt and light in the world, others are going to oppose you. You are going to be resisted by those in the world. Now, man's purpose on earth is to glorify God by becoming this salt and light that's in the world. And this message of salt and light has effects on you. What are those effects? Well, Those effects include the fact that you're gonna be persecuted. Persecution is going to happen to you. You will be persecuted for righteousness sake. And perseverance is needed from you. While you're being persecuted for being salt and light in this culture, you're going to have to rejoice by keeping your mind on your reward. If you just want happiness in this world, you're going to miss happiness in the world to come. But if you can focus on what is ahead, have the delayed gratification of all of life, and recognize that someday you're gonna have heaven, that'll make a difference in the way that you live here and now. This message not only brings effects on you, but this message will bring effects through you on the world, and that's what he's talking about in verses 13 through 19. You will be the salt of the earth. you will be the light of the world. And there are four different words, or four times the word light appears in that text. And there are three different words for light that are used in the text. In Matthew chapter 5, beginning in verse 13, he says, or rather verse 14, you're the light of the world. Now that word light is the Greek word phos. You know, the word phos is in some of our words, phosphorescence and phosphorous, things that produce their own light and so on. The light of the world, that word literally is a noun which refers to fire and the light that it produces. Our word luminescence. It's a very accurate rendering of what that word means. You are the luminescence of the world. You are the thing which brings light into the world. A city that's set on a hill cannot be hid. Then in verse 15, he says, neither do men light a candle. That's a different word. That's a verb. It's the word kio, which means to burn or to set on fire, to light with a match or something like that. It literally means to kindle. Okay? So men don't kindle or light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. And that's the word lampo. I don't have to tell you what we get from that, do I? Okay, lampo. The word lampo means to beam or to shine. It means to radiate brilliance. In other words, when you have this fire built in you, kindled by the Holy Spirit of God through the Word of God, then you are going to radiate brilliance in this world. That's what you're here for. We live in a dark society. You and I are to turn on the light, and the roaches aren't going to like it. OK, get used to that fact. They're going to run for cover. When I was a little kid, I read in this advice column in the paper one time. It was a kind of a humor column and an advice column. And the person wrote in, says, do you have any advice for roaches? And the guy wrote back and said, run for cover when the light comes on. And I guess that's what everybody in the world does. They like to run for cover. Then the word phos, of course, appears again when he says, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. That's what we're supposed to be. Our time is gone. I'll try to practice a little bit more on getting this done a little more succinctly. But we'll review Matthew 5 several times as we're going through this series together. God wants you to be salt and light. He does not want you to assimilate the culture. He does not want you to be isolated from the culture. He wants you to understand the culture and confront it with a redemptive emphasis. Okay? God, thank You today for what You've shown us. Thank You for Your Word. Help us, Lord, to get this in balance, to represent You honestly and accurately. In Jesus' name, amen.