Sunday, July 28th, 2019 - AM - Shining Disciples Worth Their Salt, Part 2 (Matt. 5:13-16)

For those who are with us here in our morning service. I invite you to turn to Matthew chapter number five. Once again, we continue our study together in The Sermon on the Mount and we look together today as we continue our thoughts that Jesus gives us as followers of Jesus Christ. We're going to look at some things about being like today we talked about the last time we were together or messages that almost kind of priests themselves, you know, I can let you read this and and the Holy Spirit with move on you no doubt you would be able to glean something from the words of Jesus, but I think digging and just maybe a perspective that you haven't thought about or for something along the way that I can contribute or a reminder that oh, yeah. So familiar, you've read them so many times. They're very familiar. Don't let them become trike. There are there are powerful words that our savior set and let it resume. And determined to go out and be what Jesus would have you to be say, yes Lord. Yes. So you're in that field Baptist Church. It's the Sunday morning service. And this is the pastor bringing the morning message and we're in Matthew chapter number. You can follow Jesus went up into a mountain and when he was set to seiple's came under him. and he opened his mouth and taught them saying Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted for they shall inherit the Earth shall be filled blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain Mercy which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven blessed. Are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and she'll say old for my sake. NBA seeding glass for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted. They the profits which were before you leave the Earth Wellness tableware with Kelly be sold. It isn't Sports good for nothing. But if he passed out under foot of men to men lighted candle in a bushel.

Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father, which is in heaven Lord. I pray that you would help us understand your word clearly that I would be emptied of myself cleanse boots in filled with the spirit Lord. May your word have presidents in the preeminence Among Us hide me behind Jesus hide me behind Calvary and may He Speak Lord and made you move on heart and do your work as long as you can draw us to Jesus help us to trust him more to rely on him and lean on him that ourselves might trade away in our own strength would Wayne and he would become our strength then we take a joke and maybe learn of him. In Jesus name I pray amen event some Americans free plans today if I can so little bit of variation on that, but can we go see the new Mary Poppins in and they had an interesting thing. If you like trivial things and you like to read about how how things develop I would encourage you going Google up the street lights and the history of street lights in America. You will have play breathing in for some of us will be good for you to put us to sleep on all the different brands and times and this and that and all the number in The Chronicles of it all just to look at the pattern.

First began as far as I can develop in Philadelphia and went out from there. They were the candle. You know, I'm so you'd have the four walls around the candle and they even got the fanciest the gold thing Park but you had to like those in the wind could come and blow them out many streets were those candles flights into those are the ones that we remember that are that kind of cash and that they would go through and he would go through the streets and just like that so as American cities with lighted I wasn't with the Mercury lights, you know, we got halogen lights.

Architectural design, they look pretty they look nice though. They're probably not know for sure. I've been just the standard Mercure streetlights. I remember the street light in front of my eye mean on Papa's house or my mama and Papa's house grown up and you know bugs that would gather around that was one of those old Mercury lights and some of you might remember those back to the days of gas flights Now American freaks being all of them on simultaneously instead of water in his City make his way back and forth down the street and this is what he recounted. He said I watch them and then move on to the next 30 minutes she disappeared into the deepening Twilight. I can no longer make him out, but I would always know where he was by the Avenue of life. That left behind they left behind. Let your light so shine before men that they may see. Is without life we are in utter Darkness total darkness without hope Jesus is the light of the world describes Jesus as being the word that was in the beginning with y. And so he is the light of the world now John the Baptist is also talked about in John chapter one that he came to bear witness that he was to Bear witness to that light and 1st and John chapter 1 verse tells us that it's the LifeLight at every man that comes into the world Jesus himself stood one day and said I am the light of the world leaving Avenue and walk in it and find Salvation way the truth and the life no man cometh unto the father, but by me, it's dark. Are we going to find the Father? The only way is to the Light of Christ and may I submit to you that that light shines the brightest in the best through his disciples? That are living out the beatitude before a lost and Dying World now to open his servant now he's getting to the main point. The main point is today. It must exceed mechanical Christianity. It must go deeper than the surface. It must be a transformation from the inside out if we have any hope of righteousness getting us to Glory. Otherwise, it's just our own glory and we know from Isaiah 64 that all our righteousness.

That's before the Lord's eyes. That's powerful revolting saw that Isaiah gets sinned and come short of the glory of God. So as much good as we would try to do as much as we would have temp to live in our own and on our own it's still a filthy rag. What is rather, we've overcome a lot with leprosy disease is the flesh eating disease in the next day. They were struggling and you have people that was contracted leprosy and they would be outfitted from you.

Sometimes the leprosy from what I've read and study would get so bad that they would lose feeling in a limb a hand for say or something of that nature. So it's dangling from their body that sometimes they would bump it or hit it hard the wrong way and they would open a flesh wound to have tools and stuff that we do today. So this is very very dangerous. If a leper does this to their whim. So what they would do if they wouldn't bandage those winds up and they would wrap things like mummy cloth. Okay think like those kind of things may be a large ace bandage. If you go before to maybe put something around they would use those Linens. That was you who sells ClosetMaid wood wrap that around their diseased limb. So that if I say something it wouldn't it wouldn't be detrimental to the limb cuz they couldn't feel it anyway, and they might even just leave right there and bleed out. After they were done they would take that rag off. That is a filthy rag. Now what that something?

Are as filthy rags to work? Will never measure up before golf. Only the pure spotless to your account can get you in you must be home. Search faith in Christ and his righteousness poor in spirit has already come down that road. They've understood there's nothing I can do to work my way back to God. I am completely depraved. I am depending on him and him alone for salvation. So these be at the written to disciples not to someone who's lost someone who hasn't found Jesus they found him he went up into your people that are following. You must you must you must you must hunger and thirst after righteousness. You say you're going to follow me do this and you will find bless. That's the only way to find blessings and what he said about being persecuted for righteousness sake Not our own righteousness about being transformed from the inside out. You've heard that it has been said of all time.

He goes on to say not that he's doing away with the Mosaic law. He's fulfilling all the law. The Mosaic law serve the purpose of being a Schoolmaster to get us to Christ to show us. We need a redeemer that mankind can never live up to that standard. Jesus Christ, that's what I say unto you. It's the N word that God speaks. It's not the letter of the law. That is good that God is so much concerned about but Jesus is going to drive us toward the spirit of the law working from the inside out.

That's given to us. When we Trump try to be able to have the Holy Spirit in us to lead us and guide us. It's a it's a mysterious thing almost at work in that how can God live in the moment. We trust Christ we're safe and he takes up residence in us and it's that we still battle with the old nature, but the old man is crucified with Christ nevertheless. I live a blessed life through Christ through Christ being submitted to him following him. When you get to the place where you have been living at the attitude and it's cold when I hated in persecution, whether it's from those that sure, you know are on this side of one argument or that side of the other argument and you're trying to be a peacemaker people don't understand why you're giving Mercy to somebody that doesn't deserve Mercy or why you're being nice when you need to be standing up for yourself and it's a dog-eat-dog world and you shouldn't be a doormat. You should be a doormat as a Christian who sang let God take care of it as you're living that out people are going to disagree you're going to have to tell people that are wrong because there's a right way and a wrong way and God has told us the right way. I can tell you the right way if I tell you the right way.

And so do not buy my own wisdom more or buy my own ability to reason there's one stores where I can know, what's right and what's wrong and what's black and it's clearly revealed in the scriptures. And so when we take a stand for this we come to certain scriptural convictions and positions and it's not that we dislike any person for safe. But we do we should we talk to hate sin. And we all be able to know it when we see it. We take a stand because we see the destruction that it bring so it's not about the person it's about the commitment.

It ought to move us a lot of anger when people do bad things when someone comes into your property unannounced and takes things that do not belong to them. And you don't get upset about it. You don't really care about what you had.

When people do wrong things and step over the line they cross The Foundry. And now they're sent and people hurt a simple illustration back to the basics. How many boundaries are we being honored how much how much space does really being protected? No, I'm not going to leave the wall to the government.

Boundaries are important. Jesus said you're the salt of the earth. Is that salt is salt used to try me I believe has a tendency to lose its ability to be in the household. So then there's no sure fine qualities to it there. It's not holding back and it's just cast out and people walk on it is burning others or if it's not holding any cast out and everybody's going to walk over it and nobody's going to know you're there.

The world is going to be no different than just going to walk right by and never even find Jesus never even know that there's a right way that leads to life. Now, let's look at the light of the world. This wife disciples are the light of the world verses 14 and 16 if we're like to be seen just by living for him. You're going to stand out. You will. We need people that will stand out for Christ today. I'm grieved state of public education Affairs in the system. There is it was broken it started we broke in a long long time ago and people try to read me that we have great teachers in Public School System of Units scattered here and there they're doing all they can and they're believers. They believe they're trying to reach kids and they're kind of the radar across from coast to coast of of teachers that have stood up or something finally unibraze their faith enough to where they have to put their foot down and you know, they have to go through all the repercussions in the persecution everything that comes by that. But God, you know, the teachers are willing to stick their neck out like that somehow. Thank God for students that I mean, hey, this is but they believe the Bible and they go they carry their Bible.

Thank God. I don't I'm not a proponent of you know, the angel eyes in the public school system with your own Christian children. That's dangerous road to travel you going to send them on an indoctrination buses going to take him and they're going to get a whole worldview that clashes with everything that's here. So that is not a component of that. But what I am saying is we need Christians to be Salt and Light. You know you go to the dentist office for you go to the doctor to get a checkup and Halo and behold there some scriptural emphasis there. Maybe it's not quoting verse-by-verse but there hurry a doctor's office from the top down. It makes a difference you go to the clinic to get help when you find out the worldview. They're coming from is a view that has a hive you think of the word back from a Biblical worldview instead of one that devalues human life. There's a big difference in the two clinics that would take them different approaches 14 and 15 year old and I don't have time to go through with all the details but I did come across the article about life and I'm just going to put that wanted to look it up is plenty of encyclopedias and Bible dictionary that you can go read the article and Steve piercing Sunday school here all night, but we're grown-ups. You can understand like to the extent that I can I'm not a scientist. I haven't I flip the switch and I understand current electricity enough to know that the circuit connected to the power board and that's how I get you know, things will illuminated. And I understand at least the ability to see light. So you don't miss the forest for the trees understand. Jesus is saying hear your life. You're meant to be seen the baker encyclopedia has a one of the longest articles. I read I wouldn't endorse everything that isn't that Baker article, but it's a good place to start. Perhaps have the revised version of the older one like back in the turn of the 19th century version. The older is BET is going to be better so that the older one that has a good article in it about like other other Bible dictionary to help his giving his illustration here now as preachers this morning scripture scripture challenge, you're thinking with an illustration about life. The street lights and lamps in the Avenue of light behind us here has given his introduction with the Beatitudes and he is now following up with some illustrations in his sermon to drive the point home. If you live this way, there's going to be an outcome your future. There's all kinds of future promise you're going to face persecution. And before he talks about the law and the extent of that and what we do as Believers internally from the inside out and in living the law to say ears in illustration about 12 about life master teacher using I don't know what kind of life would have been in their purview, but he talks about his Dead Sea This is his first Illustrated. I just can't imagine where they're sitting. I don't know exactly what must be a powerful illustration of Jesus's somewhere situated if you say is on the horns of 15 or or maybe on the Northern shore of Galilee, where the where the church's the Beatitudes is today. Maybe he's on a hillside. Will there are some key Peaks some Keith elevated areas in and seeing a city set on a hill lit up with all the lamp light that they would have had burning in their streets. So They're saying I saw it was probably just a satellite image, but it was almost like a drone shot, you know how to do it was dark and have you seen that the globe it's like a whole globe and I looked and it, I know it was unmistakable. I saw the I saw the way I saw the booth. I saw the poofball I was looking at home. I was watching Italy at night and I can tell right where Rome what know why because it was wider and brighter and all the other cities on the coast of Sicily. Italy and Sicily.

I thought is that in the world. Who is it that can see our life. I've been suggested. I guess more than others have separate that's four miles north of Nazareth. That would be a large to piss Casey and everybody in there by others have up other test. You can look across the lake and it would be seen by Jesus and those watching about him on the hill and living illustration right there. if you're following me, that's what you're like, the dark world is what Jesus a so that's why we have to shun we have to shine as one preacher put it purposefully. We must have purpose in our trying there's a potential for failure.

And he went on the street and the bed a bed and the devotional speeches of busyness the bed we put under the bed. We just never go we never get up and do anything and people can't see our life. That's a good way to spray that I think you don't put it under a bushel. You don't put it under a bed. No as Christians. We hold a lot of witness. In a dark Dark Tower in Colorado needs your light Denver needs your life Boulder needs your life Broomfield your life and let it shine. Don't put it under a bushel get so busy that you can't give me the train station and then has a good preacher runs right to the application chart.

Revolutionary, isn't it?

Yeah, these are all things that they need to be repeated and they need to be said because so many Christians today are not shine. They're not and I'm just as guilty as the next person sometimes with that. Why why do you let her lights on Jesus said there's a couple of purposes in this and some have to run to the Social Gospel or something amiss the contact remember we already talked about kind of teaching that would that would be found in the book of James faith without works is dead being alone. So the face is already established that people know do something that kind of takes me back and they go I don't understand why you would do that. That's that's not how the world operates. That's not it for Tat. That's something different.

Why did you do that for me? I didn't deserve that. It was good. I didn't expect that. They may see your good works. That's the first purpose of shining you shine when you are observant and you are sensitive to the Holy Spirit and he leaves you and you say you know what I'm going to do something here. It might be a conversation. It might be a way that you can help someone it might be going out of your way in.

It might be the vine appointment. All kinds of rain throughout your week throughout your day. You're going to be presented with opportunities to go above and beyond with the world would dude what the world would expect and you can be different and you can shine and then it's not about a whole what a great person they are. They are look how wonderful they are.

It's not about you. It's about making opportunities to talk to them and to let them understand and maybe they'll see the oil from the Holy Spirit we talked about this last time with lamps. The lamp itself does not produce the light that you can see before you so that you can pour oil in and that would be your fuel and you would put a wick on it and like a wick and the fuel is the oil would travel.

and produce life what happens to Sebastian? Which is the best Jesus is the light. And we ought to be seen by others as a mountain in the Flatlands to play in the invisibility. It's deny. The call with wants to be invisible is no longer follows him. Well said by one commentator.

Salt is also used sacrificially see that in the law like it is just powerful. What are you doing to make a difference? How do you actively engaged in this discipleship thing? How are you making a difference? How are you doing about that? There's a stack of purpose and Jesus says that they may see your good works, but it doesn't stop there is a dual purpose and when I die running side-by-side each other and that wouldn't go unnoticed to do something about it. And then they would give God glory interesting prayer when you study that prays to give God glory. Give God glory. It's interesting thoughts. Come to my mind about Jesus brought a lot of his life one time and John chapter disciples were so confused about who did send this man or his mother or his parents that he was born blind.

Unto God's glory was this man's condition. So Jesus heals this man and he were Joyce him. But oh boy lsf we were in trouble now because you did it on the wrong day. I mean, there's no way are you kidding? He's almost laughable isn't it? But this is how it trench. They were their self-righteousness. They couldn't even see the truth during what they were really about the whole of synagogue from the whole Jewish faith system the Orthodoxy of the day he was being and gave him site. And they're asking him one of the phrases they said.

Tell the truth give God glory. When you see that phrase being used by men and coming out of men's Niles you better watch out because there's a trap that's being laid. Another instance would probably be with Jesus and other of his followers other than others that followed him anytime. They're confronted with the religious leadership that phrase give God glory because the Joshua chapter number 7 That's where you isn't it funny how things can start with local and then men can dress them and twist them and turn them into a liquid. And Joshua chapter number 7. There was a man that was named bacon for the story bacon and they were given Specific Instructions by God when they went into into Jericho to not take anything and he did he took a wet goes Babylonian garment. Nobody would know it's a tragedy accomplishment in Joshua is beside himself. I don't know what happened here and the Lord from the tribe the family from the family to the man and before long Joshua standing before a Canadian says, come on now give God glory. It's time to come clean. They may see your good works.

clicking now Is it making sense a little better studying Revelation every time you see that sprays give God glory. It's connected with converge. It's connected with repentance.

That's the thing. By living for Jesus and living your life out through the power of the holy spirit. It's not you that are converting people. Holy Spirit works on them and they say, you know, there's something more than what's going on here. There's a God that you're going to answer before one day and you're in trouble for your sin. Look at this. Why isn't that a feeling there's more to this life than just darkness and death. I'm tired of this. I want to give God glory. I'm getting right with him. I'm ready to get right with God. I'm going to get converted. My did say they just might have a change of their mind that they're actually in trouble with God for their sent and they might confess that before him and pray and Trust Jesus repentance toward God and Jesus Christ has saved on our way to heaven. And then they find the true peace and the joy and the contentment that following Jesus room. There's nothing like it. Don't miss the boat. Stop being under a bushel.

Don't miss the boat by being under the bed get out and let your light shine. for two reasons Pizza set but others can see and then that that would give glory to God. Get right with him.