======================================================================== YOU ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD by Tim Conway ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the role of believers as the light of the world, drawing parallels between the physical darkness faced on a dangerous road and the spiritual darkness in the world. It highlights the responsibility of Christians to shine the light of truth, salvation, and God's glory to a dark and lost world, contrasting the darkness of worldly media with the light of Christ. The message calls for active engagement in spreading the Gospel and being a beacon of hope and truth in a world filled with spiritual darkness. Topics: "Light of the World", "Spreading the Gospel" Scripture References: Isaiah 49:6, Luke 2:30, Acts 13:46, Matthew 5:14, John 8:12, 2 Corinthians 4:6, Ephesians 5:8, Philippians 2:15, 1 Peter 2:9 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the role of believers as the light of the world, drawing parallels between the physical darkness faced on a dangerous road and the spiritual darkness in the world. It highlights the responsibility of Christians to shine the light of truth, salvation, and God's glory to a dark and lost world, contrasting the darkness of worldly media with the light of Christ. The message calls for active engagement in spreading the Gospel and being a beacon of hope and truth in a world filled with spiritual darkness. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Okay, here in this place, at this hour, the text before us, you are the light of the world. Now, the next thing that's said has to do with the city. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Well, obviously he's talking about light, and so you want to take that for what it is. I remember, it's probably been three years now, I went with a team of folks from different places, and we went to Nepal, to Kathmandu, and we had it arranged that we were going to go preach the gospel and go do a medical outreach up in a place called Mugu. I later found out that the road we had to travel is the most dangerous road in the world. Now, I didn't know it at the time, and John didn't tell us, but what happened was, oh, it was when Ruby and I were here the first time. No, the second time, because you guys put us in that apartment over there in Ashton. And we saw, somehow, maybe it was YouTube, I forget, there was a TV there, and somehow we got in, I don't know if it was BBC or what, but we saw a documentary on the most dangerous roads in the world, and this road was number one. And I told John that later, and he didn't want me to say, because he didn't want the people back in San Antonio to be discouraged from going over. But I'm telling you, this road was horrifying. You never saw anything like it. It's in the Himalayas, you are looking over sheer drop-offs from a bus, like you see nothing out there, and it goes so far down, and there's wrecked vehicles and everything down there, and you watch the documentary, and it's just... Anyway, we're on this road, and it's dark, and suddenly, it's just the engine comes to this grinding halt. I thought, oh. I was a mechanical engineer long enough and knew enough about vehicles, I said, that engine's seized. This is bad. Zeke would not get off that bus, because we were in tiger country. I just wanted to see a tiger. But, anyway, amazingly, the guys driving the bus, they got water in there, but the whole story is this. On that road, in the dark, there was a city up on the top of that mountain. Now, it looked real close, but let me assure you, even though our driver got that bus running again, because of all the switchbacks, it was hours before we got there. But, that city on that hill was lit up at night, and that's precisely what the Lord is talking about here. A city like that cannot be hidden, nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket. Again, we're dealing with light. A city that's lit up on a mountain can't be hidden, and this is one of the reasons why they had night bombings here. They wanted total blackouts. Why? Because cities that are not totally blacked out are easily seen. And you don't light a lamp and put it under a basket. That's crazy. Nobody does that. You put it on a lampstand. Why? To make it optimal. Now, He's not talking about lampstands. He's not talking about cities. He's talking about Christians. He gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine. So shine as what? You see that so, that little word. So shine as a city on a hill. So shine as a lamp that has been lit and is put on a lampstand. You are to so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Now, we're only going to deal with a part of this today. Probably finish the thought next week. But let's think light. And I don't mean photons and I don't mean the science. But let's just think light from a scriptural standpoint. Light. There's a psalm. The psalmist says this. Oh, send out your light and your truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy hill and to your tabernacle. Did you ever notice this? Satan is associated with darkness and with lies. The word of God is a lamp unto our feet. But Jesus said, thy word is truth. So here's one thing. Light and truth go together in scripture. And error, lies, and darkness go together. But here's another thing. When we look at scripture, we also find this. We find that Paul specifically prayed that the hearts or the understanding of the Ephesians would be enlightened. Ever come across that? Enlightened. He prayed that their hearts would be enlightened. That they would know. They would come to a knowledge of certain things. Well, you know what's right before that? You know what he says he's actually praying for so that their hearts would become enlightened? That God would give them the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. Let me tell you other words that go with enlightened. Wisdom, knowledge, revelation. To reveal. What else can be said of light? Well, we know this. The Apostle Paul says that we are sons of light and we are to expose deeds of darkness. Do you know what scripture says? Now, I know there's a textual variant here. But in Ephesians 5, it says, Light makes manifest. And I know if you have the King James or New King James, or either of those, you're going to basically see it this way. But whatever makes manifest is light. Well, that makes sense. People won't come to the darkness. Why? Because their works will be exposed. Light exposes. So, Christian. Well, let's think about this. Christian. You are the light of the world. You know what Jesus sees? Jesus sees this blackness of darkness that this world is. You know, you can hit the streets, like we had some people go to the streets yesterday in the city center. You can hear it right now. Birds are singing. You hear them out there? The birds are singing. And it's bright. These last days, this last week, just a week ago it was snowing. Right? Wasn't that the day we were waiting there? Was it a week ago? It was snowing. This week, it's like the Lord brought spring, right? It's bright. We went hiking. Sunlit skies. And for a bike ride with Tim. Beautiful day. But do you recognize how dark it is out there? Do you recognize what Jesus is saying? Jesus sees a world of darkness. And He sees these spots of light in the midst of all of the darkness. Radiating what? Our light isn't photons. Our light is that which exposes sin. Our light is that which reveals. It's wisdom. It's knowledge of the revelation. It's a revelation of the knowledge of Him. That's what it is. Basically, our light, we radiate with the truth of God. The knowledge of God. The wisdom of God. Revelation. God shines through the Christian to reveal. That's what light does. It reveals. We are the revealers in the world. And what do we reveal? Well, we reveal God. We reveal the Son of God. We reveal His salvation. His promises. To a world that knows Him not. They're ignorant of Him. That's how lost people are described in Scripture. They know not God. The Christian light lights things up. Exposes them. You think about it. You think about it in a dark room. You ever been in a dark room? I mean a real dark room. At night. An inner room. In a house. Where you can't even hardly see your hand before your face. Well, you can't see it. What's in the room? Well, you know, there could be pits in the floor. There could be rotten places in the floor. You could be somewhere where there's a cellar down beneath. You know what? There could be rats there. There could be roaches. There could be piles of gold. There could be fiends in there. There could be a guy swinging a chain round and round. Where you just hear... And you can't see any of it. You don't even know what's in there. That's how a dark room is. There's many things true about what's in there. But in the darkness, you can't make anything out. You don't know what's in there. Suddenly, you turn on the light. What happens? Well, now you see things the way they are. You see what's in there. You see if there's danger. You see if there's a pile of gold. Suddenly, everything seems for what it is. Brethren, what we need to recognize is this world is dark. And you can hear the birds out there. And you can say, well, spring's in the air and wonderful. And we're going to go on holiday and everything. But you just know this. That world out there where you take your holiday. Or where you ride your bike. Or where you do your hike. Or where you have your outing. Or where you have your picnic. Or whatever. We are out in the midst of a world that, listen, it is a blackness of darkness. Jesus is not saying, well, you're lights among lesser lights of the media and lesser lights of the educational institutions and the medical community. That's not what He says. He's not saying that the world out there lost people. Well, they have a little bit light. We do. We just have more. That's not at all what's going on. Do you recognize this? They don't know God. You know what's in that room? There's a cliff in that room that falls off forever. And they're just wandering around in there and they have no idea. And you know what we are? We're the people that are the lights that all of a sudden, bang! We show them. Now, they may hate you. They may curse you when you tell them that cliff is there. And they're heading right for the edge and they're going to go over. They may hate you altogether that you tell them that it's so. And that it's their sin. See, you shine the light on it. Why are you even headed for that edge? Well, because you're sin. There is chains in there, but they're not swinging around. They are basically chains. And they go over that edge. And there's big weights on the end. And it's your sin. And it's filling up. And it's pulling you over that edge. And that's how the light is. And you know, God is in there. That is not a godless pit. That is a pit of God's wrath. And He's in there. And He executes judgment. And Christian, you are the light. You've got to recognize in the original, there's an article there. You are the light. In other words, there's not another in this world. There's not. I mean, do you know this about yourself? You. This is what the apostle says. You were once darkness. Did you hear that? It doesn't say you were once in the dark. You were darkness. That is a description of the lost. Do you recognize you're coming here. All these people, they're out there enjoying the weather. They're not thinking about coming to church today. They're not thinking about God. They're thinking lockdown's over. Even though we can't eat inside, we can eat outside. All the people were in the line for the ice cream. We came by a place. A line came around the building. And people waiting for ice cream. But you know what? You know, do you take all their collective knowledge about what they know about God? And it is black. And they don't know where they're going. And they don't know about that edge. They think things are wonderful. The birds are singing and spring's in the air. And it's all great and glorious. But do you know what? You were once like that. You were once darkness. But now you are light. Not just in the light. You are light in the Lord. Christian, do you know this about yourself? I mean, what a remarkable... Sometimes we have to stand back and say, Being a Christian is absolutely an amazing thing. Does that ever just grab you sometimes? Where all of a sudden there's this renewed realization like, Wow, I'm a Christian. Like in the midst of this sea of dark. God plucked me out. The danger is that we read a statement like this. That we are the light of the world. And we immediately think about somebody else. There's a danger in that. We're the light of the world. Well, you know, we know Paul was. We always think about somebody somewhere else. Some time else. But not us. Not some great preacher somewhere. Of course they are. But no. Jesus is speaking to the least Christian now. Right at this time. He's speaking to you if you claim to be a Christian. You who go back up to the Beatitudes. You who are poor in spirit. Yours is the kingdom. And you are the light of the world. And I hope you feel there's a responsibility that comes with that. You're that light. You're the light. There's not another. Christian, you radiate the truth. And there aren't others who do. So, I mean, here's the question we ask. Does the world possess knowledge? Well, of course they do. I mean, of sorts. Can men today build faster computers? Ruby and I just saw a phone with a cord and a dial. Ever seen one of those? Have we advanced? Of course, we've made advancements. Of course, Apple, you now have your iPhone. And the technology is there. Is mankind making further and further strides? When it comes to, you name it, microbiology. When it comes to astrophysics. When it comes to an increasing knowledge of these things. Advances in medicine. Do we see it? People basically are surviving cancer today that they used to not survive. It's almost like today, if you hear you've got cancer, it's like your expectation is, well, doc, what can you do for me? If it's not stage 4 and it's not some really aggressive cancer, I mean, the expectation is we're going to kick this thing. I mean, is there a knowledge of things? Yes, but it's mechanical. It's physical. It's, yes, astronomical. Have you heard some of the things about quantum physics? Some of the things that they are doing today, it's mind boggling. I mean, some of the things that they're observing at the atomic level and they're able to do and almost like travel across space without actually traveling across space. And it's crazy things. But you know what? That knowledge that they have is not the knowledge that has to do with life and with death and with God and with sin and with Christ and the cross and peace and forgiveness and eternity. Man's knowledge of these things has not increased at all. Men are just as ignorant today as they were in the days of Christ and in the days of the flood. Men are dark. Scripture nowhere says, well, you know, that the sun's kind of shining on mankind today because of their technological advances. No, Jesus says, we are the ones who are light, not them. Man is no better off when it comes to that. Man's in the dark. And you know what he does? Well, he guesses. He expostulates. He's got these dogmatic assertions. He theorizes. He makes all manner of assertions about what is so, what is not so, what death. He declares. But you know what? It's all darkness. The truth is he has no idea. He has no idea why the world is the way the world is, why it's such a predicament as it is. Now, if you've heard this before, please, hear it again. But I think it's well worth saying. Listen, Richard Dawkins, you all know Dawkins. He lives here. Now, he's not native to your country. He was born in Africa. But he basically, I guess, would be considered a British evolutionary biologist. He was the University of Oxford's professor for public understanding of science. Get that. Public understanding of science. Richard Dawkins. Years ago, it's probably been 8 or 10 years ago, they made a documentary called Expelled. Basically, he's Jewish. He's not a Christian. His name is Ben Stein. He was the one who was doing the interviewing in this. And he interviewed Dawkins. Listen to this. Basically, Dawkins told Stein, religion is a primitive superstition. I encourage you to watch this if you've never seen it. Well, Stein asked Dawkins, who did create the heavens and the earth? Now, Dawkins was upset by even that question. Who? He said. That begs the question. He was upset with Stein. Why would you even ask who? So, Stein complied and he said, he rephrased, how did it get created? Dawkins, by a very slow process. Stein, how did it start? Dawkins, nobody knows how it started. Stein, so you have no idea how it started. Dawkins, no, no. Nor has anyone else. Stein, what do you think is the possibility that it might turn out that intelligent design might be the answer to some issues in genetics? Dawkins, it could come about in the following way. It could be that some earlier time, somewhere in the universe, a civilization evolved to a very, very high level of technology and designed a form of life that they seeded upon this planet. That is a possibility. An intriguing possibility. And I suppose it's possible that you might find evidence for that if you look at the details of our chemistry in molecular biology. Seriously, you might find a signature? He says. You need to watch it because Ben Stein just lowered his head in almost unbelief. He didn't answer him immediately. It's almost like Richard Dawkins is actually saying this. He says, you might find the signature of some sort of designer and that designer could well be a higher intelligence from elsewhere in our universe. Isn't it amazing? It can't be God. It's not God. What do you mean by even asking the question, who? Isn't it interesting though when he says intelligence? He's willing to say there's a who. It's a high intelligence somewhere out there in the universe. And in fact, at the chemical, molecular, biological level, if you actually look, we may find a signature there. There may be indication that there is actually intelligence behind all of this. Imagine that. This is the fantastic representative for public understanding of science. Now listen. What I'm saying is this. We get all our brains out here. We get the people with all this higher education, and they come out of Oxford, and they come out of Cambridge, and they've got all these titles behind their names, and they want to wow us with all of this, and they've written their books, and they've got all these credentials. Listen to this. Again, if you've heard this before, just bear with me. R.C. Sproul tried to win Carl Sagan to the Lord. You all know Carl Sagan? Before he died? He was considered a genius. And he was an astronomer, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist. But you know when it came to God, he said, God is a reassuring fable. A reassuring fable. It's just a myth. He said the hard truth is we're only here by chance. That's a hard truth. Because what it means is nothing matters. And you're going to die and that's it. That's the hard truth in his mind. Well, Sproul wrote Sagan. And he dialogued with him. And he did try to win him to the Lord. But here, they actually had this discussion. Sproul relates the following account. He says, I was in a conversation with Carl Sagan. I asked him a simple question. If all of matter... You see, this is going back to the Big Bang. You know what the Big Bang theory is? That all matter, all energy was in an infinitesimal little small dot. And it had always been that way. And Sproul says, I asked him the simple question. If all matter and energy were compressed into this infinitesimal point of singularity that was in a state of organization and inertia for eternity, then why was it that on one Thursday afternoon at 3 o'clock the whole thing blew up and exploded into our present universe? For the most fundamental definition of inertia is that bodies that are at rest tend to remain at rest unless they are acted upon by an outside force. And Sproul asked Sagan this question. What was the outside force? His simple and profound answer was, I don't want to go there. Sproul said, how can you be a scientist and stop because you want to stop instead of pushing for the truth? I'll tell you this. Their theories violate fundamental laws of physics. I went through college to get my mechanical engineering degree. I went through physics class. I went through thermodynamics classes. That fundamentally violates the two basic laws of thermodynamics. We don't need to get into all of it. But see what these guys are saying. Well, it could be a civilization from out there. It can't be God. Why can't it be God? Scripture says it's God, but because they say it's not, well, and they've got all the credentials behind their name, Sagan, well, he's going to tell you, we're made of stardust. And basically, we're the accidental man. We just kind of happened. It was all an accident. And then you get down to how did the thing actually happen? And they sound like fools. Do you know why this is? Jesus never said, you want light? Go to Sagan. Go to Dawkins. They're the ones that have it. You know what? Their darkness comes right out at us. Slaps us right in the face. They are dark, folks. And it doesn't matter what credentials you have. You come to a simple little place like this. You take the most backward individual, nothing individual, nobody in this world, but you save them and you have them stick their nose in this book. And I'll tell you, suddenly Jesus says, they are the light of the world. They suddenly know things that no matter how many credentials they have out there, no matter how much money they make, no matter how famous they are, they're in the dark. This is phenomenal. Jesus in the end never says, they're the light of the world. Because do you know what the reality is? They really don't know. They don't know why man dies. You see, when you confront them, why does man die? What are they going to tell you? All they can do is this analysis. Well, we look at it at the molecular level and we see that basically the DNA breaks down. So that's what it is. That's why we die. They really don't understand the real problems facing man. They're not able to explain why the world is as it is. And still less are they able to tell us what can be done about the mess of humanity's end. I mean, do you recognize what the Lord is saying in this verse? Jesus goes so far to say that nobody... You see, you can drive along and you can recognize, well, you know, we've got these high politicians in London. And you can recognize that you have people that are out there and they're movers and shakers in the business world and they're buying and selling. Ruby and I first visited. We stayed in London. We stayed with a guy that literally bought and sold billion dollar skyscrapers in London. And you know, you get around all the movers and the shakers and the people that have money and the people that have power in this world. And Jesus never says, look there for light. Do you recognize the privilege we have? Do you recognize the responsibility we have? We are in a place where the things that you know... You don't take these things lightly. The world's going to attack us. They're going to go after what we claim to believe that comes out of this book. But what Jesus says, nobody but the Christian can give any useful, helpful, truthful advice or knowledge or instruction with respect to the deepest issues of life and death and eternity and God. Jesus is not simply making a statement that was true in His own day. This statement is true now in every subsequent age, including this one. You are the light of the world. We have men and women coming out of the highest learning institutions and they're claiming man is nothing more than this evolving animal. Just random. It's chance. It's fate. It's mother nature. It's natural selection. Or it's aliens. I mean, it's... Or it's just a simple denial like Sagan. I don't want to go there. Take the simplest Christian and born again. And what happens? Light floods in. And you know something happens? Yes, we go to this book and it's a lamp unto our feet. But do you know what John says? That we are actually as Christians, we receive an anointing. Now that's a very interesting word and we often don't like it because we connect it with a charismatic movement. But I'll tell you what that word comes up in 1 John. We as Christians are anointed. Now, if you look, Christ is said to have been anointed with the Holy Spirit. I believe that's what we want to do with that. But you know what the anointing is? The anointing says that we basically... We have truth and we don't need to be taught. That's very interesting. You ever come across that? That doesn't mean that there isn't a need for teachers and preachers. Or for apostles and evangelists. It doesn't mean that. What it means though is that by receiving the Spirit of God, you have light and you have understanding about things that the greatest minds in this world don't have. You are the light of the world. You are. Simple as Christian. And you know what happens when you put your nose in this book? You know what happens? You suddenly look in it and you realize, well, wait a second. God created all this. In the beginning. In the beginning. God created. And you know what? In six days, He created it all. And you know what? We see how it is. We see why it is. We see where men came from. God created them. We see where women came from. God created her. Out of... You can say that this is all fantastic. Listen. We know today, looking at the DNA. We know it's fantastic. We know. The microbiologists know that this did not happen by accident. They know that. They know. There's too much information here. This thing is mind-boggling. We know where it came from. There was a designer. The whole thing screams of design. We know where it happened. We don't just talk about intelligent design. We talk about the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We talk about the fact He created through Christ. Christ created. And nothing was created that wasn't created by Him. And we recognize where the devil came from. And we see where sin came in. And we see why it is the way it is. We see why women go through childbirth with pain. We see why there's prickers and briars and bramble bushes out there. We see why that is. We recognize why there's death and why there's cemeteries. We see where the whole thing's going. We see what the wages of sin are. Listen, you get born again and suddenly you've got this book and you begin to go through the pages and it all makes sense. We're not just randomly flying through this universe going nowhere. This didn't just all happen. By the way, big explosions don't turn in to order if you've never noticed. You blow things up. You go where there were wars and things are destroyed. We didn't drop the atomic bomb on Japan and go back and find meticulously ornamental cities all of a sudden resulting. There was destruction. That's what happens when you get explosion. The whole thing is nonsense. And you know what? But this is not nonsense for somebody to get saved and suddenly they go to this book and they recognize, you know what? Man is not merely some evolving animal. Pain is a special creation of God. And there it is in the pages of Scripture. He made us Lord of the creation. He gave us the responsibility to subdue it all. I mean it all begins to make sense. It all comes together. It tells us how it all happened. And it tells us that God in infinite love has intervened and given us a way of escape. I mean you talk about hope. What hope does the world have? I'll tell you what. Their hope is largely denial. It's the hope that they're not going to die in the next 24 hours. It's largely denial. It's the hope that if they do die, well they haven't been that bad. They haven't been as bad as Adolf Hitler. You know, they haven't been a cannibal or a rapist or some horrible thing like that. And see what they really don't know is there's cannibals in heaven right now. And there's great murderers in heaven right now. How do they... You see, they think... They're all thinking it's okay. I've been good enough. There's this hope. Or they just deny it all together. Well we're just going to die. We're not going to exist anymore. That's what Sagan thought. He's just not going to exist. Brethren, we need to think. And the Bible calls us to think. Can you prove to me that there's no God when Scripture says that there is a God? Who can prove that? Can you prove Genesis is a myth? That's what people are saying today. That's what supposed evangelicals are saying today. First three chapters, it's just myth. And see, you take a simpleton and they're born again. And they can look at the Bible and they can say, Well, it says why things are the way they are. And you know it makes sense. Do you know there's nothing about what the Bible says that we don't look around and see? It's exactly that way. See, we're not only in the light, we're the light. And this radiates out from us. Can you prove Christ is a myth? That's what people say. That's what people downtown will say. We don't even believe Christ even lived. Well, where's their proof? All they do is make some assertion. They're just very dogmatic. They're going to lay down their opinion. But can they prove that? I mean, look. You look around at us and look at the sin of men. What are you going to do? Are you going to deny sin? Sin is everywhere. People are rotten. People do horrible things to each other. And we're going to die. I mean, you would think if this whole thing is evolving, why would there even be death in the first place? I mean, how is it that things can be bad and they get better and better and better, but then it always ends in death? But you know what? You go to Scripture, well, it makes perfect sense. Why do people typically not live to be 1,000 years? Why is this thing not just super random? Like, well, you've got a whole bunch of people that just, like myriads of people, that just lived six years or they lived ten years, and then you've got other ones that lived 10,000 years. Why doesn't that happen? Why isn't it? No, you know what? God tells us very clearly, yes, they lived longer, and He kept shortening it. They were only going to live to be 120. That was going to be the end. And then He even downed it from there to three-score and ten. And that's about where the average is right now, and people like my father-in-law are flukes. But the reality is you take the average, and yes, it may fluctuate a little bit, but it's right where God said. The fact is that, you know what people say all the time? Science. Science proves. Have you ever noticed science doesn't prove anything? In fact, what science is increasingly proving is that the cells in our body have no explanation other than there was a vastly intelligent being who created. You go out to the fossil record, you recognize. In the fossil record, do we find fossils of animals that no longer exist? They're extinct? Absolutely. But do you find missing links between dogs and cats? Don't exist. They like to say there's missing links between apes and man. It doesn't exist. It's all a hoax. One of the greatest hoaxes of all is evolution. It's presented as a fact and as though there's proof beyond imagination. But you know there's no proof. There's absolutely no proof. There's no missing link to be found. There's no proof that man came from apes. In fact, anyway, you recognize. You know what Scripture says? In the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God. You ever come across that verse? That's a good one. You know what God's saying? You are the light of the world. And I'm going to use the foolishness of these Christians because that's what the world says. You take all these high minds. What do you think Sagan and Dawkins together thinks of Christians? Well, all you have to do is watch. Dawkins has really gone after Ray Comfort. They look at him like he is an absolute idiot. And you know what's increasingly becoming common? Christians are not just idiots. More and more, Christians are dangerous. See, we're these dangerous idiots. But you know what Christ says? These dangerous idiots, they're the light of the world. And they're the only ones. They're the ones that have the light. That's in the wisdom of God. The world through wisdom did not know God. You see, with all their learning, with all their degrees, with all of it, they can never find God. They can find out how to make a faster computer, a more efficient car. They can figure out how to cure a disease. But they cannot figure out how to save their souls. They don't have an answer. They can't get to God. They have ideas about God. And so, you know what they do? They create religions. Demons and men create all sorts of religions on ways to get to God. But you know what? You and I know how to get to God. I mean, you think about it. Think about it. You think about the light just in this place. We know how to escape damnation. We know the way to God. We know the path. I mean, you just take one look at the bulk of this world's media. Brethren, we are in the information age. And some of you are just young enough where you hardly know anything else. Look, I grew up in the 70s and 80s. We didn't have computers. Oh, they had big IBM things, you know, in certain places. And NASA may have had them. But I didn't have my first computer, home computer, until 1999. I grew up when, yes, there were dial rotary phones with cords. I remember the first time we actually had a phone that didn't have a cord. It's like, wow, there's freedom. You can actually do this. I mean, the idea. I remember the first time I saw a phone in a car. Like, whoa, John Syphs may had it. But we take it for granted. We are bombarded today. I mean, this has not been a good thing for this world. With computers and cell phones. Even on watches and glasses. They just wire us in to endless amounts of the media. This constant stream of social media and massive amount of just information hitting us all the time. And you know what? It's dark. Oh, I know. I know you can find John MacArthur on there. And I know you can find some sermons by Spurgeon. I know that. But the vast majority of this, they were Christians. They are Christians. They're the lights of the world. And yes, the lights of the world can use the internet. But the reality is the vast majority of this stuff is dark. And if you notice, it's not even that it attacks God. It's just more and more that it's just God-less. There's no mention of God at all. And you know, more and more it's creating this virtual reality already. You know how much of our sensory data is coming through those means? And they are trying to create more and more. I mean, you basically put the goggles on. And they're going to create this. You're going to be able to go out. I mean, you think Star Trek and all that virtual, you know, whatever room. What was that room they had where you could go in there and go somewhere else? Anyway, whatever it is. I wasn't really one of the Trekkie guys. But the reality is that's where we're headed. And so much of it is just God-less. It's dark. Doesn't Scripture say God isn't in all their thoughts? And that's where this whole thing is. We're just massively bombarded with all this. Just think about what distinguishes this generation from other generations. And I'm telling you, the sensory input. You don't have to go to a concert anymore. Why? Spotify! I mean, you don't even have to hardly go on holiday anymore, other than the fact that you want to and being locked down inside your house and driving nuts. But the reality is that you can go on the Internet and you can find the most beautiful sunsets on a Pacific island. You don't have to travel the Himalayas like I did. You can find all the pictures you want. You just basically live in this sensory experience of, you know, you want to kayak a river? Well, you just pull up YouTube and find a guy kayaking a river. You want a mountain bike down a mountain? All you've got to do, you know, the guy's got the GoPro on. All you've got to do is pull that up and you can feel like you're riding down that mountain. I mean, that's... and what? The thing is just, it's dark. It's godless. It's just people consumed with all of this stuff. And our generation's consciousness is so wired into this. And social media and who can be this and that and have the most friends. And it's just, this mass media, it just pounds us. It's hitting us with all of this stuff. And you know what happens? Other people's lives are more interesting than our lives. And so we watch their lives. And so then you end up with these shows that aren't even real. All they are is just, it's somebody else's life. They just brought a camera in the house. They're just showing you, you know, life of this family somewhere. And then you get all intrigued by it. Why? Their life is more exciting than yours. And that's, I mean, it's just this thing is pulling us in. People can't even, this young generation can't even survive. You take their phones away. You take their computer away. And they just feel like, yeah. And then we see suicides going. Why? Well, the whole thing's dark. Well, of course, there's no hope in all of it. They don't have a message of hope. We are the lights of the world. And you know what? This is not, this is no trivial thing that we know. We know the way to eternal life. We know the way to glory. We know the way to have your sins forgiven. We know the way to escape hell. You know what hell is? All this media, it's just lulling people to sleep. That's all it is. It's just darkness. It's just dark and double darkness. Men are depraved in their own heart, and then you've got the devil, and he's just lulling, he's darkness. And he just lies, and he's lulling everybody to sleep. And you know what he wants us to do? He wants that basket over us. He wants to put the basket right over the light, because we are the lights of the world. And I'll tell you this, if you don't light up the world, who do you think is going to? When we're the lights of the world, who's going to light up the world if we don't do it? Is YouTube going to do it? Is Twitter going to do it? Facebook going to do it? People hardly need to go to live anything anymore. It's just all there, vast amounts of information just coming at us. And you know what Jesus never said? Look there! He said, you know what? You just wait until, you know, the year 2000. You wait for a couple more millennia, and the light in this world will be so bright. Nope, you know what? It's still just the same. We are the lights. But here's the thing. Think about what all that means. You see, a thousand years ago, you know what happened 500 years ago today? Anybody know? It was the eve of the diet of worms. Tomorrow is the 500th anniversary. So I don't know how far it was from where he was living to there. I don't know if he got there in a day. He might have already been traveling 500 years ago today. But do you recognize in the days of Martin Luther, do you recognize he being the light of the world? Do you recognize what he was up against? He was up against what they had in that day. He was up against the Catholic Church and the darkness thereof. But do you recognize that the people, the peasants, the common people there, that ultimately would hear the message of the Reformation? Do you recognize what information looked like in that day? Basically, if you were a peasant out there, where did you get your information? You didn't even have a newspaper. Where were you going to get it? Well, it would come from word of mouth. Things would be passed on. But do you recognize, if you were the light of the world in that day, what you had to contend with? Well, the printing press was new. That was definitely a massive invention. But think about it. Think about what you were up against. And today, think about it. It's almost like you turn on the water faucet. In that day, it was like a drip of darkness. As far as what media people had exposure to. You can imagine a faucet that just drips these black drops of darkness. But today, it's not just like a faucet's turned on full blast. You've got like a dam broke. And this thing is gushing at people. Do you recognize, just today, Just you are the lights of the world. And how much you will actually absorb from this world's media in the next seven days. Before we meet here again. Do you recognize what this world is being hit with right now? I mean, what I'm trying to do is show you. You are the lights of the world. What indeed is our responsibility? Brethren, I'll tell you this. We need to get that light shining out there every single way possible. We need to use the internet. We need to use the radio if we can. We need to use flyers. We need to use tracks. We need to use our mouths. We need to use everything possible. No holds barred here. We need to be light. We need to get it out there. We need to get it out there. We need to be active. We all have a part to play. I recognize our gifts are different. But we need to be moving together as a machine with this objective in mind. We don't want to keep the light within these four walls. In fact, God help us to not even meet within these four walls in very short fashion. I would much rather be close to that three million people that we're supposed to be shining our light upon. Brethren, just think about what... In all this information, in all of it, Christ would have us turn our back to it. And He says, But you, you are the light of the world. The ordinary Christian. Every Christian. The least Christian. You may not know about astrophysics, molecular biology. But listen. I want you to see something. Where are we at in time? I want you to see something in Scripture. Look at Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 49. I want you to see something very interesting. In Isaiah 49 verse 1. I want you to feel this as we get ready to end and part ways for the day. But Isaiah 49 verse 1. Listen, O coastlands, to me. And take heed, you peoples, from afar. The Lord has called me from the womb. Okay. Who is this me? If you have a New King James like I do, they've actually even capitalized it. Which means that their translators believe that that's speaking of deity. A capitalized pronoun in the New King James always means that. Doesn't necessarily indicate whether it's the father or the son. But they capitalize deity. Now look, you have the Lord and me. In this verse. The Lord has called me from the womb. If you're like me, I would immediately be inclined to say, Well, Lord is probably the father. And the me is probably looking forward to Christ. Coming from the womb. From the matrix of my mother, He has made mention of my name. And He has made my mouth like a sharp sword. Okay. Notice that. Now, we have imagery in the New Testament with Christ. With a sharp, two-edged sword. That imagery of a sword coming from His mouth. Again, we would all the more be likely led to believe, Well, this is Christ. In the shadow of His hand, He has hidden me. And made me a polished shaft. In His quiver, He has hidden me. And He said to me, You are my servant, O Israel. Now isn't that interesting? You're my servant. Well, we find Jesus is often called servant. But isn't that interesting? My servant, Israel. Israel. Who do we think about when we think about Israel? Israel points to this prince with God who wrestled and prevailed. The people of God are Israel. But, let's just... You are my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. But then, let's drop down a little bit. Verse 6. You could keep reading, but it's basically... Verse 5, you see His servant. Verse 6, indeed He says, It is too small a thing that you should be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel. I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be My salvation to the ends of the earth. Who is He talking about there? Who is that? Christ. Can anybody tell me in the New Testament where it is affirmed to us that that is Christ? Do you remember what Simeon said when he prophesied? Remember he took the child in his hands in Luke 2? Turn to Luke 2. I'm going somewhere with this, so don't tune me out yet. Something significant. Luke 2. This interesting man Simeon that God had spoken to and told him that he would not die until he had set his own eyes on the Lord's Christ. He says this. Notice Luke 2 and verse 30. For my eyes have seen your salvation, this is Simeon speaking, which you have prepared before the face of all peoples a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel. Okay? This light to the Gentiles. This is Christ. But I want you to hear something that I hope impacts you. Acts chapter 13 verse 46. Turn there. Acts 13 verse 46. Now Christ, the light of the world, He's ascended into glory. He's already told His disciples, you are the light of the world. And now Christ, He's not here physically. There is not a physical manifest presence upon the face of this earth anymore. And yet, this verse is going to be quoted from Isaiah 49 by Paul and Barnabas. Listen to what they say. Acts 13 verse 46. Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold. They said it was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you. He's talking to Jews. It was necessary that we preach the Gospel to you Jews first. But since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, I have set you as a light to the Gentiles. He doesn't say as was said about the Lord. He said the Lord Himself commanded us that we are a light. I have set you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth. Listen, you know what we find? The mission of the servant in Isaiah 49 is to be undertaken, yes, by Christ, but also by the church. Isn't it interesting? My servant Israel. It's like my servant Israel is captured in Christ, but it's not limited. We so identify with Him, we're one with Him, where He can say I'm the light of the world. He who follows Me will not walk in darkness. But then He looks at us and He says, you are the light of the world. Not your other lights. You are the light. Why would you say the when you called yourself the light? It's like He's pulling us into this. Do you recognize? What did He do when He came to the world? Well, He came to bear witness to the truth. See, that's what light is. You see what our calling is in this world? Brethren, I'm telling you this. You know as well as I do, in every one of these houses out here, all these terraces up and down these streets, you think about through the media that they have access to. Their television, their computer, and their cell phones. Just that. You think of the amount of darkness that is going to pour through that technological means into their eyes and ears in this coming day, in this coming week, in this coming year, and it is just meant to keep men. Satan is in this. You better believe he is. He means to lull people to death. What does he do? He blinds the eyes of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the Gospel, of the glory of Christ. And who is the light? Who is going to overcome the darkness? They sat in darkness and they saw a great light. Yeah, that was Christ. But Christ has handed the baton to us and He said, you're the light of the world. Amen? I'll pick this up next week. You're dismissed. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/Qpdyk-fYBmI.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/tim-conway/you-are-the-light-of-the-world/ ========================================================================