 We started our study on the Sermon on the Mount and obviously, as I mentioned last night, we cannot cover the entire Sermon on the Mount even though in our next session I'm going to do my best. You'll see why in a minute when we go through the golden rule. But we are going to take a journey. We started last night with the eight blessed Beatitudes and this morning we're going to follow with the text that's right after that and that is the Christian's impact on the world by being salt and light. So if you would turn in your Bibles to Matthew 5, Matthew 5 and we are going to look only at verses 13 through 16 this morning. June 26, 2015 will go down in history as a monumental event. If you recall, the Supreme Court of the United States of America voted to allow couples of the same sex to get married. Men are now able to marry men. Women are now able to marry women. And ladies, do you realize the decision for our country was decided by two men and, lost my note here, three women. That decision for us was decided by two men and three women. And I don't know about you, but when that happened, I grieved that day. I wept. I wept. I don't agree to think that we now as kingdom citizens are living in a culture that is dishonoring the name of our Lord. And so I began to ask myself, how did we get here in our culture? What brought us to this point? And I know those of us who are reformed, we will answer that question by saying, well, you know, Susan, God is sovereign. He's still on the throne. He has a plan. He knows what he's doing. And I agree with that, but ladies, even though that is true, will we as reformed believers use that as a cloak for our lackadaisical Christianity? Have you and I failed in being effective to a lost world? Are we failing in being salt and light, living in a world that is filled with darkness and immorality? Ladies, the world is becoming more and more evil every day, but I'm up here this morning to tell you, I think that we as God's daughters are somewhat responsible for the moral decay and why? Because we have not been salty enough and we have not been shiny enough to stop some of the moral decay and the rot that is going on in our world. As we as Christians are in the world, we are not to be of the world, but that doesn't mean that we say that we stop making an impact on our world. Do you know Christ left you here to go and bring forth fruit, to make disciples, to be His representatives, to be salt and light, and yet many of us are failing to do that? So let's listen in. What Jesus has to say is He continues teaching there on the mountain, the Sermon on the Mount Matthew 5.13 to 16. Notice what Jesus says, You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will it be seasoned? It is good for nothing, but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. The city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden, neither do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on the lamp stand that it gives light to all that are in their house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Now you should have an outline there before you and your little brochure, your little pamphlet there. We're going to look at, first of all, the Christians' twofold impact on the world, the Christians' failure to impact the world and its results, and the Christians' faithfulness to impact the world and its results. Now for those that weren't here last night, it looks like there was just a couple of gals, we began by looking at the eight Beatitudes and we discovered that these Beatitudes are not something we seek after, it's something that we already are. And so if these Beatitudes that we looked at last night don't describe you, then you need to do some serious self-examination. We also brought out last night that each one of these Beatitudes builds on the previous one. That's why Jesus starts with the poor in spirit, those that are mourning and weeping over their sin, and then they become humble, and then they seek for all the righteousness that there is, and then that wants them to, then they desire to show mercy to others and on and on, and so we brought that out. And so ladies, can you imagine if every woman in this room this morning possessed those eight Beatitudes, they really describe who we are, can you imagine the impact that we'd make on our world if we really lived out those eight Beatitudes? We would be salt and light, wouldn't we? Because we would stand in stark contrast to a very dark world, and so that's why Jesus goes from the Beatitudes to the next section. You are, you are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. Now it's interesting that he uses these two examples, salt and light, because that would be something that everyone sitting on that hill would be familiar with. In fact, even in the 21st century, we're familiar with salt and light, right? In fact, the morning that I was getting ready to go into my office to study this specific portion of God's Word, I had just had some eggs, and guess what? I put salt on them, and I like salt. I don't have high blood pressure, so I have all the salt I want. But I also went into my office and turned on the light, so I could see while I studied. So salt and light is something that we are familiar with, too, right? In fact, right now, if the lights weren't on, you wouldn't be able to see. And so we are familiar with that. So let's consider the first way we as Christians impact our world from verse 13. Jesus says, you are the salt of the earth. So ladies, the first way we as believers impact our world is by being salt. And notice Jesus says, you are. You are. Because the word you means you yourself. Now ladies, this forces you, it should force you to look at yourself. Don't look at the lady sitting to the right of you or the left of you or behind you or in front of you. You have, don't even look at your husband. Don't look at your neighbor. Don't look at your child. Jesus says, saying, you yourself, this forces me to look at myself. And notice it's not you will grow into being salt. You are right now salt. If you're a genuine kingdom citizen, you are right now the salt of the earth. Now what's the earth? Well, that would be a word that would represent the entire world, lady, which should motivate us to consider that we are salt, whether you are at home in your bathroom, whether you're in your bedroom by yourself, whether you are in a foreign country, wherever you are, public or private, you are salt. You should be salt. And by the way, this is not a command. Okay. This is not a command. This is a statement. This is what a genuine daughter of the king looks like. They're salt. Ladies, those who are living the Beatitudes are salt and light. Salt and light is not something the world is. Your lost friends are not salt and light, but it is something that you should be. You and I should be. Now you might think, well, this is kind of weird salt. We know in the biblical world, salt was a valuable commodity and people valued it far more than you and I do. In fact, do you know many in the biblical world were paid their wages in salt? Now how would you like that? Those of you that work outside the home, you know, comes to pay the 15th and 30th of the month and your boss says, here, here is a bag of Morton salt. I hope you have a great week. You know? And you're like, really? This is all I get. But it was a valuable commodity. Why? Well, for several reasons. They didn't have the refrigeration systems that we have last night. We got home and Debbie put some of her stuff in the refrigerator in the hotel so that it would, you know, not get spoiled and she wouldn't get food poisoning. And so in the biblical world, they would use the salt for preserving, especially meat. They did not have refrigeration systems like we do. So we can say by being salt, we preserve the world from corruption, just like salt preserves meat from being corrupted. Also, when you think about it, salt makes you thirsty, right? In fact, I've noticed that if I, on some of these trips, I can't actually eat, you know, like I would like to, but I end up eating, you know, especially in airports to junk food, you know, hamburger fries or every once in a while my husband will go out for pizza and after we go, why do we do that? It makes you just feel gross. And then my husband has to go get a big jug of water and put it by his bed stand because he says, I have to drink water all night because it makes you so thirsty. Salt makes you thirsty. So we could say being salt, by being salt, we make the world thirsty for the things of Christ. And also, did you know salt has healing agents? In fact, before I started oil pulling, I'm sure I'm giving you more information than you want to have, but before I started oil pulling about eight months ago, I used to break out these terrible canker sores. And I don't do it, it doesn't happen to me anymore since I started doing that. But before that, one of the things that I did that really helped my canker sores was rinsing my mouth out with salt and almost immediately or the next day they would be gone. Salt has a healing agent. So we can infer from that, we bring healing to a lost world. Now those are just some of the things that salt does, but ladies, look at the context. Jesus is using salt here as something that gives flavor by what he says next. If the salt loses its flavor, how will it be seasoned? Ladies, if we're not making an impact by preserving the world from corruption, then we've lost our flavor. If we are not standing in stark contrast to the world's values and morals, we've lost our flavor. Which means, by the way, we must speak out against those values. If you're not making an impact by your life which makes others thirsty to know why you're different, you've lost your flavor. If your words and actions don't bring healing to a lost and dark world, then my friend, you've lost your flavor. In fact, the word flavor means your dull, your bland, your foolish. So, and you know what happens if you're not being salty? You're no longer making an impact, but you look more like your lost neighbors. You're dull. You're foolish. And may I say to you this morning, this is the way many churches look today. They've lost their flavor. Sometimes I go to some of these conferences, Debbie and I were at one a few weeks ago. I couldn't tell the difference between the building we were in and what was going on inside the building in a movie theater. Some churches today, you know, am I in a house of worship or am I in a house of entertainment? You can't tell the difference. Ladies, our work should make others take notice and say, I want what you have. How do I get it? I want what you got. How do I get it? In fact, I've told you the illustration several years ago. I was going inside to pay for my gas and the clerk said, boy, you sure are happy. That's the key. And I use that as a bad illustration because I didn't tell him. I copped out by saying, you know, I got to get home and cook dinner for my husband. But at least that's what we should do to make a difference. What do you have? I want it. Paul says in Colossians, let your speech be always with grace, season with salt, so that you might know how to answer every man. Peter talks about that too. Every man that asks you about the hope that is within you. Let your speech be seasoned with salt. Let others thirsty to know who Christ is. Ladies, we lose our flavor when we become influenced by the world, when we fail to be disciplines in the means of grace, when we lose our passion, we lose our zeal, when we stop using our mouths for the gospel, we've lost our flavor. But Jesus says something very scary. He says, if you lose your flavor, you can't be seasoned again. You're good for nothing. Good for nothing. One man helped me to understand this better. He was talking about the fact that he went to Judea and he went to, there's a valley of salt there. And he pulled, there was a rock formation that was attached to this valley of salt. And he decided to pull a small particle of the rock away from the big rock. And he said it was really interesting. The part that was still attached to the big rock, he put it to his tongue. It was still salty. But the other part that had been exposed to the sun and the rain and the elements, he said it had lost its flavor. And he goes on to describe this very interesting, a preacher or a private Christian who's lost the life of Christ and the witness of his spirit out of his soul is likened to this salt. They may have the sparks and glitter, particles of true wisdom, but without its unction or comfort. Only that which is connected with the rock, the soul that is in union with Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit, can preserve its flavor and be instrumental of good to others." Ladies Jesus says, if you're no longer salty you've lost your flavor. You're like that rock. You can take a lick of it, but hasn't been connected to the rock, has no taste. And Jesus says, you're good for nothing. That's a very serious statement. Do you hear what he's saying? Good for nothing. Now ladies, what do you do with those things in your house that are good for nothing? Throw them out, right? In fact, every year I try to go through every closet and door of my house. And you know what? There's a lot of things I think this is good for nothing. Throw it out, you know, or put it on the street and put it on Craig's house. It was come and given. You know, it has no value anymore. And that's what Jesus says, you throw them out. And he says, you throw them out and then trample them under your feet. In fact, the throwing out here means to be violently thrust out. To be trampled means to be trodden down to reject. In fact, in biblical times, salt was not as pure due to the fact they didn't have the purification methods that we do. So sometimes their salt was mixed with dirt and it would become useless. And what they would do, they would throw it on the road as part of the gravel they would walk on and it became trampled underfoot by men. Men would walk on it as they would walk from place to place. It had lost its effectiveness. It had lost its effectiveness for healing or flavor or preserving. So what do you do with it? You throw it out. Mix it up. In fact, Jesus even talks in Luke about mixing it with manure, dung, to be thrown out so men can trample on it. Now, ladies, it is impossible for salt to regain its saltiness after it's been lost. Have you ever thought about that? And I admit this has some very serious implications. Since Jesus says, you as a daughter of the King are now salt and light, then if you're not, what does that prove? You can take it up with the Lord, but I'll tell you what he's saying. You are never in the faith. Remember who Jesus is talking to? Scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites. He's talking to a group of people, some who are genuinely saved, some who think they are saved, some who think that they can do all these outward works of righteousness, hide every week, go to church, obey the letter of the law, but they omit justice, mercy and faith. That's who he's talking to on this mountain. In fact, these men had an outward show of religion, but not the real thing. So if you're taking notes, the failure to impact our world results in a tragic result. We are good for nothing. Good for nothing. Ladies, do you know even the apostle Paul understood this, the implications of this? You know what he says in 1 Corinthians? He said, I discipline my body and bring it into subjection. Why? Least I myself, the apostle Paul, at least I myself am a castaway, at least I go apostate. In fact, Paul says in another place, it is impossible for those who are once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift, if they fall away to renew them to repentance, seeing they crucified of themselves again, the son of God, and put him to an open shame. And even our brother Peter writes, it would have been better for you to have not known the way of righteousness than after you have known it to turn away from the holy commandment. For it is written what? The dog is returned to his vomit, and the sow is wallowing in her mire again. It would have been better for you not to even know the way of righteousness than to turn away. Ladies, salt that has lost its flavor is good for nothing. Well, Jesus moves on to the second way, genuine believers impact the world in verse 14. He says, you're the light of the world, the light of the world. So the Christians twofold impact, if you're taking notes on the world is by being salt and light, salt and light. In fact, the rendering here is the same as verse 13. You yourself are the light of the world. Don't look at the girl next to you, the one in front of you behind you, or even anybody that you're thinking about right now that goes to your church or in your home. You yourself, that's what she's saying. In fact, I can just see him pointing, you know, to each individual. You, you yourself, you yourself, you yourself, you are the light of the world. And again, it's not something we grow into. You're either light right now or you're not. You can't have, you know, I know now that popular thing in Christianity is there's three classes of people, saved, lost and those in between. Well, I don't see that in the Word of God. I'm still waiting for someone to show me that in the Bible. I haven't seen that yet. Two roads, right? Two ways, two destinations. There's not a third one, even though we're trying to make one. And you know, it's interesting because Jesus calls himself the light of the world, doesn't he? I'm the light of the world. So it makes sense that his children would what? Be light too, right? Well, what does light mean? The word light means to make manifest or shine. In fact, we know that light dispels darkness. So we would say that Christians shine in a dark world. And by doing that, we chase away the darkness. Ladies, our lives should be in a front to the world. We shouldn't fit in with the world. We should be in a front to the world. In fact, Jesus further illustrates this by saying, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. It's impossible. In fact, many times in the biblical world, many of the cities were actually on hills. In fact, right now, Jesus is teaching from a hill. And so again, he's a master illustrator. He's using the birds and the lilies and the hills and all the things that the biblical world would understand. But we understand that too, right? The city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. I remember my sister who now lives in Oklahoma, lived in Monterey, California. And often I would go see her as I was on my way to the masters to see my kids or something. And I would go down the road from Salinas to Monterey. And she lived on the top of this hill. And I could see her home from way, way down in the valley, especially if it was nighttime. Because a city or houses that are set on a hill, especially in the night, cannot be hidden. What's he saying? A genuine kingdom citizen doesn't hide their faith. They don't hide their faith. It can be seen. Ladies, people shouldn't have to wonder if you're a Christian or not. They shouldn't have to wonder. It should be as obvious as a city that is set on a hill. Everyone can see it. Also, one of the things I've noticed when Debbie and I are flying and it's pitch dark, which it will be tonight by the time we get home, it'll be about 11. But sometimes I look out those windows if I'm awake and it's really pitch dark. It's kind of creepy. But then when the plane kind of passes different cities and stuff, it's comforting, isn't it? To be in a completely dark place and all of a sudden there's light and that's comforting. So ladies, we can conclude that we as God's children, as we live out the light of the gospel in a real sense, it brings comfort, right? To a dark world just like a city on a hill does. We dispel darkness and we bring comfort. In fact, over the years, I've been really noticing how even unbelievers will come to people who are Christians and ask them to pray for them. Have you noticed that? In a way, it's comforting. I know my sister that just moved to Oklahoma that's not a believer. She said, I think six surgeries in the one year she's been there. And right before one of them, she sent me an email and she said, would you please pray for me? I'm not ready to die. Well, of course she's not ready to die. She's going to go to a Christless eternity. But somehow that brings comfort to them. Well, Jesus continues to illustrate the importance of being light by another illustration in verse 15. He said, neither do men light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand it gives light to all that are in the house. Now, this might be difficult for us to understand, but not so much for the audience that's listening to Jesus because the biblical world did not have electricity. And so night time would be very, very dark. They didn't have street lights and things like that. And so in fact, a member of Acts 20, when Utikas fell out of the window, when Paul was preaching past midnight, it says that there were many lights in the upper chamber. So they had to put a lot of lights in there because it was dark time. And even the Proverbs 31 woman and members says she doesn't let her lamp go out at night. And so they didn't have the type of electricity that we have. And most homes had one lampstand or a candlestick for the whole house. So you would have like one candle or something like that. So a lamp was a vessel that had a wick in the middle of it, and a bushel or a basket was what the women would use to put their grain in. So what Jesus is saying is the women don't come, they don't like that one lampstand for the night and take their bushel or basket and put it on top of it. Because what, then the light would go out and then somebody trying to get up in the night would, you know, might fall and break their neck. And ladies, neither do we turn on a nightlight or a lamp at night and then put it under our bed. Right? They'd be ludicrous. In fact, this is not in my notes, but this is really funny. A few weeks ago I was in California doing a conference and this lady came up. She was giggling and she goes, I have a little gift for you. And I said, what is this? And she said, it's a toilet night light. I'm like, okay. So, yeah, it's an interesting gift. So when I got home, my husband was out having lunch with somebody, I thought I'm going to do a little trick because he gets up a lot in the night and I put it in his toilet. So every time you walk in the bathroom, the toilet bowl lights up. And you know, I thought, well, he said, what in the world did you put in my toilet? And I said, well, it's kind of like your night, your own personal night light. So it turns colors, blue, yellow, gold, it's pretty, it was a shark tank product. And anyway, we've gotten a lot of kick out of that and so have the grandkids. They think it's pretty special. But you know, you don't turn on a night light at night and then unplug it or anything like that because then somebody might fall if they get up in the middle of the night. Ladies we as God's children, we give light to a dark world. In fact, Wiseau Solomon once wrote this, but the path of the justice like the shining light that shines ever brighter into the perfect day. The way of the wicked is like darkness. They do not know what makes them stumble. Ladies, we also do not let our light go out. We keep it burning. I won't take the time right now, but if we looked at the illustration of the ten virgins, remember the ten virgins, five were foolish, five were wise. The foolish ones let their lamps go out. You know the ones that were foolish that let their lamp go out, didn't know the Lord. They were the ones that he said, what? I don't know you. I don't know you. Ladies, we cannot say we know Jesus and hide the gospel from others. We cannot say we love the Lord and live foolishly. In fact, it's only the lost world that loves darkness, right? Men love darkness. Why? Because their deeds are evil. I'm always quoting that to my husband. It's the men that love darkness, but it's really mankind. In fact, in the biblical world, they say that some people would put a candle under a bushel and when all the house was asleep, that would be the time they would get up and do their evil work like murder and steal. But ladies, those who love the light want to represent the light. They want to represent the Lord Jesus. Now ladies, this should cause us to stop and think very carefully, especially when you consider. Do you know what the recent statistics are? They're alarming. Do you know only 2% of us actively share our faith? 2%, this is a recent statistic I just got, 2% of professing believers share their faith. Even though 3 out of 4 of us think we should. Ladies, we are failing. We're failing to be salt and light. Now I know God is sovereign in salvation. I hear this often from the frozen chosen, you know, the reformed people. Why do we share the gospel? God's going to say, well, because we're to go into all the world and preach the gospel, right? We are responsible. Man has a responsibility. And my sister, we're failing to be salt and light, and we're going to be held accountable. We're going to be held accountable on that day. So we as Christians impact our world in a twofold way by being salt and light. Failure to do so manifests really who we are. We're good for nothing. That's tragic. But being faithful to be salt and light manifests itself in something wonderful. The natural conclusion of being light in a dark world. What is the natural conclusion? Look what Jesus says, verse 16. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Notice again, it's your light. Your light must shine. You know, too often we're like Peter. Remember Peter, James, and John, or Peter and John, and Jesus walking, the end of John 21, and Jesus tells Peter how he's going to die. He said, when we're young, someone dressed you and took you where you wanted to go. But when you're old, someone's going to dress you and carry you where you don't want to go. This is said to signify how he's going to die. Peter turned around and goes, excuse me, what about him? What about John? Jesus says, what is that to you? You better follow me. And ladies, we're often like Peter. What about her? What about him? What about my husband? What about this person? Jesus would say to us, you better worry about Susan. Heck, don't be worried about them. You better look at your own life. Ladies, each one of us individually is responsible for letting our light shine, which means to radiate brilliantly. Do you know you're not going to heaven on the coattails of another person? You're not going to be standing before God on that day, holding your husband's hand. Okay? You're going to be standing as an individual, each one of us individually. So Jesus says, we're to let our light shine before men. Interesting, you know that was said about John the Baptist. He was a burning and a shining light. Are you a burning and a shining light? In fact, Paul says in Philippians, we're to do everything without murmuring and complaining, which is a great verse for you to memorize as a woman. We do a lot of murmuring and complaining, right? Paul says, do everything without murmuring and complaining. Why? So that you'll shine as a light in the dark world. Because ladies, murmuring and complaining is what the world does. You ever notice that? I mean Debbie and I see it all the time when we're waiting in line for, you know, our flight, just rah rah rah rah rah, you know? And then you get on the plane, the same thing, murmuring and complaining. In fact, we're one of the, I'm not trying to toot our own horn, but we're one of the few people when we board the plane that, you know, the attendants always say, hey, how's it going? And we say, hey, how are you? And they always thank us because nobody cares about anybody anymore, you know? But Paul says you're to do everything without murmuring and complaining wise so that you can shine as a light because the world murmurs and complains about everything. But we're to be different. Ladies, in order for us to slide, the letter light shine before men, you've got to get out of your comfort zone. You've got to be busy for the Lord. Don't isolate yourself in your home with all your technology and think you're being light by posting some poem or scripture verse on your Facebook page to your 6,000 friends that you don't have. Get out of your house, meet people, invest your time and energy into relationships. I was telling Christy on the way here, she picked Deb and I at the airport this morning. A few weeks ago when I was in Iowa, I was speaking and one of the young girls emailed me after I got back home and telling me how the Lord used her message, the messages in her life. And she said, you know, I've been taking my nursing time. I have an eight month old baby and she said, you really struck home to me on the pride of life because she said that I have to take a lot of time to nurse my baby. And she said, when I would nurse my baby, I'd get my cell phone and she said, I'd look at my Facebook account and see how many people liked my post. And she said, it was just puffing up my ego and the pride of life. But she said, after you're speaking on the word of God and being worldly or woman of the word or woman of the world. And she said, I decided to use my nursing time for memorizing God's word. And she said, do you know a three by five card is the same size as your iPhone? So she said, I put my iPhone down, got out some verses and she said, do you know the first day? I memorized 10 verses. So I emailed the young girl back and I said, you know what? Your eight month old baby girl is going to benefit far more from you memorizing God's word than getting on your phone and looking at your Facebook accounts and puff up your ego. Ladies, we got to get out and be salt and light and it's not going to be by spending four hours on Facebook. Get out of your comfort zone. The time is short. And if you and I are going to make a difference, we must do it now. Now you might say, well, Susan, why should I let my light shine before men? Notice what Jesus says. First of all, so that they can see your good works. And secondly, so that you will glorify your Father in heaven. Ladies, our light should be shining, especially as women. Read Titus 2. Other people should look at your life and see that you're so reminded. You love your husband. You love your kids. You're good. You're keeper at home. You're submissive to your husband. That stands out in our world today. Also, read 2 Timothy 1 Timothy 5, what you should be doing as a woman or living out the fruit of the spirit. Let your light shine that they may see your good works of what? Love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, faith, self-control. The world should see all that in you. In fact, as men and women see our good works, the glory doesn't go to us, right? The glory goes to the one who gave us the ability to do anything anyway. And that's our Father, right? And it puts him on display. In fact, the psalmist says, not unto us, oh Lord, but unto you be the glory. To you be the glory. Ladies, the wonderful result of a faithful follower of Christ who is living out a life of salt and light as the Father in heaven is glorified. So if you're taking notes, when we are faithful to impact our world, then the great result is this. We glorify our Father in heaven. Ladies, we put him on display. We put him on display. How? By our good works, by making the world thirsty. In fact, Peter says in 1 Peter, have your conduct honorable so that even though people speak against you, they may by your good works glorify your Father who's in heaven. Even though people hate you, they'll have to look at you and say, you know what? I really don't like this woman. She's really weird. She's really crazy. But there's something different about her. And it'll glorify your Father who's in heaven. In fact, in the physical sense, do you know when a light goes on or a lamp goes on? If we were to turn out all these lights right now and it'd be dark, and then I'd have somebody turn them back on, it wouldn't draw attention to all these lights, would it? What does it illuminate? It draws attention to what? All of you in here. They're the same it is with us. When we do our good works, it's not for the purpose of drawing attention to ourself, right? But to draw attention to someone else. Our Father who's in heaven. I remember when I was being discipled years ago by a lady, and I remember when I left her house, I wanted to be like her. But you know more than that, it pushed me to want to be like Jesus. And I'd leave there thinking, Man, I want to be like Christ. Why? Because I noticed those good works in her. And they glorified her Father in heaven. And I wanted to be like that. And it pushed me to Christ. It pushed me to read good books. It pushed me to memorize God's Word. It pushed me to have active devotional time. Because I wanted to be like Christ. She drew me and pushed me to Him. In fact, I remember when the Supreme Court made that decision, I was talking about my opening for same-sex marriage. I was out to lunch with five women who I thought were my friends, Christian friends. And I remember saying to them, Do you know when that decision was made that our Father in heaven, who was supposed to be the one who's glorified, it blasphemed him. It made his Word unattractive. It did not put him on display because the Supreme Court took something that God made to be beautiful. A relationship between a husband and a wife. A man and a woman. And they twisted it. And I had one woman actually snarl her teeth at me. She was angry. Another one got angry too. Neither one of them are my friends anymore. Ladies, we want to put our Father on display. Well, the Christian has a two-fold impact on the world. That is to be salt and light. Does this describe you? Are you a deterrent to the moral decay of the world? Does your life bring healing and comfort to those around you? Do you make others thirsty for God? What about being a light to the world? Does anybody outside of your immediate family know that you're a Christian? What impact are you making on your world? Are you a shining light to a lost and dying world? Or are you being influenced by the world? Ladies, the world is getting worse and worse, as predicted. Evil men will become worse and worse. But our response as a Christian is not to throw up our hands and hide out in our home. We're to be faithful to the end. Ladies, if we fail to impact our world, the tragic result is clear. We're good for nothing. Ladies, wouldn't it be tragic to be sitting here this morning proclaiming the name of Christ, calling him Lord, and find out on that day that Jesus says, depart from me, I never knew you? In fact, he says that. That's from the Sermon on the Mount. If we're faithful to impact our world by our good works, by being salt and light, the wonderful result is we glorify our Father who is in heaven, the one we're going to spend eternity with. Is your life bringing glory to God? How are you putting Him on display? Interesting enough, two years before the Supreme Court made that decision, in 2013, one of the voices of our day, John MacArthur, said this in a question-and-answer session at his church, and I quote him. He said, the evangelical church has become tolerant. Tolerant of what? You name it, and I'll tell you what the next one will be, homosexuality. Now, this is two years before the Supreme Court decision. He says, we've been softened up. We've given up the fight. We've basically rolled over in the name of love, and now I pick up an article, and it says, and I'm sure Jerry Falwell would roll over in his grave, that a student at Liberty Seminary is an open homosexual. They're gay groups on Christian college campuses. The church needs to accept homosexuals and accept even homosexual marriage. This is going to come in like a flood, he said. This is going down fast. How do I feel about it? I expect the world to act like the world. What I don't expect is the church to act like the world. What I'm concerned about is what the church does. What we do in the name of Jesus Christ, and when we so hurriedly abandon the biblical pattern, and when a Christian institution with tens of thousands of students says we want to work with the students here who have gender identity issues, the church is caving in, end of quote. Now ladies, we've come a long way since 2015. Now we have polygamy. We have stuff on the Supreme Court, but in the legislation for incest, bestiality, transgender, and the latest thing I found out last year at the National Counseling Conference was robots. That's going to be the next thing. You can marry a robot. You can have a woman not to cave in. Will you be zealous for the sake of Christ and His kingdom? Will you be one of the few faithful ones left when the Son of Man comes? Well, the end of the world will go down as a monumental event, much more monumental than the Supreme Court decision that was made June 26, 2015. It will be a much more serious decision than same-sex marriage. The decision will be that the earth will be burned up. This decision will not be made by the Supreme Court of the United States, but it will be made by one man, the supreme being of all the earth, God our Father. No longer will men marry men or women marry women, but each of those who have not repented will be cast into the lake of fire forever, along with all of those who have never repented of their sins and given their life over to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The time is short, my sister. Do not waste another day being dull in your flavor and dim in your light. Have salt within yourself and let your light shine. Let's pray. Oh, Father, we are so grieved when we consider the moral, rapid decline of our nation. And yet, Father, you in your goodness and kindness have left us here for such a time as this, even as Esther, such a time as this. So Lord, help us not to waste the time, but redeem the time. Buy up opportunities for the gospel, for showing mercy, for doing all the things that you've left us here to do to bring forth good fruit for your kingdom. Lord, I pray that if there is any here that is not connected to the vine, they've never known what it means to mourn over their sin and weep. I pray, oh God, that today would be the day of their salvation. That they would bow the knee and give themselves over to the Lordship of Christ. And then, Lord, they can be salt, and then they will be light because it is something we are already. Oh, Father, help us even this day to represent you in the real sense. Help us to put you on display, I pray. In Christ's name, amen.