Jim Van Gelderen: Well, I want us to go to Matthew 5. And I want to read just about, I think, three verses of scripture. And I want to just point out something here that this will be a theme I’ll bring back in my own preaching.

It may come up in other messages as well. Something that has really been stirring my heart recently. In fact, I preach a message, Do You Know Who You Are?

And this particular text of Scripture has a little bit of that truth in it. I want to kind of point that out here in a moment. And so let’s read those texts.

Now remember, this is from the Sermon on the Mount. So Jesus is preaching this outside.

And he’s preaching it on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Twice I’ve been to kind of a natural amphitheater there. The scholars believe that very well could have been the place Jesus preached this.

Thousands of people were expecting Jesus to announce a political revolution. But he didn’t. He announced a spiritual revolution, which continues at this very moment.

And he addressed those that are in his kingdom. He addressed those that are believers. And he says there’s two things you need to understand about who you are.

So, let’s look at verse number 13. He says, Ye are the salt of the earth. And I want you to see verse number 14.

Ye are the light of the world. I’m going to come back and read those verses, but I want you to note something. Notice what he said.

He didn’t say, you should be the salt of the earth. He didn’t say, you should be the light of the world. Now, if I can say this carefully, and I’m certainly not trying to throw other preachers under the bus, because any of us who have preached very long regret some of the things we’ve said earlier in our ministry, no doubt about it.

But the Bible doesn’t say that. I’ve heard this verse preached that way. You need to be the salt of the earth.

You need to be the light of the world. But that’s not what it says. It says that’s who you are.

If you’re saved you are the light of the world. You are the salt of the earth. It would say preacher I’m not doing a very good job lighting the world and I’m surely not doing a very good job salting the earth.

Well the point is not that you need to try to do something that God is telling you to do. No, you need to recognize that’s who you are. And in recognizing it, friends, that’s how you get to victory.

In other words, as I’ve said before, it’s not do and you’ll be. He’s not saying do this and you’ll become the salt of the earth, you’ll become the light of the world. He’s not saying do and you’ll be.

He’s saying because you are, do. That’s who you are. If you’re saved in this room, I’m telling you right now, Jesus is telling you, you’re the salt of the earth.

That’s Jesus lives in you, and He does a real good job at salting the earth, and He does a real good job of lighting up the world. And He’s in you. That’s who you are.

Many young people define themselves by their failures. They define themselves by things that have been done against them. They define themselves by their past, instead of defining themselves by who God or Jesus says who they are, because they’re in union with Him.

Now, we may, last year I dealt with that some. I don’t know how the Lord will lead fully this year, but I felt led to go ahead and start with this text, this is who God says you are. So, we’re going to just look at those two things, we’ll read the verses in a moment.

But I want you to see first of all, year of the salt of the earth, and secondly, year of the light of the world, two-point message. And I’m going to give you the two points ahead of time for underneath each point. The first one is function, okay?

He’s asked us to be salt, what does that look like? He’s saying, not ask us to be, saying that we are salt, what does that look like? He’s saying you’re light, what does that look like?

So, I want us to see what it looks like so we might say function. And then the second point is failure. What happens when we do not live because who we are?

We don’t live who we are. It’s interesting in Romans 12 too he says be not conformed to this world. Conformity is being on the outside what you’re not on the inside.

He said you’re saved blood bought on your way to heaven. Why would you want to show your affinity and alignment with the world and that’s not who you are on the inside? Don’t do that.

See What he’s saying here is, don’t you get this? Inside you’re the salt of the earth, that’s who you are. Inside you’re the light of the world.

And when you don’t function to do that, you’re not being who you are. You’re being conformed to something that’s not who you are. So we’re going to look at the function, then we’ll look at what happens when we fail to be who God says we are.

So first of all, let’s read verse 13. It says, Ye are the salt of the earth, but if the salt hath lost his savor, wherewith shall it, that’s the earth obviously, be salted? It, the salt, is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and to be trodden underfoot of men.

So many different directions you could go in a message like this. But let’s just talk about salt for a moment. We certainly use salt in our culture, and of course ancient cultures salt was used.

In fact, I understand it was even used as currency, had great value. And that’s where that little phrase, you’re not worth your salt came from. And of course salt today still is used, mostly on the table.

And up north it’s even used on the roads, unbelievable. Yeah, so Florida people have to educate them. we put salt on our roads up north, not just on our food.

Okay. But the salt of the earth, a lot of things we could say about salt. But let me just give you a couple of things about salt.

We could really preach all week long on what is salt. But one thing that’s very clear about salt is salt intensifies thirst. Salt intensifies thirst.

It creates and it intensifies thirst. Have you ever gone to bed after maybe eating at a Mongolian grill? And of course if you’re somebody like Pastor Gillmore you’re have about fourths at a Mongolian grill.

He can out eat me at a Mongolian grill. But anyway, you know, but they put soy sauces and all kinds of sauces on it. A lot of those sauces are filled with salt.

You ever woke up about three in the morning dying of thirst? Yeah, you know why? That’s what salt did.

It just created an intensified thirst. We all know on a hot summer day you don’t take a bag of chips and eat those on a hot summer day without some kind of beverage. Why?

Because salt would create an intensified thirst. We all kind of understand that’s what salt does. It was in the northern African theater of war in World War II there was a group of German soldiers that ran out of the most precious commodity.

It was not ammunition, it was water. Now most of us know that northern Africa is not lush jungle, it is arid desert. And those German soldiers knew that if they did not get water and get it soon they wouldn’t die of enemy bullets, they would die of thirst.

So they began to move, particularly at night, they would move very fast at night because obviously they wouldn’t sweat as much at night. And they were moving across the desert trying to get to Alexandria, Egypt because it was in the hands of the Germans at the time. And they knew they could resupply their water.

But as they began to traverse the desert, of course, they began to dehydrate. There came a point where literally there was no saliva left in their mouths. It’s hard to imagine sticking your finger in your mouth and pulling it out and completely being dry.

But that’s the condition they were in. Of course, your inside of your mouth, your tongue begins to get chapped. And as they were going across the desert, they began to get in that agony of dehydration.

When they did, they came across a big huge pipeline that the British had built to transport fresh water from one place to another in wartime. Of course, the German soldiers were delighted. They got out their machine guns, and they riddled that pipeline full of machine gun holes, and every bullet hole became a water fountain.

Crazed with thirst, the German soldiers ran up to that water, pouring out of the pipeline, began to pour it down their throats, but the damage was done before they realized It was not fresh water. It was Mediterranean seawater. See, the Brits had built the pipeline, wanted to test it, but they didn’t want to use fresh water because it’s so precious in the desert to test it for leaks.

So they decided to use seawater. At that very moment when the Germans ingested that. Now, if you know anything about seawater, perhaps you don’t.

I wouldn’t have known this in the upper Midwest. But if you ingest seawater, you intensify your thirst seven times. Now the Germans realized they probably were going to die.

they spent a night in unutterable suffering suffering like none of us in this room probably ever experienced as they were going across the desert at night as the day began to dawn somehow they happened upon a small group of British soldiers the British were outmanned they were outgunned the Germans had more armor they had more men they had more ammunition more guns everything and they began a skirmish out there in the desert and just

when it seemed like the Germans were going to pound through the meager British lines to the amazement of the Brits, German soldiers began running out of their ranks with their hands held high. But they did not wait for the formalities of surrender, oh no. They ran into the ranks of the British, began pulling canteens off the necks and hips of the British soldiers, pouring the precious water down their throats.

They were willing to surrender anything and everything. You know why? Salt.

Salt had done its job. Do you know my friend, inside of you, maybe I put this, God has created you to make other people thirsty for what God can do in a totally surrendered life, and a totally dependent life. You see it’s like this friends, when you allow the Lord Jesus to be seen through your life it makes other people thirsty for what God can do in a life that’s totally sold out to Him and totally depending on Him.

And I will tell you I don’t see a lot of teenagers who are living that way, but man occasionally I come across teenagers who are walking with Jesus, allowing His life to flow through them. And you know what happens? It makes other people thirsty for a life lived that way.

See. See God’s called you to be salt. You know why?

Because that’s who you are. You say, well preacher I can’t make people thirsty for Jesus. Well no I agree with you.

You in and of yourself can’t, but Jesus can’t. When He’s living His life through you it makes people thirsty. I remember years ago just meeting a young man and he was the center on the high school basketball team in his Christian school.

And pulled out a piece of paper and wrote him a note, Dear David, I want to know God like you know God. You know what that teenager was doing? He was allowing the Lord Jesus to live through his life, making other young people thirsty for what God could do in a surrendered life.

Yeah. Well, I’m telling you, friends, I’ve seen teenagers single-handedly impact their Christian school. You know why?

Because the life of Jesus was evident. I remember years ago I was down in South Carolina, and I remember a young lady came up to the microphone, and Christian school probably 100 students, the 7th and 12th. And she gave a very unusual testimony.

She said, you know, about three weeks ago, she said, I got a hunger for God I’ve never had in my entire life. She said, this week I got into this week. And she said, God showed me some things that were hindering my walk with God.

And some of them were like music, worldly music. And she said, I’ve dealt with these things. And she gave a wonderful testimony of that week, just getting right with God, dealing with things between her and God.

She had a thirst for a relationship with God like she never had. I just remembered it because it’s so unusual to have somebody three weeks before God begin that prep work. And that certainly was an encouragement to pray that way.

But anyway, about six months later I saw a youth pastor at a youth conference. And I said, hey, how’s it going at the school? He said, man, do you remember that girl?

And he gave me enough details I remembered her testimony. He said, that girl is single-handedly impacting our Christian school. Everybody knows she’s changed for good.

She’s not going back. And every day she walks into the Christian school, she so exudes the reality of Jesus and the joy of the Lord, she is single-handedly impacting our Christian school. You know what was happening?

Jesus was showing up at that Christian school. She wasn’t making people in and of herself thirsty for Jesus, but Jesus through her was making people thirsty. And that Christian school had some sustained reviving work as a result of a young lady who got hold of the fact that she’s the salt of the earth.

And friends, when you’re in line with the fact the Lord Jesus lives in you, other people get thirsty for what God can do in a life that’s totally surrendered. I find that in my own life. You get around people who are walking with Jesus, it gets you thirsty for Jesus, doesn’t it?

Gets thirsty for a life that’s content, a life that has peace, a life that has fulfillment, a life that has joy. Hey, listen, every single one of you kids that are sneaking junk on the Internet, every one of you kids that are looking at YouTube videos your parents won’t want you to look at, Every one of you are sneaking Hollywood movies, you know, that grieve the Holy Spirit. Every one of you, you don’t have peace.

You don’t have fulfillment. You don’t have satisfaction. Somehow you think the world’s got something up on Jesus.

And you feel like you’re missing out because Hollywood somehow has a better life than Jesus does. And I’ll tell you what your youth group needs is a young person who loves Jesus, walking with Jesus, living the reality of the salt of the earth, and making people thirsty for what God can do in a totally surrendered life. Yeah.

Then you realize Hollywood’s got nothing up on the Holy Word. Yeah. Walking with Jesus is the reality.

So salt of the earth. God is saying that’s who you are. You’re the salt of the earth.

I live in you. You make me, if you just let my life live through you, you’re going to make people thirsty for me. Yeah, wow.

Salt of the earth. But God also says, well, another aspect of salt is something else. Salt stays.

Or salt holds back corruption. I’m sure every one of you has had this happen in circumstances maybe different, but I remember back when I was in high school, we’d have two-a-days to get ready for the soccer season. Anybody know what two-a-days are from your old high school career?

Yeah, two-a-days. They had to do football, soccer and things, practice in the morning, practice in the afternoon. And, you know, for a while all you’re doing is just exercising, doing some drills, but the day comes when you get the scrimmage.

You know what I’m talking about? And, boy, when you get a scrimmage, you want your spot on that squad. You want to get that starting lineup.

And so, of course, you’re going to give it all you’ve got. And, of course, it’s about 90 degrees, even in those days in Illinois in August. There would be some hot days, and it would be out there, and you’d be sweating, and you’re trying to earn a spot on that team, and maybe you get beat.

Some guy dribbles by you, and you’ve got to impress the coach. So you decide to go after him and try to pull off a slide tackle. Well, you slide and pull that.

You’ve got to get the ball first, okay? And you’ve got to pull that ball right off his feet. You want to get that spot.

And so you know how it is. Back in the early days of the Christian school, grass, what’s that? We didn’t have fields that had grass.

Okay, you know what I’m talking about. They just got any field back. I’ll be honest with you.

Our practice field at Marquette Manor was a driving range. You know, I had to watch. Is anybody driving the balls?

Yeah, watch out. Somebody’s driving golf balls. I’m telling you the honest truth.

We practiced on a driving range. Yeah. And I’m telling you, there wasn’t always a lot of grass where it is, but you know how it is.

You lay out on that slide tackle trying to impress the coach, And you get up and you have what they call a strawberry. I don’t know why they call them strawberries. You know, they got dirt, ravel in them, you know, wounds like that.

They look like sausage pizza to me. But anyway, they call them strawberries, but it takes a layer of skin off. But you know how it is, guys.

I don’t know how the girls are, but I know the guys. You’re just tough. You know how it is.

We’re going to keep playing. And you keep playing. And you’re sweating.

And that sweat rolls down into that strawberry. And guess what happens? It stings.

See, that’s what salt does. Salt holds back corruption. You know, my dad lived just a few blocks from the Atlantic Ocean, Biscayne Bay there in Miami.

I remember him telling me when he was a kid, he’d get a cold. He never had a cold long. He said he’d run down to the ocean.

He’d jump in the ocean, do a somersault underneath. And when you did, all the salt water would come in your nasal cavity. And just, when you got up, well, it wasn’t a pretty sight, but you didn’t have a cold anymore.

Kind of clean jowl. Kids, you ever have your mom give you a little bottle, a spray bottle, and it says saline solution? That’s salt.

You know what salt does? It stays, it holds back corruption. How many have heard of the brain-eating amoeba some people have gotten down in fresh water?

I think Nebraska, different states. It doesn’t happen very often. But they say something about that brain-eating amoeba.

It’s never in salt water. Isn’t that interesting? salt stays, holds back corruption.

It protects. And we all understand that. In fact, some pools no longer are chlorinated.

They learn how to just turn them into salt water, turn them into the ocean. So salt is, we all understand, it’s kind of a healing compound. And it’s been used for literally centuries, millennia we could say.

So when Jesus says you’re the salt of the earth, you know what He’s saying? When you are walking with Jesus, you know what happens? You don’t even realize it.

You hold back corruption. Somebody is telling a dirty joke in the locker room and you walk in, they stop telling a dirty joke. You know why?

Well, here’s a kid who loves Jesus. We better be careful. He loves Jesus.

He’s loyal to Jesus. We better be careful what we’re talking about. See, salt holds back corruption.

And I will tell you, friends, salt is a wonderful thing because it not only holds back corruption, it is that which obviously convicts about the corruption. Some of you well know that Mickey Mantle was a great player, of course, for the New York Yankees. For all of you, how many baseball fans we have?

I know you’re probably going to all have gray hair. But anyway, yeah, okay, got a few younger ones, good, okay, baseball fans. But Mickey Mantle played hard, and unfortunately he lived hard.

And he drank himself into an early grave. And when Mickey Mantle was dying a premature death of liver disease, as I understand it, of all the New York Yankees, do you know who he called to his bedside? A second baseman, a short guy, a guy by the name of Bobby Richardson.

Bobby Richardson, he’s still living as I understand, lives in Sumter, South Carolina. But Bobby Richardson is the only player in all of Major League history to get an MVP in the World Series on the losing team in 1960. That was the shot around the world.

Bill Mazeroski. How many know what I’m talking about? Yeah, these are real hardcore baseball fans right there.

Yeah, okay. The shot around the world. Okay.

But anyway, in that World Series, I believe it was, he got the MVP. But it is said that one day, as Bobby Richardson, he was a short guy, kind of like Jose Altuve would be today, a short baseball player. Of course, they’re all muscle bound.

But one day, the big first placement, I can’t remember his name for the New York Yankees, walked up to Bobby Richardson. Of course, he had a sterling Christian testimony. And they handed him a can of beer and said, hey, Bobby, drink it up.

It’ll said that Bobby Richardson grabbed the can of beer and he threw it across the Yankees locker room. Now, baseball players can throw things hard. That can of beer hit the brick wall and they say it exploded, just exploded, just slid down the wall.

And Bobby Richardson looked up at the big huge first baseman and says, don’t you ever do that to me again. Do you know who Mickey Mantle called to his bedside as he was stepping into eternity? Bobby Richardson.

And you know what Bobby Richardson did? He led Mickey Mantle to Jesus Christ. And when you get to heaven, you’re going to see Mickey Mantle there.

Not because he’s a good guy, he wasn’t a good guy. But because he got to Jesus before he died. Because they had a baseball player on his team who thought it was important to be salt.

See, salt stays and it holds back corruption. So do you laugh at the dirty joke? Do you smile at the dirty innuendo?

Do you try to contribute when somebody’s talking about the dirty sitcom? I’m not talking about being tactless. Jesus always is tactful.

He’ll help you navigate the thing. But I will tell you, when you’re walking with Jesus, you will hold back corruption every single time. Now, notice what it says here.

You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt hath lost its savor. Okay, so God tells us there’s the possibility of failure here to not be who God says you are. How do you do that?

You lose your savor. Well, you say, preacher, how? Okay, this is figurative speaking.

How do you do that? Well, the Greek word here is very picturesque. It actually is a verb, but it comes from a noun, and the noun is all throughout the Bible.

In fact, in the Greek New Testament, I’ll spell the Greek word for you because we get an English word from it. Here it is, M-O-R-O-S, moros. Just drop, kick the S, put on an N, you’ve got the word, moros.

You say, preacher, I know, I’m sitting next to one. Okay, don’t point fingers. Okay, but anyway, yeah, moros.

Okay, moros is translated in the Bible, fool. Makes a lot of sense, does it? And this particular word, lose its savor, means, don’t miss this, play the part of a fool.

So Christian teenager, do you know how you lose your savor? Do you know how you play the part of a fool? And that is simply, the book of Proverbs tells us all kinds of ways you can play the part of a fool.

And when you play the part of a fool, you lose the effectiveness of who you really are. You cloud the testimony of Jesus Christ and the fact that He wants to live through you to make people thirsty for Jesus and to stay and hold back corruption. And here you are losing your effectiveness because you’re playing the part of a fool.

Now we could spend the rest of this, the generation, you summit talking about the fool. But let me just give you two tonight real quickly because they’re often ones young people struggle with. How about Proverbs 1.7?

Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Can I say this about fools? Fools hate rules.

Listen, if you have some kid come to church, oh, you’re not going to believe what my mom and dad said I got to do. That young man’s a fool. See, it’s God who calls him a fool.

See, fools don’t like to be told what to do. Fools don’t want, like, rules. They don’t like instruction.

The Bible says they also hate wisdom. You know what fools do? I work in Christian schools every week.

I’ve been in several Christian schools already this school year. And I will tell you what a fool does, he complains about Bible classes. Oh, we’ve got to have Bible classes.

Oh, we’ve got to memorize Scripture. What a bummer. Oh, another chapel.

Oh, wow. Another preaching time. That’s a fool.

Fools despise wisdom. They despise. And I will just say this, young person, when you come complaining about the rules of wherever you are, you come complaining about your parents, or you come complaining about Bible class or Scripture memory or whatever, you’re losing your effectiveness assault.

But there’s another one. The Bible says, fools make a mock at sin in Proverbs 14, 9. So, you know what fools do?

They laugh about things that are sinful. They think they’re funny. Sin’s not funny.

It puts people in hell, and only a fool would think it would be funny. You laugh at dirty jokes, you’re a fool. I don’t care who you are.

You tell dirty jokes, you’re a fool. I’m talking to fools in this room right now. I’m talking to kids who every day of your life laugh at dirty innuendos or maybe give them yourself just to be cool in it.

You’re a fool. You say, Preacher, are you calling me a fool? No, I’m not calling you a fool.

God already did. I’m just telling you what God says you are. But you start playing the part of a fool, and I will tell you, friends, you lose your effectiveness of salt.

You get sarcastic about the teacher or laugh when somebody else is sarcastic about the teacher. I’m telling you you’re playing the part of a fool. Yeah, fools look at filth on the internet and then brag to the buddies about the junk they’re looking at.

That’s what fools do. You say, ah, come on preacher, is it really that big idea? Yeah, a big deal?

Yeah, it’s a big deal. I remember years ago in the 1980’s I was at the Bill Rice Ranch. A man by the name of Bob Kelly was preaching.

They nicknamed him Machine Gun Kelly. And if you ever get a chance to listen to a recording of his message, one of his messages, I would thoroughly encourage you to do it. But Bob Kelly was preaching, and I remember as he was preaching he gave a personal testimony, I’ve never forgotten it.

He described himself as high school, this is his own description, so please don’t get offended by it. He said this, he said, I was a hellbound, roughneck football player from the other side of the tracks. That was his description.

He said, I knew the gospel, but he said, I wasn’t saved and knew it. He said, on my football team, he said, there were two young men whose fathers were gospel preachers. He said, our football team was pretty good.

He said, for two years straight we won the State Championship, went down to Jacksonville, Florida to play Robert E. Lee High School in a regional football championship. He said on one of those years, he said a night or two before the football game, the entire team was in a hotel room.

He said there were no coaches, there were no cheerleaders, no chaperones, just football players. He said it wasn’t long before the talk turned dirty and one dirty joke after another began to fly out of the lips of those football players. He said here I was lost and hell bound.

He said, my thought was this, I wonder what the preacher’s kids are going to do. Their fathers were gospel preachers. He said, that night, not only did they laugh, pretty soon they were telling their dirty joke of two of their own.

He said, that night, I walked out of that hotel room, I said to myself, if that’s Christianity, I don’t want any of it. He said, I headed straight out of that room, headed straight to hell. You know why?

Because the two young men were playing the part of a fool. Unfortunately, in his public high school, there was a young lady who was doing her job, being in union with Jesus and living the Christ life. And she would come to school every day, and she dressed different.

Even in those days, the 50s, she dressed different. Dressed in a way was definitely more modest than the girls were dressing. And every day she put her Bible unashamedly on top of her books.

Her name was Leanne, Leanne Robertson. Some of you will recognize her last name because her father happened to be the pastor of the Highland Park Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee. One day, Leanne Robertson, doing her job, being in union with Jesus, salt of the earth, said, Bob, why don’t you come to church with me tonight?

Bob Kelly said, I had no romantic interest in her. I came for one reason. She was the real deal.

Went to church that night, sat on the second row. A man by the name of Lester Roloff got up to preach.

if there ever was a setup that was a setup and old Lester Roloff preached as the devil out of hell I mean I’m telling you he preached it up one side down the other and old Bob Kelly said the old hound dogs of heaven began to nip at his heels wasn’t long after that he got wondrously born again led thousands of people to Jesus Christ before he died and right

now is sitting in heaven do you think he would say it was a big deal she was the salt of the earth yeah God’s called you to be sold that’s who you are but he also says you are the light of the world so look at verse 14 you’re the light of the world a city

that is set on a hill cannot behead what world are we talking about here well it’s interesting I remember the two times I’ve been to this particular spot where they say Jesus preached it is said that actually there was if you go there there’s a little town up there on the hill and if you know much about the Sea of Galilee

if you ever go there kind of reminds me of a football stadium a big football stadium like there’s mountains like a horseshoe around that except for the southern end where the Jordan River goes down to the Dead Sea. And of course it’s deeper and that’s why we have the different stories in the Bible where there were storms would come in. It’s 14 miles long and 7 miles wide.

So it’s not a huge body of water. And on that northern shore there’s like I mentioned there’s that amphitheater. And remember the guide showing us one day and he pointed it out to a little city and he said that was there in Jesus’ day.

Can you see Jesus preaching? You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.

You can see people turn around looking at the little city. What is he talking about? Well obviously you are the light of the world is a little easier than the first one.

You know why? Because Jesus said I am the light of the world. And when you’re saved you’re in union with the light of the world.

You say I’m not a very good gospel giver. Well I got really good news. He is.

That’s who you are because you’re in union with the light of the world. And God is simply saying, this is who you are. So through your life and through your lips, be who I made you to be.

You are the light of the world. Every Christian in this room, Jesus is saying to you, that’s who you are. You’re the light of the world.

And I will tell you, I love to see young people get burdened for loss. And for God to use their feeble attempts to bring somebody to Jesus Christ. It’s always a thrill.

I love it when young people stand to the microphone and give a testimony that impacts. I remember years ago I had a kid out in Rutgersville, Virginia get saved. He got saved I think on a Wednesday night, on Friday night.

He was just raw, I mean just out of the world. He had blonde hair over one eye like this, had a couple of earrings. I mean he had just gotten saved, he didn’t know anything.

And he got up to give his testimony, told about it. He said, man I got saved. He said if you don’t get saved, there was a campfire right there.

He said you’re going to burn in the fire. He said you’re going to burn forever in the fire. Man he preached a message.

And the whole funny thing was, his blonde hair was flopping back and forth. He went like this. And I thought, I’ve never seen a preacher with blonde hair over one eye flop back and forth.

It’s kind of neat, but it was just different. But you know what he was doing? He’d been saved two days, doing a better job being the light of the world than most young people I know.

No one told him to do it. Say, why did he do it? Because that’s who he was.

He’s the light of the world. So let’s tell everybody, don’t burn in the fire. He didn’t know how to explain it, but He did a good job.

You see that’s what Jesus is trying to say to every single one of us through our life and through our lips. We need to spread forth the good news that Jesus saves people from hell. He’s the light that pierces the darkness, a lot of people in darkness.

So much more could be said, and I could give illustrations of young people being the light of the world. But for time’s sake let’s go to verse number 15 because here we see the failure again. What happens when we don’t live in the reality of who we are?

We allow Satan to convince us that’s not who we are. And so we live in defeat. What happens?

Okay, look at verse 15. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and they give it to light to all that are in the house. Now you’ve got to understand a little context here.

When I’ve been to Israel, I’ve only been a couple of times, but I remember particularly going, I think the first time there, the church hadn’t been built over it, but there’s the ruins of Peter’s wife’s mother’s house. And I remember being struck with how small the structure was. Smaller than the average motel room or hotel room.

And pretty much common man, other than rich people, they just lived in a house with one room. I mean, think about it. I mean, how many of us could go into our house tonight, turn on one light, and it gives light to everybody in the house?

Well, you say, Preacher, that can’t happen. We don’t have a big house, but we have multiple rooms, right? But this, everybody understood this, Because they’d walk in, put an oil lamp up, stick it on the, there’d be a little block that would come out, like most of the time, build out a block.

And a little block, they’d stick it on that shelf, and it’d give light to all that are in the house, because the house was one room. That’s the picture. And what Jesus is saying is, nobody comes and puts that oil lamp on there, and then puts a bucket over it.

That doesn’t make sense. Have you ever done that? Gotten up in the middle of the night, you know, I’ve got to use the restroom, go turn on the restroom lights, then take a thick towel and put it over the lights.

You ever done that? you ever couldn’t sleep in the middle of the night so you got up to read a book this is so 90’s but anyway got up to read a book you know what I’m talking about got up to read a book yeah turn on the lampshade threw a cover over the lampshade you say preacher why would you turn on the light on

and cover it that’s exactly what Jesus is asking you why would you be the light of the world and then put a bucket over it so nobody can see it that doesn’t make sense the greatest news that humankind will ever get that Jesus can keep them out of hell and we keep it to ourselves. That doesn’t make sense. Jesus is saying nobody does that in real life.

Why do we do it in spiritual life? You see the picture, what He’s trying to help us understand? So why do we put a bucket over the light?

Well, there’s many things we could talk about. Honestly, sometimes it’s fear. That would be another message in and of itself.

But I’ll tell you what it is many times in the young people. It’s apathy. Well, where does apathy come from?

Well, it actually goes deeper than that. Don’t miss this verse. Matthew 24, 12.

And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. You show me a teenager who is cold to the things of God, and I will show you a teenager that is not just in sin. He’s in abounding iniquity.

I want to tell you, Mom and Dad, wake up. Your kids don’t want to go to church. They don’t want to read the Bible.

They don’t want to have anything to do with God. I want to tell you something, friends. They don’t just have sin.

They have abounding sin. Every single time. I’ve done this time for 39 years, and I can tell you that we ought to believe it because the book says it, but I believe it because I’ve seen it.

Not only does the Bible say it, but I’ve seen it. You show me a kid who doesn’t like the things of God, I’ll show you a kid who’s looking at filth in the middle of the night, got a brain full of garbage. I’ll show you a kid who’s got a heart of hatred, bitterness, unforgiving spirit.

It’s like this. I say this as carefully as I know how, but I say this. Some of you young people in this room, your next door neighbor could die and go to hell tonight.

It would not bother you five seconds. I’m going to tell you why. Because of the filth you’ve been looking at for months, some of you years.

See, that’s what sin does. And when you begin to have the bounding iniquity in your life, your love for souls, love for God, love for things eternal, gets colder and colder and colder and colder. So pretty soon, you don’t care even if people go to hell.

Listen, for some of you in this room that have a heart for souls, you ever hear of a famous person who dies? You know what usually my first thought is? Man, they know the truth now.

That’s tragic. They’re burning in hell. What a tragedy.

See, friends, with the iniquity abounding, your love for God, love for souls gets cold. I’ll give this here and hope to just kind of tie things up here tonight. 1992, I had a young man travel on my team.

His name is Aaron. Aaron now pastors in a small town, a town he actually grew up in. I would say small, small, but probably 10,000, 20,000, something like that.

It’s not a huge town. When he traveled in 1992, every Monday night, which is our final night of our war, he would give his testimony. And I heard it multiple times.

So a few years back I called him up and I said, Aaron, you have a problem if I publicly give your testimony? He said, no, if you can use it, God will use it. I’d be glad for you to tell the story.

When Aaron was in, I think it was 8th grade, he went to a Christian school there in his town, a very small Christian school, and he got saved. For a while his life began to change, and there were some good things happening, but unfortunately his school was so small they couldn’t have a high school, so this was really before homeschooling was much of an option.

So when he graduated from 8th grade, He went down the street to the local public school, and he enrolled as a freshman at the public school. He said it didn’t take long before he got away from God pretty bad. And he said he became very good friends with an unsaved young man by the name of Jason.

He said he and Jason were inseparable friends. The summer following their freshman year, he said, wherever you saw me, he said, you see Jason, wherever you saw Jason, I’d be there as well. We were just inseparable a whole summer long.

He said, into our sophomore year, something happened that hurt our friendship. he said Jason got into the drug culture. He said although I wasn’t right with God I wasn’t going to go there.

He said we’re still good friends but not the fast friends because he had begun to get more into the drugs and I wasn’t going there. He said it was our junior year so it had been a year after their friendship got a little bit altered and he said I was homecoming football night. He played in the defensive secondary.

He played either cornerback or safety and he was sitting on the sideline or standing on the sideline while the offense was out on the field homecoming night big night, and he’s mostly concentrated on the game. For just a moment, he looked up in the stands, small town, not too hard to scan the stands, and he began to look for his friend, Jason. Couldn’t find him.

He thought to himself, that’s odd. Everybody’s here on homecoming night. Wonder why Jason’s not.

But he soon forgot about it, got back involved in the game, and played the game. They won. He was excited, went home, raided the fridge, sat down in front of the television.

Wasn’t long before there was a knock at his door. When he opened the door, he noticed that the entire The front porch was filled with acquaintances and friends, and nobody was laughing, nobody was joking. They all looked like they came from a funeral.

He invited them to the entryway of their house without a word, in total silence. He knew something was wrong that came into the entryway of his house. Evidently, there was a spokesman who was appointed, and when everybody was in, he said, Aaron, Jason is dead.

Aaron said later, he said, I didn’t think they were telling me the truth. I just didn’t believe it. But he said, when they began to tell me the story, he said, I knew they were telling the truth.

That night Jason was with another guy. One of them was drunk and one of them was high on marijuana. As they were driving down the road in their car, they thought it would be really cool to turn the lights off and see how fast they could go.

Now you have to understand in this particular state, it’s an agriculture state and they’ve got roads every mile. Some are dirt and some are paved, but they’re what we would call gun barrels. They don’t turn, they’re just straight for miles.

They were on one of those gun barrels, more like a drag strip and just going with the rise and fall of the land. And as they were speeding down that road, people who’ve heard this illustration who would know said, Preacher, they had to be going in excess of 100 miles an hour. They were speeding down the road.

There was a Ford Bronco that came up to the road and was going to cross the road. And there was a husband, a wife, a little baby in the back seat.

the husband looked both ways he didn’t see anything their headlights were off so he began to pull slowly across the road and when he did the speeding pickup truck hit that car broadside but it was going so fast it turned the Ford Bronco into a ramp launched the pickup truck into the air the pickup truck turned around mid air came down on its hood Jason’s head was shoved under the dashboard he was killed instantly Aaron said

I went to the viewing he said I was shocked the casket was opened he says I walked by the casket he said I could hardly recognize my friend what had happened and misshapen his face he didn’t even look I could hardly recognize him but he said this I did recognize folded in a diamond neatly across Jason’s chest was Jason’s ACDC t-shirt and Aaron remembered the countless time in each other’s bedrooms they’d put on the record

and screamed at the top of their lungs, I’m on my highway to hell. As he looked down on the face of his friend, he realized, Jason is there. And I never one time told him that Jesus saves.

And although Aaron is a pastor and has been for years and has led other people to Jesus Christ, he lives with the constant reminder that his best friend is in hell. and he never told them one time. Could I ask every head bowed, please, and every eye closed?