WHAT ARE THESE THREE LIFE CHANGING DECISIONS?
(1) WHEN YOU GET MARRIED
Ask any married person if their life changed when they got married, and I am confident you will find that there were many changes made when they made this life changing decision.
(2) WHEN YOU HAVE CHILDREN
When a couple chooses to make this life changing decision to have a baby, that little baby will determine:
• If there is going to be quietness in the home
• When everyone in the home can sleep or not sleep
(3) WHEN YOU ACCEPT JESUS CHRIST AS YOUR LORD AND SAVIOR
This is the biggest life-changing decision we can make. Once we make it, we will never again be the same. NEVER!
Now I am pretty sure that some of you know of people who claimed to have made this life-changing decision, and shortly after that, they were back:
• Telling lies
• Telling dirty jokes
• Gambling
• Drinking
• Cursing
You couldn’t see any difference in the way they lived their life after they got saved from the way they lived before they got saved.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THESE PEOPLE? THESE PEOPLE NEVER GOT SAVED! They do not know the difference between PROFESSION and POSSESSION!
WE CAN PROFESS ANYTHING WE WANT TO PROFESS, BUT PROFESSING SOMETHING DOES NOT MAKE IT REAL!
Illus: (Select someone in the congregation that can take a joke) For example, ___________may PROFESS to have the skills of a brain surgeon. DOES HE? He may PROFESS TO HAVE THOSE SKILLS, but knowing him the way I know him, I do not believe he POSSESSES those skills!
The same can be true in MARRIAGE. There are some who go to the sacred altar of holy matrimony and profess to love some one.
Illus: One pastor had a young couple start attending his church. After several weeks, they came to him and expressed a desire to get married. He counseled with them, and performed the wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and all seemed to go well. Soon the couple stopped coming to church. One day the young lady came to the pastor’s office and told him that her marriage was over. She said that shortly after the wedding, she caught her husband in a compromising situation with another woman.
That young man had deceived this beautiful young girl into thinking he loved her. HE TRICKED HER, AND EVERYONE WHO ATTENDED THE MARRIAGE CEREMONY INTO THINKING THAT HE LOVED HER!
But folks cannot fool the Lord, and make Him believe they love Him when they do not. HE IS OMNISCIENT - HE KNOWS!
Look at Matt. 7: 22-23, “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
According to the Word of God, Hell is going to be full of church members who SAID:
• They loved the Lord
• They accepted Him as their Savior
But that is all that it was, NOTHING BUT WORDS!
When a person receives Christ, their lives WILL CHANGE! If a person really gets saved, THERE WILL BE A CHANGE IN THEIR LIVES!!
2 Cor. 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
Many people simply make a decision to be saved, and there is no repentance or remorse over sin in their lives
Confession and repentance are things that accompany true salvation. Some people are really not serious when they profess to get saved.
I’d like you to notice that once these men had an encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ, and accepted His invitation to follow Him, “... they forsook their nets, and followed him.”
These fishing nets had been a part of their lives for many years, but once they accepted the Lord, they forsook their nets and followed him.
When we think of these men leaving their nets, we realize that anything that keeps us from following the Lord is a net that we must be willing to forsake.
Christians cannot continue in sin and follow Jesus at the same time. Things must change! This is why the Lord said -
I. WE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD
Matt. 5:14-16, “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
We are living in an age when people believe that things don’t have to change in their lives after they get saved. For example, today we hear of:
• MOVIE STARS who PROFESS TO GET SAVED, and still make movies with cursing, nudity, and adultery in them
• PRESIDENTS who claim to be saved, yet do wicked things and see no problem with doing them
• MUSICAL GROUPS who profess that they are saved, and play in churches on Sunday and in Las Vegas during the week.
Many today who profess to be saved:
• Look like the world
• Dress like the world
• Talk like the world
• Live like the world
There is NO LIGHT in their life, nothing but DARKNESS!
Folks today are wanting to be told that they can accept the Lord and it will not alter their life one iota!
THAT IS NOT SCRIPTURAL! When you accept the Lord, it will AFFECT YOUR LIFE DRASTICALLY!
If you are not willing to LEAVE YOUR NETS OF THE PAST, you cannot be the Lord’s disciple.
Luke 14:26-27, “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.”
These verses we just read show us that:
• Our love for God should be so strong, that our love for our Father and Mother will seem like hate in comparison
• If we will not take up our cross and follow Him, WE CANNOT BE HIS DISCIPLES!
The Lord purposely used light as a symbol for Christians, because LIGHT IS VISIBLE.
If you are truly born again, your life will SHOW that you know the Lord.
WHY DOES THE LORD WANT US TO LET OUR LIGHT SHINE?
Matt. 5:16, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
A Christian’s life should bring glory to God. A life that is filled with the Holy Spirit, produces a life filled with many good works that bring glory to the Lord.
Illus: People will look at such a person and say, “Salvation must be real, because I knew that man before He knew the Lord, and once he got saved and began to follow the Lord Jesus, his life changed drastically!”
God wants us to let our light shine for Him because it brings glory to Him. But the Lord used something else to teach us that Salvation is a life changing decision.
He said WE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD, and ...
II. WE ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH
Matt. 5:13, “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.”
The Lord purposely used salt as a symbol for Christians because salt makes a difference.
A. SALT FLAVORS
Illus: Any time we eat something, if SALT is not present WE KNOW IT! And if it is present WE KNOW IT!
Many have a thousand excuses as to why they live the way they do, but everyone who knows them, knows they are not the salt of the earth. THEY MAKE A PROFESSION, BUT IT IS OBVIOUS THEY DO NOT POSSESS!
When Jesus is Lord, He is first in all areas of our life. Our life is flavored by His Word and His Presence.
These men left their nets because their lives had changed. They became SALT to the world around them. They had the flavor of the Lord in their lives.
HOW CAN THE LOST WORLD TASTE OF GOD AND SEE THAT HE IS GOOD?
Look at Psa. 34:8, “O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.”
When a person truly accepts the Lord Jesus as their Savior, their life is affected by Him.
Illus: In the late 90’s, the Pope visited the William Brice Football Stadium in Columbia, S.C. Catholics traveled thousands of miles to see and hear him. All could not get in, but they lined the highways as he drove by. People were smiling, crying, laughing and waving at him. After he went by, one lady was interviewed and she said, “I will never again be the same person.” If I was a betting man, I would bet that once all of the emotionalism wore off, she went back to being the same person she was before he drove by.
But when a person places their faith in the Lord Jesus, they are NEVER AGAIN THE SAME.
• They know it
• People around them know it
We are the SALT OF THE EARTH, and the lost world can taste the Lord through our lives.
SALT FLAVORS, but also-
B. SALT PRESERVES
Our world is rotting away with corruption. It is found everywhere. It is in our:
• Government
• Schools
• Homes
• Work places
• Churches
Christians are to be a preserving force in the world, but that will only happen when they leave the nets of the world and follow Jesus!
The fishermen left their nets to follow Jesus.
This is why we are instructed in Heb. 12:1, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, LET US LAY ASIDE EVERY WEIGHT, AND THE SIN WHICH DOTH SO EASILY BESET US, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,”
Notice, the author of Hebrews said that it might be a WEIGHT or a SIN. Whether it be a WEIGHT or a SIN, it becomes THE NET in our life that we need to forsake for the Lord Jesus.
Christians today seem to be so connected to the world, that they refuse to lay down their nets. They refuse to change their lifestyle.
What ever they have been doing in the past, before they were saved, they want to continue to do after they are saved.
We need to LAY THESE WORLDLY THINGS ASIDE and FOLLOW JESUS!
What are these nets that we must forsake?
It might be:
• A HIDDEN SIN
• AN OPEN SIN
• A SIN OF OMISSION
• A HABIT THAT TAINTS YOUR TESTIMONY
• A PROFESSION THAT IS UNETHICAL
• A FRIEND THAT KEEPS DRAWING YOU IN THE WRONG DIRECTION
Your NET is whatever keeps you from faithfully following Jesus and being the Light and Salt that you ought to be!
We do not lay these things aside FOR SALVATION, we must be willing to lay them aside BECAUSE OF SALVATION.
Conclusion:
The Word of God says when Jesus came along and touched the men’s lives, that “Straightway” they followed Him.
Salvation is just that way, the moment you accept the Lord Jesus, it immediately begins to change your life.
The Lord tells us that we must LAY SOME THINGS DOWN. He does not leave us empty handed though, for He tells us to TAKE UP OUR CROSS and follow Him.
Contrary to what is taught by the world, there are absolutes. All areas are not gray. There is a right and wrong. This is why Jesus said:
2 Cor. 6:17 “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,”
Let’s forsake our NETS the way the New Testament saints of God did, and go forth to serve the Lord!
I. WE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD
II. WE ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH
