WHAT ARE THESE THREE LIFE CHANGING DECISIONS?
(1) WHEN YOU CHOOSE TO GET MARRIED. Ask any married people if their lives have changed since they got married, and I am confident they will tell you that life has changed drastically.
Illus: Daniel proposes to his girlfriend Rachel.
? "Will you marry me darling?"
? With tears in her eyes, she replies, "Oh yes, yes, Daniel. Of course I will!”
? Rachel says, “And I want you to know that when we get married, I’ll be there to share all your worries and troubles and help lighten your burdens."
? "I’m so glad you want to be my wife," says Daniel smiling, "but as for your offer to share all my worries and troubles, you won’t have to because I just don't have any."
? "Well," says Rachel, "that's because we aren't married yet."
Life is never again the same once we get married. It is a life-changing decision that we make. But also life is never again the same-
(2) WHEN YOU HAVE CHILDREN.
This is a life-changing decision also.
For example, when a couple chooses to make the life changing decision to have a baby, that little baby will determine:
• If there is going to be quietness in the home and
• When everyone in the home can sleep or not sleep.
This is a life changing decision!
There is no doubt about it when we choose to have a child our life will never again be the same…NEVER!!! But the biggest life-changing decision in life is-
(3) WHEN YOU ACCEPT JESUS CHRIST AS YOUR LORD AND SAVIOR
This is the biggest and best 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 went back to their sinful living. That is, you couldn’t see any difference in the way they lived after they claimed they got saved from the way they lived before they claimed they got saved.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THESE PEOPLE? THESE PEOPLE NEVER GOT SAVED!
HOW DO WE KNOW THAT? Because II Cor. 5:17 says, “Therefore IF any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
That little word “If” is a conjunction. That means everything hinges on IF they were new creatures:
? Old things are passed away
? Behold, all things are become new.
Many do not know the difference between:
? PROFESSION
? POSSESSION!
WE CAN PROFESS ANYTHING WE WANT TO PROFESS, BUT PROFESSING SOMETHING DOES NOT MAKE IT REAL!
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!
But folks cannot fool the Lord, and make Him believe they love Him when they do not. HE IS OMNISCIENT - HE KNOWS EVERYTHING!
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 it was - NOTHING BUT WORDS!
When people receive Christ, their lives WILL CHANGE!
If a person really gets saved, THERE WILL BE A CHANGE IN HIS LIFE!!
Notice, in our text the Lord Jesus Christ came up on some rugged fishermen. Now we do not know what kind of sins they may have been involved in but we know this, most fishermen are devoted to fishing even when that is how they earn a living.
Illus: Someone said that you might be a fishermen if:
? You have a worm dangling from your rear view mirror because you think it makes a good air freshener.
? Your wedding party had to tie tin cans to the back of your bass boat.
? You name your dog "Mercury" and your cat "Evinrude.”
? You have a photo of your 10 lb. bass on your desk at work instead of your family.
? You think MEGABYTES means a great day fishing.
? You trade your wife's van for a smaller vehicle so your bass boat will fit in the garage.
? Your kids know it's Saturday---Because the boat’s gone.
Fishermen are dedicated to fishing. Notice, when the Lord came to these rugged fishermen He invited them to follow Him! And the Bible says of those devoted fishermen “... they forsook their nets, and followed him.”
Once they accepted the Lord their lives changed completely!!!
Once they accepted the Lord the Lord told them two things. These same two things let us know once we accept the Lord we are NEVER AGAIN THE SAME! He told them, and us---
I. “YE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.”
Look at 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.”
The Lord had a purpose in saying that we Christians are the LIGHT OF THE WORLD.
Let me show you some things about light. First, we need to consider-
A. THE POWER OF LIGHT.
Light is bright and it is OBVIOUS. When you see light, it is undeniable!!!
When we accept the Lord as our Saviour it should be OBVIOUS. No one should have to wonder if we are saved or not…IT SHOULD BE OBVIOUS THAT WE HAVE BEEN BORN AGAIN! When we accept the Lord we become THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD and it is obvious to everyone we are no longer walking in DARKNESS but in LIGHT!
We have looked at “THE POWER OF LIGHT.” But let’s look at something else about light. Again, the Lord had a purpose in telling Christians they are THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. Let’s look at-
B. THE PURPOSE OF LIGHT.
We Christians are good about blaming all the darkness of sin on sinners, but the fact is, most of the blame should be on Christians.
WHY DO I SAY THAT?
The fact is, if every born-again Christian was letting his light shine for the Lord there would not be so much darkness of sin.
Why? Because light makes darkness disappear.
There is no such thing as the presence of darkness. Darkness is the absence of light.
One of the reasons that this world is in spiritual darkness is because Christians are supposed to be the LIGHT OF THE WORLD and they are not doing a good job of letting their light for the Lord shine.
When we turn on the light, darkness disappears, or at least recedes.
? John 1:5, “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”
? In John 9:5 Jesus said, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
? But listen, the Lord has gone back to the Father and now He says to the church today in I Thess. 5:5, “Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.”
? In Matthew 5:16, we read, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
Listen church, we will never be effective for the Lord until we let our LIGHT SHINE!!!
We are letting our LIGHT shine for the Lord:
? When we live a godly life.
? When we care about the needy.
? When we care about the widows.
? When we care about Children.
? When we help people.
The Lord had a purpose in saying we are THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD!!!
But also He had a purpose in saying-
II. YE ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH.
Before we can appreciate what the Lord was saying - that we are the SALT OF THE EARTH - we need to understand what the Lord was talking about when He talked about the earth.
When He spoke of the earth he was not talking about mountains, trees and streams. He was speaking of PEOPLE.
The Lord clearly implied that the world is full of decay. Notice a few verses that tell us that:
? Look at Psalm 14:1-3.We read, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”
? Look at Jeremiah 17:9. We read, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
? Look at Genesis 6:5-6. We read, “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.”
It is important that you see the world the way God sees the world before you can understand why the Lord says to the church today, “YE ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH.”
Salt works because it is fundamentally different from that to which it is applied. IF IT WERE THE SAME THERE WOULD BE NO NEED TO APPLY IT.
Only when we are different, can we really have the effect that Jesus had in mind.
Jesus says of His church, “YE ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH.”
HOW DOES SALT FUNCTION?
(1) SALT IS A PRESERVATIVE.
For example, when salt is rubbed into meat it prevents the meat from decaying, and keeps it good to eat.
If all the Christians were snatched from the world it would only be a short time before sin would prevail in such a way this world would not be a safe place to live. I know its bad now, but it would be a lot worse if it were not for the Christians who are the SALT OF THE EARTH that the Holy Spirit works through to drive back sin.
(2) SALT IS AN ANTISEPTIC.
You don’t gargle with salt-water to stay healthy. You gargle to kill the germs.
God says of us Christians, “YE ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH!”
(3) SALT IS A SEASONING AGENT.
Sprinkled on bland food, it helps to enhance the flavor.
There should be a difference in our life when we say we have accepted the Lord.
Illus: We all have eaten food and as soon as we put the food in our mouth we knew that someone forgot to put in the salt.
Salt by itself doesn’t taste so good. Salt applied to food makes it taste better.
WHAT IF SALT LOSES ITS SALTINESS
Basically, about the only way this can happen is for the salt to become mixed with another element to the extent that it is made ineffective.
This happens when God’s people began to mix in the world of sin. And soon sin becomes the predominant thing in their life.
Such salt is useless to both God and man
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! They have lost their SALTINESS and they are useless to work of the Lord.
When the Lord called these early disciples to be his disciples they had to be willing to LEAVE THEIR NETS TO FOLLOW HIM.
If you are not willing to LEAVE YOUR “NETS,” you cannot be the Lord’s disciple.
The Lord purposely used LIGHT and SALT as symbols for Christians to show how they are to live before the lost world. 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. God wants us to let our light shine for Him because it brings glory to Him. He is worthy of praise and glory.
Let’s forsake our “NETS” the way the New Testament saints of God did, and go forth to serve the Lord! Not all who followed Him left jobs, but rather they served Him on the job. We can do the same.
Conclusion:
I. WE ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD
II. WE ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH
But let me address those who do not know the Lord as I close. Is what the devil offers you really worth dying and going to hell for?
God created you. Don’t you think He knows what is best for you?
The devil is not your friend and if he could, he would kill you and send your soul to hell.
Won’t you come to Christ today?
