Please turn in your Bibles this morning to Revelation chapter 13 as we look at the topic of Upholding The Truth. Let me share with you this story and then I will show you where we will be going with this subject this morning. We are told:
At the end of the Battle of Britain, British vice-marshal Alexander Adams was driving to a meeting at his headquarters when he came upon a sign: ROAD CLOSED – UNEXPLODED BOMB. Adams called over the policeman on duty, hoping he might be able to suggest an alternate route.
“Sorry, you can’t go through,” said the policeman as he approached the car. “The bomb is likely to go off at any minute now.” Then he caught sight of Adams’s uniform. “I’m very sorry, sir,” he said, “I didn’t know you were a wing commander. It is quite all right for you to go through.”
With “advisors” like that, who needs enemies! Although that policeman – who was trained to respect rank – momentarily allowed his deference [reverence] to a vice-marshal to overcome his good sense, Adams had better sense than to follow his advice.
- Today in the Word, May 2, 1993
Folks, we are living in very dangerous times and if we ignore the truths of God found in the Word of God we are headed for disaster. If we are afraid to share our faith because of what someone might think of us, we are allowing them to be destroyed by the Devil. When the church, that is the people of God not a building, are not shining brightly for Jesus, if we are not salt, then their influence upon the people of this world will be gone!
Listen to what John Macarthur said in his book, Nothing But The Truth as he shares about the changes that have taken place in our nation over the years, and not for good. He tells us:
Being a witness to the Gospel in our day and age is becoming increasingly difficult. As the world rushes into and enters a new millennium, evangelical Christianity has reached a crossroads, especially here in the United States. After being influenced for some 150 years with strong biblical Christianity, our country has been rapidly declining, especially during the last half of the twentieth century and moving into the twenty-first. Practical atheism and moral relativism have dominated our society in recent decades. For the most part the few vestiges of Christianity still reflected in our culture are weak and compromising. Although many parts of our culture still wear some sort of religious mask, in reality it is largely pagan.
For a brief period, the spiritual revival of the 1970s that swept across the campuses of many colleges and universities seemed to promise a new day of blessing. Mass baptisms were conducted in rivers, lakes, and the ocean. Several new versions of the English Bible were released. Christian publishing and broadcasting experienced remarkable growth. Certainly an undeniable wind of the Spirit was blowing.
. . . America adopted not only a non-Christian but a distinctly anti-Christian stance and agenda, with the state often encroaching on religious freedoms, instituting policies that are blatantly anti-Christian.
Understandably, evangelicals became resentful of this secular trend, appalled that biblical standards of ethics could be so blatantly rejected while vulgarity, profanity, and blasphemy were not only condoned but admired. In reaction, many well-meaning Christian leaders founded organizations to counteract such anti-Christian inroads. They declared war on the prevailing secular culture, especially on the liberal national media. This culture war has been essentially an effort to moralize the unconverted. But the end result of such an approach is that many Christians became hostile to unbelievers – the very ones God called them to love and reach with the Gospel.
. . . Our responsibility has never been to moralize the unconverted; it’s to convert the immoral. Our responsibility is redemptive, not political. We do not have a moral agenda; we have a redemptive agenda. We can’t reform the kingdom of darkness that Satan rules.
. . . The single divine calling of the church is to bring sinful people to salvation through Christ. If we do not lead the lost to salvation, nothing else we do for them, no matter how beneficial at the time, is of any eternal consequence. . . .
. . . We silence our adversaries by disproving their accusations and doing right – by living godly lives. That’s our most effective tool for evangelism . . . When society attacks, we need to be prepared to “make a defense.” . . . Thus we should be able to give a rational explanation of our salvation and Christian faith.
We are living in unprecedented times. The time of Christ’s return is closer now than it has ever been. May you become a champion for His truth, His whole truth, and nothing but His truth in our doubting world.
- John Macarthur, Nothing But The Truth, pp. 9-12
Folks, I believe we are at a critical stage for Christianity in our country as we now see the church embracing New Age and Eastern mysticism. It is time for us to rise up and take a stand for the truth and nothing but the truth! With that said, let’s begin reading in Revelation chapter 13, beginning in verse 11 and see what the Lord has for us this morning.
In this portion of Scripture we see this beast arise out of the earth, and as we saw on Thursday, the Scriptures tell us that he is the false prophet. Thus, he leads the masses, the earth dwellers into the worship of the beast that arises out of the sea or the Antichrist and his image. You see, the earth dwellers are deceived, but how? Because they did not have a solid foundation to stand upon. They did not have a plum line to keep them in line.
Thus, it is as Paul said in II Thessalonians 2:9-12, “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
How many of you have heard that cigarette smoking is hazardous to your health? How many of you know that cigarettes can cause lung cancer, heart disease, birth defects and-so-on? I am sure that most if not all of you have. Now, in saying that, I am also sure that there is some of you here this morning that smoke in spite of those warnings. Many do that with the Bible, they know what God has said, but they choose not to listen.
There are also some people who may not be aware of the dangers of smoking; most likely these people live in other parts of the world. Biblically speaking, we have more Bibles, commentaries, books and other material relating to the Christian faith and yet, people are illiterate when it comes to the Word of God, more so today than years ago when they had less. Why is that? I believe it is a reflection of what is being spoken from the pulpit today. The Word of God is put down and other things are replacing the teaching that is from God’s Word, other things are being substituted for the life changing power of God’s Word. And if God’s Word is not important to the pastor, it will not be important to his congregation!
Walter Chantry, a Baptist pastor wrote these words a generation ago and see how it is even worse today. He wrote:
Much of modern preaching is anemic, with the life-blood of God’s nature absent from the message. Evangelists center their message upon man. Man has sinned and missed a great blessing. If man wants to retrieve his immense loss he must act thus and so. But the Gospel of Christ is very different. It begins with God and His glory. It tells men that they have offended a holy God, who will by no means pass by sin. It reminds sinners that the only hope of salvation is to be found in the grace and power of this same God. Christ’s Gospel sends men to beg pardon of the Holy One.
- Today’s Gospel: Authentic or Synthetic? [Banner of Truth, 1970], p. 25
So what does this have to do with us today? Just as the false prophet will promote his lies and get people to worship the beast by doing signs and wonders, we as Christians are prophets of God. Now hear me out on this. When I say that we are prophets of God I am saying that we are speaking forth the truths of God found in the Word of God, not new truths. That we are bringing people to the true and living God, Jesus Christ.
And when I speak of the truths of God found in the Word of God I am not saying that the Bible contains the Words of God, but that it IS the Word of God! Every word, every book, from Genesis through Revelation is inerrant, infallible in the original writings.
In II Timothy 3:16 Paul tells Timothy, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” The Greek word, THEOPHNEUSTOS, (theh-op’-nyoo-stos) and it is translated into English like this, “given by inspiration of God” and it literally means, “God-breathed”. What we have here, this Bible is breathed from the mouth of God – it is His Word!
I like the way Robertson McQuilkin, a great Bible interpreter, wrote regarding the Bible being the final authority in all we do and say. Something that many Christians doubt today, but it needs to be our final authority. He wrote:
Since God is the author, the Bible is authoritative. It is absolute in its authority for human thought and behavior. “As the Scripture has said” is a recurring theme throughout the New Testament. In fact, the New Testament contains more than two hundred direct quotations of the Old Testament. In addition, the New Testament has a large and uncertain number of allusions to the Old. New Testament writers, following the example of Jesus Christ, built their theology on the Old Testament. For Christ and the apostles, to quote the Bible was to settle an issue.”
- Robertson McQuilkin, Understanding and Applying the Bible, p. 20
You see folks, it is either all of God’s Word or none of God’s Word. You can’t pick and choose what you like and don’t like, what you want and don’t want. It is not up to you, God has spoken it, case closed! If we do start picking and choosing we are going to get ourselves in trouble as this story illustrates for us. We are told:
One day the Devil was walking with some of his cohorts. As they were walking they saw a man ahead of them pick up something shiny. One of the cohorts asked, “What did he find?” The Devil responded by saying, “A piece of the truth.” The cohort asked the Devil, “Doesn’t it bother you that he found a piece of the truth?” “No,” said the Devil, “I will see to it that he makes a religion out of it.”
The Devil will use the Word of God for his own devices. He will twist God’s Word. He will speak forth half-truths and-so-on. And thus, our defense against his lies is to know the whole council of God and by God’s Spirit bringing God’s Word to life in us, and we won’t be deceived! It is as John said in I John 2:26-27, “These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.” The Amplified Bible puts these verses like this; “I write this to you with reference to those who would deceive you [seduce and lead you astray]. But as for you, the anointing (the sacred appointment, the unction) which you received from Him abides [permanently] in you; [so] then you have no need that anyone should instruct you. But just as His anointing teaches you concerning everything and is true and is no falsehood, so you must abide in (live in, never depart from) Him [being rooted in Him, knit to Him], just as [His anointing] has taught you [to do].” There is no reason why we should be deceived folks!
Let me explain it like this. We are told:
Australia is not always a friendly place for tourists. We have Great White sharks hovering off our beaches, man-eating crocodiles in our Northern regions, deadly box jellyfish with stingers extending meters and meters, the deadliest spider in the world, and 13 of the world’s 20 deadliest snakes! But of all the dangers presented to American tourists a little remembered one is attempts by them to cross our roads. No, this is not because Aussies have a passionate hatred towards all things American that makes them targets for the Aussie drivers. It’s simply because the two countries drive on opposite sides of the road. This means that American tourists have to remember to look in the opposite direction to that which they would normally look. A lifetime habit is hard to kick, with the result that American tourists in Australia easily find themselves looking in the wrong direction, then stepping out into oncoming traffic. The same thing applies to Australians in the US.
What’s the point? Looking in the wrong direction can be dangerous, even deadly. People often look for God in the wrong places. They are looking right when they need to be looking left. Perhaps they’re looking for a spirituality of miracles, signs and wonders and missing the fact that God often comes to us in the ordinary events of everyday life. Perhaps they’re looking at the New Age when they need to be looking at Jesus.
- Scott Higgins
I truly believe, now more than ever, we need to be salt and light, salt to be a preserving force in this world so that this world will not rot away in sin and a light to show people the way to Jesus. Jesus put it this way in Matthew 5:13-16, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” You see:
People’s conduct, whether they are Christians or non-Christians, affects the lives of others with whom they live. Sometimes the influence is positive; at other times it is quite negative. The following two stories from Greek mythology aptly illustrate this basic principle. An invisible goddess once came to earth and left behind tangible blessings wherever she went. Charred trees she passed sprouted new leaves; flowers filled barren pathways after she walked through; stagnant pools became fresh and parched meadows green after she passed by.
Another account describes what happened when a princes was sent as a gift to a king. In appearance she was as beautiful as a goddess, and her breath smelled like fine perfume. But since infancy she had fed on nothing but poison, which permeated her being and contaminated the air around her. If she breathed on a swarm of bees, they would perish; if she picked a flower, it would wilt and die; if any bird flew too close, it would fall dead at her feet.
- John Macarthur, Nothing But The Truth, p. 25
Folks, as Christians our lives should affect others in a positive way. That doesn’t mean they will always like what we say or do, but it should be positive. And if they do try to bring a charge against us, it should not hold because we are living lives that are above reproach! I would like to spend the rest of our time this morning looking at this concept of being salt and light. What is interesting to me about these verses is that Jesus said, “You are” not “You might be” or “If you feel like it” but this is just a way of life for us, we are salt and we are light and just as we breath and our heart beats without us thinking about it, these attributes will flow from us as we spend time with Jesus!
In fact, the Greek pronouns translated “you” here in Matthew 5:13-14 are emphatic and plural. In other words, believers are the only ones who can be salt and light to the people of this world and that is emphatic or an absolute statement, it is not open for debate! The plural indicates that God wants each of us in the body of Christ to have an influence in this world for Him. Think about that. If you just had a few grains of salt and a few beams of light, it would not make much of an impact. But if you have a bunch of salt and many beams of light joining together, you would have a great impact. So let’s look at this idea of being salt and light and see what that is all about since Jesus said that we are salt and we are light!
1. SALT – MATTHEW 5:13
Think of salt being a defensive weapon. In other words, back in those days, long before they had refrigeration, meat would easily spoil. Thus, to prevent that from happening they would spread a heavy layer of salt on the meat to prevent it from rotting or to retard the decay, to preserve it!
As you look at this world it is hard to imagine that we can have any affect upon it. The reality is, in our own strength we can’t but by the power of God working in us and through us, we can make a difference. And yes salt can make you thirsty, thirsty for Jesus. It can be painful when placed upon a wound, as sin is exposed. It can speak of our purity in Christ, white as snow. Salt adds flavor and we can add some spice to this world by sharing Jesus with them. Those are all true statements but I think the main point here is a little different, even though all those points are very legitimate!
As I have said, I believe the point here is that we, as salt, are to be a preserving force, influencing this world for good. By seeing sinners saved it will slow down the rate of moral and spiritual decay in the world! Again, remember in II Thessalonians what Paul said, “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” II Thessalonians 2:7-12.
In other words, this restraining force that is in the world today is the Holy Spirit working in and through the lives of believers. When will He be taken out of the way? When the Lord comes back for us, we call it the Rapture of the church prior to the start of the Tribulation Period. And once that preserving force is removed, unrighteousness will fill this land, even more so than what we see today, it will be far worse! Nothing will compare to the unrighteousness that will flow from the hearts of sinful man.
But we have a chance to make a difference, to be that preserving force if we would only remain salty and that will only happen as we surrender our lives to the Lord and allow Him to work in and through us.
Woodrow Wilson told the story of being in a barbershop one time. “I was sitting in a barber chair when I became aware that a powerful personality had entered the room. A man had come quietly in upon the same errand as myself to have his hair cut and sat in the chair next to me. Every word the man uttered, though it was not in the least didactic [instructional], showed a personal interest in the man who was serving him. And before I got through with what was being done to me I was aware I had attended an evangelistic service, because Mr. D. L. Moody was in that chair. I purposely lingered in the room after he had left and noted the singular affect that his visit had brought upon the barbershop. They talked in undertones. They did not know his name, but they knew something had elevated their thoughts and I felt that I left that place as I should have left a place of worship.”
May we, by our very presence, influence people’s lives and see them drawn to Jesus. It is as Paul said in II Corinthians chapter 2 and this is from The Amplified Bible, “But thanks be to God, Who in Christ always leads us in triumph [as trophies of Christ's victory] and through us spreads and makes evident the fragrance of the knowledge of God everywhere, For we are the sweet fragrance of Christ [which exhales] unto God, [discernible alike] among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing: To the latter it is an aroma [wafted] from death to death [a fatal odor, the smell of doom]; to the former it is an aroma from life to life [a vital fragrance, living and fresh]. And who is qualified (fit and sufficient) for these things? [Who is able for such a ministry? We?] For we are not, like so many, [like hucksters making a trade of] peddling God's Word [shortchanging and adulterating the divine message]; but like [men] of sincerity and the purest motive, as [commissioned and sent] by God, we speak [His message] in Christ (the Messiah), in the [very] sight and presence of God.” II Corinthians 2:14-17. You see, WE ARE SALT!
2. LIGHT – MATTHEW 5:14-16
When I came home from vacation a few weeks back you may have noticed that my skin was a little darker than before I went on vacation. Why was that? Because I had spent some time in the sun and you were just seeing the affects that the sun had upon my skin. I didn’t have to dress up, put on make-up, act differently, I just reflected to you what the sun did to me, I was shinning you might say!
In essence, that is what we are to do folks. Spend time with Jesus, the Son of God and allow Him to touch our lives in such a way that when people see us, they see God radiating from our lives. We don’t have to pretend, use Christian jargon, dress a certain way, but just shine for Jesus because we are truly a reflection of Him or at least we should be! Thus, think of light as our offensive weapon, just like when you turn on the light, you don’t do anything but turn it on, it will dispel the darkness!
It is as John tells us in I John 1:5-7, “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” In II Corinthians 4:6 Paul tells us, “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” And in Philippians 2:15 Paul said, “that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.”
Folks, don’t hide your light, you are not a secret agent Christian. You need to let your light shine, but why? So that they may be drawn to Jesus and in doing so it will bring the Lord glory. Think of moths drawn to an outside light. Our light should shine in such a way that people are drawn to Jesus! Thus, WE ARE LIGHT!
I like the way that G. Campbell Morgan reminded believers of an earlier generation and reminds us as we look at this world and how corrupt it is and the real influence we can have upon it as we are salt and we are light. He wrote:
Jesus, looking out over the multitudes of His day, saw the corruption, the disintegration of life at every point, its breakup, its spoliation; and, because of His love of the multitudes, He knew the thing that they needed most was salt in order that the corruption should be arrested. He saw them also wrapped in gloom, sitting in darkness, groping amid mists and fogs. He knew that they needed, above everything else . . . light.”
- G. Campbell Morgan, The Gospel According to Matthew, p. 46
Here is another important point. We as Christians need to work together for the Lord. The enemy likes to divide because he then can conquer. Let us be wise and join together so we can impact this community, this world for Jesus. I am not saying sign up for this cause or that cause but to bring the Gospel message to a lost and dying world. To be salt and light. John Macarthur gives this tragic illustration of what can happen when we are not joined together. He said:
Some years ago a magazine carried a series of pictures that graphically depicted a tragic story. The first picture was of a vast wheat field in western Kansas. The second showed a distressed mother sitting in a farmhouse in the center of the field of wheat. The accompanying story explained that her four-year-old son had wandered away from the house and into the field when she was not looking. The mother and father looked and looked all day but the little fellow was too short to see or be seen over the wheat.
The third picture showed dozens of friends and neighbors who had heard of the boy’s plight and who had joined hands the next morning to make a long human chain as they walked through the field searching. The final picture was of the heartbroken father holding his lifeless son who had been found too late and had died of exposure. The caption underneath read, “O God, if only we had joined hands sooner.”
- John Macarthur
Yes, I know it is not easy, but God never said it was going to be easy, but it would be rewarding to see lives transformed by the power of God! To see communities changed by the power of God! As Christians we may not agree on every issue, but the foundational truths of God we hold onto and those gray areas, don’t let them get in the way of working together for the glory of God! Now, like I said, it is not easy, and John Macarthur tells us once again what this kind of life can be like. Now granted, I don’t think any of us have experienced what this man went through for the Lord, but how many of us have dropped out of the race that God has in because we thought it was too tough? I want to encourage you to forge ahead, God is in control and don’t let anything get in your way of serving Him. John tells us:
One of those missionaries was John G. Paton, a nineteenth-century Scottish Presbyterian who went to a group of islands in the southwest Pacific then known as the New Hebrides to win the natives to Christ. Right from the outset it was a difficult and challenging assignment because those islands were inhabited by cannibals. Frankly, it was the sort of missionary call most of us would have resisted or that we would have asked God to fulfill by sending someone else.
But John Paton and his wife did not argue with God’s will. When they arrived by ship, they had to row ashore and build a small lean-to. During their first weeks there, they stayed in that shelter and prayed constantly for a way to reach the cannibals with the Gospel. And God honored their faithfulness in prayer. Years later one of the native chiefs who became a Christian asked Paton who the soldiers were who surrounded his lean-to each night. God apparently protected the missionary with His holy angels.
During their first months on the islands, Mrs. Paton gave birth to a baby. Sadly, she and the baby died within a few days after its birth. John Paton buried them and had to sleep on their graves to prevent the natives from digging up the bodies and eating them. Those difficult circumstances brought him face to face with the hard choice of whether to stay or leave.
Paton decided to stay and near the end of his life made this incredible observation: “I do not know of one single native on these islands who has not made at least a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. When I first came, I heard the cry of cannibals; but as I leave, I hear the ringing of church bells.”
That’s the kind of end result we sometimes see if we are willing to sacrifice for the sake of the Gospel. Not all of us will be just like John G. Paton; but all of us can share the gospel with others as God gives us opportunity – if we are willing to make the sacrifice. We need to remember that a hostile world is going to react against the Gospel and that we will be called on to pay the price – not just once or twice, but all the time – as we seek to be faithful witnesses.
- John Macarthur, Nothing But The Truth, p. 150
Folks, we are prophets for these last days, not with new truths of God revealed to us, but the truths of God found in the Word of God that are unchanging! We are to be salt and light for we as Christians are the only ones who can impact this world for Christ. There are many false prophets out there who freely proclaim their lies, may we boldly proclaim the truth of God, the Gospel message for only He can save!
As I close this morning, let me leave you with this to think about. We are told:
In his devotional book Quiet Talks with World Winners (New York: Eaton & Mains, 1908), S. D. Gordon recounted the story of a group of amateur climbers who planned to ascend Mont Blanc in the Swiss Alps. On the evening before the climb, the guides outlined the pre-requisite for success. They said that due to the difficulty of the climb, one could reach the top by taking only the necessary equipment for climbing, leaving all unnecessary accessories behind.
A young Englishman didn’t listen and proceeded up the mountain with a blanket, a small case of wine, a camera, a set of notebooks, and a pocketful of snacks. On the way to the summit the other climbers began to notice various items left along the path – first the snacks and the wine, a short while later the notebooks and camera, and finally the blanket. The young man managed to reach the peak, but, just as the guides had predicted, he did so only after discarding all his unnecessary paraphernalia.
Gordon made this application to the Christian life: “Many of us, when we find we can’t make it to the top with our loads, let the top go, and pitch our tents in the plain, and settle down with our small plans and accessories. The plain seems to be quite full of tents” (p. 55). The question you must ask yourself: Are unnecessary accessories preventing me from fulfilling the mission God has given me?
- John Macarthur, Nothing But The Truth, p. 145-146
Remember what Paul said in I Corinthians 15:58, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” The Amplified Bible puts it like this, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be firm (steadfast), immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord [always being superior, excelling, doing more than enough in the service of the Lord], knowing and being continually aware that your labor in the Lord is not futile [it is never wasted or to no purpose].”
Like I have said, it is not easy but it is rewarding and all God wants us to do is be faithful to what He has called us to do. Thus, don’t let anything get in your way of serving Him and stand up for the truth and nothing but the truth – God’s Word and fulfill His great commission to us – and bring the Gospel message to people – BE SALT AND BE LIGHT as Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16, The Amplified Bible.