Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1594
Delivered on Lord’s-Day Morning, April 24, 1881
“Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it gives 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.” Matthew 5:15,16
OUR Savior was speaking of the influence of His disciples upon their fellow men and He, first of all, mentioned that secret but powerful influence which He describes under the figure of salt—“You are the salt of the earth.” No sooner is a man born unto God than he begins to influence men with an influence which is rather felt than seen. The very existence of a Believer operates upon unbelievers. He is like a handful of salt cast upon flesh—he has a savor in himself and this penetrate those who are in contact with him. The unobserved, almost unconscious influence, of a holy life is most effectual to serving society and the prevention of moral putrefaction. May there be salt in every one of us, for, “salt is good.” Have salt in yourselves and then you will become a blessing to all around you.
But there is about every true Christian a manifest and visible trait which he is bound to exercise and this our Lord sets forth under the figure of light—“You are the light of the world. A city that is on a hill cannot be hid.” In any case the genuine Christian will manifest the silent and unseen salting influence upon those who come into immediate contact with him, but let him also labor to possesses the second, or illuminating influence, which covers a far larger area and deals more with real life—for salt is for dead flesh and light for living men. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.”
Saltiness and light are the power of a Christian! I do not believe that any man gives forth light if he has not, first, received salt and yet some have an abundance of salt who are none too liberal with their light. May God grant us Grace to balance the inward and the outward. May we have serving salt and the diffusive light! Our thoughts will now run on giving light and I pray that I may be helped to move the more and less active among us to exert their influence upon others to this extent—to crown the silent testimonies of their humble faith by an outspoken witness-bearing for their Lord and Savior.
All who have salt will now be urged to show their light. The figure which our Savior uses is a homely one, borrowed from the eastern tent and house. He speaks of a candle, or, more accurately, of a lamp. We should read the passage— “Neither do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light unto all that are in the house.” I shall use the figure both in its eastern and in its western dress and sometimes we will make a lamp of it and sometimes a candle. Perhaps we shall see all the better with both a lamp and a candle and, though we may confuse the metaphor, we shall not confuse anybody’s mind upon the important Truth of God which it sets forth.
Three things are in the text. The first is the lighting, the second is the placing and the third is the shining. The first two are both intended to produce the third. May He who alone can create light, illuminate our minds while we dwell on
His Word.
I. First let us consider THE LIGHTING. “Neither do men light a candle.” What is this lighting up of the souls of men? They are without light by nature, “having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them.” What, then, is this lighting? It is, first of all, a Divine work. God began His creating work of old by saying, “Let there be light” and there was light. And as in the old creation, so in the new—the first thing that God works in the heart of man is light—“the entrance of Your Word gives light.” Well said David, “The Lord is my light and my salvation.”
The Holy Spirit enlightens the understanding so that the man perceives the desperateness of his own condition and his inability to win salvation by his own works. The Lord pours fight into the soul so that Christ is seen by faith and, at the sight of Him, the heart catches fire and light takes hold upon the inner man so that he not only sees light but has light. The light not only shines upon the heart but from the heart. “You were sometime darkness”—not only in the dark, but darkness! “But now you are light in the Lord”—not only have you light from the Lord, but you are light—your souls having caught the flame.
The Holy Spirit, alone, can accomplish this work. No human being will ever have light within himself till God who spoke the fiat at Creation shall, by the same Word, create light in the soul. The Apostle Paul says of all the saints, “God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” This lighting is a separating work. When this Light of God comes, it separates a man from those around him who are as darkness. It does not take him away from his surroundings. It does not shut him up in a monastery, but the separation is complete, for to set a division between a candle and the darkness all that is needed is to light it. The tiniest spark will, by its very existence, be distinguished from the darkness.