CHRISTIANS THE
LIGHT OF THE WORLD
The Oberlin Evangelist Lecture XVI.
August 12, 1840
by the Rev.
Charles G. Finney
Completely
Rewritten and Updated by Cliff Collins
“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 lamp stand, 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.”
(Matt. 5:14-16)
I will show,
I. The world is in great spiritual
darkness.
II. Christians, under God, are called to
enlighten the world.
III. How they enlighten the world.
IV. If the world is not enlightened, it
is the fault of Christians.
I. The world is in great spiritual
darkness.
1. Unrepentant sinners are ignorant of
the one true God. Many have some correct ideas about God. But basically, they
do not know God. To know God and Jesus Christ is to have eternal life. And
while they continue in their sins, they have no correct understanding of the
true God.
2. Unrepentant sinners are in great
darkness concerning the spirituality of His law. If they understood the
spirituality of his law, they would understand something of His character and
of their own. The truth is they have no concept of the true spirit and meaning
of God's law.
And here let me say that when we speak
of the spirituality of God's law, there are many who think that we are speaking
very mystically. “What? They ask. “Law
is law. We can understand what God's law says as well as you can, and we can
understand it as well as you can. So why should you mystify it and speak of its
spirituality as if it had some occult meaning which no one but the initiated
can understand?” To this I reply:
(1.) It is true that law is law.
(2.) It is also true that every law has
its letter and its spirit. That is, the general statement of the law itself in
words is the letter of the law; the true intended meaning of it, in its real
application to our lives, is its spirit. Now the world is in total darkness
concerning the true meaning of the law of God.
For example, the first commandment says, “You shall have no other gods
before me.” Just like every commandment of God, this command has both its
letter and its spirit. Its letter prohibits all idolatrous worship. Its spirit
requires supreme, unselfish, universal, and perpetual love to God, with every
holy affection carried out in every holy action.
As another illustration, let’s look at
the commandment, “You shall not steal.” The letter of this commandment
prohibits the secret taking of another's property and using it as if it were
our own without any intention of returning it. But the spirit of this
commandment forbids all covetousness and requires us to love our neighbor as
ourselves. It prohibits our using our neighbor's goods selfishly, whether it is
with or without his consent. It prohibits every form of fraud, speculation, and
taking any advantages in business that is inconsistent with the royal rule,
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Now who does not know that
unconverted sinners are in the dark concerning the spirituality of these and
every other command of God? What horrible conviction and dismay would fill the
world if sinners thoroughly understood the spirituality of God's law?
3. Sinners are ignorant of themselves.
They know very little of their own constitution, and in most cases still less
of their own character. They are ignorant of their own character because they
are ignorant of the law of God. Because they are ignorant of the true intent
and meaning of the standard that they need to compare themselves, they are
completely unable to judge their true character. Judging themselves only by the
letter of the law, and overlooking the breadth of the spirit of the law, they
of course form an estimate of their character that is completely different from
their true character.
4. Sinners are completely ignorant of
whether they deserve to go to heaven or to hell. Since they are ignorant of the
spirituality of the law, they have no idea of how many sins they have committed
or how bad they are.
5. Sinners do not know how helpless they
truly are, nor do they understand the remedy that God has provided for healing
their souls. They don’t care about, nor know much about the God’s remedy,
because they are ignorant of their disease.
6. Sinners really don’t know what’s good
for them or what is the best for their own well-being, both here on earth and
in eternity.
7. As a result they are blindly walking
down that broad road that eventually will result in their everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His power.
II. Christians, under God, are called to
enlighten the world.
1. Because Christians have the true
light. They know God. They understand the spirituality of His law. They know
the character of man. They know man’s guilt, desert, helplessness, and needs.
They have seen their own ignorance, and know that the world is in darkness and
lies in wickedness. They are keenly aware of this. They have an accurate
knowledge of their own experience. They also know the remedy for sinners. The
true light of God has enlightened them. All true Christians are taught of God.
They know God and Jesus Christ, Who to know is life eternal. They are aware of
knowing Him so well that they know that they have eternal life abiding within
them. They can truly say with all their heart, “Once I was blind, but now I
see.” And so true Christians are the only people in the whole world that are
capable of enlightening the world. It is worthless for unconverted philosophers
or statesmen, or any unconverted people whatever to talk about enlightening the
world. The light that is in them is great darkness. And when they talk about
enlightening the world, they don’t know what they are talking about. They don’t
even know what is true. They speak randomly and unreasonably and deceive their
followers. They are blind leading the blind, and they all stumble on together
on the dark mountains until both teachers and disciples fall into the pit of
destruction together.
2. The world must be enlightened through
human instrumentality. We are made in such a way that we must receive the truth
through our senses. As a result, it is necessary for God to unite Himself with
human nature in order to enlighten us. Taking upon Himself human nature, Christ
lived, conversed, ate and drank, and walked and talked with men through the
medium of his human nature. By doing this, Jesus presented to their minds the
true idea of who and what He is. He exhibited in His own life, and in
everything He did, the spirit of His own law. By His teachings, but even more
important, by His life, Jesus called the attention of men away from the letter
to the spirit of God’s law, and when He gave them precepts, He used His own
life to demonstrate what they meant, so they could understand the nature of
true religion and what it meant to love their neighbor as themselves.
3. The only people who have the true
light are those who have received it through the instrumentality of the saints
of God. From the earliest days of man's existence, God has caused the light to
shine on the world through human beings. Sometimes He has had only a few
representatives on earth. And great darkness had covered the whole face of the earth,
except here and there where little spots of light appeared pointing out the
presence of another saint of God. Noah was a light to the old world when it was
at its darkest. Daniel was a light in the idolatrous court of Nebuchadnezzar.
Enough prophets and holy men have been scattered here and there around the
earth to preserve the true knowledge of God through these representatives. The
Lord Jesus Christ, first in His forerunner John, next in His own person,
afterwards in His apostles, and now in all His saints, is still enlightening
the world today. His people are now the
medium through which He reveals Himself to mankind. His spirit dwells in them
“working in them to will and to do all his good pleasure.” (Phil 2:13) They are
His disciples who teach His doctrines and exhibit His spirit, thus at once both
rebuking and enlightening the darkness of the world.
III. How Christians can enlighten the
world.
What constitutes the Christian's light?
What makes him a light to others?
1. It is not just his beliefs.
2. It is not just his profession of
faith.
3. Nor is it his profession of faith and
his beliefs together.
4. It is not based on whether he
faithfully attends church on Sunday.
5. Nor is it his partaking of communion.
6. Nor does his light consist in all
these things put together. But,
7. His light consists in his emotional
state and his spirit.
8. His light consists In his good works
which have a strict concern for the universal law of love. As Christ did, so
does the Christian. The Christians’ life is a commentary on the law of God. He
is constantly giving illustrations, using his own emotional state, spirit, and
life, of the spirituality, the true intent and the meaning of God’s law.
9. His light consists in his practical
and firm opposition to all that is unholy or harmful to our bodies and souls.
His light is also manifested in his undying attachment to whatever is holy, lovely
and of good report.
How Christians
can enlighten the world.
1. Not by conforming to whatever is
wrong in their emotions, views or practices.
Not by directly or indirectly making light of their sins, their worldly
mindedness, or whatever is the result of their darkness.
2. Not by compromising their principles
or by trying to gain their favor by keeping out of view the points of
difference between themselves and sinners. Some professing Christians try to
avoid all controversy with the unrepentant to lessen, as much as possible,
differences of opinion, views, and practices between themselves and sinners.
They seem to think that the true way to enlighten the lost is by walking with
them as far as possible and by conforming, in a great measure, to their
customs, views, business practices, and almost everything else. Now this is as
far as possible from the true philosophy of enlightening the world. It is as if
you tried to clear the sight of your neighbor by plucking out your own eyes. It
is like trying to get the speck out of your neighbor's eye, not by removing the
beam from your own eye, but by filling your own eye with specks and beams. If you wish to convince someone that he is
in the dark, you must hold up your own light in contrast to his darkness. If he
can see your light, he will discover his own darkness.
3. Christians can never enlighten the
world by anything that will imply that they rarely mention the differences
between them and sinners. It is worthless
to try to enlighten the world by doing anything that makes the impression that
the real difference between saints and sinners lies merely or mostly in
opinion, especially if everything that the Christian does only demonstrates
that their opinions have very little to do with what they practice.
4. But Christians can enlighten the
world by holding up the light of their own example on all subjects in strong
and constant contrast with the example of the ungodly.
5. Christians can enlighten the world by
a patient and firm perseverance in good works in spite of all the opposition of
earth and hell. How the Apostles and
primitive Christians succeeded in enlightening the world was wonderful and
amazing. Their lives were a perpetual
light, dissipating the moral darkness around them. They did not hold forth a
flickering, waving, and uncertain light. It was clear, steady, pure, as they
went forward pushing back the tide of darkness from the regions and provinces
wherever they were sent. In the text Christ says, “Let your light so shine
before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in
heaven.” Shine? How? By continually
exhibiting our good works in contrast with their evil works
6. By continually exhibiting our
self-denial in contrast with their self-indulgence.
7. By exhibiting our heavenly
mindedness, in contrast with their worldly mindedness.
8. By showing that our fellowship is in
heaven, in contrast with their showing that their fellowship is on earth.
9. By showing that our treasure is in
heaven, in contrast with their showing that their treasure is on earth.
10. By showing that we conform to
correct principles, in contrast with their disregard of them.
11. By showing we conform to the laws of
our being, in contrast with their shameless violations of them.
12. By manifesting our faith in Christ,
in contrast with their unbelief.
13. By manifesting our sweet submission
to all the providential dealings of God, in contrast with their restlessness
and rebellion against His providence.
14. By holding up the light of truth on
every subject and in every way, both by precept and example, to oppose their
darkness. It is in ways like these that Christians can light up the world.
But if you hide your light by making any
kind of compromise, by frittering away the points of difference, or by straying
even one hair's breadth aside from the love of truth for the sake of courting
their favor, you will not, and never will enlighten them.
IV. If the world is not enlightened, it
is the fault of Christians.
1. Because Christians have the means of
enlightening the world. They have the Gospel and the means of spreading it
throughout the world. They have the true light in their own hearts, and have
the means of exhibiting it to all mankind.
2. They have abundant opportunities to
enlighten the world. God has stationed them in different parts of the world for
the very purpose of enlightening the world. He has commanded them to go, and
given them the means of going and holding up their light in every dark corner
of the world. When the early Christians clung together in Jerusalem, He
scattered them throughout the region by the force of persecution. And they “went everywhere preaching the
gospel”. (Acts 8:4) And once they were scattered, they learned the true
philosophy of enlightening and converting the world.
3. The world is expecting and looking to
Christians to enlighten them. The eyes of ungodly men are turned to the Church,
and watching everything they do, carefully observing their lives, spirit, and
ways, and wherever among professors there is a true Christian, his light is
seen to rebuke the darkness around him.
4. If the world is not enlightened, it
is the fault of Christians, because if the truth is properly and fully
exhibited, it will dispel their darkness.
The human mind is so constituted that truth “commends itself to every
man's conscience in the sight of God.” (I Cor. 4:2) There is no mistake about
this. The human mind is true to its own laws. And when truth is clearly,
strongly, and constantly exhibited, it will and must rebuke the darkness of any
human mind.
5. The principal business that
Christians have in this world is to enlighten the world. Christ has gone to
heaven. He has left Christians as His representatives to carry out the
revelation of God and shine as lights in the world. If He should take all
Christians immediately from this world, it would leave the world in
impenetrable and hopeless darkness, no matter how much has been done to
enlighten it. We must be living illustrations of religious truth. The minds of
men are so dark. They are prone to view religious truth so much in the abstract
and as so purely a matter of opinion that without living illustrations, truth
seldom, if ever, gains possession of their minds.
6. Christians are at fault if the world
is not enlightened because they can have all the spiritual illumination they
need to carry forward and complete the enlightening of the world. Christ has
promised you the Holy Spirit and has told you that God is more willing to give
it than earthly parents are to give good gifts to their children. (See Matt
7:11; Luke 11:13) Everything that you need is abundantly guaranteed by the same
promise of God to Christians. And in full view of these exceeding great and
precious promises Christ has said to you, “You are the light of the world.” And
now, “let your light so shine before men that they, seeing your good works,
[not merely hearing your good doctrines, but seeing your good works,] may
glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
7. The only thing that can prevent you
from enlightening the world is your refusal to do good works. If you perform good works, men will see
them. If they see them, they will be constrained to glorify your Father who is
in heaven. If men are not enlightened it is because you do not perform good
works. In other words, it is because you are not Christians. Observe Christ
does not say, “You need to be the light of the world.” But Christ says, “You
are the light of the world.” As the mind of Christ is true, real Christians are
the light of the world. And this is a matter of fact. True Christians have the
spirit of Christ, for the possession of this spirit is what makes them
Christians. The spirit of Christ will always manifest itself in performing the
works of Christ. If therefore men do not see your good works and glorify your
Father who is in heaven, it is only because you have the form and not the
spirit of Christianity. And “if the light that is in you be darkness, how great
is that darkness.” (Matt 6:23)
REMARKS.
1. A lot of evil is done by compromising
and keeping out of view the great and numberless points of difference between
Christianity and the spirit of the world, as if we could show ungodly men the
need for a great and radical change in themselves, by trying to conform our
lives and emotions to theirs as much as possible. It is only by demonstrating a
strong and constant contrast that the conviction of the need for a radical
change in them will be forced home upon them. The more striking and constant
this contrast is, the better. The more
universal and perfect this contrast is, the more sudden and irresistible will
be their conviction of the need for a great and radical change in themselves.
2. We see from this subject how severely
damaging it is to hide the true light on any great subject of reform whenever a
favorable opportunity to hold it up presents itself. Some ministers and professing Christians like to wait to have the
people discover the truth themselves, or wait for public opinion concerning
particular doctrines to change thus making it popular to defend doctrines that
were unpopular. Such a minister has no
intention to go ahead and rebuke the darkness of the public mind by holding up
the true light. This minister seems to
dread the loss of his own popularity, and fears damaging his usefulness by
calling things by their right names, by declaring his own experience of the
power of the gospel of the blessed God, by immediately preaching and bringing
out the whole truth before the world.
In order to make himself popular with everybody, he will present certain
unpopular truths in such a way, that those who are already Christians will see
that he believes them and correctly teaches them: but he presents these truths
with so many provisions, explanations and qualifications that nobody else will
suspect that he believes or teaches any such thing. If the whole Church and congregation were to get their act
together without his help, if public opinion could be formed that would agree
with him and would make it easer for him to speak out in plain language, he
would then become a bold champion for the truth. But he is waiting for the Churches to learn the truth before he
shares it with them. And when it
becomes popular to tell the whole truth, he will be the first one to preach it.
3. The same is true of
the lives of many of professing Christians today. Because of their worldly-mindedness, and all the ways they
conform to the world, pointing out how powerful public opinion is, that it is
worthless to be different from everybody else, and that the law of expediency
demands a high degree of conformity to the world in order to become influential
over them. But is this the way to enlighten the world? Instead of setting yourself
up to correct public opinion, do you allow yourself to become the object of
it? Instead of opposing what is wrong
in the views and practices of mankind on every subject, do you join them, and
thus strengthen their opinions and confirm them in their darkness, expecting
that somewhere down the line public opinion will change so that you can do your
duty without losing your influence, so that you can tell everybody what God has
done in your life, relate your experience of the power of His grace, and hold
up your light to the acclamations of the crowd? What a deluded dream is this!
4. Christians should remember that
silence on any great subject of moral reform, that hiding their light either in
precept or example when a suitable opportunity occurs for exhibiting it,
implies either that they don’t believe it, or that it is nothing more than
their opinion so it is not very important for them. Or maybe they are simply
ashamed of it.
5. How cruel it is to let people remain
in darkness because you are afraid of losing our own popularity. On how many
countless topics are people injuring both their bodies and their souls because
they lack correct information? And how shameful and cruel it is for those who
have the true light to hide it?
6. We see from this subject, how
important it is for those who believe in the doctrine of entire sanctification
in this life, to lift up this infinitely important doctrine, both by principle
and example, whenever they have the opportunity. They should be living epistles
known and read by all men. (II Cor. 3:2)
7. Unless Christians hold up the true
light in contrast with the world's darkness, they are the greatest curses that
are in the world. They are like a false light that draws unwary sailors onto
the rocks and the reefs. The world knows that you profess to be Christians,
that you are placed in this world as a moral lighthouse. They therefore think
that it is safe to steer in the direction that your light indicates. If
therefore the light that is in you is really darkness, you are a tremendous
curse to your family, your neighborhood, and the world around you. They will
look at you. They will listen to your words. They will think about your
emotions, and spirit, and life. They will feel safe in following your example,
in drinking in of your spirit, and in steering their course to eternity by your
light. And what a cruel monster you are if you mislead them.
What would
you say if pirates erected a false light on some shoal to cause unwary vessels
to crash on it for the sake of plunder?
Or, how do you feel about terrorists who come in peace, then kill
innocent women and children for their own selfish gain? Does not your blood curdle in your
veins? Don’t cold chills run over you?
Does not your soul shudder when you read of the abominable selfishness of those
who shine false lights to mislead ships at sea and people on land, destroying
many innocent lives and a lot of property for the sake of satisfying their
greed and selfishness? But professing
Christian, you are the light of the world.
Do you hold up a false light in the midst of the world's darkness? And
when thousands of sinners are hovering round about on your coast, tossed and
floundering from the storms of sin and Satan, and looking to you for light; are
you engaged in your selfish projects, exhibiting a carnal, earthly, and
devilish spirit, while they are running on the rocks and shoals, ruining their
souls and going to hell by the scores around you? Hear the wail of that lost
soul, as it dashes on the rocks and sinks down to hell. It lifts its eyes and
cries out, “Oh, I did not dream that evil was near. I had my eye upon that
professing Christian. I based my life on those same principles that he followed
in his life. I watched him carefully and steered my boat by his light. And oh!
Unutterable horror! I am in the depths of an eternal hell!”