Welcome to a firm foundation presented by Princeton Ministries with Dr. Ken Smith. This is Carol Smith, Ken’s wife. Please enjoy.

If you would turn with me in your bibles, first to the book of John. John, chapter eight. A single verse. The context is the woman who has been accused of adultery. Jesus asked that those who would be without sin to cast the first stone. No one throws the stone. Jesus says to the woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you? She said, no one, Lord. And Jesus said to her, neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more. Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. If you would turn to the book of Matthew, chapter five. Beginning at verse 14, Jesus is giving his sermon on the mount.

And he says in verse 14, 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. May God use this portion of his word to instruct and encourage us. Let us pray. Our God and our father, we ask now that the words of my mouth, the meditations of our hearts, would be acceptable in your sight. For we ask this in Jesus name. Amen. It was Jesus Christ who made this declaration, I am the light of the world.

He also tells us that there is no condemnation now that the light has come into the world. And men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. And so one of the amazing statements of Jesus is this declaration that he is the light, that he has come into the world to expose darkness. And so the light of Christ, as it began with that babe in the manger, declared that there was light in relation to salvation, that those who lived in darkness would see a new light, and that they would be able to enjoy that life with him. Jesus said, he who believes in me shall have eternal life.

The light of Christ, as it was declared in the darkness of the religion of the day. We are all familiar with the conversation that Jesus had with Nicodemus, that learned religious man of his day. And yet it was to Nicodemus that the light was exposed upon his religious darkness. And Jesus said to Nicodemus, are you not a teacher of Israel? And you do not know these things. The light of Christ was spoken to the darkness of the government of his day. When Jesus said, render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s. And unto God the things that are God’s. And if we look at the light of Christ and his ministry for 33 years on this earth. We find that there is no area that Christ did not go with his light. And penetrate the darkness. Whether it was the form of sin.

In the home. As he meets an adulteress who has been married multiple times. And he says to her that she should go and sin no more. Or if it comes in the corporate condemnation, as centuries had passed. Of the teaching of those religious teachers. The pharisees, the scribes. And Christ declares with the force of his deity. That the light now has come into this dark world of religious ceremony and ritual. And it shall never be the same because the light has been shed in the darkness. Jesus brought his light to families, to individuals, to religious groups, to political organizations. He spoke continually of that light. It seems, as we look at the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. That there was no area that he would not come bearing that great torch of light. That would be shed in the darkness.

And that is because Jesus declared, I am the light. But we also find in the book of Matthew, chapter five, verse 14. This amazing declaration to those who declare their allegiance to Christ. And Jesus says to those disciples who would follow him, you are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill. A light that should not be hidden. And so this light that came in the form of the manger, a little baby. That light began to grow intensity. And Jesus would say to those who follow him, you are now the light. And Jesus declared that first unto twelve. And those twelve then went. And they declared it to Jerusalem. And then they brought it to Judea and to Samaria. Until finally the utter ends of the earth. Had heard about the light of Jesus Christ.

And that all who had put their faith in Christ. Are light bearers. And it was against the darkness of the roman empire. That Christ declared; you are the light. And so christians went immediately into the darkness. That frightening, scary, hostile world. That knew nothing of the claims of Christ. And what happened with those early christians? We find that they faced the darkness of persecution. They faced the arena and the jaws of the lion. They faced the stake and the pit. Those early christians were imprisoned. But yet they brought the light into that dark world. Jesus declares, you are the light of the world. Now, what was the result of those early christians, realizing that they were the light, that Jesus. The light had gone to heaven, and now they were left as the light to the world.

Well, we find immediately that there were rapid changes that occurred within the darkness. For example, we find that women who were seen at that point in the history of the world as being no more than the possessions of a man. At the whim of a man, they could be executed. At the whim of the man. Anything could occur, because the woman was seen as simply an extension of property. And when the light of Christ was declared, the declaration, there is neither Jew nor gentile, there is neither male nor female. And women were freed within that christian family. We find within that early church that abortion, which was commonly practiced among the Romans, was opposed by those who bore the light of Jesus Christ.

We find that slavery, which was the norm of the day, was declared by those who took that light into the world as being foreign and alien to the dignity of man that God had placed in the hearts of his creation. We find, too, that the violence that was part of the arena was ended when a Christian came forward and said, no more. The light came into the world through Jesus Christ, who instructed his people that now you are the light. Go into the darkness. And so for some 300 years, those Christians went and literally turned the world upside down and declared the principles, the truths of Jesus Christ.

They understood a worldview of what it meant to be a follower of Christ, that to follow Jesus Christ was not isolated to 1 hour in the week, but rather that the lordship of Christ was to have dominion over all of his creation. And so the Christians saw that this life was called to be under the authority of Jesus Christ, and the principles of Christ were to be taught, and that people who lived in darkness, as they would be exposed to that light, would turn to the light by grace. And so it was Paul who declared in Romans 1136, for of Christ, and through Christ, and to Christ are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. Christians understood their worldview. They understood the principles and the values that they lived every day, every moment.

And it was as though that worldview totally soaked the world in which those Christians walked and lived. Now, a worldview is the way that you think about life, and you cannot think about life without having values that are a result of the way you think. Now, usually, we don’t talk about worldviews. Generally, we talk about symptoms of worldviews. And we seldom realize that at the heart of every man and woman, boy and girl, is some worldview, some foundational principles that you are looking at life with. And because of those principles, those beliefs, you have certain values. And if I would really understand your values, I must understand your worldview. Now, everyone has a worldview, and that worldview is very helpful because it helps us to interpret the world around us. This worldview shapes our values.

It helps us to sort out what’s right and what’s wrong. It tells us how the world ought to be. Our worldview gives us a vision for the future, possibly very pessimistic or possibly very hopeful, depending upon your worldview. And this worldview actually affects the way that you understand your relationships to your family, the way you understand your government, the way you understand your responsibilities with your husband, with your wife, with your children, the way you understand the use of your money, the way you understand the use of your house, the way you understand the use of your job. All of these are influenced by your worldview. The question is not whether you and I have a worldview. The question that is far more important is, what is your worldview? Everyone has one, but what is yours?

Jesus declared that we are to be the light of this world. And it is because of that declaration that a war is being waged today. It’s the same war. It’s an old war that was being waged in the day of Christ. It is a war between light and darkness. It is a world between the battlegrounds of God’s worldview for his creation and the worldview of this world. And these are in continual battle, one with another. The lines have been drawn. The armies have been assembled. And yet I’m afraid that there are many Christians who do not realize that there is a christian worldview that has been taught through the ages, that has had tremendous consequence because of the small band of Christians as they would go out into their community with that worldview.

But it seems that much of the struggle has become non-existent, because many Christians are not even aware of their own worldview and the principles that they are to be bringing into that world. And so today, there is a battle which is being waged. On one side is the church of Jesus Christ who declared, I am the light. Christ who declared to his followers, now that I am gone, you are the light. And so they gather with their sword the word of God. And against that worldview is to be found the worldview of the secular world, that world that knows nothing of the principles of God, that world that is not concerned with his word. And they, too, gather with all of their forces. We read in Ephesians chapter six, verse twelve, about this battle that’s being waged.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places. Have you noticed the battle? Francis Schaefer, in a book entitled the Christian Manifesto, makes this observation. Christians have very gradually become disturbed over such things as permissiveness, pornography, the public schools, the breakdown of the family, and finally even abortion. But they have not seen any of these things as a totality, each thing being a part, a symptom of a much larger problem. They have failed to see that all of this has come about due to a shift in worldview. This shift has been away from a worldview that was at least vaguely christian in many people’s memory, towards something which is completely different.

In my own short life, I remember as a young boy, public school in New York. Wednesday afternoon, 02:00 while school was still in session, there was announcement over the loudspeaker. Religious instruction will begin. All of those who are leaving the school to go to the churches across the street are free to go, and so little second graders would get up, and some who were Catholic would go across the street and be instructed in that church. Those who were protestant would go to the nearby protestant church. Those who were Jewish would go for that instruction. And that was part of the weekly public school in New York state. Some of the first hymns that I ever learned were in the assembly hall of P. S. 22, as we would all stand on Friday, and the music director would lead us in the singing of hymns.

I remember repeated prayers and invocations. It seemed as though there was hardly a parade that ever began or a ball game that were involved with in any organized way where someone was not publicly praying. And what about Christmas? We have reached the point in our own schools where it has become basically prohibited to sing any Christmas carols that would even mention Jesus Christ, that would even mention what the reason for the season is. And so we sing about Rudolph, the red nosed reindeer. But when I was a child, we sang about hark, the herald angel sing. We sang silent night. We sang about o little town of Bethlehem. What has happened? How has this occurred? Why is there such a shift? Well, it is because there has been a change. It has been occurring over the years in many different battlegrounds.

It’s been occurring in our schools. It’s been occurring in our political system. It’s been occurring in our courts. It’s been occurring in our homes. And every now and then christians recognize something’s wrong, but we don’t know exactly what it is. And so depending upon what your pet concern is, you speak about the breakdown of the family or permissiveness or any number of assorted problems. Well, something we have failed to realize is that a worldview not only affects how we look at life, but a worldview actually affects the outcome of life. This is not simply a discussion of philosophical concepts that we throw around in philosophy 101. A christian worldview has an effect. A nonchristian worldview has an effect, and what we are living with today is the effects of a shift in worldview.

The founding fathers of the United States understood very well the relationship between our worldview and the consequences. They understood this when they formed the nation. Usually it has been suggested that those who founded our nation were simply deists, that they had no interest in God. Nothing could be further from the truth. As a matter of fact, one of the men who was most instrumental in setting the moral tone in the Principles was a man by the name of John Witherspoon. Witherspoon was a Presbyterian minister. He was one of the presidents of Princeton University. He was the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence. It was Witherspoon who taught that all of life was under the influence of God.

And it was because of his persistence and those who shared his worldview that in our founding documents, we have this statement, our creator has endowed us with certain inalienable rights. Notice that it does not say the state. It does not say some authority that is elected. It says, God has given us certain inalienable rights. And so this be our motto in God is our trust. And it should come as no surprise that from the beginning of this nation that the congress had a full time paid chaplain. Even to this day, there is a full time paid chaplain who opens Congress in prayer. As soon as the american revolution was over, we find the first act that was brought about was the act of thanksgiving, where everyone bowed their head and said, thank you, God, that this is over. Thank you for our liberty.

Witherspoon stressed, he is the best friend of liberty who is most sincere and active in promoting pure and undefiled religion. He who is a friend of liberty is promoting the pure and undefiled religion. And in the context of Witherspoon, he was talking clearly about christian principles. William Penn said, if we are not governed by God, then we will be ruled by tyrants. And so the light of this worldview of Jesus Christ was brought into the whole understanding of our own government. We find also that the light and the worldview of Jesus Christ was brought into the area of education which began with certain principles. Those principles were clearly presented in the Northwest ordinance, the year 1787, the beginning of public education. And I quote, religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind.

Schools and the means of learning shall forever be encouraged. Did you notice the three legs of that stool upon which our entire educational system was based? Listen. Religion, morality, and knowledge. Between 1836 and 1920, there were over 120,000,000 copies of a textbook that was used by every child that went through public education. This book was written by a Presbyterian educator. His name, William Holmes McGuffey. The McGuffey reader, used until 1920 in our nation. And in looking at that reader and that use of that textbooks, we find that McGuffey, his world was completely dependent upon the Bible. And when you read the McGuffey reader, you find in its Bible stories. You find the morality of christian ethics. For he understood that education in America was dependent upon religion, morality, and knowledge. And so it was not an embarrassment to make reference to God in textbooks.

It was not an embarrassment when the word God should slip out of the mouth of a student. I heard the other day about a group of little boys. They were playing in the corner of a park, and the teacher came out, and she saw them, and she was very disturbed, and she ran over, and she said, boys, what are you doing? And they said, well, we’re shooting craps. And she says, oh, good. For a moment, I thought you were praying. And yet there was a time when that was the norm, when prayers would be offered upon the wall of my own school as a boy, the ten commandments were posted. What has happened? The light of Christ was shed by a previous generation, not only in the area of education and government, but also in the area of law.

Did you know that on a number of occasions in the history of various states that it was declared that those states were christian in their morality? For example, in New York state, it was upheld by the chief Justice Kent. And I quote, we are christian people, and the morality of the country is deeply engrafted upon Christianity. Pennsylvania made the same declaration. The United States Supreme Court, 1892, said, this is a religious people, a christian nation, you say, but that was 1892. Well, they declared it again in 1931 under the Supreme Court. Justice George Sutherland, you say, but that was 1931. Well, it was again declared in 1952 by Justice William O. Douglas. The textbook that was used for most lawyers as they were going through law school until recent years was a book entitled commentaries on the law of England.

It was written by a man named Blackstone, Sir William Blackstone. And what was the foundation of law, according to Blackstone? He said, it was upon the declaration that God had given laws, moral principles by which we are to live. And so if you read that commentary by Blackstone, which was required reading, and for anyone who would be a law student as of just several decades ago, if you had not mastered Blackstone, then you would not graduate from law school. But Blackstone is no longer taught in the law schools. Well, how is the light of Christ shining today? I was surprised to read several books that are talking about the trends in our nation. Alvin Toffler’s future shock, which is just another way of saying, something is changing. It’s changing rapidly.

Not only is it a technological change, but there seems to be a moral change that’s happening in our nation. John Nesbitt, in his book Megatrends, traces ten major thoughts that are affecting our nation. It is incredibly discouraging to find that he does not look at the church as one of those ten trends. It seems that the christian church is living in the shadows at times. It seems that we are actually living in darkness and that we are not bringing the light into the world, but rather that the darkness seems to be engulfing even the church of Jesus Christ. That is because we have failed to see that there is a worldview, that we have failed to see that there is a relationship between what I believe and the way I would live my life. The other days of the week, G. K.

Chesterton said, when a man ceases to believe in God, he does not believe in nothing. He believes in anything. And so we’re living in a day where you can believe anything you like. And where the tragedy is that christians all too often are saying to the darkness, you can live as you like. It really doesn’t matter. Just let me worship the Lord, and I’ll leave you alone. Jesus said, you are the light. If your light is not shining, there is no light. There is simply darkness. Do I need to go over a few statistics? Do I need to tell you about the 1.5 million abortions? Do I need to remind you that in this past year, over a million divorces in our country? What about our children?

Professor Franklin Zimmering from the University of Chicago says, what’s happening to our children is a howling shame. Back in 1950, there were only 170 children under the age of 15 who were arrested because of serious crimes like murder and robbery and rape, assault. By 1980, that had grown to over 1 million children? What about pornography, that $4 billion industry? What about the 3 million couples, 6 million people, who are living together as husband and wife, except they’re not husband and wife. That vast array of new family styles that are coming, the single family home where it’s now estimated that only in a few years, 50% of our children will be living in single family homes. What about the lifestyle that is now declaring that it is all right in some states for a homosexual to care for the child?

Is there anything that the light of Jesus Christ should be declaring to the darkness, something is wrong. Something is terribly wrong? The christian worldview seems to have gone out. Where is the light shining? Jesus declared; you are the light. What is your worldview? Does it make a difference? Perhaps you’re here and you say, I have a worldview, and it is not the worldview of Jesus Christ. I am living in darkness. And Jesus says, I’ve come into the world not to condemn you, for you’re already condemned, but the light has come into the world that you might have your worldview changed from a worldview that never even considers God and Jesus Christ to the worldview that would be based upon Jesus Christ, upon his word. And he would say to you who live in darkness, come to the light. By grace, I will save you.

I will bring you into the land where you can see. Where you can see for the first time the truth. The truth that I have sent my son Jesus Christ to die upon the cross for your sin, that by faith you might trust in him and be made new. For the christian life is a worldview that has a tremendous effect on your own happiness, on your peace, upon your eternity. Jesus said, you are the light of the world. Let us pray. Our God and our Father, we thank you for Jesus Christ and the fact that he is the light who has come to be shed upon the darkness. And, Father, we would declare that we who have lived in darkness have seen a great light, the light of Christ.

Father, we thank you that by your grace, that you have given us your word from which we can see your view for this life. Help us to restore that christian worldview. Help us to be a light on a hill and prevent us, Father, from taking a bushel and covering that light. Let us go into the world knowing that we are the light for that world, and we will thank you in Jesus name. Amen.

Thank you for listening to a firm foundation presented by Princeton Ministries. This programming is supported by you, the listener. You may go to our website, princetonministries.org. Or send your donation to Princeton ministries post office, Box 2171, Princeton, New Jersey 8543. That’s Princeton Ministries post office is Box 2171, Princeton, New Jersey 8543. The Lord bless you and Dr. Smith looks forward to hearing from you. We would like to thank Rones web development company for making this webcast possible. You can find their link at the bottom of our website, princetonministries.org