We're going to look at Matthew
chapter 5 beginning at verse 13. The title of the message
is Salt, Light, and Righteousness. And this is after the Lord had
addressed men and women who professed to believe the gospel in the
Beatitudes, the statements of blessing. And He declared these
spiritual and eternal blessings and the character and the reward
of grace that the true children of God have by virtue of our
standing with God in Christ. Christ is our surety, he's our
substitute, he's our redeemer. He sends his spirit forth to
bring his people under the gospel truth, to give us spiritual life,
new hearts, new life, new spirits, and set us apart from the unbelieving
world because of faith in him and repentance of dead works.
In other words, we're not to blend in with the religious world.
We're to stand apart. And this separateness is in our
gospel. And so in this capacity, he collectively
addresses the church as the salt of the earth, the light of the
world, and those who are righteous before him. So look at verse
13. He says, you are the salt of
the earth, but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall
it be salted? In other words, what use is it
if it's lost its savor? It is thenceforth good for nothing,
but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men. So
here, true believers, sinners saved by grace, are witnesses
for Christ in this lost, dying world. And here, individually
and collectively, the Lord calls us the salt of the earth. We're
made so by the grace of God. This is not something we made
of ourselves. Salvation. is of the Lord. So what we are, we are by the
grace of God. It's not natural to us, it's
the work of God. We are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in him. So as the salt of the earth,
we're made so by God, and we're put on this earth to fulfill
this character, and this message, we use salt today as a seasoning
to flavor our food. And it is a savor. But you know,
the main use of salt back then was for preservation. They used
it to preserve food. And I think that's one of the
main issues here as the church is the salt of the earth. God's
children, as the true church, The pillar and ground of truth
are the preservatives of this world. Now what does that mean? It means this, that the reason
this fallen, sinful, cursed world has not already been destroyed,
wasn't destroyed when Adam fell, but it keeps on going, is because
of Christ's church in this world. God, before the foundation of
the world, chose a people gave them to Christ, and he's intended
in each successive generation to call them out, to save them
by his grace, to bring them under the preaching of the gospel.
And so he sends out his witnesses, his salt, you might say it that
way, to preach the gospel. And as long as there are some
of Christ's sheep who have yet to be brought into the fold,
this world is gonna go on. But when that last sheep is called
into the fold, that last one, then it's over. But as long as
that is the case, we're the preservative of the world. And it's God's
purpose to glorify himself in the salvation of all whom he
chose and gave to Christ. All whom Christ came and redeemed.
His sheep, he must bring them into the fold. He said, he must
do it. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, Christ said. In him that cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast out. So God works by his sovereign
will to bring his people under the gospel, to bring them to
faith in Christ and repentance of dead works and idolatry. And just as salt has a distinct
flavor in this way, the Lord distinguishes his people. They
have a distinct flavor, you might say. And what is it? It's the
gospel. It's the gospel we preach. It's
not the same gospel that's being preached in other places today.
The vast majority of people are hearing a false gospel. But what
distinguishes us as the salt of the earth, the gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace through the Lord Jesus Christ, in the
power of his glorious person, and his finished work, the righteousness
that he accomplished on the cross to ensure the salvation and final
glory of all for whom he died and arose again. I put in your
lesson here that we see a few illustrations of this in the
Old Testament. Think about Noah and the ark.
While Noah was building the ark, the flood had not yet come. As
long as Noah was outside that ark, the earth was okay. I mean, it wasn't okay as far
as sin, it was sinful, but it was preserved. But once Noah
got in that ark with his family and God shut that door, the wrath
of God came down. Noah was the salt of the earth
in that sense. And then I used the example of
Lot in Sodom. As long as Lot was in Sodom,
The wrath of God did not fall upon that city. But when God
brought Lot out of Sodom, what happened? Fire and brimstone
rained down upon them, and they were destroyed. Now he says here, that if the salt has lost its
savor, then it's good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden
under foot of men. That describes mere professors
of the gospel, who though they profess to believe the truth,
they don't stand apart from the unbelieving, unchristian world. They blend in. And you and I
both, we know people, I know churches, who claim to preach
the gospel that we preach, but they've got brethren all over
this town, all over this world, who don't believe the gospel.
They see the gospel we believe as just a higher doctrine, and
therefore they just blend in. They conform to the religious
world, and that's the salt that's lost its savor. What good is
it? It's good for nothing but to
be cast out and trodden under the foot of men. When we understand these things,
you know, I always think about, in that vein, Hebrews 12, 14
that I quoted in your lesson, which says, follow peace with
all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.
And what is it talking about? Well, it's saying that we, even
as believers, as the church, the pillar and ground of truth
in this world, We're to be peaceful people. We're to seek peace with
everybody, but not at the expense of the gospel. The gospel message
is the light of truth that men and women by nature hate. And
in order for me to get along with somebody, if I have to compromise
that gospel and speak peace to them where there is no peace,
call them brother or sister when I know they're not, Then what
have I done? I've just blended in. I've compromised
the gospel. I've compromised that holiness,
that separateness. And that's what he's talking
about here. We're not of this world. We're in it, but we're
not of it. And the life that we have, men and women hate.
But we preach it to anybody who'll listen. because we know that
God's going to call his sheep into the fold. The reason this
world stands today is because there are some who are God's
elect, Christ's sheep, who have yet to be brought into the fold.
We don't know who they are. You can't tell by looking. All
we do is preach the gospel, preach it on TV, preach it on internet,
preach it here, and God's gonna call his sheep. other churches
where the gospel is preached. Well look at verse 14. 14 through
16. Excuse me. This is where Christ said, you
are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill
cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle,
put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth
light unto all that are in the house." And then this famous
verse that men quote all the time. Let your light so shine
before men that they may see your good works and glorify your
Father which is in heaven. Now here again, true believers
individually and collectively, the church, are described by
the Lord as being the light of the world. We shine forth in
this dark world in the light of Christ who is our light. John
chapter eight and verse 12, Christ said, I am the light, the light
of the world. And light is a symbol of the
gospel truth that shines forth in the glory of God. The glory
of God shining forth in the face of Jesus Christ. All people by nature, collectively
and individually, are in darkness. The darkness of sin, deception,
ignorance, unbelief, that's how we start our lives. That's how
we were our first state, fallen in Adam, into a state of sin
and depravity. And Christ sends forth his spirit
to bring his people to the light of truth, And he reveals that
truth so as to bring us to faith and repentance. And that same
light that brings one of God's sheep into the fold, that same
light is met with opposition by those who hate the light.
And I mentioned that earlier. John chapter three, if you'll
look over there. John chapter 3 and verse 19. He says, this is the condemnation
that light is coming to the world and men love darkness rather
than light because their deeds were evil. And just like the
salt of the earth, if we don't blend in with the religious majority,
we stand apart. But how do we stand apart? with
the light of truth that exposes that what men and women by nature
highly esteem is an abomination to God. Their deeds being evil,
their works aimed at trying to gain God's favor. And he says,
for everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh
to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But just
as that light repels the natural man, the unregenerate man, it
draws forth Christ's sheep by the power of the Spirit. Look
at verse 21. But he that doeth truth, and what is it to do truth? It's to believe Christ, it's
to come to Christ, it's to believe the gospel, cometh to the light
that his deeds may be manifest that they're wrought in God.
And that's the light of the world. The church is a city that is
set on a hill, fixed by God and established by God's grace, built
by Christ, set up by Christ. And the church is to be a witness
to shine forth that light in a dark world. And it's not to
be hidden from view like some secret society. This is no cult. This is no secret society. We're
the people of God. We let our light shine. That
sinners might see the difference between what a good work is and
what an evil work is. And when he says here, let your
light so shine for men, he's not talking about the good works
themselves being the light. He's talking about the gospel.
that shines on those works and either shows them to be the power
of God's grace in Christ or exposes them to be evil deeds. And only the gospel can do that.
Man's ethics cannot do that because what we know in this light is
that the only righteousness we have before God is the imputed
righteousness of Christ. Anything less is sin in God's
sight. And that's what the gospel exposes.
And so we let our light shine before men, not to draw attention
to ourselves, but to draw attention to the Lord God, to glorify him. And we want people to know, look,
whatever you see me doing that you call good, It's not my righteousness
before God. Christ alone is my righteousness.
That's the light that shines. And then in these last few verses,
Christ says this, he says, think not, verse 17, think not that
I'm come to destroy the law or the prophets, the word of God.
I'm come not to destroy but to fulfill. He came into the world
to fulfill all righteousness. And in order to fulfill all righteousness,
he had to fulfill the law and the prophets. He said, I'm not
come to destroy, but to fulfill. Verse 18, for verily I say unto
you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle. Somebody
said the jot is the smallest, the smallest mark of punctuation. And a tittle is the smallest
way of expressing it. In other words, to the least
point of the law. Till heaven and earth pass, one
jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till
all be fulfilled. Think about that. Can we fulfill
the law? He answers no. He says in verse
19, now this is expressed in light of the Pharisees' error.
They taught that people could fulfill the law by their works.
But in teaching that, they were actually law breakers. And so the only way we see the
law fulfilled is in the person and work of Christ. So if we
look at the law or try to be faithful to the law in any other
way, we're breaking it. So he says in verse 19, whosoever
therefore shall break one of these least commandments and
shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom
of heaven. But whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall
be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Now he's not teaching
that there are degrees of standing or state in the kingdom of heaven.
That those who taught people to break the law, well, they'll
be in the kingdom of heaven, but they'll be the least there.
And those who teach people not to break the law, they'll be
the greatest. The law says do and die. Do or die. Do and live, disobey and die.
That's what it says. Do and live, disobey and die.
Well, anybody, as I said, like the Pharisees, who taught the
law to the people as a way of righteousness, a way of salvation,
they were actually lawbreakers. And here is the judgment of the
kingdom of heaven against them. They thought they were the greatest.
But they weren't, they're the least. They're not even in the
kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is a kingdom
of righteousness. And that righteousness can only
be found in Christ. And so he caps it off in verse
20. And verse 20 is a pivotal verse.
I'm gonna conclude with that today. But next week, Lord, well,
if everything goes according to my plan, I'm gonna start with
this verse next week. Because here's the reality of
the law. Look at verse 20. For I say unto you, that except
your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of
heaven, period. The standard of righteousness
that God requires for salvation and eternal life is the absolute
perfection of the law. Not one iota, not one jot or
tittle can be broken. It must be in perfection, and
that perfection can only be found in Christ, the Lord of glory. the Lord our righteousness. That's
why he's called the righteousness of God. Romans 10, four, for
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
who believes. And so anything that I preach
to you about what God requires in the law, anything I preach
to you is less than the perfection that can only be found in Christ
is law-breaking. You understand that. Now, are
we to strive to obey what God commands us to do? Yes. But that's
not our righteousness before God. And that doesn't give us
a higher standing in the kingdom of God. If we teach that as a way of
salvation, we're the least as judged by God and the people
of his kingdom. And so the righteousness that
God has given to his people is the righteousness of Christ,
which meets that perfect standard of the law. And accept your righteousness,
exceed the righteousness of the best people on earth. you shall
in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven. All right.