Luke chapter 14, we'll look at
the last part of this chapter. Luke 14, 34. Salt is good. But
if the salt have lost his savor, Wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land
nor yet for the dunghill, but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Salt is good. We know that when our Lord speaks
of earthly things, he's teaching spiritual things. But you have
to understand something of the earthly thing to see what he's
teaching spiritually. That's why he uses analogies
like this, because we do know some things. These are simple
things that we can grasp. When he spoke of how sinners
are saved, he said you must be born again, because we know something
about that. We've all witnessed that or when
we ourselves were born we didn't know what was happening but we
know we understand something about that process and so he's
simply teaching us from an earthly illustration spiritual truth. When you were born into this
world you began to live you began to you came into this world. Well you've got to come into
another world. You've got to come into the kingdom of God.
He had just said that to Nicodemus. You can't unless you're born
again you can't enter the kingdom of God. You entered this world
through natural birth. You've got to enter God's kingdom
by spiritual birth. And it's a birth from above.
And even in physical birth, you didn't have anything to do with
that. Well, in spiritual birth, it's God. It's God's work. And
so we see that. And here, the same principle.
Salt. Salt is good. We understand.
We believe that, don't we? I like salt on everything. In
fact, just about, I suspect everything we eat has some salt in it. Wouldn't
you think so? And without it, not going to be much good. Salt
is also used as a preservative. We were served a meal one time
out of a ice bar refrigerator that wasn't plugged in. There
was meat hanging in there. And they carved some of that
off and fried it up and it was delicious. How do you do that? Salt. Preserve that meat and it can
preserve it for years. Salt is used for medicinal purposes. Salt is essential. As you might
imagine, if the Lord is going to talk about spiritual things,
He's going to use something that's essential. Salt is essential
to human life. Your body is full of it. And
if you don't have any of it, you're a goner. Salt is essential. You must have some salt in your
body in order to live. Your muscles can't even function.
Your mind can't work without it. And particularly our Lord here
though speaks of the savory nature of salt. What it tastes like.
That's what he specifically is referring to here but all these
aspects have spiritual application. And we know spiritually speaking
now that in our flesh dwelleth no good thing. But salt is good. So spiritually speaking, you
don't have any salt by nature. We have no salt. If we have salt
in us, listen, as our Lord says in Mark 9 50, if we have any
salt in us, God put it there. And as we'll see, it's Christ
in us. It's the Spirit of God that dwelleth
in us, the Spirit of Christ. In Mark 9.50, he said this, salt
is good, but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith
will you season it? And in this instance, he added
this, have salt in yourselves. Got to have it. There's no savoriness,
there's no seasoning without it. Have salt in yourselves. If you do not have Christ in
you, Christ in you is the hope of glory. He is essential to
the spiritual life of sinners, Colossians 1.27. If he's not
in you, then in you dwelleth no good thing. Salt is good,
and you've got to have salt in you. He said, have salt in you.
Our Lord speaks of the usefulness of salt in Matthew 5.13. He said, you are the salt of
the earth. Speaking to his people, his followers, his believers.
You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt have lost his
savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good
for nothing. but to be cast out and to be
trodden under foot of men. Salt is good, but there is salt,
or could be salt, that is no good. If it doesn't taste like
salt, what's it good for? The Lord said nothing, and that's
true spiritually. If you've got salt in you now,
the flavor of that is gonna be evident, and if not, Then you've
got something else. You've got bad salt, if there
is such a thing. And of course, he's talking about
people here. If you're the salt, or not, or
you have no flavor, and you're good for nothing. Talking about
people, clearly, right? So our Lord, he speaks the same
way of people in this other analogy. And this will help us understand
the teaching. Because clearly he's talking about people. He's
talking about some people that are good, that are useful, that
are beneficial, and others that are good for nothing. Well listen
to this language in John 15, five. I am the vine and you are
the branches. He that abideth in me and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. There's something
to eat, there's flavor, there's taste, there's sustenance, as
with salt. Again, salt is vital, it doesn't
just make stuff taste good, you gotta have some of it. Fruit,
same principle, something you partake of that you need. Food,
the same brings forth much fruit, for without me you can do nothing.
If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch. What
do you do with salt that doesn't taste salty? You cast it out
and you trot it underfoot. You see the parallel clearly.
He is cast forth as a branch and is withered and men gather
them and cast them into the fire. And they are burned. Good for
nothing. You see the clear parallel there.
Salt that is tasteless is cast out. Branches that are dead are
burned. The same truth is being taught. Exactly. Just as the
difference in a live branch and a dead branch is Christ, spiritually
speaking, abiding in the vine. Christ and He in you. So the
difference between salt that is good and salt that is good
for nothing is Christ. This ain't complicated, is it?
Now, where we read there in Mark 9, our Lord said the way to be
the salt of the earth is to have salt in you. It's not that you
are the salt, but you have salt in you. You're the salt of the
earth in that sense. in the same sense we are the
light of the world not because we have any light in us by nature
but because Christ the light of the world dwelleth in us there
is by nature in us no good thing but Christ in us now he shines
forth and is beneficial as the salt He's beneficial, necessary, and
delightful. This is very simple, very beautiful,
and very important truth. Our Lord speaks particularly
of the flavor of salt. People eat what tastes good to
them. Not only is salt vital in our diet, but food's not just
for survival. I don't eat just to survive.
I suspect you don't either. If I was stranded on a desert
island now, I might be less picky. But I'm not. So I'm not going
to, you know, I'm going to choose something that tastes good to
me today for lunch. I reckon I will. I suppose you will too. Food
is something to enjoy. That's why it's used. Not only
is it necessary, we don't just need Christ. I'm
real delighted to know Him, to have Him. to be in him. Now food is something to enjoy
as well as a necessity and that can't happen without salt. That's
clear from our text if you hadn't experienced it yourself. Now
you may be on a diet of no added salt and I guess I am, I'm supposed
to be anyway. But you're still eating salt.
Salt is in everything that we eat. And you've got to have it. Besides, it tastes good and it
makes everything you eat taste good. It enhances the flavor
of everything. The spiritual application of
that is clear. The savoriness of salt. Not only
do we need Christ, He's vital to spiritual life. But you know
why I have Him too? Because I want Him. He puts in
us the desire. Jacob said, I'm not going to
let you go until you bless me. He had to have him. Not only
out of necessity, but out of desire. We partake of Christ
because he's delightful to us. And this analogy is all through
the scripture of partaking of Christ, eating and drinking. John 6.53, you're familiar with
this. Jesus said unto them, verily,
verily, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the Son
of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoso eateth
my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will
raise him up at the last day. And of course, this is spiritual.
We eat salt physically, we know how that works. But to eat salt
spiritually, it's by faith. We partake of Christ by faith.
We're united to him by faith. He is part of us by grace through
faith. My flesh is meat indeed and my
blood is drink indeed and he that eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood dwelleth in me and I in him. See the vine, he that dwelleth
in me, same truth, different analogies. He that abideth in
me and I in him bears fruit. He that abideth in me and I in
him is somebody that partakes of me by faith, that eats my
flesh. His flesh refers to his person,
who he is. God was made flesh and dwelt
among us. His blood refers to his work,
what he accomplished on Calvary. When we partake of the table,
there's pieces of bread, unleavened bread, because leaven is sin. In him was no sin. and wine because it pictures
his precious blood. That's the person of Christ and
the work of Christ. If Christ came down here, it
can't just be the bread, can it? If he just came down here
and taught some wonderful things, we don't have a savior. He's
got to shed his precious blood. His work is vital to us. And so we have to eat his flesh
and drink his blood. And that picture, listen to what
he says in verse 57 of that. As the living father hath sent
me and I live by the father, so he that eateth me, even he
shall live by me. This is that bread which came
down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna.
That was a picture of it. But this is spiritual and that
was physical. That kept them alive as they
wandered through the desert. But spiritual life, he said,
I am that bread. He is that vine. He is the salt. There's none good but one, and
that's God. That's what he said to somebody.
Somebody said, good master. And he said, why are you calling
me good? There's only one good, that's God. If I'm good, then
I'm God. Instead of just a good teacher,
I'm God. That's what he was impressing
on that young man. And so, salt is good. That's Christ, that's
God, that's him. And he said, your fathers ate
manna in the wilderness and they're dead now physically. But if you
eat this bread, you'll live spiritually forever. You'll live forever. So why doesn't everyone partake
of Christ if he's so vital and good, if he's necessary and delightful? Why doesn't everybody? Everybody
needs him, but not everybody desires him. Not everybody has
a taste for him. And that's what he's referring
to in our text. If it's lost his savoriness, He said in John 5 39 search the
scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life Speaking
to the religious Jews they were experts on the scriptures And
he said you think you have eternal life because you know the Word
of God, but the problem is The scriptures testify of me All
of them Only of him And you will not
come to me that you might have life. Life is not the scriptures. Life is the one set forth in
the scriptures. Christ is life. And he said you
will not come to me that you might have life. Now that phrase
he said you will not, that's interesting. Doesn't just mean
you're not going to. You remember the difference between
shall and will. You know, can I or may I, will
I. The word will in that text means
to have a desire for, to choose, to delight in. Do you know why I don't eat beets?
I have no delight in beets. I'll eat one if I have to. They're
not that bad. They're just not good either.
How can you eat that stuff? It has no flavor. I'm sure beets have some things
in them that I need. But you know what, I'm going
to get them another way. I'm going to get them some other
way. That's what people do spiritually. People know deep down that they
need righteousness, but they can't stand Christ. So what do
they do? They're going to try to get it
another way. They're going to try to, Paul put it this way,
they're going about to establish their own righteousness. Righteousness can't be had that
way. Can't be had that way. Sinners
have no desire for Christ. By nature, there's no beauty
in Him that we should desire Him. He is in Himself altogether
lovely, but not to us. And those sinners need Him. They
will try to find what they need another way. And this is what Paul spoke of
in Romans 10, 3. They go about to establish their own righteousness.
They think they can get righteousness another way except through Christ,
who is, as he said there in that context, the end of the law for
righteousness. If you ever find Christ, you'll
stop trying to please God with what you do. You'll know that
that can't happen. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified in God's sight. You've got to have the
righteousness of God. And that's only by grace through
faith in his son. But they despise the Lord Jesus
Christ, so they're going to try to get righteousness before God
some other way. But here are the words of our
text. If the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be
salted? Think about that. There's no
substitute for salt. How are you going to salt salt? Can't do it, can you? If Christ is not palatable to
you, you may very well cast him aside. But you're not going to
find a substitute for the substitute. There is one righteousness before
God. One. Now you think about this.
No human being has ever been righteous before God. There is
one righteousness, one human righteousness before God. It's
Christ. And I say it's him rather than
what he did because it's his thoughts, it's his words, it's
his deeds, it's him. He essentially is human righteousness
as well as divine righteousness. Sinners who have tasted that
the Lord is gracious love the righteousness of God in Christ. They embrace and partake of Christ
as their only righteousness. Read Philippians 3. Again, I
quote it every time I preach, so I'm not going to do it today.
How about that? But you can read it. Paul said, I don't want my
own righteousness. I'm running after Christ. He's
the only righteousness in which I can stand before God. I'm not looking for righteousness
any other way. Certainly not in myself. I have
Christ. And He is made unto me righteousness
and everything else I need. We need a sin offering before
God. And as the sin offering, Christ is meat and drink indeed. We partake of Him. His person,
His body, His blood, His work, He is my propitiation. Herein
is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent
his son to be a propitiation, not to offer propitiation. Forgiveness
of sin is not available. It's done for somebody. Is it you? Come to him and it
is. He is my propitiation. He seemed
to be a propitiation, which is just simply means sin offering.
To those who do not hunger and thirst after righteousness, who
feel that they have no need of a sin offering because they've,
you know, we've done our bit. People's hope. You talk about
what's your hope? You're going to go to heaven when you die,
which is not even a question really that matters. It's not
about that. It's do you love God? Do you
know God? What think ye of Christ? That's how the scriptures teach.
If you're just looking at the Lord Jesus Christ as a fire escape
from hell, you're in a bad place. People do their best. They say
my good outweighs my bad. I've made a decision. Is a decision
you make enough to save you, save your soul, to make you righteous
in the sight of God? Some, our Lord said, will come
to me saying, look, we've done many wonderful works. And he'll
say, depart from me. I never knew you. By the deeds
of the law, you're not just in my sight. They have no taste for Christ.
The salt has lost its savor for them. And they cast him aside. and the scripture says you've trampled underfoot the
Son of God now we'll read that in a minute
but listen we are the salt of the earth our Lord said in that
our speech what we say is seasoned with his grace seasoned with
salt in Colossians 4 to listen to this our Lord said continue
in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving, with all praying
also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance.
This is Paul writing to the church of the Colossians. To speak the
mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds, that I may
make it manifest as I ought to speak. So he's talking about
preaching the gospel. And then he says this, Pray for
me that I'll preach the gospel as I ought, the mystery of Christ.
The gospel is a message concerning God's Son. I want to speak of
Christ. We preach Christ and Him crucified.
And then he said this, you walk in wisdom toward them that are
without. Also, redeeming the time. Remember, he's talking
about him preaching the gospel. Pray for me that I may preach
it. Faithfully boldly clearly and it would be Christ Now you
walk in wisdom toward them there without redeeming the time let
your speech be all way with grace seasoned with salt That you may know how you ought
to answer every man May your speech concern him May it have
to do with the things of God seasoned with salt may it be
all way with grace Speak of God's grace in Christ to people. And always be in that frame of
mind so that whatever answer you give, it's salt, it's grace,
it's Him. You may know how to answer every
man. Christ is the answer to everything. Did you know that? So in that sense, we're the salt
of the earth, same as the light. We reflect His light by His grace. But two things about that now,
that we being the salt, as we've been saying, the salt is not,
it's not tasty to everybody. It has no flavor to some. And compare these two verses,
listen to these two verses. Matthew 5, 13. You are the salt
of the earth, speaking to his disciples, his preachers. But
if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted?
It is henceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be
trodden under foot of men. What a picture. Be trodden under
foot of men. Now listen to Hebrews 10, 29.
Of how much sorer punishment, suppose you, shall he be thought
worthy who have trodden under foot the Son of God and have
counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an
unholy thing and have them despite unto the Spirit of grace. That's
what those to whom Christ is preached and they have no taste
for Him. They haven't tasted that He's
gracious. They don't hunger and thirst after His righteousness.
They cast Him out and trample Him under their feet. And the
question there in that verse is, what do you think they deserve
for that? How much sore punishment? And also this, as the salt of
the earth, if we have lost our savor, if we lose the seasoning
of grace, if our speech is not always with grace, if it doesn't
concern Him, if we start talking about the will of man and the
things of man and works and saying things that don't pertain to
the grace of God in Christ, you know what we are? Good for nothing. If we lose that seasoning, we're
worthless. If we cease to preach the grace
of God, in sending his son to live and die for his people,
to redeem them. If we cease to preach the sovereign
grace of God, all grace is sovereign. Paul said, let your speech be
always with grace. Grace is sovereign. God said,
I'll have mercy on who I will. That's grace that he gives to
who he wants to give it to. Grace is free. You couldn't buy
it if you wanted to. Good thing it's free or none
of us are going to get any of it. God gives it freely without
a cause in you. Your works don't add anything
to it, but bless God they don't take anything away from it either.
He just saves freely. Grace, all grace is distinguishing.
He said, Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated. That's the
difference. Not one was smarter or more spiritual
or just luckier than the other one. Christ is the difference. And if that's what seasons our
message, And it's good. We're good. Salt is good. You're
the salt. Salt is good. But without that,
without that distinguishing flavor, there's nothing like salt. How
are you going to salt it if there's no salt? They make that stuff, you know,
it's like a blend of spices. You're supposed to use it instead
of salt. It's all good and well as long as you add some salt
to it. There just ain't no substitute
for it, is there? What are you going to replace
Christ with? That'll be what sinners need. And what His sheep want. If you
lose the savor of Christ, what are you going to replace Him
with that will satisfy the palate of those who know Him? Nothing
else will do, will it? And without Him, we're good for
nothing. The message of free will, man-centered,
Christless religion that is predominant in this world is good for nothing. God's sheep will cast that out
and trample it under their feet and good riddance. And so we
see both sides of that. Now God's true preachers will
never forsake him. That's not what's being taught
here because he will never forsake them. That's why we persevere
because we are preserved by his grace. But this is like all of
Christ's warnings to us. We're warned not to fall away,
aren't we? Not to fall from grace in the
scriptures. God's elect can't do that, and
that's not what it's saying. We are kept by the power of God.
Listen to 1 Peter 1.3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope. by the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven
for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation,
ready to be revealed at the last time." We're kept by God's power
and that can't fail. All who are begotten again unto
a lively hope, all who are born again of the Spirit of God, who
have believed on Christ, they're kept. But if you do fall away, it proves that you were never
one of those ones begotten of God. That's what is being taught
here. Listen to, turn with me, we'll
close with this. Because this teaches us now,
if the salt has lost its savor, that's a warning. No question
about that. But look at Colossians 119 in
closing. Because this is the same warning in different language.
Exactly the same warning. Colossians 119. Now notice in the first... All of
this passage of scripture has to do with what God has done
for us. That's what salvation is. Salvation
is of the Lord, Jonah said. It's not of the will of man.
It's not of the will of the flesh. It's of God. Colossians 119,
for it pleased the Father that in Christ should all fullness
dwell. And having made peace through
the blood of his cross, now who'd he make peace for? His people. There was no war between God
and his son. He made peace for us, between
us and God. His sheep, his elect. And he
doesn't just offer it. He doesn't just make it available.
He made peace. by him, by Christ, to reconcile
all things unto himself. By him, by Christ I say, whether
they be things in earth or things in heaven, and you. I'm so glad
that he reconciled all things in heaven, but here's what I'm
interested in, me. I'm glad he added that, aren't
you? And you, and you. What do you think of him? Have
you come to him? And you that were at one time
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
have you reconciled. He just did that for me. He made
peace for me. He reconciled me to God. I'm
not even hardly mentioned there except that it happened to me.
It was done for me. And how did he do it? Verse 22, in
the body of his flesh through death. That's how I'm reconciled
to God. And look, he presents us holy
and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. You see the next
word? If. If you continue. Now wait a minute,
all this stuff that he did for me, he did that a long time ago.
You can rightly say he did it in eternity. Christ is the lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. All of this is done,
all of God's grace is wrought for us in Christ eternally. Does all that depend then on
what I do? If you continue in the faith?
Of course not. What he's saying is he did all
this and we'll know it if you continue in the faith. We'll
know that this is for you. if you continue in the faith.
Because everybody he did all that for is going to continue. Because they're kept. They persevere
because they are preserved. So if you want to know if it's
me or not, well, let's give it time. Let's just see. If I fall
away, then he didn't do it for me. If you continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope
of the gospel. Some are moved away from the
hope of the gospel. And you know what that tells? He didn't die
for them. He didn't redeem them. He's not
keeping, he's not preserving them. Which you have heard and which
was preached to every, the hope of the gospel which you heard. And Paul said, I'm a minister
of that gospel. It doesn't mean that everything that he did is
contingent upon what we do. It simply means that if we are
one of those for whom Christ made reconciliation with God by his precious blood, then we
will continue. If we do, that's why. If we don't, that's why. Christ is the difference, not
us. The way we know that we are one
that He keeps forever is we continue believing on Christ. You see, I can't look back to
an experience I can't look forward to tomorrow except in look forward
to being with him face-to-face that which he's promised but
as far as saying I'll believe on him one of these days or at a convenient time you know
there is no tomorrow and salvation is not a past experience question
is do you believe on him this morning if you believed on him
ten years ago you believe on him this morning It's always
a perpetual thing. It's now. And He keeps us believing and
trusting Him alone for all of our righteousness and all of
our acceptance with God. And so this is our prayer from
our text and from what we've seen concerning that. May He
keep us. May we be kept by the power of
God unto salvation through faith. He said we're kept through faith.
The faith that He gives. Are you kept? Are you believing
on Him? Do you trust in Him or do you
trust in yourself? Do you trust in Him and something
you did? Or something that you are? Or is it all Christ? And if that's true of us, if
we're kept by His power, we'll never lose our savor. Christ
will permeate all that we are and all that we say. and all
that we do and may that be so to the glory of God. He said, let your light so shine
among men that men may see your good works and not brag on you,
but glorify your father, which is in heaven. And when the salt
season, when the speech is seasoned with grace and we say, boy, that's
good, that's good, that redounds to his glory. Not anybody else. All right, let's pray.