Let us turn to God's Word in
that portion of Scripture we were reading in the New Testament,
the Gospel according to St. Mark, and the last two verses
here in chapter 9. In Mark 9, verses 49 and 50. For every one shall be salted
with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. salt
is good. But if the salt hath lost his
saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves,
and have peace one with another. And just to think then of what
is spoken of here as the salted sacrifice. In verse 49, For every
one shall be salted with fire. and every sacrifice shall be
salted with salt. The salted sacrifice, or more
particularly, sanctification. So I want you to think of the
spiritual significance of the salt. The spiritual significance,
and in it we see these two things, first of all, the savour of the
grace of God, and then secondly, the sanctification of believers. And that's the division that
I want to attempt to follow with the Lord's help this morning.
First of all, to say something then with regards to the savour
of grace. Salt is representative, and here
we see how it represents peace." He says at the end of the chapter,
the end of verse 50, "...have salt in yourselves and have peace
one with another." And any peace that is real, true, spiritual
and lasting is that that is derived in the sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It is peace through the blood
of His cross And so the salt seems to be associated with that
peace. Salting yourselves, peace one
with another. But then also we have those words
in Colossians chapter 4 and verse 6. Let your speech, he says,
be always with grace, seasoned with salt. And so there we see
the association between salt and grace. In fact, God's covenant
of grace is spoken of in scripture as a covenant of salt. In Numbers chapter 18 and verse
19 we have that expression, a covenant of salt. And We've read those
passages in the Old Testament, which remind us how salt was
to be offered with the various sacrifices. And when we think
of the book of Leviticus, where we have, of course, all of the
instruction and the direction with regards to those various
sacrifices, we know that that book is really the gospel. There is gospel there in the
Old Testament, it's part of the five books of Moses, the law
of Moses, and yet in all the types and figures that are Spoken
of in the book of Leviticus, we have set forth the gospel
of the grace of God, and yet it's there, as we saw in chapter
2, that we have mention of the necessity of salt when it came
to the various meat offerings. They didn't always or didn't
just only sacrifice animals upon the brazen altar, but they were
to also bring what are referred to as meat offerings or meal
offerings. Offerings made of fine flour. And we read through that second
chapter in Leviticus, and I remind you of the word in verse 13,
every oblation it says, every offering. of thy meat offering
shalt thou season with salt, neither shalt thou suffer the
salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offerings. With all thine offerings thou
shalt offer salt." And again we have mentioned, you see, of
God's covenant of salt. But it wasn't that salt was simply
to be made use of when he came to the meat offerings. In that
other portion that we read, in the Old Testament, in Ezekiel
chapter 43, there from verse 18, we have mention of those
animals that were to be sacrificed. Goats and bullocks. And again mention was made there
of The necessity of salts is equal 43 and verse 24. The priest shall cast salt upon
them. There was to be salt added to
all the sacrifices. And isn't that what said here
in verse 49 of our text? Every sacrifice shall be salted
with salts. the importance then of this salt,
and it's associated, I say, with the grace of God. Those words
in Colossians chapter 4, speech with grace, seasoned with salt. The salt has this association
then with the grace of God and with the peace of God. Salt in
yourselves, peace one with another. And it is an interesting consideration
to make to see how these things are set before us here in the
Word of God. As I said, the covenant, the
covenant of grace is associated with salt, and the covenant of
God made with David is also spoken of in those terms. 2 Chronicles
13 and verse 5 We're told the Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom
over Israel to David forever, even to him and his sons, by
a covenant of salt. Or the kingdom is committed to
David, David and his sons, the line of David, how is he committed
to him? By this covenant of salt. And we can think of David's greatest
son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And how does the Lord Jesus Christ
seal that covenant? He seals it by a sacrifice. And
His sacrifice to God is spoken of as that that has a sweet-smelling
savour. This is how the covenant is to
be sealed, even by the shedding of the precious blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so that covenant, that testament
now stands, as we're told there in the epistle to the Hebrews,
because the testator has come, the testator has died. Oh, he
has sealed it by the shedding of his precious blood, that sacrifice
of a sweet-smelling savour that has come before God. And We are to follow, of course,
in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Great
High Priest, but all believers in Him are a kingdom of priests. And we come to present our sacrifices,
but we do not make a bloody sacrifice. What is it the believers do?
Why, their lives, their very lives are to be a spiritual sacrifice. We are to live as it were, a
life of praises that are a sacrifice to God, and they come before
him as a sweet-smelling savour. Remember the exhortation that
we have at the end of the epistle to the Romans, Paul having dealt
with all the great truths of the everlasting gospel in that
epistle, and especially the great doctrine of justification by
faith, When we come to the end of the epistle, it reminds us
of the practical implications of all those great doctrines.
We are to live the doctrines. We're not only to delight in
the doctrines of grace, we're to know something of the real
grace of those doctrines as they're worked out in our individual
lives. And so there, in the opening
words of Romans chapter 12, Paul says, I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies
a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service. All believers are to sacrifice
their lives, as it were, to God. And that means, as we live a
godly life, we are to be those who are savoring of the things
of the Lord Jesus Christ, savoring of the gospel of the grace of
God. And remember the words, those
solemn words of the Lord Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. There
in Matthew 5, he says, the salt The believer is the salt of the
earth, and if the salt hath lost its savour, it is good for nothing
but to be cast out and trodden on the foot of men. Who are we
those then who savour of the things of the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ? Salt is good, we are told here
in verse 50. But if the salt has lost his
saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves,
and have peace one with another." And we need that grace of God
to be in us, that we might be savoring of the things of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Doesn't Job put that question
there in chapter 6 of his book? Can that which is unsavoury be
eaten without salt? We need to have something then
of the savour of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we're going to be
those whose lives are profitable in this world, or we're to be
those who would savour then, savour of the things of Christ. And Paul speaks of believers,
or speaks of himself really, and his own ministry in terms
of such a savoring. I think of those words that we
have at the end of the second chapter
in his second letter to the Corinthians. He says there that we are unto
God a sweet savor of Christ. in them that are saved, and in
them that perish, to the one we are the saver of death unto
death, and to the other the saver of life unto life. And who is
sufficient for these things? For we are not as many which
corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God
in the sight of God speak we in Christ. how the believer's
life is to center all together in the Lord Jesus, then we will
be those who are saved, and there will be that odor, that sweet
perfume, in all that the believer says and does. Let your speech,
Paul says, be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that she
may know how you are to answer every man. All we're to have salt in ourselves
in. And it's to be in our speech,
it's to be in the very things that we speak of. What exactly
is Paul speaking of in those words that we've just referred
to in Colossians chapter 4 and verse 6? He says, let your speech
be all the way with grace, seasoned with salt. that ye may know how
ye ought to answer every man." He's speaking of gracious speech. How are we to understand what
that gracious speech is? Paul was living very much of
course in a Roman Greek world and certainly the Greeks had
had their schools of rhetoric where they would be taught how
to speak, sparkling conversation, speech that was to be dotted
with witty remarks and clever remarks. That's what was so much
commended by the Greeks and by the Romans. Do you remember how,
when Paul is addressing himself to the Church of Corinth, He
speaks there in the first letter to the Corinthians of the manner
of his ministry, the manner of his speech. We have it there in the second
chapter of 1 Corinthians. And though he disclaims any of
the devices of those who commended rhetoric He says, And I, brethren,
when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech, or
of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. He didn't
use any of those devices. He says, I determined not to
know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
And my speech, and my preaching, was not with enticing words of
man's wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit and in power, that
your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the
power of God." Oh, he looked to God. He looked to God to bless
his ministry. Maybe at times his words were
broken words, his sentences maybe were incomplete sentences, it
was none of that cleverness, that others so much commended
and yet there was that unction of the Spirit and there was that
gracious authority that comes only from God. Again, as Paul
spoke in such a manner, so he commends that to others as he
writes to the churches, he writes to the Ephesians. and he tells
them, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but
that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace to
the hearers, he says. It's not just his ministry, not
just the way in which he would speak seeking to convey the truth
of the gospel of the grace of God, centering in the Lord Jesus,
but he tells the Ephesians, those believers in that church at Ephesus
how they are to how they are to speak no corrupt communication
but that's which is good to the use of edifying ministering grace
to those who hear how can we be those then who would speak
in such a manner so as commend the gospel of our grace of God.
Well, what are we to speak of? We're to speak of the doctrine
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're to speak of the experience
of that grace of God that has been revealed in the person and
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, remember what we're told
there at the end of the Old Testament in Malachi 3.16, that they that
feared the Lord spake often one to another. And we're told, the
Lord hearkened and heard, and the Book of Remembrance was written
before Him for them that feared the Lord. And they didn't just
fear the Lord, but they spoke of His name, it says. The Lord's
hearkened and heard. There's a certain emphasis there.
He doesn't just hearken, but he hears very deliberately. He's
listening to all their conversation. What is the subject matter of
it? Well, they fear the Lord, and they speak of his name. And
isn't this to be so with regards to those who are the Lord's people,
Christians, believers? those that fear the Lord, they
speak often one to another. What is the subject matter of
our conversation? Oh, we desire us to be edifying
one another, establishing one another. Speaking then of the
doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ, delighting in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ. All that great mystery of godliness,
that God was manifest in the flesh, and justified in the Spirit,
and seen of angels, and preached unto the Gentiles, and believed
on in the world. These are the things that should
be the subject matter of our conversation. But it's not just
a matter of speaking of doctrinal matter. There's also to be that
experience of that grace of God. Remember the words of the Psalmist
there in Psalm 66 and verse 16. He says, Come and hear, all ye
that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.
Or we're to speak of what God has done in us, how God has revealed
to us the things of the Lord Jesus. How can we know anything
of Christ apart from that gracious revelation by the Spirit of God? As Paul says, He pleased God
to reveal His Son in man. This is to be the subject matter
then of our conversation. It's to be savoury. It's to savour
of the things of Jesus Christ and the great doctrines of the
everlasting gospel, the blessed doctrines of that sovereign grace
of God that he has been pleased to reveal to us by that gracious
ministry in the very depths of our hearts. But besides being
used to savour, as Paul says here in verse 50, salt is good,
But if the salt has lost its saltness, wherewith will you
season it? How can you season if you don't
have the salt? But salt is also, is it not,
used as a preservative. It's a preservative, this salt.
I suppose there was a time before refrigeration was so common that
to preserve food it would be either pickled or salted in some
way. Those were preservatives. And it's interesting when we
think about this planet Earth and it's covered of course with
oceans and seas and that water is salt water. And how necessary
it is. Otherwise it would just be a
mass of putrid water that was spreading desolation over the
whole face of the earth. It's salt water. And when we think of our own
bodies, isn't there salt in our body? When we sweat, it's salty. When we weep our tears, our briny
tears, salt is a preservative that God has appointed in every
part of his creation. And if we think of salt as that
that represents to us the peace of God and the grace of God,
Are we not reminded here, in the context of our text this
morning, now that God's grace is that that preserves us from
that awful place of hell that the Lord is speaking of so plainly
in the previous verses, three times. The Lord utters his words
concerning hell. The fire that never shall be
quenched, where there were, dieth not. And the fire is not quenched. We have it in verses 44, 46,
and 48. Three times, that threefold cord
that is not quickly broken. The Lord Jesus himself utters
the words, the reality of that dreadful place of eternal sufferings. Christ speaks of hell. Men don't like to have the mention
of that place anymore. Men would cut it out of scripture
yet. Even the Lord Jesus Christ himself
clearly believed that there is such a dreadful place of eternal
punishment for those who die dead in trespasses and in sins. And what is it that What is it
that preserves us from that place? It is only the grace of God.
That covenant of grace, that covenant of salt. And as grace
preserves from how so, grace is that that also preserves the
tongue. All we've said out of that speech
is to save her. of the things of Christ, but
now our tongue needs to be kept and preserved. What is it? Remember
how James there in the third chapter of his epistle speaks
plainly of the great damage that the tongue can do, that little
member. He says, even so the tongue is a little member and
boasts of great things. Behold how great a matter a little
fire kindles, and the tongue is a fire. the world of iniquity
so is the tongue among our members that it defileth the whole body
and seteth on fire the course of nature and it is set on fire
of hell and though God has set a double guard as it were before
our tongue we have teeth we have a mouth and yet all that's that
double guard how the tongue breaks out and is full of all manner
of sin and of evil. It needs to be preserved. How
is the tongue preserved? Only by that salt which we see
in the grace of God. Let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth, says the Apostle, but that which is
good to the use of edifying. All the salt that is spoken of
here then It reminds us of the grace of God, of that peace of
God that has been procured by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and all our conversation then is to center in Him and
to savor of Him. But turning in the second place,
to the sanctification of believers, the salt of the covenant, The
salted sacrifice and its connection with the sanctification
of those who have an interest in that covenant, an interest
in that precious blood that was shed at Calvary. You see here
we're told that not only the sacrifice, but the sacrificer
is also salted. It says, everyone, everyone shall
be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with
salt. We are following in the steps
of the Lord Jesus Christ, that great sacrifice that Christ made.
Remember what we've said, how the believer's life is to be
a sacrifice, a sacrifice of praise unto God. The life that savours,
the speech that savours of the things of Jesus Christ. That's
the sacrifice that we are to present to God. Our bodies are
living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to God. But here we're reminded
also that everyone is going to be salted
with fire. The salt is compared to fire
here. Salting with fire. How can we
understand this? Well, let us think of the Word
of God. God's Word, in some ways, is likened to a fire. The language of Jeremiah 23,
29 is not my words, like as a fire saith the Lord. And in the words
of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, Luke 12, 49, he says, I am come
to send fire on the earth, and what will I if it be already
kindled? How these various figures are
taken and used in reference to the words, the word of God, the
word of the Lord Jesus Christ, His word is like as a fire. And here we're told every one
shall be salted with fire. We have that other figure that
is also used in Hebrews 4 where God's word is likened to That
sword that divides asunder between the soul and spirit and the joints
and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart. Hebrews 4 verses 12 and 13. Now God's word exposes the dross
as it were. And so that word of God is useful
in the sanctifying of his people. How does the Lord sanctify His
people? Does He not sanctify His people by means of the Word? The Lord Jesus prays in that
manner. Remember there in John 17 and
verse 17, the particular petition of Christ when He says to the
Father, sanctify them by thy truth, thy Word is truth. all that Word of God. And again,
it's taken up by the Apostle when he writes to the Thessalonians,
2 Thessalonians 2.13, we read of sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth. How does the Spirit sanctify?
When the believer is brought to the truth of God's Word and
brought to faith in that Word of God. And what is that Word
of God? Why? It's profitable. For doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
That the man of God may be perfect, it says. That perfection, you see, that's
the work of sanctification. God's Word profitable, not only
for doctrine, but also for reproving the people of God. For correcting
the people of God. Here we're told salt is good,
but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season
it? Have salt in yourselves, and
have peace one with another. And God then sanctifies his people,
and he does that by means of his Word. He brings his Word
to us. He brings it to us sometimes
in our own readings of Holy Scripture. He brings His Word to us, of
course, in the means of grace. He has ordained the ministry,
the preaching of the Word. And if God's Word is going to
do us good, there are those times when it will come to rebuke us,
to reprove us, to correct us. And it's all part of the way
in which God sanctifies His people, corrects them, and instructs
them, and establishes them. and causes him to see what their
sins are. And as God works by means of
His Word, so we know God also works in those dealings that
He has with His people. He deals with them in the way
of trials, and troubles, and chastenings. You were told everyone
shall be salted with fire. And Peter speaks, doesn't he,
of that trial of the faith. The trial of your faith, he says,
being much more precious than the gold that perishes though
it be tried in fire is to be found unto praise and honor and
glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Oh, he says, beloved,
think it not strange concerning the fiery trial that is to try
you. Everyone is to be salted with
fire. The fiery trial which is to try
you. Don't think it strange. Peter addresses those Christians
as believers. As those who are the beloved
of God. Not to think it strange. Really what he's saying is, what's
happening to you in the fiery trial, the trial of your faith,
he's saying that this is a mark of your election. And remember
Peter says we're to give diligence to make our calling and election
sure. And here is the mark of election,
God says, Back in Isaiah 48, I have chosen thee in the furnace
of affliction. Oh, the furnace of affliction
is the evidence of election. That's where God chooses His
people. And again Paul says to the Thessalonians, this is the
will of God, even your sanctification. The sovereign will of God is
a sanctification of His people. And how does God sanctify His
people? He sanctifies them, as I said,
by His Word, that Word that is as a fire, and He sanctifies them by His
dealings with them, His trying of them, His testing of them,
His chastenings of them. Or Calvin makes this remark,
He says, "...the faithful are put through fire and salt. Without this they are not saints."
Here is the mark of the saints of God. Who are the saints of
God? Well, it's not those at the Roman
Church called saints. It's all those who are the election
of Christ. those that God has chosen in
the furnace of affliction. And salt is that that preserves
them and savors them, and fire is that that purges them and
improves them. And see how the Lord Jesus Christ
speaks here again in the context. Look at what He says in these
previous verses. Verse 43, If thy hand offend
thee, cut it off. It is better for thee to enter
into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into
the fire that never shall be quenched. Verse 45 it says, If
thy foot offend thee, cut it off. It is better for thee to
enter, halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell,
into the fire that never shall be quenched. And again at verse
47, if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, it is better for
thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having
two eyes to be cast into hell fire. Now, we're not to take those words
literally of course. He's not teaching us that we're
to maim ourselves, cutting off our hands and our feet, or plucking
out our eyes. What is the Lord speaking of
there? He's speaking of mortification, putting to death the deeds of
the body, as it were. Colossians 3.5, mortified therefore
your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness,
inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and idolatry which is covetousness. And mortification is such a significant
part of sanctification. It's that that the people of
God are called to. It's part of their life of faith,
mortifying these deeds of the body. Everyone shall be salted with
fire. Oh, this is the believer, you
see, his very life, it's salted with fire. with the fire of God's
trials and God's chastenings. And it's all for the good. When God comes to His people,
when God rebukes His people in His Word, when God takes them
and chastises them in their experiences. Oh, no chastening for the present
seemeth to be joyous, says Paul, but grievous nevertheless. Afterward
ye are the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them that are
exercised thereby. There we have it again, you see,
the peaceable fruit. Have peace one with another.
The peaceable fruit of righteousness in them who are chastised. The Lord's dealings in His Word,
the Lord's dealings in the experiences of His people. Joseph Hart in
the hymn says, Afflictions make us see what else would escape
our sight. How very foul and dim are we
in God! How pure and bright! How we have to learn these truths
constantly. And so we have this mention here
of salt, and of fire, of sacrifice, and all that these words imply. And it's all part of God's dealing. It's the instruction of the Lord
Jesus Christ as He speaks now to His own disciples, those who
by the grace of God are not to descend into that bottomless
pit, that dreadful place called hell, where the worm doesn't
die, and the fire is never quenched. They are preserved. And how are
they preserved? Because God himself has gracious
purposes to fulfill in their lives, and God deals with them.
Everyone shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall
be salted with salt. Salt is good, but if the salt
hath lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt
in yourselves, and have peace one with another." Is it not
the Word of Christ? Is it not the precept then of
the Gospel, that that we are to live by? Oh, the Lord grant
us grace that we might heed then and be obedient to His truth. The Lord bless His Word to us.