Let us turn to God's Word in
the 9th chapter of the Gospel according to Mark and read in
the last two verses Mark chapter 9 and verses 49 and 50. For everyone shall be salted
with fire and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt
is good but if the salt has lost its saltness, wherewith will
ye season it, have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another. Strange portion, you might say,
rather mysterious text and surely verses that are not easy for
us to understand. But it is evident that in these
words the Lord Jesus Christ himself is very mindful of the importance
of salts in the sacrifices of the Old Testament. As we read
there in Leviticus chapter 2, with all their offerings they
were to offer salts. There was to be no salt wanting
then in all the sacrifices. Chapter 2 is speaking of the
the meat offering, or the meal offering we might call it today,
which consisted principally of fine flour. Sometimes the flour
was baked in a variety of ways, but they were to bring the meat
offering, the meal offering onto the Lord. And there at verse
13, Every oblation 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 salts. I did look up the exposition
of Dr. Gill with regards to what is
being referred to in that last clause. all thine offerings,
is it a reference simply to the meat offerings, or does it include
those various animals that were also to be sacrificed? And Dr.
Gill is of opinion that the reference is to all, literally. Every offering,
not just the meat offerings. With all thine offerings thou
shalt offer salt. It is spoken of as the salt of
the covenant in the game. In Numbers 18 and verse 19 we
read of the covenant of salt. So there is some significance
then with regards to salt in those offerings, those sacrifices
and oblations that the children of Israel were commanded to make
in the book of Leviticus. And so I want tonight to say
something with regards to the salted sacrifice, the salted
sacrifice. Here in verse 49 principle, Mark
chapter 9 verse 49, for everyone shall be salted with fire and
every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Remember the context,
Christ has spoken some very solemn words with regards to how and
the sufferings of hell, the fire that never shall be quenched
where their worm dieth not, the gnawing of conscience, the worm
of conscience is constant accusing where their worm dieth not and
the fire is not quenched. He says that on three occasions
in the previous verses and then here at verse 49 everyone shall
be salted with fire and every sacrifice shall be salted with
salt and he makes an application in particular to his own disciples
they of course are not going to suffer the fires of damnation
in hell and yet they too should be salted. Have salt in yourselves,
he says at verse 50. I want to think of the salted
sacrifice. First of all, to think of the
salted sacrifice in respect to believers in terms of the savour
of grace. Have salt in yourselves. Doesn't
that remind us of the good savour of the grace of God? Salt is
commonly used of course for savouring our food, for bringing out the
flavour of our food. Job asked the question, can that
which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? Is there any taste in the
white of an egg? Salt is used there normally in
the cooking process. Often times I'm aware that the
cook might desist from employing salt but often if it's not employed
at the cooking stage it's there as a condiment upon the table
to be added to the food if the eater so desires. That's how we use salt, it's
the same thing. But what is the spiritual significance
of the words of the Lord Jesus in the text before us tonight?
What is the spiritual significance of this salt of which Christ
is speaking? Have salt, he says, in yourselves
and have peace one with another. And we see then quite clearly
how that the salt is immediately associated with peace, We might
say that the salt is associated with all the graces of the Spirit
of God, not only peace, but we can think of many other graces,
love and faith, endurance and so on and so forth. We're told, are we not, as Paul
gives his exhortation in the New Testament epistles, let your
speech be always with grace, savoured or seasoned with salts. When he comes to the practical
part of his epistles, these are the sort of exhortations that
we find the Apostle giving to the churches of the New Testament.
And there he is writing to the church at Colossa, with regards
to the way in which they would speak. And their speech, he says,
is to be always with grace. What does it mean to have gracious
speech? It's that speech that is seasoned,
savoured by the use of psalms. It is, of course, as our lives
are sacrificed to God. that believers savour more of
the grace of God. Think of the reference here to
the sacrifice that is salted with salt. Our lives then, if
they're going to be useful lives, profitable lives, lives that
do savour of the good things of Jesus Christ, must be sacrificial
lives. We're not to live for ourselves,
we're to live our lives to the honour and to the glory of God. Again, when Paul gives exhortation
to the church at Rome, there in the opening words of the twelfth
chapter of that epistle, he begins to make the application of those
great truths, those great doctrines that are set forth in the previous
eleven chapters and he says, I beseech you therefore brethren
by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living
sacrifice. This is the Christian's calling,
he is to live a sacrificial life. present your bodies, he says,
a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service, and be not conformed to this world, but be you transformed
by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God. How is this life
Sacrifice to God is a life that doesn't conform to the world.
The believer is not to follow the fashions of the world. The believer is one who stands
apart from those worldly ways. His life is transformed. His
concern is to understand the will of God, that acceptable,
that perfect will of God. And where is that will discovered?
Here in the Word of God. Those things that are revealed,
they belong unto us. The believers' life then is a
sacrificed life. And every sacrifice, we are told
here, is to be salted with salt. Have salt in yourselves and have
peace one with another. And where that salt is wanting,
Is not the life then an unprofitable life? Again, we can think of
the words of the Lord Jesus, solemn words that he speaks in
the Gospel. Believers are the salt of the
earth, Christ said. Ye are the salt of the earth,
but if the salt hath lost its savour, it is good for nothing
but to be cast out, says Christ, and trodden on the foot of men. or we are only truly useful when
our lives are given up to God. That is the high calling of the
Christian. That is what God requires of
his people and how the Apostle was so mindful of that calling
with regards to himself and that ministry that he was called upon
to exercise. When he writes to the Corinthians
there in that second epistle, he speaks at the end of chapter
2 of 2nd Corinthians of the savour of the knowledge, the savour of the knowledge of
Christ. He says, Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth
us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of
his knowledge by us in every place. This is Paul who is a
pattern, as we considered the other week, the pattern to them
which should believe. And as with Paul, so with us. Does God cause us to triumph
in Christ? Does he through us make manifest
that savour of his knowledge? Are we those who are faithfully
testifying and not testifying necessarily by word of mouth? Oh yes, our speech is to be gracious
words seasoned with salt, but our whole lives you see are to
savour of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Men and women should
take account of us that we have been with the Lord Jesus. But
as Solomon, the words that Paul speaks here, he speaks of that
savour of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto
God, he says, a sweet savour of Christ in them that are saved
and in them that perish. To the one we are the savour
of death unto death and to the other the savour 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." And
he's speaking, of course, at the end of his ministry, as the
Lord's Apostle, as the preacher of the Gospel, And how solemn
that that word that he ministered was ever always a separating
word. But whether it be the savour
of life or the savour of death, he says that in all these things
it is for the glory of God that he feels his own insufficiency.
He feels his own insufficiency. His great concern of course is
to be faithful. faithful to the word of God and
that is to be our chief and our prime concern is it not as we
live our lives if we are those who have salt in ourselves we
will desire to be found faithful to the word of God and to live
our lives in accord with that word of God but those words in Colossians
4 that we've made some reference to at least in part Let your
speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, he says,
that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. He is clearly there speaking then
of what we say, the manner of our
speaking, how we answer people, our speech, is to savour of Christ, to be
seasoned. But what exactly does he mean
when he speaks of that gracious speech? Let your speech be always
with grace. What is gracious speech? Now, we know that in those days,
of course, there were still the various Grecian schools. and
amongst others the Greeks had their schools of rhetoric where
young men were taught how to speak how to debate how to make
public addresses men were trying to see in the arts of oratory
They had then their schools of rhetoric and there they would
think of gracious speech as sparkling speech. Speech dotted with witty
expressions, clever remarks. Speech whereby they would seek
to persuade men of the force of their argument. That's how
the Greeks would think of gracious speech. But what the apostle
is writing of has nothing at all to do with that. Nothing
at all to do with that. The Christian's gracious speech
is not like that that was taught in the various schools of rhetoric. Let your speech, he said, be
always with grace, seasoned with salt. seasoned with salt, that
precious salt of the Gospel. We know Paul, who was a man most learned, not that
he'd been in the schools of the Greeks, but he'd been brought
up at the feet of Gamaliel and received the best of Jewish education. But remember what he says when
he writes to the Corinthians concerning his ministry amongst
them. There in the second chapter of
his first epistle, 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 arts
of rhetoric. That's what he is saying. Verse
4, he says, my speech and my preaching was not with enticing
words of man's wisdom but in demonstration of the spirit and
the power that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men
but in the power of God. He wasn't going to try to use
his various arts He wasn't going to try to persuade men by any
human devices so that they would embrace the gospel. It wasn't
that sort of persuasive ministry that Paul engaged in because
he wanted their faith to stand not in man's wisdom. He wanted
their faith to be evidently in the power of God. Now, If you just forgive me a little
personal anecdote. I remember some years ago attending
a Banner of Truth conference at Leicester University and the
conference sermon, the sermon with which the conference opened
was preached by the late Mr Greer, W. J. Greer from Belfast. He
was quite an old man then. quite a feeble man, I suppose,
in many ways, and he ministered the Word of God and he stumbled
and stuttered in many ways. There was no great oratorical
gift evident. Now, at that particular conference,
as was often the case, the principal speaker was a preacher from North
America. a preacher who certainly had
a great gift of oratory, public speaking. But I remember reflecting
on that conference afterward and concluding that there was
more authority in that opening sermon by Mr Greer than what
we heard in subsequent addresses that were given. There might
have been a great deal of oratorical display, but when you analyzed
it, it was often just wind and bluster, whereas there was such
an unctuousness upon those words that were spoken by that aged
man at the beginning. He might have stumbled over some
of his words, but all there was the presence of the Spirit. Now
isn't that what Paul is saying? That was the manner of his ministry.
He wasn't there to use any acquired gifts, In order to persuade men
into the kingdom, he was dependent always upon the Spirit of God,
always dependent upon the power of God. And isn't that the way
in which we are to live our lives, as those who are dependent? Dependence
upon God. Yes, our speech is to be gracious, but not those gracious words
that you might learn in the schools of rhetoric. but rather that
grace that is so evident by that salt of the covenant, the everlasting
covenant. Let your speech then be always
with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how you ought
to answer every man. Again, Paul to the Ephesians
can say, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but
that which is good to the use of edifying. No corrupt communication. And what is it that destroys
that that is corrupt? It's the salt, it's that precious
salt of the covenant of which the Apostle, rather of which
Moses speaks there in the book of Leviticus. That salt of the
covenant, it preserves our speech. have salt in yourselves and have
peace one with another. When it comes to our conversation
is it not to be that we would speak much of God and speak of
the grace of God and the sovereignty of that grace and not only be
those who just speak of these things in an intellectual way. We want to know what it is to
have an experience of these things so that we might be able to relate
to other those good and gracious things that God has done in our
souls. This should be the subject matter of our conversation when
we meet together, that we might speak of the good things of God
from a personal experience of those things. We're not satisfied
with a mere intellectual understanding of the scriptures, but we want
to know how these things do relate to us, how they belong to us. We have those words in the end
of the Old Testament in the book of Malachi, how God takes account
of His people and their conversation,
the subject matter of their conversation. We are told at the end of Malachi
chapter 3, Then they that fear the LORD spake often one to another,
and the LORD hearkened and heard it. And a book of remembrance
was written before Him for them that fear the LORD and that thought
upon His name. And they shall be Mine, saith
the LORD of hosts, in that day, when I make up my jewels, and
I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return and discern
between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth
God and him that serveth him not. How God, you see, is pleased
to grant his people that spirit of discernment. But mark what
he says concerning those that fear the Lord, or to be such
God-fearers. they spoke often one to another.
And what did they speak of? They spoke of those better things
of the Gospel. That was their subject matter. And we are told the Lord hearkened
and heard it. There is an emphasis. There is
a repetition. He doesn't just hearken, but
he hears it. And it's all written down in
his book of remembrance. God claims them as his own. They
are his own. Come and hear all ye that fear
God, says the psalmist, and I will declare what he hath done for
my soul. It's all what God has done. It's
all then to the honour and the glory of God. I say then that
our speech, our lives, are to be seasoned with salt Our very
conversation is to savour of the things of Christ and his
gospel. But then also when we think of
the use of salt, it's not only used to savour things, to bring
out the flavour in things, we know it's also used as a preservative. Even in the great oceans of the
world, of course, The water is salted. Sea water has salt in
it. And so the oceans are preserved. They're not a mass of putrid
water spreading destruction all around. It's salt water. And the salt acts as a preservative. And again with regards to our
own bodies. I know the exaltation here, the
exaltation is have salt in yourselves. We're to understand that in a
gracious sense, but naturally speaking isn't there salt in
the body? We need that salt and often times of course when we
get hot and we begin to sweat, isn't sweat itself salt? When
we weep, Aren't our tears briny tears? There's salt in our body,
it's a preservative. That's what salt is. And so,
here we have salt being spoken of as that which will preserve. It will preserve from hell. Those solemn words that Christ
speaks in the previous verses. The fire that shall never be
quenched. Where there were, dieth not.
And the fire is not quenched. And we need to be preserved from
that dreadful end. And what preserves us? Well,
these words that we have before us. Salt is good. Have salt in yourselves,
he says. Have peace one with another.
Now we need that our tongue should be preserved from speaking foolish
things. Remember how James has a great
deal to say with regards to the tongue, all that little member. Well, what preserves the tongue
is grace. As grace is that that preserves
us from hell, so grace is that that preserves our tongue from
speaking folly. Let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth but that which is good, said Paul,
to the use of edifying. The salt of the covenant, the
grace of God, that's the preservative that we stand in need of. Here
then we see quite clearly how Christ is speaking of of salt,
the savour of grace, the savour of grace. And how that grace
is to be evident in our lives, how that grace acts as a preservative
also in our lives. But then, in the second place,
do we not learn something here with regards to the believers'
sanctification? for everyone shall be salted
with fire and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt we
read at verse 49 not only the sacrifice but also the sacrificer
is to be salted and this latter salting is said to be by fire
everyone shall be salted with fire. How does God salt his people
with fire? Well, in two ways. First of all,
does he not do it in a sense by his words? By his words. In Jeremiah 23 we read, Is not
my word like as a fire? saith the Lord." Have you ever
thought of that yourself? God's word is like a fire. Christ says concerning his own
ministry, I am come to send fire on the earth. And what will I
if it be already kindled? Christ, the one who is the great
prophet of the Lord, the one who is the fulfilment of the
office of the prophet, There was never a preacher like the
Lord Jesus Christ. I am come to send fire, he says. And what does the fire do? Why,
it burns up all the grass, ultimately. God's Word is not only likened
to a fire, it's likened to a hammer, it's likened to a sword, These
various similes are used with regards to the word of God. In Hebrews it is said to be quick
and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing to the divining
sun of the soul and spirit, and is a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart. In that sense God's word comes
and it cuts and it exposes, and what does it expose? it exposes
our corruption, our sin but then also as a fire it burns up all
that refuge and all that dross does it not? and so in that sense
God's word is a sanctifying word to the believer it's a sanctifying
word sanctify them says Christ in his great high priestly prayer
as he pleads with his father sanctify them through thy truth thy word is
truth and everyone you see is salted with fire are we those
who are salted with the fire of God's word when God's word
comes to us and consumes us. We feel the power of it, the
authority that is in it, as it enters into our souls and exposes
us for what we are. If we don't know that experience
under the Word of God in this day of grace, we'll know another
fire, that fire that Christ is speaking of previously. that how fire that never shall
be quenched where their worm dieth not and the fire is not
quenched he said or that we might be those then who know what it
is to stand here in this 49th verse
everyone shall be salted with fire salted with the fire of
the Word of God. But I said there are those two
ways in which God salts by fire as he sanctifies his people.
Not only by the Word but also does he not come sometimes in
the way of trials. It's not just the Word of God,
it's the ways of God, it's the dealings of God. It's what God
is pleased to do with us. in his sovereign providences. And Peter, as he addresses believers,
reminds them of that. He says, Beloved, think it not
strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you as
though some strange thing happened unto you. It's not strange, this
is the lot of God's people, this is the common experience of those
that have saving faith. Because he has said as much in
the opening chapter, there we were reading in chapter 4 of
1 Peter, but in the first chapter remember how he speaks of the
trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that
perisheth though it be tried with fire, might be found unto
praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Now God tries the faith of his
people just like gold is purified by being put in the crucible
and the flame put to it and the heat so too with the believer
there is the trial of your faith. And we're not to think it's strange.
Don't think it's strange concerning that fiery trial. It is, I say
again, the portion of God's people. It's what God in his wisdom has
appointed for them in this world. It's a mark. It's a mark of election. Maybe you are still tormented
at times with regards to that great doctrine of God's eternal
election. Peter of course exhorts that
we give all diligence to make our calling and our election
sure. How can we examine ourselves?
We are to examine ourselves in respect of calling. Have we known
that effectual grace of God, that call of God's grace? But
then with regards to election, Can we not draw some comfort
from the words of the prophet Isaiah? In Isaiah 49 he says,
as the mouthpiece of God, I have chosen thee in the furnace of
affliction. I have chosen thee in the furnace,
the fiery trial of affliction. Everyone shall be salted with
fire. Salted, you see, with the fire
of those afflictions, those testings that God brings into the lives
of those who have that precious gift of saving fire. And what
does God demonstrate in these things?
why he demonstrates the great love that he bears towards those
whom he has made choice of. He has set his love upon them. He set his love upon them. It's interesting, the remarks
of Calvin here. He said that the faithful are
put through fire and salt. Without this they are not saints.
Those are the remarks of the reformer Calvin, the faithful. They are put through fire, through
salt and if they know not those experiences they are not the
signs of God, they are not the election of Christ. Fire purges. Fire proves. Look at what Christ says here
in the context concerning the hand that offends or the foot
or the eye. 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. 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 if thine eye offended,
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. And it's as God deals with us
in the way of trials and testings and chastenings that we learn
to examine ourselves and to prove ourselves and come to know ourselves.
And we are enabled then to attend to these things. Afflictions
make us sick. what else would scape our sight,
how very foul and dim I would, and God, how pure and bright. And all of this, you see, is
to be understood in terms of that salt. It's the salt of the
covenant. Have salt in yourselves. All
that precious salt of the everlasting covenant, ordered in all things,
Unsure, says David, all my salvation, all my desire. Or that we might be those friends
there new. By God's grace I brought into
these words, everyone shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice
shall be salted with salt. Salt is good. But if the salt
have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt,
that salt of the covenant, in yourselves, and have peace, one
with another. Amen. I'm going to sing the hymn number
16, the tune is London 175. The Father is a holy God, His
holy Son He gave, Who freely shed eternal blood For guilty
world to save. Hymn number 16. Prabhup�da. Yes. The Holy Spirit brings the joys
of grace, the Holy Christ is born. Why can't they see it's real? Their souls grow holy too. In holiness the saints divine
are here on earth today.