Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5, and my text
will be found in verse 13. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, You
are the salt of the earth. But if the salt have lost its
savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is henceforth good
for nothing, but to be cast out and to be trodden under the foot
of men. You are the salt of the earth. This we know He is speaking as
we have studied in this this passage, this sermon on the Mount,
the Lord Jesus Christ here is speaking not to everyone, but
rather to blessed people. He spends from verse 3 down to
verse 12 calling these people to whom He is speaking, blessed
or happy people. These are believers in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so, to you this morning,
believer in Christ, This message is to you, you are the salt of
the earth. You are the salt of the earth.
Now believer, we are not to be isolated in this world, but in
the world. We are not to be isolated from
the world, but we are in the world, even though we are not
of the world. Now God's saints are chosen out
of the world. We are of Adam's fallen race,
and we were chosen out of the same lump, the Scripture says
in Romans 9, the same lump. We are made vessels of honor. And God does not take us out
of this world, We are brought out of the fallen race of man,
but we are not delivered from this sphere. Such is the false
teaching of Rome for many years. They thought that men would become
more holy if they would isolate themselves. That's why they had
those big monasteries full of monks. They isolated themselves,
supposing that that would make them holier. We know that's a
false teaching. But true believers are not commanded
to isolate ourselves. But we are here. We are sent
into the world both to preserve the world and to enlighten it. You who are the chosen generation,
believers, you are a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people. Why are we such? Why are we called
a holy nation, a peculiar people, a royal priesthood? That you
should show forth. The praise of Him who called
you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Behold you poor
in spirit. These are the believers in Christ.
You're poor in spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit.
You that mourn for your sin. You that have been abased by
God, the Holy Spirit. You that see your need of righteousness
and know you have none. We know this. We find all our
righteousness in Christ. We have received the mercy of
God, a new heart. And we, because of the gospel
of grace, are persecuted, reviled, despised for the gospel of Jesus
Christ and His righteousness. And now behold, Jesus has taken
us from the fallen race of man He has in free grace delivered
us who sat in darkness of sin and condemnation. He has quickened
us to light and life by the power of the Holy Spirit. How? How
were you quickened? By what means did God use to
save you? To cause you to see your poverty
and need of righteousness? What means did God use? The preaching
of the gospel. That's how you came to know the
truth, is through the preaching of the gospel. And now, we are under the rule
not of sin and self and Satan, but rather we are under the rule
of Jesus Christ, are we not? Is Jesus Christ our King? You
bet He is. I'm glad for that. He is my King
and I am an heir of God, joint heir with Jesus Christ. He is my King, and I am looking
for His appearing. Aren't you? Are you looking for
His coming? We're looking for the appearing
of our great God and Savior to do what? To finish, to show us
the fullness of our salvation that He Himself accomplished. We're waiting for that. So what
do we do in the meantime? I mean, that's what God's done
for us. He saved us. He's called us. We're redeemed. We're secure. I love that song. You know, more happy but not
more secure are the glorified saints in heaven. So what are
we to do in the meantime until He has come? Well, until He reveals
all things, God has kept us in this world. He has kept us in
this world, listen, and this is the reason in our text. You
are the salt. of the earth. You are the salt
of the earth. The Lord Jesus Christ kept us,
keeps us in this world because it is His purpose. Now go over,
hold your place here, but go over to John chapter 17. Our Lord reveals His purpose
of keeping us here in this world in this prayer. Verse 15 of John
17. Jesus, praying for His people,
says, I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but
that thou shouldest keep them from the evil one. Now here's a question. Why would the Lord save us out
of the fallen race of man, and yet purpose that we should remain
here persecuted? Why would the Lord allow this
for us to remain? Did He not redeem us completely,
save us wholly? Are we not complete in Him? You
bet we are. So why is it that the Lord has
left us here? In the midst of this world that
hates us, despises our gospel, why are we here? What's our purpose? Look at verse 18, he tells you.
This is the purpose right here. Let's read bound verse 16. They
are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify
them through thy word, thy word is truth. And this is the answer
here. As thou has sent me into the
world, even so have I sent them into the world. And for their
sakes, I sanctify myself. that they also might be sanctified
through the truth. The Lord Jesus Christ answers.
He says, why have I left them here? Because I have sent them. Sent them into the world. He
said, I go to the cross to sanctify myself. I go to the cross to
die for them so that they might be sanctified. I sanctify myself
that they might be sanctified. How are they sanctified? Through
the truth. Through the truth. The preaching
of the gospel. Neither pray I for these alone,
but also which shall believe on me through their word. This is the purpose of our Lord
Jesus Christ to keep His church, His sanctified ones who believe
on Him in this world, so that others, others might come. So that He might sanctify others
through their words. The others, those that were chosen
of the Father, redeemed of the Son, they shall be called to
life and faith." How? Through our Word. Go to 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse
13. We are bound always to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Did not God choose us from the
beginning of the world? That's what it says. He chose
us. To what? To salvation. But how is this salvation to
come? Through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. By the effectual working of the
Holy Spirit in the new birth. And how is it that the Holy Spirit
comes into the heart of the sinner and gives him life? Through belief
of the truth. Well, how in the world are you
going to know the truth? How is it that you'll hear the
truth? whereunto he called you by, what, our gospel, to the
obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore,
in our text, let us consider this, what the Lord Jesus Christ
means by this picture of salt. You are the salt of the earth.
He is talking to believers, He says, you are the salt of the
earth and to us who are believers left in this world for the purpose
of preserving the gospel of Jesus Christ, for the purpose of preaching
the gospel. Do you realize that this is the
only reason, believers, we're left here? I know most believers don't get
this. They think that we're here to work, and to have a family,
and to play sports, and to, you know, be entertained. That's
not why we're left here. We have one purpose, one purpose.
Preach the Word. That's it. We have one purpose. Support the ministry. We have
one purpose. Declare the gospel of Jesus Christ
and Him crucified to a lost and dying world. That is our purpose. And everything else is secondary. Everything else is secondary. We have one purpose here to preach
the gospel. You are The salt of the earth. Now let us notice the purpose,
the place of the salt, and then the purpose of the salt. Salt. First of all, the salt, where
is it? You are the salt of the earth. It's in the earth. Believers,
we are sent of Christ into the world. which by nature is corrupt,
vile, and by no means can preserve itself. But its nature is like that of
meat, which left unsalted will only putrefy and stink." This
is how they used to preserve meat. They didn't have a refrigerator. They didn't have a freezer on
hand. to put their meat in so it would
preserve. What they did was they used salt
and it was a natural preservative. It burned off the putrid flesh
so that the meat would be preserved. And such is the nature of man
who by birth is corrupt and full of iniquity and left to himself
His corruption would only grow and spread. Imagine a world without
the church. What kind of world would this
be without the church? It's vile right now. Imagine
what it would be without the salt. It was the thoughts of vain philosophers
over the past 200 years that the condition of man was getting
better. You realize that? I'm serious. Men actually believed
this. 200 years ago, with the idea
of evolution, men thought that they were getting better. They
thought that they were elevated now to a higher form of humanity
by which they, through the thoughts, through their thinking, their
great minds, they could overcome everything. They were very... Positive. These men were positive
thinkers. They thought man was getting
better. And if he could just put his mind to it, all wars
would cease, all diseases and sicknesses would be cured. The
world would live in peace and harmony, all because of man's
big brain. Oh, he was so smart. He was growing to the pinnacle
of evolution. But what has happened over the
past 200 years is the same thing that's happened over the past
6,000 years. Man has not gotten better, but
has grown worse and worse. The dreams of these men have
been dashed to the rocks while the Word of God is still proven
to be true. God's word concerning man is
that he's totally and absolutely depraved. And that's been proven
time and time and time again. Man is dead in sins. His thoughts,
every thought of the imagination of the heart of man is only evil
continually. Well, I tell you, that's offensive,
isn't it? Well, you know what salt does? It burns. You ever
put salt in a wound? Burns, don't it? I'll tell you,
God's Word burns. It burns into the hearts of men.
This is what man is by nature. It's what God says he is. And
what has kept the world from the total fury and vengeance
of God? Why has God not come in total
vengeance against this fallen, sinful race? What keeps Him from
pouring out His fury on the world? Surely God displayed His hatred
for sin when He sent the flood, isn't that right? Man's heart
was only evil continually and God did what? He sent the flood
and He killed every man but eight. Eight souls. God destroyed all the wicked
of the world and yet saved only the family of Noah and his family. God destroyed those wicked cities
of Sodom and Gomorrah. He sent fire from heaven to consume
those Sodomites. And yet he spared Lot and his
wicked daughters. God did not destroy the whole
race of man, even, this is why, because God has chosen to save
some. That's the only reason. The only reason is God's purpose
to save. Noah found grace in the eyes
of God. Lot was a man justified by God. And even so now, in this rotten,
putrid race of man, God still has a chosen people that Jesus
Christ has redeemed by His blood. He still has a chosen people
in this world. in this putrid world. And now the earth is preserved
and kept and not destroyed even because God's people are still
in it. You get that? I don't want you
to think too highly of yourselves. That's not my purpose. But rather
you should think about this. The only reason this world spins
is because God has chosen to save you. Aren't you thankful He didn't
destroy the world before you came to grace, to Christ? I'm grateful, thankful that the
world was preserved until the time that God came and quickened
my heart through the gospel of Jesus Christ. You realize that
the gospel has been preserved for 6,000 years so that I might
hear it? So that you might hear it? And
you know why it's still being preserved? So that others that
God has chosen might hear it and believe. That's why. That's
why this world spins. Consider then that this world
is not consumed by its putrid and vile condition that man by
nature are not as vile and corrupt but are restrained of God for
what purpose? The salvation of His elect. That's
it. That's it. Go to Psalm 76. Psalm 76. In this Psalm of Asaph,
he pens the words and he thanks God. who has delivered Judah
from the hands of his foe. He said, in Judah God is known
and his name is great in Israel. In Salem, also in his tabernacle
and his dwelling place in Zion, there he break the arrows of
the bow and shield and the sword of battle. Where did he break
the bow? In Zion, where the sacrifice was offered. Look in verse 7. Though thou,
even thou, art to be feared, and who may stand in thy sight
when once thou art angry? Thou didst cause judgment to
be heard from heaven. Who shall stand? Who shall stand
before God when He is in judgment? Did not God's voice ring with
thunder from Sinai? The law of God is written in
the hearts of man, and fear, fear struck the earth when God
rose up in judgment. How then shall men be saved? How then shall men be saved?
Verse 9, When God arose to judgment, and to save all the meek of the
earth. How then shall man be saved?
Even because the judgment of God rose up against Christ. It rose up against Him who bore
our sins in His own body on the tree. And by His one offering,
the Lord shall save the meek, the abased, those sinners who
believe on Jesus Christ. And listen, verse 10, Surely
the wrath of man shall praise thee, and the remainder of wrath
thou shalt restrain. So what keeps the earth restrained
from full corruption and destruction? It is the salvation of these
meek and lowly people. That's what does it. You see,
God allows and restrains the wrath of men for the purpose
of saving His people. So until all Israel come in the
unity of the faith, until the last elect of the soul of Adam's
fallen race shall be born again of the grace and Spirit of God,
This putrid and vile earth, this race of man, shall continue until
Christ comes. You remember after the flood,
when Noah offered that sacrifice, the Scripture says that a sweet
savor went into the nostrils of God, which was a picture of Jesus'
offering for sin. And though man was still evil,
God promised that the earth would remain, seed time and harvest,
cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night. But for the comfort
of Noah, you remember, God gave the rainbow, a picture of his
covenant of grace. Even so, as this earth continues
to spend summer, winter, springtime, harvest, Man is still wicked. The righteous suffer and the
wicked seem to prevail. But listen to your King. You who are believers, listen
to your King. This earth This earth, the vessels of wrath,
are fitted for destruction. God endures with them with longsuffering,
not because of them, but for the sakes of those vessels of
mercy, that He might make known the riches of His glory, which
He prepared for us from eternity. Therefore, considering this,
knowing that we are left here in this world, You are, Christ
said, the church. You are the salt of the earth. Not you will be, not you shall
be, you are. Believer, I hope you're not waiting
to be made salt. You are salt. It's what God has made you to
be. O the glory of our salvation
is not in that we became salt, but that we are salt. Consider
how God had used His church in preserving the gospel of Jesus
Christ until we were quickened by it and made to believe on
Christ to the salvation of our soul. Remember how the Word of
God, as it was preached like salt into the wound, into our
wounds and bruises and putrefying sores, did it not expose to us
the depravity of our nature? When that gospel came in power,
it burned within us. Oh, how the salt of God's law
did bite at our souls. Surely it burned away all hopes
of self-righteousness. And the putrid dreams of ever
pleasing God by our works was completely cut off. Oh, how we
did weep as all the moisture of our religion was dried up. But as the salt destroyed the
putrid flesh, salt also has an antiseptic value. It also purifies, cleanses. keeps. This salt destroyed the
putrid flesh, but it also brought with it a savor." Don't you like? I love salt. I've got to have
it with everything. You see, salt not only is a preserver,
but it is also a flavor. How flavorful was the gospel
once it destroyed all my hopes of self-righteousness Oh, what
a flavor it was when the Lord Jesus Christ was preached to
me. How fresh was that season of grace! How fresh and preserved
was the taste of the flesh and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
as we feasted on Him by faith. And then we saw the purpose and
will of God in salvation was that by one Savior, Jesus Christ,
And surely, even now, we are enjoying the morsel of this gospel. This gospel is always flavorful. You know, it just hasn't lost
its flavor for me. Every time I come to it and I
hear of forgiveness, forgiveness of sins, full pardon, righteousness,
Heaven, eternal life, redemption, justification, all of these things
are fresh after I've heard them I don't know how many times.
I've preached them several hundred times and yet they are still
fresh to me. They're seasoned with grace and
mercy. Therefore now see that God has
cast us and scattered us as salt into the earth that we should
be the salt to preserve the gospel of Jesus Christ in this world
in the midst of persecution, all for the sake of those who
need its strength, its perseverance for our souls, as well as for
those that shall believe on Christ through our word. You are the
salt of the earth. It is our heart's desire then
to hold fast those form of sound words. I have a question for
you. As I've preached the gospel to
you, have I varied? Have I tried to come up with
new forms of words for you? No. I preach this same gospel
every time I preach. Why? Because I am not ashamed
of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God unto
salvation to everyone that believeth. It's the power of God. Now to
the world, what is it? Foolishness. To them that perish,
Paul said in 1 Corinthians, the preaching of the gospel is foolishness. But unto us, we know it's the
power of God. We know this is how God is pleased. This is the means God is pleased
to use to save sinners. is through the preaching of this
word. You are the salt of the earth, and therefore we desire
to hold fast these forms of sound words, sound doctrine, in faith
and love which is in Christ Jesus. Believers, seeing we have such
a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the
Son of God, let us hold fast, hold fast our profession. Hebrews 10, 23, after declaring
Jesus' victory and success in obtaining salvation by His one
offering, the Apostle says, Hold fast the profession of our faith
without wavering. For He, God, is faithful that
promised, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the
manner or custom of some is, but exhorting one another And
so much the more as you see the day approaching, the day of one's
death. Do you not see the day of one's
death approaching? Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day
may bring forth. Seeing that day is fast approaching,
should we not be more fervent to preach the gospel? Seeing we are the preserving
ones of this world, seeing we have the only thing that can
give life to men, should we not be about our Father's business?
You bet we should. We are the salt of the earth.
We are to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. We preserve the
gospel by our attendance in public worship, by our faithful witness
of the gospel of Jesus Christ, by the assembling of ourselves
together to hear it. Are you not this morning giving
a testimony to all men in this city that this is the place where
God's Word is preached? Is that not what you did? You
did that. You didn't even think about it, but you did it. And
you're doing it right now. This is where God's Word is preached.
This is where Christ manifests His presence. And we're not ashamed
to manifest ourselves together and hear it. And thus it shall
continue until the end, until we are all brought in the unity
of faith, until the time when Jesus shall reconcile all things
to Himself and have all things put under His feet. Believer,
Jesus declares you are the salt of the earth. We are the reason
this world spins so that we should preach the gospel, support the
gospel, and feast on the gospel. Therefore, as salt is different
from the earth, even so are you and I different from this world. Surely, We were of this world
by nature, yet now, by God's grace, we have been created new
creatures. This is what God does in salvation
is He reaches down His hand from heaven and He actually gives
you a new heart. That's what it is. Salvation
is not a fixing up of the old man. That's religion. They want
to fix up the old man, want to dress him up, make him look religious,
make him look holy. True salvation is God reaching
down and giving life to the dead. That's true salvation. That's
true religion. And when He did that, He gave
us a new heart, a new life. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. Paul said, neither circumcision
nor uncircumcision availeth anything but a new creature, a new creation. And therefore, we are different.
Not because of us, not because of anything in us, nor is it
because of our will. We are different because of God's
free and sovereign grace. That's why I'm different. That's
why I'm the salt of the earth. That's why you are the salt of
the earth, because God has made us so. God's made us to differ. In 1 Corinthians 4, 17, Paul
said, who maketh thee to differ from another? Why are you different
from another? Why is it that you've believed
the gospel and others have not? Why is it you're raised from
the dead and others are left in their sins? Why? Who maketh
thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou
didst not receive? And if you did receive it, why
do you glory as if you didn't receive it? How is that possible? Believer, who makes us to differ
from this world? Why is it that we have come to
Christ and others have not? Even because it is a free gift
of God's grace. So then why are we to act superior
because of this? No. No, grace never teaches us
to act superior. Grace teaches us to abase ourselves. To abase ourselves. Paul said, Why do you, glory,
as though that you have not received this as a free and sovereign
gift, purposed of God, obtained by Christ, applied by the Spirit
of God? Therefore you who are the salt
of the earth, You should most definitely then
bear under our responsibility as salt, even because Jesus warns
us in our text. He says, you are the salt of
the earth. But if the salt has lost its savor, wherewith shall
the earth be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing,
and to be cast out, to be trodden under the foot of men. If we
are the salt of the earth and we have lost its savor, what
does that mean? If the church no longer preaches
the gospel of Jesus Christ, no longer preaches salvation by
the free grace of God, then I tell you the church has lost its savor
and is good for nothing. You know when a church fails?
when they fail to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. When they start preaching the
false gospel of free will, works, religion, the church has failed.
I don't care if they've got 10 billion people in it. The church
has failed. It's failed. It's good for nothing. Oh, you
church of God, you are the salt of the earth. And if we lose
our savor, we lose the gospel of Jesus Christ, what are we
good for? If salt is lost as preserving
power and tastefulness, it's useless. Even so is the church
that has forsaken the gospel of free grace in Christ. The gospel is not palatable to
this lost and natural world. The taste of the gospel of freewill
works religion is sweet to this world. Yet we must never compromise
the gospel or smooth its sharp edges to make it applicable or
acceptable to men. See, I'm never going to change
this gospel. This gospel I preach is the same gospel I'm going
to preach until God takes me out or moves me or whatever he
does with me. I'm going to preach this same gospel whether men
want to hear it or not. That's not my business. I'm not
here to fill these pews. That's not my business. My business
is to preach the gospel, in season or out of season, whether men
like it or men don't. You see, I'm not going to change.
Why? I am the salt of the earth. And by God's free grace, that's
the only reason I'll ever keep preaching this gospel is by grace.
Because I've received it by grace, how am I going to give it graciously?
I give it. Paul says, if I preach circumcision,
then why do I suffer persecution? Then is the cross of Christ of
none effect. In other words, if I preach,
change my gospel, the cross of Christ is useless. If we were to preach a gospel
of works and grace salvation, the cross of Christ will become
of none effect and no one will be saved by it. Do you get that? No one is saved by a false gospel. No one. Not by accident, not
by providence. Nobody is saved by a false gospel. You won't find one example of
a false prophet that ever preached the gospel to the salvation of
anyone in this book. You won't. Behold how useless the church
of freewill works religion is in any degree to preserve men
from evil. and self-destruction. Matter
of fact, the more churches of false religion that are on every
corner in this city, and yet look how wicked this city is. Has it become better because
there are more churches? No. No. Why? Because they're not salt.
They preserve nothing. They're tasteless. They don't preach the gospel
of God's free grace. They're tasteless. They're cesspools. They're vile and full of heresy
and blasphemy of universal atonement. They are now an unholy mixture
of works and grace. And these are good for nothing.
They preserve nothing and no one is saved or blessed by them. You can read that later in Jeremiah
chapter 23. Believer, where then is the church
of Ephesus? Have you thought about those
churches? Smyrna, Thyatira. They were once pinnacles of gospel
preaching. And where are they now? They
have lost their savor. They have stopped preaching the
gospel of grace, and they are cast out. You know what will preserve this
church? Keep this church going? Not rich men. Not money. God can grow money on trees if
he wants to. That doesn't... I don't care. What's going to cause this church
to continue is preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, in Him
crucified. Then we are preservers. Then
we are useful. Useful. Useful in preserving
the world and calling God's people. That's what we're here for. You
are the salt of the earth. I pray that God would instill
that in your hearts.