We'll be reading our text in
the Scriptures tonight. Go ahead and keep your Bibles
open there. We'll be looking also at Matthew chapter 6, and
there's a couple of other verses in other places that we may go
to look to also if we have time. But we'll begin tonight with
reading some Scriptures on the front page of your handout. Page
1, you'll notice I have three Scriptures that I've put in there
to open with. The first one is 2 Corinthians
11.3. Paul writes, "...but I fear,
lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled..." and that word beguiled
means deviously, deceitfully. beguiled Eve through his subdily,
which means trickery or sophistication, cunning, craftiness. So your
mind should be corrupted. And here's the point I wanted
to bring this, why I brought this scripture before you. That
your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in
Christ. This is so important. So many
of my brethren, your brethren, We try to make things so complicated
by trying to explain them when sometimes we just need to lean
on the word of God as being what it is. And I'll give you an example
of that. An example of that is He who
knew no sin was made sin. That's a subject I've had some
of the best preachers I know of, some preachers who have studied
longer than I've been alive, try to explain that to me. And
I'm not saying they're wrong in their explanation, it just
doesn't come together in this little puny mind of mine. There's
a simplicity to the gospel, and that's the good news of Christ
and Him crucified for His people. That's what Paul talks about
when he says, I wish to know nothing of you. We preach Christ,
and we'll see more of that in a moment. Look here at Romans
12, verses 6 through 8. differing according to the grace
that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophecy according
to the proportion of faith, or ministry, let us wait on our
ministering, or he that teacheth, or in teaching, or he that exhorteth
on exhortation, he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity.
And then in 2 Corinthians 1, verse 12, we read this, for our
rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity
and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace
of God, we have had our conversation in the world and more abundantly
to you. So with those three verses in
mind, let us look at salt and light, praying for a simplicity
from God to show us what we're looking at here. Let me bring
first to our remembrance, we have been looking into the Lord's
inspired word recorded for us by Matthew, the sermon our Lord
preached on a mountain. I want to bring to your remembrance
what we've been looking at in the Lord's inspired word recorded
for us by Matthew, the sermon that he preached on the mountain
to his disciples and possibly some others. And we began this
study by considering the closing words to his sermon. In Matthew
7, verse 28 and 29, we read, And it came to pass, when Jesus
had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his
doctrine, for he taught them as one having authority, and
not as the scribes. Next, after looking into that
one evening, we went into what is called the Beatitudes, eight
characteristics of those who are blessed of God. If I could
say one more thing about that, these characteristics will be
manifested in all who have experienced God's saving grace. It may not be as you wish it
to be. You may not be as meek as you
wish to be, but your heart The one who is meek, who lives in
your heart, will bring you to that characteristic one way or
another. It may be that our flesh will
war with our spirit, but in your heart, these characteristics,
which were not there before, will be our desire. And of course,
Christ is our fulfillment of these things, and our only hope
is in His perfect works, in His righteousness, but our new heart
desires to be holy, for our God is holy. Page 2. With that in
mind, consider with me, if you would, these next verses, 13
through 16 of Matthew chapter 5. Ye 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 the foot
of men. Ye are the light of the world.
A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men
light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick. and it giveth light unto all
that are in the house. Let your light so shine before
men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father
which is in heaven." Now this is a difficult subject, I gotta
be honest with you. I read all the commentators.
I read them all twice. And I got up this morning thinking
to myself that I was going to skip this in a way. I was going to just cover a little
bit about what I knew it didn't mean, and then I was going to
go on. But some words continued to ring in my ear of our dear
brother Clay Curtis. He said, John, if you don't explain
what these things mean, if the Lord doesn't open your mind to
explain what these things are, all you're doing is leaving your
brothers and sisters with the question, what does it mean?
What does it mean? And I woke up thinking about that this morning
and talked to Kathy about it. Kathy did something for me. She
did a search on some messages. and found one by Darwin Pruitt
all the way back in 2012 titled Salt and Light. I didn't write down everything
he said, but I did write down a couple of things and then I
went and put it on paper the best I could later. I can't even
read my own writing sometimes. But it gave me, even though he
said a lot of what all the commentators said, he said it in a way that
just opened the scriptures up to me to a better understanding
than what I had from reading it from other pastors or reading
the scriptures myself. He preached the message to me.
And that's what the preaching of the gospel is. It's opening
God's word in a simple way that just reading the message you
can't get. And I thought about this. Imagine what it was like
for Christ, or for those that sat there that day. Preacher
of all preachers preached a message to them. I mean, you and I have
the blessings of reading these verses, but to hear the message
preached, the Lord really opens up the scriptures to us and helps
us with a better understanding. So, you're the salt of the earth,
you're the light of the world, the city is not set on a... is
set on a hill, cannot be hid, neither do men light a candle
and put it under a bushel. Back in our handout again, top
paragraph there of page two. I begin again with how the scribes,
the religious self-righteous world, would like you to think.
Remember, our Lord spoke as one who had authority, not as the
scribes. So that's why I bring it out
first, how the scribes would preach it. They think if you,
if you do or if you don't do, you may be saved or you may lose
your salvation, and that's what they preach. Everything the religions,
and I put an S on that, the religions of this world base their dependency
on, base their salvation on, is the works of man. There's
only two religions. There's grace and works. And the world is full of works,
and very few have God's given grace in their teachings. If you, some are so close to
the truth, some of those who preach works of men are so close
to the truth that if it were possible, and take that to your
heart, if it were possible Even the elect may fall prey to their
deceitfulness and be led away. That's what we read in Mark 13
22 for false Christ and false prophets shall rise and shall
sow signs and Wonders to seduce if it were possible even the
elect but folks It's not It's not possible. God's people cannot
be plucked from his hand. That's the word of God. But these
guys are so cunning. Folks, the devil's been doing
this for a long time. He's craftier than you and I
can ever imagine. He's really good at being deceitful.
He's so good at being deceitful, he deceives himself. That's a
pretty good liar. But it's not possible for God's
people to fall into disarray from salvation through these
deceitful priests, from these deceitful scribes. We know some
things now that we did not know before, don't we? We know that
God manifests himself in the flesh. We see that clearly in
the face of his son, Christ Jesus. Hebrews 1, verses 1 through 3,
God at sundry times in diverse manners. spake in times past
unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken
unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things,
by whom also he made the worlds, who being the brightness of his
glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding
all things, by the word of his power. So we see the Lord Jesus.
We see God in the face of the Lord Jesus. We know as the Son
of God, everything he intended, everything he purposed to be
accomplished by him, humbling himself and coming to this world
as a man, was accomplished. Everything that he had purposed
was accomplished. He said it is finished, perfectly, in all
righteousness. Everything he did pleased the
Father. His walk with man fulfilled all the types and figures of
the Old Testament claims of him. They fulfilled the whole law. And we know that nothing can
separate those loved of God from him. For what he did on this
earth fulfilled all that is required to redeem this people loved of
him unto himself. Listen to 1 Corinthians 1.30.
But of him, but of God, are ye in Christ Jesus, who God is made
unto us wisdom. and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. We know that Christ and his crucifixion
is the only wise way to redemption. It was the only way. God had
to satisfy his justice, and the only way to do that was by sending
his son to be made flesh, by sending his son to establish
the law, to fulfill the law, to establish a righteousness,
to send his son to shed his blood in our stead. Top of page three,
we know the righteousness of Christ is the only righteousness
acceptable to God the Father. We know that it is the spotless
blood of Christ that set us apart, that washes us clean, makes us
holy in Him. We know God the Father accepted
the sacrifice of His Son by raising Him from the death, proving perfected
redemption for His people. Now I know who my Savior is.
He is Christ Jesus, the Son of the Living God. I know this verse
13, where we read, Ye are the salt of the earth, but if the
salt hath lost its savor, wherewith it shall it be salted? It is
henceforth good for nothing but to be cast out, to be trodden
down at her foot. I know this. It does not mean
the saints, those who were chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world, the elect of God, can lose their salvation. It does not mean that. And then
we read John 6.37, which tells us very clearly, all that the
Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven. not to do mine own will, but
the will of Him that sent me. And this is the Father's will,
which hath sent me, that of all which He hath given me, I should
lose nothing." So we see just in this verse alone, and there's
many, many more. We can spend the next two hours
just reading verses on this subject alone. You can't lose your salvation. Christ went to the cross and
laid down his blood, and that blood is effectual. What he purposed,
it is finished. Going on, and this is the will
of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the sun and believeth
on him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up the last
day. That's John 6, 37 through 40. Now I know this, just like the
blind man who was given his sight. You recall that Pharisees came
to him and said, who did this to you? Who committed this miracle? And he said, I don't know. All
I know is once I was blind, but now I see. I know this, I was
blind, but now I see. I know I would never have sought
after him had he not sought after me first. I know this, there
is no righteousness in me that is in my flesh, and I deserve
his eternal wrath. I know this, yet he has suffered
his wrath in my stead. He has put away my sin forevermore. This one, this man, who being
the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person
as we read in Hebrews 1-3, and upholding all things by the word
of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat
down on the right hand of the majesty on high. And then over
there in Hebrews 10 verse 14 we read this, for by one offering,
that was that one offering where he by himself purged our sins,
for by one offering he hath perfected forever Them that are sanctified,
made holy, set apart. Page 4. This is a fact defined
throughout the Word of God. You cannot deny it. If any for
whom the Son of God shed His blood for could be lost, this
whole book would be a contradiction. The blood of God shed on that
cross would have been insufficient. His death would be meaningless.
Yet in Romans 8.31 we read these words, what shall we say then
to these things? If God before us, who can be
against he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up
for us all, How shall he not with him also freely give us
all thing? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of
God, who also maketh intercession for us. If anything could separate
one for whom he died, there would be no hope for any sinners. So what is our Lord saying here
in verse 13 of Matthew 5? Let's begin with what salt is. Salt is a combination of two
elements, chlorine and sodium. both of which in certain amounts
are poisonous to man. Yet put together, the two in
unison, when they're brought together as a union, can preserve
and give flavor to that which will expire and decay and has
no flavor. When these two elements are brought
together in union with each other, we can see preservation and flavoring. It says, ye are the salt of the
earth. You, whom God has revealed his
grace to, are a new creature, a new man. Now, I don't care
how good you are as this new creature. I'm not trying to judge
on how much or how great of goodness you are. We all have to do that
within ourselves. But it says in 2 Corinthians
5.17, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. That's the Word of God. We are
a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. And that's exactly what happens
when the Lord opens the eyes of one of those that He loved
from before the world was. That's exactly what happens to
us, our old nature. The old nature of self-righteousness,
the old nature of what can I do to save myself is taken away. It's thrown out with that old
stony heart that says, I will not have this one to rule over
me. I'm actually broke away from
the handout for a moment. Folks, when God comes to us and
opens our eyes to the truth of what we are before Him, when
He gives us the revelation of what sin is before a thrice holy
God, we become meek. We mourn over that sin that's
in us as we saw in the Beatitudes last week. But we also are blessed
with this very fact that God Almighty loves us and is showing
us this. This is the new creature. We
see the truth of God in the new heart. The old heart can't see
it. The old nature can't see it.
We must be born again, as he said to Nicodemus. And this is
something God must do. We can't just reach over to the
coffee table and take medicine to fix our problems. We need
a whole new heart, an all new nature, and that nature of love.
Is there anything who can separate us from the one who died? If
there was, there'd be no hope for a sinner. This salt, this
union between salt, or between chlorine and sodium, is like
grace and flesh. I thought about that. Chlorine
and sodium, both by themselves kill, yet together It's like
grace. Grace is preserving us. Grace is giving us flavor. It says, ye are the salt of the
earth, back in our handout, second paragraph from the end. You are
the salt of the earth. You, whom God has revealed his
grace to, are a new creature, a new man. I've already read
that part. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. God says his people are made
a new man. A union is made between grace
and flesh. And as such, in line with what
he preached in the Beatitudes, we walk a new walk. One of Him
who has begun a work in us, a work that glorifies Him. It says in
Ephesians 2.10, for we are His workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that
we should walk in them. Brother Don Fortner wrote this.
He said, the Lord shows us in these verses that the grace of
God changes people from the inside out. making them both righteous
before God and useful to one another. Charles Spurgeon wrote
this, he said, in The Believer's Character, there is a preserving
force to keep the rest of society from utter corruption. There
is a secret something, which is a secret of a believer's power,
that something is savored, meaning flavorful. It's not easy to define,
but yet it is absolutely essential to be useful, to usefulness. Imagine the horror of life without
the savor of God's grace in this world. There was a time when
that was true about the world, when God looked down upon man
and there was nothing, there was nothing. Men did what they
thought was right, which each one thought was right. Could
you imagine the chaos that would go on? We think we got it bad
now, folk. I'm telling you, imagine the
horror of life without the savor, the flavor of God's grace in
this world. Imagine the utter horror of God
convicting us of our sin without a grain of salt. Brother Darwin
brought that out. He said, I think that's where
the take it with a grain of salt comes I thought that was good. A saver
of God's grace in our lives. So in a preserving sense, we
who are given the great commission to go into the world and preach
the gospel are salting the world. Salting with the saver of Christ
and his love for his people. But what about the next part
of verse 13 where it says, but if the salt have lost its savor,
wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing
but to be cast out and to be trodden under the foot of men.
Notice the word there, if. If the salt, if the savor, the
good taste of grace could lose its savor, It is thenceforth
good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under the foot
of men. Do you not thank God for grace
that cannot fail? If grace could fail to save a
man, there would be no hope for anyone. You can salt meat, but
no one can salt salt. If grace fails, everything fails.
But thank God for grace that cannot fail, for salt that cannot
lose its savor. And he said unto me, My grace
is sufficient for thee. And this sufficient grace is
our light, the light that shines in us. Ye are the light of the
world, it says in verses 14 through 16. A city that is set on a hill
cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle
and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth
light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine
before men that they may see your good works and glorify your
Father which is in heaven. I know this, the Lord, he is
my light. Where there was nothing but darkness
in my cold dead heart, he caused the light to shine. And it is
my heart's desire to share this light with all of whom God will
allow. 2 Corinthians 4 verse 5-6 we
read, For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and
ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. JC Ryle wrote this. He said, it is the property of
light to be utterly distinct from darkness. Separate. The
least spark of dark in a dark room can be seen at once. of all things created, light
is the most useful. It fertilizes, it guides, it
cheers. It was the first thing called
into being when the Lord created everything in Genesis 1-3. Without
it, the world would be a gloomy, blank place. These words must
not be applied only to the gospel preachers. You who trust Christ
are the light of the world. The church of Christ is the light
of the world. As the moon reflects the light
of the sun, so those who trust him reflect the light of Christ,
the sun of righteousness. We are to dispel the darkness
of ignorance. the darkness of sin, the darkness
of sorrow by proclaiming the gospel light with Christ. That's
what it says in Matthew 5.14. God intends for us to be open
and clear in our testimony regarding His grace and His Son is what
it's telling us in verse 15. Yet the light of the gospel shines
forth, not in our words, but in our works. Now get a load
of this in verse 16. The works by which the light
shines forth from God's elect are not religious works, not
self-righteousness, nor displays of religious devotion. Look over
at Matthew 6, verse 2 through 3. Turn over one page in your
Bible to Matthew 6. And look with me, if you would,
at verse 2 through 3. Therefore, when thou doest thine alms, do
not sound a trumpet. This is what it's talking about.
This is not the light. This is not the light in what
we do. It's an inward thing. Therefore, when thou doest thine
alms, do not sound the trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites
do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory
of men. Verily I say unto you, they have
their reward. Verse 3. But when thou doest
alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth. Now
look over at the same chapter, verses 5 and 6. And when thou
prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they
love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners
of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily, I say
unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest,
enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray
to the Father, which is in secret, and thy Father, which seeth in
secret, shall reward thee openly. One more, if you would, look
over verses 16 and 18, 16 through 18, same chapter 6. Moreover,
when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites, of a sad continent, for they
disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, they have
their reward. But thou, when thou fastest,
anoint in thy head and wash thy face, that thou appear not unto
men to fast, but unto thy father, which is in secret. And thy father,
which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. We're not
talking about works by which the light shines forth from God's
elect as religious works or self-righteousness or displays of religion like
we just read, but works of faith and love and daily affairs of
life. We walk by faith. We walk in
faith through this world, through this valley of the shadow of
death. And people see that faith. It's not the works of going to
church on Sunday. It's not the works of feeding
the poor. It's not what religion would call works. It's faith. It's believing in God. Don't
take me wrong, it's not what saves us, but God saving us will
cause us to walk in the newness of man, in the newness that he
has given us. These words must not be... They
are works of faith and love in our daily affairs of life. True
Christianity is not a show of religion, but a life of devotion
to Christ. Listen to Charles Spurgeon one
more time, if you would. True shining is silent. Speaking of the light, true shining
is silent. But yet it is so useful that
men are forced to bless God for the good which they receive when
they mark the good works of his saints. It ought to be our constant
prayer and desire before God that he would give us grace to
be useful to others. to improve the lives of those
whose paths we cross, to make them happier and better for having
come and contacted with us. These emblems that our Lord uses
here of salt and light are instructive. Christ is the salt. He's the
salt of the covenant, and you can read about that in Leviticus
2.13, also in Numbers and in Mark. as we have already observed,
is the light of the world. It is because Christ is in His
redeemed, Christ in you, the hope of glory, and only because
Christ is in us that believers are the salt of the earth and
the light of the world. Our purpose here is to bring
the gospel to where the Lord is pleased to use us. Listen
to John 17, verses 15 through 21. I pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them
from the evil. They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth.
Thy word is truth, as thou hast sent me into the world. Even
so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes
I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through
the truth. Neither pray I for these alone. Now catch this. but for them also which shall
believe on me through their word, that they all may be one as thou,
Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in
us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. If it
were not for some who still must come to grace, the whole world
would be in a state of utter darkness. Yet Paul, by the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, has given us words of encouragement. Philippians
2.15, that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God
without rebuke in the midst of a crippled and perverse nation
among whom ye shine as lights in the world. I hope that was
a blessing to you and I hope that it gave you some kind of
an understanding if you didn't before. Even after I've read
tonight's study through, I still wonder if I've covered the depths
of what God has given us here in His Word. And I feel so insufficient
at it. I feel so enabled. But I brought
to you what I could. And I pray the Lord has taught
you something with His Word.