Would you turn back to Matthew
chapter 5? The Lord says to His disciples,
and He says to every believer, you are the salt of the earth. Not you should be the salt of
the earth, but you are the salt of the earth. That is true of
every believer. Now, what does it mean? Salt
is used in several ways in the scriptures. It's used as a symbol
of God's judgment. What happened to Lot's wife?
She was turned into a pillar of salt when she looked back. It's used to symbolize barrenness.
How many times when cities were conquered, did they put salt
on the city so nothing would grow? They couldn't grow any
crops, but it's also used in a very good way. Turn with me
to Leviticus chapter two. Bible has a whole lot to say
about this thing of salt. You are the salt of the earth. Leviticus chapter two, verse
12, As for the oblation of the first
fruits, Leviticus 2.12, as for the oblation of the first fruits,
you shall offer them unto the Lord, but they shall not be burned
on the altar for a sweet savor. And every oblation of thy meat
offering shalt thou season with salt. Every offering, whether
it was a meat offering, whether it was a burnt offering, it was
to be seasoned with salt. Neither shalt thou suffer the
salt of the covenant of thy God. To be lacking from thy meat offering
with all thine offerings, thou shalt offer salt. The salt of
the covenant. Whatever I'm doing, the covenant
is always before me. It's before me, it's in the middle,
and it's behind. The covenant of His grace, the
salt, the unchanging nature of His covenant. Whatever I'm offering,
whatever I'm doing, whatever I'm not doing, the covenant,
the covenant of grace. There's the covenant of works,
there's the covenant of grace. The covenant of grace is always
to be before mine eyes. Whenever I offer up these meat
offerings, these oblations, whatever they may be, the first fruits,
salt it with salt. It's no good without the covenant.
It's anything I offer up is no good apart from the covenant
of grace. And that's to always be on my
mind and in my heart. Whatever I offer up, it must
be with salt. You see, salt indicates the unchanging
nature of His grace. Now, when Abijah rebuked Jeroboam
for trying to be king when he wasn't of the royal seed of David.
Jeroboam wasn't of the seed of David, yet he tried to be king
over Israel and he was rebuked with this, God made a covenant
of salt. That means it's unchanging. You
cannot be king because of God's unchanging covenant of salt.
The king can only come through the seed of David. You'll remember
when Elisha put salt in brackish water and it turned sweet so
that they could drink the water. It was the salt that made it
drinkable and sweet. The salt of his grace that makes
it drinkable. The Lord said, have salt in yourselves
and have peace with one another. Have grace in yourselves. The
salt of his grace and peace with one another. Turn with me for
a moment to Colossians chapter four. We're going to look at
this a couple of times tonight, but it's such a I don't think
that I have understood this passage as I have. Colossians chapter
four, verse six. Let your speech, what you have
to say, Be always with grace. Now somehow I've always read
that, always of grace. And indeed, that's what we ought
to be talking about, isn't it? The grace of God. What could
be more glorious to speak of than the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ? But that's not what he says.
Although that should be our subject. He didn't say let your speech
be of grace. He said, but let your speech
be with grace. with grace, seasoned with salt. Our speech should reveal grace
in the heart. Our speech, the things that come
from our mouth should not be biting, angry, critical, and
judgmental, not harsh, not haughty, not arrogant, Not speech that's
contrary to the doctrine of grace, but gracious speech. Let your speech always be with
grace, seasoned with salt. Salt makes things taste good,
doesn't it? What would, you know, I would
hate to be without salt. How many times have you tasted
something that didn't taste good and you put salt on it and the
same thing all of a sudden tasted good? Let your speech, the things
you say, be with grace. Oh, may God give us grace to
do that. How many times do we use biting words, conflicting
words? Oh, may God give me grace to
have my speech, to always be with grace, seasoned with salt. The Lord says, you are the salt
of the earth, you. Every believer, you are the salt
of the earth. You're the ones who preserve
the earth. You've been made to differ, and
you're the salt of the earth. Now, when I think of what salt
does, I thought of these four things. First of all, salt makes
things taste better, doesn't it? Second, salt preserves. I love beef jerky. I love beef
jerky. It might be pretty old, but it's
been preserved by salt. I stop, every time we get on
the highway, I stop, I get me a bag of beef jerky. I just love
this stuff, and it's ridiculously expensive, I know, but I love
it. I love to chew on it. It's preserved
with salt. I love the saltiness of it. I
love the way it tastes. I prefer that to a candy bar,
but that meat is preserved because of the salt. Salt has medicinal
qualities. It's used in healing for many,
many things. And it reacts to certain things. When you put salt on ice, what
happens? There's a reaction and the ice
melts because of that salt. And the Lord said, you, speaking
to every believer, you are the salt of the earth. You're the
good taste of this earth. You're the preservative of this
earth. If earth is to be healed, it's going to be through you.
You're the healing of this earth. And you're what melts the ice
of this earth. Now, salt. Salt has a peculiar
taste that's unlike anything else, doesn't it? And it imparts
its taste to whatever it's mixed with and makes it taste better. Now, to most people, good tasting
food is very important. That's one of the most important
things in my life. It really is. I love good tasting food. I just love it. And I do not
like food that doesn't taste good. And I hate to go to a restaurant
and spend money on food when it doesn't taste good. Now, I'm
polite anyway. I don't, you know, rip the people.
But inside, I'm upset. I might be upset for a day afterwards.
I spent all that money on that food, and it didn't taste good.
I love good-tasting food, and salt has a lot to do with that.
Now, when folks are sick, food loses its taste, doesn't it?
Only when they are sick. But a healthy person loves good-tasting
food. Now, in Job chapter 6, verse
6, he asks this question. He says, Can that which is unsavory
untasty, just plain, bland. Can that which is unsavory be
eaten without salt? Or is there any taste to the
white of an egg? Now, why did he say something
like that? Well, in the context, Job is
just beginning to be comforted by his miserable comforters.
He has had some horrible things happen to him. He's lost everything. He's lost his family. He's lost
his wealth. He's lost his health. And he's
sitting on a dung heap, scraping his boils and his sores. He has
lost everything. You got to feel sorry for him,
all the stuff the Lord brought his way. Now, it ended up being
a blessing to him, but at the time, all he knew was everything
he lost. And now he has his super friends
coming and saying, you're being punished for something. You shouldn't
be murmuring. You shouldn't be complaining.
Something's wrong with you. You shouldn't be this way. They were
so harsh and judgmental. And Job was saying, y'all give
me a break. I mean, I've got some rough food
going on. Is there any reason why I wouldn't
want some salt for my food? Because I've been given some
rough food. I need some salt to make this
taste better. Now, the doctrine, we believe,
offends men. They find it offensive. And you think the natural man
has no love for God. He doesn't have any, doesn't
have any loyalty to the word of God. And to tell a man that
he's nothing but evil in and of himself is going to be offensive.
You're offended by that. To tell somebody that God is
absolutely on the throne and they're in his hands and he can
save them or he can pass them by, well, offend him. Just find
out I don't have any control of this thing of salvation and
I'm utterly and entirely in God's hand. He can save me or He can
damn me and there's nothing I can do to get Him to save me. Now,
I remember my own experience. I remember when I, I can remember
so clearly when I was confronted with the fact that salvation
was altogether out of my hands. God elected a people and there
wasn't anything I could do to make myself one of them. I remember
my heart rose up in hatred for God. It's not fair. It's not
right. And that's when the Lord demonstrated
to me that I was a sinner, that I had no love for him, that everything
he did I complained with and argued against. Now, the natural
man is going to be offended by the gospel. They're offended
by the fact that they can't figure it out. We're totally dependent
upon revelation. We don't have any righteousness
and the natural man is offended by that. But here's I want to
bring some salt to that message in this sense. I want to be faithful
to the message. But I want to bring it. In a
way of graciousness. with a merciful attitude, with
a Christ-like attitude, with some salt. I know the natural
man is offended by the message, I realize that, but I don't want
him to be offended by the messenger. If they're offended by the message,
so be it. But I don't want to offend them
with the way I present the message, the way I treat them, the way
I come across. You are the salt of the earth. We are called upon to adorn the
doctrine of God our Savior in all things. You know, I was thinking
about the gospel we preach, the doctrine we preach. The doctrine
of the gospel, One man can say the same thing and come out so
cold and it doesn't do anything for you. Somebody else may say
the exact same thing and it comes as good news to you. Now why
is that? The doctrine we believe is very
much like, let's take some clothing. You put some clothing on a dead
man Is it going to have any warmth? No, it's going to have the temperature
of that man. Even if it's beautiful clothing, it's not going to be
warm. It's going to take the temperature of who's wearing
it. You take a dead man and having him speak of the doctrine of
the gospel, it's going to come out cold and unwarm and unsavory. It doesn't taste good. But if
it has the warmth of a living man to us, to the living, it
tastes good. You put those same clothes on
a living man with 98.6 or whatever the temperature is, and it comes
out warm. May you and I be the salt of
the gospel, the warmth of the gospel in that sense. Let your
speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt. You know,
you think it's even some of the things we say. For instance, if you have to
rebuke someone, be careful about doing it. Like I said, unsolicited
advice is always looked upon as criticism. So be careful about
that. Be careful about that. If you ever feel like you have
to do it, be careful about it. But make sure you do it with salt.
Make it taste good. Don't come across in a harsh
way. Put some salt, the salt of grace, the salt of graciousness. I can't help it. I love this
illustration Scott Richardson once gave. He said, if a farmer
comes out, he has a handful of corn and the chickens are out
running around. If he takes the corn and just
throws it out, they're just going to run and run away from it to
scare them to death. But if that same farmer takes
it out and just puts it out gently. All they come and they eat it
up. Same corn, same farmer, but it was how he brought that truth. Let your speech always be with
grace, always with grace, seasoned with salt. What is it that makes
a sermon tasty? What is it that makes a sermon
savory? So when you hear it, you know what it is to hear a
sermon and it's not savory. It's not tasty. What is it that
makes a sermon tasty? The gospel. the Lord Jesus Christ. I've heard sermons that were
true, but Christ wasn't in them. And they're unsavory. But you
have the salt of Christ in everything that's said. His grace, His gospel. Oh, it tastes so good. Let your speech always be with
grace, seasoned with salt. What good is salt that it's lost
its flavor? It's utterly useless. Now, why
does the Lord point this out? What about that salt that's lost
its saltiness, lost its flavor? Well, it's utterly useless. All
you do is throw it out and men trot it underfoot. It's not worth
anything. Now, why is the Lord bringing
this out? Now, I realize that a believer cannot lose his grace,
can he? If he could lose it, it wouldn't
be grace in the first place. Every believer is eternally secure
in Christ Jesus. God can't stop loving somebody
if you're a believer. You're justified. You have no
sin before God. He doesn't have a reason to kick
you out. Aren't you thankful for that?
A reason I can't lose... If I could lose salvation, I
would lose salvation. If I could, I would. You can
count on that. But because I can't, I won't.
I can't because my salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
A believer cannot lose grace, but a believer can lose his good
taste to others by his life. The salt can lose its saltiness. He can lose his good taste. He can appear worldly and indifferent
and hard and there's no fellowship with believers. There's no seeming
walking with Christ. He can lose his saltiness and
he becomes utterly useless, hardened and distant. And here's the example
I thought of when I thought about this, Peter. Peter in Matthew
chapter 16 goes from one extreme to the other. Who do men say
that I am? Well, they say some good things
about you. Who do you say I am? Peter says thou art the Christ.
the son of the living God, this bold confession of Christ. And
the Lord said, blessed art thou, Peter, son of Jonah. Flesh and
blood didn't reveal this to you, but my father, which is in heaven,
and I say unto you, you're Peter, small little rock, and upon this
rock, your confession of me, I'll build my church, and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I can imagine
if the Lord said that to me, I'd be humbled, but I'd probably
being feel pretty good too, you know. I mean, try to put yourself
in his place. I mean, Peter's the one who made this bold, noble
confession. In that same chapter, the Lord
says to Peter, get thee behind me, Satan. Can you imagine how
that took the air out of his sails? Get thee behind me, Satan,
thou art an offense to me. Lord said that to him. I find
you offensive for you savor not the things that be of God. And
this is when Peter said, don't go to the cross. No, be that
far from thee. Get thee behind me, Satan. Thou
art a fence to me. Thou savors not the things that
be of God, but the things that be of men." Now, Peter lost his
saltiness. If a believer could not lose
his saltiness, the Lord wouldn't warn us of that. But if you're
a believer, you want to be salty, don't you? You want to be the
salt of the earth, the good taste to the earth. So all that the
gospel has, I know we don't have anything to do with anybody being
saved. We don't. We don't. But I want to be salty in my
presentation of the gospel, don't you? Salty in my person, salty
in my graciousness. I want to taste good. I want
people to hear the gospel from someone who is gracious, somebody
who cares about them, somebody who loves them, somebody who's
going to be faithful to the gospel. We're not going to bend the gospel,
but oh, you are the salt of the earth. All the earth is going
to experience of the gospel is you. Now, when folks were around
you, when folks were around me, what taste do they get? What
about believers? What taste do they get? You are
the salt of the earth. Now, salt is used for taste,
but salt is also used as a preservative. And I like to think about this.
The only reason this earth is not destroyed right now is because
of the salt that's in it. The believers that are here.
You reckon the Lord would preserve this earth if there were no believers
here? No, the reason this earth, the reason Things as we know
it is preserved right now is because believers are here. What
I thought about, I thought about, oh, believers are so special
to the Lord. They're so precious to the Lord.
And I thought about when the Lord came and told Abraham, I'm
going to destroy Sodom. I'm going to come and rain fire. Their cries come up to me. I'm
going to destroy Sodom. And Abraham said, Lord, what
if there are 50 righteous men there? 50, would you destroy
the righteous with the wicked? That would be far from thee.
Shall not the judge of the earth do right? I know you wouldn't
destroy it if there were 50 believers there. The Lord said, OK, I won't
destroy it if there are 50 believers there. Abraham said, well, what
if we lack 10 and there's only 40? Would you destroy Sodom if
there were 40 believers there, 40 righteous men? No, I won't
destroy it for 40. Well, I take it on me now. I'm
dust and ashes. I'm going to ask you again. What
if there's only 30 there? Will you destroy it for 30? No,
I won't destroy it for 30. And Abraham, he kept going. What
if there's only 20 believers there? The Lord said, I'm going
to destroy it for 20. And Abraham said, well, what
if there's only 10 believers there? He said, well, I won't
destroy it for 10. I'm not going to destroy it. The believers would be the preservers.
You know what? There's only one believer there.
It was Lott. He was the only one in that city. And the angel actually said to
Lott, said, get out of here because I can't do anything till you're
out. You see, the believer is the
salt. He's the preservative of the
earth. When the last of the elect die and there's no believers
here, the Lord is going to destroy this place. Believers are the
salt of the earth. They're the preservative of the
earth. God delights in his people and the wicked, he does not delight
in. But oh, how he delights in his
people. Everything that goes on in this
world is for the elect's sake. Salt represents the preserving
grace of God in the heart. Have salt in yourselves and peace
with one another. Now, what is it that keeps us
and preserves us? What is it that keeps you from
falling away and wickedly departing from the Lord Jesus Christ right
now? Don't you know the only reason you don't fall away is
because of the grace of God? that he won't let you, that he
keeps you, and that he preserves you. And that's why you don't
fall away. You're preserved by the grace
of God. Aren't you thankful for the grace
that preserves you? And you know, you know the only... Oh, my soul, I know if the Lord
took his hand off me, I would be as bad as Satan himself. As a matter of fact, I've got
a nature that is that bad. And if God took his hand off
of me, I would fall away. It's the salt of His grace that
keeps His doctrine pure. Now you take away that salt of
grace out of men, and men would corrupt, twist, and change the
doctrine of Christ. The believer is the salt that
keeps it from happening. You see, because here's something
about a believer. They've got the salt of God's grace in them,
and they're not willing for even one word of God to drop from
their brain. They're not willing for one doctrine to be left out. We believe all of God's Word.
What do you got to believe to be saved? Everything God says. I despise it when people try
to say, well, what little amount can you get by with? You got
to believe everything God says. Everything. This is it. Whatever
He says. I believe. And if I don't believe
what he says, that makes me an unbeliever. A believer is not
willing for any doctrine to fall to the ground, but all of God's
truth must be preached and all of God's truth must be believed.
It's this grace. that prevents us from letting
the Word of God go. It's this grace that shows us
that our self-righteousness is evil. It's this grace that causes
us to continue to look to Christ and to continue to walk with
Him. We know it's the grace of God.
Don't you know that? Do I have to convince anybody
of that? Of course I don't. You know it's so concerning you. Salt is used for healing, thirdly. It's used for healing. It's used
to make things taste good. It's used to preserve things
and keep them from corrupting. And salt is used for healing. There are many medicinal uses
and purposes for salt. We've all used the term pouring
salt in a wound. Well, you really poured salt
in a wound. But you know, sometimes it's important to pour salt in
a wound. It's kept gangrene from spreading. It's painful. It hurts. It's got its use. Salt has many
medicinal purposes. Um, the believer has the only
thing that heals the gospel, the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. First Peter two 24, this verse, just, I quote it all the
time. It keeps getting more precious. Who his own self talking about
the Lord Jesus, who his own self bear our sin. in his own body
on the tree, that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness
by whose stripes you were healed. Now that's the only healing thing
there is, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the church
of the living God is the pillar and the ground of the truth with
the gospel. We have what this world needs
for healing, the gospel. The whole need not a physician,
but they that are sick. I'm sick, heal me. That's continually
the prayer of my heart. Lord, I'm sick. Heal me. And I want you to think about
how therapeutic, for lack of a better word, I want you to
think about how therapeutic the gospel is. There isn't anything better
for me emotionally or mentally or spiritually than to hear the
gospel, to have fellowship with other believers, to hear the
gospel. Think about this. Believing God is the first cause
behind everything. What do I have to worry about? God's doing it. He is the first
cause behind everything. And even those painful things
that grieve me so much, He's sending it for my good to purge
away the cross and to make me His own. Believing it is finished,
when our Lord said it is finished, believing that, it makes me realize
there's nothing I need to do to not have confidence. If it's
finished, it's finished. If it's finished, what is it
that I lack? Absolutely nothing. In Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead in a body, and you are complete
in Him. Now, that helps me to believe
that God is absolutely sovereign. There's nothing to be stressed
about. To believe if God be for me, who can be against me? That's
what the scripture says. If God be for us, who can be
against us? There's nothing to be intimidated
by. I'm not to be intimidated by you or anybody else. You're
not to be intimidated. If God be for me, who can be
against me? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him
freely with no reason that He would withhold it from me. He's
already spared not His own Son. How shall not with Him also freely
give us all things? That's so therapeutic. Turn to
Psalm 23. No reason for me to lack assurance. We're the salt of the earth.
We're the healing of the earth. The Lord's the healing of the
earth and we preach it. And this, David said in Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. I'm not going to want rest. He leads me beside the still
waters, waters of quietness. I'm not going to lack peace.
He restores my soul. Oh, thank God for that. How many
times did you need your soul restored? Restored. And he restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for his name's sake. For his name's sake, he
leads me in the paths of righteousness. I'm not gonna lack righteousness,
and the reason I'm not gonna lack righteousness is for his
name's sake. Not because I deserve it, but because he does. Verse
four, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
and we're walking through the valley of the shadow of death
right now, aren't we? I will fear no evil, for thou
art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. I'm not going to lack comfort. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil,
my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me. Surely, not hope so, but surely
goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house
of the Lord forever. I shall not want. And salt is used to melt, isn't
it? It's used to melt. The gospel
melts the hard heart. Salt melts. Now let me show you
an example of salt melting. Turn to 1 Peter chapter 3. 1
Peter chapter 3. I don't know how many wives have
looked at this passage of Scripture and probably thought, well, I don't live up to this.
Well, neither does your husband. I realize that. I mean, you know,
we're all weak. But let's look at the glory of
this passage of Scripture. 1 Peter chapter 3. Likewise,
ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word,
they don't believe the gospel you preach, make no profession
of it. If any obey not the word, they
may also without the word be won by the conversation of the
wives while they behold your chaste conversation coupled with
fear. Now, let me make this statement
about that passage of scripture. I've heard people say, I'd rather
see a sermon than hear one. Not me. Not even for a second. I want to hear a sermon. I want
to hear the truth. I want to hear the gospel. I'm
not going to be saved by somebody's example. I'm not going to be
saved by how you treat your husband or by how you treat your wife
seeing that. I'm not going to be saved by that. I'm saved by the
hearing of faith. I'm saved by hearing the gospel.
But this man who had no respect for the gospel, this woman preached
somehow the Lord uses her conduct. to melt the man's heart when
he sees what the gospel does for her, that she's willing to
submit to him for Christ's sake. And when she sees what he will
do for Christ's sake, he says, he's one without the word. Now
that's the melting influence of the gospel. You know, I want
to melt somebody. Melt somebody with the influence
of the gospel who's adorning, let it not be the outward adorning
of plating the hair and of wearing of gold or putting on of apparel,
but let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is
not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which
is in the sight of God of great price. That's all about the new
nature that's not corruptible. meek and quiet in the sight of
God. After this manner in the old
time, the holy women also who trusted in God and adorned themselves,
being in subjection to their own husbands, even as Sarah obeyed
Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters you are, as long as
you do well and are not afraid with any amazement. But likewise,
ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, according
to love, giving honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel,
as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers
be not hindered. Now here he's talking about conduct. He's not saying don't preach
the gospel, but he's talking about conduct that where people
are one without the word, word, word, you are the salt. And the
Lord says this to believers, you are the salt of the earth.
You're what makes things taste good. You're what preserves you're
the medicine and you're the melter. And what about that salt that's
lost its flavor? Well, the Lord tells us it's
good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden underfoot
by men. Now, I know a believer can't
lose his grace. You know that. And I also know
a believer can lose his saltiness. The Lord gives us a warning of
that. I don't want it to happen to me. I don't want it to happen
to you. May God give us the grace and
let's listen in a united prayer. Let's ask the Lord to give us
the grace to be the salt of the earth. Let's pray together.