Matthew chapter 5, I'm taking
the title for the message from verse 13 and verse 14. And it's a real simple title.
Salt and light. Two words. Three counting the
conjunction. Salt and light. Let's read verse 13 and verse
14. You are, that is talking about
his disciples, those who believed him, those who followed him,
you are the salt of the earth. But if the salt hath lost his
savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is henceforth, good
for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men."
Verse 14, you are the light. You're the light of the world.
A city that is set on a hill which cannot, cannot be hid. And then he says, let your light
shine before men. What is that light? We know Christ
is the light, don't we? Now, our Lord Jesus Christ was
a prophet sent from God to reveal the gospel to us and to teach
us how God saves sinners. By his grace alone, through faith
alone in the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to show us the way of
salvation. He came to reveal unto us the
way of salvation. And the way of salvation that
he revealed unto us is Christ himself. He that hath the Son,
he hath life. Life. For by grace are you saved. or being saved through faith
in that night of yourself, it is a gift of God. Being sent
of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, no doubt, was sent of God as
a prophet of God. In the fullness of time, God
sent forth his son. Being sent of God with a message
from God, our Lord Jesus Christ used very simple things common,
ordinary things to show us the way of salvation. Now, he could
have used such oratory, such great exposition of theology
and the decrees of God, and it would just went right over their
heads, right? But the Lord used very simple things, salt, light,
salt and light. For example, I'll give you some
examples of others. Remember, our Lord said to John
on the Isle of Patmos, Revelation 21, he said to John, he said,
it's done. I'm Alpha, Omega, the beginning,
the end. I will give unto him that is
a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. Now, we all understand the concept
of being thirsty, right? And what do you do when you're
thirsty? Well, you look for some water, don't you? To quench your
thirst. So our Lord uses that water as
an illustration of the gospel. He says in Isaiah 55, oh, everyone
that is thirsty, come to me and drink freely, freely. And that's a good example of
the Lord using something that we can identify with every day.
Every day we drink what? We have this bottle of water.
I love it. Thank you. David brings me the
water in the bottle. And then our Lord used the concept
of bread, didn't he? We all understand the need of
water and the need of bread. He said, I am the bread of life.
He that cometh to me shall never hunger. He that believeth on
me shall never thirst. He is the manna from heaven,
the true man, that a man may eat thereof and never die. So he uses those simple things,
water, bread. And then in our lesson today,
this is the Lord's sermon to us. Now you read these three
chapters, chapter 5, 6, and 7 of Matthew, and this is his sermon
on the mountain, but really, it's his message to us right
now today, relative to us. Do you need to hear a word from
God? Right here it is. Would you like to sit at the
feet of the Lord Jesus Christ and listen to him preach the
gospel? Here it is right here. The Lord uses these very common
things that we use every day in our life. We use them every
day. And we don't even think about
them, do we? Salt. Every time I sit down and
eat something, I look for that salt shaker. They say you're
not to do that. They say it causes high blood
pressure. And it probably does, but I love
salt. Don't you? I love salt. I put
salt on everything I eat. Apples, cantaloupe, eggs, everything. Now, verse 13, you are the salt of
the earth. Believers, his elect, his church,
his covenant people, are the salt that preserves this earth. Salt is a preserver, is it not? Don't we use salt in our food
to preserve it? Before refrigeration, how did
those old timers preserve meat? With salt. Salt is good. Did you know that? The Lord says
so. We're going to read it in a minute.
The only reason, you see, the salt, the covenant people of
the Lord's church, His people, they're the salt of the earth,
that is, that preserves this earth. The only reason this depraved
world is not destroyed today is because the Lord's people
who are still upon this earth. Did you know that? When the Lord
saves the last one of his elect, the end will come right then. It will come right then. The gospel of the kingdom shall
be preached in all the world for witness unto all nations
and then the end shall come. The heavens and the earth which
are now by the same word are kept in store reserved unto fire
against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." It's
only God's people who live in this earth right now that this
world is preserved from total destruction. They are, in that
sense, the salt of the earth, are they not, that preserve this
earth from destruction? The Lord called his disciples,
in chapter 4 verse 18, Look back over there. And the Lord, walking
by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon, called Peter,
and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they
were fishers. And he said to them, follow me,
I'll make you fishers of men. So the Lord called his disciples
before the fishers of men. Now he calls them the salt of
the earth. This is true of every believer.
The salt of the earth and the light of the world. Now what
about salt? Talking about table salt or what
we use in canning, we call that canning salt, don't we? Salt
is very, very useful, a very useful substance in our life.
Can you imagine life without salt? That'd be pretty tough,
wouldn't it? Now, I've tried what they call
salt substitutes. Because they say, and I've got
a blood pressure problem, and my wife always tells me, don't
use so much salt. And she even bought me some of
that light salt, some of that salt substitute, but is there
really a substitute for salt? No, there isn't. There's no substitute
for good old salt. God created it. You know, even
out in the, we're out in the cattle ranches out west. You
know what those old farmers put out for all the cows? And they
buy tons and tons and tons of it. They buy blocks of salt and
throw it out there to the cows. The cows got to have, they must
have salt. They can't survive without it.
We can't either. There is no substitute for good
old salt. It makes our food tasty. It is
used for thousands and thousands of years to preserve our food.
It's in our water. It is a necessary element in
our blood. Blood, our blood has salt in
it. Our Lord said this in Mark chapter
9. He said, for everyone shall be
salted with fire and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. And
then he said this, listen, he said this, salt is good. Now,
next time someone tells you to cut back on the salt, quote that
scripture. The Lord says salt is good. Salt
is good. But the salt has lost its saltness
where you season it. Have salt in yourself and have
peace with one another. Now, salt here is another word
for grace. Grace. It's another word for
Christ. Christ preserves us. Grace preserves
us. Christ is the salt of this earth.
Grace is the salt of this earth. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is the salt of the covenant. You know, if you go back and
look at every meat offering under the law, In Leviticus chapter
2 verse 13, listen to this, every meat offering under the law,
when they brought a meat offering and a burnt offering unto the
Lord before they burned it, you know what they did? They salted
it. God required salt. Listen, let
me read it to you. Every oblation of meat offering,
of thy meat offering, thou shalt season with salt, neither shalt
thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from
the meat offering, with all thine offering, thou shalt offer salt."
Christ. And that's what, when those meat
offerings were salted with salt, that's speaking and typical of
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what makes that meat offering
acceptable unto God, is the Lord Jesus Christ. One old preacher
of the past said about salt, salt is God's antiseptic in the
sphere of decay, a great necessity in our life, is it not? Salt. And just put, substitute the
word grace, Christ. Even so, in the preaching of
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, those who are sent to
preach the salt of the covenant, the covenant of grace, the grace
of God, are used of God to be a saver of life unto life. It's a sweet-smelling sacrifice
unto God. That is the covenant of God's
saving sovereign grace. What does a sinful, guilty, depraved
sinner need? What do we really need? We need
Christ. We need the salt of His covenant
grace, don't we? We need the salt of the Word
of God, the pure, undiluted salt of grace. And I've got written
down here in parentheses, not sugar-coated preaching. We don't
need sugar-coated preaching. What kind of preaching do we
need? Salt. Salt, just pure, pure old salt. pure, plain preaching of the
Word of God. We read it just a moment ago
in 1 Corinthians 2. He said, I'm determined not to
know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified.
I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling,
and my speech and my preaching was not worth enticing words
of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power that
your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the
power of God, in the salt of God. The word of God. Look back at the text, Matthew
5, verse 13. The Lord gives a caution here
in the last part of verse 13. But if the salt has lost his
savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good
for nothing to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men. Now, a caution here. You cannot salt salt, can you? You cannot, you can add, but
you cannot salt salt, right? But you can dilute it with water,
so much so that it becomes almost no salt, or less than salt, or
less than salt that has no savor of life underlying. If you dilute
it down, Well, it really loses its preserving power, doesn't
it? So here's the point our Lord is making. Do not try to make
the salt of the Gospel, the salt of the grace of God in the Lord
Jesus Christ, less salty. Do not dilute the salt of the
Word, the Word of God, by the works, tradition, ceremony, and
foolishness of men. When you try to take the offense
of the cross away from the message and dilute it down, you don't
have any gospel, do you? If you remove the offense of
the cross, you remove the power of it. Well, the gospel of Christ
is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it.
When they were instructed to eat the Passover lamb, the Passover
sacrifice, They were to roast the body and to eat it. They
were not to soften it with water. That is, don't mix it with water. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is grace and grace and grace alone, not works. And you cannot mix the two together. It won't work. It's either grace,
all grace, or it's all works. It cannot be both. of his own
will, beget he us with the word of truth. You cannot mix grace
and works and call that salvation. The gospel of God, at the power
of God unto salvation, the gospel of God, the gospel of Christ,
is the power of God unto salvation. Everything else is to be cast
out and trodden underfoot. Throw it away. You cannot have
a diluted gospel. You cannot have a gospel that's
mixed with human merit, righteousness, and works. It's either all Christ
or it's all flesh, human flesh. It's either all grace or it's
all works. You cannot have a mixture of
both. So that's why Paul says in Galatians chapter 1, he said,
though we or an angel preach any other gospel unto you than
that which we preach, let him be accursed. We cannot dilute
the Gospel of God's grace. We cannot. When Brother Mahan,
there in a church in Ashland that I was a part of for 12 years,
when he had the preacher school that he started about 1980 or
so, he had this saying that he gave to his students. Tulip or
termination. T-U-L-I-P, total depravity, unconditional
election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance
of the saints. He said, young men, it's tulip
or termination. We're not going to have any kind
of dilution or diluted gospel. It's all grace, grace, Christ,
Christ, faith, faith. We're not going to tiptoe through
the tulips. I looked this up this morning
and I don't know why these crazy things come up in my mind. Do
you remember that old rock and roll song back in 1968, Tiptoe Through the Tulips? You
look it up and listen. Some of the older ones remember.
Tiptoe. We're not going to tiptoe through
the tulips. And I mean by that, we're not
going to try to minimize the doctrine of grace in the Lord
Jesus Christ. We're not going to tiptoe around
God's electing grace, total depravity. We're not going to tiptoe around
these things to keep from offending men. That would be just diluting
it down, wouldn't it? If the salt has lost its savor,
it's good for nothing. Just throw it away. A gospel
that depends upon the sinner is good for nothing. The gospel
that depends upon the Lord Jesus Christ, give me that gospel.
Everything else, throw it away. Now here's the second thing he
says here. In verse 14, you are the light
of the world. Now when we think about light,
what do you immediately think about? Well, I think about this. Our Lord said, I am the light
of the world. He that follows me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Not only are
believers called the salt of the earth as they are one with
Christ, but also the Lord called believers the light of the world,
a city that sat on a hill that cannot be hid. It's out there. It's conspicuous for everyone
to see. Now, the Lord says to us, remember back in chapter
4, verse 16, to people which sat in darkness, you remember,
Matthew 4, 16, we sat in darkness, and to them that sat in the region
of the shadow of death, light is sprung up. Now who is that
light? Christ is that light. What has he done? He has sprung
up in our life, and the light that we have is not from us,
or produced from us, it's His light in us. Christ in you is
the hope of glory. Now it says in secondly, verse
15, neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but
on a candlestick, that it might give light unto all them that
are in the house. Let your light so shine before
men. You remember our study in Revelation
chapter 1? The mystery of the seven stars
which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels
or messengers, pastors of the seven churches. And the seven
candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. His elect,
his people. Now we know how vital salt is
to our life, right? Who created that salt? We know
who created that salt, don't we? God created that salt. And we know how vital light is
to our existence, and we know how light was created too, don't
we? God said in the beginning, let there be light, and the light
was. Now we all enjoy this light,
don't we? God decreed the light by His
Word. This world lives in a spiritual
darkness and ignorance. In Adam, his sin, his ruin, his
fall, the light went out. God said, when you eat Adam,
you'll die. The light went out, right? Sin
entered in and the light went out. And we're born in darkness. We're born in ignorance. We love,
the scripture said, we love darkness rather than the light. Having
our understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God
through the ignorance that is in us, through the blindness
of our heart. So by nature, when we're born,
we're born in the dark. We're born in ignorance. God
must command the light to shine in our hearts to give us the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Only in Christ, only through Christ is God pleased to turn
the light of life on and make it to shine in our heart that
we might see the glory of God in the face of Christ. God's
people who are redeemed with his precious blood hold forth
the word of light, Christ in this gospel. Christ is the gospel
of light. And what does this dark world
need more than anything else? What does this dark world need?
Not money. Not riches, not popularity. What does it need? Salt and light. Right? Salt. Great Christ. He is our preserver. We're preserved in Him and we
need light. That we might see the glory of
God in the face of Christ. And that's what we do when we
preach the gospel. We hold forth the light. holding
forth the light of the Word. Turn over here to Philippians
chapter 2. We read a portion of Philippians chapter 2. Turn
back over there. We read some of it this morning. Philippians chapter 2, look at
verse 12. He said, Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always
obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my
absence, work out your own salvation. with fear and trembling. For
it is God which worketh in you both the will and the do of His
good pleasure. Do all things without murmuring and disputing,
that you may be blameless, harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke,
in the midst of this crooked and perverse nation, among whom
you shine as light in this world. Now watch verse 16. How do you
shine as light in this world? Holding forth the word of life,
that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run
in vain, neither labored in vain. So how do we show forth this
light holding forth the word of life? The word of life. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
word of life. Now, God's people, they hold
forth this life, this light, holding forth the word of truth,
the word of the Lord. And we don't try to put it under
a bushel. We don't try to hide it or conceal it. We show forth
the light clearly and plainly as God has taught us in His Word.
Let your light shine before men. Verse 15 and 16. You see that? Verse 15 and verse 16. Let your light
so shine before men, Christ, that they may see your good works
and glorify your father which is in heaven. Now, what is the
light? What is the light that will shine?
Now, I think back to another old song. I don't know why these
things come up in my mind, but when I think about these things,
that old, and I looked it up today. I looked up the words
to it this morning. You remember that old religious
song? This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine. I'm
going to let it shine. I'm going to let it shine. This
little light of mine. Now whose light is it? Only the
light, all the light you have in you naturally is darkness
compared to God. What is the light that will shine?
Christ who was called the son of righteousness with healing
in his wings. But unto you that fear my name
shall the son of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.
The Lord Jesus Christ has enlightened us with the gospel of his grace
and glory that we may hold forth the light of the gospel in this
dark world. Listen to this scripture, 1 Peter
2, you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a peculiar people that you should show forth the praises of him
who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now
who did that? He translated us out of the kingdom
of darkness and he put us in the kingdom of God dear son.
Let us always be vigilant and zealous in preaching the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, determined as Paul to preach Christ and
him crucified. God has pleased to teach us and
reveal the gospel to us by the means He has ordained. Now let
us also be about our Father's business in preaching Christ
and Him crucified. Let us never compromise or hold
back any gospel truth. Let's just tell it plainly. To
remove the offense of the cross is to remove its power. You see,
my friend, it's the truth, the truth of God's Word that will
set sinners free. As I've said to you many times,
God doesn't use the lies of men. God doesn't use lies to teach
us the truth. He said the truth will set you
free. You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you
free. Free indeed. Now, verse 16, the last part,
says that they may see your good works. that they may see your good works
and glorify your father which is in heaven. Now the key to
that and understanding that is this, glorify your father, glorify
your father which is in heaven. that they may see your good works
and glorify your Father which is in heaven. You see, it's all
about his glory, isn't it? It's all about his glory. Not
unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name do we give
glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Now, as Paul said,
God forbid I should glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. You see, it's not about our glory, is it? We used to
have a saying at work where someone maybe had done a good job on
something and someone said, well, maybe he ought to get a raise.
And someone else would say, well, the only thing he's going to
get is an attaboy. Attaboy. You did a good job,
attaboy. We're not going to get a pat
on the back and an attaboy. That's not what good works are
about, is it? That we might get an attaboy
or a pat on the back You know, it's all about His glory. It's
all about His glory. Do good works for His glory,
His glory. We read this, for we are His
workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which
God had before ordained that we should walk in them. Now let
me turn to another scripture. I want you to turn with me. I
want you to see this. Turn to Titus, the book of Titus. Can you find that? the book of
Titus, right after Timothy. Titus chapter 3, verse 5 says,
Titus 3, 5, I'll let you turn and read this with me. I quote
this verse all the time, not by works of righteousness, which
we have done, Titus 3, 5, but according to his mercy, not by
works, but according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing and
regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which he shed
on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, that being
justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the
hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying, and
these things I will affirm thou affirm constantly that they which
have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable
unto men. Hold forth the light of the gospel,
that he may be glorified, ordained unto good works." Now, listen
to me. The gospel of the grace of God
is not opposed to sinners, believers, saved by the grace of God, the
gospel of the grace of God is not opposed to believers doing
good works for the glory of God, and specifically talking about
holding forth the word of life. Not talking about soup kitchens
and doing those things, but holding forth the gospel, supporting
the gospel ministry, praying for the gospel ministry. The
gospel of the grace of God does oppose good works as the ground
of salvation, or to maintain salvation, or to remove his wrath,
or gain his favor. The gospel is opposed to that,
right? But it's not opposed to doing
good works for the glory of God, specifically holding forth the
word of life. We know that salvation is based
upon the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ alone. His good
works, not ours. Our work can only be considered
good as they are relative to him and in him. Salvation is by the Lord's good
works, not ours. That's the same as saying salvation
is of the Lord and him only. I close with this reading from
Exodus chapter 14 where the Lord said, fear ye not, stand still
and see the good works of the Lord. see the salvations of the
Lord. He will show you today, for the
Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall see them again
no more, no more. Stand still, for the Lord shall
fight for you and you shall hold your peace. Hold your peace. You remember Psalm 46, be still
and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth. Let your light shine before men. Now, who is that light? Christ,
the gospel. That they may see your good works,
that is, in Christ. Christ in you, the hope of glory.
And glorify your Father which is in heaven. Here's the bottom
line. Who gets the glory? Who gets the glory? God gets
all the glory in the saving of God's people.