I will pick up tonight where
we left off last Wednesday night in our Lord's Sermon on the Mount.
We'll turn to Matthew chapter 5. I will repeat verses 11 and
12. Our Lord speaks here of His elect,
His church especially. He speaks in these two verses
of those who preach the gospel, those who teach the world, pastors,
elders, missionaries, preachers, evangelists. He says in verse
11, blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you,
say all manner of evil against you, falsely lying for my sake. You see the world does not receive
the things of God, the natural man, Paul said, receives not
the things of God, neither can he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned and the natural man is not spiritually
alive. And so this message that our
Lord sent his preachers to preach foolishness to the world, And it's also foolishness to
the religious world. Actually, most persecution throughout
history, most persecution, harassment, and false charges against the
truth of grace doesn't come from the natural world. It comes from
the religious world. Most of the martyrs were put
to death by religious people. the religious people that hated
the disciples, and put them to death. But he says in verse 12,
rejoice when men speak evil of you, revile you, say all manner
of evil against you, falsehood for my sake. Rejoice, and be
exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. Rejoice
for the honor which is yours to be numbered among the Lord's
people, prophets and apostles. For so persecuted they the prophets
which were before you." You are being persecuted for the same
gospel for which they hated Isaiah, Elijah, all of the prophets of
old. But he says in verse 13, You are the salt of the earth.
What does that mean? Ye are the salt of the earth.
His elect, his people, his preachers, pastors, teachers. Arthur Pink
gave this statement on this particular verse. He said salt is an indispensable
necessity of life. Salt. Salt is God's great antiseptic
in a world of rot and decay. God has ordained salt to purify
water, promote healing, preserve meat, season food. Salt is even a necessary element
in the blood. But when we think of salt, when
I look at this scripture, you, the salt of the earth, we think
especially about salt in respect to food, especially meat. Salt is put on meat. Back in
the days before refrigeration, I remember even in my childhood
when we had no refrigeration, salt kept meat from starving. Someone said salt preserves meat
by drawing the moisture out of it. Preserves it and also makes
it pleasant to the taste. Where would we be without salt?
Well, where would the world be without the gospel? And that's
your gospel. Is that which preserves and sweetens,
and purifies, and makes things to last. Now how are we the salt
of the earth? How are we in respect? Salt to
me purifies things, it preserves them, it promotes healing, it
sweetens to the taste, makes them much more pleasant. In what
way does God use us? in that same way in the world
in which we live and to the world in the world to which we preach.
Well, turn to John 17. John 17. I think I found the
answer here. You're the salt. What the salt
is to me, you are to this world. In John 17, he says, our Lord,
in praying before the Father, he speaks of his disciples, his
preachers, and the first thing he said about them here in verse
6, he said, I have manifested thy name unto these men which
you gave me out of the world. Thine they were, thou gavest
to me, and they kept thy word. I have revealed you to these
men. They know you, and they know
I came from you. Now we're the salt in this way.
The Lord Jesus has revealed the Father to us. We know the Father.
The world of which we preach doesn't know the Father. And
they're not going to know it until they hear our message.
That's exactly the secret. And it's going to continue to
be spoiled and rotten and bland to the taste until the Gospels
apply. And where's the Gospels? in the
heart of these preachers. Secondly, look at verse 8. I have given unto them your word. I have given unto them your word,
which you gave me, and they have received your word, and know
surely that I came from thee, and they believe you did send
me with a..." The world doesn't know that, his word. His word
to the world is foolishness. And it's going to remain that
way until he takes the word and he preaches. How are they going
to believe in him of whom they've not heard? How are they going
to hear without a preacher? So we're going to have to, our
gospel is going to have to be applied. It's going to have to
be preached. And they're going to have to
hear it. That's right. I've given them your word. I've
given it to them. Not to the world, but to them.
And they're going to preach it. All right, let me show you the
third thing he says in verse 16. They're not of the world. As I'm not of the world. Sanctify
them through thy truth. Through thy truth. Thy word is
truth. And as thou hast sent me into
the world, even so have I sent them into the world. You see
that vital importance of... You're the salt of earth. You
have the knowledge of the Father. You have in you the word of God,
and you have in you, with you, a commission of Christ himself
to go to the world. Take this gospel. He's commissioned
us and sent us. As you sent me, I sent them.
And then the fourth thing he says in verse 20, "...neither
pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe
on me through their way." You just got to hear this gospel. You're the salt of the earth.
You're the salt of the earth. You're that salt to that rotten
world. And that's the way they're going
to hear who God is, hear God's word, hear who Christ is, and
that's the way they're going to believe. Turn to 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians 2. Verse 13, Paul is talking to
that church of Thessalonica. He loved that church so much.
He said, We are bound to give thanks always to God for you,
brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation. That's true. Through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief in the truth. But he called you by our to the obtaining of the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, you're the salt. If there's any preserving done,
it'll be through you. If there's any sweetening done,
it'll be through you. If there's any understanding
given, it'll be through your message. If there's any salvation,
it'll be through your word. But now watch his warning here.
His warning in verse 13. But if the salt has lost its
savor, what is the word savor? I'll tell you what it means.
And I know it's fragrance, and I know it's smell, and I know
it's odor, but in this case, if the salt has lost its strength,
its quality, its saltness, this fact that it's lost its saltness,
If it's lost its quality, if it's lost the quality or the
strength for which it is ordained, what's it good for? Nothing.
Nothing but to be cast out, to be walked under the foot of men.
So, if this preacher or any other preacher loses his strength,
quality, and his saltness and his purpose for existing and
for which God sent him. He's good for nothing. Worth
nothing to be cast out, walked underfoot. Now what is the preacher's
strength? It's his gospel. It's his gospel. What gospel? The gospel of God's sovereign
grace. That's his strength. That's his
quality. That's his saltness. His saltness, that's why He's
here. That's the sole purpose for which God called Him, revealed
Himself to Him, gave Him His Word, and sent Him. That men
might hear who God is, who Christ is, what Christ did, why Christ
did it, and where He is now. And our saltness and our quality
and strength is T-U-L-I-P too. That's right. That's wherein
we differ. That's where the edge is. That's
where the blade is. That's where the cutting edge
is. That's what makes us different from sugar, which doesn't preserve,
or from pepper, which makes us soft. We believe men are totally
different. We believe God elected a people,
chosen in Christ before this world began. We believe his blood
on that cross was effectual to redeem his people. We believe
he saved them. Doesn't try to save them, attempt
to save them, make an effort to save them. He saved them.
He washed them from their sins. He died in their stead. And we,
we believe God calls them. They shall believe on me through
their way. And we believe God preserves
them and keeps them. That's our salt in this now.
That's our quality. You can't lay it down. You can't
do it. You're good for nothing if you
lose your strength and your purpose and your message. What happened
in the garden? Keep telling it. What happened
on that cross? Keep preaching it. What happens
in a sinner when God crosses his path by his spirit with his
word? gives him life, brings him down,
shuts his mouth, opens his heart. Turn to 1 Timothy. Paul wrote
to young Timothy and warned him, boy, there will be a lot of voices
telling you to soften the message, trim it a little, compromise
a little, don't be too hard, don't be too bold, don't be too
dogmatic, don't be too fanatic. Brother Barnard preached one
time and preached a message just so plain and forceful and straight
forward on God, choosing his people and Christ redeeming those
people, Holy Spirit calling those people. Shut me in up to God's
grace and some fella came up to him after the service and
said, Brother Barnard, Brother Barnard, Did you know
you can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar?
He said, I ain't catching flies, I'm killing sinners, son. We're not in the business of catching
flies. We've got God's message to preach.
Listen to this warning in 1 Timothy 4, verse 13. Till I come, give
attention, attendance to reading To exhortation, to doctrine. I hear people say, don't preach
doctrine, preach Jesus. You can't preach Christ without
the doctrine of Christ. Can't separate the teacher from
his teaching. Neglect not the gift that's in
thee, which was given thee by prophecy with the laying on of
the hands of the Presbyterian. Meditate upon these things. Give
yourself wholly to them. that your prophethood may appear
to all. Take heed to yourself and to
your doctrine. Continue in them. While so doing
you'll save yourself and them that hear you. You're the salt of the earth. If the salt loses its strength,
its saltness, its quality, what makes it different? Whether it's
a seer out of seer covetousness or ambition or popularity or
old age, you lose that edge, the sword is dull, won't do the
work. All right, you're the light of
the world, he said, verse 14, you're the light of the world.
Does the world need light? Spiritually, this world is in
darkness. This world is in the shadow of
death. In Adam, this whole world turned away from the light, loved
darkness rather than light, turned away from him who is light. Sometimes
you run a study of the word darkness through your concordance. It's
called the chains of darkness. It's called the power of darkness. It's called the rulers of darkness. It's called the kingdom of darkness. He said men walk in darkness. And religious people, if all
the light they have is darkness, how great is that darkness. But you, just like you're the
salt of the earth, you're the light of the world. Brother man, we are not the like
Christ is. That's right. That's right. John explains it to us here in
John 1. In John chapter 1. But you are your message. You
can't separate the messenger and the message. Who is his message? That's what some preachers have
made the big mistake of. Trying to separate themselves
and their message. Two different lives you can't
have in. So when he says you are the light, he means you have
the light, you are the light. Paul called it my gospel, wasn't
his gospel, God's gospel. It was his gospel, he was saved
by it, he was possessed with it, he was separated to it, he
was in love with it. It's his gospel, my gospel he
said. John 1 verse 6, there was a man
sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness
to bear witness of the light, capital L, R-G-H-T, that all
men through him might believe. Now he wasn't that light, we
know that, but he was a witness of that light. Without his witness
they wouldn't see the light, isn't that right? Isn't that
right? Without him they wouldn't see
the light. He's a witness of the light. Witness of the light. Now that was the true light,
which lighted every man that comes into the world. He was
in the world, the world was made by him, the world didn't know
him. How's the world gonna know him? Through our preaching. That's
right. You are the light of the world.
Let me read you something Paul said in Acts 26. Acts 26, talking
about his ministry. The ministry God gave him in
Acts 26. He says in verse 15, talking about his experience,
he said, I said, who art thou, Lord? He said, I'm Jesus whom
thou persecuted. But rise, stand upon your feet.
I've appeared unto you for a purpose. Make you a minister and a witness. Both of those things you've seen,
those things in which I will appear unto you, same thing we've
been reading. Delivering thee from the people,
protecting you from the Gentiles unto whom now I send thee, listen,
to open their eyes. Turn them from darkness. Paul
can't open eyes. His message can. That's right,
his message. I sent you to open their eyes,
to turn them from darkness to light. from the power of Satan
to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sin and inheritance
among them which is sanctified by faith that is in thee." Oh, what an awesome responsibility. Let's look at 2 Corinthians 4.
2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse
3. You're familiar with this, 2
Corinthians 4, if our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that
are lost, and whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds
of them which believe not, lest the light, the glorious gospel
of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
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, It shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Christ Jesus. But, we have this grace, this
knowledge, this awesome treasure in an earthen vessel. And that's
the way God ordained it, that the excellence and the power
and the glory and the majesty may be of God and not of us. Now back at my text, you're the
light of the world. You are the light. Now a city
set on a hill cannot be hid. A city that's built on a hill
cannot be ignored. A city built on a hill is there
for everybody to see. So our message, our doctrine,
the gospel of Christ must be boldly set forth, preached for
all to hear, all the counsel of God. I like what Isaiah said
in chapter 40 of Isaiah, don't, you know, preach it, don't apologize for
it, don't try to tone it down, don't try to make it appetizing to this flesh, just
put this city on a hill. for all to see. He said in Isaiah
40 verse 9, O Zion, church that brings good tidings, get up on
the mountain, high mountain, Jerusalem, now that brings good
tidings, lift up your voice with strength, lift it up, don't be
afraid. Say to the cities of Judah, behold your God, awesome,
almighty, infinite, mighty God. Behold the Lord God will come
with strong hand, his arm will rule upon him. Behold his rewards
with him, his works before him. He'll feed his flock like a shepherd.
He'll gather the lambs with his arms and carry them in his bosom
and gently lead those that are with him on. He's a sovereign
Savior, a sweet Savior, a gentle Savior, but he's the only Savior. Oh my! Paul warned the Corinthians
who would show him the offense of the message.
Turn to 1 Corinthians 4 and listen to this warning he sounds to
these Corinthians. A little warning here. We read this one verse here quite
often, 1 Corinthians 4 verse 7. Who maketh thee to differ? from
another? What hast thou that thou didst
not receive?" Now, if you received it, why do you gloat as if you
had not received it? Now, you're full talking to these
Corinthians. You're rich. You reigned as kings
without us. I would to God you did reign,
that we also might reign with you. I think that God has set
forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death. And
we're made a spectacle to this world, a spectacle, a theater,
a laughing stock to the world, angels and to men, fallen angels
I'm sure, and to men. We're fools for Christ's sake,
but you're wise. We're weak, but you're strong.
You're honorable, we're despised. He's warning them. Even under
this present hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked and
buffeted and have no certain dwelling place. Labor working
with our own hands, being reviled we bless, being persecuted we
suffer it, being defamed we entreat. We are made as the filth of the
world, off scouring of all things. I don't write these things to
shame you, but beloved I warn you, I warn you don't Look at the text again, Matthew
5, verse 15, about this light. You're the light. The city set
on a hill can't be here when this boldly put forth the gospel. Unapologetically. Plainly. Without compromise. Some men
recently wrote to me, I don't know how to make of this, We're talking about a certain
country where we sent in some books and they said we've decided
that this country, a lot of people in this country don't like the
name Calvinist or the word Calvinism. So we're going to come at them
with books that don't deal with these things quite
like that. And we're going to print Spurgeon's morning and
evening. And I got down to Spurgeon's
morning and evening the other day to see if I could find any
real strong grace in it. Not much. You see, if Calvinism makes a
man mad, tell him what it is and make him mad. You can't apologize. If you don't
listen to what he says, you don't Verse 15, neither do men light
a candle and put it under a bushel. You don't light a candle and
put it in a sack. You say, we believe, we believe
these things, yeah, but you're hiding it. You're trying to keep
defending, and the gospel is offensive. You don't put it under a bushel.
You put it on a candlestick. You light a candle. You stick
it on a candlestick. Where it gives light to everybody
in the house. Everybody sees the same light.
Our Lord called us and gave us the gospel, the light of truth.
He didn't intend we should hide it in the seminaries and classrooms
and preachers debate about it. He gave us this gospel of grace.
He never intended that we should keep back part of it. Keep from
offending people. Paul said, I am shunned to declare
unto you all the counsel of God. He didn't mean for us to deny
our forefathers by name. Neglect to proclaim what they
preached through covetousness for profit of our own. To compromise
this gospel. to cover it up with our human
wisdom and intellect? Is that what we're supposed to
do? A fella said one time to me, he
said, well I can preach Calvinism where they won't know what I'm
preaching. Now that's not real smart, is it? That's not real smart. Put it on a candlestick And move
it about everywhere you go. To other countries, other towns,
other places. You're the light of the world.
The city set on a hill can't be healed. And men don't light
a candle and put it under a bushel. They put it on a candlestick.
This is what God says. This is what our forefathers
preached and believed. This is what they died for. I don't dare compromise you.
Darkness, listen, darkness can only be dispelled by one clear
shining light and that's Christ in his true character and glory. That's right. And God won't bless anything
else. So let your light What's that
like? Your gospel. Your gospel. Let your light shine before men. Everybody. Tell them whom you
believe. What you believe. Tell them where you got it. Where
you learned it. From the Spirit of God. And also that they may
see your good work. Let your love and compassion
and good work You can't separate those two things. We talked about
that Sunday morning. Truth and love. Preach the gospel
in truth and love. Let your light, your gospel shine,
and your good works be seen of men, that they may glorify your
Father which is in heaven. Turn to 1 Thessalonians. Let
me read you something else Paul said about that church over there. In verse 2 of 1 Thessalonians 1,
he said, We give thanks to God always for you, all, you all,
making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without
ceasing your work of faith. your labor of love, your patience
of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God our Father.
I know, brethren, beloved, your election of God. For our gospel
came to you not in word only, but in power and the Holy Ghost
in much assurance, as you know what manner of men we were among
you for your sake. You became followers of us and
of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with
joy of the Holy Ghost. so that you were examples examples in your message and
in your manners to all that believe in Macedonia
and Achaia and from you sounded out the word of the Lord or in
Macedonia, Achaia and every place your faith to God was spoken
about read about so I don't need to say any more about it All
right, let's look at verse 17 in our text. I wonder why the
Lord said this right here. Verse 17. I'll see if I can maybe
tell you. He said in verse 17, I don't
think that I've come to destroy the law or the prophets. I've not come to destroy the
law, but to fulfill it. Many of those who heard our Lord
preach the gospel of God's mercy and grace, apart from works and duties and
deeds, the gospel of faith, not of law, not of works, not of
deeds of righteousness. They may have imagined that our
Lord intended just to set aside the law of Moses, to declare it useless, To set
aside the Ten Commandments and the prophets as useless. He knew
their thoughts. He knew their prejudices against
him. Well this man is destroying Moses. This man is declaring Moses as
useless. And our Lord said to them, don't
you think that I've come to destroy them all? The moral law, the
Ten Commandments, Christ didn't come to destroy the Ten Commandments.
He didn't come to destroy the Law of Moses. He didn't come
to destroy the Liturgical Law, He came to fulfill it. Fulfill
it, you see that? I didn't come to destroy the
Law, I came to fulfill it. By the Law here is meant the
moral law. Find that out next week if we
go on here. Look at verse 21, Matthew 5. You've heard it said by them
of old times, I shall not kill. Whoever shall kill shall be in
danger of judgment. But I say to you, our Lord didn't
come to destroy that. He came on our behalf in our
stead to fulfill it and give us righteousness. But that law
still stands. And He interprets it. Down here
in verse 27, he said, you've heard it said by them of old
time, thou shalt not commit adultery. Well, I say unto you, whosoever
looketh on a woman to lust in his heart is guilty already of
adultery. I didn't come to destroy that
now. Over here in verse 31, it's been
said, whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a
writing of divorcement. Now, I say unto you, whosoever
puts away his wife, Saving for the cause of fornication causes
her to commit adultery. Whosoever marries her commits
adultery. I didn't destroy that law. Down here in verse 38, you've
heard it said an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Sure it
says that. But I say resist evil. Our Lord said I didn't come to
destroy that law. God's moral law. We've got no
quarrel with God's moral law. God's moral law is true, just
true as it's ever been. Our Lord came to fulfill it.
The writings of the prophets. Our Lord didn't come to change
God's purpose. He came to accomplish it. Even
the Levitical law, the Passover. He didn't come to destroy the
Passover. He came to be our Passover. The
Passover is beautiful. He didn't come to destroy the
Sabbath. They came to be our Sabbath. He didn't come to whittle down
God's law so that we could get by without paying attention to
it. He came to fulfill it. That's what he said. I'm not
the enemy of Moses. Moses wrote of me. You see, he
didn't come to change God's purpose. He came to accomplish it. He
didn't come to change God's character. A lot of people seem to think
now that God of the Old Testament and God of the New Testament
is too different. Oh no, no. He came to enable God to be just
and justified, merciful and righteous. He didn't come to change His
character, He came to reveal Him. He didn't come to change
God's righteousness, He came to honor it and give us a righteousness. He didn't come to alter justice,
He came to satisfy it. He didn't come to dilute God's
moral law, He came to obey it. He didn't come to lighten our
sinners. He came to pay it. See what I'm saying? Isn't that
clear? They say, he's the enemy of Moses. He's doing away with
the law of Moses. He's doing away with the Mark.
No, he's not. He's fulfilling it. Fulfilling it. The things Moses wrote in Deuteronomy
are still so. Aren't they? Leviticus, that's
their song. We're not under the Old Testament
law. No, we're in Christ. But that
Old Testament reveals Christ, pictures Christ, points to Christ. Abraham saw my day, Moses wrote
to me. So I didn't come to destroy the
law. And then, whoa, he's going to say something else here that's
mighty important. I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass,
not one jot or one tittle shall pass from the law till it's ever
been fulfilled. What is a jot? In the Old Testament,
it's J-O-D. It's the least of all the letters
in the Hebrew alphabet. The jot is the least letter in
the Hebrew alphabet. and the tittle the tittle is
a small stroke of the pen which distinguishes one Hebrew letter
from another and our Lord is saying not one smallest letter
from that Old Testament vow and prophecies and promises and pictures
not one small jot of tittle is going to pass should ever bid
of it fulfill, he fulfilled it. Let me show you that scripture,
Acts 13. Acts 13. Acts 13, verse, you know we're running into this
now about homosexuality. The Old Testament is so strong
against it, so strong. And people say, well that's the
Old Testament. Not one jot or one tip will pass from this way. It's still true. The things that
were wrong then are wrong now. Isn't that right? God never changes. He's saying yesterday, today,
and forever. And he said concerning homosexuals, stone them. Stone
every last one of them. That's God's order. And it hasn't
changed. Now let me show you something.
Read Acts 13. Verse 27, For they that dwell
at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they didn't know him,
they knew him not. Nor did they know the voices
of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath day. They fulfilled
them in condemning him. And though they found no cause
of death in him, yet desired they pilate, he should be slain.
And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they
took him down from that tree, and laid him in a sepulchre.
When did they take him down? When they fulfilled everything
that was written. Not one jot, one dental. He fulfilled
it. And when he fulfilled it, they
took him down. I don't have to be circumcised.
Circumcised in the heart. I don't pray tithes like the
Levitical law. But that was the way of God's
orders back then. and Christ fulfilled his sabbath
day, all these things, he fulfilled them he fulfilled, now go back
to my text verse 19, now I say this to all these preachers that
are light on what we talked about a minute ago homosexuality and
these other things verse 19, whosoever therefore shall break
one of these least commandments and teach men so He'll be called least. What's
that mean, least? He has neither a name nor a place
in God's kingdom. You go back here and find what
was wrong is wrong now. Morally, ethically, spiritually,
it's wrong now. And to break these things and
teach men so, He's going to be in trouble.
Now all of us break these things, certain things, not that I mean,
but some different things, but we don't teach men so. There's
not a person here without sin. But we're talking about, we're
talking about, see Christ said, I didn't come to destroy the
law, I didn't come to, I came to fulfill it. And we don't destroy
God's Word or Take Jehoiachin's pen now and cut things out we
don't like. Leave it alone. Preach it. Whosoever shall do and teach
them, the same will be called great in the kingdom of God.
Great. Well, I'm going to quit there.
I was going to go to verse 20, but my time's up. We'll pick
up there. I hope you enjoyed these studies
in Sermon on the Mount. If you are, we'll We'll pick
up there next Wednesday night and talk about this righteousness. I hope that was a blessing.