The Salt of the Earth

Introduction

Facts about Salt:

In the Body:

Regulates Fluid; Maintains Blood Pressure; Help the Body Absorb Nutrients

Without enough sodium, people can:

Experience weakness, confusion & dangerous conditions

In Food:

Enhances natural flavors; suppresses bitterness;

Preserves food by:

Drawing out moisture

Inhibiting bacterial growth

Slowing spoilage

In agriculture:

Salt blocks for health and hydration

Previously On…

Christ Before Bethlehem - pt.1-6

I. Christ, the Founder: The Progenitor

II. Christ Foreordained: The Promise of Christ

III. Christ Foreshadowed: Pictures of Christ

Explicit & Implicit Connections

IV. Christ Foretold: Prophesies concerning Christ are Logistically & Statistically Impossible

V. Christ Foreseen: Pre-Incarnate Appearances of Christ (Christophanies- i.e. Jesus in the Burning Bush, Fiery Furnace, the Wilderness - Hagar, Wrestling Jacob, Jesus with Abraham)

The Incarnate Christ - pt.1-2

I. The Mother; II. The Method; III. The Motivation

Learning from a 12 Year Old

I. His Foundation, II. His Formation & III. His Focus

The Jesus We Know Not

I. The Person; II. Precepts & III. Principles of Character

The Baptism of Christ

I. The Significance; II. The Symbolism of Baptism & III. Special Nature of Christ’s

Having Victory Over Temptation

I. How the Enemy Operates: Temptation is Assured; He Comes when you’re Weak; He Promises Large, Fulfills Small; He Twists the Word of God; His Attacks are Physical, Spiritual & Mental

II. How to Withstand the Onslaught: Be Prepared; Starve the Flesh; Depend on the Word of God; Realize there’s Something Better

III. What We Gain when it’s Over: If you Withstand, you will Find Rest; If you Withstand, you will be Strengthened; If you Give In, you will be Sorry

The Call to Follow

I. The Call of Christ: From the Saviour & Creator; For Submission, not Salvation; The Scope of the Call

II. The ‘Cause and Effect’: The Condition: “Follow Me”; Serving; The Prideful, Hated, Maligned & Outcast; Sailing; Upon Stormy Seas; Suffering; Rejection; Humiliation; Persecution; The Promise: “And I Will Make”; Therein Lies Power; Therein Lies a Promise; Therein Lies Production

III. The Cost Associated: A Sacrifice Required: Free Will; Family; Familiarity; Fortune

A Disciples Progression

I. Their Inward Conflict (v3-6)

They Recognize their Spiritual Void (v3); They Feel Remorse for their Sin (v4); They Demonstrate Reverence unto God (v5); Their Righteousness is Filled by Christ (v6)

II. Their Outward Charity (v7-9)

They have Pity for Others (v7); They are Pure in their Actions (v8); They are Peacemakers between Man and God (v9)

III. The Inevitable Cost (v10-12)

Righteousness Brings Persecution (v10a-11); Persecution Brings Rewards (v10b-12a); Persecution has Good Company (v12b)

I. The Preamble (Mat. 5:1-12)

To the Saved, Sanctified Servants

We must remember that these verses are not read in isolation. Who is the ‘Ye’ Jesus is speaking about?

The Those SAVED (v3-6)

They Recognize their Spiritual Void (v3)

They Feel Remorse for their Sin (v4)

They Demonstrate Reverence unto God (v5)

Their Righteousness is Filled by Christ (v6)

Those Sanctified (v7-8)

They have Pity for Others (v7)

They are Pure in their Actions (v8)

Those Servants of Christ (v9-12)

They are Peacemakers between Man and God (v9)

Those who are Persecuted for Christ’s Sake (v10-12)

This is the ye that ‘Ye’ is speaking of - the Saved, Sanctified Servants of Christ.

A Singular Agent

Next I believe it's important to pay attention to the phraseology. As he says, "Ye are the…” - singular.

So while he is speaking to a plural group of people, the group is singular in nature. In other words “ye” - the saved, sanctified servants of Christ, are the only agent that is the salt of the earth.

The Salt of the Earth isn’t:

The Government

The Counselors or Therapists

Community Organizers

The Salt is the “Saved, Sanctified Servants of Christ”. And in those other realms, we need Saved, Sanctified Servants of Christ in them!

We see the Preamble

The Preamble

II. Purposes for Salt

Now to the saved, sanctified servants. Jesus is calling us salt. What is the significance of that? What can we glean from that?

And just so you know, salt has many purposes. I'm not going to speak on every one of them.

But, the first is obvious and it makes things palatable.

Makes things Palatable

Salt makes about anything taste good. If you're eating something and it doesn't taste quite right, what's the first thing you reach for? Salt. Salt enhances flavor & suppresses bitterness.

When God looks down upon this earth, what do you think He sees? When he sees the wickedness and perversions and naughtiness and ungodliness permeating through society, how do you think he feels?

But then he looks upon those that have been saved - sprinkled throughout His Creation - those that are sanctified, His servants… We are the salt of the earth. It is that type of Christian that makes this world more palatable to our God.

It makes things more palatable.

Preserving Agent

Back in the olden times before refrigerators, salt was used to preserve food - meats especially.

They would rub the meat down in salt, and the salt would draw the moisture out & prevent bacteria from forming. Sometimes it would be preserved in brine which is a salt mixture, but the point is, salt would preserve the meat from spoiling.

The Spiritual salt - the Saved, Sanctified Servants of Christ are the agents that prevent this world from spoiling. We prevent decay & bacteria growth.

(Ill.) Let me ask you something. How many of you look out in our society in America and find it hard to believe the things that are taking place? You know just 18 years ago Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton both were against gay marriage. A couple years later they changed their position on that. Look where we're at now.

Gay marriage has become the law of the land.

Boys changing clothes and girls' dressing rooms and it being approved of by school, and school boards

Drugs and surgeries being prescribed to minors to forever alter their sexual nature

America has come to look more like Sodom and Gomorrah than the land of Eden.

Do you know why that is? The salt has lost its savor.

You see but in order for the salt to be effective in preventing the decay, the meat had to be covered in it - not sprinkled on it.

Salt is a preserving agent.

Provides Nutrients and Nourishment

Another aspect of the benefits of salt.

Regulates Fluid; Maintains Blood Pressure; Help the Body Absorb Nutrients

Without enough sodium, people can:

Experience weakness, confusion & dangerous conditions

This is what salt does to the body

In like manner, those that are saved, sanctified and serving the LORD Jesus, provides nourishment unto the body - the body of Christ!

Those type of Christians is what helps the body to stave off weakness and confusion

I’M SPEAKING ABOUT THE LEADERS IN THE BODY OF CHRIST - leaders that help the body stay good and right!

(Ill.) I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the body of Christ in America is sickly. Do you know why? Because of a bad diet.

Too many church leaders - pastors and teachers desire the praise and adulation of men, so they feed the body cotton candy - sweet to the taste, but empty and full of nothing. What they should be feeding them is meat seasoned with salt that they might grow thereby.

Salt provides Nutrients and Nourishment to the body

Protects Travelers

This is a more modern usage, but one important nonetheless.

When the roads are slick or bound to be, what do we put on them? Salt or brine mixture.

What do we put on the walkway when it’s cold? Salt.

What is this for? To protect travelers.

Salt lowers the freezing point of water, thereby making it safer for travelers.

Christians, as those around you travel through life, let me encourage you to be salt. That you might make is safer for them in their travels. That they slip or stumble not and become shipwreck.

Salt protects travelers

The Preamble; Purposes for Salt

III. Pictures of Salt

Next I want to look at Salt throughout the Scriptures - there’s more than I have here, but these two will suffice for now.

Used in Judgment (Jg. 9:45; Gen. 19:26)

We see multiple times in scripture how salt is used in Judgment.

Judges 9:45 “And Abimelech fought against the city all that day; and he took the city, and slew the people that was therein, and beat down the city, and sowed it with salt.”

Here Abimelech - a wicked man - was used of God to destroy Shechem - another set of wicked men - and salt was poured upon the ground as a sign of Judgment

I’m sure many of you remember the Judgment of Sodom & Gomorrah, but there was another Judgment cast down upon Lot’s wife: Genesis 19:26 “But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.”

God used salt in Judgment

Church, you must know this: this world is under the curse of God and every soul born unto it as well. They are all born under the judgment of God for their sin. And God desires to use us in that judgment - Not that we are active in the Judgment itself, but that we are rather pronouncers of it.

You and I must be the voice of God’s Judgment upon this world.

Consider John the Baptist: (Read Mat. 3:7-12)

John the Baptist was SALT! John pronounced the Judgment of God upon sinners!

Church, don’t listen to the lies of Satan when he twists Scripture and makes you believe we’re not supposed to Judge. We are surely supposed to Judge, but Judge Righteously!

John 7:24 “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”

1 Corinthians 2:15 “But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.”

Proverbs 31:9 “Open thy mouth, judge righteously, And plead the cause of the poor and needy.”

1 Thessalonians 5:21 “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”

We must be like John the Baptist and warn the world of the judgment to come!

Salt is used in Judgment

Used as a Remedy (2Ki. 2:19-22)

Not only is salt used in pronouncing Judgment, but also as a remedy:

2 Kings 2:19–22 “And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is naught, and the ground barren. And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him. And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land. So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake.”

God used salt in healing that which was bitter & barren

Church, we're not only supposed to let people know that they are under the judgment of God but we're also to be used to tell them of the remedy for it. The remedy is Jesus Christ our Lord!

(Maybe go through the exercise of “Have you ever told a lie - raise your hand…” to demonstrate the depravity of man)

Revelation 21:8 “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

That’s the bad news…

But there’s good news! Jesus was born of a virgin without sin, lived perfect without sin - but died for my sin and your sin. And if you will put your faith in the fact that Jesus not only died for your sin, but was raised from the grave, then your sin can be forgiven!

The choice is simple: You can choose to pay for your own sin in Hell, or you can choose to place faith in Christ and trust that He paid for your sins upon the Cross.

What do you choose?

God uses salt as pictures for you and I, that we might be about:

Pronouncing God’s Judgment

and also

Providing the Remedy!

We see Pictures of Salt

The Preamble; Purposes for Salt; Pictures of Salt

IV. The Production of Salt

Salt is a natural mineral. While there are many places that produce salt today in large quantities, in Jesus' day the majority of it was probably hewn mostly from the Dead Sea.

Hewn from the Dead Sea

Even today approximately 20 million metric tons of salt is harvested there annually.

But as I considered this, I thought it was quite interesting. The Bible typically refers to the Dead Sea as the Salt Sea while we know it today as the Dead Sea. Dead because there's no life they're in.

You see I thought it poetic how something so important, something so valuable, something that makes such a difference can come forth out of that which is dead.

You and I were dead in trespasses and sins but those of us that have put our faith in Jesus Christ have been born again. We are alive and we have the ability to make a difference in the lives of those around us and in the world.

This salt was hewn from the Dead Sea.

Separated for Good

Ephesians 2:8–10 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

If you've been born again, you've been so for a purpose. Not just that you would have eternal life but that God would use this life so that others may have eternal life.

We've been separated and sanctified for a purpose!

We're not saved by our works but we're created for the purpose of good works.

We've been separated for good.

The Preamble; Purposes for Salt; Pictures of Salt; The Production of Salt

V. A Precaution Given

If it Loses Taste, it Loses Purpose

Church, what Jesus is trying to point out is, what good is salt if it doesn't taste like salt nor can be used as salt? It's good for nothing is the answer!

Has anybody in here ever been called "good-for-nothing" because I have? My dad called me that so much I thought it was my name.

Church, your purpose on this earth is to know God and make Him known. If you're not doing that, let me ask you: what good are you for?

Our society is on the fast track to hell because its salt has lost its savor. Will you be part of the problem or part of the remedy?

If it loses taste, it loses purpose!

Conclusion