Matthew 5:13 KJV 1900

Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

YOU ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH

Illustration:

Suppose That the Brakes Fail

A railway train was climbing a very steep grade up the mountainside and a lady passenger became very nervous. As the conductor passed through the car she clutched his sleeve and asked:

"Conductor, suppose anything goes wrong with the engine while we are climbing the mountain, what will happen to us?"

"The air brakes are good, madam."

"But suppose something goes wrong with them?"

"We have other brakes, madam, and they are in good condition."

"But suppose all the brakes fail, what then?"

"That, madam," answered the conductor earnestly, "depends upon how you have lived."

We smile at the woman's foolish fears. Yet, how many things depend upon how we have lived? You cannot enjoy the comfort and security of the child of God unless you let Jesus into your life. You can accept Christ as your Saviour and find "an anchor for the soul, both sure and steadfast."

People are often so wise for their bodies and yet so foolish for their souls. So busy with the rush for material things that they forget the spiritual and fail to remember that the future life is so largely dependent upon the present manner of living.

Listen!

"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name" (John 1:12)

Will you do this now?

—T. DeCourcy Rayner

Salt has always been a thing of great value.

In our time, with salt being abundant and of low cost in the stores, we sometimes forget its great value. However, the old timers valued salt greatly. Homer called it “Divine.”

Plato called it a “substance dear to the gods.” In our text Christ compares His followers to salt.

FIRST—THE WORK OF SALT

“Ye are the salt of the earth.”

In view of the great value of salt Christ here shows the great value of Christians to the world in the work of salt.

• Salt purifies. Salt is a great purifying agent.

Scientist tell us that if the ocean were not salty it would be so corrupt it would destroy all the life on the land as well as the sea.

If God’s people are righteous they will purify the conduct wherever they are.

As an example people will clean up their language like they do when the preacher shows up on the scene.

Salt is a seasoning and preserving chemical, but if left on the bare earth or exposed to the sun, rain, and air it loses its savor and is worthless

Mark 9:50 Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.

Luke 14:34-35 Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned? 35 It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

• Salt preserves. Until refrigeration, salt was the chief ingredient for preserving foods.

Likewise, godly people are the preservative of society.

If only ten righteous people had been in wicked Sodom, it would have been preserved from devastation.

The best protection for any nation is godly people. Yet nations persecute the godly.

• Salt pleases. Salt makes many foods more pleasing to the palate.

Godly people should improve the desirability of any group they are in.

They should be cheerful, not cantankerous, courteous, not cruel.

SECOND—WARNING FOR SALT

Most of this text is a warning to Christians about losing their saltiness (testimony, godliness, character).

The church has little influence in the world today because it has lost it spiritual savor.

• The peril in the warning. “Lost his savor.”

The peril concerns the losing of its saltiness.

Salt loses its saltiness quickly especially when it comes into contact with the earth.

So the believer loses his saltiness when he becomes worldly.

Worldly Christians may gain some popularity by their worldliness, but they will lose their power.

• The price in the warning. “Good for nothing.”

When salt has lost its saltiness, its value is gone.

Likewise when God’s people sin, they lose their spiritual saltiness, and disqualify themselves from many places of service and are of no worth to the church.

They are of no value to either God or man.

• The punishment in the warning.

“Trodden under foot of men.”

When salt has lost its saltiness it was often put on roads and walking paths and people walked on it. In a figure, this speaks of the great humility and scorn that is experienced by the Christian that through sin has lost his spiritual savor.