The Witness of the Kingdom
Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at Hand • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 46:03
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If you want to be blessed, then you must be CONVERTED.
This is the message of the Beatitudes.
They begin with
Poor in Spirit receive the Kingdom of Heaven
Recognition of Spiritual Bankruptcy before a Holy God.
Mourners shall be Comforted
Brokenness for condition that leads to repentance
Meek shall inherit the Earth
Yielding to God as we dwell here on earth.
Hungry and Thirsty for Righteousness will be Filled
Crave Jesus Christ who is our Godly Example.
Merciful shall obtain Mercy
Because God showed you mercy, give mercy.
Pure in Heart shall See God
God is made real in our life because of the change of heart.
Peacemakers called children of God
Living goodness before God and man while maintaining the truth of Jesus Christ.
Our goal is the same goal of Jesus Christ. Repentance leads to Peace with God which then leads to peace with man.
Persecuted for Righteousness sake receive the Kingdom of Heaven.
The fact that Christ is the authority in your life and your desire for others to be filled with the same reality of God through His Son, Jesus Christ will cause the earthly and fleshly to persecute, revile, and speak evil of your actions and motives.
This brings us to the passage this morning where Jesus uses 2 very common objects to teach and drive home a point.
He uses these two items to represent the influence we have as Christians.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
13 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.
14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Salt Permeates and deals with Corruption seen in earth.
Light Radiates and deals with Confusion seem in world.
Even though we are different from the world and separated from the world, we are to have influence within the world. This influence is what brings about the persecution, reviling, and false accusations.
Dr. James Stewart, a great British preacher, once said: ''The greatest threat to Christianity is not communism, it's not atheism, it's not materialism, it's not humanism. The greatest threat to Christianity is Christians trying to sneak into heaven incognito without ever sharing their faith, without ever living out the Christian life, without ever becoming involved in the most significant work God is doing on planet earth.''
If we are going to effectively share Jesus Christ, then we must be people of influence.
32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
So Jesus says
You are the salt of the earth! Permeate Locally
You are the salt of the earth! Permeate Locally
13 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.
The Phenomenon of Salt
The Phenomenon of Salt
Salt is chemically composed of sodium and chloride.
Sodium is a metal, and when dropped in water, you get an explosive hydrogen gas out of it.
Chlorine, is a green poisonous gas, that is very deadly if you walked into a room full of it.
Salt is the compound of these 2 dangerous elements that either one taken by itself would result in death.
However, God put these 2 elements together to make sodium chloride, that we get today’s “table salt”.
Now, “table salt” is a common useful compound that is necessary for our life.
I think of what God has done by the chemistry of the cross, how He’s taken that deadly part of my nature and God has made something new out of me, even given me a new name, just like sodium and chloride get a new name called “salt.”
The Price of Salt
The Price of Salt
You need to understand how valuable salt was in the days of Jesus. What we take for granted today was like pure gold to them. You see, salt is a preservative, and 2,000 years ago people did not have refrigeration. Salt was so valuable in Bible days that it was often traded ounce-for-ounce with gold. Roman soldiers were paid in salt. In fact, the word ''salary'' is derived from the word for salt. If a Roman soldier didn't do his job, he wouldn't get all of his salt. That's where we get the phrase, ''He is not worth his salt,'' if someone does not do a good days work.
The Purpose of Salt
The Purpose of Salt
The Provoking Quality
The Provoking Quality
We talk about rubbing salt in a wound.
We know that it can really sting and burn.
The very nature of our testimony, sometimes there is something irritating about a Christian when they come in contact with this lost world.
The Pungency Quality
The Pungency Quality
I like a little salt in my food. I want to salt it down just a little bit. It gives tang. It gives taste. It gives zest to it. It provides seasoning.
There should be something exciting and thrilling, something with zest and tang about a child of God or about the house of God. The worse thing in the world a church ought to be is dull and boring and insipid and uninteresting. We ought to make people thirsty for Jesus.
Salt is Provoking, Irritating.
Salt is Pungent, Flavorful.
But Lastly,
I think what Jesus is trying to get to here is the primary importance of salt in His day especially.
The Permeating Quality
The Permeating Quality
There is something permeating about salt.
Salt has a way of stopping decay and rotting. You take salt and rub it into meal and it permeates that meat and keeps it from spoiling.
Several of the disciples of the Lord Jesus were fishermen. They would make their catch in the Sea of Galilee and then they would pack their fish in salt and carry it down to Jerusalem to the fish gate and sell that fish. You put that salt on it to keep it from corrupting or decaying.
Our world is decaying, our world is rotting, and it is our job as salt to preserve the holiness of God, and the goodness of Jesus as much as we can.
As bad as things are, can you imagine
how bad things would be if there were no churches?
How bad would things be if there were no Christians?
How bad would things be if there were no Bibles?
How bad would things be if there were no preachers of the gospel?
Notice the difference between Salt and Light.
Salt has to be put into contact to do any good.
If you have a saltshaker on your table, if you don't shake it onto your food, then it doesn't flavor your food. If you don't put that salt on that meat it doesn't do any good.
You have to make contact to do any good. That’s what we mean by Permeating. Light doesn’t have to be in contact to beneficial but salt does.
We need to get involved with our community.
We need to get in contact with our community.
We need to have an influence upon our community.
However, Jesus goes a step further with a warning
The Problem of Salt
The Problem of Salt
Yes, we need to be salt, but there's a danger.
Jesus goes on to say,
Matthew 5:13 (KJV 1900)
13 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.
''. . .but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?'' (v.13b)
Powerless
Powerless
Now any chemistry teacher will tell you that it's impossible, in a way, for salt to become unsalty.
Sodium chloride is one of the most stable compounds in all of the universe; it doesn't change and it never loses its character. But there is truth to what Jesus is saying.
You see, much of the salt that was used in Palestine came from the Dead Sea, which is more than a mile and a half below sea level. The waters of the Sea of Galilee flow into the Jordan river and from there to the Dead Sea to the bottom of the earth.
Once the water gets there, there is no place to go. The hot sun evaporates the water and leaves behind a chunky white powder made up of a combination of salt and minerals. That powder contains enough salt to season meat or to flavor soup, and that's why people used to get their salt from the Dead Sea.
But it's also mixed with minerals and it's not pure sodium chloride. It's possible with a little dampness in the air for that salt to be dissolved and basically to dissipate. When that happens the ''salt loses its seasoning.''
Now what does that have to do with you and me? Well, the worst thing that a Christian could lose is not his wealth, nor his job, nor his health, nor his family, not even his life; the worst thing a Christian can lose is his testimony. Because when you lose your testimony your salt loses his seasoning; it loses its flavor
When that happens Jesus goes on to say,
Matthew 5:13 (KJV 1900)
13 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.
Profitless
Profitless
It is literally ''good for nothing.''
The one thing that can contaminate the salt of our life is the dirt of worldliness.
''It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.'' (v.13c)
When we conform to the culture, instead of transforming the culture, we lose our seasoning.
That’s why Paul said,
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
We to impact society, not allow the society to impact us.
The beatitudes start with us and then affects the Kingdom.
If we want to transform the earth, then we have to start with transforming ourself.
That's why Jesus says, ''It is good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.''
What does this mean? Whenever salt that was brought out from the Dead Sea would be contaminated with other minerals that would make it taste flat or even repulsive, the salt became worthless. You couldn't throw it on a garden or a field because it would kill what was planted. So instead, it would be thrown onto the roads where it would gradually be ground into the dirt and disappear, and then people could just walk over it.
A compromised Christian. A Christian who is no longer permeating their society for the Lord Jesus Christ, but is influenced by the society and compromised in their testimony. They become, for practical purposes, good for nothing in the society.
Let me ask you a question?
Is the church permeating the world or are we being walked on in America?
The church is being walked on by the world today. There is no respect for the church in this world anymore.
The reason is this: Because we are too much like the world. We use the same foul language, drink the same beer, see the same movies, ignore the same Bible, and the fact is the average person on the outside of the church looks at the average person on the inside of the church and says, ''He's no different than I am, so why should I go to church or practice Christianity?''
Let me give you some good news. Physically, salt that has lost its savor is good for nothing and can not be restored.
However, spiritually, even if you lose your testimony and your pungency and your zest and your impact for the Lord, you can come back to the Lord.
You can have your saltiness restored.
How? REPENT!
Ask Him to forgive you, Ask him to cleanse your life and again your life can be salt permeating this old world.
Begin with admitting your bankruptcy, mourn, yield, crave Jesus Christ, show mercy, and purify your heart.