Redeeming Love Bible Broadcast
Redeeming Love Bible Broadcast
The Hosea Generation (Part 5) - Salt
Did you know, as Christians, we are referred to as the 'salt of the earth'? Let's look through the Gospel of Matthew to unpack the profound meaning behind this metaphor. This episode illuminates our role as believers, focusing on the powerful impact a few devout souls can have on the society and the world at large. We remind ourselves that we carry the savor of holiness, joy, peace, mercy, and truth. And how these are not just essential to our lives, but also to the Church and our world.
Ever wondered about the significance of salt in the Gospel? In the Old Testament, it was used in sacrifices under the laws of Moses, symbolizing an everlasting covenant. We unravel the symbolism, and the importance of spreading the gospel and loving Jesus, so others too can find the path to salvation.
As we conclude this series, we delve into soul-stirring topics like being born again and the importance of acknowledging our sins. We reflect on the questions posed by Nicodemus to Jesus and emphasize the deep significance of grace, faith, and the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus. In this discourse, we scrutinize the spiritual reality of the church, discuss potential religious hypocrisy, and our responsibilities as Christians. As we wrap up, we stress the critical task of spreading God's word globally and its potential to bring solace to people everywhere. Let's delve in, shall we?
NEW BOOK! I'm pleased to say that we have completed a new book that has been years in the making. The Ten Shirot: Songs of Redemption looks at ten songs that were sung through pivotal times in Scripture. It's an examination of the redemption of Jesus, of worship, and of Scripture in a way that we believe you probably haven't seen before. Check it out at https://a.co/d/0a4KIooL .
The Redeeming Love Bible Broadcast is a ministry of Grace Baptist Tabernacle. We're located at 121 Arborside Lane in King, NC and we can be reached at welcome@gracebaptisttabernacle.org. Please continue to share these episodes, and please consider coming to visit our church. We are excited and expectant for you to come!
Greetings and welcome to the Redeeming Love Bible broadcast. My name is Phil Duddy, evangelist with Grace Baptist Tabernacle of King, north Carolina. Very, very happy and thankful to have you with me on the program today. Redeeming the Lost at iCloudcom. That's our email address. Please feel welcome to get in touch with us. We would love to hear from you.
Speaker 1:I'm going to have a message today connected to the Hosea generation messages. It's going to be out of Matthew chapter 5 and it's going to be on the topic of salt. So come on over to Matthew chapter 5 and we're going to start off right in verse 13 here, matthew 5.13. Ye are the salt of the earth, but if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men. And these are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know hallelujah, amen.
Speaker 1:He begins in Matthew chapter 5 with the foundation that we have as Christians. Every single Christian has the same foundation in Jesus Christ and he begins with that foundation before he moves into this very, very brief but highly impactful teaching on something called salt. Christian, you start out with the foundation of blessed God made you blessed. You did not make yourself blessed. You do not maintain your blessed state, but rather God simply said you know, blessed are poor in spirit. Blessed are they more and blessed are they to meek. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake. Blessed are you and men. Shall we value persecute you say amen or of evil against you? Fall asleep, for my sake. You can go back and read those in detail earlier in Matthew, chapter 5.
Speaker 1:But before he teaches on salt, he establishes and begins with the foundation that any man, woman or child who is in Christ, any man, woman and child who is filled with the Holy Ghost under the blood, sin is forgiven. You know, beloved by God, loving God, believing on God, trusting God, obeying God, following God, walking with God, you are blessed because God made you to be blessed. He simply looked on you and he said hallelujah, amen. You believe the gospel. You're obeying the gospel. You know you love me, you know you believe me and you are blessed. He makes you blessed. You don't make yourself blessed. It's not something that you have to earn. It's not something that you have to learn enough or try enough or give enough or whatever the case may be, but this is the greater blessing, the lesser.
Speaker 1:This is God blessing us and specifically those people who believe the gospel, who hear Jesus and who believe what he says, and you know, we will call them today Christians, even though he's saying this and this is pre-cross. But you know, amen, you know that's your foundation blessed, you wake up, blessed, you go through your day. Blessed. You go to sleep blessed. You're blessed while you're sleeping and you're blessed when you wake up again. That's your foundation in Jesus Christ and that is something that he has given and that he has done. And so now he moves into saying something else about those who are in Christ. You know he says you are the salt of the earth and this is again.
Speaker 1:This is something that God has done and this is actually. You know, this is one of situations where one sentence in the Word of God will radically change the American church and radically change American society and culture, because the church gets changed and the church starts reaching people for Jesus. This is, this is not the testimony of most churches today. This is not the testimony of a lot of individual Christians today, but it's something that we need to look at. It's the reason why a lot of churches are closing their doors. It's the reason why a lot of churches are not reaching people evangelistically. It's the reason why culture is kind of going off the deep end. More and more. This has been lost and forgotten in the church, and so God would have us. And God does have a very, very small remnant. It's small if you look at the general population of America right now and amen those of you who are listening in other countries let us know what's going on with you in your country, but at least in America, this is a very, very tiny remnant compared to the general population. But God would have this come back to the forefront in Christianity. You are the salt of the earth.
Speaker 1:Salt is a valuable commodity, especially in these days and in ancient days, especially while Jesus would be saying this while he's walking the earth. It was a valuable commodity then. It's taken for granted now and it's got a powerful savor. Salt itself has a very, very powerful savor. A little salt can go a long way when you're cooking with it. For example, a few Christians who love the Lord, god with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength, who love our neighbors as ourselves.
Speaker 1:We love Jesus and we obey Jesus. We love Jesus and we work out our salvation with fear and trembling in Jesus. We love Jesus and we press into Jesus. We love Jesus and we pray. We love Jesus and we worship. We love Jesus and we follow. We love Jesus and we preach. We love Jesus and we evangelize. We love Jesus and we minister in all ways out of this holy love that leads to a holy obedience, that leads to a holy living, that leads to sanctification, that leads ultimately to consecration in the life of a Christian.
Speaker 1:And it's got a savor. There is a savor of holiness. There is a savor of holy love. There is a savor of the fruit of the spirit. There's a savor of joyfulness. There's a savor of peace. There's a savor of long suffering. There's a savor of mercy. There's a savor of truth. There's a savor of grace. There's a savor that loves what the Lord loves and there's a savor that hates what the Lord hates. There's a savor that reaches grace and truth. There's a savor that loves our neighbor. There's a savor that pulls people out of the fire. There's a savor that has compassion. There is a savor wrapped up in every little individual Christian and wrapped up in every church and that savor has got to be there and even a little bit, even a few Christians, even God's remnant, in any given country around the world. You might be small compared to the general population, but the savor of the salt, the savor of the salt, will go a long way. It will go a long way in your town, it will go a long way in your city, it will go a long way in the nation around you.
Speaker 1:When it comes to having an impact, when it comes to reaching people, when it comes to the work of the ministry, even just a few can have a great impact and it can easily spread, easily spread. You know, salt is made up of these little individual grains and it's easy to sprinkle it, it's easy to spread it, it's easy to you know, to get it around. And the salt, the savor of the, savor of the Holy Ghost, the savor of people who are in Christ and filled with the Holy Ghost, and we love the Holy Ghost, and he's bearing his fruit in us, he's doing his work in us. He's doing, he's bringing the work, the good work that he began in each of us and he's bringing that to a completion. He is working that in us and that savor, that is the product of that work, that savor will go a long way toward reaching people, toward impacting, you know, our communities and the people right around us.
Speaker 1:Salt preserves, you know. The Bible says, you know, let your speech be seasoned with salt, let it be always seasoned with salt, let it be seasoned with wisdom, let it be seasoned with fruitfulness. And there is a preservative aspect that this, you know, sort of salty remnant has on, you know, the overarching people around us. You know, on our nations, on our individual nations, no matter what nation you're in, there is a preservative aspect. There is a prayer and there is a ministry and we preserve peoples and we preserve societies. We stop society.
Speaker 1:I mean, you know, even in those who do not believe Jesus, even in those who reject the gospel we preach, even those who reject Jesus, the simple fact that there is a remnant there and there is a God loving, jesus, loving spirit filled, gospel preaching, neighbor loving, remnant in existence, the very existence is enough to preserve, is enough to preserve. It's a benefit to Christians and non-Christians alike. It's a benefit to those who are in Christ and those who are loved Him. It's a benefit to those who hate Jesus that the church is there, that the church is praying, that the church is functioning, that the church is preaching, that the church is teaching, that the church is worshiping, that the church is engaged in evangelistic outreach, that the church is taking care of the poor, that the church is taking care of the widow, that the church is taking care of the orphan, that the church is taking care of things, that the church is moving, that the church is working and everybody benefits.
Speaker 1:And God looks down and he says, well, okay, I'm going to hold back my wrath a little bit longer, because this church is loving me, this church is obeying me, this church is invested in reaching people and they're doing it the right way. They're doing it with love, they're doing it with charity, they're doing it with compassion, they're doing it with the truth, they're doing it with grace. They're having compassion on some and they're making a difference to other people. They are pulling them out of the fire and they're preaching truth and they're preaching grace and they're reached that way and they're living that way and they're loving that way and they're asking me for more time and they're praying for this person. They're praying for that person, they're praying for their leadership and they're in the government and they're praying for this and they're praying for that and halleluih in Amen. God honors that and God blesses that. God moves in that way.
Speaker 1:And there's a preservative aspect to society itself. Another thing salt does it prevents putrification. This is tied to being preservative, but it would prevent. Especially in the olden days they would salt down their meat to preserve the meat so that they could eat it at a later date, especially before refrigeration or in places where refrigeration is not had. You salt down the meat and it doesn't putrify and you can use it later.
Speaker 1:We deliver people from death when we preach the gospel, when people encounter the Holy Ghost, when people encounter Jesus, as they're encountering us, there is a very real deliverance from death. That goes on. Anyone who so ever believes Jesus, who so ever believes Jesus, and that belief leads to an obedience of the gospel, that belief leads to a salvation, that belief leads to being born again. A person hears the gospel and they believe what God has to say about sin. They believe what God has to say about judgment. They believe what God has to say about death, hell and the grave. They believe what God has to say about forgiveness and about the blood of Jesus and about reconciliation and about new life and about the Holy Ghost and about the blessedness, the blessed eternal life and the fruits of the Spirit and restoration and the healing and the joy and the hope and the peace. Somebody believes what Jesus has to say and they ask and, based on that belief, out comes the asking, out comes the praying, out comes asking Jesus to come in and to make them new and to forgive them and that they might be born again, that they might be saved from the wrath of God. Jesus does that. Somebody just got delivered from death and somebody got put into life. We pulled them out of death and we put them into life. Hallelujah, amen.
Speaker 1:There is a prevention of death that goes on. When a church is a salty church, you know, you might say, you know, a church has a savor of salt there is a prevention of death that goes on, and that's a glorious thing. Salt is also indicative of a specific covenant that's only mentioned in a couple of places in the Scripture and it's called the salt covenant. It's an everlasting covenant. Salt was also used in sacrifices under the law of Moses, you know. And hallelujah, amen. And that is a glorious thing. And even the book of Romans when it teaches that we ought to lay ourselves down as living sacrifices. We don't do that without the salt. We bring the salt to that, you know. We bring faith. We bring, you know, a love for holiness. We bring, you know, we bring a belief in Jesus. We bring a desire for Jesus. We bring that to that. Laying down and amen and hallelujah, that is a sweet, sweet thing, you know. And God moves, god moves, god moves.
Speaker 1:But for the purposes of this podcast, it's indicative of the gospel itself. It's indicative of the gospel and we enter into that gospel by faith. We are saved by grace and through faith and not of works. We enter into that with faith and God responds with the blood of the Lamb, god responds with the Holy Spirit, god responds with being born again, god responds with salvation. But it's by grace and through faith that we enter into that covenant and we have a work to do, the work of an evangelist, when it comes to helping other people enter into that covenant as well, and it's a critical work that needs to be done. It cannot be put on the back burner any longer. But it begins with people loving Jesus. It begins with the church loving Jesus. It begins with the church having this savor.
Speaker 1:You know, and there's something very critical that the Lord says here. You know, this is all wrapped up in you are the salt of the earth. And then he goes into this funny little thing. But if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, good for nothing. Good for nothing, good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under the foot of men. If your salt goes flat, you cannot re salt the salt. If your salt goes flat, if your salt goes tasteless, if your salt goes bad, if your salt loses its savor, you can't take more salt and put salt on top of bad salt and then get good salt. No, it's not good for anything. It gets thrown out. It gets thrown out, it gets cast out and it gets trodden under the foot of men. It's basically trash. That's not good for anything. And it gets thrown out. And you know what do you do? You start using new salt. If you're using salt, you start using new salt. This is also very, very critical.
Speaker 1:I said, you know, at the top of the message here. If you look above this in Matthew chapter five, you'll see blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed. You'll see all this blessed, that is something that God did. That's something that God did. That is something that God did. That is not something that people do. And it's the same with this salt saying Jesus came out and he said you are the salt of the earth. Bam, it's done.
Speaker 1:If you're in Christ, bam, you have this savor and it's done. It's the same with the light of the world. We can go down and look at the light of the world. You know you can't stop shining and you can't stop having this savor If you've got the Holy Ghost inside you, if you've got God inside you, if you are in Christ and Christ is in you. There is no spiritual way that you can turn that off. You can't click the Holy Ghost off. It's the same way with sin. Your relationship with sin changes In Christ. You cannot sin, you cannot continually live in. If there is a sin that is revealed to you, bam, life stops, repentance goes on. It happens very quickly. There is an overcoming that takes place. There is a putting off and a putting on that takes place. That happens quickly.
Speaker 1:You've got to look at this. If you are a person, and again, you don't get this saltiness, you don't get this savor by religious work, you don't get it by money, you don't get it by memorizing scripture, you don't get it by your last name, you don't get it by your lineage, your family, you don't get it by any other way. Jesus says you're the salt of the earth. It's done. No human effort to get the salt, no human effort to become the salt, no human effort to maintain the savor of the salt. But it's simple, loving obedience to the Lord, god Almighty, who saved your soul.
Speaker 1:If it's flat, if it's tasteless, it is good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under the foot of men.
Speaker 1:And I've got to say this in love we've got to have a point in the church, in the proclaiming church in America, where we come up and we say look, why are we losing the country?
Speaker 1:Why are we getting cast out? Why are we being trampled under the foot of men? It's because there's no salt and it's because a great number of people who populate churches, a great number of people who do religious works, are not Christians themselves. They might do Christian things, they might go to services to call themselves Christian, but they have not met the Holy Ghost, they have not met the Lord Jesus. They are in danger if you flip ahead a little bit to Matthew, chapter 7, they're in danger of coming up before the Lord. And the Lord says depart from me, I never knew you. And they say, lord, we did this in your name. We cast out devils in your name. We did that in your name, we did this in your name. All of these things that we did in your name. We wrote checks in your name, we memorized the book that you gave us, we went out and we gave people this and we gave people that, we gave people this, and on and on it goes, and all of this religious stuff that we do.
Speaker 1:But I ask you today, what is the foundation of that religious stuff? I don't ask you today what you have done. I ask you today what has God done in you? What has God made you to be? What has the Holy Ghost moved in? Are you a temple of the living God, a living, breathing temple of the living God?
Speaker 1:New Testament teaches that. Are you in love with the Lord Jesus? Are you obeying the Lord Jesus? Is there a passion for the Lord Jesus. Do you love Him? Do you love Him? Do you love Him? Do you love Him? And this is just as natural as breathing to you. And it's not what you have done, it's not what you have forced yourself to do, but it's what has God done. It's not even have you said a prayer, it's not what's your church attendance record, it's not a doctrinal, theological question, it's not how much money you give, it's not what seminary you went to, it's not what the nomination you belong to.
Speaker 1:But I'm asking you today have you been born again? Because men, women, children, none of us can do that, none of us can do that. Nicodemus, you know, he asked a good question that night when he met Jesus and Jesus said you must be born again. Nicodemus basically said hey, should I go back? And he know how can a man go back inside and come out again? He's not talking about a natural thing. He's not talking about a thing that a man can do, a thing that a woman can do, a thing that a child can do. He's not asking, you know, he's not talking about that, but he's talking about something that only God can do. Because, my friend, there is a hell, my friend. There is a thing called sin, my friend. There is a thing called the wrath of God, my friend. There is a thing called false teaching, my friend. There is a thing called hypocrisy, my friend. You know a lot of people are caught up in that and I think today God wants to get a lot of people out of that.
Speaker 1:But you've got to meet the fact that you are yet in your sins. You are yet in your sins if you're trying to come to God by your works, trying to come to God by the things that you do and the things that you don't do, you are yet in your sins. If all your church does, if all you do is preach grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, and you never preach truth and you never preach sin and you never preach the critical, you know fundamental nature that we have, that all that comes out of us before we meet the Lord Jesus, all that comes out of us before we're born again, is sin upon sin, upon sin, upon sin, upon sin upon sin. And there's a wrath that God has and there's a wrath that God is holding back and there is a wrath that will one day be poured out. People must hear that and people must face that. And people must face the fact that, even though that wrath exists, hallelujah, gloriously, amen.
Speaker 1:Hallelujah, god loves the sinner. God loves you know. No matter how many lies you've told, no matter you know how much hatred you've got in your heart, no matter how much Errogance and ego and pride that you've got in your heart, god still loves you. And the fact that you are listening to this, the Fact that the Holy Spirit is moving on you, the fact that the fear of God is coming upon you right this second, that means that God is drawing you to himself and he's not drawing you to himself to destroy you. He's drawing you to himself that you might be truly in Christ, truly saved, truly born again, that you might be salt of the earth, that you might be light of the world, that you might have this foundation of blessed, that you might enter into a covenant with him, you might be washed in the blood of the Lamb, your sin forgotten, your sin set free. My friend, it is by grace and through faith and as the Lord moves upon you and as you believe that Call upon the name of the Lord right now, that you might be born again, that you might be saved. Hallelujah and amen.
Speaker 1:My friend and you know, in church this is a critical thing To my pastors out there, to To the deacons out there, to the Christians out there who are listening to this we have got to be aware of this in our churches, that that there may well be many religious hypocrites in the church, that there may well be many religious Fakers in the church, that there might be, you know, many people who are, who do church things, who do Christian things, who call themselves Christians and yet they are not Christians. And how do we, you know, how do we deal with that? Just like you've heard today, we unashamedly preach and live the Bible. We unashamedly preach and live in Jesus, filled with the Holy Ghost, and we love our neighbors. We do not cast suspicion upon our neighbors. We do not.
Speaker 1:You know, try to get people to doubt and you'll get people to go through a religious ritual or whatever like that. But no, god's gonna deal with people, God's gonna deal with. I mean, if you've got, you know, a religiously lost person in your church and you're sitting there preaching the gospel, this is how it's gonna be. One day, that person May well just be broken before the Lord Right in the middle of the service, and they get saved and they get born again and everyone's real surprised because you know they, they were a church person their whole life. Or on the other side, you will just have people vanish. So people will suddenly get saved or people will suddenly vanish. But again, it is not your human work to figure this stuff out. But you simply live and you simply move. You know, you simply live in the Lord, you simply preach the Lord, you simply pray, you simply minister and you let the Lord deal with people.
Speaker 1:But don't take it upon yourself, do not go on witch hunts, do not cast suspicion, do not gossip, you know, do not, you know, have an uncharitable or suspicious attitude toward people. But, my friend, understand that. What does God want us to do as a church? Unashamedly be the salt of the earth. That will have a savor, that will have an effect and oftentimes it will surprise you. Hallelujah and amen. But amen, glory. You know you've gotten more than I had in my notebook today, but I do believe I'm.
Speaker 1:You know people needed to hear that out there. You know, especially if you've been born again. You've been listening to this and God's moved on you, god's drawn you to himself and you've responded in faith. You've been born again. Please do get in touch with us, let us know what's going on, let us know how we can minister to you, how we can pray for you. You need to be involved in a Bible preaching church, spirit filled, holy Ghost, jesus loving church. You know, we would love to talk with you about that. We are a ministry of Grace. Baptist Tabernacle wearing in King, north Carolina. Gbt ministries comm is our website.
Speaker 1:You know, and again, this is super critical for us today, especially when it comes to reaching people, especially in what I believe are the last days of the last days. But again, thank you so much. Those of you who are listening, especially around the world. Especially, I want to welcome the nation of Japan, specifically, you know, to the podcast. Thank you for listening. Please do continue to spread these around the world. That's a great encouragement to us. Help us to get the word of God To the churches and get them and and get the word of God To people who aren't yet Christians, I like. But thank you so much for that and may the Lord continue to richly bless you, amen. I.