13 down to verse 16. I want to speak with you about salt and light. Here our Lord continues to instruct his disciples and this sermon will continue all the way through Matthew 7 but on what it is to be a child of his kingdom. And here he describes those that of his kingdom as being like salt or light. Verse 13, Matthew 5 says, ye are the salt of the earth but if the salt have lost his savor wherewith shall it be salted? It is thanks for good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden underfoot of men. Then our Lord continues in verse 14 with the comparison to light. He says, you are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. And then he continues on, neither, verse 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. So the conclusion then in verse 16, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. So let's look together in the time we have at these two examples that Christ gives to how they are the salt of the earth and how they are the light of the world. Now first thing that I would say about this example of disciples being the salt of the earth, they're like salt because they are precious. What's important to note here is they did not make themselves like salt but they were made like salt by God's sovereign purpose and will and therefore precious in His sight. We know how important it is whenever a meal is prepared to have it what we eat. Now the reason that I use this example of salt being precious is because back in Christ's day, salt was considered to be as important as money. They would use salt to trade in the marketplace. In fact, the word salary that we use It has the word sal or sel, S-E-L, in it, which in Latin means salt. That's where we have in English too that expression that somebody is worth their salt. But it comes from that fact that Roman soldiers whenever there was money lacking, they were often paid with salt. And then they could take and use that to convert it into money or whatever they needed. So salt was precious. That's the point I'm making here. Now what is it that makes those that are the Lord's disciples to be precious? slain on their behalf. That's why we're considered to be precious even as salt is precious, great value. But secondly, when the Lord says you are the salt of the earth, those that are His disciples are like salt because salt has a preserving influence when you don't have refrigeration or other ways of keeping and preserving meats or food that would likely decay, you put salt on it to preserve it. So where salt is present and here it would be compared to the grace of God that is in us, it's his grace that saves us, it's his grace that keeps us in this world against the influence of would normally take us away. You may wonder why the Lord has placed us here in this world where we are and there are so very few of us that he has chosen and Christ is redeemed and yet he's put us where we are that we might have a preserving influence with our neighbors and those around us whereby if we were not there they would continue down a path of destruction. So we're there as a warning. We're there to point them to Christ and that is an example of what salt does. It has that preserving influence. Nothing about us can turn the heart of another sinner but just our presence there in our communities and in our neighborhoods and where we do business with others, we are an example of the grace of God to others of what the Lord has been pleased to do for us. So like salt, It has that preserving influence. In fact, that's what we testify when we encounter others who are still in darkness. We let them know that the only difference between us and them is the grace of God. Otherwise, we have the same pain, nature, depravity in us as they do. But what makes the difference? It's the grace of God. But thirdly, when the Lord says here to his disciples, you are the salt of the earth. Disciples are like salt because they add flavor. In other words, everything about them, their speech, their conversation is motivated by the grace of God. As separated unto Christ and having his spirit within us, we don't act or react or his spirit. Oh yes, because of our sin nature we react, we get angry, and we say and do things that are contrary to the glory of Christ and yet it's the salt, being the salt of the earth, that causes us by God's grace to respond differently toward others than what those do who have not Christ. Here's an example over in the epistle to the Colossians that Paul wrote in Colossians 4 and verse 6. Paul writes, let your speech be always with grace, notice, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. So here we're to waive our God that what we speak, and that is to speak to the glory of Christ, always be seasoned with salt. That word means flavored, that it makes the conversation flavorable as we interact with others. That's why when we do business with people, the that constrains us and brings flavor, if you will, to that business. We're not lying, cheating, stealing and trying to take advantage of others but reflecting the grace of God toward us. In other words, when we interact with the world we're going to be peaceable to be peacemakers as much as lies within us to be peaceful. Now coming back to my text in Matthew 5 in verse 13, the Lord gives this warning that if the salt loses its flavor, it is then good for nothing. Now some read and interpret that to mean that there might be a time that comes when somebody that is the Lord's will lose their salvation, but that's not what this is saying. Back in the day, there was a salt that was made up of certain faulty minerals that looked like salt and initially tasted like salt, but eventually, when it got wet, it would lose its flavor. In other words, it wasn't true salt. True salt was excavated from the earth and not produced by man, but there was a salt where they would take and try to add other chemicals to it to make it like salt, but it was an imitation. It wasn't true salt. In fact, the majority of the salt that is sold today in stores that you take home and put on your table or add to your food, it's been produced in the lab. and it has a lot of chemicals in it to make it taste like salt, but it's not true salt that has been excavated from the earth. Since I've learned the difference bag of salt that actually is granules. It's not all processed and it has been excavated from certain parts of the world, the Mediterranean and other parts where it's pure salt and that's something that man has found but not created. So here the Lord's making a difference between His disciples who are the salt of the earth and salt that is imitated or that is made by man which will lose its flavor and when it does, it's good for nothing but to be trampled underfoot of men. We know that today that there are many that profess be the lords and his disciples and yet it's man-made and with time it loses its savor just like a false salt and therefore such a profession is exposed but those that God himself has given them his grace, that grace is forever. We've seen examples of this maybe even in our different congregations, someone will come in and profess to believe this gospel of grace and then suddenly will turn and go out in the world and live in a manner even worse than what they were had they not heard the message and what do men do with that? They mock it, they look at and they say, aha, see, he said he was the Lord but look at how he is now. That's what it means to trod underfoot of men, they will mock such a profession. But there again what makes us to differ, it's the grace of God and if we've been made salt by the Lord in His grace then He is the one who keeps us and preserves us. The Lord Jesus said that of all the father had given him he should lose nothing That's the power of God's grace and the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ to keep his own. Now just like salt, the same with light. This is not a light that man creates in himself, but it is created, it is given by God to those that he has chosen and Christ has redeemed and therefore they are the light of the world. Now man can make artificial light, that's what we have with electricity, or even lighting a candle, but all of that is temporary. Here, the true light of the world is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, and those that are His are reflections of that light. only reason that any of us can be called the light of the world is because of Christ the everlasting light that is shined forth in our hearts and therefore it shines in what would be otherwise darkness. Look in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 6. It says, for God the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We could not be called light were it not that God caused the light of Christ to shine forth in our hearts. Now here my text in Matthew 5 when it says Christ said you're the light of the world He is describing us with that same title that He is, He is the light of the world and so for us to be the light of the world means that He has put us in this world as a reflection of who He is and His grace and mercy and salvation. Now when I read this It gives me pause because I know that in no way can I compare to the Lord Jesus Christ who is the light of the world. I'm a receiver of that light, but for him to say you are the light of the world, that means that he has left us here in this world as his ambassadors to reflect the light of his glory through our testimony and our walk and our talk. This is why in verse 16 the Lord says, let your light, well what light do we have? It's the light of the knowledge of Christ that he has given us. It's not within us naturally, but let it so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Here I think about the example of the moon. When you go out at night and you see it shining so brightly, yet the moon itself has no light in itself. What you're seeing is the reflection of the sun on the surface of the moon that causes it to shine brightly, otherwise the moon itself is dark. And so, as long as the Lord has purposed us to live on this earth, This is not a light that we keep to ourselves. That's why in verse 15, he says, you men light a candle and put it under a bushel or on a candlestick. No, it's to give light to all that are in the house. So we don't keep this to ourselves, but through the testimony of Christ, we continue to shine forth his glory as an example of what he's done for us. Surely if the light of the knowledge of Christ has been given us and we have that light by His grace, you're not going to be able to hide it. It's not something that you keep from the world. Just like it says there in verse 14, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. People are to see the difference. And I would add to this, there's a difference between how we worship God and how the Lord has taught us of Christ and the light we've been given than that of religion. They're all about their works and activities, but that's nothing but darkness. And so we reflect the light of Christ and who he is in the world of darkness, that seeing that light, they might glorify our Father which is in heaven. Here again, our Lord is not challenging us to become salt or light. He simply said we are and therefore we are what we are by the grace of God. So the key thought in both of these pictures of salt and light is really distinction. Who has made us to differ? salt is needed because the world is rotting and decaying and yet God has purposed to preserve a people according to the election of grace that Christ has redeemed and put us in this world to set us apart. And the same with light, who makes us to differ? It's the light that God has been pleased to shine forth in us sun that sets us apart from this otherwise dark and decaying world. And so, to sum this up in verse 16, let your light so shine before men. The purpose of light is to illuminate and to in declaring the gospel and pointing sinners to Christ, we let them know that there is no other hope but in His finished work for salvation and righteousness. If Christ has been revealed in us and made us to be salt and light, we're not going to be able to hide it. In other words, as we mingle with others in this world, there's going to be a difference in how we communicate and how we live and how we answer men. That's why Lord before he ascended into glory called his disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel. That's how the light is made known. That's how people taste the salt of his There are groups of people that you may encounter that have such a strong view of election and predestination that they will tell you that you don't need to go out and preach the gospel in the world. You meet together in your assembly and any that the Lord wants and desires, he's gonna bring to you, but you don't go to them. But that's not what Christ says. There's no such thing as a secret disciple, one who hides the work of God's grace from others. Now, it's going to be manifest as you talk with others in conversation and deal with them, that they might know the work of grace that God has done in us. The Lord has not saved us to put us in isolation. There are some that think that, that to be true disciples, they have to go off into a convent or a monastery somewhere and remove themselves from the world. No, Christ prayed that we would be kept in the world. We're not of it, but we're in the world. And just like salt and light are designed to have an effect in the place where the Lord has put us so it is as His disciples that the Lord would use us in this world so long as He gives us breath. So just as a city is built on a hill and cannot be hidden, the Lord has put His disciples, His elect in various parts of the world, we're not all in one place, but he's placed us where we can be seen and where his testimony can be heard and that those, it's not gonna be everybody. Some people hate light or they hate salt. They don't want any salt in their food. But those that the Lord draws will be drawn to the light and the saber, if you will, of his grace. when it says in verse 16, let your light so shine that they may see your good works. They're not talking about anything in us, but that would be better interpreted that they may see God's works, what he has been pleased to do with you and by God's mercy, glory to God. Lord does not say this to draw attention to ourselves, that's not the object of shining so that men somehow see some good in us. We don't have any, but it's to see the grace of God in us is what He has done, it's His work that causes Him to be glorified. So I thank God for Myself of heart and each of you that He has set apart, put us where He has put us, that in all things He be glorified, not us, but Him.