THE SERMON - So The Rest May Stand In Fear
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1 hour and 8 minutes
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164.0144
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Summary
In this episode, we continue our series on the role of Christians as "Salt" and "Light" in relation to the doctrine of the gospel, "Christians as Salt." Matthew 5:13-16 is a reading from the book of Matthew 5, which begins with the words "You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?"
Transcript
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For record, I don't think I've said this yet throughout the course of our series, but it's worth noting.
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It's the gospel according to Matthew, not the gospel of Matthew.
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It's not Matthew's gospel. It's the gospel of God.
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So the gospel belongs to God, and we don't have four gospels.
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We don't have Matthew's gospel, Mark's gospel, Luke's gospel, and John's gospel.
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So it's God's gospel, Christ's gospel, one gospel, but according to four different apostles.
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So we have one gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ, according to Matthew, according to Mark, according to Luke, according to John.
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One gospel through four different lenses, four different perspectives, human perspectives,
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but all enshrined and protected by the divine author, that is the Holy Spirit.
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So four human perspectives of one divine gospel and those four human perspectives beautified and perfected by the Holy Spirit as the divine author so that we get the human perspective without getting any corruption or sin.
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This is Matthew chapter five, verses 13 through 16.
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And I don't think I've told you this yet, Michael,
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but my wife and I had a chance to listen to the sermon
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So he preached the Beatitudes, a wonderful sermon.
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And today we are continuing now beyond that text,
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verses 13 through 16, talking about Christians,
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When I finish reading the text, I'm going to say,
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nor did people light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a stand and it gets gives light to
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all in the house in the same way let your light shine before men so that they may see your good
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works and give glory to your father who is in heaven this is the word of the lord all right
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please be seated let's go ahead and dive in we're going to divide the text into two primary portions
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today. One, looking at Christians, little Christ, disciples of Jesus as salt, and then looking at
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Christians as light. Beginning with salt, I'm utilizing the late great Puritan Matthew Henry
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throughout the course of this series and his commentary on these texts. I'll read what he says
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in terms of Christians as salt in regards to one specific strategy or one specific effect of salt,
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which is that salt has a permeating effect i'll say that again salt has a permeating effect that
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is when we utilize certain spices especially salt we place it on meat or food or whatever it may be
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it takes that food that was previously bland or tasteless much more mild and the salt actually
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permeates the meat. It permeates the food to where the food itself becomes salted. It becomes
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salty. So there's a permeating effect of salt. And as soon as we cover this with this quote that
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I'm about to read from Matthew Henry, then we'll look at one of the second effects of salt is that
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it not only permeates, but it also preserves. Not only permeates, but it preserves. And when we speak
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of salt and its preserving effect, I think that there are two, there are arguably more, but two
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primary ways of preserving and we'll look at that briefly here in just a moment so Matthew Henry
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in terms of salt having a permeating effect he says the following the doctrine of the gospel is
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as salt it is cleansing it is relishing and preserves from future putrefaction what great
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blessings they are to the world they being Jesus disciples his immediate disciples but this would
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go beyond that scope to you and I as well. Christians, what great blessings Christians
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are to the world. Mankind, the world at large, was lying in ignorance and wickedness.
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It was vast, a vast heap of unsavory stuff, ready to putrefy. But Christ sent forth his disciples
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as salt by their lives and doctrines to season the world with knowledge and grace, and so to
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render it acceptable to God, to the angels and to all that relish divine things, how they must expect
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to be disposed of. They must not be laid on a heap, must not continue always together in Jerusalem,
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but must be scattered as salt upon the meat, here a grain and there a grain. In short, what Matthew
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Henry is saying is that salt in its first purpose, not preserving, which we'll get to here in just a
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moment, but permeating, salt making things salty. The first strategy, if you will, for making
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something salty is that the salt has to be evenly applied. It can't just be in a heap on one portion
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of your food. I'm sure you've had that experience where you're in a restaurant or maybe it's at home
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and through your own negligence, you're trying to salt your food
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and all of a sudden you have a giant pile of salt
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If you're going to use salt and you're going to use it effectively
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you want to evenly distribute it across the entire dish.
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You don't want to just heap up a pile of salt on one particular bite, one particular portion,
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So salt actually permeates and makes the food salty.
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But in order to do this effectively, you can't just place all of the seasoning,
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all the salt on one particular bite, but it needs to be evenly distributed across the whole meal.
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And God used persecution in large part for the Christians, the disciples in Jerusalem, in order to drive them out so that they weren't just clumped up, huddled up in one particular place,
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but so that the gospel as salt permeating all the world, making it flavor, giving it flavor, making it pleasing, making it pleasant,
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so that all the world, not just one city, not just Jerusalem,
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God used in His providence not just commands to go into Jerusalem
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and then even further to Judea and then Samaria and all the ends of the world.
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That was the obligation, the moral obligation, the commandment that was issued.
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But then God not only commanded His disciples to spread the salt throughout the earth,
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but he also then providentially ensured that it would happen by giving them immense persecution
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in Jerusalem and for the record the reason why it's like well but we'll be persecuted everywhere
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and that's true that was my my call to worship this morning that was my pastoral prayer as we
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began our Lord's Day worship service is saying that any Christian in any place in any time is
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going to have enemies and so it's true that the disciples would inevitably have enemies in
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opposition no matter where they went. So then it's, you know, it begs the question, well, why even
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consider leaving Jerusalem, right? You're already there. You already have certain resources and
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certain means and you have a community and you have all these different things. Why leave Jerusalem
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if you're going to be persecuted everywhere? And of course, the simple answer is that they would
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be persecuted everywhere, but not to the same degree. The height of persecution would be in
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Satan's city. And this is what the book of Revelation teaches. When the book of Revelation,
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I know it's exciting for the dispensationalists to think about Apache helicopters and, you know,
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things like that. And like, you know, Jesus is coming. It's going to be in the next 15 minutes.
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And it's talking about this and it's talking about that. Yeah, but also it's not. You know,
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that's another option is it's just not. And you're wrong. You know, so always consider that as a,
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plausible scenario. No, when the Bible, particularly the book of Revelation, the
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revelation of Jesus Christ, is talking about a monstrous city and talking about the man of
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lawlessness even. It's talking about Jerusalem. It's talking about Jerusalem. When it's talking
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about Babylon, great Babylon that's going to overthrow and do this and do that, Babylon is
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Jerusalem. The argument that Jesus Christ, and remember this is Jesus Christ speaking to the
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apostle John to write it down, because these are things that are soon. This is the first chapter
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of Revelation. These things are soon to come to pass, right? And we all know when we say soon,
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that means, you know, 2,000 years or soon, actually. You know, you could consider that.
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That's maybe another alternative reading of the text, is it actually meant soon. That the book
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revelation made perfect sense to its heroes john is exiled on the on the island of patmos he's the
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only one of the apostles who didn't die not not for lack of trying they definitely tried they
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tried to boil him uh alive in oil and and it didn't work uh in part probably because of god's
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supernatural grace certainly his supernatural providence uh and also in part because i don't
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think it's just like kind of daniel or not daniel but shadrach meshach and abednego in the fire and
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they're unsinged. I think John was singed. I think John is living by himself in a cave
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on the island of Patmos and he looks grotesque. I think it was just like the Apostle Paul. He's,
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you know, been shipwrecked and beaten by rods and there's arguments for his eyesight not being
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very good. Like some of these guys are just, their skin is like leather. They're on their last leg
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and just the supernatural promise of God causes them to just hobble along for another year,
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another decade however long until God's purpose is done the reality is this it's been said by
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by some of the saints of old I forget which one I read it just just the other day but
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essentially you are and this isn't just for you know radical you know apostles of Jesus Christ
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like John or or like Paul but for you Christian this applies to all of us do you know did you
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know that you are invulnerable and and literally invincible invincible until God's purpose for your
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life is done until God's purpose is done he knows the number of hairs on your head he has numbered
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your days until he's done with you neither death nor life right now it doesn't matter how many
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enemies it doesn't matter how many weapons are formed against us it doesn't matter what they do
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you are literally invincible on one hand made from the dust and he's merciful and compassionate
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and knows your frame so a creature made from the dust so so weak and so delicate that the slightest
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breeze could cause you to crumble and yet at the very same time just as true to say invincible
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invulnerable until the lord be done with you and so who shall we fear if god before us who can be
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against us um so you know john's like they try to boil him alive and here he is you know just
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just writing out another banger you know holy spirit inspired jesus christ book of the bible
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uh looking like like a shriveled up slug probably that that you know since we're talking about salt
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right now like a slug kids you know when you put salt on that's john he looks like a slug that you
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put salt on, still breathing somehow, still writing somehow in a cave alone and changing
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the course of human history. Amazing. Because until God's done with you, you can't be stopped.
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You are invincible. Not because you're awesome, but because God is awesome. And that is just,
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that's an undeniable fact. So John is doing this. He's writing. All of his hearers, though,
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back to the point, they're going to know exactly what he's talking about. This is arguably,
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now I know that there's debate and people, you know, people have good arguments and they make
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their case for, for, you know, in terms of dating, right, the actual writing of different books of
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the Bible. And some would say, well, I think Revelation was written in, you know, 1890. You
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know, people have said that, 1890. And they make their arguments that we want to be charitable and
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they're wrong. You know, and that's, you know, I'm not being mean, but they're wrong. And then there
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are others who would say, you know, that every single New Testament book of the Bible was written
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before AD 70, and there are different terms for this position. The label that I like to use is
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the right position. So there's the right guys, and there's the wrong guys, and they're all Christians,
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and we love each other, but we're not relativists. You can't have two contradicting opinions and both
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be right. You can both be Christians. You can both love each other, but you both can't be right.
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I am of the persuasion, if you haven't picked it up by now, that I think every single New Testament
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book of the bible was written pre-8070 and the book of revelation particularly just a year or two
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or three they're right on the heels right or not on the heels but right before 8070 so these are
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things that are soon to come to pass and not a metaphorical proverbial soon but a literal soon
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not not a 2 000 years later soon but uh this is going to happen in the next 18 months kind of
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situation. And so John is writing about that, and he's talking about Babylon, the city of Babylon,
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the man of lawlessness, and the beast, and all these different things. And his hearers are going
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to understand that some of this pertains to the Romans, that Israel is underneath Roman occupation
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at this time. But the strongest rebukes and the strongest language of monsters, you know,
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lurking in the deep and a great city of Babylon that hates the Lord Jesus Christ and persecutes
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him and his followers at every turn. This is not actually in reference to some future nation that
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would exist. This isn't, you know, this isn't the book of Revelation talking about China or Russia
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or the United States. It's not in reference to Ukraine. It's not in reference to Israel and
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Palestine. And even at its own time, a lot of it is not in reference to Rome. It's in reference to
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the most wicked city on the planet at that time, Jerusalem. Jerusalem. Even Jesus said,
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we got to go back to Jerusalem because my time, I've been invincible. Right? You see so many
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accounts in the gospel narratives where it says that they picked up stones to stone him and he
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just slipped through the crowns because they couldn't they couldn't lay a hand on him they he
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was invincible they could not touch him until it was his time but when it was his time what did
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jesus say got to get back to jerusalem you know god forbid a prophet die somewhere else they all
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die in jerusalem right a rich heritage right different cities you know you've got like uh the
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you know the twin towers you know or or you know the the city of angels you know and jerusalem right
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the city that hates Jesus and kills every prophet that follows God. That's their, that's their
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heritage. It's what they're known for. That's, that's Jerusalem. And so, all that being said,
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John knows this. This is what he's writing for. And back to the Matthew Henry quote, as salt,
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God in his providence used Jerusalem, hating Christ and hating his apostles to push out that salt.
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I'm sure that no one really appreciated it at the time.
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If I was one of the apostles, if I'm an early first century disciple of Jesus, a Christian,
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and I'm in Jerusalem like most of them were, at least initially,
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Just like you and I today, we don't always enjoy God's providence.
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We look back and we say, I wouldn't have ever done it any other way.
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God is good. Let God be true and every man a liar.
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It hurt like heck in the moment, but I wouldn't take it back.
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God knew what He was doing. It was all worth it.
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Well, so too for the first century disciples and Christians in Jerusalem,
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Because what God's providence means for them on a daily basis is immense persecution.
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They're being rounded up. They're being sued financially.
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They're being thrown in prison. They're being killed.
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They're being flogged. All these kinds of things.
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but even a lot of that was instigated by the Jews
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And so then they would use the Romans and say,
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I mean, that is, just read about the crucifixion.
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Okay, so God uses this in his providence to do what?
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To make sure that the salt shaker doesn't have the lid fall off
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and there's a massive pile of salt in one little square mile radius
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in all the earth, and then the rest of the earth is bland and tasteless.
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God uses immense persecution in His providence,
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in large part promulgated by Jews towards Christians in the city of Jerusalem
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in order to push out, drive out Christ's disciples
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You can almost kind of draw a line right in the middle of the book of Acts.
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The first 15 chapters, the headquarters, HQ, of Christianity, you know, Christianity, Inc.,
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in the book of Acts is the first 15 chapters, the first half of the book.
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It's Peter, and the HQ, the headquarters, is Jerusalem.
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Second half, all of a sudden, the whole thing switches.
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And the first purpose of salt, as we see in our text today,
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is that the salt makes other things around it salty.
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And in order for this permeating strategy to work effectively,
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according, more importantly, to what the Bible teaches,
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by descriptive text throughout all the New Testament
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What we see is in the permeating strategy of salt,
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You can't put the whole salt shaker on one bite.
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Instead, you sprinkle it across the whole dish.
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Now two subcategories with salt, permeating, preserving.
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Two sub-subcategories, even further, with permeating.
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There are two different ways, and arguably more, of course,
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if the salt loses its saltiness, it cannot be made salty again. You don't say, okay, well,
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let's get more salt to make this salt salty. No, you just, if you have unsalty salt, you throw it
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out. It's no longer good. It can be replaced, but it can't be fixed. If that makes sense. If the salt
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loses its saltiness, it cannot be restored. It cannot be restored. It can, and in the providence
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the mercy of God, it will be replaced. You can replace bad salt. You cannot restore that bad
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salt. So he goes on and says, salt is a remedy for unsavory meat, but there's no remedy for
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unsavory salt. Christianity will give a man a relish. But if a man can take up and continue
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the profession of it and yet remain flat and foolish. So right now, Matthew Henry is describing
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a professing Christian who has a profession of faith,
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if a man can take up and continue the profession of it,
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he doesn't actually possess true saving faith,
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No other doctrine, if the gospel doesn't do it, then no other doctrine can.
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No other means can be applied to make him savory.
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If Christianity does not do it, nothing will.
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Now I've written in your notes the following to put a point on it,
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What does this look like? I've written the following.
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If a man should lose his saltiness, he is only good to be thrown out, as the text says, and trampled by men.
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It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.
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We read that as kind of, we assume sometimes that it's hyperbolic language.
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just a poetic exaggerated way of essentially saying if salt loses its saltiness it's it's
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trash it's not good for anything i don't actually think that is the correct exegesis the correct way
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to read the text because what the text is saying in the latter half of verse 13 is if it's loses
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its saltiness it's no longer good for anything except so it actually is still good for something
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which is to permeate and make other things flavorful,
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So it's true that it's no longer good for that,
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Okay, so back to what I've written in your notes.
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And yet, even this has its divinely merciful purpose.
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When the roads and walkways are slick from snow and ice,
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it's true. There are places that are pleasant. However, here's the deal. You can't feed your
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kids. So you got to, you know, it's like bad weather and bugs, like all the California,
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it's so funny. You know, like you guys know, I was born, let it be said, let the record state,
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I was born and raised in Texas. Okay. Those are my credentials. I was not born in California,
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praise God. But born and raised in Texas, Texas bread. Thank you, dad. Thank you, mom.
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but I did go to California for a little while and I know that you know maybe not the wisest
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thing I've ever done in my life when I was there though the relationships and friends and wonderful
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people I mean it was always funny people would literally they would say we can never live in
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Texas because of uh the weather and bugs and I'm like I I get it you know and it sounds like you
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know silly and then you know now we've been back for four years and I'm like oh my good I like
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looking at my kids and I'm like it looks like there are some days where it's like do they have
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leprosy like what happened like do we need to go to the ER and and then I remember oh we went
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outside for 15 minutes and and used the swings in the backyard and an entire swarm of insects came
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and ate half of my children like that i so it is true that the bugs are ridiculous um
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but the benefit of texas good old flyover country with blue collar america is you got bugs you got
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heat um but you can actually have more than 1.5 children and feed them um just something to
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consider for the california bros um i know the weather's great but you know your 1.5 kids won't
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leave quite the heritage and legacy that you're probably hoping for all right here we go back to
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what i've written the roads and walkways are slick with snow and ice it is a thing somewhere else not
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here but when it happens you can throw out salt so that pedestrians don't trip and fall in
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parentheses i gave a couple examples steve lawson and i don't want to go into a bunch of stuff i
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know some details but it's really not my place to share um although i will say this because because
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is worth saying. He was a public figure, and the details do need to be made public, and it needs to
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be more specific than inappropriate relationship. I think that there is a moral obligation on his
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elders to speak more clearly than that, to guard against both sides of the equation. On one side,
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if it really is just an inappropriate relationship, then you want to guard against a bunch of people
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thinking the worst possible thing that it could possibly be, if that's not true. It's not fair to
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him to his wife to that woman all the um if if you're leaving room for people's imaginations
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to run wild and think that things are worse than they actually are and then on the other side of
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the equation um if it actually is is bad as you can imagine we're family integrated so we don't
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need details but adults in the room if it's as bad as you can imagine um then then you do need
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to kind of word some of that because you also don't need to minimize the sin and say oh it was
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just an inappropriate relationship. You know, they were pen pals and they wrote letters to each other
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occasionally if there were things far beyond that. So I won't get any more detailed than what I just
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said. There's my disclaimer. But many of you know, Steve Lawson was recently removed from public
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ministry in three different scenarios, three different contexts. First and foremost, his local
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church as a preaching pastor there. Also with TMS, the Master's Seminary, because he was, you know,
00:29:43.960
longtime partner with John MacArthur and the dean of a doctoral program there with a doctorate of
00:29:53.700
preaching ministry there at the Master's Seminary. So he's been removed from that platform and then
00:29:58.060
he for a long time has been a teaching fellow with Ligonier Ministries and removed there as well. So
00:30:03.200
local church, Master's Seminary, John MacArthur, Ligonier, R.C. Sproul. Removed from all three
00:30:13.840
It is easily to utilize that for the enemies of God,
00:30:19.560
to use that to bring shame to Jesus Christ and his church.
00:30:28.120
It is wicked. It's a tragedy, and it's a shame.
00:30:36.360
But here's the point as it pertains to our text today.
00:30:39.640
Not because of anything in Steve Lawson, but because of everything that is found in the heart of God.
00:30:46.500
Not because his sin isn't really sinful, or it's not bad, or no, no, no.
00:30:54.140
It is because God's mercy and providence and infinite wisdom is greater.
00:30:58.320
It is only because of God, not because of man, but because of God,
00:31:02.120
that even in worst case scenarios, where you have these kinds of situations,
00:31:13.840
And there's reproach that is brought to the name of Christ
00:31:35.480
And what is the purpose of salt in these cases?
00:31:39.020
Well, the saltiness of this particular salt is not there.
00:31:43.560
And so it is good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled by men.
00:31:52.440
it makes sure that other men don't fall the same way.
00:32:03.500
As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all.
00:32:10.060
So that you just can pile on the guilt and condemnation for them?
00:32:15.120
You're not trying to condemn them unnecessarily,
00:32:17.660
but they are being rebuked because they deserve it.
00:32:22.220
And so you're giving the necessary rebuke and correction
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00:32:28.720
But beyond that, again, not because of the failures of men,
00:32:32.620
but because of the infinite wisdom and mercy of God,
00:32:43.200
to bring that man in an individual sense to repentance,
00:32:52.100
On the sidelines, the third party who's watching and listening,
00:33:26.520
salt that's no longer good for permeating because it's not salty it can't make other things salty
00:33:33.880
because this salt itself is not salty and yet even then still in the province of god it has a purpose
00:33:41.160
no longer to permeate but still to preserve it could be thrown out on the ground and other men
00:33:49.060
who still are salty who have not yet lost their saltiness they can walk on this unsalty salt
00:34:01.760
Unsalty salt can be used to put the fear of God
00:34:06.520
so that salty salt doesn't become later on unsalty.
00:34:21.260
You also see it even outside of the ecclesiastical realm,
00:34:26.040
you also see it in a civil sense, even for those who are not regenerate Christians. You can look
00:34:32.520
at this not just in an ecclesiastical sense, but a national sense. This is what justice is meant to
00:34:39.080
do. This is the purpose of the justice system. So looking at another text now, Deuteronomy chapter
00:34:44.240
19, verse 18 through 21, this is no longer in reference to elders or leaders in the church or
00:34:49.240
even members in the church with church discipline, but citizens of a nation state. Deuteronomy 19,
00:34:55.780
18 through 21 says this, the judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness
00:35:02.820
and has accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to him what he had meant, what he intended to
00:35:08.600
do to his brother. You shall purge the evil from your midst. That is the evil, not just in an
00:35:14.300
abstract, ethereal sense, but that evil person. You purge the evil person from your midst, and the
00:35:21.540
rest, everybody else, shall hear and fear, and shall never again, what does it do? It preserves
00:35:29.240
all the rest of the people standing by who are watching. They shall never again commit any such
00:35:34.700
evil among you. Your eye shall not pity. It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth,
00:35:40.380
hand for hand, foot for foot. In this scenario, in Israel, and this should be the law of the land
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00:35:46.520
in our country, in every country, still to this day, this is a timeless principle, a timeless
00:35:52.540
universal truth. If you perjure yourself by bearing false witness, accusing somebody else,
00:35:59.340
whatever the penalty would have been for that person, had they been found guilty,
00:36:04.540
then that penalty should fall on your head for falsely accusing them.
00:36:09.660
So if you accuse in a court of law, falsely accuse someone of murder
00:36:13.920
and it turns out in the final analysis that that person is not guilty of murder
00:36:18.960
and neither are you, but you falsely accuse them of murder
00:36:22.600
and the penalty for murder should be capital punishment life for life
00:36:26.840
then you, even though you have not committed murder
00:36:30.020
because you falsely accused someone else for murder
00:37:31.040
Oh, there's got to be a better way to say that.
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00:37:39.920
is because I'm convinced there's not a better way to say it.
00:38:03.520
is whether or not women have ever committed any crime.
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00:38:07.880
yeah, men are trash and men sin all the time
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00:38:10.640
So yeah, I don't feel as much of a pressure.
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00:38:26.320
pagans know that god haters know that i can go to the the most christ-hating person on the planet
00:38:36.340
and say men sometimes do terrible things and they'll be like did we just become best friends
00:38:42.000
that's i wanted that on my tombstone when i died men sometimes do too like that's that's that's
00:38:47.960
the gospel to me that's that's my mantra for all of life but if i say the same women sometimes do
00:38:54.400
terrible things and they picked up stones to stone him would be then what the narrator at that part
00:39:02.600
of the film would say right that that's what that's how you when you're determined what needs
00:39:06.940
to be preached well uh what causes people to go red in the face and rage that's probably part of
00:39:16.500
what needs to be addressed in your particular place your particular time nothing's an accident
00:39:25.540
So, all that being said, preserving, back to the point, salt preserves.
00:39:30.280
It preserves in the ecclesiastical realm, both with leaders like elders, 1 Timothy 5, 20, the rest stand in fear.
00:39:38.680
This salt lost its saltiness, but it can be thrown out so that other salty salts don't lose their saltiness.
00:39:45.160
Preserving leaders, also preserving members, Matthew 18, 1 Corinthians 5.
00:40:04.000
and without favoritism, your eye shall not pity.
00:40:10.560
unless you do your vigilance, your due diligence,
00:40:18.020
the person is actually guilty of a particular sin,
00:40:38.360
Right? Lady justice is supposed to be blind for a reason.
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00:40:48.020
You're not showing favoritism to the rich or to the poor.
00:40:52.320
You're not showing favoritism to the minority or to the majority,
00:40:58.560
whether that be economically or whether that be skin pigment, regardless.
00:41:03.500
And you're also not showing favoritism to women and not men.
00:41:07.920
So not by ethnicity, not by gender, not by economic class or status.
00:41:15.820
So it's a blind justice, a swift justice, a proportional justice.
00:41:19.480
When you get justice like that, do you know what happens in a society, a nation state?
00:41:29.760
And when you get less crime, do you know what you have?
00:41:39.820
So even saltless salt in the province of God still has a purpose, not only in the church, but even in the world as a whole.
00:41:49.920
And all of this is only cause for us not to boast in man, but to boast in God.
00:41:56.620
His wise strategy, his merciful purposes, that's salt.
00:42:09.820
As the lights of the world, they, that is, Christians, disciples of Jesus, are illustrious and conspicuous, meaning you can't miss it, can't miss it, and have many eyes upon them.
00:42:27.460
Some admire them, commend them, rejoice in them, and study to imitate them.
00:42:32.320
Others envy them, hate them, censure them, and study to blast them.
00:42:37.900
They are concerned, therefore, to walk circumspectly because of their observers.
00:42:46.400
Essentially, what Matthew and Henry are saying is this.
00:42:50.020
In reference to what Jesus says, you're the light of the world.
00:42:52.740
You're like a city on a hill that cannot be hidden.
00:42:55.320
It is worth noting that that city on a hill that cannot be hidden.
00:43:29.840
in exegeting and commentating on the words of Christ
00:43:33.740
is just not disagreeing with the point of Jesus,
00:43:54.900
And one response is that those who see the light
00:44:02.720
they appreciate the light, they admire the light,
00:44:08.060
And then, by the grace of God, if He would be so kind,
00:44:10.660
the Holy Spirit works in regeneration, giving them new hearts,
00:44:13.780
causing them to become new creatures in Christ Jesus
00:44:17.760
to turn from sin and to turn in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ,
00:44:25.380
That is one response that happens when people see light.
00:44:30.660
And it has happened ever since the beginning of the world.
00:44:41.740
The second reaction, I think, is best illustrated in the words of Jesus Himself
00:44:45.660
in the Gospel according to John, chapter 3, verses 19 through 21.
00:44:58.300
they hated the light and loved the darkness because their works were evil for everyone who
00:45:05.940
does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his work should be exposed
00:45:11.800
but whoever does what is true comes to the light so that what the guy who's doing what is true
00:45:18.020
and notice just before it's the ones who are doing what is wicked that is those things which are
00:45:23.240
immoral they hate the light and want to stay in the shadows like cockroaches right and then and
00:45:29.760
then those who do what is you would think well what's the opposite of wicked those who do what
00:45:33.880
is wicked they stay in the shadows those who do what is righteous but here's the thing that which
00:45:39.900
is the good thing the moral thing the righteous thing is also that which is true good true and
00:45:54.260
Just as easily you could reverse it and say, those who do
00:45:58.400
the darkness and do not come to the light for they hate
00:46:16.220
part that I don't want you to miss in verse 21 is this whoever does what is true comes to the light
00:46:22.020
but here why because you would think the ones who stay away from the light are the ones who are doing
00:46:28.060
wicked things and they stay in the darkness because they don't want their wickednesses
00:46:31.780
to be exposed they don't want credit for their evil deeds they want these evil deeds to begin
00:46:40.780
to continue to be perpetrated and promulgated throughout the world in back rooms and shadows
00:46:46.980
and black markets and here and there and everywhere, but they don't want to actually
0.59
00:46:51.220
own it. They want to profit and benefit off of evil without ever, without ever being held
00:46:58.760
accountable and without ever being responsible, viewed as the ones who are, are promulgating
00:47:06.700
that evil. So what do they do? Stay out of the light. They stay in the shadows so they can love
00:47:14.720
evil, do evil, benefit from evil, but without getting the credit for that evil. And so then
00:47:23.580
you would think on the flip side of the equation, those who do what is true, as the text says, come
00:47:28.120
to the light. The guys doing bad things stay out of the light because they don't want credit for
00:47:32.380
evil. The guys doing good things are going to come to the light because they, you would think,
00:47:36.460
want credit for doing good right no and that's where there's the hook in the text which i love
00:47:44.700
no those who do that which is truly good not just outwardly good aligning with god's moral will
00:47:51.880
but truly good that is doing something from faith as romans chapter 14 says uh that that apart from
00:47:58.480
faith anything that does not proceed from faith is sin the only way to do a truly good work
00:48:03.000
that is not just outwardly aligning with God's moral will,
00:48:14.160
And the only way to do a truly good deed from the heart
00:48:20.240
Romans 3, there is no fear of God before their eyes.
00:48:29.060
and the true exegetical sense of this particular context,
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00:48:34.180
Only the Christian is capable of doing that,
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00:48:50.540
But whoever does what is true comes to the light
00:48:59.800
The wicked shrink back into the shadows so that they don't get the credit for evil.
00:49:05.660
The righteous come forth into the light so that God gets the glory for their good.
00:49:21.900
What always is really the only question to be asked is how will men respond?
00:49:29.800
Some will love the light, come to the light, and become lights themselves.
00:49:35.980
And this is because in the sovereign election of God,
00:49:40.120
he chooses in his mercy to draw many to repentance and salvation.
00:49:46.240
But there will also be many others who will shrink back, hate the light, and hate you.
00:50:07.280
here's the irony that I found personally in my own life,
00:50:15.420
I mean, the irony is so thick you could choke.
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00:50:34.860
they couldn't come out of their homes for two years?
00:50:40.460
they had to inject themselves with a foreign substance
00:50:43.260
that hadn't been treated any longer than six months
00:50:46.020
because nobody had had it for more than six months?
00:50:48.880
aren't aren't you the the group that's advocating in the state of california for giving a hundred
00:50:57.160
and fifty thousand dollars for each illegal immigrant to help towards a down payment on
0.95
00:51:03.220
their house meanwhile your native citizens can't even fill up their car with gasoline like
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00:51:10.200
Like, I think the lady does protest too much.
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00:52:33.240
the levels and degrees of audacity required to utter the phrase that men in our country would
00:52:40.640
utter killing someone in cold blood and then literally pointing the person who just said
00:52:47.940
hey maybe we shouldn't kill people in cold blood and then saying why did you kill him in cold blood
00:52:51.620
while still holding the gun it's literally smoking
00:52:54.500
how could people who would do that democrats of course but who would do that
00:53:01.440
how can you do that because there is no fear of god before their eyes because men love the
00:53:07.960
darkness rather than the light because their works are evil they know they're evil they know
00:53:12.760
they're evil they're not confused they're not deceived they're not just you know lost sheep
00:53:19.740
wandering and just need to be found and need to be loved. No, they're wicked. We're talking about
00:53:26.540
wicked people who know exactly what they're doing and they don't care. And if you are the light of
00:53:33.360
the world, what they will do is they will see you and hate you because men love the darkness.
00:53:40.700
And such were all of you. Apart from the grace and mercy of God that caused you to love the light
00:53:48.140
left to yourself apart from a new nature apart from saving grace we all love darkness and hate
00:53:56.960
light and when we become light by his incredible saving grace we will be hated by men men love
00:54:06.760
darkness because their works are evil if we are individually as families and corporately as a
00:54:13.620
church if we are to be in in georgetown williamson county texas if we are to be a city on a hill
00:54:21.960
then guys you just you got to buckle up right now and you can't afford to be bushy-tailed
00:54:30.320
and bright-eyed you know characters in bambi you know just totally caught off guard so naive so
00:54:36.240
gullible it's like i i heard that there are people in our our town that don't that don't
00:54:40.540
really appreciate our church. I can't, what's going on? Of course they don't. Sitting on a hill
00:54:49.120
cannot be hidden. You will see light. Some will love it and come. Others will hate it because
00:54:56.240
their works are evil. The only way to be loved by everyone is to stand for nothing, is to be so
00:55:05.080
bland, so dull, so ineffective that you're not a blessing to anyone and you're not a threat
00:55:11.040
to anyone. But if you want to be a blessing to some, then the very edge that makes you a blessing
00:55:17.640
to one group makes you a threat to another. If we are to be potent, if we're to be effective,
00:55:24.600
if we're to be faithful to the Lord Jesus and look like Him, then we will have His reputation.
00:56:29.240
Note, the glory of God is a great thing that we must aim at in everything that we do in religion.
00:56:35.880
Let them see your good works, and I added this, Christodom as an example,
00:56:41.260
that they may be convinced of the truth and excellency of the Christian religion, that is, Christianity.
00:56:50.100
You, your wife, your kids, your marriage, your home, your charity, your love, your hard work, your sense of justice and being an outstanding law-abiding citizen.
00:57:03.120
All these things, civility, courtesy, the fruits of the Spirit in an individual basis.
00:57:09.000
Let men see your good works and then turn their gaze as they're drawn to the light that is in you by the grace of God.
00:57:23.900
I'm just reflecting the true light that comes from the one true source.
00:57:28.420
Let him see your good works, but glorify your father in heaven.
00:57:31.620
That works on a micro level, but it also works on a macro level.
00:57:38.260
Corporately as a church and beyond that, not just our church, but the church, capital C church.
00:57:44.580
and then it also works even pulling back in time and in history
00:57:49.000
and in a worldwide, international level and historic level
00:57:56.900
One great example, as I kind of worked into that quote,
00:58:07.840
as the source of all that is good is Christendom.
00:58:14.580
I am a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ first and foremost
00:58:18.060
because God gave me eyes to see and ears to hear
00:58:27.560
Secondarily, all right, so gave the disclaimer.
00:58:31.280
Secondarily, there are other things that give evidence
00:58:38.740
against all other ideologies and worldviews and world religions.
00:58:41.660
One of them is Christendom, that Christians built the world and that every developed nation on the planet that you follow with all their innovations and all their inventions from the introduction of hospitals for the sick to cathedrals and towers and case law system with judicial processes and all these different from sanitation.
00:59:11.660
and sewers every single thing that has made the world great you know how you you can follow it
00:59:18.520
you know how you can track it historically you can track innovation on the one hand
00:59:25.280
you just track the christian faith where did it go where was it received where did it prosper
00:59:34.360
oh and that also just you know just coincidentally also happens to be every first world country
01:00:09.320
didn't have, historically, for centuries and centuries, the gospel.
01:00:13.680
And when they did receive missionaries, in many cases, they ate them.
01:00:24.340
Countries that receive missionaries and have hospitals.
01:00:31.180
And then there are countries that eat missionaries.
01:01:00.440
even your ancient fathers and ancestors' good works,
01:01:04.680
but then divert their gaze to your Father in heaven
01:01:09.540
as the one who ultimately is responsible for all of it.
01:01:31.220
no it's look what's possible with the triune god as he worked through these people
01:01:40.320
god should be honored and glorified first and foremost and because we honor and glorify him
01:01:47.400
first we then from honoring god we do also honor our human fathers i think of uh
01:02:04.420
without immediately hurtling the insult towards someone,
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01:02:09.940
Which, by the way, when someone calls you a racist,
1.00
01:02:19.960
is that it's not about circumcision of the flesh.
01:02:25.660
but ultimately it's about being born again and so he's making this whole argument he's made it in
01:02:30.220
ephesians he's made it in galatians he's made it here he's made it there he gets the romans 9 and
01:02:34.740
it and it's almost like he now has to clarify a little bit like walk it back not not entirely but
01:02:39.840
just a step back and bring a little bit of clarification because he's like man i've been
01:02:43.340
going hard in the pain against you know the whole jew thing and you know and and certain bloodlines
01:02:48.260
being superior and this and that and the other and saying it's not it's not ethnic it's not
01:02:52.300
national it's it's it's christ and it's his gospel it's spiritual and i've made that argument so
01:02:57.840
so pervasively that i need to probably clarify a little bit because i made it seem like like race
01:03:04.160
doesn't even exist and that it doesn't matter and actually as an apostle jesus christ the apostle
01:03:08.900
paul it does and then he makes his point he says so if all these things are true and it's about the
01:03:15.900
heart and it's about the spirit it's about the gospel it's not about this then what benefit
01:03:48.180
That's what every Christian theologian has said for the last 60 to 80 years.
0.98
01:03:51.880
But believe it or not, there used to be intelligent Christian men.
1.00
01:04:01.660
But you can't go to conferences with present day men who tell you their interpretation of what the dead men said.
01:04:08.200
You actually have to read the dead men for yourselves.
01:04:10.300
And you'll find out that those guys actually radically disagree with everybody over the last 60 to 80 years.
01:04:20.680
He doesn't say, so then what benefit is there to being a Jew?
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01:04:40.580
And it is to be admired, commended, appreciated, and treasured.
01:04:49.360
Do all of that without hating other groups of people.
0.93
01:04:54.460
You can walk and chew gum at the same time.
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01:05:09.660
not to a particular race, not to a particular people,
01:05:17.180
as Paul says, what benefit is there to being an Israelite?
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01:05:24.140
I can also say, well, then what benefit is there
01:05:28.180
And in my case, particularly a white Westerner.
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01:05:45.900
I want it for myself, for my children, my wife, my great-grandchildren, for my nation.
01:05:51.180
And I actually would like to see it be everyone's heritage.
01:05:54.800
I would like to see other nationalities and other peoples come into this heritage and enjoy it too.
01:06:02.600
And the source of all this greatness is not men.
01:06:14.060
So I can glorify the Father, first and foremost,
01:06:40.620
if they knew that we had abolished slavery,
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01:07:03.680
And we should share that blessing with the world,
01:07:11.680
but it's actually just oppression, then everything stops. And what we've been doing is not progressing.
01:07:19.340
We've been regressing for arguably 130 years, definitely for 60 to 80 years. And you know who
01:07:25.600
it's hurt? It hasn't just hurt Western countries. It's hurt the whole world, the whole world.
01:07:32.000
You want to love your neighbor? Then honor your father and honor your heritage and take all of it,
01:07:39.840
recognize that the good, all the good comes from God, and then don't apologize for it.
01:07:46.580
And just keep pushing. And let people call you whatever they're going to call you. And say,
01:07:52.880
okay, have a blessed day. And keep on going. Let's pray. Lord, bless your word to your people