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Announcer: Today, on Real Life Radio.

Jack Hibbs: So I want you to be thinking about when Jesus is, well, that's great, but you are the salt of the earth. What is he talking about? He's talking about those who follow him having a preservative type of power in their life being lived. Every one of us, I want you to listen. There is not one Christian who's a true Christian that is exempt or exempted out of being salt. Did you hear me?

Announcer: This is real life. Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs.

Jack Hibbs: I'm David J thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God's word, the Bible. Well, friends, listen, it's been 2 years here at the Real Life Network, and God has been so good to us. God put it on our hearts to create a network that would be cancel free, censorship free, uncompromising so that we could bring the truth to anyone anywhere. God has been so good to us these last 2 years, everybody, and we want to thank all of you. So today we are amazed that over 70 million minutes of biblical worldview truth has been on our programming and viewed by you, the audience, on the Real Life Network.

Every piece of our content on the Real Life Network is rooted in God's word so that it's safe, it's secure. So listen, spread the word with us, will you? Encourage friends and family to join the Real Life Network and that we might grow together, this community of believers all around the world.

Announcer: So if you haven't checked it out already, that's the Real Life Network streaming the best in Christian and conservative content. Sign up and start streaming today for free at reallifenetwork.com. That's reallifenetwork.com. On today's edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack now continues his series called The Parables of Jesus and a message titled Parable of Being the Salt. Now whenever Jesus spoke to the crowds, he often spoke using relatable stories with common everyday sort of themes, and the Bible calls those parables. Now in this parable, Jesus is teaching us how to stay purposeful. You see, when salt loses its flavor, it's got to be thrown out.

In Jesus' time, salt was a perishable commodity and could become polluted if not managed correctly. It's why as Christians, we need to stay salty, alert, and responsive to the Lord's will. So today Pastor Jack teaches us that the preserving power of a Christian has great purpose. We can have an effect in any and every culture physically, morally, and most of all spiritually. Now with his message called Parable of Being the Salt, here's pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs.

Jack Hibbs: Then Lord, we pray right now that you would help us with uh millennial gaps because the thought of salt in our culture today is so different than what it was back then. But Lord, your word is eternal. So you will make it applicable to us this evening. We trust you. We thank you for your word. And Lord, at the end, in the next 55 minutes, may we leave this place uh radicalized for Jesus that is loving our friends and foes alike, reaching out to a hurting world, and Lord, just infusing righteousness and justice and love uh from your throne room through our hands into the hearts of others until you come again.

We ask it in Jesus' name, and all God's people said

Audience: Amen.

Jack Hibbs: Amen. Grab your Bibles tonight and turn to Luke chapter 14. Luke 14 and we're in verses 34 and 35 in our parable series as we continue on in the parables of Jesus Christ in the Gospels. And tonight we're looking at the parable of being the salt. The parable of being the salt. And if you haven't been here for a while, let me remind you that when you look at the word parable, it comes from the word parabolic, paraballos, technically. And the parable of being the salt, para you guys know this para shoot. A shoot para alongside you.

In that case, a parachute is over your head and it saves you, right? It's near you and it saves you from hitting the ground. para in the Greek is alongside you or around you. And ballos is teaching the parabolic teaching of Jesus is that he takes eternal truth. It's not new truth. It may be new to our hearing, but it's not new truth. It's eternal truth and he cast the truth and it plops like a fishing lure or a bobber with a hook right alongside your head. He does that to a crowd. Jesus will throw out the word in a parabolic style teaching, meaning he takes the things that you and I deal with every day in life.

For example, if he was teaching today, he would say, and this is a parable of bad reception. The cell phone and he would go into the teaching and you go, I got that. He would use something about you and I relating, and it's so common, you go, yeah, I know that. When he throws out the technicolor teaching of a parable, it lands right alongside your head. Let's say there's two people looking at it. It lands right between them. Both people look at it. Both people see it. Both people taste it. One person gets it and the other person doesn't.

What is happening? It's remarkable. And by the way, parabolic teaching was invented by God, not by man. It's the throw out the truth all across the sanctuary. It's the same truth, but the judgment is upon you and I, the listener, the hearer, based on how we respond to it. It's an amazing thing. What you do with the truth presented either excuses you or condemns you, it's solely your responsibility. Isn't it amazing?

Audience: Yeah.

Jack Hibbs: And so with that, God broadcasts the word and he waits for the fish to bite as it were. And some fish swim away. And that's very important to understand regarding the parabolic teaching of Jesus Christ. Tonight we'll be talking about the salt. So Luke chapter 14 verse 34, follow along with me if you would. Jesus said, salt is good, but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

That is an awesome statement. Two listeners, same truth, decisions will be made. In this case, Jesus now approaches us and he says, hey, salt's good. And everybody listening to Jesus 2,000 years ago would have said, well, absolutely, of course salt is good. We all know that. And he gets their attention with something so common that it wakes them up. What on earth is he going to be speaking about now? Everybody knows this about salt. Before we get into breaking down the significance of salt and the meaning of it to the listeners then and to the hearers today, there's a Russian-born Jew by the name of Emanuel Velikovsky.

He's now long dead and gone and he was a brilliant scientist, kind of tampered with theoretical physics and things like that. He was a little bit of a philosopher, somewhat of a doctor of psychiatric care, but he's a brilliant man. And he wrote several books and you can look them up later. You can still buy them today. One of the books that Emanuel Velikovsky wrote is a fascinating book. I encourage you to read it. He's not a believer, but I encourage you to read it and it called Worlds in Collision. Maybe you've read that. Maybe some of you had to read that in in school.

And Emanuel Velikovsky says this, that in science it is theoretically possible. Now listen to this carefully, especially because he's not a believer, but coming from science, he said when you look at the scientific world that there's the visible and the invisibleness of science, there's things that you can touch, there's things you can't touch, there's things that you can feel, things you can't feel, see and can't see. He said it is it is theoretically possible that with a slight change in the molecular structure of something, just altering it, it would cause it to go into a shift and it would morph.

And he said if that were to happen, you could actually have our world in which we live in and at the same time there could be a train going through the sanctuary in route somewhere with passengers sitting on board sipping tea or whatever. And you would never know and they would never know that two worlds are in collision. And he was terribly criticized for that, mocked and made fun of, but it's rather interesting if you think about what Emanuel Velikovsky is uh promoting because as a Christian, I read that and I go, I kind of understand where he's at.

He didn't get there all the way. You and I did as believers, but we got that part because in the world that you and I live in, there's eternal truth and there's a spirit realm that you and I have no doubt of. In fact, I am more sure of that world than I am of this world. I don't know much about this world. This world's freaky weird. And it's very unpredictable. If it wasn't for Bible prophecy, we would know what's up. And if it wasn't for God's science, right? The science that he's invented, we would know what's up because man is unpredictable in so many ways, but God is stable and the spiritual realm is eternal.

And it's happening right here right now with us right now. And what's amazing and I love being a Christian and I love what we're doing right now in Bible study because though it looks all very physical, uh it it starts out physical, but it goes immediately into the spiritual. The words that go out of my mouth because they're biblically based and in fact most of the time I trust quoting or paraphrasing scripture, which is eternal, it has an everlasting effect. Are you with me? It comes out of a physical mouth. It's going through physical air waves landing on your hammer, your drum, your apparatus of your ear.

It's being processed by your brain and you think about it. And if you think about it enough, it will be it will have an effect upon your life and it will go spiritual on you. It's absolutely awesome. Worlds in Collision, if you want to think of it that way. And Jesus said by the way in John 17 verse 1 we'll start right there for a second. John 17 1, listen to this about worlds coexisting as believers. John 17 1, Jesus spoke these words. He lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come.

Glorify your son that your son also may glorify you. Verse 2, as you have given him authority over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him. Listen, the physical interacting with the spiritual, isn't it? Verse 9, John 17 9, I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me. Verse 14, John 17 verse 14, I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world. Ooh, I like that. Worlds in Collision.

We are we are here, but we're not of this world. Just as I am not of this world. Verse 15, I do not pray that you should take them out of the world. And then he went on to pray, but really he said keep them in it, use them. I I I don't I mean I know I I'm joking, but I you kind of wish Jesus didn't pray that part. Wouldn't it been great if Jesus would have said, and the moment they accept me as Lord, boom, they become invisible and they go to heaven in an instant.

That would have been great. But uh he didn't say that. Uh we've got to stick around here and minister and serve and honor his name and lead as many boys and girls, men and women, everybody that we can come and talk come in contact with to lead them to Christ as well. Being salt. What does it mean to be salt? What was Jesus meaning? I hope tonight, I really do. Listen, I love you, but I hope tonight that you either just are just so happy at the end of the message or you are just absolutely lit up furious.

I will have failed tonight if you are somehow in the same condition that you walked in or that you're just okay to be ho-hum about things. I pray that tonight regarding this issue of salt and what Jesus meant, I pray that tonight you either just get absolutely angry and you've got to duke it out with God, which is very cool because you'll lose every time or you'll say yes. I got to uh be more salty.

Announcer: You're listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs. You know, to hear more episodes and maybe catch up in the series, just go to jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com. And for now, let's get back to our teaching. Once again, here's Pastor Jack.

Jack Hibbs: I got to uh be more salty in the world around me. The parable of being the salt. Number one, mark it down, verse 34, salt is a preservative. We'll talk about this now. Salt is a preservative. Look at verse 34. Jesus says salt is good. I I want to hear that. Count to three. I want you to say it back, salt is good. One, two, three.

Audience: Salt is good.

Jack Hibbs: Salt is good. I like salt. I like it. And uh Jesus says I like it too. But what did he mean by that? The word by the way, salary. Do you have a salary? What does that imply to you? You get a you have a salary which is a a way of payment um and you you receive money for hard work done. The word is salary. It's an interesting word. It's an old English word because it is rooted by the way in the word salt. When someone says uh he's not worth his weight in salt, he's talk they're talking about how sad it is to have paid you that salary, that salt-based payment for a crummy job you did.

Or if somebody had said, maybe you've heard this before, well, he earned his salt today. Have you ever heard that? Absolutely. He earned his salt today. What does that mean? That guy worked hard and here's your salt. You say, what are you talking about? Here's my salt. Listen, that's how much of the ancient world used to pay its hard workers with salt. Why? Salt was extremely extremely valuable. Salt was something you couldn't live without. You had to have it. You had to have it in your diet for your own health. You had to have it in your home for the preservation of your house.

It's a preservative. Uh it it has many many functions, but uh many of the Roman centurions or Roman guards would be paid their salary in wages of salt. And that's where we got some of those sayings from. Uh it's rather interesting because uh to us today we don't think much about salt, I guess, you know. We don't think much about it, but uh it's important to understand that according to Jesus and 2,000 years ago was a very very powerful thing and a very very wanted thing. In Matthew chapter 5 verse 13, Jesus said, you are the salt of the earth, which is an amazing statement as you 'll see tonight.

He says you are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? The word actually means how can you reseason it? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled under the foot of man. So salt is a preservative. That's one of its functions, just one of their functions, its functions. Is that it is a preservative. You would take a fish or meat and you would rub it in salt. Listen, the ancients some cultures still do this. When a baby is born, the baby is rubbed with salt to kill all of the bacteria, all of the unnecessary things and purifies, gets that baby out on a good healthy start uh in in in a sense uh washing it with salt.

If you uh put it into the meat, if you put it into the fish, the salt preserved it against rotting or slowed the rotting process down from taking effect. It's a preservative. So I want you to be thinking about when Jesus is, well, that's great, but you are the salt of the earth. What is he talking about? He's talking about those who follow him having a preservative type of power in their life being lived. Every one of us, I want you to listen. There is not one Christian who's a true Christian that is exempt or exempted out of being salt.

Did you hear me? You cannot be a Christian and uh be salt free or you've got to be salty. You have got to be salty as a Christian. And we'll talk about what it means and how that looks in our world and how should it affect our lives. But mark this down that the salt and the saltiness of our Christian life should have a preserving power that comes or emanates from us. And it has a great purpose. In Matthew chapter 10, for example, watch. This is one of the examples of being a preservative agent of salt for the kingdom of God.

That's what Jesus is talking about regarding you and I being salt. Matthew 10 7 says, and as you go notice he's assuming that we're going preach saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand. By the way, the kingdom of heaven is always at hand when it is preached. It is preached, listen, because it is at hand. It is at hand because it's being preached. Go figure that one out. Look what it it sounds and looks like. He says in verse 8, Matthew 10, heal the sick cleanse the lepers raise the dead cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper nor uh in your money belts nor bag for your journey nor two tunics nor sandals nor staffs, for a worker is worthy of his food. In Jesus' first commissioning of the disciples, he was teaching them be 100 100% dependent upon me as you go in this mission. I'll take care of you. Just take nothing but the word and go out there. And as you go from village to village, preach. And as you do, the kingdom of God will be in the midst of you. And this is what's going to happen.

You're you are going to be very very salty in the culture. How so? Well, in some areas as you preach and minister, people are going to be healed. The word's going to go out and set people free. People are going to be forgiven. People are going to find eternal life. Some people are going to be raised from the dead. So on and on he goes. The gospel being preached. That's a type of salt preservation that he wants to use in our lives to go and to extend the salt. Here's an excellent word from Dr. G.

Campbell Morgan, great expositor of yesteryear. He writes this, listen. If salt is at home in his neighborhood, he will not allow decay, rottenness, or corruption to move in. And if it were salt which moves into an already existing neighborhood, he shuts down decay, rottenness, and corruption by spreading uh by spreading and holes them in check. This is a cool word. The context of what G. Campbell Morgan was saying was this. Watch this. When salt goes out and when the Christian goes out as we go into the world around us, in our community, in our life, in the world that God has placed you, Christian whatever your zip code is has been designed by God.

You think you got a good deal on that house? God was working behind the scenes. He wanted you in that zip code. And one of the reasons why he wanted you, Mr. and Mrs. Salt, in that zip code is because he wants you to keep corruption, decay and rottenness in check in your area. So how do you do that? Well, just hang on. We'll we'll we'll look into that. If you're in a neighborhood of life if a church is in a neighborhood, think of it. The church the church the gathering right now is a gigantic extension of your own home if you think about it.

This is a big Christian house and it should have an effect. And according to Jesus, it should be salty. It should have preservative powers as a ministry of believers. Are you with me? And this is a very very wonderful thing to keep in mind because if that's happening, uh salt is not idle. It's uh it's very powerful. And if you doubt that, you know, go get a paper cut and then pour salt on it. And you think uh you just got stung by a wasp or something, right? I mean it's going to get you or get salt in your eyes.

Now I don't know about you guys. Uh I don't believe in swimming in the ocean without opening your eyes. I hope when you swim in the Pacific, you open your eyes. How many of you put eye drops in your eyes? You ever do that? If you do that, that's just like it's it's better swimming in the ocean than putting eye drops. It's fantastic because the salinity is just perfect. God designed. So it's wonderful. Okay? But you take but listen, if you if you um well, I don't know about I if you have a cut I have a cut this morning.

I had to go to court this morning and I was I was late. I looked at my Oh my goodness. And I'm like I'm getting dressed like this and I pull out the old razor blade and and you know guys, you know what I'm talking about when you're going and your face goes mama. And then you can feel the blood loss going down the drain. It looks like a horror movie. And you get salt on your face like I did this morning. It hurts. The application is all important, but with the hurt, it's a good thing that's happening.

Did you know that? It doesn't feel good, but it's a good thing. There's something going on regarding us being a preservative power as salt, Jesus says. Salt is good because it has these powers to it. One of them is a great thing of us being a preservative agent to the culture around us. It's interesting to note, listen to this, that salt can arrest corruption or putrefaction in its tracks. If something is putrefying like rotten flesh and you add salt to it, it doesn't take away what is already rotten. It stops the rotting from expanding onward.

That's kind of neat. Think about it. But what's very cool about what we're talking about is if salt shows up first, it keeps things pure. And I want you to think about that regarding your life and my life. Salt as it relates to you and I as a preservative will affect any and every culture that you and I are deployed into. And uh you think of that, listen spiritually. Are we are we being salty as a church? Am I being salty as a Christian in the spiritual realm? I sure hope so.

Announcer: Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs here on Real Life Radio with his message called Parable of Being the Salt. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack's series called The Parables of Jesus. It's a series that highlights the teachings of Jesus while he was ministering here on this earth. And we'll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.

Announcer: You know, the apostle Peter in his letters to the church urged his fellow Christians to keep on learning and growing in the faith in spite of their suffering and pain. Unlike today, however, resources were scarce. Still, they persevered and Christ followers were growing in both strength and numbers. Now there's no limit of ways to access quality materials on Christian living including Pastor Jack's website. When you go to jackhibbs.com and click the media icon, you'll find not only Real Life Radio episodes, but real life podcasts, real life TV, real life basics for Christian growth, and even news updates.

There's also specific verse-by-verse studies from books of the Bible and so much more. So head on over to our website at jackhibbs.com and click on the media tab. That's jackhibbs.com.

Jack Hibbs: Hey Christian, I'm speaking to you. Listen to this. You and I are not allowed to give up. I have to confess many times in my life I've thought about giving up, but God has put people around me in life. They wouldn't let me do that. And I'm here to tell you you're not allowed to give up either. God's not done with your story. He's still writing it. He loves you and he's going to complete it. Father God, in Jesus' name, may we not get in the way of what you're wanting to do. If we wiggle, if we squirm, if we try to jump, Lord, hold us tight because you and you alone have the words of eternal life in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Announcer: This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you, our listeners. Visit us at jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com. Until next time, Pastor Jack Hibbs and all of us here at Real Life Radio wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in his word. We'll see you next time here on Real Life Radio.