Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: The world wants to close the church. The world hates us. And yet we cannot hate the world for this is the purpose Christ came into the world. And Christ saved each one of us individually so that God can use our lives to become salt and light in the world that is tasteless and the world that is dark.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. We are in the middle of our Liberty series, exploring how your freedom in Christ can direct and empower you on a daily basis.

Today, Raul will challenge you to act as spiritual salt, pouring out Jesus' love on those around you. Like food that lacks flavor, there are people who need God's hope and salvation, and you can be the one to impact their lives. The title of our study today is The Salt of the World. Here's Raul Ries in Matthew chapter 5, verse 13.

Raul Ries: Going through Matthew has been a real blessing for me and coming to the Sermon on the Mount because now what the Lord's going to do, he's going to talk to us as Christians, as believers. And the reason he's going to do that is because he's going to step on our toes.

But the reason he's going to do that is because he's going to prove to us that he loves us, that he cares about each one of us individually, but at the same time he's going to test you to see if you're really a believer or not. If we didn't have any other book in the New Testament, just had the Sermon on the Mount, that would be it.

You find everything in the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount was not written to the people, it was written to disciples. We are disciples of Jesus Christ, that's why we're studying here the book of Matthew. In chapter five, he gave us the beatitudes. He said first of all in verse three, "poor in spirit," then in verse four, he says "mourning," verse six, he says "hunger and thirsting for righteousness," then "merciful," "pure in heart," "peacemakers," and then "persecution" for righteousness.

And then the last one, he says, "Blessed are you when they revile, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you for my sake." And yet Jesus here in verse 13, look what he says. He says, "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled under the foot by men."

I mean, before he talks about light, he's saying that we are the salt of the earth. And when you think about salt, I don't know if you've ever been to Israel with us, we go down to the desert and we come to the Dead Sea. It is full of salt. And when you step out into the water, there's so much salt that you can lean back this way, sit on the water, and you can read a magazine and a newspaper, you won't sink. There's so much salt.

There are seven things that can be said about salt. Number one, salt is distinctive. It is different from food or object upon which it is put. Secondly, the power of salt lies in this difference, that God calls us to be different. Thirdly, believers, just as salt, are to be different from the world, different from the world.

It's incredible when I talk to people in the world. They'll say to me, "Why is it that people that call themselves a Christian do not believe and live like Christians?" Think of your neighbors, think of your friends. I mean, you can have friends, but think of your family. I mean, one of these days the world will come to a conclusion and either we're going to go to heaven or we're going to go to hell.

Like here he's talking about salt, and then he says if you're not becoming salt, and all of a sudden you lose your power and you're no longer talking about Jesus Christ and the power of being a Christian, then he says what? You become no longer as salt, but now the salt is no longer of any good, and the only thing good about it is to take it and throw it down on the ground where people can step over it. There's no more power.

And I wonder if today the reason the church does not have any power, the church has become like the world today. So you imagine in the church coming, sitting, hearing the word of God, trying to be the salt of the earth, but at the same time God says to each one of us individually, how can you be unless you repent?

And you come to that place in your life where you know that God has called you, anointed you, he's using your life, and yet when you don't preach, yet by your life they can see that you are a believer and righteous of Jesus Christ being with the Lord. Listen to what he says in James 1:27. He says, "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." To keep unspotted from the world.

Think of how many Christians today are spotted in the world instead of being unspotted. How about Romans 12:2? "And do not be conformed to this world, be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is good, acceptable and perfect will of God." That's why we can't force people to become Christians, to sign a piece of paper to join the church.

Because when you come to Jesus Christ, you have to come to that place in your life that when God touches my life, then the Holy Spirit begins to work within me. And then like Paul said here, "and I'm not conformed to this world, but I've been transformed by the renewing of my mind." Notice that, "that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." Are you truly in God's will and are you obeying God's will? Or are you cheating God's will?

How about Second Corinthians? He says, "Therefore, come out from among them and be separate," saith the Lord. "Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, you shall be my sons and daughters," saith the Lord Almighty. Paul the apostle, this is what he'll be to you.

First John 2:15: "Do not love the world neither the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and notice the pride of life. It is not of the Father but it is of the world. And the world is passing away and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever."

Think how salt also is a preservative. It keeps things from going bad and decaying. We are the salt of the earth. We need to be that example in the church, that we haven't turned our backs on Christ and we're actually saying it's okay to do this when we know that it's not right what we do, but to be honest and to be godly and to be notice not only godly but to be holy as he is holy so that our wives and our children can believe that we believe.

Think of your parents or your grandparents, aunts, uncles, when you have told them that you've been born again of the Holy Spirit and you're not a Christian and begin to see your life that in your home is not what you say. Think if you bring your children here to Sunday school and they're being taught the word of God, then they go home.

And either in the home or after the home is taken care of in the evening when they go to bed, and they hear mother and father arguing and maybe even cussing or the father hitting his wife or throwing things in the house, destroying the house. Those kids, after they've been here and they're becoming salt of the world and you're supposed to be the salt of the world, what do you think is going to happen to your children?

Like so many children, they'll walk away from God because they didn't see true salt in your home. You're supposed to be the salt of the world, a salt that is standing there. Who's a liar? But he who denies that Jesus Christ is he? He is an antichrist who denies the Father, the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either.

He who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. Therefore, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he has promised us: eternal life. And then how about salt penetrates a person's heart? It penetrates. It inserts a new quality of substance in life for us.

Notice Second Corinthians 5:17 again: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. All things are passed away, everything becomes brand new, brand new." How about Ephesians 4:24? "And that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness."

Colossians 3:10: "And have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him." So salt, salt is very good for us. We are the salt of the earth, but if we lose our taste and we lose our flavor, it is only good to be taken and cast into the ground so that people can step over. No more power. No more power to the child of God. And what do they do? They make fun of you.

Think of how many have come out of the world, they come to Christ and then they go back into the world. And when they go back into the world, it is worse than when you were in the world. Why? Because the light has been turned on. No excuse. You're responsible. And I think of how many in the churches that maybe are here or maybe they're not here and they went back to those sins they were committing and now they're totally in bondage again and Satan has lied to them.

And in order for them to come back, God would have to bring that conviction in their hearts. And imagine if people die in that conviction.

Guest (Male): This is Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. We'd like to take a brief time out and remind you that we're committed to helping you grow in faith as you seek to honor God in your daily living. Visit us at somebodylovesyou.com for a wealth of resources. You can also download our Somebody Loves You app for convenient access to live-streamed biblical teaching. Let's continue now with more of Raul Ries in our study, The Salt of the World.

Raul Ries: And then salt is quiet too, because quietness means I don't have to preach. I can just be what Christ has called me to be, a believer. My children, my wife, my husband, whoever it is. When you don't preach, you don't teach people, there's something about that person that God puts by the power of the Holy Spirit.

That because you don't do what you used to do when they know you, they'll come against you, they'll talk against you behind your back, and they'll come to a place one day where they don't even want you to come to their homes. When I came to Christ, I lost all my friends, everybody. My mom and dad, because they did not like what happened to me.

And it's not that you defend yourself, it is as you read the Bible, you study, you become the salt of the earth. That when you become the salt of the earth by reading the Bible, by becoming mature and sharing and preaching and reading, no one can ever, ever take you away from the Lord. Nobody. Because Jesus said you're the salt of the earth. You have become the salt of the earth.

First Peter 3:4 says, "Rather let it be the hidden person of the heart with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God." A quiet spirit. It's good in the presence of God. How about salt spreads its flavor? Spreads out. When you cook and you put salt on something and you think about how if you put too much salt then it's no longer of no good to partake and to eat it.

So as a Christian, when we share the gospel of Jesus Christ, we share it in power as the Holy Spirit gives us the wisdom and the knowledge so that we don't go beyond that and turn people away from Christ, but that the Holy Spirit can bring conviction in their hearts. I like that. Acts 4:20 says, "For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard."

I mean, what else can I talk about? I don't force myself on anybody, but when people ask me, I'm going to give you the answer. Not my answer. I'm going to give you what the Bible says. What does the Word of God say? Then in Colossians 4:13, he says, "For I bear him witness that he has great zeal for you and those who are in Laodicea are those in Hierapolis."

And then First Peter 3:15: "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and always be ready to give defense for everyone who's asking you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and the fear of God." We are the salt of the earth. And how about salt being impressive, irresistible in people's lives?

Isaiah 55:10 says, "For as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven and do not return there, but water the earth and make it bring forth a bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please it, and it shall prosper in the things which I send it to do." A true believer in Jesus Christ is real salt. You cannot help being salt.

And then secondly, the disciple's place as salt. Look at the second part of verse 13 because there we see our ministry on the earth. What is my ministry on the earth? It is the place where God has called me to be salt, not to be on the shelf, not just in my home, but where I work, where I play, wherever I go, I have to be salt in this world.

Because the world's in darkness and nobody really truly believes that we're living in the last days. Look at what's happening with right now with Russia, with the Arabs, all over the Arab countries. And we begin to see that financially the whole world is having problems. And yet could it be that the church is going to go before the Lord comes? We're going to go into a little bit of suffering and persecution.

Is God going to use that to weed out the church? To see if truly we believe in him, do we really trust in him? Where our country's heading, our faith is going to be tested and that's why we need to be salt. Salt in a place that is going in different direction away from the cross of Jesus Christ.

And when persecution comes, it's like the time with Caesar when the Christians would stand before Caesar. He would say, "Caesar is Lord or Christ is Lord." And those that said Caesar is Lord, they were okay. But those that say Jesus is Lord, they were persecuted and killed. Are we ready for that to happen?

In Luke chapter 10:2, he says, then he said to me, Jesus, "The harvest truly is great but the laborers are few. Therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." And then John 4:45: "So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast, for they also had gone to the feast." They really put their eyes on Jesus but didn't come to Jesus, the majority.

How about thirdly, the disciple's mission? What's your mission, salt and earth? To go to the world, not just in the church, not just in your home. God has called us to be salt in a world that is so dark and tasteless. But we have something that the world does not have.

Not only do we become the salt of the earth, we have the holiness of God, sanctification, justification, and one day glorification because of who we are and because who he is. You'll never, ever regret having Jesus in your life, seriously. You never will, never, ever, ever will. Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will it season it?

Have salt in yourselves and have peace with one another. Colossians 4:6: "Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one." Then Matthew 28:19: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I've commanded you, and lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. So be it."

Salt of the world. We are the salt of the earth. And going out is not just pretending to be a Christian, you have to have the power of the Holy Spirit in order for people to see you. Too many phony people today in the church. Too many people that say one thing but they don't really practice what they say.

And Jesus said what? They shall know you by your fruits. Think how important the church has to be salt of the earth, to purify and to keep us in the world to be true witnesses of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to be true light in the world that is so dark and is passing away. So we need to do what? There are three things that happen to Jesus Christ. Remember?

He said what? He became useless, the person that doesn't have Christ. He becomes useless and then he has no value to Jesus Christ. But we, we have become useless? No, we become used by the Lord. Think of the privilege. And valueless? No, we become of value to the Lord.

And then thirdly, we don't become a stumbling block where so many people in the church today are stumbling other people because they don't see you as a child of God. In Matthew chapter 5:13 again: "You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled under the foot by men."

Those of you that are Christians, if you don't live according to the word of God and become salt, you're going to what? Stumble people. And eventually you're going to be disqualified, totally disqualified from what God's called you to do. And then thirdly, he will experience the loss when he appears before the judgment seat of Christ.

One day, remember, you're going to stand in judgment. God has forgiven us our sins. The unbeliever has not been forgiven, one day they'll stand at the Bema seat of Christ. Revelation 20:11-15: The books will be open, whoever's name was not found written in the Book of Life. Hell, Antichrist, false prophet, Satan, everyone in hell, and hell included, will be thrown into the lake of fire whose name was not found in the Book of Life.

To the Christian, there's what's called the Bema seat of Christ. One day when you die, the first one that we see is in there in the book of First Corinthians, remember chapter three. Wood, hay, stubble, gold, silver. All of the things you did as a child of God, they're going to be tested in the fire.

And whatever remains in the fire, that is going to be your reward. And if there's nothing in the fire to last, you will be saved as by the fire. You'll have to face God. Surely I want God to say, thou good and faithful servant, come on in. Come on in, look what I have prepared for you.

First Corinthians 3:15 says, "For no other foundation can anybody lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear. For the day will declare it because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test each one's work of what sort it is.

If anyone's work which he has built on endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer the loss, but he himself will be saved yet as through fire." Why? Salvation is the free gift of God. I surely don't want to make it by the skin of my teeth. I want to be obedient here. You know why? I want God to reward me. Not that I need a reward, but I want to hear the voice of God: thou good and faithful servant, come in, look what I've prepared for you in my kingdom.

Guest (Male): We hope today's message has been a motivation for you to be more proactive about sharing the joy and hope of your salvation. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Today's study was titled The Salt of the World. We've made an unedited version available to you for a donation of $5 or more. To get that, simply call us at 800-634-9165.

To further inspire you and pointing others to Jesus, we'd also like to tell you about Raul's four-part Liberty series. It's available on either CD or thumb drive. In each lesson, you'll learn more about what it looks like to walk in the freedom of God's redemption while honoring him with faith-filled obedience. You'll also be challenged to direct people to Jesus through the daily witness of your life.

To purchase Raul's four-lesson study, Celebrating Christ's Liberty, visit us at somebodylovesyou.com or give us a call at 800-634-9165. We'll send you the CD collection for $18 or the flash drive for just $10. Our number again is 800-634-9165. You can also write to us at Somebody Loves You Radio, Post Office Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California 91765.

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And if you'd like Raul's insight into your Bible questions, you can email him at pastorraul@somebodylovesyou.com. Every gift you give helps us keep sharing God's eternal truth and we are grateful for your partnership. And we hope you'll make time to be with us again next time as we continue in our focus on the freedom and purpose that's found in a daily walk with Christ.

This program is sponsored by Somebody Loves You Radio in Diamond Bar, California.