In this sermon, Pastor Babij examines Jesus’ call to strive against sin, particularly separating one’s life from temptations to sin and being careful not to cause others to sin. Finally, Pastor Babij looks at the crucial role of purity in the believer’s life in the church and in the world.
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because take our Bibles this morning in turn to mark chapter 9 and we will be looking at this morning verse 42 to 50 let’s pray lord this morning as we come before you as your people we do ask you Lord that as we look into your word that you would not only help us by the Spirit of God to understand it but Lord also by the strength your sphere to put into practice and I pray Lord Jesus that today you would make that clear to us because Lord we know from what it says here how serious you take your disciples and I pray Lord that we would be serious disciples and that we would understand what that means and that we would take measures to put off and put on the things that we need to so we can be your people and bring the light of the gospel to a lost and dying world and I pray this in your name Amen so in mark chapter 9 we’ve been looking at the prudes of serious discipleship we oldies you already saw that the disciples really had a difficult time listening to what Jesus was really saying to them that they still had a stumbling block to their faith and that that stumbling block still has to be removed and the stumbling block has been all along that they just couldn’t get and understand that the Messiah would have to suffer and die they were looking for a reigning king they weren’t looking for a dying Savior so last time when we were looking at the text I was bringing up at least important truths five important truths that shed light on serious discipleship what does cereals serious discipleship look like and I covered three of them and so I want to review those and then move into the fourth one and the first one was this that the first truth about serious discipleship found in verse number 32 32 is listening to Jesus in understanding the will of God is paramount and why is that so well because they didn’t understand the gospel in verse 32 it says but they did not understand this statement and they were afraid to ask him what state when we talk about we’ll look at verse 31 it says for he was teaching his disciples and telling them that the son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men and they will kill him and when he has been killed he will rise three days later so the Lord gives a very clear prediction about what was going to happen to him it’s it’s precise and timing and and yet they did not understand that so we see that the language in the text stresses that the disciples were in a continuous state of ignorance and fear and so the self-sacrificing posture of the Lord is contrasted with the disciples self-seeking and of course they were discussing something but it was not that a messiah would die a savior would die they were actually discussing something very selfish in verse number 34 it says this but they kept silent for on the way they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest alright so again we see that the second truth about serious discipleship is that serious discipleship is about self-sacrificing service to others that has to be in the mix the Lord was a servant he came as a servant anyone who follows the Lord one of the greatest things that we can do it if for the Lord on this earth is to serve others we serve others as we serve others we are actually serving the Lord so it is is it was it’s somewhat surprising in our text that Jesus is predicting suffering and death and his disciples that are discussing who’s going to be greatest in the kingdom of God alright so you see that there is something wrong there in how their understanding things so there’s a silence that comes over them and of course that is silence most likely is because they were ashamed to reveal how unworthy a subject they were discussing and they didn’t want to reveal it up to the Lord of course the Lord already knew they were discussing and so it also reveals the envy the jealousy and the pride that existed among the 12 apostles because they were thinking about the kingdom of God in the grand do sway they were thinking about a messianic Kingdom filled with earthly glory and grandeur and so the disciples have really a make a mistaken understanding of not only who they are but what God is actually going to do so there could be a kingdom alright so as as the world thinks they want to be great so that others will serve them of course that is not what a true disciple understands the true disciple understands if you want to be great you must choose to be last and so he says in verse 35 Jesus sits down again as I mentioned last time not to rest but to posture himself as a teacher and it says sitting down he called the twelve verse 35 and said to them if anyone wants to be first he shall be last of all and then of course servant of all so by the person’s own volition by their own will that a true serious disciple understands that if they want to be first they must be last and if one’s desire is to be first it is in this world he will buy his own deliberate choice end up being last so the Lord is saying to them that’s not the way to consider being a serious disciple so one is really not a serious disciple by rank or by status but by one service and so he mentions another thing verse 35 and he says that not only will should you shall be last of all but servant of all the end of verse 35 so if you want to be great if you want to be great the way of greatness is the way of service the Lord gives an illustration in verse 36 taking a child he set him before them and taking him in his arms he said to them all right whoever receives a child like this in my name receives me and whoever receives me does not receive me but him who sent me so in other words this is a illustration of the humble attitude and posture servants of Jesus Christ should have and should what should that be a servant receives the weak and the unimportant people they don’t push them aside so the servant is someone who’s going to consider week and undeserving and people that others don’t recognize or just pass by but not Christ’s disciples so when they do that they actually receive the Lord and his father so the Lord encourages them by that of course we I’ve said last week I said last week that the greatest example of what a servant is and what a servant does is Jesus Christ Himself for it says for even the Son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many so the purpose of the Lord’s life in coming into this world the first time was to give not to receive to give and not to take so Jesus was the greatest minister who ever walked the face of this planet and he expects his disciples to be very very serious about having a servant like spirit to be a servant he was he is serious about that and of course that led into a third truth about serious discipleship in verse 38 from verse 41 and it’s this that discernment and restraint is necessary when judging who are Christ’s real disciples it says in verse 38 and John said to them teacher we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we tried to prevent him because he was not following us so in other words the disciples are to discern those who are undeveloped in their faith and to be careful not to offend them not to push them away not to put stumbling block blocks in their growing in christ jesus and of course the key in these passages is the phrase in your name it is a key phrase and important for interpretation disciples rebuked this anonymous Exorcist because he was not among the regular followers of Jesus and they assume that only the followers of Jesus Christ who they knew had a right to use Jesus name to do mighty works so harsh criticism to a person undeveloped in faith or spiritually immature is not helpful and that’s not what disciples ought to be doing it can only drive a person away from the Lord and not to the Lord not to grow deeper into things of the Lord and the Lord’s response to them and verse number 39 was quite surprising because he says this in verse 29 he said to them do not hinder him right for there is no one who will perform a miracle in my name and of course there it is that my name again and of course it shows that the ministry and the message of Jesus Christ had gone out far and wide so there were followers of Christ all over that region that apostle disciples did not know and they were followers who grasped the name of Jesus by faith and had become real believers and they were actually so such real believers they understood it was a battle and were immediately wanting and desiring to get into the spiritual battle so Jesus kind of asks for patience on the part of his zealous disciples and also time for that the faith of this man to develop obviously the man’s faith was young and undeveloped the man’s knowledge was limited he needed to both grow in knowledge and wisdom so do we of course just like the patience that the Lord has been displaying with his own disciples who had been remembered dull in mind and dull in heart that’s the whole context up until this point his own disciples weren’t getting it so they didn’t have any right to be impatient with somebody who was doing something that was different than them that they did not know in other words there to show the same patience and long-suffering with others as the Lord has been showing all along to them in their Christian walk the Lord didn’t come down on them hard as they didn’t understand things he actually gradually is bringing them along gradually giving them more knowledge gradually watching over them yes at times he does rebuke them so the Lord has several reasons why he’s he says not to reject them the first one is listen to anyone who performs a miracle in my name and be able soon after the speak evil of me it couldn’t happen a person like this would not soon turn against Christ after working a miracle in his name because he was interested in the name he was following following in the name of Jesus and then verse 44 he who is not against us is for us so this man is not against Christ or his disciples so then to some extent he is on their side even though they didn’t know much about him so we should be very careful if you are endeavoring following Christ to be a serious disciple not to be quick to judge another person who was working in the name of the Lord yet they are different in their philosophy and in their practice we have to be very careful about that and the Lord of course says listen don’t reject them but instead show kindness to them in verse number 41 show kindness to those who are different not in our circles yet are Christ’s disciples and he says in verse number 41 for whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ truly I said to you he will not lose his reward so anyone ministering in the name of Jesus Christ and our by the Lord’s understanding a real disciple even if they give a simple glass of water to those who are ministering in the name of Christ they will not lose their reward no one who was seeking to serve the Lord no matter how seemingly unimportant his service or how insignificant that significant that person may be is included from Christ circle now I want to add something to that I didn’t say last week yes we are to discern who are Christ’s real disciples and accept them but keep this in mind we are never relieved of the responsibility to discern the spirits to whether something is true or whether is something as false we are always growing in discernment so what we must be aware that the are those who pirate the name of Jesus Christ for evil purposes all you gotta do is turn on the television and Jesus name is pirated all over the place and not in a way that lines up with Scripture because remember the passage in acts 19 where the sons of sec foe were casting out in the name of Jesus where it says Jewish exorcists actually were attempting to name over those who had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus Christ saying i adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches and this is what happened to him an evil spirit answered and said to him I recognize Jesus I know about Paul but who are you even the demons recognize this person was false and it says in the man in whom was the evil spirit leapt on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded they have the living daylights piada rodolfo and then of course the self deceived disciples in the very popular passage of Scripture well known in Matthew 7 20 and 23 so then you will know them by their fruits not everyone who says to me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but he who does the will of my father was heaven many will say to me on that day Lord Lord did we not prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons and in your name perform many miracles and then I will declare to them I never knew you depart from me you who practice lawlessness so see this context in mark is a different context than in what Matthew was saying and so here we are to accept those who are practicing things in the name of Christ all right of course we are also to observe their fruit whether their fruit lines up with scripture brethren there are a multitude of false teachers both men and women who preached the false gospel today everywhere let me just mention a few Jesse Duplantis he said that God asked him for his opinion creflo dollar is a health wealth and prosperity preacher Kenneth Copeland he said that God is a failure Ron parsley Sid Roth Joseph Prince popular today on the airways Don Piper not John Piper Don Piper writes a book 90 minutes in heaven all right Andrew Warmack or Womack and then of course Joel Osteen who’s extremely popular he says that Hindus love God well if you don’t have the right God if you don’t have if you haven’t come to the God of the Bible through Jesus Christ then you don’t love God you love an idol but you don’t love the God of the Bible and then of course even even guys like Rick Warren who who say when they were when they were talking about hell he says it’s almost impossible to go to hell has he forgotten that the way that leads and instruction is wide and to life Narrow Sea though those statements are not they’re totally wrenched out of what the Bible teaches and then you have the women preachers not only are there no women preach of there should be no women preachers because the Bible forbids it but there are today right Marilyn Hickey Paula White Gloria Copeland Jan crouch Joyce Meyer very popular find her books in all the bookstore God wants you to be healthy is her message Beth Moore God spoke to me Victoria alstyne what about Oprah Winfrey she’s taken on a level of spirituality that she communicates in her message saying that there’s many roads God and then you have a woman named sarah Young who writes a 365-day devotional and she yearned for more because she didn’t think she was getting enough from the Bible and so she decided to listen to God pen in hand writing down whatever she believed he was saying to her in her mind now that’s troubling because if God is speaking to her is she writing scripture if she is getting revelation from God is it less authoritative than scripture itself it’s a huge problem if God is speaking outside of Scripture can God speak less authoritative I don’t believe so when God speaks it’s always authoritative so if she is receiving revelation from God than she is adding to Scripture and in violation of clear biblical principle which says listen not to add or to take away from the word of god three times in Scripture it’s mentioned once in the second law Deuteronomy you shall not add to the word which I am commanding you nor take away from it that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I commend you and then again in Proverbs the wisdom literature every word of God is tested he is a shield to those who take refuge in him do not add to his words or he will reprove you and you will be proved a liar and then of course in Revelation the last book of the Bible it says if anyone adds to them God shall add to him the plagues which are written in this book if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy God shall take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city which are written in this book see so God is serious that his disciples ought to be compassionate yet discerning so we are to discern who are Christ’s real disciples and accept them but we are never too relieved from the responsibility to discern whether something is true or false whether something something somebody is speaking what is true or what is false tears and we are going to grow side by side in God’s churches are they not in the age of grace so believers are to remain compassionate but they are remain to remain soberly alert about what’s going on around them we can’t stick our head in the sand right alright so that leads into a fourth a fourth truth about serious discipleship and that’s found in verse 42 of Mark chapter 9 to 48 now in these passages scriptures there’s two warnings that are given and of course the fourth truth about serious discipleship is that sin is to be taken seriously and is it is to be defeated at all costs now this has everything to do with all of us all right because we’re all sinners we’re saved by grace we’re safe from the condemnation of sin but every day right we have our given choices to sin or not sin to put our sent to death to put on righteousness alright so this is very important and the Lord warns the disciples very strongly in this area and here’s the first warning or verse 42 look it says the warning is about causing others to stumble it says whoever causes one of these little ones who believes to stumble it would be better for him if with a heavy millstone hung around his neck he had been cast into the sea so in other words this this word here right here to stumble is the word really scandal on but it means to be caught to be caught in a trap to be caught in a sin it’s a place a person is put in to stumble over their faith and be confused in their faith and not to proceed forward so whoever causes the fellows the excuse me the followers of Christ like little ones who trust him those who are little in faith and spiritually undeveloped to fall into sin they have a serious problem with the Lord it was a theologian RC sproul who said this and he put it he put it well he says advil the little ones are the advil Christians who are not sophisticated in their learning but seek to be faithful and obedient to Jesus with childlike faith jesus warned that if people who are puffed up with knowledge or with their status in the church arrogantly cause simple Christians to stumble they exposed himself to great chastisement from the Lord so it would be better in other words if you died right now before the supposition could become a reality in your life and notice the enormity of the crime it says if the word if if the deed were carried out the penalty is death alright of course that having a heavy large flat millstone that you still be used to grind grain hung around your neck and you were cast into the sea that means you’re not coming up you’re going to die see it’s better to drowned in the sea with no chance of escape than to face the judgment that God will dish out to those who lead others to sin now before you you read the part from that I just want to remind you this sin is committed by believers anything you do in your life that can cause someone to send by your actions by your behavior by your attitude you have to consider because you know what all ice disciples are called to be examples to everyone who looks on their life now we’re not perfect I say that all the time but the direction of our life should be to want to please God right and one of those things that we do to please God is take care of our attitudes to take care of the words that we speak to take care of our actions that we display before people what we do people may take our lead and if it’s all wrong then we may be leading them away from the Lord into same and the Lord is warning his disciples don’t let that happen it would be better all right the f I mean the if scenarios if all right it doesn’t mean it happened it mean it could happen given the right circumstances right he’s saying to his disciples don’t let it happen in your life if you want to be serious remember you are growing in the lord and people are looking at your life so live your life in a way that it’s honoring to the Lord whoever destroys a childlike believer spiritually incurs the greatest wrath of Jesus so there’s a a great danger of in staring others into sin but there’s even that easier danger and that’s allowing yourself to be ensnared so the second warning he gives his disciples is to be concerned about the remaining evil within you now get that he wants his disciples to be very aware of the remaining corruption that is still in them and this is how he packages it now this next section of our passage is hyperbole hyperbole means it’s not to be taken literally even though these three statements we’re going to look at our hyperbolic the if term makes them probable now in other words it is possible for these things to happen given the right circumstances serious disciples are to take care that these things are taken care of now here’s the first thing he says to those he says listen don’t lead others into sin but don’t let yourself be led into sin alright that is something he addresses here see sin will in other words entrap you with devastating results so there’s a point of comparison he gives in these passage of scripture from between the better and the worst what’s better and what’s the worst alright let’s look at the first one in verse number 43 and 44 it says if your hand causes you to stumble all right cut it off here it is it is better to enter life crippled then having your two hands to go into hell into the unquenchable fire right and of course verse 44 and 46 may not be in your translation it’s in the King James but it may not be in there but that’s alright because it’s covered in verse 48 and it may be in brackets there but in other words right your hand is symbolic of what you do your deeds so the Bible is saying listen take care of what you do don’t let your hands be doing something you ought not to be doing of course the hand does not act independently of the will the hand is but the instrument for gratification of the evil desires of the heart he covered that in mark chapter 7 alright so another thing he says is this if your foot causes you to stumble in verse number 45 cut it off it is better for you to enter life lame than having your two feet to be cast into hell alright so again we see this sense that the foot is symbolic of where you go the improper places that you may go that is not pleasing to the Lord and also not an example to those who are looking at your life right where do you go with your feet that the Lord is not pleased with all right and then again he says in verse number 47 if your eye causes you to stumble throw it out it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into hell then in verse 48 it says where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched so this third one here the eye is symbolic of what we look at that causes us to send what do we look at that causes us to sin the lust which are stimulated from without aroused by the sight of things that are forbidden for us to be gazing upon of course that cancels out many things I mean we can start from pornography all the way down we can we can start from anything that our eye gets pleasure in that we know is not pleasing to the Lord alright so again we see the things going on here where it is the comparison between what is better of course if you hack all now he’s not talking about go and cut your hands off or he’s not talking about I saying it’s not literal or cutting your feet off right it’s but it’s talking about in a spiritual way because you’ve been hacked off all the body parts and you can still be the sinner because sins in your heart write sins in your heart but our eyes can be the gate in which sin enters our mind a right and our will could be the very thing that causes our hands to sin right and our will can be the very thing that take art takes our feet somewhere we ought not to be see so the Bible is saying listen if you’re going to be a serious disciple you have to take you and I have to take heed to what’s going on in our heart what are we doing in our life that we need to cut out that’s literal spiritually cut out so in all three cases Jesus is telling his disciple it is better to lose a precious body part or whatever is treasured by you than to spend an eternity in hell to put in in straightforward terms the worst calamity that can befall any human being is to go to hell so to merely cut off a hand to cut off a foot to pluck out an I would not cut out the sinful heart it is your own evil heart that will abuse these body members to make them instruments of lusts and passions that center within you so in other words take care he’d of what’s going on in your heart in your will what do you really want in your life if you really want something that is totally opposite of what God wants you’ve got a problem those are the things you need to start cutting out of your life so sin in other words is to be dealt with radically and swiftly just as a surgeon does not hesitate to cut off a gang giris hand to save someone’s life so evil and destructive practices must be sacrificed to save the soul anything which causes a person to fall into sin should be removed immediately grant Osbourne said the violent rejection of temptation is necessary to be victorious over sin now these are these are very strong words here in Scripture I don’t think you know what I don’t think if you are given the project to make this stronger you could do it so in other words God’s taking his disciples to a place to say to them I am super serious about this you must be also because number one people are looking at your life and I don’t call you to be perfect but I do call you to grow call you to grow and part of growing is dealing with your own sin not someone else dealing with your sin you deal with your own sin so we can blame shift and push to someone else that you know I’m something because you’re you’re sinning but see a mature Christian doesn’t do that an immature Christian may do that I mature Christians going to say you know I am the guilty one I cause these problems these issues and the results are my sin these are the results of my sin I’m taking full responsibility of them so anything at that point in my evaluation as I understand scripture that I need to cut out of my life I’m going to cut out of my life because it’s that serious I said last week when I started out I gave it Illustrated about being serious about about lightning and the reason why we ought to be serious about lightning is because a typical typical lightning flash is about 3 million volts and about 30,000 amps in comparison to our outlets in our house which are only 120 volts and 15 amps or maybe 20 so in other words if you don’t take lightning seriously and you go out walking in the middle of a golf cart a and it’s lightning all around you you know what don’t be surprised if you find yourself dead in other words discipleship is that serious matter of fact it’s so serious the Lord compares it with spending eternity in the kingdom of God or spending eternity in hell three times he mentions hell in fact the admonition is this right now every precaution needs to be made to cut off everything in our lives that leads us us personally into sin whether it’s a computer that you need to throw out the window because you can’t handle the websites whether it’s a book that you would like to read that has nothing good in it whether it is a person that you need to get out of your life because every time you’re around them they drag you in the direction that you should not be see there are things we have to do for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ from the sake of real disciple see it’s not it’s being disciples of very very serious matter this is not the Lord’s not playing games he’s not saying to us live the way you want don’t worry about it all look over that I’ll overlook things no he’s not doing that at all he’s calling us to a very serious position in fact the word used here three times he says or you can be cast into hell be cast into hell be cast into hell the word that he uses there in Scripture is the word Gehenna it’s now some translations have translated that gahanna well gahanna in ancient ancient times is a site of human sacrifice to the pagan god Molech the practice is condemned by the Prophet Jeremiah and stopped by King Josiah in Jesus day it was a place that garbage was burned outside Jerusalem day and night fires continually older there and the site was used to as a burning ground for refuse and even four dead bodies of criminals and animals so in time the valley became a picture or synonymous with hell that’s why it says in Scripture and verse 48 if you notice again what it says there it says where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched now you know know it comes from there’s 66 books in the Bible right there’s 66 chapters in the prophet of Isaiah well chapter 66 and the last verse let’s turn there for a minute let’s notice something Isaiah chapter 66 and verse number 24 this is what it says it says in Isaiah 66 24 it says then they will go forth and look on the corpses of corpses of the men who have transgressed against me for their worm will not die and their fire will not be quenched and they will be an abhorrence to all mankind now this is the passage that Jesus uses to describe people who remain in their sin without him being their Savior will end up being a spectacle to all humanity on how they rejected God that’s pretty serious see Jesus himself describes hell in vivid terms in verse 48 he says where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched now just think about that for a moment if something doesn’t die and something cannot be quenched that means those things are eternal activities they don’t end Jesus is the one who spoke about Hell more than anybody else the worm stays busy devouring the carcasses it’s the picture of just the maggots when it comes to death just devouring the corpses and the bodies it never ends so in other words in hell hope never comes in hell there’s no rescue in hell there’s no help inhale people will have resurrected bodies that will be able to be suffer and never die there’s not even the hope of death for escape so in other words if we bring that all together we the serious disciples have to make sure that you escape the fires of hell and make sure you lead others to escape the that horrible place too so that you and they can enter into life or enter into the kingdom of God so in other words disciples are people who walk the earth who are the living message of the Lord Jesus Christ and we can’t point people to the kingdom or we can be a stumbling block and point people away from Jesus Christ as if he cannot help at all their problems so you know what we need to thank our Lord for allowing us to hear the words of hope and salvation that His divine mercy has rescued us and he’s rescued us from eternal perdition all those who trust Jesus Christ alone for eternal life he promised us us the kingdom of God he promises us life and joy so serious disciples takes in serious so that it is not a stumbling block to others or to themselves and then here’s a last one the fifth one the 5th truth about serious discipleship which really leads to a conclusion and here it is the dynamics of discipleship is this that serious disciples spread their influence you have more influence than you know and how do I know that well look in verse 49 it says this for everyone will be salted with fire now this is very complicated passage here and the reason why it’s complicated is because there’s two possible interpretations to this passage the first one it is is this it could be connected with what just proceeded meaning that everyone who enters hell shall be preserved as salt pervert preserves through an eternity of torment that’s a possibility of strong or it could mean the persevering and refining fires of trials sufferings and testings will prove how salty you are in the world or you can take both separately one would mean something the first one and another one would be the second one because he does pick it up in verse 52 mean something else so if disciples do not manifest the distinctive characteristics of salt the tang of salt that Jesus requires they are not real disciples but are worthless to him so he says in verse number 50 were to have salt in or among ourselves he says this salt is good but if the salt becomes unsalted with what will you make its salty again have salt among yourselves and be at peace with one another so he is saying to them listen you ought to be what you are and what does it say in other passenger scriptures that you are the salt of the earth right and salt has very strong characteristics to have salt amongst each other means to share salt or a reference to having meals together in the context of fellowship and peace that when people share meals together they in other words are at peace with one another the point being that disputing about your status causing other believers to stumble not taking sin seriously does not set the groundwork for the characteristics of salt which is supposed to be salt is something that keeps purity salt is something that preserved salt is something that gets flavor too and then in this case salt is also connected with peaceful fellowship that should characterize Christ’s disciples soak right so the first of all it’s used as a preservative Jesus is saying that apart from his disciples the world would be more rotten and go bad in its rottenness so that means that Christians have the effect of delaying moral and spiritual corruption the blessed of God the approved of God have a persevering impact and a preserving impact upon society if the influence is not present in other words if Christians are not salty in their discipleship well society suffers moral decay but they also suffer the message that will save their souls for eternity if we’re not doing that then of course we’re not being so salty did you know that you who serve the Lord are already salt that you are salt to your coworkers you are salt to your friends you are salt to your family your neighbors your roommates those whom you play sports with parents you are salt to your children grandparents you are salt to your children and grandchildren you are sold to those you go shopping with to those you play sports with you our salt wherever you go that’s what serious believers understand and the effects of salt in a society could mean something simple as this a moderation of language that when you come amongst your friends you’re not cursing you’re not gossiping you’re not blaspheming you’re running running the name of the Lord that’s salt alright or it could be just conscious about standards you have good morals you have a good worth work ethic you’re honest your respect full towards others you’re willing to help you have a servant attitude no matter what rank you have so you know when the boss rolls up his sleeves and gets his hands in the dirt that means something that means he’s not afraid to get down there with others and show that I’m just like you it does something even conversations brought on the control you’re not the one telling the dirty jokes you’re not the one with the sexual innuendos or whatever in your windows are brought through language you’re not the one doing that see when you go into a situation in your salt and they know that you’re a believer what did they usually do oh this is what they do to me that’s why I don’t like people calling me pastor in front of people as soon as they know and we’ll pass there everything gets cleaned up I don’t want it I don’t want them an old pastor just let them know I’m just plain old Joe all right and then it all comes out and then later on they find out no pastor they say they come up in so I’m sorry man I didn’t mean to say that you know that’s all right but that’s how salt works see if you go into a situation they don’t even have to know your Christian they will know by you being salty because it’s going to rub off on its going to pour out of you it’s an awareness of spiritual things you are aware of purity you are aware of sin you are aware of how how powerful kindnesses and mercy is towards people and you are aware that with it what this person needs is the word of Christ they need the gospel so I don’t want to try to clean up their language I want to try to clean up what they’re doing I want to give them the gospel which is going to rescue them and then they’re going to become a disciple and they’re going to grow in the Lord and they’re going to grow out of all that stuff right so that’s what a disciple is that you’re aware of spiritual things you are aware how important prayer is you’re aware how important worship is to be in church on Sunday martyn lloyd-jones said this a Christian must be a cleansing antiseptic in any society in which he happens to be he must be the person who by his present defeats corruption and makes it easier to be good so what about when salt it brings it up in our texts verse 50 what about when salt loses its saltiness look what it says salt is good but if salt becomes unsalted with what will you make it salty again the answer is that would be nothing right bud salt can’t lose its saltiness nevertheless it can be adulterated it’s sufficiently mixed with other elements it will lose its ability to preserve and season corruption which will result in abound and then of course hindering the salts effectiveness and then shelving it because it’s useless it doesn’t do anything it’s a Matthew says it like this if the salt has become tasteless how will it be made salty again it is good for nothing anymore except to be thrown out and trampled under the foot of men so Jesus announces that our ability to preserve the world is in order that it may see christ in us and that’s the point that in everything we do the world may see christ in us and that depends on us being different so are you different our use are you a salty christian how effective is your saltiness and believe me assaulted christian cannot be double-minded they can’t be living to lifestyles they can’t be living one in private in one in public assaulted christian is the same all the time wherever they’re at because they’re living for christ even if no one’s around them they’re thinking about christ christ is transforming them the word is transforming then so God has placed his children his disciples in this world didn’t take us out of the world he left us here for what reason to make a difference to be different so we can provide the world were a world a picture of purity we can preserve the world in its sinfulness that we can give flavor to the world and that we can of course in our passages seek peace unless it was Sinclair Ferguson who said unless we maintain the purity of our own lives that’s plucking out our eyes being radical with sin and are purified by the flames of testing and remain faithful to Christ our lives will have no persevering or preserving influence on this corrupt world so if you desire this morning and I pray this passage of Scripture will give you a greater desire to be serious about the cycle ship it will give you desire to want to be a salty disciple then there are three things I believe that we can conclude with the first thing is this first live in such a way that not one of his little ones who trust him is a cause to stumble secondly walk in the spirit so that you will have control over your flesh if your hand offend you cut off the sinful activity if your foot offend you stop going to the place of disobedience if your eye offends you remove anything that pollutes your mind and thirdly live the life of a sacrificial servant and you will be salty that is a guarantee so be humble avoid entangling yourself and others in sin when you sin kill it quickly don’t fuss about position and status receive the weak and the lowly except those who do their work in the name of Christ but remain discerning make a difference by preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and by reflecting the attributes of a salty and maturing disciple at all costs except compromising the truth pursue peace then your life will count then your life will be effective and the kingdom of God will come and you’ll be in it and the others you influence they’ll be there to see that’s the point discipleship is serious business let’s pray lord thank you this morning Lord your kindness to us in showing us these hard things just make us better it just makes us understand how serious you are about what you’ve done and what you’re going to do and Lord it also makes us serious to understand that we we we who sit here today and those who come to Christ and received him as their Lord and Savior we are the salt of the earth we are the light of the world we are the disciples that could be a stumbling block to someone or we can lead them to eternal life we are the one who could be a stumbling block to even ourselves by not taking care and policing our own heart oh lord please give us a discernment to know how to live our life each day in a manner that really pleases you that we really know what we’re doing and Lord that we’re not ignorant or presumptuous that if we do this thing that you’ll forgive us but Lord that we would always know that when we sin we sin against love and I pray Lord that that would prevent this from sinning when we do sin let us take care of it quickly and radically and Lord let our lives be a preserving influence in our society let us be Christians that are not shelled because we’re not salty and useless but we’re salty and we’re being used all over the place by the Spirit of God Lord make us like those kind of people make a serious disciples and I pray this in Christ’s name Amen I