Join Adrian Rogers in a thought-provoking exploration of what it means to be a ‘salty saint.’ This sermon reveals how the metaphor of salt—from its preservative qualities to its ability to heal and irritate—provides a blueprint for impactful Christian living. Against the backdrop of societal decay and spiritual lethargy, Adrian passionately appeals for a return to dynamic discipleship, challenging believers to stand firm and activate their faith to effect real change.
Pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers has introduced people all over the world to the love of Jesus Christ and has impacted untold numbers of lives by presenting profound truth simply stated. Thanks for joining us for this message. Here’s Adrian Rogers.
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Matthew chapter 5 and verse 13, the Lord Jesus said, “‘Ye are the salt of the earth. But if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted?’ It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under the foot of men. What a verse. What a verse. We’re thinking today about salt. Probably already today you’ve put some salt on your eggs. Maybe you had some oatmeal with some salt in it. But salt is very necessary for life. But salt, you know, is a compound. made of sodium, which is a metal, really. It’s about the consistency of hard cheese. When I took chemistry, we’d take a little sodium and drop it in water. And we’d get a very explosive gas out of that sodium. We would get hydrogen gas. And then chlorine is a green, poisonous gas. And if you were to walk into a room full of chlorine, you’d be dead in a little while. These are two very dangerous things. If you were to ingest either that sodium or that chlorine alone, you’d die. And yet God, in His chemistry, has put the two together. Sodium chloride, we call it today table salt, is necessary for life. And I think of what God has done by the chemistry of the cross, how He’s taken that deadly part of my nature, and God has made something new out of me, even given me a new name just like sodium and chloride get a new name called salt. And Jesus said, You are the salt of the earth. I want to talk to you today about salty saints. I want you to see first of all what I want to call the dynamic of pure salt. The dynamic of pure salt. Why did Jesus use this metaphor? Why did Jesus use this figure of speech? Why did Jesus, when He described these people who were living like the Beatitudes, why did He call them salt? My dear friend, you’d have to understand the importance of salt in Jesus’ time. In that society, sometimes salt, pure salt, was more valuable than gold. As a matter of fact, pure salt was a rare delicacy. Pure salt was a medium of exchange. As a matter of fact, we get our word salary, our English word salary, it literally means salt money. You understand the expression today, now, that man is worth his salt. He’s not worth his salt. Salt was so very valuable. Why? Because of what it did and what it does. Number one, as you well know, salt seasons. Salt causes flavor to come alive. In the book of Job, we read this question, can that which is unsavory be eaten without salt? Is there any taste? in the white of an egg? The answer is obviously no. What does salt do? Salt seasons. A little boy said, salt is that which tastes bad when you don’t have it. He’s right. You see, Christians are to give to life, and Christians are to give to society a flavor, a tang, a zest. And we who are Christians are We’re to be different. That’s the reason the Bible says in Colossians chapter 4 and verse 6, let your speech always be seasoned with salt. You know there ought to be something about every Christian that’s absolutely exciting. Let your speech be seasoned with salt. There ought to be a zest about us. There ought to be a life about us. There ought to be a flavor about the children of God. Salt seasons. But I’ll tell you what else salt does. Salt preserves. When Jesus talked about being the salt of the earth and that crowd, there were fishermen. Jesus is right there by the Sea of Galilee. This is the Sermon on the Mount. And Jesus is telling those fishermen right there, you. are the salt of the earth. And obviously he’s talking about the preserving power of salt as well as the seasoning power of salt. Salt in that day prevented decay. It restrained corruption. It was necessary for those fishermen to keep their fish edible for them to salt them down. And oh, if ever there were a day when we need the preserving power of the gospel salt, it is this day of deadly decay. Tell you a third thing salt does. Not only does salt flavor, not only does salt preserve, but salt heals. Salt has an antiseptic about it. Salt has healing properties to it. As a matter of fact, in Bible times when little babies were born, they would give that baby a saline bath. They would salt the baby with salt. That is to hold down infection. And so salt, my dear friend, is an antiseptic. Salt heals. But I’ll tell you what else salt does. Salt burns. Salt irritates. Have you ever gotten a little ulcer in your mouth and then eaten a tomato with some salt on it? Or just, have you ever got a cut on your hand and then got salt in it? You see, the Bible says in Mark chapter 9 and verse 49, for everyone shall be salted with fire. What’s he saying? He’s saying that fire and salt have something in common. My dear friend, salt burns. And I want to tell you that the truth of God’s Word, when it is rubbed into this diseased and putrefying old world, will sting. Now, there are a lot of people who want a non-irritating brand of the gospel. But my dear friend, I want to tell you no offense means no effect. You describe this world, you preach to this world, and you’re going to be an irritant to this world. Salt burns, it irritates. I’ll tell you what else salt does. Salt penetrates. You can take just a pinch of salt and put it in a gallon of water and and it will permeate that entire gallon of water. As a matter of fact, salt is one of the few major compounds that will dissolve equally well in hot or cold water. And what we need to do is to get the salt to the source where it can penetrate, where it can activate and change society. We hear a lot today about separation of church and state. Anytime any preacher stands up and begins to talk about the moral issues of today, when they have a political ramification, someone will say, oh, hush, hush, separation of church and state, separation of church and state. You go back under the rock where you belong and shut up. My dear friend, I’m coming out from under the rock. I’m standing on the rock, and I want to tell this world that Christians are to be the salt of the earth, and we may believe in the separation of church and state. of church and state rightly understood but we don’t believe in the separation of salt from society Jesus Christ said you are the salt of the earth and if God’s people good people don’t speak out and stand up this nation is going to hell in a handbasket and real quick hope you understand that separation from sin yes isolation from sinners absolutely not You know the problem with us? We sit in these auditoriums like this all around America today. And all we have become is some sort of glorified salt shakers. The salt never gets out. In 1985, in New Orleans, Louisiana, there was a celebration. You know what they were celebrating? The Park Commission was celebrating they had gone through an entire summer without one drowning. in the city pools. They were so excited about that there were 200 people there. They were having a celebration. With those 200 people were 100 lifeguards. They were there celebrating. At the end of the celebration, the four lifeguards on duty that night looked in the bottom of the pool and there was a fully dressed man who had drowned in the midst of 100 lifeguards. Jerome Moody, age 31, died surrounded by 100 lifeguards. And I wonder how many souls are going to hell in our neighborhoods surrounded by people who claim to be the salt of the earth. Salt penetrates. Now that’s the dynamic of pure salt. I want to talk to you about the dissipation of polluted salt. The dissipation of polluted salt. Look again in verse 13. You’re the salt of the earth. But, but, if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith? Shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden underfoot of men. Do you know what is happening to Christians in this day and this age? We’re being walked on like never before. You know as well as I know that the whipping boy in today’s society is the Bible-believing Christian. Isn’t it true? People today have us beneath their feet. You say, well, preacher, they’re never supposed to love us. I don’t care whether they love us or not. I don’t want them to love us. Jesus said, beware when all men speak well of you. I want them to respect us. The problem is today, my dear friend, that they no longer respect Bible-believing Christians. And I’ll tell you why. Because we have become good for nothing. We’ve lost our saltiness. The world has no respect for the children of God. We’re trodden down under the foot of men. There’s a third thing I want you to notice. I’ve talked to you about the dynamic of pure salt. I’ve talked to you about the dissipation of polluted salt. Let me talk to you finally, and a little more emphatically, if I might, about the demand for preserving salt. If there were ever a need, if there were ever a time, if there were ever an age for the salt to work, now is the need, now is the time, now is the age… I wonder if rivers of blood and oceans of tears are what it’s going to take to bring this nation to her knees. And many people do not understand because they themselves are saltless saints. They are good-for-nothing saints. They are being trodden under the foot of man. I am alarmed. And I would to God, I would to God that God would give me the power and the strength to stir you and stir others who hear this message today. In 1962, the Supreme Court of the United States of America banned prayer in the public schools. My dear friend, a freeborn American ought to be able to pray anywhere In the home, in your house, in the school house, the state house, the church house, the white house. But school prayer was banned in 1962. Then the Bible, the reading of the Bible was banned in 1963. Then the posting of the Ten Commandments was was banned in 1980. So as to say, the kids, if they come and see the Ten Commandments on the wall, they may be influenced by that. They may be influenced not to kill. They may be influenced not to steal. They may be influenced not to commit adultery. Oh, we wouldn’t want to do that. God, the Bible, the Ten Commandments, and prayer are illegal in our schools, but condoms, Sex education, homosexuality, humanism are legal. America’s public education system is becoming a snake pit. And I’ll tell you why, my dear friend. The salt has lost its savor, and it’s time for the salt to work. In 1973, abortion on demand was legalized in America. January the 22nd, 1973, will go down in my estimation as the blackest day in American history. when nine black-robed Supreme Court justices, the self-appointed high priest of the new humanism, classified little babies in the mother’s womb as a non-person. The little baby, therefore, is a non-person. It has no rights. Since that time, little pre-born babies have been slaughtered, and they have been sacrificed upon the altar of expediency. Beloved, It’s time for the salt to work. I am telling you that the cesspools of iniquity are full and running over. Love is forsaken as lust. Satan is worshipped as a saint. Man is magnified above his maker. And it is time for the salt to work. I want to tell you something, my dear friend. Not only is America… ripe for judgment. America is now being judged. All of these things are the judgment of God. How does God judge us? He lets us have our way. Not only is God America’s biggest hope, only hope, God is America’s biggest threat. The judgment of God. And God not only will judge America, God is judging America. It’s time for the salt to work. The only hope, the only hope, the only hope, it’s not in Washington. It’s not in the Pentagon. It’s not on Capitol Hill. It’s not in our city hall. My dear friend, the only hope to keep the decay down is the salt of the earth. God’s people. We need to apply the salt. The problem is not with Hollywood, the media elite. The problem is not with the pornographers. The problem is not with the liquor dealers. The problem is not with the crooked politicians. Very frankly, my dear friend, if you want to know where the problem is, look around. It’s saltless saints. That’s where the problem is. Salt that has lost its savor, yet is henceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under the foot of men. Friend, it’s time for the salt to work. You say, Pastor, are you an optimist or a pessimist? I’m a realist. I believe as long as there’s God, there’s hope. I believe we can have revival in America. I hope you believe it. Why? Because I believe in God. When you talk about revival in America, all you get from some people is a sympathetic smile. But my dear friend, I want to tell you God is not dead, and God is not old, and God is not sick, and God has not lost His power. You say, but men are so wicked today. Well, friend, let me tell you something. God has never had anything but wicked people to work with. Adam was totally depraved. You can’t get worse than that. It’s an insult to God to say that we cannot have revival in wicked times. On Mount Carmel. Elijah decided he would be salt. The priest of Baal, 450 Elijah, one man of God, he proposed a contest. He said, the God that answers by fire, let Him be God. And that was the test, not fame, figures, or finances, but fire. And God sent revival on Mount Carmel, and the fire came and burned that wet sacrifice. You remember the story? Don’t say we can’t have revival. My dear friend, a God that can’t burn wet wood is no good anyway. God can do it. My dear friend in Jerusalem, there was a mighty revival in Jerusalem. The day of Pentecost. Never was there a city where they hated Jesus Christ more, for there they crucified Him. They were gospel-hardened. They’d heard the preaching of the prophets and had turned from it. Not only that, there was scandal. Simon Peter had cursed and sworn one of his closest and denied him. Judas had sold him for 30 pieces of silver. And yet on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of God fell and there was revival. My dear friend, in the dark ages, we call it the Protestant Reformation. You think things are bad today? My dear friend, the boys and girls in our Sunday school know more about the Bible than the priest in those days. It was a terrible thing. And yet God raised up Luther. God raised up Calvin. God raised up others. And there was what you call the Protestant Reformation. It was a mighty revival. It was a change in history. And God sent revival. And I say, oh God, do it again. Even in America. Dwight L. Moody, who was the Billy Graham of his day, never was unbelief more firmly entrenched than when Dwight L. Moody was preaching. On one occasion, Dwight L. Moody preached to a congregation of infidels about the size of this congregation, all of them saying, I’m infidel. I don’t believe in God. I hate Christ. I hate the Bible. Dwight L. Moody, a little uneducated shoe clerk, stood up and preached to all those infidels, and the power of God fell because of one salty saint. Don’t tell me we can’t have revival. Don’t tell me it’s too late for America. You say, well, there’s so much sin. There’s sin in Hollywood. There’s sin in the music industry. There’s sin in the government. God help us, there’s sin in the church. But I want to tell you the Bible says where sin did abound, grace doth much more abound. The problem is not that God cannot. God says, if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked way, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. It’s time to blow the trumpet in America. It’s time. Oh, it’s past time for the salt to work.
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