TO BE IN CHRIST – SALT (PART FOUR)

TO BE IN CHRIST – SALT

(PART FOUR)

Salt speaks of the risen life of Jesus Christ, imparted by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to the redeemed sinner. It is the salt for barrenness! As you have been reconciled to God by his death, you are constantly to be saved by his life.

It is only the life of the Lord Jesus, his activity, clothed with you and displayed through you that ultimately will find the approval of God. As a forgiven sinner, you are a member of a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ (I Peter 2:5). It is that Lord Jesus Christ alone who makes your sacrifices acceptable to God. Only what he does in you and through you merits his approval and God can and will accept nothing less!

Every oblation of the meat offering shall though season with salt; neither shall you suffer the salt of the covenant of the God to be lacking from the meat offering, with all your offerings you shall offer salt. (Lev 2:13)

Under no circumstances, God said in his law given to Moses, were any offerings to be brought to him, or sacrifices made that were not seasoned with salt. Without the salt they would not be acceptable no matter how lofty the motive, no matter how great a cast, no matter how noble the ideal. Without the salt they would not be acceptable.

This was the practice, as supported in Ezekiel 43:24 “thou shalt offer (these offerings) before the Lord and the priests shall cast salt upon them and shall offer them up for a burnt offering unto the Lord”. It was salt that made the offering acceptable.

Now the Lord Jesus in Luke 14:33 tell us the minimum demands that he makes for true discipleship. He says “so likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple”. He has got to recognize his bankruptcy so that his sole wealth is vested. To be vested in the one whom God has credited to him (in the person) by the presence of his holy spirit. This is the condition for discipleship.

“Salt”, he goes on to say is good, but if the salt have lost his savior, what then will it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath cares to hear, let him hear. Luke 14:34-35

There is a substantiate salt that has lost its savor. In the middle east salt is at a premium. For some reason salt is scarce. Salt was scarce, so there were substitutes on the market. It was good to the taste, all right for immediate consumption, but the moment they tried to preserve their food with these substitutes to keep it pure and healthy and edible, within a matter of hours (or at most a matter of days) in that hot sultry climate it went putrid and bad and stank! It was not even fit for the dunghill!

As in the case of substitute salt, there is a form of activity that is all right for immediate-consumption. It impresses everybody. Your stock goes up high but it will always leave a stink behind it if it stems the flesh and is self-activity!

It will always produce the kind of fruit that drops; both premature and immature to rot and never reproduce. This is the work of God that you believe and maintain unrelentingly. To totally depend upon the one whom God has sent to fill you with himself. He is the true salt through whom you are made the salt of the earth.

Here is another fascinating reference to salt. It is described in Leviticus 2:13. As the “salt for the covenant” this is the token of God’s unfailing pledge and purpose in the lives of redeemed sinners. The sinners who are accepted in the beloved: in whom we have redemption through his blood.  The forgiveness of sins (according to the riches of his grace) in Ephesians 1:-7. That is the tree for bitterness! In whom you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the guarantee of our inheritance. Ephesians 1:13-14: This is the salt of the covenant, the salt for barrenness! 

Thanks for reading!

Pastor James P Norman