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MATTHEW 5:13

"THE SALT OF THE EARTH"

Intro: "He's the salt of the earth." Once used as money.

I. THE PROPERTIES OF SALT.
        A. A preservative.
                1. No refrigeration.
                        a. When meat butchered salted.
                                1. Salt killed bacteria.
                                2. Prevented rotting.
                2. Jesus is saying that we are to have a preserving influence on our society.
                        a. So many corrupting forces.
                        b. Is your life an influence for good.
                                1. Do your friends feel free to tell you a dirty joke?
        B. A seasoning.
                1. Food is flat and insipid without salt.
                        a. Cooked oats.
                        b. Cookies.
                2. How flat and insipid is the world without Christ.
                        a. Reason for pleasure mania.
                        b. People seeking to put some zest into life.
                3. Christians have often given off grim and morbid vibes.
                        a. Robert Louis Stevenson once wrote, "I went to church today and
                           didn't get depressed."
        C. Creates thirst.
                1. Eat salty foods you get thirsty.
                2. You should be creating a thirst in people.
                3. In Rome the government used to be measured by the ability of a woman to
                   walk the street at night.
                4. 50, 000 to 100, 000           s demonstrated in San Francisco.
                        a. Equating Anita Bryant with Hitler and Amin.
                5. The corrupt society testifies to the failure of the church.
                        a. We haven't been salty enough.
 b. We have lost our sting.

II. FATE OF SAVOURLESS SALT.
        A. "Good for nothing."
        B. Cast out and trodden under the foot of man.
                1. When because of impurities salt could not be used for food. 
                        a. Cast along the paths, killed vegetation.
                        b. Trodden under foot of man.
        C. Christ ultimatum to the church.
                1. Paul to Timothy, "Take heed to thyself and thy doctrine..."