J f I'm going to disappoint many of you today because I'm not going to be mean and I'm not going to yell at anybody Matthew chapter 5 verse 13 you are the salt of the earth but if the salt has become tasteless how can it be made salty again it is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men now this text is often used in a wrong way and it's taken out of context it is used often times to promote a militant Christianity that we need to go out
there change the world have Jesus marches preach in the streets witness that everybody well let's look at what it's actually saying says you are the salt of the earth now we all know that salt has certain qualities it preserves keeps things from rotting and corrupting but it also gives things flavor and taste so the believer is to be a type of person who who restrains corruption with those who are around him you say yes we need to watch other people we need to rebuke them when they're wrong settle down that's not what that means not
what I'm saying we need to be in such a way that our lives the way we act promotes Hol Purity but now let me tell you something about Holiness Holiness ultimately comes forth from Love and returns to to love what does it mean to be holy I don't have time to give you an hour's discourse on this next phrase but I'm going to say it anyways Holiness is to love God as he loves himself it's to esteem God as he esteems himself and to live in light of that great estimation devoting ourselves to his person
and secondarily to his cause see you can devote yourself to a Christian cause without devoting yourself to God you can devote yourself to the ministry be more excited about the ministry than you are a personal relationship with Jesus Christ it becomes idolatry that means what I'm trying to say is this we ought to be in such a way that it promotes genuine devotion in the lives of those around us we are also to have a sense of flavor about us a sense of beauty that we are not just rueping even though the Christian is under
the law of God in the sense of obedience our lives are more than just obedience there ought to be a sense of beauty Simplicity not as the world sees it not as sensuality Beauty Joy never forget this second only to love the mark of the filling of the holy spirit is the lady count of Huntington Huntington she attributes at least part of her conversion not just to the preaching of Whitfield George Whitfield but to the joy that she beheld in his face you say brother God has called me to be a prophet then he's called
you to be a servant and he's called you to reflect his life and part of that is Joy I'm probably Reb rebuked more for laughter than anything else by people who are much more religious than I am Joy life love devotion and Purity that flows from that devotion now notice that I've said something Christianity is more about what we are are than the Ministries we try to do many of you are thinking about doing doing doing and what you should be thinking about is being being being there's a book out there called the exemplary Husband
by Stuart Scot Stuart Scott I believe Fel don't you have that book yes it's a wonderful book it's about marriage but it's not really about marriage because basically what he does is this gentlemen your great problem in your marriage is you are not like Jesus that's it I want to tell you that every one of your problems in everything goes back to not being like Jesus so you need to pursue God and in that pursuit to be transformed by him my greatest lamentation when I look in the word of God is the Distortion I see
in me not looking like Christ let's get back you are the salt of the earth but if the salt has become tasteless how can it be made salty again now basically what's going on here is this salt has certain properties certain characteristics if you take those properties away you take those characteristics away you no longer have salt even if you replace them with other good things you no longer have salt salt has certain characteristics you don't have those characteristics you're not salt now how does that apply to you and to me Jesus is saying genuine
discipleship the disciple who can be used in this world to impact it to purify it to give it flavor and taste that disciple has certain characteristics now what should we do I mean because it said there's certain characteristics so now should we go through the Bible and try to look for those characteristics no no I want to show you something this text is always being separated from the text that comes before it and in the text that comes before it we find all the characteristics that will make you a disciple who God can use to
change the world what are those characteristics verse three blessed are the poor in spirit for their is the kingdom of heaven eles that's the first one poverty of spirit why does God not call many wise why does he not call many noble why does he call the weak it's not just in order to confound the wise but you see what you need to understand is this no one can live the Christian Life no one can be a tool of God so the first thing that has to happen is an utter forsaking of our own strengths
and capabilities the man and the woman that can be used of God is impoverished in themselves and that's a mark of Christianity because Paul said that those who were of the true circumcision they put no confidence in the flesh they boasted and they gloried in Christ now there are preachers in Brazil who would say that God would never intend for a Believer to suffer or to pass through a trial they are so wrong they do not understand what is truly precious they just want to have an easy life but that's not our goal is ital
it's to be like Christ to be Servants of God and what is required for that poverty of spirit and how are we to become poor in spirit only by God emptying us and all the trials all the obstacles all the hardship that we cannot overcome it drives us to God I bless God for the ailments and trials in my life think about Peter Jesus said that Satan's going to come Peter he's going to tempt you now he didn't say I'm going to stop him he said I'm going to strengthen you I'm going to hold you
up when you've been restored it was necessary for Peter to deny him you say why Jesus said all will betray me all of them all of you will betray me told and Peter said not I I'm a true man I am loyal I have the right stuff I'll show you how great I can be for you he had to be emptied he had to go through such heartwrenching pain so that then do you love me Peter you you know Lord he was teaching Peter something that John seemed to have learned notice that when John describes
himself in the Book of John he doesn't call himself John and he doesn't call himself the one who loved Jesus but the one whom Jesus loved I hope that that transformation will occur in some of you I'll read people on Twitter they'll describe themselves I love Jesus I'm the one who's crazy about Jesus I love I love I love Jesus I've been walking with Jesus for 30 years when I look at my love for him I find nothing to boast about my Zeal is not founded upon my love for Jesus my Zeal is founded upon
his love for me even when people saying Oh How I Love Jesus now that's biblical don't think I'm I'm saying that's not bibl but I find it easier to say oh how Jesus loves that's my boast your weakness is not an OB obstacle I'll tell you what an obstacle is you don't recognize your weakness and you say oh yes I do let me let me ask you a question how much time did you spend in the word this morning before you came here how much time did you spend in personal intercession this morning before you
came see it's really easy to get the doctrine right that we can't do anything apart from him but the reality of it is a lot more difficult and he's going to create that in you if you belong to him weakness is not an obstacle it is the Catalyst and it works this way the weaker you become the more untrusting you become in the more untrusting you become in men the more you will cling to Christ violently you'll hold because you know you have no hope apart from me blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs
is the Kingdom of Heaven you want to be used of God poverty of spirit and then he goes on and he says this blessed are he said blessed are those who mourn they shall be comforted this is very difficult to understand the Christian Life is marked by joy and yet it's also marked by mourning now how can that be well the Christian Christian Life is full of paradoxes for example you're going to heaven that's what Jesus said but you don't even know the way and then he but I'm the way you are to be full
of joy but you are to mourn you have nothing you have everything I mean this is amazing I mean how does this work I'm going to show you how it works first of all I could say that you need to cultivate Holiness in your life but that can turn to Legal I've seen it happen so many times what you need to do is cultivate a fellowship a relationship with God through his word through his prayer and the closer you come to his light the more you are going to see the sin in you and the
sin around you and it is going to lead you to mourning do you realize that some of you are so far away from Christ's light that you can actually practice sin and be nearly blind to it I see it all the time I see see it in my own life at now let me show you how it works when a person is saved the day of their conversion they see a revelation of God greater than anything they've ever seen before and what happens in the light of God's holiness they see themselves in a light they've
never seen before and they see their sin and it breaks them They Mourn they detest that's repentance they want to turn from it free from it mourning but it's not a Mourning or a repentance unto death why because they see a greater revelation of the Hol of God which leads to a greater revelation of their own sin but at the same time they see a greater revelation of the grace of God in the person of Christ and their mourning is transformed to Joy because of what they see in him now that just does doesn't happen
at conversion that is actually an ongoing thing throughout our life as we grow in Christ as we become more mature by spending time in God's word by by praying by Fellowship in a Godly Church step by step we see more of of who God really is more of his Supremacy more of his Hol and it leads us to see deeper and deeper flaws and with every one of those flaws being exposed it leads us to Brokenness and mourning but we're also growing in our revelation of the grace of God and so while we are growing
in our morning we are also growing in our joy but then something amazing happens when someone starts out as a new believer young men listen to me genuinely been converted they're full of zeal they're preaching on the streets they think their Pastor is is dead and not zealous enough they are the new John the Baptist you know what the problem is they don't see themselves as they really are full of Flesh self empowered carried by their their own carnal Zeal they think they are so holy but also they're like this walking up and down because
their Joy is dependent upon their performance and they've set a standard that other people can't live up to but they themselves are living a are trying to live a standard they can't keep up but God is faithful even in a radical young preacher he starts making it difficult he'll bring that young man to the point where he can't even read his Bible anymore he used to fast two weeks now he can't even pray for five minutes and it's not the devil it's God doing it to him God is pulling back his grace breaking that young
man to the point where he sees he is nothing and as he sees he is nothing then God begins to fill him with true life humility service and joy but the greatest thing is that there is a transaction going on before the young man's Joy was based on his own performance which is idolatry but as he begins to grow he gives up on his own performance and looks only to Christ Christ becomes his Joy Christ becomes his confidence that's where God is going to take you if you're a Believer remember on the day of Pentecost
he filled them like this only after three years of emptying them and that is going to be a continuous work throughout your life there's a song that I have sung to my two little boys when they wouldn't go to sleep at night when they were babies now that I think of it probably they couldn't go to sleep because my I sing so bad but this is what I would always sing to them now it won't rhyme in Portuguese it goes like this my son I am weak and I'm trembling for the Lord I am always
remembering what a strong Shepherd holds you in his arms he will break you and make you his own young men young women Moses do we not have enough flashy ministers in this country TV and photographs YouTube you want to have an impact walk in humility boasting in nothing but Christ speak the truth but only in love loving and serving even your enemies walk in Purity and innocence and modesty keep your bodies holy be babes to evil cultivate poverty of spirit by cultivating a relationship with Christ who is Meek and lonely when he was on this
Earth and in that you'll find rest for your soul yoke upon you everybody wants to preach a new definition of Christianity what the world is longing to see is a true demonstration of Christianity I want to close this and and we only got through two of the characteristics well let's look at let's just go down through them really quick blessed are the gentle you know what that really means I'll give the answer Psalms 37 it comes out of Psalms 37 in the entire chapter of Psalms 37 is God speaking to the righteous and he's saying
this do not eny the wicked do not imitate them dwell in the land cultivate righteousness trust in the Lord your God and you will inherit the earth everyone always tries to give some really neat definition for this word but just go to Psalms 37 because that is what it's about all right now and then he says blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied don't hunger and thirst to be something like like a like a a well-known minister or powerful long to be righteous as he is righteous if you
have trusted in Christ you have been Justified you've been legally declared righteous before but walk in that righteousness know his Commandments and follow them with all your heart seek him and to be like him I was uh in seminary about 100 years ago and and I had this one Professor named TW hunt hunt was a man of prayer and he would kind of uh let me come talk to him every once in a while when I was about to lose my mind and one day I walked into his office just like this just standing at
the door he said Paul come in sit down son what's wrong and I just went Dr Hunt H I'm just so unrighteous I mean I'm so unlike Jesus I want to so different than I am but I mean I just don't seem to be making any progress I'm just miserable I want to be like Christ you know I just lay sit there in the chair and he would always look at me that day he went like this and he stood up and he walked over to my chair he put his hands on my shoulders and
he said this in the name of Jesus Christ and he went and sat down and I just looked at him like what was that all about I mean that was strange and he said you don't understand what I just did and I said no sir I don't he said have you never read blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied Paul if you had come in here today content with your progress in chrisan I would be greatly worried for you but look at what you're doing you're hungering you're thirsting
for righteousness you will be satisfied you will grow son over the long years of your life you will grow not because I have confidence in you but because he who began a good work in you will finish it he created he created that hunger in you he will f it and then one day you will come forth glorified now walk in that hope but don't be apathetic so many people are striving for so many things set yourself to strive for one thing to know him the power of his resurrection Fellowship of his suffering righteousness and
he goes on and he says blessed are the merciful for they shall receive Mercy Mercy I remember one time preaching in a church and there was a woman there who had done horrible things had done horrible things in the church horrible things to other women she was horrible and she came forth weeping and she just fell down at the front while I was preaching I knew all about her and I went down to her and I put my hand on her shoulder and I began to pray and I looked around at the people in the
church they were Furious and one of them said how can you pray with her and I stood up and turned around I have to pray for her why if there is no mercy for someone like her then I go to hell too Street Preachers are there any in here I hope so but I tell you the next angry Street Preacher I see I'm going to kick him people standing on street corners and preaching calling people names about their sin but leaving them with no hope you know what I want to see I want to see
an army of Street Preachers stand on every corner of every city but with enough knowledge in their head and enough real passion in their heart to just speak of the glories of of Christ and the glories of his gospel and to make a universal call to every person to repent and believe Mercy Mercy my most righteous moment is only good enough to send me to hell I must drip with Mercy some of you young men yeah you see those YouTube sermons I preach from 9:00 to 10:00 at night and then it comes to an end
on your TV screen but you don't see me going till 4 in the morning counseling Sinners weeping over stray sheep as a matter of fact for me Ministry begins when I step out of the pulit you ought to drip with Mercy I people come up to me just just recently people are taking your photos you should rebuke them should I crush them is that what you want me to do well that lady came up to you and said thank you for the wonderful sermon you should have told her that if there was anything wonderful it
came from God you really wanted me to crush her that way in front of all those people don't you think I know it came from God and she does too it was just her way of saying it oh Mercy Mercy speak the truth in love he goes on blessed are the pure in heart do you know what this means a lot of people have a wrong idea there's some kind of medieval ptic view of what it's actually talking about is something unalloyed do you know when they take gold and they melt it and all the
impurities come to the top and they they scrape them off and then the gold is more refined then they heat it up again and more impurities come to the top scrape it off what this means is blessed are those who have no competing loyalties in their heart I have competing loyalties in my heart I hate them even the older men of God here whove walked with God much longer than me and made more progress than me they have competing loyalties in their heart but you see that's why we look so ugly all of us old
preachers that's why we look so beat up I mean we've been in the oven for a long time and soon as we get out you think oh the air feels good out here and then God shoves you right back in the oven again you see this is what God is doing all these preachers talking about prosperity and blessing all these pathetic trinkets they care about they can take all that stuff with them what do we want a heart with no competing loyalty where we have died to self and everything is him and like the Apostle
Paul we have not achieved it but the thing that we seek is to keep pressing on and you know what when I say this the older men of God are going to smile most of the time we're not as zealous as we ought to be about having our heart ped but God never asked us permission to put us back in the oven even if our heart grows apathetic his mighty Providence and sovereignty will grab us by the back back of the neck open the oven throw us right back in in the Book of Ezekiel where
I was going to preach from one of the New Covenant promises is this I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and all your idolatry now notice he says I will I will I will separate you from the Nations I will take you from the peoples I will put you in your own land I will change your heart I will put my spirit within you I will cleanse you from all your filthiness I'm going to end with an illustration about the mighty sovereignty of God he is Relentless he is dangerous he is not safe but
he is good I was raised on a farm we raised cattle and quarter horses horses and horses and and cattle I was a cowboy even when I was little I was a cowboy I got in the way of all the Cowboys I would always come home totally filthy dirty riding cattle riding horses getting thrown off I would have dirt here here dirt everywhere and my mom would look at me and she'd say go in take a bath and I remember when I was about N9 years old somewhere around the age of my two boys and
my mom said go in and take a bath and I said Mom I'm older now and uh I don't think I need a bath I'm just going to go to bed my mom looked at me and I turned to a block of ice she had smoke coming out of her ears laser beams coming out of her eyes her teeth grew down this far and she looked at me she said you will take a bath people asked me today what did you do I said I took a bath cuz back in those days it was legal
for your parents to kill you but I went in there and I don't know what it is but when you're a boy you can swim in the river you can swim in a cattle trough a filthy cattle trough but something about bathtubs you're just afraid of so I got in there and I did what my son Evan does all the time I turned on the water and I went like this and then I got my mother's white towel and I dried off and I dyed her towel Brown everything was going wonderful till my mom walked
in the bathroom and she looked at me she looked at her towel now my mom was raised on a ranch my mom's hands were so rough she worked like a cowboy it was like steel she grabbed me by the back of the neck she turned on the water and she looked at me she turned me around that way and she said we can do this the easy way or we can do this the easy easy way cuz for me both ways are easy and she put me under the water for about 25 minutes and she
scrubbed me several layers of skin was on the floor when I came out of that bathtub I was shining with the shakina glory of God now let me share something with you isn't it amazing that my mother is more powerful than most people's God I hear preachers say that all the time God wants to do so much with you but if you don't cooperate he can't do what he wants to do if that's the case you're not a Christian because God will grab you and say we can do this the easy way or we can
do this the easy way and all the angels are gathered around saying oh Lord oh wash him love you we just we just love to look at the Expressions on their faces my dear friend now you see preachers and Prophets aren't always mad they're not always screaming at people they're not always rebuking they teach for edification for blessing I'll iterate one other thing I'm not a flatterer that is sin so when I said what I said about pastors not because there's pastors seated here I say many hard things against pastors I want you young people
to know something unless you get in a really biblical church under biblical Elders who can personally speak into your life you are never going to become what you ought to be I could spend the next hour naming the names of the pastors who are in part responsible for the man you see behind this Pulpit even today my two pastors the two Elders of my church are at least 15 years younger than me but they are the Elders of the church I attend and I don't make a decision without speaking to them about great matters I
depend upon their councel and I listen to their rebuke may God's blessing be upon you for
